The Lion’s forecourt was empty, save for an older model saloon car.  Andrew leapt from the car and jogged over to her before the cab had even stopped.  He waved a card at the cab’s reader, grabbed Laura’s elbow and steered her towards his car.
 
“Who did you steal that from?” she asked.
 
“Shut up.  Get in.”  He jumped into the driver’s seat and waited as Laura took her place next to him.
 
“Are we going?” she said, as Andrew stared out of the windscreen.
 
“Wait.”  He stared at the cab that had dropped her off.  After a moment it turned in a tight circle and drove back in the direction of The Sanctuary.
 
“We need to wait till the cab is clear.  Did you call it or did they?” he asked
 
“Me.”
 
“Were you followed?”
 
“No.”
 
“How’d you know?”  Andrew put the car in gear and pulled away, steering the car in the opposite direction to the cab.
 
“Oh, we’re going now?”
 
“How’d you know?”
 
“The woman who let me go.  I scanned her.  She wasn’t lying.”
 
“You sure?”
 
Laura sighed.  “Listener, remember?”
 
“She couldn’t have faked it?”
 
“No, she couldn’t have faked it.  I do know my job, you know.”
 
“Yeah, yeah, sorry.”  He turned down a side road.  He seemed to be using his mirror a lot more than usual.  “Why’d they let you go?”
 
Laura shrugged.  “The police were there.  Judy organised a phone campaign.  Even my mum – but you know that.  You set all that up, didn’t you.”
 
“I didn’t want them making you disappear.  Didn’t expect them to let you go, though.”
 
“Politics.”
 
Andrew glanced at her.  “Politics?”
 
“Someone decided the cat was out the bag and it was in her best interests to cut their losses.  Doesn’t mean we can relax, though.  I don’t think she’s got the power base.”  Laura looked at the trees flashing past, silhouetted against the greying sky in the east.  “Not yet, anyway.  You got the data, right?  I hooked you up okay?”
 
“Yeah.  Give me a couple of hours with a cloud AI and I’ll have it decrypted.”
 
“You sure?”
 
Andrew grinned.  “Spy, remember?  I know my job.”
 
For the first time in twenty-four hours Laura smiled.  “Fair enough.”  She looked out the window again as Andrew took another turn.  “Where are we going?”
 
“Far away.”
 
Laura turned and looked at his grim face as he drove through the twilight.  “You don’t trust me?”
 
“I don’t know myself.  We’ll just drive for a few hours.  Harder for them to chase us if we don’t know where we’re going.  Then we’ll dig a deep hole and hide in it for four days until the hearings.  Easier to remain hidden if we don’t actually have to do anything.”
 
“Four days?  With you?”
 
“Me, or them.  Your choice.”  He spared a moment from the road to glance at her.  “Well?”
 
“I’m thinking.”  Despite everything, she turned towards the countryside and grinned at the scenery.