The Whisper of Stars Read Free Page A

the far end of the platform.
    < Confirmed visual on target. Canary Wharf substation, Platform 1. >
    Jen watched the target move out of sight into a nearby walkway tunnel and tried to anticipate her next move. Catch another train? Why? She might as well have stayed on the last one. She glanced up at the station clock. 8.27am. Would the target really meet her contact down here?
    The lift opened and a fresh group of busy commuters spilled out, blocking Jen’s line of sight. Cole offered her a video feed from the platform camera and she accepted, reducing the transparency until it floated, ghostlike, at the top right of her vision. She waited and watched as Victoria Harvey glanced nervously around the platform. She appeared to be waiting for somebody.
    < Cole, do we have ears yet? > Jen asked silently.
    ‘I’ve been trying, but there isn’t anything down there I can use. You might need to use a drone.’
    Jen took a small bug-like device from her pocket and placed it on the palm of her hand. It flickered to life before floating silently and attaching itself to the tiled ceiling about fifteen feet from the target. The tiny drone inched closer, seen by no one. Jen turned her attention back to the target and was surprised to see that Mrs Harvey had started a conversation with an unknown male.
    ‘Logan?’ Cole said, tentatively.
    < I see him, but why can’t we hear him ? > she asked.
    ‘I’m working on it. Give me a few seconds.’
    Jen scanned him. The man was Marcus Aldridge, an investment banker. Middle-aged, smartly dressed with a serious countenance – pretty much the same as half the people on the platform. In the distance she heard the rumble of another approaching train. If they decided to take this one, Jen wanted to be close. She walked slowly towards them.
    McArthur this time: ‘Jen, it’s okay, this train doesn’t stop. Keep your distance. Let’s hear what they have to say.’
    Jen’s relief was short-lived. Something wasn’t right. Even at this distance, it was obvious the conversation was turning into an altercation. Victoria Harvey was standing awkwardly and shouting.
    ‘How could you do this to me?’ Her words became a scream as the drone opened its audio channel. ‘You told me you loved me!’
    Marcus Aldridge looked stunned, all colour sucked from his normally healthy-looking face. He was blinking and mumbling, shaking his head.
    ‘Listen, I’m sorry, but I… can I get someone to help you?’ he offered in desperation.
    ‘Sorry!’ She crumpled to the floor in apparent defeat, a discarded shoe next to her. ‘It’s been agony without you. Why are you acting as if you don’t know me?’
    The crowd of people near them started to move away, leaving a circle of tension around the pair.
    ‘I… I… don’t…’ he mumbled, then asked, ‘How do you know my name?’
    Jen was running now, praying she was wrong.
    Not again. Not another one.
    She could feel the ions crackling around her as the train approached the station, pushing a large pocket of warm air ahead of it. Victoria Harvey looked to be in pain, her eyes darting like a lost and confused animal. Her face stretched into a grimace, and then for a brief moment, as if a shocking revelation had overwhelmed her, was calm.
    ‘Of course,’ she sneered. ‘It’s that bitch. That twisted, selfish bitch. She’s taken you away from me. She’s poisoned you against me.’
    Jen was running at full pace. ‘She’s splintering!’ she yelled, but her voice was swamped by the growling power of the approaching train.
    ‘She’s what?’ It was Cole’s voice. There was no response from McArthur.
    Victoria Harvey began shaking uncontrollably, her perfectly symmetrical face now smeared with mascara, creased into a sickening grin. Marcus Aldridge began shouting for help, backing away from the woman.
    Jen was still thirty feet away as the train flew past at impossible speed. She screamed through a pocket of nervous bystanders, bashing into a man and