Chapter 63

63

Anthony

‘You look as if you’ve had better days,’ a woman’s voice began.

Anthony turned sharply and saw Eleanor Harrison. He had been too wrapped up in his own world to notice her arriving or taking a seat next to him at the station platform. She wasn’t facing him. Instead, her attention was affixed to a digital billboard poster advertising a new autonomous motorbike. A stocky man in a dark-blue suit stood a few feet away from her. Anthony’s fingers eased their grip of the bench and he lowered himself back down.

‘Your visit to Westminster was naive,’ Harrison continued.

‘I didn’t know where else to go. Hyde is ignoring my calls and you’re my only link to him.’

‘Lucky old me then,’ she replied. ‘So what do you want?’

Anthony paused as carriages rattled along the tracks. Commuters entered and exited before it pulled away again.

‘Why is Hyde targeting my wife and our marriage?’

‘Why do you think?’

‘I resigned from my job, not the Act.’

‘It doesn’t matter. He can do as he wants. And it’s not as if anyone will listen if you complain. And you know what, Mr Alexander? I’m afraid I really don’t care, as callous as it sounds. Your nearest and dearest will pay for your conscience. But as long as you believe you’ve done the right thing, then I suppose that’s all that matters, isn’t it? And I’m sure when he’s older, your son will look back fondly at his time spent in a Young Citizen Camp.’

Anthony’s blood ran cold. ‘The camps they’re proposing, they’re just wrong, you must know that?’

‘Just because I turn a blind eye does not mean I cannot see, Mr Alexander.’

‘Then why aren’t you doing something to stop them? You have a voice.’

‘For the same reason you have always done as you were told. Because you and I have a quality of life that we prefer to maintain. And there is no place in your world or mine for morality.’

‘So I have no choice?’

‘You have a child, don’t you?’ she asked.

Anthony nodded.

‘We all have choices,’ she continued. ‘You have to ensure you’re making the right ones for him.’

‘Once this project is finished will Hyde let me leave?’

Another set of carriages appeared at the station. Harrison rose to her feet and patted out a crease in her skirt. ‘I shall inform him that you’ll be back at your desk in the morning. In the meantime, go home and tell your wife this has all been a misunderstanding.’

She didn’t wait for his response. Instead, flanked by her security detail, Harrison left as she arrived, quickly and without making eye contact.