Free The Shadow Project by Herbie Brennan Page B

own. Stroke’s made things worse, but I’d already decided I wasn’t going to Cambridge—just hadn’t gotten aroundto telling them yet.”
    Roland stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. “All right,” he said at last. “Supposing we agreed to look after your grandmother as well?”
    Danny blinked. He hadn’t seen that one coming. “I don’t want her in a home,” he said quickly.
    â€œI wasn’t thinking of a home,” Roland said. “I was thinking of a live-in nurse, something of that sort. To keep an eye on her and keep her company. You could send her extra money from your earnings, make her a little more comfortable. And you could be with her outside term time or on the weekends you’re not working for us. It’s not that far from London to Cambridge.”
    â€œBut—” Danny said, then shut up and looked at Roland. Eventually he said, “I don’t think I can do this. She mightn’t even survive the stroke. I can’t start making decisions about the rest of my life until I know for sure what’s happening.”
    Sir Roland said soberly, “Why not compromise—make this a two-stage affair? We could start with an interim arrangement. Your grandmother’s in the hospital now and may be for some time, so you can’t look after her at the moment anyway. You have a couple of months before you have to respond to Cambridge. Join us temporarily, take some of the basic training, get the feel of things, and we can work out something more permanentwhen your situation clarifies. Meanwhile, we can be a lot of help to your grandmother.”
    Sir Roland was smooth, Danny had to give him that. But was he slippery? This was the Secret Service. Once you were in, you were in. All the same…
    â€œOkay, what’s the deal with my Nan? The exact deal?”
    Roland hardly hesitated. “At the moment your grandmother is in a public ward of a second-rate National Health Service hospital. If you’re prepared to join us, she will be moved at once to a private clinic—one of our own, in fact—where she will receive round-the-clock nursing and the most up-to-date medical treatment. She’s had a serious stroke, so there can be no guarantees, I’m afraid, but she will have a much better chance of recovery, and she will be infinitely more comfortable.” He looked at Danny soberly. “I’ve spent far too long here—I’m supposed to see the prime minister this afternoon. Do you want to sleep on my question, or can you give me an answer now? If you do, I’ll make a phone call and have your grandmother transferred right away.”
    â€œI can give you an answer now,” Danny said. “I’ll do it.”
    Sir Roland smiled and flicked open a mobile phone. He dialed, spoke softly for a moment, then flicked it shut again. “Done!” he said to Danny, and stood up.
    As he did so, an alarm began to sound.

19
Dorothy, Saint Luke’s Hospital
    T he Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, Dorothy thought. Well, we all know what the Lord took away, don’t we? And now he’d given her a headache. Funny how much you took for granted. You got a headache, you swallowed an aspirin. If you couldn’t get it for yourself, you asked somebody. Only now you couldn’t. So when the Lord gave you a headache, you kept it.
    Look on the bright side, Dorothy thought. Apart from the headache, she was getting a bit better. Could open her eyes now. Just a slit, but couldn’t do that before. Not that she could see a lot because she couldn’t move her head yet, but it was still an improvement. So she lay there with her headache, looking at the brown stain on the ceiling.
    There were voices in the corridor. Men’s voices and another voice she recognized as the ward sister—right old battle-ax she was too. Sounded as if they were havinga bit of an argument. Men must be doctors,