Provenance I - Flee The Bonds Read Online Free PDF Page B

was quintessentially old English, brick houses and leaded glass windows beneath moss-ravaged thatch. Steve didn’t expect to see anyone. Lower Chilwyn, like most villages, had been all but abandoned and that suited him perfectly.
    A few minutes later they stood outside an innocuous brick building resting against a vacant cottage. Steve swiped his MCD over the alarm, and watched the weather-beaten doors trundle apart. Light glimmered on the sleek shape thrusting out of the gloom. He glimpsed Penny’s face; she didn’t share his enthusiasm.
    Car manufacturers had ceased production when metals became a controlled resource, not that the BAR Aegis had ever been a production model. Its gleaming midnight-black bonnet hid a bio-fuelled Class IV Hypo-turbine, capable of propelling the two tonne armoured Coupé to 150kph in under four seconds. Steve had told Penny he’d inherited the Aegis after the death of his parents. He couldn’t tell her the truth — about either.
    He used this CONSEC Protection Vehicle to transport Council members in, and out of high-risk areas. Not today though, today CPV 06 was going to lunch.
    Their journey to Barlton would take ten minutes. He occasionally glanced across, but Penny contented herself with the passing forest. A bouquet of suicidal pheasants caused Steve to swerve and smile; Jason would have told him to activate the weapons system and go get dinner. Two kilometres later, the Aegis burst out of the forest into the midday sun and headed down the hill.
    Steve parked alongside the other cars in the high street; Barlton had long been popular with the epicurean Continuity.
    He followed Penny to the timber-framed shops lining the street. As usual, a jeweller’s window entranced her. A falling population had resulted in an abundance of second-hand stock.
    Her beaming face almost touched the glass, ‘Wow, look at that. Middle tray, second row down, fourth one in.’
    He leant in, following her finger to a diamond solitaire ring, ‘I can’t see it, it’s hiding behind that ginormous price tag.’
    The point of her elbow found his ribcage. ‘We both know where your credits go.’ Her head turned towards the Aegis. ‘Paying for that thing.’
    Steve nodded at her necklace. ‘And that.’
    Penny’s hand reached up to the silver pendant, the dolphin’s sapphire eye sparkled. She tiptoed and kissed him. ‘Yes. And that.’
    Steve hadn’t bought it, but it was his to give away. Penny’s silver dolphin had an identical twin, buried in a small coffin at Saint Mary’s church on the outskirts of Peterborough.
    He locked his arm into hers. ‘Come on, I’m hungry.’
    The sign for the Blue Boar hung off the front of a crooked building; its brick filled oak frame had stood for over five hundred years. It wouldn’t have to stand for much longer.
    Inside, leaded windows sieved daylight over wooden tables and chairs spread across a flagstone floor. Conversations and the aroma of home-cooked food wafted up to the low ceiling beams and glass lamp holders.
    Steve veered towards the bar. ‘You grab a table, I’ll get the drinks. Usual?’
    ‘No, I’ll have a raspberry fizz please.’
    He returned with two soft drinks and found Penny sitting at a window table.
    A young woman in a coffee dress and beige apron appeared, carrying a menu board and a smile.
    ‘Hello, I’m Mary, welcome to the Blue Boar.’ Her voice carried the accent of a local and her glasses marked her as a Drone.
    While Penny ordered, Steve stared out through the criss-cross windowpanes. You could almost believe in the Potemkin facade, almost.
    An unwelcome voice drew him back to reality, ‘Penny!’
    Her Uncle Celbrohn and three others had arrived at an adjacent table. Steve’s gaze flicked between Celbrohn’s twisted smile and Penny’s furrowed brow. Steve had met the obnoxious Uncle Celbrohn on several occasions. Average build, average height, with a mop of raven hair sitting over a razor-sharp face. His most striking feature