‘And, uh … your cop radio’s still working, right?’ Tom asked haltingly, and Ramone nodded. ‘I was wondering if you’d mind listening in, just in case you hear anything about my parents? The police must be in touch with them.’

‘OK, change of plan.’ Ramone turned to Polar: ‘You wanna stay home and eavesdrop on NY’s finest?’

Polar nodded, then slouched past them through to the room with the radio. He dragged out a chair and sat facing the squawking metal box, staring at it through the camera like it was about to scuttle off somewhere.

‘So what you waiting for?’ growled Ramone to the rest of them. ‘Get out of here.’

‘Later, Ro,’ said Rico, bumping knuckles as the others added their farewells.

‘’S’right.’ Ramone smiled, mussed up Rico’s hair with the flat of his palm. ‘See y’all later. Ciudate.’

Kate glanced back and smiled. ‘Keep safe yourself.’

The smile faded from her face as she followed the others out into the cold sunlight, on to the bare, unwelcoming street.

‘Keep safe,’ Tom echoed softly, and the run-down world around him seemed to laugh in his face.

g

Chapter Nine

g

g

CHAPTER NINE

Tom and Kate hung back while Jasmine and Rico marched up to the admissions desk at Park East Virology Unit. They took seats in the waiting room beside a woman slumped in her chair with a brown leather coat draped over her, softly snoring.

‘Wish I could grab a few zees myself, now,’ muttered Tom, rubbing his eyes. Kate nodded sullenly.

‘Rico Carranza to see Dr Stacy Stein,’ Jasmine announced to the desk clerk. ‘She’s expecting him.’

‘That’s right! I am!’ cried the woman beside Tom, scaring him half to death. Jasmine and Rico spun around in surprise as the woman jumped up from the chair like it was electrified and stared at them, her ice-blue eyes wide and bright. ‘Good to see you again, Rico. And Jasmine –you thought any more about trying to get yourself on that mentoring programme?’

‘Yeah, I thought about it,’ Jasmine replied curtly, though the look on her face suggested she hadn’t dwelled on it for long.

‘Think about it some more. It’d be good for you.’ Dr Stein enjoyed a noisy, extravagant stretch, bending her well-proportioned body backwards. ‘I’ve been waiting for you out here since my shift ended – must’ve fallen asleep. I guessed you’d wandered off somewhere when I collected the package from reception.’

Now it was Tom’s turn to jump up. ‘The package arrived? Those treated blood samples from Dr Woollard?’

Dr Stein turned to face him. She was probably in her early thirties, her features well-defined and framed by coppery shoulder-length hair. ‘You know about those?’ she asked, not accusingly, just interested.

Tom lowered his voice. ‘And about the ’wolves, Dr Stein,’ he confirmed.