War Within (Death's Contract Book 2)

by KJ Harlow

  “Yes, this is the control room,” I said. “The people you see running around are workers. Their sole job is to make sure we know where the Tormented are so we can be a step ahead of them.” Sid looked at the wall of screens in front of him.

  “Hey, that’s Westminster Cathedral,” Sid said, pointing at a monitor to the right. “And that’s the House of Commons and that’s…” he started reeling off the names of all the places he recognized. He spun around and looked at me and Agatha. “How on earth do you lot link up the cameras up there?” I laughed sheepishly.

  “We’re not the people to ask,” I said, exchanging a look with Agatha. “Death’s got it all figured out.”

  “Come on, let’s go into the meeting room.” Agatha started moving towards the meeting room, beckoning Sid to follow her as I trailed him. Agatha went to place her hand on the glass door.

  “Wait, Agatha.” I caught up to Sid. “Why don’t we let Sid open the door?” Agatha gave me quick nod and smile.

  “Good idea,” she looked over to our newest Deliverer. “Put your hand on the glass.” Sid moved forward and looked into the opaque glass.

  “You mean anywhere?” He said warily. Agatha nodded. Slowly, he raised his hand. Tentatively, he reached out to spot on the glass directly in front of him and slightly higher than eye level. Before his hand could touch it, it disappeared as Walter made his way out of the meeting room. Sid's hand collided awkwardly into Walter’s nose.

  “Hey!” He roared, covering his nose with his hand. “Watch where you’re going!” Sid withdrew his hand quickly.

  “Walter!” Agatha said indignantly. “It was an accident. I was just showing Sid how doors work in the Underworld.” I doubled over and clutched my stomach, laughing harder than I had done so in a long time. Tor, Silas, and Tracy streamed out of the room to see what all the commotion was.

  “What happened?” Tracy said in bewilderment, looking between a furious Walter and me in stitches. I just pointed at Sid, who now had his hand on Walter’s shoulder as he sheepishly apologized.

  “Don’t touch me!” Walter said, flinging Sid’s arm off. He fumed towards the stairwell, slamming his hand on the glass before storming down the steps.

  “What’s his problem?” Tracy said with a bemused look.

  “Do you remember when I first came down and there was a time when Greg almost touched your boob?” Tracy’s eyes opened wide as she started giggling. “Yeah, it was like that but this time it was Sid’s hand and Walter’s nose.”

  “Oh really, you two should grow up,” Agatha said, chastising the two of us. Silas and Tor stood behind Tracy. They were only just able to not laugh. Agatha shot them a look sharp enough to behead them, which promptly wiped the smile off their faces. She softened and turned to Sid.

  “Don’t mind Walter, he takes time to warm up to new people.” Sid looked at her with a lopsided smile, which made her nervously smooth down her habit.

  “Come on Sid, there’s something we want to show you.” Before he had time to react, Tracy had hooked her arm around his and dragged him into the meeting room. Sid glanced around the plain-looking room. His eyes gravitated towards the Lucent Gun at the other end of the table.

  “That’s my… Lucent Gun? That’s what you call it right?” Everyone nodded. We walked around the table to our respective seats. The gun was closest to Walter’s seat, which was conspicuously empty.

  “Even though you have signed the contract to become a Deliverer, seeing if the Gun accepts you is the true test of whether you’re suited to be a Deliverer or not,” Tracy explained. Sid eyed the gun suspiciously.

  “Test?”

  “It’s a test of the purity of your heart. The Lucent Gun comes from a higher power which is able to gauge the amount of good versus evil in you.” Sid started walking around the table towards the other side, keeping his eye on the gun the entire time.

  “So what do I have to do then? Shoot myself with it?” He said wryly. Agatha stifled a giggle, drawing a bewildered look from Tracy.

  “No,” Agatha said, clearing her throat. “All you have to do is pick it up. If you are able to, that means the gun deems you worthy of wielding it. If you can’t, that means you are unfit to be a Deliverer.” Sid stood right by the gun now, staring down at it. His hand hovered over the top of it for a while. After some hesitation, he put his hand over the grip and slowly closed his fingers around it. He tried to get his fingers underneath the grip but seemed to struggle. Everyone in the room watched as he tried for half a minute. All of a sudden, he picked up the Lucent Gun effortlessly.

  There was a wicked twinkle in his eye. “I had you all there for a second.” Agatha breathed a sigh of relief. I stood up and walked over to Sid.

  “How does it feel?” Sid looked down at the gun. I could see it vibrating in his hand. It wasn’t gentle and reassuring like mine. It seemed more insistent and almost violent its vibrations. Maybe it knew that its owner had an important job to do soon.

  “It feels… alive,” Sid mused. I nodded.

  “Do you see this button on the side here?” I said, rotating the gun in his hand to show him the magazine release. My eyes flicked up to Tracy, who grinned knowingly. Agatha raised her hand toward me as if to stop me from what I was about to do but then hesitatingly withdrew it.

  “Yeah… that’s for reloading, right?” I shook my head.

  “Not quite. Lucent Guns have unlimited ammunition. This button has a more important job. It transports us from the Overworld back to the Underworld.” Sid nodded slowly.

  “What if we press it now?”I smiled; he was a quick learner.

  “Why don’t you give it a shot?” I said with a sly smile. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, then pressed the button. There was a flash of blinding light and he was gone. Tracy was the first to the glass door. She put her hand on it and skipped outside. Sid was sprawled on the floor, surrounded by workers who helped him up. The glass door on the left leading down to the resting chambers disappeared as Death and Walter came into the control room. They paid no attention to Sid getting up, walking around him as they made their way towards the big screen. Death spoke with one of the workers, who typed something into his machine. All the monitors formed a single picture of a very familiar looking place.

  Agatha glided over to Sid, who was still slightly disoriented and guided him over to the rest of the group, which had gathered in the front of the room.

  “What are we looking at?” Tracy asked.

  “It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Walter said. Tracy stared at him blankly.

  “Buckingham Palace,” Sid said from behind the group. We turned around to look at him. Agatha nodded gravely.

  “He’s right. That’s Buckingham Palace.”

  “That’s where the Queen of England lives, right?” Tracy asked. Sid and Agatha nodded in unison. “Why would we be tapping into the surveillance of Buckingham Palace?”

  “Because,” Death said, looking down at us, “the Tormented have been sighted near there.”

  “What?” Sid exclaimed, stepping towards the monitors. We moved aside as he craned his head up, his eyes searching the Tormented. “They couldn’t possibly be thinking of doing what I think they’re doing… right?”

  “The motives of the Tormented have never been clear to us,” Walter rumbled, casting a sharp glance at the newest Deliverer. Sid paid him no attention.

  “It is prudent to assume the worst case scenario,” Agatha said, also stepping closer to the monitors. “They may be targeting the royal family or even the Queen herself. If they turn her into a Conflicted, they will turn her into a puppet through which they can influence events on a grand scale. Wars, more weapons… anything’s possible.” Hearing this, Sid shivered.

  “Do we have a location on the Tormented now?” Tor asked, his eyes carefully watching the screens.

  “Unfortunately no,” Death said. “They have been sighted an hour ago on the east side of Buckingham Palace. They were gone as soon as they came.”

&
nbsp; “They were most likely looking for vulnerabilities in defense,” Silas said, the surveillance footage reflecting in his glasses.

  “They’re baiting us,” Walter said angrily. “They know that we’re watching them. They want us to come back up and take them on, in or around Buckingham Palace.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” I asked. “The Queen must have world class security. We’ll keep the Tormented at bay.” I turned around and looked at Sid. “Our newest Deliverer can then work his magic, imbue our guns with the Truth so we can defeat Mortimer.” Sid kept staring up at the monitors as if he didn’t hear me. I awkwardly looked at my feet before turning my attention back to the screens.

  “The stakes are high,” Death said. “We have much more to lose. They have already shown once that they are unafraid to target high ranking leaders. They turned the MPs in the House of Commons into Conflicted. The Queen is fair game too.”

  “They turned the MPs into Conflicted?” Sid spluttered, looking at Death. “Well, I suppose if they’re just brainless beings whose minds are controlled by another party, there isn’t a whole lot of difference.” This earned Sid another endearing smile from Agatha. Tracy looked at me, putting a finger in her mouth and gagging.

  “We don’t have any time to waste,” Death said. “The Tormented may have already found a way to circumvent the security around the Palace. They may be trawling the halls to try and find Her Majesty as we speak.” He looked down at Sid. “I’m afraid that you won’t have any time to train. I’ll need all seven of you to go back up to the Overworld.”

  “When it comes to my Queen, I am always ready.” Sid puffed his chest out, making Walter roll his eyes. He looked down on his Lucent Gun, whose vibrating seemed to have subsided somewhat. “It can’t be that difficult to fire a gun, right?”

  “It really does depend on the individual. Some people pick it up quicker than others. Once you shoot your first Conflicted, it really does get easier.” Agatha smiled at him shyly as he gave her another crooked smile. He looked up at Death.

  “Am I right in guessing that your office is how we get back up to the Overworld?” Death crossed his arms and nodded.

  “How did you know?”

  “I would recognize the gloomy clouds of London from anywhere,” Sid chuckled. The corner of Death’s mouth twitched up. He stepped to the front of the screens to address all of us.

  “Deliverers, your mission is three-fold. First, you have to protect the royal family from being turned into Conflicted. Second, you have to protect Sid. He’s not only our newest Deliverer, he’s knows the truth about Mortimer’s Torment. It is imperative that he is not injured or Ceased. Third, and this is the most important, Cease Mortimer. He has caused enough pain and destruction. This world will be glad to see the back of him, once and for all.” Walter was watching Sid for the duration of Death’s instructions, his eyes narrowing.

  “Walter, take Sid back to the meeting room and equip him with the rest of the equipment he needs.” Walter looked at Death indignantly who ignored him. He turned around to head back to his office. “I’m going to prepare the portal now. Once you are all ready, come to my office.” He looked at Sid. “We’ll show the Tormented why they should fear the Deliverers.”

  Twenty-Two

  I saw Big Ben out of the corner of my eye as we approached Westminster Station through the portal. I stuck the landing, taking a few steps forward to counter the forward momentum. Tor landed gracefully like a falcon coming out of a dive. I winced, remembering my face full of dirt when I was first transported back to the Overworld.

  Sid was coming; I pivoted on my heel and kept my arms loose in case I had to catch him. He leaned back like we told him to. His feet hit the ground about 10 yards in front of me. He stumbled forward a few steps, looking like he was going to kiss the pavement. I braced myself as he was coming straight towards me. He managed to regain his balance and stop a couple yards away from me. His hands were straight out either side of him as if he was walking on a trapeze rope.

  “Not bad,” I said, smiling encouragingly at him. “Far better than my first time, anyway.” He gradually relaxed as he stood normally again, turning around to look at everyone as they landed all around us. Walter flashed him a scowl.

  “Oh my,” he said, crouching and closing his eyes while he cradled his head. “Give me a moment.” Agatha glided over and crouched down next to him. She gently put her hand on his back.

  “That will be your body getting used to being a Deliverer. Your senses are being flooded with stimuli that you would never have noticed when you were alive. You’ll get used to it pretty quick.” Sid opened one eye and looked at Agatha, who smiled reassuringly at him.

  “I can hear many hearts beating,” he mumbled.

  “That’s all of us,” I said, crouching in front of him and looking at him intently. “Now that you’re a Deliverer, we share the same blood. We can feel each other. It beats stronger if we’re all in the same area. If any one of us is in trouble, all of us will know.” Sid stood up tentatively, looking around again. His eyes were drawn to the front of Westminster Station.

  “Those Conflicted killed innocent people,” he said flatly. With his right hand, he formed the shape of a gun and imitated a shooting action. “Pop, pop, pop.”

  “The Conflicted are tools used by the Tormented. They can’t think on their own. Mortimer and Matylda would have been the ones controlling them that day.” Agatha said somberly. Sid let his hand slowly drop by his side. His eyes slid over to the laneway where he saw Walter shooting Mortimer.

  “I know it’s 50 years too late,” Sid said contritely, “but I am sorry for everything that’s happened.” Tracy jogged over to us and looked at Sid brightly.

  “It’s never too late to right your wrongs,” she said warmly. “Not that we’re blaming you.” Sid looked up as Walter, Tor and Silas slowly made their way towards us.

  “Thank you, everyone,” Sid said, his voice becoming stronger. Everyone nodded at him except for Walter who stared at him stone-faced at the back of the group. Sid looked at Agatha, his jaw set and determined. “Let’s finish what I started.”

  “Where’s your Lucent Gun?” Sid asked Agatha curiously. We were walking towards Buckingham Palace, cautiously keeping an eye out for an ambush. The two of them were in the middle of our group while the rest of us formed a guard around them. Agatha smoothed out her habit distractedly.

  “Mortimer has it.” Sid’s eyebrow bounced up as he heard this. “He disarmed me when we were in the House of Commons.”

  “Guess you have to stay close to me, then,” Sid said, winking at Agatha. Tracy shot me a mortified look behind Sid and Agatha. I came close to bumping into Silas in front of me as he suddenly stopped.

  “Wait,” Walter said under his breath. He started sidestepping stealthily towards the left as we all followed suit. We hid in a little alleyway, peering ahead. There was a group of soldiers that were walking down the same path towards us. I squinted as I tried to make out their features. My eyes flew wide open.

  “That’s Keaton!” I breathed. I spun around on my heel and looked at Agatha, Tor, and Silas. They jostled to my side to get a closer look.

  “That’s him,” Silas said quietly. I made to stand up but Tor put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Stop,” Tor whispered. “Take a closer look at him.” I gave Tor a confused look as I turned back to look at Keaton and his men. They were now about 15 yards away from us. I could clearly see what Tor was referring to.

  “Conflicted,” I said, shaking my head. I thought back to how we had met in Andover, how Keaton and his platoon had tried to defeat the Conflicted with no avail. “I guess it was a matter of time before they got to him.” I drew my Lucent Gun from its holster. “Let’s put them out of their misery.”

  “Actually Rose,” Sid said from behind me. I peered over my shoulder at him. “May I try and shoot them?” I looked at him, then glanced at Walter who wouldn’t meet my gaze. I then turned to look at Agatha who g
ave a slight nod.

  “I don’t see why not.” Sid stood up and drew his Lucent Gun. He pushed himself against the wall of the building next to us. I stood next to him, my weapon humming in my grip. “These Conflicted are armed. If you want to Rid them, do it fast. If they shoot you, you can die again and you won’t be–”

  Sid’s Lucent Gun discharged, making all of us jump. He felled one of the Conflicted at the edge of the group, which made the rest of them turn towards us. Before they could raise their weapons, Sid and I felled the rest of the group. Keaton-Conflicted managed to fire a round at Sid, who fluidly spun back to take cover as the bullets crunched into the brick wall. Conflicted-Keaton strode towards us, shooting in our direction. With one shot through his forehead, I took him out.

  “Why didn’t you wait for the command to shoot?” Walter hissed. No one paid him any attention as we milled about Sid excitedly.

  “You did great!” Tracy clapped as she looked at Sid. “It took Rose hours before she was able to Rid her first Conflicted.” I shot her a dirty look before looking back at Sid. He holstered his weapon, bashfully accepting the accolades from everyone.

  “If there’s anything I’ve learned from living on the street for most of my life, you have to learn the rules – and fast.” Tracy nodded vigorously in agreement.

  “I agree,” Walter said loudly, walking towards Sid. Agatha and I parted to let him join the circle. “That’s why I’m going to go through the 5 Rules of being a Deliverer. Listen carefully because I’m not going to repeat them.” Sid looked up calmly at Walter who showed him the back of his hand. He jabbed at his thumb as he began teaching the newest Deliverer.

  “One, have unwavering conviction when you shoot, something you don’t seem to struggle with so I’ll give you that. Two, never shoot a fellow Deliverer.”

  “Why would we shoot a fellow Deliverer?” Sid scoffed. “That would be like killing family.”