20
Karen left strict orders with the mission team that they shouldn’t tell Raef that she knew about his abandonment of Coppélia. She didn’t want them to actually lie to him – that would make her no better than he was – but she’d rather they didn’t volunteer the information. She would deal with him when he got back from Mars.
Five days after the mayday call, Raef’s hopper pulled up outside the villa the couple shared with their children. It was early evening, and he was quite surprised how quiet the place was; the family knew that he was due back from his business trip and he’d expected the children to come out to the veranda to welcome him home.
But the only thing he could hear was the chirruping of crickets.
He opened the trunk of his car and took out his travel bag, throwing it over
