Free Bright Angel by Isabelle Merlin Page B

version of their site in English at www.cnes.fr/web/CNESen/5038-geipan.php, which told you a fair bit about how they worked, their history, classifications of UFO sightings, etc, which was very interesting. It was just like Mick had said, and really amazing. Imagine how fun it would be to work there! Like being a detective, only without all the blood and horrible people and scary stuff.
    I sent Jess a link to the site because I knew she would be gobsmacked by it too and told her about meeting Mick and how nice he was and then about the film shoot and everything like that. Not about Daniel though. Didn’t want to waste words on him. I emailed Kate quickly and went back to Google, where I put in Marc Fleury+Orphans of Empire. Up came several references to Fleury which were just about all in French, because of course most of his Eagle’s Children series hadn’t been translated into English yet, only the first one, which was called Appointment in Rome. But going through a fan website I found a link to Les Orphelins de l’Empire, which is of course Orphans of the Empire in French. There was a newsletter on that site that was written in both French and English and a mention of the film being made.
    The entry was weeks old and though it mentioned Marc, producer Jerome Renaud, director Claudine Hernandez, and the main actors, Alexis de Pinson and others whose names I did not know, it did not mention Daniel or his uncle. But then of course he was just a bit player and as to the money man, well, nobody’s that interested in who they are, are they? I was just a bit curious because I know it takes a lot of money to make a film, like, millions, even for a low-budget one, so it amazed me that someone would really just pour heaps of dough into it just to make his nephew happy. The rich really do live in a different world, eh?
    Bored with that, I had clicked out of that search and was doing my usual thing of checking my You Tube channel and looking at other people’s videos too when I heard the door bang, and Claire’s voice, high, loud, scared, calling out for Freddy. My heart hammering, I raced out of the room and into the hall.
    Claire stopped dead. She was with Marc. She was always pale but – if it was possible – she went even whiter when she saw me. She asked, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
    â€˜This is where we’re staying, remember,’ I said.
    Not a good response. She shouted, ‘Where the hell have you been? How did you get here?’
    â€˜I walked.’ When I’m being shouted at like that, I tend to go all quiet. Shut-down. I can sound sarcastic, even when I don’t mean to. It’s just that I hate it. Hate being screamed at.
    â€˜For God’s sake, Sylvie! We’ve been looking for you everywhere! We thought you’d got lost in the woods.’
    â€˜Why the hell would you think that?’
    â€˜Because Daniel – one of the actors – he told us he’d seen you heading there,’ said Marc, speaking for the first time.
    I went cold. Hell, it just had to be the guy who couldn’t stand my guts! Just my bloody luck. ‘What the hell business is it of his what I do?’ I snapped.
    â€˜You know him?’ said Claire, sounding surprised.
    â€˜I met him briefly yesterday. The rudest person in the world. I didn’t know he was an interfering busybody as well, spying on people,’ I said, angrily.
    â€˜He was not spying on you,’ said Marc gently. ‘He just happened to notice. He thought you must have got bored, because we repeated so much, and just went for a walk in the woods. But it is not always safe, you know. And Sylvie, you must understand – Jerome told me – really bad things have happened in Daniel’s life and, well, he doesn’t trust the world much. He expects the worst, always.’
    I felt a sudden pang. I said, gruffly, ‘Well, just because things have gone bad for him