The Bloodline Cipher by Stephen Cole

recalling what she’s already said ahead of answering, plenty of eye contact …’ Tye paused. There was a lot more to her human polygraph act than simply reading body language. That stuff she thought of as supporting evidence for her gut instinct; the same instinct that had kept her alive in her smuggling days. But Tye knew Coldhardt preferred opinions to be backed up with facts, so she continued with the surface stuff: ‘Maya usually glanced to her left when recalling precise detail. As a right-handed person, she’d be more likely to look to her right if she was making it up.’
    Coldhardt nodded brusquely. ‘In short, then, you would say the signs add up to someone who is telling the truth?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Tye.
    â€˜Good,’ said Coldhardt. ‘That tallies with my own observations. Nothing in Maya’s behaviour so far has seemed suspicious. But for the time being she will continue to be looked after in the Chamonix safe house, away from the heart of my organisation. And I will continue my excavations into her past.’ He nodded decisively. ‘They may throw light on her future.’
    â€˜I guess with a man who’s been dead thirty years back on the scene,’ said Motti, ‘it’s not a great time to take chances on stray girls.’
    â€˜Like each of you in the past, she must prove herself. She and Jonah can work together on translating the Guan Yin manuscript files.’
    Nice and cosy
. Tye frowned. ‘Is the safe house secure enough? I mean, if you’re expecting possible trouble –’
    â€˜Entrance to the block is secured by fingerprint and retinal scan,’ Motti informed her. ‘And the windows are made with aluminium oxynitride, capable of keeping out point-fifty calibre armour piercing rounds. Each room is fitted with panic screens – vanadium steel shutters that block the doorway in response to a key phrase –’
    â€˜It’s secure,’ Patch translated.
    â€˜At all times there will be back-up for Jonah present in the safe house.’ Coldhardt looked at Tye. ‘Con can remain there overnight, then the rest of you for twelve-hour shifts. Devise a rota.’
    She nodded.
Starting with me
. ‘Got it.’
    â€˜For now, you may all go and rest.’
    They rose to go.
    â€˜One last thing. The acquisition of the Guan Yin manuscript marks the starting point of a journey … a dangerous journey, no doubt, but one that may prove to be the most important of my life, and of yours.’ Coldhardt looked at each of them in turn. ‘If Heidel has truly returned … if this proof of which he speaks means what I think it does …’ He trailed off, eyes clouding as he stared into the darkness of the TV screens. ‘We must be strong. All of us.’
    Tye swapped uneasy glances with Motti and Patch. They lingered for any more pronouncements, but Coldhardt remained silent. The hum of the strip lights, the distant rush of the air-con systems, all the background noise of the hub seemed somehow alien and amplified as they waited.
    â€˜Class dismissed,’ Motti breathed at last, and led the way over to the lift that would take them to daylight. Tye looked back at Coldhardt, their charismatic leader and mentor. Right now he seemed just another lonely old man, locked into his thoughts, mourning times past.

Chapter Eight
    Jonah shut the blinds on the stunning scenery outside with a nick of nostalgia, smiling as the glow from his monitor lit the room instead of the sun. How many summer days had he spent indoors, engrossed in that digital view while the rest of the world basked in sunshine?
    The safe house boasted a desktop PC with multi-core CPU. While Con amused herself with a family-sized bag of crisps and the TV, he’d tweaked the motherboard to run faster and installed a water-cooling kit to stop it overheating as a result of the increased speed. Then, as Coldhardt had requested,