waterworks and abandoned land, they desperately needed some kind of regeneration. Those who thought about it realised they hadnât seen any planning permission notices, but it had only been three days and they assumed there would be an article in the paper by the weekend. The lorries that had been making deliveries were unmarked, other than a small acorn image on the back door, and the security around the site was tight. The residents had busy lives; three days went by in a blur of offices, school runs and evening meals. No one did anything.
Inside one of the tents, engineer Rob Gorben surveyed the results of the last three nightsâ work. Six large raceway ponds, so named because of their similarity to a racetrack, were set out before him. Each one was 1000 metres square, 35 centimetres deep, lined with cement and fitted with a motorised paddle at one end. The raceways were the most typical design for uncovered algae growing and he and his team had managed to set these six up in just three days, which was a record even for his efficient group. It had helped that they were starting on the site of an old waterworks but they had still had to demolish much of the existing structure and start again. They had been working through the night through the whole 72 hours and they had hit their incredibly tight schedule bang on time, which meant theyâd be in for a sizeable bonus. All that was left now was to fill the ponds and implant the algae. Gorben shut down everything other than the security lights and went home to his family.
Later that evening, Eva returned to her hotel, none the wiser about the identity of Bioavancement S.a.r.l., or what the companyâs business was. She had easily located the building after just a half an hourâs walk, only to find it as impenetrable as Fort Knox. There was a small, rectangular metal plate marking the spot as belonging to Bioavancement S.a.r.l. but the building appeared to be empty as no lights showed at any of the windows, and not a single person had gone near the building for at least an hour. Eva had taken up a position in a café across the street, determined to watch the comings and goings, but no one had come and no one had gone. The office was not located on a particularly busy street but nevertheless there were people going in and out of the apartment block on one side of the Bioavancement S.a.r.l. office, and the floristâs shop on the other. After she had consumed three strong coffees, she had decided to go over and try to get into the building herself on some pretext or other, but the reception bell had gone unanswered and the door â when she tried it â was locked. At this point, Eva had become frustrated and she had turned back towards the hotel. That was when she had spotted Leon.
At first she wasnât sure that it was definitely him, but there was something about the well-built man in the dark baseball cap that reminded her of that moment she had seen Leon for the first time silhouetted against the light from the door in his flat. Over the past few days Eva had done her best to forget about the violence of that incident. Whilst she couldnât dismiss Leon from her mind and had felt almost constantly on edge, she had been so caught up in the documents in the sports bag that she had managed successfully to sideline the shooting. Rather than dwell on the startling events of that night she had chosen to push it to one side and look instead for positive steps forward. Deep down, she knew that if she thought about it too much she would most probably lose her nerve with this whole situation. Right now, what had happened that night â someone getting shot â had seemed almost like a dream. In fact, if it wasnât for the enormous bruise on her leg where he had clipped her with the car then she might even have been able to write it off as just that. But here he was again. On foot this time, but very definitely there.
As Eva made her
Inside one of the tents, engineer Rob Gorben surveyed the results of the last three nightsâ work. Six large raceway ponds, so named because of their similarity to a racetrack, were set out before him. Each one was 1000 metres square, 35 centimetres deep, lined with cement and fitted with a motorised paddle at one end. The raceways were the most typical design for uncovered algae growing and he and his team had managed to set these six up in just three days, which was a record even for his efficient group. It had helped that they were starting on the site of an old waterworks but they had still had to demolish much of the existing structure and start again. They had been working through the night through the whole 72 hours and they had hit their incredibly tight schedule bang on time, which meant theyâd be in for a sizeable bonus. All that was left now was to fill the ponds and implant the algae. Gorben shut down everything other than the security lights and went home to his family.
Later that evening, Eva returned to her hotel, none the wiser about the identity of Bioavancement S.a.r.l., or what the companyâs business was. She had easily located the building after just a half an hourâs walk, only to find it as impenetrable as Fort Knox. There was a small, rectangular metal plate marking the spot as belonging to Bioavancement S.a.r.l. but the building appeared to be empty as no lights showed at any of the windows, and not a single person had gone near the building for at least an hour. Eva had taken up a position in a café across the street, determined to watch the comings and goings, but no one had come and no one had gone. The office was not located on a particularly busy street but nevertheless there were people going in and out of the apartment block on one side of the Bioavancement S.a.r.l. office, and the floristâs shop on the other. After she had consumed three strong coffees, she had decided to go over and try to get into the building herself on some pretext or other, but the reception bell had gone unanswered and the door â when she tried it â was locked. At this point, Eva had become frustrated and she had turned back towards the hotel. That was when she had spotted Leon.
At first she wasnât sure that it was definitely him, but there was something about the well-built man in the dark baseball cap that reminded her of that moment she had seen Leon for the first time silhouetted against the light from the door in his flat. Over the past few days Eva had done her best to forget about the violence of that incident. Whilst she couldnât dismiss Leon from her mind and had felt almost constantly on edge, she had been so caught up in the documents in the sports bag that she had managed successfully to sideline the shooting. Rather than dwell on the startling events of that night she had chosen to push it to one side and look instead for positive steps forward. Deep down, she knew that if she thought about it too much she would most probably lose her nerve with this whole situation. Right now, what had happened that night â someone getting shot â had seemed almost like a dream. In fact, if it wasnât for the enormous bruise on her leg where he had clipped her with the car then she might even have been able to write it off as just that. But here he was again. On foot this time, but very definitely there.
As Eva made her
Similar Books
