‘I guess I’d think twice if some random girl came to my door with a hypodermic needle,’ Harry said.

‘Exactly,’ Charlie said. ‘It’s been awesome talking to you again, but I need to let Mango know.’

‘Keep my name out of it,’ Harry said. ‘Especially if you talk to a lawyer. I’m not sure what the laws are on distributing a confidential FBI witness statement, but it ain’t gonna be legal.’

‘No worries,’ Charlie said.

‘You keep safe,’ Harry said soothingly. ‘And try not to worry too much till you’ve had words with a decent lawyer.’

51 BOUNCING BOYS

The quarantine was barely twelve hours old, but Charlie’s foster brothers were already bouncing off the walls and fighting downstairs. Foster mom, Jan, was a sweetie and she bought Charlie mint tea and cookies, gave her a hug and told her that everyone in the house loved her.

Charlie felt bad shooing her stepmom out, but she’d sent Mango a message straight after calling Harry, and Mango replied saying she was busy with the twins and would contact her on the encrypted tablet.

‘Thought you’d be catching zeds after the all-nighter,’ Mango said cheerfully as Charlie settled in a chair at her desk and angled the tablet so that Mango got to see her.

‘Running on adrenalin, I guess,’ Charlie said.

‘Did you make it to Ed?’ Mango asked.

‘I did.’

‘That’s so great,’ Mango said. ‘My four all had a scream up about the injection, but kids’ immune systems work fast. If it’s like most vaccines, they’ll have good protection in eight to twelve hours.’

‘I called because I have bad news,’ Charlie said. ‘I can’t tell you my source, but your friend Helen Back has given the FBI a statement …’

‘Ahh, that,’ Mango said weakly.

Charlie gasped. ‘You knew already?’

Mango made a big sigh, followed by a yawn. ‘Two Feds came into Radical Cakes, Thursday the week before last. They’d filmed me when I went to restock the RV. They knew about you, Juno and my contacts in LA. They had everything they needed to bust me on the spot.’

‘So why didn’t they?’ Charlie asked anxiously. ‘And why didn’t you tell us?’

‘I apologise,’ Mango said. ‘I’ve known Helen for a long time. I was pissed when I saw her statement describing me as star struck, and blabbing. But if I’m honest that’s exactly what I did.’

‘If they had so much evidence, why didn’t they move on us?’

‘I have desirable skills,’ Mango explained. ‘The FBI and CDC budgets have increased massively over the past few years. But people with medical degrees and experience with synthetic biology are in desperately short supply.’

‘So you have to go to work for the Feds?’