“Dead end.” Reuben gave a shrug. “Everyone at the courier company just said the box appeared and the paperwork was there. It was big enough for a three-man delivery team so that’s how it got to us.”
“So what next?” Kramer asked.
Reuben glanced at Emily. “Have you said anything yet?” he asked.
“No.”
Jane frowned at her daughter. “Said what?”
Hannah answered. “After the Watch Team picked us up, we were coming back to the Hall when Emily said ‘I can see it now’. I asked her what she meant and she just said ‘Connor told me I’d see it’.”
“Connor?” Ben, Kramer and Jane all said the name at the same time. Ben added, “Is he here now?”
“No,” Emily said. “He’s visited me a couple of times.”
“What did he say you’d see?” Jane asked. She took hold of her daughter’s hand. Ben thought the way she held it showed how much this conversation scared her. She didn’t want her daughter caught up in another crazy-assed war with demons or monsters or whatever.
“A path.”
“Where to?”
“Just a path. We have to follow it.”
“We?” Ben asked with a sinking feeling.
Emily smiled at the look on his face. “Yes, we.”
“Just what I didn’t want to hear,” Ben said.
“Where is this path?” Kramer asked.
Emily stood and walked to the window. The view of the gardens showed sections of landscaping, planted trees and a small crescent of the lake. Further on came natural woodland and a rise in the land to where a farmhouse sat silhouetted against the darkening sky. Emily pointed out and said, “Can you see the glow? It’s like silver sparkles scattered on the grass. They go off into the distance and then disappear.”
The adults stood and joined her. Ben saw nothing but the dusk draped shapes of trees. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see anything. He preferred being psychically blind, thank you very much.
“When do we go?” Kramer asked.
“What’s with the ‘we’?” Ben asked.
“You and me,” Kramer said. “We’re a team, remember.”
“As if I could forget,” Ben sighed.
“First thing in the morning,” Reuben said. “Norma’s authorised it, the two of you, Geordie and Tiny. Plus Emily, of course.”
“No,” Jane said as she stepped closer to Emily. She pulled her daughter against her. “Emily’s not going anywhere. She’s been put in enough danger as it is.”
“Mom.” Emily pulled forward, turning so she could look up at Jane. “I have to go. I’m the only one who can see the pathway.”
“I can’t let you go,” Jane’s voice broke. Ben saw tears spill from her eyes. Kramer reached out to support Jane. “I almost lost you today. I almost lost you in Darlford. I can’t go through that again.”
“My angels will protect me,” Emily said.
Jane almost fell over and Kramer had to hold her up. “No,” Jane whispered. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true,” Hannah said. “I saw them when we were being attacked. The Watch Team saw them as well. The angels were fighting to protect Emily.”
Ben looked away. He didn’t want to intrude on Jane’s emotions. He could understand why she was so upset. Kramer took Jane back to her chair. Ben thought about Pete Walsh. If he’d been here then maybe Jane would have had someone else to support her. Pete seemed a pretty level-headed guy but right now he was in the middle of a divorce and Ben guessed Jane wouldn’t want to burden him with this news while he was stuck in negotiations with his soon to be ex-wife.
He found himself standing next to Hannah. “You’re not coming?” he asked.
“No, Reuben wants me to go to London with him to try and trace Mr Congrave. Plus, it means I can stay in touch with the hospital about Tim.”
“The teacher?”
“Yes,” Hannah said with a smile that Ben recognised.
“Sounds as if you like him.”
“I do,” Hannah smiled again. “We went out on a date last night.”
“Wow,” Ben said, impressed. “One of you is a fast worker.”
“Not that fast.”
“When did Emily start school?” Ben asked.
“Monday.”
“And what day is it today?”
Hannah laughed. “Okay, that’s fast. But life’s short.”
“It can be around here,” Ben said.
Jane seemed to have settled down. Kramer came over and said, “She’ll let Emily come with us. She’s not happy but she knows Emily would go on her own if we didn’t do anything.”
“I’ll let Geordie and Tiny know,” Reuben said. “Meet at the armoury at eight in the morning.”
Ben didn’t have to tell Reuben he’d said the wrong thing The sound Jane made was enough.
***
John McGrath woke in the cold pre-dawn and listened to the sound of his girlfriend’s breathing as she slept beside him. Beyond that, from down in the bay came the sound of waves hitting the shore. Familiar and comforting, they wouldn’t wake him. But something had. He turned his head. The blood red digital readout of his bedside clock told him it was three a.m..
He sighed. His shift had ended at ten and he’d been back at home for eleven just in time to give Lorna a goodnight kiss as she’d headed for bed. A light supper, an hour spent watching television, a few minutes updating Facebook, and he’d slipped into bed alongside her. He took care to make sure his cold feet didn’t touch her. One thing McGrath learned early on in their relationship was to make sure his skin reached a decent temperature before cuddling up.
So Lorna hadn’t disturbed him, and the sea seemed placid for the time of year. Which left him with the dream. He remembered now. Standing on the shore and watching the surface of the water break. They came from the depths trailing algae and weed. Not men. These were gods. Huge shapes that rose up before him. Male and female, all were naked and all had eyes that burned with an inner fire. McGrath remembered dropping to his knees, as if in homage. These beings were not human. They held a power that filled McGrath with fear. He trembled, and it was the trembling that woke him.
McGrath slid out of bed. Lorna slept on. They’d known each other back in school. Nothing romantic at the time. McGrath always thought Lorna a bit stuck-up because her father was the local doctor. Lorna just thought he was an idiot. So they’d finished school, she’d gone off to university and he’d joined the army. They met up again when McGrath was home on leave one time. By then Lorna had returned to teach in the local school. He didn’t recognise her. The flat-chested girl with big glasses and braces on her teeth was long gone. Now replaced by a grinning brunette with a figure to die for and a sharp wit.
McGrath paused before leaving the bedroom. He looked back at the sleeping Lorna. That party. He hadn’t wanted to go. All anyone talked about was Afghanistan. He got flak from folks who were anti-war and non-stop questions from the rest. When he found himself face to face with this pretty girl, he hadn’t expected her to say ‘you don’t recognise me do you?’ She made him play a guessing game for her name and each time he guessed wrong she jabbed him in the side with her fingers. When he finally dredged up the name ‘Lorna’ from his memory banks, McGrath just stared into her hazel eyes as she laughed at him.
They saw each other every night that week and ended it in bed together. As far as McGrath was concerned, he’d met his future wife. Lorna wasn’t so sure because of him being in the army. So, eighteen months later, he left one kind of service for another and joined the police. And now here they were, living together and making plans for the future.
A future that did not, as far as McGrath told Lorna, involve Norse gods, dead men and visits from some Yank who wanted him to work for a bunch of demon fighters. At least that’s what he told her. Deep down, McGrath thought that, as weird as all that sounded, it would make a difference to attending road accidents, tracking down rustled sheep and carting drunks off to the police station. The problem
was, just how to talk Lorna around to the idea.
He reached the kitchen and once his eyes got used to the light, put the kettle on. While he waited for it to boil, he thought about marriage and fatherhood. And fighting demons. Maybe he should call Ben and just ask about the job. Pop down to England to take a look at the people Ben worked for. His contact at headquarters told McGrath that it was very hush-hush and he shouldn’t even mention it in private.
Very interesting.
He made his mug of tea, grabbed a biscuit from the cupboard and walked through to the living room. He didn’t turn on the light. He sometimes liked to pull back the curtains and gaze out into the night. Even with cloud cover you could make out the land and the sea. It comforted him to know that the world could be at peace.
He got no comfort tonight.
McGrath’s tea slopped out of the mug as he saw the men on his lawn. Dozens of them. They stood and stared at him. Pale eyes glowed in waxwork faces. And out in front stood a familiar figure in fisherman’s waterproofs. McGrath could almost smell him through the window.
Oh, fuck.
He put the mug onto the mantelpiece and walked through to the front of the house where he put on his coat and boots. When he returned to the living room Old Davey stood right up against the window, his nose squashed flat. McGrath waved him back as he unlocked the sliding patio door. He opened it just enough to slide out of the house and closed it as gently as he could. McGrath turned to face the old man.
“What do you want now?” he asked, and didn’t even consider it odd that he should be talking to a man who drowned at sea six months before.
Old Davey smiled, he put his arm out in a gesture as if to present the men to McGrath.
“They come from the Hall,” Davey said.
“What Hall?” McGrath shivered in the chill air and wished he’d put something on his legs.
“The Hall of the Fallen.”
McGrath sighed. Too early and too cold. “You’ve lost me.”
“Valhalla.”
McGrath had heard of Valhalla. He looked at the ranks of men, counting sixty or more who faded into the dark where the room lights did not reach. With a heavy heart because he did not want to know the answer, he asked, “Why are they here?”
“These are warriors who have proven themselves and so they have volunteered to return to this world. They will be needed for the coming battle.”
Somehow McGrath didn’t expect it to be easy. He looked down to where his bare legs disappeared into his boots. He wanted to be back in bed. “What battle?” he asked.
“The coming battle.”
“Look, Davey, or whatever your name is, I need you to talk to me like I know what’s going on because right now I am lost.”
The old man chuckled, an odd sound to hear from the lips of a corpse who dripped threads of melting flesh as he stood in McGrath’s garden. Old Davey fixed McGrath with a gaze that froze the policeman’s soul.
He saw a field and beyond it a large house, McGrath thought he recognised it but as a mist drifted over the countryside, he lost view of the Gothic style architecture. He saw the Norse warriors march out of the mist. They carried swords and axes and sang as they marched.
What they faced defied description. Strange winged creatures, men with wolf heads, goblins and a horde of leather clad soldiers who smashed swords against shields. The sounds reverberated through McGrath’s bones. He shook to the core as the world turned cold and the two armies came together.
“John? John?”
McGrath came out of his trance. Lorna stood on the threshold of the living room. She had pulled the patio door open.
“What are you doing out there?”
“I’m...” McGrath stopped. Old Davey and the warriors were no longer in the garden.
Lorna stared at him. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Well what are you doing out here at this time of the morning and only half dressed?”
“I just needed to get some fresh air.”
She stepped out and came to his side. She only wore a thin cotton night dress that reached to mid-thigh. Lorna slipped her arm through his and said, “You’ve been stressed out a lot because of Old Davey and that weird American. Come back to bed.”
“Yeah.” He looked out to sea and saw only the odd flash of white-topped waves in the dark.
“Four days rest, two of them with me,” Lorna said. “What shall we do with them?”
McGrath knew the answer. Check places out for the wedding reception. Visit the florist. But even as he thought of those answers, the compulsion came. It felt like vomit rising from his stomach. His throat filled with matter that frightened him. McGrath stopped.
“Come on, honey.” Lorna gave him a tug.
“I can’t,” he said.
“What?”
“I can’t be with you this weekend. I have to go to England.”
“England?” Lorna let him go and stepped back. “What are you talking about?”
The voice in his head told him to leave. Time ebbed away with every second and every one of those precious seconds counted. “I have to go.”
“No,” Lorna’s voice dropped. “It’s that American, isn’t it?”
“Not him,” McGrath said. “It’s Old Davey.”
Lorna took a step back. “He’s back, isn’t he?”
“He was in the garden. That’s why I was out there.”
“He’s gone now?”
“No.”
“So where is he? I don’t want him in this house again.” Lorna looked around, expecting the rotten old man to pop into existence at any moment.
“He’s in me.”
“What?” Now Lorna retreated from him. “Are you mad?”
“No. He’s in me. Or his spirit is. Or something.”
“Jesus, John, you need to go see a doctor first thing in the morning.”
“Lorna, I’m driving south tomorrow. You’re welcome to come with me but things might get dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” she whispered.
“Aye.”
“Oh, John, what are we going to do?”
She came to him. McGrath put his arms around Lorna and pulled her close. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I never chose any of this. It chose me.”
Lorna held onto him, her face pressed into his chest. They stood together for an age until Lorna said, “I can’t come with you.”
McGrath waited. He didn’t know what she meant. But he did have a question to ask.
“Will you be here when I come back.”
She pulled back a little and looked up at him. “Will you come back?”
“Yes.” He could see tears in her eyes and asked again, “Will you be here when I come back.”
She rested into him again. He waited. Finally, Lorna said, “I don’t know.”
Chapter Eleven
Ben watched a pair of geese fly low overhead as they angled towards the boating lake. The sight of them took his mind off the weight of the pack he now wore. Geordie called it a Bergen and Ben knew he’d be calling the damned thing a few other names by the end of the day. Add in the assault rifle the quartermaster had allocated along with a Glock pistol, stun grenades, and combat knife and Ben thought that what started out as a ten-year-old girl’s suggestion for a walk down a sparkly silver path seemed to be degenerating into another special-ops day at the races.
A quick glance at Kramer, Geordie and Tiny showed they had their ‘army’ faces on. Narrow eyes stared off into the middle distance as if they could already see the enemy on the horizon. Ben half-dreaded what form the enemy would take. Right now he wanted to find an excuse to go sit down by the lake, feed the ducks and forget this talk about pathways and other worlds. He gave the Bergen a little shift on his left shoulder and wandered over to Kramer.
“What?” she asked before he could say a word.
“Can I make a suggestion?”
“No.”
“That’s not very helpful,” Ben said, lookin
g hurt.
“Let me guess. You want to go cut the grass with a pair of scissors or some other complete waste of time idea so that we don’t get to go on our walk.”
“Yeah,” Ben sighed. “You can read me like a book.”
She smiled for the first that day. “And I’ve known you for such a short time.”
“It’s just all this shit.” Ben gestured at the pack and the weaponry. “I mean, I know you military types like shock and awe, but really?”
“We don’t know what kind of world, or worlds, we’re going to encounter. You saw the place Geordie and I were in, but you didn’t experience it. This ‘shit’ will probably save your life.”
“It wouldn’t need to if I stayed back here. I am an analyst after all.”
“Didn’t you say to me last night that you wanted to be with me forever?”
“Uh, yeah.” Ben scratched his head. “I think I did, but circumstances were different.”
An eyebrow rose, heralding the return of Kramer’s icy side. “Explain?”
“I was lost in the passion of the moment.”
“So you lied?”
“No, no, no.” Ben held up his hands. “I meant every word. You’re incredible and special and wonderful and beautiful.”
“But?”
Ben stared into her amazing blue eyes. Over Kramer’s shoulder, he saw Emily approaching. Glad of the distraction, he said, “Emily’s here, I guess we can continue this conversation some other time.”
“Maybe a ways down the path?” Kramer suggested in an innocent sounding voice.
“Good idea.” Ben gave her his best smile.
“You know, Scarrett, I sometimes wonder about your sanity.”
Ben thought about the journey ahead. “So do I, Kramer, so do I.”
“Hi, Jo,” Emily said as she stopped alongside them.
“And good morning to you, Emily,” Kramer said. “You are looking very smart.”
Emily wore hybrid walking/trainer boots, black jeans, a check shirt and fleece top. Her backpack looked as if it bulged with spare clothing and, Ben guessed, plenty of chocolate bars. He wondered if Emily would be a good girl and share with her friends.
Emily grinned. She obviously thought this would be a great adventure. Or maybe this was just a brave face. “Connor visited me this morning. He’s happy we’re going.”
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