Ella swallowed. ‘No.’
‘I don’t think I believe you,’ he smiled, making no effort to hide his enjoyment at making her squirm. ‘What is it you’re trying to hide from me, Ella?’
‘Stop it.’ She snatched her hand back. ‘You cannot access my thoughts.’
He sa
t back and laughed loudly. ‘OK, you’re right. I can’t. There are cameras, OK? At the gatehouse and at various places around the camp. And yes, I might have snooped a little bit. Just to check you were OK. Which, on that particular night, you weren’t. So I stepped in to help. You’re welcome,’ he added, in response to Ella’s stony glare. Taking a bite of lamb, he gestured to Ella to eat as well. ‘You’re too thin.’
‘Oh really? And whose fault is that? Working me to the bone every damned day,’ Ella grumbled. But she took a spoonful of rice anyway.
‘My question,’ he continued, while she ate. ‘How’s it going with Dix?’
‘It’s going fine.’
‘What does “fine” mean? How long till you can fully use your … whatever you want to call it? Till you can tune into the things you want to and shut out the rest?’
‘I have no idea,’ said Ella truthfully. ‘I’ve never done this before. Neither has Dix. A few months, maybe? He’s given me some exercises. It’s a sort of mindfulness, almost like self-hypnosis. I have to—’
‘Could you crack it in ten days?’
‘What? No!’ said Ella. ‘Of course not. It’s not like flicking a switch, you know.’
‘If you had to?’
‘I don’t have to,’ said Ella. ‘And before you say one more word about this “mission”, I’ll tell you what I told Katherine MacAvoy. I’m not going anywhere or doing anything for you people until someone tells me something about my goddamned parents.’
Gabriel hesitated. Mark Redmayne had specifically told him not to stray into this territory under any circumstances.
Screw it. He could handle it.
‘Your mother and father joined The Group together in 1990,’ Gabriel told her. ‘By the time you were born they had become committed members, although the peak of their active service occurred later, around the time that they entrusted you to your grandmother’s care.’
Ella leaned in, hanging off his every word.
‘Their work involved their scientific expertise. As I told you before, your mother was a neurologist and your father was a pioneer in gene replacement theory. Typically they worked together, although your mother eventually achieved a more senior rank within operations than your father and sometimes worked with other operatives.’
‘Really?’ said Ella, intrigued by this small, humanizing detail. Both of her parents had become shadowy figures, but now her mother felt even more opaque than her father. He at least had written letters and cards, leaving something tangible for Ella now that she had got her hands on them. The place where her mother’s memory should be was just an empty space, with nothing more than snatched fragments of remembered words, touches and smells, and even those were fading as each year passed.
‘Their missions were classified,’ Gabriel went on, ‘so I can’t talk about them.’
‘Only the government can classify things,’ said Ella, annoyed. ‘Do you even realize how self-important you sound?’
‘They died in 2001,’ Gabriel said, ignoring Ella’s outburst.
‘You mean they were murdered,’ said Ella. ‘That’s what you told me before.’
‘Yes,’ said Gabriel.
‘You also said you’d tell me how they were killed. Once I started training,’ Ella reminded him.
‘I believe I said, I would tell you when the time was right. When you were ready.’
‘And when will that be?’ Ella raised her voice furiously. ‘In your high-and-mighty opinion?’
‘When you leave for your mission,’ said Gabriel, finishing the last of his wine and refolding his napkin, placing it neatly on the table.
‘Enough,’ said Ella, too tired to have the same argument with him again. ‘I’d like you to take me home now, please. Like you promised. To San Francisco.’