Athena had no opportunity to try and return Ariadne’s call until she had left the party and was back in the privacy of her own room some hours later. Pulling off her heels and collapsing in the middle of the bed, she put in a quick call to her friend.
No answer.
The clock to her left blinked 1am. Ariadne must have already gone to bed. But now that Athena had left the party, her mind was buzzing. How had the mission gone? Was it a success? Perhaps Ariadne was ignoring her calls on purpose, as punishment for not picking up earlier. Dyo would know.
Hey. Are you up?
Yes. I was about to message you actually. Have you heard from Ariadne?
Athena sat up, her heart beating a little faster. Dyo hadn’t heard from her yet?
She tried to call me a few hours ago, but I was talking to Castor at the time, so couldn’t answer. I just tried to call her back but I couldn’t get through. Did she speak to you or Ori after her mission?
Neither I, nor Orion, have heard from her. I’m on my way to meet him now. Do you want to come too?
Where?
The all night bar on the North west corner of Parliament Square. I’ve just arrived.
Okay. I will join you shortly.
Athena didn’t bother to change out of Cress’ glitzy party dress. She threw on the sea green duffel coat Cress had lent her and thrust her feet into a pair of boots by the door. She was out of the building before Dyo had taken a seat in a mahogany booth across from Orion.
The bar had once been the playhouse of the elite, where politicians had sat and bartered over whisky, made taciturn deals over scotch and celebrated their later betrayals over flutes of Moet.
“I hate this place,” Dyo said by way of greeting as he pulled up the collar on his coat, despite the warmth radiating from the solar heater in the disused fireplace.
“I know you do. But everyone in here is too drunk or disillusioned to listen to what we’re saying. I don’t want to be overheard by pop voters.”
Despite the early hour, the bar was still over half full. Its patrons, many starting to look a little worse for wear, were all students and drink was flowing in abundance. Everyone was either talking loudly to their neighbours or staring into the bottom of their glasses. No one would be taking any notice of two boys conversing quietly in a booth. Likewise, no one looked up when the door opened once more and a small girl with short dark hair entered the bar, her fancy party dress and smart coat matched incongruously with a pair of pink trimmed snow boots.
She was out of breath as she slid into the booth beside Dyo, squeezing his hand by way of greeting.
“Have you heard from her yet?” she asked hopefully.
Dyo shook his head while Orion gripped his glass tightly.
“But she should have been back hours ago! Has she tried to call either of you?”
“She did,” Dyo admitted. “But we were checking out a new meeting place for the group with Briseis. Ismene was setting up a feed blocker, so that no one would notice us in there. Unfortunately, it meant that we all missed calls from Ariadne. When we got out and saw the messages, she wasn’t answering.”
“It perhaps wasn’t particularly smart to all be unreachable while such an important mission was going on…”
“We didn’t think we were all un-contactable,” Orion said, his voice full of reproach. “We thought she could get through to you.”
“Oh yes, I’m sure I could have chatted at length about a break in at the FI over drinks with Castor,” Athena replied darkly. But when she saw the look on Orion’s face, she didn’t have the heart to be angry.
“Have you been to the flat, to double check that she’s not back and just ignoring us as punishment for not answering her calls?”
Dyo nodded. “We tried that first. Crazy Cassy hasn’t seen her all day.”
“Do you think she might still be in there?” Athena caught sight of her reflection in the window and realised her face had paled. Poor Ariadne.
“Possibly. She might be stuck and unable to get out. I think we’re going to have to try to go in and get her.”
“Well I will help. Just let me know what I can do.”
“Reception will be closed, so we won’t be able to charm our way in like last time. We’ll have to use one of the back entrances. We know roughly where she is supposed to be, so if Ismene can run interference on their security cameras I don’t think it will be too tricky to get to her. She was planning to hide in the air ducts though, and Orion and I are too big and noisy to use them, so we’ll have to send you in to get to her if she’s still in there.”
“Have you contacted Ismene yet?”
“That’s next on our list. I’ll call her-”
Dyo broke off abruptly, watching words streaming across his glasses. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.
Athena was about to ask him what was wrong when the headline blared across her vision.
SUSPECT APPREHENDED ATTEMPTING TO PLANT A BOMB IN THE HEAD QUARTERS OF THE FREEDOM INSTITUTE.
“No…” Dyo began.
“You don’t think-” Athena continued.
“Bomb? What bomb? She wasn’t planting a bomb!” Orion had spoken loudly in his anger, causing a few of the other drinkers to glance their way. The mood in the bar had altered abruptly. Everyone was scanning the feeds and murmuring nervously.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” Dyo told the others, standing up.
Once they were outside, Orion exclaimed again: “What bomb!”
“Calm down, Orion. We don’t even know for sure it’s her they are talking about.”
“Of course it is! Who else could it be? This explains why she hasn’t been answering. Why she called for help. They caught her and they’re trying to send her down for something much worse than spying! Whatever she got must have been really incriminating… Dyo, we’ve got to help her!”
“We will, don’t worry. We will get her out. But we need to confirm that it is really her first. I’m contacting some of the others now. We will go to the new meeting point and discuss what we’re going to do next.”