An hour later, and Danny was waiting at the airport. Next to him stood Mick and Kristogar Velo. Mick was staring intently at a German tourist brochure.
Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone.
He remembered when he'd got this. A few months ago now, not long after they'd relocated to the island. Pete paid for them, and Kit arranged them, and now just about everybody on the team had one. Nobody paid them much attention except Danny. They all viewed the phones as a perfectly normal way to keep in touch. To be placed in pockets and forgotten until you need to make an urgent call, or order a pizza. But Danny... when they first got them, Danny had found them strange. Bulky. Yet another space-consuming thing to carry around. Along with his passport, and wallet, and other stuff he had never been used to.
He remembered a time when he could place a tiny earplug into his ear and operate it with voice commands. And he could talk to anyone in the world with it.
This was one of thousands of tiny irritations that had bugged Danny ever since he got to this time. The mundane details of everyday life that had made life unbearable. That had just about driven him insane. He turned the phone over and over in his hand. This thing had driven him nuts for months.
But now he barely noticed it.
Looking up Grimm's number in the phone's memory, he hit the button to dial. After waiting a moment, he was diverted to Grimm's voicemail.
"Grimm. Message. Beep," Came the recorded greeting. Danny waited for the beep, then began to speak.
"Grimm? It's Danny. I'm leaving this message with the field leaders of both missions, so I'll be talking to Chance in a second as well. I just wanted to ask you to check in with me on arrival. Then let me know the second you find anything... or, you know, anything important happens that I should know about. Not to sound like a control freak or anything, but... well, I'd just like us all to keep in touch. And I'd like an idea of exactly how we're all doing. You know? Right. Okay. Talk to you later."
Danny hung up, then dialled Chance's number. After a few rings, there was an answer.
"Hello?"
"Kris? It's Danny."
"Hi. What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to ask you to check in with me as soon as anything happens. I'm trying to keep us all in touch. And I want to gather an idea of how the mission's going. I've asked Grimm, now I just wanted to ask you. Since you're leading your mission and all."
"I am?"
"You are."
"Okay then."
"Okay. So you'll give me a call when anything happens?"
"Sure. Not a problem."
"Thanks. Oh, and Kris...?"
"Yes?"
"I'd like you to keep an eye on Ed. He's seemed... I don't know... stressed out or something lately. Just... keep an eye on him."
