Dark Embers

by R. L. Giddings

  There was commotion just at the mention of Kinsella’s name. Various people wanted to know where he was and why he wasn’t on-stage answering his critics.

  It didn’t seem fair.

  O’Hagen spoke over the hubbub. “Niall Kinsella’s involvement with Sunday’s attack is yet to be determined. At present he is being held in protective custody until the issues surrounding his involvement can be resolved.”

  Was Macmillan trying to shield him or vilify him? It was difficult to tell.

  A hand went up in the auditorium and there was a short pause while the microphone was taken across.

  “What about the other two Sidhe members who are still at large? Any news about them?”

  Again, there was up-roar from the people in the stalls. I experienced a sense of dis-orientation turning quickly to panic. No one yet knew about the discovery of the burned corpse.

  Macmillan turned as if to defer to O’Hagen but the American indicated that he should answer.

  “Again, we’ve only just received details of what is an on-going situation. A body has been found on the Thames estuary at Shoreditch. The body has yet to be identified as there are real concerns that it may well be booby-trapped but we’re fairly confident that we’re looking at a member of the same Sidhe cell.”

  If that were true, then that accounted for all five of the terrorists. Two blown up, one burnt, one drowned and one in custody.

  But who had been responsible for these other two deaths? Might Kinsella be somehow involved? Something didn’t add up.

  A number of people were signalling for the microphone but Macmillan had had enough and was packing his notes away. He quickly left the stage, prompting the other members of the Inner Council to rise to their feet.

  O’Hagen ended the session, intimating that there would be an opportunity for further questions later.

  Millie turned to me. “What do you think?”

  “I think Macmillan knows a lot more than he’s letting on.”

  “I’d agree. Problem is, everyone’s attention is now going to be on tracking down the fifth member of the cell. Do you think that we should say something?”

  “Like I said: it’s a question of who we can trust.”

  We started moving along the row.

  Millie said, “Did you see the way that they all stood up for Macmillan at the end. It’s pretty clear who they see as favourite to lead the War Council.”

  Whoever won the largest share of the votes invariably took on the role. The remaining places were filled by the six most popular figures after that.

  “What about O’Hagen?”

  Millie made a sour face. “I don’t think so. That was a well-honed double act with Macmillan as front-runner and O’Hagen as his running mate.”

  We both watched while the seating on the stage was re-arranged.

  I said, “If O’Hagen can persuade the other Americans to come on board – which isn’t unlikely – then they’d already have a majority backing him.”

  “And, let’s be honest, no one else made much of an impact. I mean, can you remember any of their names?” I mean, who would you vote for?”

  She had a point. Other than those two, no one had really stood out.

  There was some shouting coming from behind us and we both turned to look across to the exit on the far side of the dress circle. Edwin was coming towards us, running down the steps two at a time. He had to push past the people exiting our row before quickly coming across to us.

  “They’re outside,” he said. “We have to go.”

  “Who is?” I said. He wasn’t making much sense.

  “They’re here to arrest you.”

  He was looking directly at Millie.

  She laughed, “For what?”

  “They don’t need a reason. Let’s go.”

  He took her hand and started leading her through the seats towards another door on the left hand side of the balcony. I followed as best as I could but it was awkward going as we had to step over various coats and bags. When we got to the far aisle we had to push through a group of people who were chatting amongst themselves.

  There was a commotion behind me. More raised voices.

  Edwin pushed Millie ahead of him and then turned to me.

  “Get her out of here.”

  “Why what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to try and buy you some time.”

  Edwin’s eyes started to go wide and I stepped away from him. I could feel the seats start to vibrate as he drew the energy into himself. I pushed Millie along, feeling a prickling sensation running across my back. When I looked back, I saw Edwin shifting into position.

  Three men were moving along the balcony, climbing over the backs of seats in their eagerness to get to us. All three were well-built and all three were wearing well-fitting suits. In other circumstances, it might have seemed comical.

  Edwin’s hands twitched and a loud sound like a whip being cracked, echoed around us. A pulse of super-heated energy struck the ground just in front of them, throwing seats high into the air. Two of the men were knocked back over the impact while the third, who was coming from slightly higher up and to the right, tripped and fell face first down the steps.

  I planted my palm between Millie’s shoulder blades and pushed. She staggered up the steps and I followed. The exit was maybe ten long steps away. We were good to go.

  I should have kept going. Should have focussed on the door and gone for it. We had a decent head start.

  But my head turned at the noise. A hard smack, like someone performing a painful belly-flop. There was also something familiar about the smell too. Like the aftermath of a rainstorm.

  There was no sign of Edwin, no matter where I looked. The three men were back on their feet, fanning out now, their initial confidence shaken. I almost didn’t see the woman. Head of dark hair, white trench coat cinched at the waist.

  “Over there,” Millie said and pointed to our left.

  Edwin was five metres back from where I’d last seen on the front row of the balcony. He’d been fortunate not to be hurled over the hand-rail. He was struggling to regain his feet.

  But, in doing so, he was presenting whoever had hit him the first time with a perfect target. And it was a long way down to the seats below.

  I pushed Millie towards the exit. She didn’t need telling twice and bolted through the door.

  I stayed where I was, trying to work out who it was that had attacked Edwin.

  Not the guys in the suits, that much was obvious.

  The woman then?

  She was already straightening her arm, getting ready to release. Only she was taking her time. Savouring the moment.

  “Don’t!” I shouted, lurching forward.

  That’s when I saw the glove.

  That’s when I realised who I was up against.

  Valeria.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  There was a sound mixing desk just behind her, I’d seen it when we first came in.

  It was either that or killing her.

  I forced myself to concentrate. Tried to visualise the faders on the panel. Were they black or white? A small but important detail.

  Something told me they were white.

  I pictured a long row of them and then I pushed.

  The feedback was so loud and unexpected that it triggered something primal in everyone. Millions of years of evolution were wiped away as people hunkered down to cover their ears.

  I avoided the worst of it. I’d covered mine ahead of time but still, the shock of it was almost debilitating.

  It lasted less than a couple of second but that was more than long enough.

  As I walked back down the row I’d come from, one of the men started to come across in my direction.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I kept my eyes locked on Valeria.

  She was still rubbing her ears when I got to her, opening her mouth wide in a decent impression of a goldfish.

  “The rumour was tha
t you’d gone to live in Scotland,” she said. “Taken up knitting.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you.”

  She flicked a hand in the direction of the men, dismissing them.

  I took the opportunity to check on Edwin. He was leaning against the back of a seat looking shell-shocked.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be in prison after the way you betrayed us?”

  She couldn’t help biting her lip. “Nothing was ever proven.”

  I indicated her gloved hand. “All that work you did for Kohl and he didn’t even have the decency to fix your hand. How is it nowadays? Do you still dream of chopping it off? I could help you with that, if you like.”

  Valeria took a moment to re-arrange her hair.

  “You know, you’ve changed, Bronte. You used to be such a mousey little thing. Now you’re all aggressive and confident. I’m not sure it suits you.”

  “And I don’t like you targeting innocent people.”

  “You talking about your flatmate? I think we both know what’s going to happen to Millie. She’s going to end up in the cell next door to Kinsella. And you’ll be on the other side. At the end of the day, it’s all about who you allies are. Unfortunately for you, it looks like you picked the losing side.”

  “Yeah, I suppose this has worked out pretty well for you. Kinsella kicks you out of the Bear Garden and you manage to switch over to the Inner Council. Who is it you’re working for now? It’s not Macmillan, I know that for a fact. He’d suss you out in a minute. So, who is it then?”

  She leaned in to me, raising her index finger as if she was about to tap me on the nose. I stepped back.

  “You’re right, of course. It’s not Macmillan for the simple reason that Macmillan is about to become yesterday’s news. You’ll see. No, you’re just going to have to wait ‘til tomorrow to find out who I’m working for.”

  “What’s so special about tomorrow?”

  Valeria looked at the main stage and gave a contented smile.

  “It’s already been decided. They’re going to be holding the nominations for the War Council tomorrow morning. Won’t that be exciting?”

  “No, Valeria, it won’t. The idea of going to war with the Sidhe is, frankly, madness. We need to sit down with them and work out a diplomatic solution.”

  “Which is sort of what I thought you’d say. But you can’t stand in the way of democracy. Tomorrow we get to see the candidates before the big vote on Thursday. The leadership race.”

  “But we saw them all just now. And they didn’t exactly fill me with confidence.”

  “Not all of them, perhaps. But there’s bound to be a few surprises. Let’s leave it at that, shall we.”

  I was still thinking about her words as I helped Edwin negotiate the steps back towards the exit.

  *

  I wanted to take Edwin to hospital. I suspected that he’d cracked a rib or two but, as he pointed out, there was very little that they could do for him even if they did detect a fracture. I ended up putting him in a taxi and sending him home.

  Then I rang Millie to check that she was alright and we arranged to meet in the square at front of St. Pauls. It was a lovely sunny day with people dressed in t-shirts and shorts so I tracked back along the south side of the river before crossing the Millennium Bridge and from there on to St Paul’s.

  It was lunch-time by the time I arrived and the area was over-run with young men and women from the surrounding offices, eating their sandwiches and enjoying the sun.

  It took me a while to spot Millie but when we finally met up we went and sat on a little grassy picnic area on the south east side of the cathedral. The place was heaving but we managed to find a place on the grass. Millie took off her coat and we both sat on that.

  She’d bought two packs of sandwiches and a big pack of crisps from the little M&S supermarket across the way. She’d also brought two cans of gin and tonic and we drank those straightaway. There was no way that we could go back to the theatre now so we decided to make the most of our freedom. We were revelling in the novelty of being able to eat outside after such a long winter.

  Once we’d finished our crisps and sandwiches, I quickly filled Millie in on what had happened with Valeria.

  “I can’t believe they were going to arrest me,” Millie said.

  “They’re not after you, its Kinsella. They don’t want any dissenting voices with the election coming up. They’d most likely keep you in custody until after the election and then let you go afterwards. Edwin thinks you’ll be safe as long as you keep your head down. The Council’s got more than enough to be dealing with at present.”

  “But what if they come round to the flat?”

  “Then they’ll get a nasty shock. Kinsella had all the protective wards upgraded over that incident with Kohl so you’re completely safe on that front. If the worst comes to the worst you’ll have to sit in your room and get Edwin to run down to the shops for you.”

  “By the sound of it, I don’t think Edwin’s going to be running anywhere for a while.”

  “You still like him then?”

  “I’m still interested, if that’s what you mean. Every time I see him he’s always so serious. I was hoping we’d be able to meet up for a drink later but that’s not going to happen now.”

  “Yeah, Valeria wasn’t messing about.”

  “But you sorted her out,” Millie tapped my foot lightly. “Did she say anything to you? Try to warn you off as well?”

  “No, she didn’t,” I said pulling my knees into my chest. “Quite the reverse. She kept telling me how exciting tomorrow’s nominations were going to be.”

  Millie made a face, “Really! I can’t think of anything worse. Did you mention to Edwin about the dead guy?”

  “No. And I didn’t say anything about the Seelie Blade either. I’ve been thinking: if the Sidhe are so keen to get a hold of it then perhaps we could use it as some kind of bartering tool.”

  “What about Silas? Wasn’t that the deal? You find the knife and they help you get him back.”

  I flinched at the sound of his name. Just hearing it was enough to bring back painful memories. But I couldn’t give into that now or else I’d crumble.

  “I don’t put any real store into that.”

  “But you’re still serious about trying to track it down?”

  “The knife? Yes. I think it might give us some leverage. And, with Macrory’s help, we could be onto something.”

  I took a sip of my gin and tonic and tried to act normally but I was still upset.

  Then Millie said, “What about Macmillan?”

  “What about him?”

  “Perhaps we should tell him about all this. I think we could do a lot worse. At least he’s not on Valeria’s side.”

  I considered this for a moment. “I doubt we could even get in to see him. He’s far too busy.”

  “But there is one way of guaranteeing that he’ll see you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “And that is?”

  “Get your hands on the Seelie Blade. Do that and he’ll have to listen to you?”

  *

  We went to Covent Garden for the afternoon. It was lovely. We wandered around the designer stores. We went into the Apple store which was inundated with Japanese tourists and got chatted up by one of the salesmen. Then we spent an hour browsing the stalls in the market. Millie bought us a pair of tea-light holders for the flat and I bought us an ice-cream each as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for the sandwiches.

  I thought that we might not enjoy being in such a busy location after the events of the morning but it turned out to be the perfect choice. The fact that we were surrounded by so many tourists made us feel doubly safe and we both relished the freedom of wandering around pricing up things we couldn’t hope to afford.

  We lasted until four o’clock and then we had to go home and face Macrory. Millie hadn’t said anything but I could tell that she wasn’t relishing the idea of having him as a long-te
rm house-guest. So when we got back to the flat, I was quite relieved when he told me his plans for the evening.

  He’d managed to get us invited to Daniel Cardoza’s house for supper.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Cardoza lived in Kingston-upon-Thames which meant we had to get a train over there. When we arrived, I looked to see if we could get a bus from the station but Macrory was having none of it. He said that we simply couldn’t arrive at Cardoza’s on foot. He was adamant that we take another cab and I was equally adamant that he pay for it. We compromised by agreeing to pay half each but, when we pulled up outside Cardoza’s, Macrory found that he’d left his wallet at home.

  I didn’t say anything but I was furious with him. I calmed myself by swearing a secret oath. There was no way that I was going to pay for the return taxi. I’d rather crawl back to the station on my hands and knees rather than open my purse again. He was taking advantage.

  Cardoza had a beautiful house. It was a gorgeous summer’s evening with only the sound of birdsong and the distant thrum of traffic in the background. It didn’t feel like London at all, which I suppose, is the reason the area is so sought after. It was part of a private estate and while there were service roads leading off in different directions, all the properties were obscured from one another by careful land-scaping.

  The drive consisted of slate gray tiles. They were all so perfectly arrayed that when they caught the light they shimmered like the surface of a lake. It was a ridiculously extravagant feature which was, at the same time, undeniably beautiful.

  The main house was a different matter. Only a few years old it was modelled on the white fronted houses normally found in Belgravia. A lot of thought had gone into the little details: the Palladian columns around the front door, the wrought iron balconies and the subtle up-lighting. It was a very clever architectural exercise which looked glaringly out-of-place in a rural setting. There was no escaping the thought that you were looking at a well-crafted copy of a nobler building.

  The taxi driver’s eyes lit up when he saw the place. He was obviously anticipating a sizeable tip. He was destined to be disappointed.