When he was almost home, having told Joe all he knew about religion, which brought on a lot of questions, he detoured to the corner shop. The chocolate display was by the counter and Kaden let the snack change in his pocket run through his fingers as he decided what to buy. A Mars bar.It was his favourite. He gave the guy the right money and had the bar in his mouth before he’d walked out.
Oh ooooh oooooooh.
Kaden heard Joe moaning and smiled as he chewed.
This is so delicious. You name your chocolate after the planets in your solar system?
“Some of them. Milky Ways are pretty tasty as well. And Galaxy chocolate. Flying Saucers and Space Dust are sweets of a different kind.”
Can I try them?
“Another day.”
Take another bite. A small one. Make the bar last.
Kaden was still smiling at Joe’s moans as he reached his road, but when he saw Harris’ car in the visitor parking spot, the smile dropped from his face and he stopped walking.
Harris.Joe snarled in Kaden’s head.
Kaden took a deep breath and carried on walking. His heart was racing. Harris stepped from the vehicle just before Kaden reached it.
“I need to talk to you,” Harris said. “Can I come up?”
No sat on Kaden’s lips but inside his head Joe saidLet him!
“Not if there’s going to be a repeat of what happened last night.”
There won’t be! Well, he might be hurt.
Kaden could feel Joe’s anger simmering under his skin, a sharp needle-like sensation that made him even more anxious.
“There won’t,” Harris said.
Against his better judgement, but with the awareness that Joe had successfully dealt with three local thugs, Kaden nodded. And yes, a little bit of him wanted Joe to thump Harris if he tried anything. Well, it would be him thumping Harris.
When they were in his room, Kaden put his backpack out of harm’s way before he faced him. He’d half-expected him to turn up and apologise. That was what he usually did. Though he’d never been as brutal as he had last night, never done anything like that. Before, it had been a thump or a slap or holding him too tight when they… On those few occasions, Harris had managed to talk Kaden into forgiving him and convince him that it wouldn’t happen again. Sorry wasn’t going to cut it now,though Kaden still wanted to hearsorrycoming out of his mouth.
“There’s a problem at the lab,” Harris said. “A possible security breach.”
Not what Kaden expected to hear. His mouth went dry and his heart immediately raced. He waited for Joe to slow it down. It slowed. And his mouth was no longer dry.
“You went into the lab on the same floor as my office,” Harris said. “The one at the end of the corridor where we use waste tissue to culture microbes. You remember the tanks with the archaea? You asked Alisha about them?”
Oh fuck. FUCK!“Yes.”
Don’t tell him what you did.
Kaden stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Or maybe Joe did.
“Some material has gone missing.” Harris tugged at his hair.
Go bald!That would serve him right, though the bastard would probably look good.
“What material? How has it gone missing?” Kaden knew the questions would be expected.
“When we arrived this morning, it was discovered that one of the tanks was missing some of the culture medium and archaea that should have been in it. The contents were destined for incineration today or tomorrow, but…” Harris let out a heavy sigh.
Am I under suspicion?Was Joe worried?
