Even so, she continued to move with caution and then, just as she thought she could make one final dash for safety, she heard the sound of a gun. It was fired once and was followed immediately by the scream of a woman. She threw herself to the ground and rolled over into the undergrowth of a tall, leafy bush. She lay absolutely still.
**********************
There was blood everywhere. The beautiful carpet was soaked with it.
‘You do bleed a lot, don’t you.’ said Gill.
Cooper’s arm was bleeding and he was not amused.
‘What a shit!’ said Euan. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t shoot her, or don’t you care for your wife?’
‘He doesn’t care for anyone but himself,’ said his wife in a sulky voice. Euan glanced across at her. She was beautiful in every sense of the word: her face, her figure, her voice and her clothes. Yet, Cooper had been willing to sacrifice her.
Euan smiled at her. ‘Just as well I don’t like shooting pretty women,’ he said.
‘Then untie me,’ she demanded.
‘No chance, lassie.’
‘What about my children? What have you done to them?’
His look hardened. ‘We don’t harm children either,’ he said. ‘They’re fine.’
Gill straightened up. ‘Just a shoulder wound. He’ll live,’ she announced.
‘Pity,’ said Euan. ‘I’m obviously losing my touch.’
‘You’re doomed to failure,’ said Cooper. ‘You know that, don’t you? You may win the battle, but we’ll win the war.’
‘Not very original, is he?’ said Gill, packing up her bag.
Cooper glared at her and then turned back to Euan. ‘You think the people you protect are so precious?’ he said. ‘You romanticise them, give them a place they’ve never had, and could never have. The prisons are full of murderous black men. Our white girls are raped and abused by Asians who have nothing but contempt for us, who care nothing for our ways or our culture.
‘Who are you to create a God for such people? They would rape your daughter, make you watch and then cut your throat. And they would laugh as they did so. These are your people. It’s a joke. Matrix is God to the very people who hate and despise him – people who don’t deserve to live.
‘Look at what we have to offer. The purity of the white ideal, the values of a noble tradition – tried, trusted and successful. We are the foundations of the old civilization and the towering edifices of the new. We are the past, the present and, most important, the future. In us, the future not only lives but thrives. We are the messengers of hope and life. You are the harbingers of misery and despair.’
‘Oh, do shut up!’ said his wife bitterly.
Euan smiled. He always enjoyed a happy marriage.
**********************
Euan stood outside taking in the morning air. He had wandered out of the extensive property and was pleased to be away from the rich trappings of an unhappy family.
‘What a bastard!’ said a voice next to him. ‘Not only was he willing to sacrifice his wife – whom he beats on a regular basis, by the way – but he didn’t even notice that I’d changed colour.’ Euan turned round and faced him. The servant he’d met in the hallway held out his hand. ‘I’m Noah, by the way,’ he said.
Euan took his hand carefully. He remained wary. He had learnt that much. ‘I am Azrael,’ he said.
‘I’ve heard of you.’
‘Have you now?’
‘You’re important.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘He talks about you, him and his friends. They talk about Matrix and his Inner Circle. You’re part of the Inner Circle, aren’t you?’
‘We don’t call it that. That’s a Fabian term.’
Noah ticked off the names with his fingers. ‘There’s Matrix, he’s practically the devil, to hear them talk. Harrison is scared shitless of him, you know. Calls him the beast. Then there’s the General, Azrael, Cadros and the Doctor.’
‘You know a lot.’ Euan’s mind began to tick over.
‘Can I join the Brotherhood?’ asked Noah. ‘Can I be a Blood Brother?’
Euan was thinking. ‘We’ll have to see,’ he said carefully. ‘First of all, you would have to prove yourself to us.’
‘I just did. I gave my clothes and gloves to one of your men.’
‘More than that.’
Noah narrowed his eyes. ‘You want me to kill someone?’
Euan laughed. ‘Worse than that: I want you to testify in court against Fabian.’
‘You may not realise this,’ said Noah quietly. ‘But I’ve just gone pale.’
‘A sense of humour is always useful, too.’
‘I wasn’t joking.’
‘Will you do it?’
Noah sucked in some air and looked at the sky; he sighed. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I will.’
**********************
Euan felt pleased with himself. He had made his report to Matrix and had the soldier’s satisfaction of having pleased his leader. He looked out at a deserted road. The residents had either fled from their homes or barricaded themselves in, hoping the revolution would pass them by. It hadn’t. During the night Bràithreachas had systematically taken the neighbourhood apart. It had been a prime target. It contained a large number of Fabians, the top layer and their supporters. It had been a hard night, but a good one, and Euan was exhausted. Matrix had ordered him to take some rest. Since Matrix himself had not slept properly since the start of the revolution Euan was not inclined to do so either; there was still too much to do.
He glanced across the road to some bushes and was surprised to see movement amongst the leaves. He pulled his gun out. It was probably a cat, but he was not going to take any chances. He moved across to a brick pillar placed at the edge of Cooper’s grounds. It was one of two sitting either side of the driveway. It was tall and narrow; on top of it sat a stone lion. Euan moved in close and peered once more into the bushes across the road. Perhaps he’d imagined it. He was tired, after all, and on edge. He stared hard into the bushes; then he knew he had not imagined it. The bushes moved again, as if someone was hiding there.
Euan crouched down into position and fired a shot to the side of the bushes to see what might happen. He got an immediate result. Something small darted out to the side. Euan jumped to his feet and leapt from behind the pillar out into the road. He crashed right into a member of the Snare who had wandered out from the other side of the house. He fell crashing to the ground with a curse, but not until he’d caught a brief glimpse of a bundle of clothes and a shock of red hair.
Chapter 96
2 April 2040, 10am
She was running for her life. She was running because she knew how to run. It was one of the few things she did well. She ran under the fence, across a rich man’s lawn, behind the house, down the garden and out through the back. Soon she was running across a different road and back through the woods that skirted the park.
She was in the park and across it before she stopped, bent double, out of breath and with a sharp pain in her side. She heaved and gulped at air that could not come fast enough into her lungs. She could barely breathe from exhaustion and fear. She wrapped her arms around her side and she sobbed.
It took a while before she realised that the man in black who had just tried to kill her had not pursued her. But she was taking no chances, despite the pain in her side; she began to trot out of the park and into the street, making for the back allies and shadows. Everyone was an enemy. Everyone was out to get her. She had to keep moving if she was to survive.
***********************
2 April 2040, 11am
‘You asked for me, sir,’ he said deferentially.
I was not expecting such respect from anyone in the army, even a lowly private. ‘I asked for a senior figure to oversee the work of the Brotherhood,’ I clarified.
He blushed. ‘That’s me, sir.’
I sighed. ‘Can you drive this thing?’
&n
bsp; He grinned. ‘Oh, yes, and it’s a whole lot faster than a motor bike.’
‘Do I have you for the duration?’
‘Yes, sir!’ he glanced across at Phaedo, and I understood at once. Phaedo was, by all accounts, a good looking man. I knew there were gay men in the army. I had no idea how well they had fared in the last few years. My guess was badly.
‘That’s a serious helicopter,’ gushed Phaedo.
Our pilot grinned again.
‘Will you tell me your name, private?’ I asked.
‘Yes, sir, my name’s Alexander.’
‘Good name,’ I said.
‘Everyone calls me Alex, sir.’
I gazed at him for a moment. ‘Alex, Bràithreachas work for justice. You’ve been given the job of looking after Matrix; it’s probably not the best career move for you.’ Actually, it meant not only that they didn’t value him but also that they didn’t want him. ‘Are you with Bràithreachas?’ I asked.
‘I’m a soldier, sir. I’m loyal to the army.’
‘I value loyalty highly,’ I said. ‘Bràithreachas values loyalty. This is not something I will take away from you.’
‘Thank you, sir; I appreciate that.’
I turned to Phaedo. ‘You sit in the front with Alex. I can stretch my leg out better in the back.’ Phaedo pulled a face and was about to remonstrate. I took his hand and signed to him: ‘Talk to him; charm him. I want his loyalty.’ Phaedo said nothing. He climbed into the front seat.
**********************
2 April 2040, midday
DCI Gray was surprised to receive the summons to meet one of the top men in the country, especially as he was not from his patch. He obeyed instantly. A police helicopter was laid on for him, and he made his way quickly to the Chief Constable’s office. By the time he’d arrived, it was close to midday. He staggered out into the cold drizzle of a grey day. He felt the wind blow through his clothes and the rain beat on to his bare head. When he walked into the Chief Constable’s office he felt damp and dreary.
A hot drink was waiting for him and he was invited to sit down. There were a number of people in the room when he entered; no introductions were made.
‘I need you to carry out an important job for me,’ said the Chief Constable.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Tell me what’s happening in Manchester on your patch?’
Gray shrugged his shoulders. ‘I received a dispatch to visit a scene of crime, thirty miles north of the city. I met up with some other officers and some men in uniform. When we arrived at the alleged crime scene there was nothing there. It was a hoax.’
‘Did that surprise you?’ asked one of the unnamed people in the room.
Gray smiled. ‘Happens all the time, sir. It never used to but, now, well, we get plenty of calls that just waste our time, calls designed to frustrate.’
‘Why is that?’
Gray had his ideas but, since they sounded too much like paranoia, he had no intention of sharing them. The fact was, every hoax had been placed on his record and had prevented promotion or access to career opportunities. He had been threatened with demotion; it had not happened – not yet anyway. He’d worked it out; his face didn’t fit. He didn’t fit. He’d not made the right connections. ‘No idea, sir,’ he said.
‘So what happened next?’
Gray shuddered. ‘When we got back to the station, there’d been a blood bath. Men and women dead ...’ He drifted off. Those people had not been friends of his; some had been his enemies. But the sight that had met his eyes as he walked through the door had been gruesome, even for a man of his experience. They had walked into someone else’s nightmare. As they entered the Station reception area, they knew there was something desperately wrong. They had known even before looking up: the unmistakable smell of death, the silence, the emptiness. There should have been noise, bustle and light; instead, there was quiet, darkness and those bodies, those dead bodies. They had stood in the darkness until a light was found, and then they had gazed up to the ceiling and seen some twenty police officers hanging by their necks from hooks. They had been tortured before they died: they hung, tongues sliced out, eyes gouged out. On the wall someone had written in blood, probably theirs: This is for Matrix!
‘It’s not a sight I’ll ever forget,’ he whispered. ‘If it were not for that hoax call, I would have been hanging there with them, and so would the men and women who were with me.’ He thought of them, those who had been with him, people just like him, people dogged with bad luck.
The Chief Constable stared at him for a moment. ‘What do you think of the present situation?’
Gray seemed visibly to pull himself together again. ‘We need to hammer the bastards, sir. We need to get them. They’re animals, worse than animals.’ He looked around at the people gathered in the room. ‘The police force is on the verge of collapse. What I saw has been taking place across the country.’ He checked himself. ‘Well you don’t need me to tell you that. There are those now who are too scared to go into work. Our station in Manchester is deserted, an empty shell.’ He stopped again as the memories came sweeping back – cutting down the bodies, clearing up the mess and everyone slowly drifting away, never to return. ‘You can’t blame them, sir. Most of them have families. They’re scared!’
‘And you? Are you not scared?’
‘I’m on my own, sir - divorced. It’s just me.’
‘So, are you prepared to take on a job that may put your life at risk?’
Gray straightened himself. ‘I’m a police officer. This is all I have. This is my life. I wouldn’t hesitate.’
‘And what side are you going to fight on, Gray?’
It seemed a curious question, obviously designed to trick him. ‘On the side of right, of law and order,’ he said promptly.
The Chief Constable was still staring at him intently. ‘Aren’t you wondering why I’ve asked you here, when I have plenty of officers on my own patch I could call on?’
‘Well, to be frank, sir, yes, I was.’
The Chief Constable gave a slow smile. ‘You’ve been recommended, Gray, by someone very senior.’
Gray looked puzzled. As far as he was aware, no one very senior was impressed with him and his long catalogue of errors. ‘Are you sure, sir,’ he said hesitantly. ‘I’m not sure who in the force would ...’
‘I didn’t say the person was in the force.’
Gray looked even more confused.
The Chief Constable placed the palms of his hands together, almost as if in prayer. ‘I am not speaking of the police at all. I am referring to the Brotherhood. Gray, it is Matrix himself who has asked for your help.’
**********************
The media station was on with the sound turned down, but the images drew the eyes, the haunted faces and the tortured bodies, the waste and the horror. Gray wished they would turn it off.
‘What do you think of these images, Gray?’
‘Brotherhood propaganda, sir.’
‘What if it were the truth and not propaganda? What if these images showed us our own reflection?’
‘I don’t know what you mean, sir.’
‘The Brotherhood is claiming that Fabian is responsible for the torture of discards, torture that was state sanctioned.’
‘As I say, Brotherhood propaganda, sir. They would say that, wouldn’t they, to justify their actions. I know what those bastards did to my colleagues in Manchester. I saw them. I saw their mutilated bodies.’
‘You saw Brotherhood excess, and that’s why I need you. That’s why Matrix needs you. We need a police presence. These are angry men. They’re on a mission and they may end up carrying out atrocities as terrible as those they claim to hate.’
Gray was confused. ‘You speak of this Matrix as if ...’
‘I’ve given him my allegiance. I’m a member of the Brotherhood. Look around you, Gray, everyone in this room is either a member or is sympathetic to their cause.’
Gray glanced aroun
d at the nameless people surrounding him. ‘What’s going on?’ he said.
‘You say you want to fight on the side of right, of law and order. We all want law and order. But, the fact is, we are all responsible for what has happened to those discards; we all have a debt to pay. The government knows it and it’s running scared. They’ve been caught out; they’ve been found in bed with some nasty bedfellows and the people don’t like it. This government is not the future.’
‘This is madness!’
‘Have you wondered why the army’s not been called in to break up this revolution?’
Gray shook his head.
‘They’ve been given orders that under no circumstances are they to shoot at our own people. They’ve been told to hold back. We need a negotiated settlement. We need to take back control. The Brotherhood should not be running this country: our democratically elected leaders should be.’
‘You’re not making sense.’
‘The Opposition is waiting to take over. As soon as we can, we’ll call a state of emergency and then there’ll be a general election. The people will decide whose side they are on, whether it is New Fabian and its state-sponsored torture and murder,’ he glanced up at the media station, ‘or whether it’s the Brotherhood and their call for justice.’
‘This is crazy!’ Gray ran a finger through his thick grey hair. He was a big man with a full head of hair, but he was slumped now and seemed to have shrunk.
‘I need you to have an open mind. Matrix needs you, too, and so does the country. When I agreed to help the Brotherhood, it was with the clear proviso that, when the time came, a time such as now, there would be a police presence. You are that police presence.’
‘This has nothing to do with me,’ Gray muttered. ‘Why does he want me? You say we are all responsible; some people may be, but not me. I’m not responsible for any of this.’
The Chief Constable was blunt. He looked Gray in the eye. ‘On the contrary,’ he said. ‘If it wasn’t for you, this country would probably not be facing anarchy.’
The Dream Catcher Diaries Page 53