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The most prominent question in her mind was why.
EIGHTY-SIX
It was almost six when Bryant pulled up at the field gate. Although it was only twenty miles away, rush hour had added a good twenty minutes to the normal journey time.
As he switched off the engine Kim turned to him.
‘Bryant, I…’
‘Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,’ he said, holding up his hand.
‘What?’ Ryan asked from the back seat.
‘Bryant needs to stay here in case we spook him and he tries to get away.’
‘I can wait here if you like,’ Ryan offered.
Kim was starting to understand why he hadn’t lasted very long at Welton. ‘I need you with me so that if we make it to his front door, he sees a face he knows.’
‘Okay,’ he said, getting out of the car.
‘Every five?’ Bryant asked, talking of one of their usual safety tricks if they were separated.
Bryant would ring her phone at regular intervals. If she didn’t answer, he knew to leave his post and come looking.
‘Make it ten,’ she said, opening her door and stepping out. ‘I don’t want to be right outside his front door and have my ringing phone set him off.’
‘Okay. Be careful.’
‘I’ll be fine. Ryan here will protect me if we meet any trouble.’
‘Wh-what?’ he asked, shrugging his backpack onto his shoulders.
‘You could leave that here,’ she suggested.
‘Water and hay-fever meds. And I don’t go anywhere without my inhaler,’ he said, patting the fabric.
‘Cool,’ she said, climbing over the metal gate. They were hardly hiking to the top of Ben Nevis.
He seemed unsure so she offered him a steadying hand.
Once on the other side, she pictured the photo in her mind. On the satellite image, the field had looked smaller, and it hadn’t been filled with a crop of some kind.
The path was barely visible, and the plants were up to their thighs.
‘Rape,’ Ryan said, from behind.
‘What?’
‘Rapeseed,’ he said. ‘That’s what we’re walking through.’
‘Good to know,’ she said, trying to keep her bearings. The field was a good eight to ten acres and they had to travel across it diagonally. As the field rose up, obscuring her view, she had to just hope she was heading towards the tip of the reservoir.
‘It’s the third-largest source of vegetable oil and the second-largest source of protein meal in the world. The by-product is an animal feed used for cattle, pigs and poultry. Rapeseed oil is also used as diesel.’
‘Ryan,’ Kim interrupted.
‘Yeah.’
