The Eidolon Read Online Free PDF

too.”
    “What?”
    “I had them on File-Safe.”
    “The commercial server?”
    “Yeah, but they got into it. My guess is they keylogged my login.” Do you have anything else?”
    “I’ll call you back.” I hung up.
     
     
    I BOLTED DOWN the stairwell and pushed through the door leading to the small strip of garden which we shared with the Randles. At the far end was a small shed. It’s well built and full of rusty tools left by the old man who was here before us. I unlocked the heavy padlock and the door creaked as I swung it open. A few years ago I had fixed a metal lock-box against the wall, and I kept my backup discs and keys in there. It’s cheaper than storage on a remote electronic server, and although it’s old fashioned, it feels like I have more control. I opened the box and took out the contents, then knocked on Jenny Randle’s door and asked if I could use her computer.
    All of the discs were blank.
     
     
    “W IPED ?” SAID C HRIS when I called him back. “And you’re sure the box was locked?”
    “It must have been an electromagnet on the outside wall.”
    I heard Chris blow out a long breath.
    “No one knew about that locker, Chris. No one. Who the hell’s doing this?”
    “I called Zimmer. He says we need to let it go. No police, he said. It wouldn’t get us anywhere.”
    I ran my hand through my hair. “Oh, come on. We can’t just let this go! This isn’t just shutting down a project – it’s wiping out any evidence that it ever happened!”
    “Let it go, Robert. Whatever it is, it sounds like you don’t want it in your life. Look, call Zimmer yourself if you like. But you won’t get anywhere.”
    I did, and Chris was right. Zimmer was a wall. I don’t think he really knew what was going on, but he sounded scared. “It’s above our heads, Robert,” he said. “This is right from the top. It’s not worth it.”
    “It’s not worth it? It’s not worth everything we did for that project, for all those years? Come on, Zimmer! What happened to you?”
    “Leave it, Robert. Please. You won’t win this one. Let it go.”
    He said he’d do what he could to get me a place at Cavendish, but he couldn’t promise.
    I hung up in disgust, but I was shaken, more than I wanted to admit. I knew he was right.
     
     
    I HEARD THE front door open. Cora walked in, pulling a scarf laced with sparkly strands from around her neck.
    “What are you doing home so early?” she asked.
    She was dressed in jeans and a purple top that was too big for her and her hair was swept up on her head in the way that it usually was. Her jewellery was unchanged – plain leather bands around her slender wrist, a single, broad, silver ring on her thumb and the silver ring I bought her which she wore on a cord round her neck. She used to wear it on her index finger until she stopped eating well and it became too big for her. For all of her shiny accessories, her face still had a haunted look that had been there since her sister died.
    “What’s wrong?” She regarded me through narrowed green eyes beneath dark lashes.
    “I... eh. I got some bad news today.”
    “What’s happened?”
    “They’ve closed down the lab.”
    “What?”
    “No warning – even Zimmer didn’t know till this morning.”
    “Why, was it dangerous?”
    “No, nothing like that. We don’t know what’s going on. All we know is that we get a month’s pay, but the project’s finished.”
    “But can they do that? I mean, after everything you’ve done?”
    “They just did, Cora.”
    “Oh, Robert, I’m sorry...” Being bitter about it all was easy, but when she put arms around me, and held me tight, I felt like a child. For a moment, I was anchorless, like I couldn’t remember who I was any more. “After all your work,” she whispered. She stroked my hair. The fury melted into despair and threatened to spill onto my cheeks; I pulled away from her before it did.
    She held onto my hand, squeezing it gently. Her palm was cool