by Gareth Otton
“It’s more than that,” Thomas protested. “There’s something strange about him, like he was holding something back. Trust me, as one of those self-serving arseholes, I can spot the same quality in other people. For all that your friend hates politicians, he shares a lot of the same traits.”
“Maybe you’re reading too much into it,” Tad said, but Thomas didn’t reply.
“There is one thing strange,” Tony pointed out. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet for a while, but Tad assumed he was sulking about being teased.
“What is?”
“For all the topics we covered, no one asked how things were going with Jen?”
Tad blinked, going back through the conversation in his head. They touched on how Stella was doing with the Dream Team, spoke about Tad and the Borderlands Council, and covered so much more. But Tony was right.
“I’m sure it just slipped his mind,” he said. Seeing Tony was about to say something else, he added, “And we need to get going. Let’s not assign too much importance to this. Who knows why he didn’t say anything? Maybe he thought it would upset me.”
Tad tried to ignore how Tony and Thomas shared a look as he prepared to dreamwalk them home. However, Tony had planted a seed of doubt in his mind, and Tad couldn’t help but wonder what that seed might grow into.
◆◆◆
Brad looked up as Jacob and Joseph appeared, the broad-shouldered Texan not at all surprised to see them.
He leaned against a perfect replica of a wooden fence that surrounded his family ranch. Sun bleached grass stretched on for miles with long-horned cattle scattered at irregular intervals. The evening sky was turning purple as the sun set and the temperature was the comfortable warmth that follows a blisteringly hot day.
The scene was familiar after months of meeting Brad in Dream. Since Tad’s departure from the meetings, whoever hosted them followed Jacob’s trend of setting up the equivalent of their backyard. Jacob felt a pang of loss for the days when he and Tad would try to outdo each other to create something outlandish. For all that it stopped less than five months ago, it felt like another lifetime.
“Didn’t go well?” Brad asked, stepping away from the fence and reaching for the coolbox at his feet, pulling out a beer that dripped beads of condensation.
“How did you guess?” Jacob asked, accepting the offered beer and taking a pull. Despite the pleasantness of the meal, he couldn’t shake the tension he felt around Tad these days. As the beer slipped down his throat, chilling his insides, he let himself relax.
“The look on your face.” Brad said, turning away and running a hand over his moustache. “I take it he wasn’t thrilled that we cancelled the meetings.”
“He was disappointed, but he bought what I said. It was other parts of the conversation that didn’t go well. I thought this law they’re trying to pass would show him the truth.”
Brad laughed ruefully.
“He’s more stubborn than one of these bulls when he’s got a notion in his head. It’s how he’s accomplished so much.”
“We’re catching up,” Jacob said, thinking of the progress their dreamwalker army was making.
“Yeah, well, we’re stubborn too.” His smile faded. “I doubt we can turn him around in less than two weeks. Maybe we should push this back. Give him time to come to terms with—”
“No,” Jacob interrupted, recognising the true meaning behind Brad’s words. Jacob heard the nervous whispers that were doing the rounds. The closer they got to the day they would take action, the louder and more fearful those whispers became. “That bill gets voted on the day after Merging Day, and I’m not waiting for those idiots to pass that law before we act. It’s now or never. We’ll just have to convince Tad before then.”
“It’s not enough time,” Brad pressed.
“It has to be.”
“What if it’s not?”
Jacob hesitated and looked at his brother. He was the only one Jacob had spoken to about this, but it was time to share it with someone else.
“In that case, I have a back-up plan. In fact, I need your help, brother.”
Brad took another swig of his beer and sighed before looking at Jacob. “I won’t like this, will I?”
“No, but it’s necessary.” Taking a deep breath as Jacob prepared to speak words he’d hoped would never be necessary. “If we haven’t convinced him before the deadline, we need to take him out.”
Brad looked up sharply.
“I won’t kill him… even if we somehow could. That man saved my life in Chicago. He’s put his life on the line to save innocent people. He’s a goddamned hero and—”
“Calm down. We’re not going to kill him. But… well… you won’t like this option either.”
He laid out his plan and sure enough, it set the big Texan swearing. However, he didn’t back down this time. After five minutes staring out over the Dreamscape that replicated his family’s land, he made his decision.
“I’ll help,” he said. “But you better do everything in your power to change his mind before then. If we do this, he’ll never forgive us.”
“Of course I’ll do my best. You think I want this? You think I wanted to put him through what I’ve already put him through?” He looked away and closed his eyes against the guilt over what he’d put his friend through. “The thing is, it’s this or we kill him. What we’re doing is too important to risk failing, and if he’s out there unchecked, then you know he’s our biggest threat.”
“I don’t like it,” Brad said.
“Me neither. But what we’re doing is bigger than either of us, and it’s bigger than Tad Holcroft. We don’t have a choice.”
This time Brad didn’t answer, he just stared into the distance, looking unhappy. Jacob joined him in silence, and they remained that way until they were interrupted by Simon, the boisterous New Yorker who turned up early for every meeting since Tad stopped coming.
Less than thirty seconds later, another dreamwalker appeared. Then another, and plenty more after that. Twenty minutes later, there were over two-hundred and fifty dreamwalkers present for the meeting that Jacob had told Tad he cancelled.
Pushing down the last of his guilt, he adopted a confident expression, and called this meeting to order. As the penultimate meeting before their big day, there was a lot to go over.
11
Thursday, 24th November 2016
10:11
Tad leaned against a tree at the border of St James’ park, head buried in his phone to hide his famous face. He only looked up when he sensed Tony and Amber approaching. Outside the Borderlands, they were invisible and insubstantial, so they slipped through the pedestrians easily. Tony barely paid any notice, having spent most of his afterlife this way. Amber looked a little wild-eyed though, flinching whenever someone came close to stepping through her like she wasn’t there.
“Any joy?” Tad asked, raising his phone to his ear so it looked like he was taking a call.
“That place is bigger than it looks from the outside,” Tony said. “And there’s a lot of cool stuff inside. In fact, if you—”
“Tony, how did you get on?” Tad asked, cutting off his ghost and making Tony sigh theatrically for Amber’s benefit.
“See what I have to put up with? No appreciation at—”
“Tony,” Tad snapped, his words a touch too loud and drawing attention. He turned away, hoping people wouldn’t recognise him, and ground his teeth in frustration. “Just tell me.”
After a week of dodged calls, Tad decided it was time to force a meeting with the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, doing so was easier said than done thanks to the dreamcatchers Mitena had installed to stop anyone dreamwalking inside. Tad was hoping Tony had found a way around this.
“Norman’s there. He’s in a meeting with that skinny slime-ball you think is a dreamwalker.”
Tad looked up.
“Is he a dreamwalker? Were you spotted?”
“Yes, and yes,” Tony said, wincing when he
had to admit as much. “He looked up the second I entered the room. I must have really surprised him because he looked up so suddenly that even the Prime Minister jumped like he could see me. There was no reason for that guy to react that hard, and I could sense a dreamwalker in that room.”
“You never could before?” Tad accused.
“That’s because I only ever met him when you were around.”
Tad shook his head in frustration, wondering if his senses were letting him down. For some reason, the pale-skinned man with slicked back hair who looked like he belonged in a horror movie more than the House of Commons, had never struck Tad as a dreamwalker.
“So we’re busted? There’s no way you can get me in?”
Tony smiled and shook his head. “I never said that. Yes, we’re busted, but I can get you in. One of the dreamcatchers at the rear of the house is within range so long as I’m merged with you. This is where my lovely assistant comes in,” he said, winking at Amber who rolled her eyes and looked away. “We send Amber inside and you use my strength to extend your range so we can make her real enough to disable that dreamcatcher quicker than you can say—”
He was cut off by Tad’s phone ringing. Considering Tad was holding it next to his ear, the sound almost deafened him, and he flinched, pulling the phone away so he could see the name on the screen. He flinched again, though he should have expected this call.
Thumbing the answer button, he put the phone up to his other ear and said, “Prime Minister.”
“Get in here now. We need to talk. Bring those two ghosts with you.”
There was a click, and the phone went dead.
“We in trouble?” Tony asked.
“We always knew we’d be in trouble. But we’re getting what we wanted, just without having to sneak inside. He wants to see us.”
“Us?” Amber asked, going white. “You mean you and Tony, right?”
“No, all of us,” Tad said, feeling bad for drawing her into the craziness surrounding his life.
“Hey, look on the bright side. At least now you don’t need to break in to the Prime Minister’s home. You’ve been complaining about that for the last ten minutes,” Tony pointed out, earning himself a harsh glare in response.
“This is hardly better,” she complained.
“Come on. Let’s not keep the man waiting,” Tad said, grabbing Tony’s shoulder with his bad hand and Amber’s shoulder with his good, then changing the channel. The greenery of St James’ park was replaced with dark stone and a famous black door with the number ten on it.
Almost as soon as they appeared, the door opened and Ashely Evans stepped out, wrapped in a long black coat that fell to his knees. His gauntness, the paleness of his skin and the fact that not a single hair on his head was of ever out of place, made him look almost vampiric on this chilly November morning. His soulless eyes simmered with an inner hatred that the man didn’t try to hide.
“You’ve got some nerve pulling a stunt like this,” he said as he stepped onto the street. “You should be in jail f—”
“You want to talk about nerve when you’re a dreamwalker who sold out his own people?” Tad asked.
The man smiled a nasty smile before answering, one that crept right up Tad’s spine and made his hairs stand on end. It was the kind of smile you wanted to either punch or run away from.
“The very fact you think that shows how little you know and how you have no business being here. I haven’t sold out anyone, let alone my people. I’m just trying to create a safer future for the country. If that means making hard decisions and upsetting people, then so be it. Sometimes grown-ups have to put aside their feelings and do what’s right. But when you spend all your time with children, you wouldn’t know much about growing up.”
He cast an obvious look at Tony and Amber, proving he could see them, then turned that creepy smile back on Tad.
“You best head inside. He’s waiting, and he wasn’t looking happy when I left.”
Without giving Tad chance to reply, he climbed into a waiting Maybach, the heavy door of the luxury vehicle barely making a sound as it closed behind him. Tad watched the car as it pulled away, the fingers of his damaged hand twitching violently.
He really disliked that man.
He wasn’t wrong though, Tad needed to get inside. As much as it was nice to have confirmation about what kind of man Ashley Evans was, that wasn’t what Tad was here for. Fighting down the discomfort that always followed a meeting with Ashley Evans, he steeled his nerve for the coming confrontation and headed inside.
◆◆◆
Norman stared at Tad from the other side of his desk like he was looking at a lunatic.
“You can’t be serious? You thought I was dodging you, so you broke into one of the most important buildings in Britain? Don’t you see how unstable that makes you look? If the press caught wind of this you’d be ruined, and you’d take the rest of us with you.”
“You’re dodging the issue,” Tad said. “You have been ignoring me for over a week and—”
“I’m the Prime Minister. I have more important things to do than bow down to the wishes of a dreamwalker throwing a tantrum. I didn’t think your ego was so large you would expect otherwise.”
Out the corner of his eye Tad saw Amber cringing from the verbal onslaught, squirming and uncomfortable even if the words were aimed at Tad. By stark contrast, Tony sat in his chair and stared back at the Prime Minister calmly. Over the years, he’d been in enough trouble that this was like any other day for him.
Not so long ago Tad would have been like Amber. However, now all he could think about was everything he’d endured this year. Faced with that, Tad didn’t have it in him to act chastened.
“Forget trying to put me in my place and just tell me why you’ve been avoiding me.”
Norman was about to answer, but again Tad had a moment of sympathy with Stella as he recognised the lie that was building. He had no patience for it.
“Whatever you were about to say, I’m not interested. I want the truth. You’ve been breathing down my neck since the Merging, yet now that I need to speak to you about something important, you’re missing in action. What are you trying to hide?”
“Tad, I don’t know what you’re—”
“Enough!” Tad shouted, smacking the desk in frustration and calling over a touch of Dream without thinking. A thunderclap sounded in the confined space and the Prime Minister flinched like he’d been shot. Amber almost fell off her chair in surprise, and even Tony flinched.
Recognising he was losing control, Tad forced himself to calm down.
“Enough,” he repeated. “I have done a lot for you and asked very little in return. The least I can expect is the truth. Tell me why you’ve been dodging me and why you’ve let this ridiculous bill go so far.”
Norman stared at Tad’s hand on the table, looking shell-shocked. It was a rare slip up from the unflappable Prime Minister. He only snapped out of it when there was another crash and the door flew open as armed men poured in, guns raised.
“It’s okay,” Norman said, regaining his composure and raising his hands to ward them off. “I’m not hurt. It was just a… misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding?” Amelia asked as she stepped into the room behind the men, giving Tad a look like she knew exactly who was to blame. “It sounded like a cannon fired.”
“Please, I’m alright. Thank you for your concern.”
None of the men looked convinced, but lacking any sign of damage, they backed out of the room, glaring at Tad as they went. Amelia looked at Norman, sharing one of their private looks that somehow communicated far more than Tad would ever understand.
“I’ll be alright, Amelia. I can handle this.”
She hesitated, glared at Tad for ten slow seconds, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
“That’s why,” the Prime Minister said. “I was trying to avoid a scene like that. You’re getting more unstable by the day. You’re
avoiding your duties, and when you are here, you’re either mentally checked out or argumentative. I understand your reasons, but we both know how important you are and I can’t have our enemies learning you’re so unstable.”
“That’s just another excuse,” Tad said, but with less confidence. Norman’s words hit close to his own realisations, but he refused to be put off. “That situation would never have happened if you just answered my calls. And if I’m argumentative, then I think this bill will tell you why.”
“You didn’t even know about this bill,” the Prime Minister pointed out.
“No, but I know about a lot of the other stupid ideas that council has come up with. They’re a bunch of frightened idiots who want to control dreamwalkers at best, and eradicate us at worst. Look at this bill. If it passes, those numpties in the DT Tactical team will have the green light to kill me or any other dreamwalker they so much as think may be a problem. It makes us less than human in the eyes of the law, and you know that.”
Norman opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again. He had a politician’s answer prepared, probably another diversion to change the topic. However, recognising that a canned response wasn’t right for the moment, he thought for a second before answering. It gave Tad hope that he might hear the truth.
“I do know that, and I’m every bit as appalled as you are. However, I’m in a minority. You know as well as I that people lose objectivity when they’re frightened. You and I see this bill as extreme, but most people see it as a way to keep them safe. The human rights of others pale in comparison to personal safety.”
“So we’re just going to let it pass?”
“I think you overestimate just how much power a Prime Minister has. I can’t just walk in and impose my will on parliament, it doesn’t work that way. There is a lot of support for this bill, and if I just come out as dead-set against it, then it will only turn more people against me. The best thing I can do is act reasonable like I am on their side and chip away at this thing piece by piece. People are more likely to see reason from an ally than an enemy.”