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and he sighed inwardly. She’d told him this story a mil ion times. More than a mil ion. And last week, stupidly, stupidly , in a moment of weakness he’d agreed to see if he could track her parents down for her. Even though Pip had made it clear that he didn’t want him to. Even though Sheila had been told not to look for her parents under any circumstances.
    ‘Palmer, their name was,’ Sheila said, looking at him cautiously. ‘In Surrey . . .’
    ‘Palmer. Right,’ Jude said awkwardly, noticing a piece of paper in front of him, a list of names and addresses. He sighed. ‘OK. Look, Sheila, maybe I did a lit le bit of digging. The thing is . . .’ he said, biting his lip.
    Sheila looked up at him excitedly. ‘Yes? The thing is what? You’ve found them?
    Oh, tel me, Jude. Please. I know Pip doesn’t want me to find them, but you have to tel me. You have to –’
    She was interrupted by Pip himself walking into the room suddenly. ‘Sheila,’ he said, ‘we have a nurse along the corridor who could do with some help, if you’d be so kind.’ Jude looked up in surprise; he hadn’t noticed him, didn’t know how long he’d been standing there.
    ‘Have you found out what happened? What was wrong with that woman?’ he asked hopeful y, but Pip didn’t answer; instead he looked at Sheila pointedly.
    She opened her mouth as though to protest, then, catching Pip’s immovable expression, shrugged heavily and wandered down the corridor.
    ‘So?’ Jude asked when she’d gone.
    ‘Sheila has had a difficult life, wouldn’t you say?’ Pip remarked, walking towards him.
    Jude nodded warily. He’d learned to watch what he said to Pip, who had a way of twisting his words, making him seem to agree to things he’d had no intention of agreeing with.
    ‘She hasn’t seen her parents for years, I believe.’
    ‘Not since she was about four, I think,’ Jude said.
    ‘And now, for the first time in her life she is comparatively safe. She has you, and she has the protection of the Underground.’
    ‘That’s right,’ Jude agreed.
    ‘So you think that it is a good idea, now, to muddy things, to distract her with thoughts of her parents?’
    Jude frowned. ‘But I –’
    ‘No buts, Jude. And now there is a lorry that requires tracking and I think it deserves al your focus.’
    ‘I am focused.’ Jude could feel his mouth fixed in an angry grimace. Did Pip not trust him at al ?
    ‘No, Jude, you are not focused. If you were focused, you’d have noticed that the lorry has been stopped.’
    Jude’s eyes widened and he enlarged the SpyNet software screen, which was hijacking Pincent Pharma’s own CCTV system in order to track the progress of Pincent Pharma lorries now heading into an Underground ambush. ‘Shit!’ he said.
    The lorry was on its side in the middle of the road. One lone car swerved to avoid it, but kept on driving. ‘Shit! I’m sorry, I . . .’
    He turned to Pip, who smiled gently and pointed back at the screen. Jude nodded, swivel ed round and watched as men dressed in khaki jumped out in front of the lorry, pul ing out the driver, forcing the back open. Jude felt the familiar surge of adrenalin as he watched the scene unfold – David against Goliath, Good against Evil.
    The doors were open now and Jude’s eyes were on the driver who was on the ground, two men holding him down. He looked agitated, fearful – he was shouting something. The Underground men were dragging large boxes out of the lorry; they didn’t look like the usual boxes carrying Longevity drugs. Not that it mat ered – they would be torched anyway, destroyed. The Underground would leave its message loud and clear on the side of the road.
    But as he watched the boxes being prised open Jude frowned, the lines between his eyes deepening. Something wasn’t right. The boxes weren’t cardboard, they were made of wood. The men were improvising, making tools from their guns in order to break into them. And then one was opened and