Egress Point

Chapter 13

The early evening sun was out and Arebecca unzipped her tracksuit top to keep cool. Three sides of the square were bounded by the station, and in front of them was a road filled with slow moving traffic. It was noisy with the hustle of commuters and tourists competing for space on the pavement. Excitement outweighed hunger in Arebecca's stomach.

"So now we just have to find Nick, and Patey, maybe rescue them from a Russian hacker, and ask them to fix everything. All while avoiding the police. Where shall we start?"

"Lunch, I think, or is it dinner time?" Em said. "I think I need some energy before I can do any proper thinking."

There was a row of restaurants across the street. Arebecca ignored them, and Em's protestations, and set off out of the square. She knew Paris reasonably well. Along with about a hundred other cities throughout the world. They wandered south then west along Rue La Fayette and found a place that Arebecca thought would do.

It was very French. The staff only spoke French. The menu was only in French. Arebecca followed suit rattling off their order, with Em clearly struggling to keep pace. They ate pasta and fresh bread and then formulated a plan of action.

"We know where they were investigating, or at least, where the security audit was taking place," Arebecca started. "Should we go and take a look?"

"I think it we have to, even if Nick and Patey aren't there." Em chewed on the elbow of a crusty french stick. "I'm hoping that the gang will find us, or the Russians will at any rate."

"I'm not sure that would be good for us," Arebecca had ordered a small glass of red wine, and it was making her feel more human. "When you say gang it makes me think there's more of them. Do you know how we could contact them?

"The only other member of the gang I met was Jenny Tomlins. She's a doctor, or at least she pretended to be one. I think she's a medical student in London somewhere. All of my interactions with the gang were initiate by them. And I don't even know if Jenny, Nick and Patey are their real names."

Arebecca was quiet for a minute. She sipped the wine. It was beginning to dawn on her that the task was difficult. Difficult for Nick and Patey and Em, which really meant impossible for Arebecca. Still, she'd been good getting through border control, and she felt good about being away from the UK and the Russians, even if only for a short time.

"Maybe Hanger's End Consulting know Jenny. That's where Nick worked -- or where he had voicemail at least. We might be able to get somewhere with them."

They both agreed that it was a good idea. And apart from cruising the headquarters of Bancaire Nationale, hoping to be found by Patey, it really was their only idea.

This time dinner was more than 50 euros. They thanked the staff and asked for directions to a nearby hotel. There was one on the next street. They sat in the foyer and Em took her laptop out and connected to the wifi.

"I've got the number for Hangers End Consulting in my email," Arebecca said.

"It might not be a good idea to access your email if we can help it. But if we need to, I can use a proxy or two to make it harder to trace."

"Try their website, I'm pretty sure the contact details included their phone number."

Em searched for the website and found it. She saved the number in a file on her laptop, and pulled up a map. They found the building they wanted to look at was in an area called La Defense -- the financial district. It was outside the city centre, five or 6 miles away.

"We'll need more money," Arebecca said. "Even a hostel in Paris is expensive. Plus we need a phone too."

"I think we might be able to come up with something. Let's just go and check the building first. Come on, it's not that far, let's walk for a bit then grab a taxi."