Scavenger Blood

by Janet Edwards

  “That could well be true,” said Ice. “In my own division, Royal was the most ardent of Cage’s supporters, but he’s now putting on a convincing act of having been forced into taking actions against his will.”

  “We don’t have time to waste on trials of Cage’s supporters anyway,” said Ghost. “We need to focus our efforts on dealing with Cage himself, or he’ll keep us pinned down in Parliament House like rats in a trap until it’s too late for us to leave New York this spring. Donnell has avoided publicly discussing the tactics we should use against Cage. I suggest that we avoid discussing tactics in alliance leadership meetings as well.”

  Donnell nodded. “We mustn’t let Cage’s supporters learn about our plans to hunt down their master. An alliance leadership meeting involves eight representatives from each division. Even if we were totally convinced of the loyalty of all of them, and frankly I’m not, forty people is too many to keep a secret.”

  “Yes, our plans should be shared with as few people as possible,” said Wall.

  “Agreed,” said Ice. “Can we discuss another issue now? This morning, Cage shot an arrow at the tree by one of the women’s fishing spots downriver. There’s evidence that arrow couldn’t have been fired more than fifteen minutes before sunrise. This afternoon, Cage was upriver using a sniper rifle by the recreation area.”

  Ice paused. “Cage had to move between those two places when it was full daylight, the temperature was above freezing point, and so many falling stars were crossing the river that the rest of us were having problems travelling in pairs. Cage couldn’t have survived the journey alone, so someone must have helped him.”

  “I think you’re right that someone helped Cage,” said Donnell, “but I’ve no idea how they managed it. I was watching the women fishing myself, and would have noticed anyone sneaking away. My officers have orders to count the men in their hunting parties at least once an hour. Blaze was guarding the only exit from Parliament House that wasn’t locked and covered by the alarm system.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I’d have noticed at once if any of the people on crèche or teaching duty tried to leave, or one of the children wandered off.”

  “My people have orders to watch for anyone acting suspiciously as well,” said Ghost.

  “And mine,” said Ice.

  Ghost waved both hands. “So it was impossible for Cage’s supporters to have helped him make the journey. Either Cage has made friends with the falling stars – which I can almost believe because he’s as repellent as they are – or he was up at the recreation area before dawn. That would mean someone else fired that arrow at the fishing spot.”

  “It was definitely one of Cage’s blue-flighted arrows,” said Donnell. “I agree that the fact it was Cage’s arrow doesn’t necessarily mean he was the person who fired it at the tree, but who else could have done it? The doors to Parliament House were locked from when the last hunting party returned last night until we all set out this morning. I led the group of women straight to their fishing spots, and the arrow was already in the tree when we got there.”

  “Who is authorized to lock and unlock the doors of Parliament House?” asked Ice.

  “At the moment, it’s only the five people with command level access to the security system,” said Donnell.

  “Those people being?” prompted Wall.

  “Machico, Natsumi, Aaron, Blaze, and myself,” said Donnell.

  “Me?” I gave him a startled look. “When did I get command level access?”

  “When you were confirmed as deputy alliance leader,” said Donnell. “You’ve had second level access to the security system ever since you came to New York, because that was needed to reach your apartment on the secure sixth floor of the Resistance wing. Machico just had to increase your authorization the last step to command level.”

  Ghost frowned. “We all know that Machico and Natsumi are devoted to Donnell, so we have to consider if Aaron could have been helping Cage.”

  Ice glanced across at where the rest of Donnell’s officers were lounging around a table in the Resistance area. “Aaron has always seemed totally dependable, but it’s the only explanation. It would also be a second reason why Cage killed Rogue rather than Aaron.”

  “Aaron has a deep hatred of Cage and would never help him,” I said. “Aaron’s wife died from the winter fever when Cage was hiding medicine that could have saved her life.”

  “I understand exactly how Aaron feels,” said Wall. “One of my nephews died from the winter fever. When I discovered Cage had a secret hoard of medicine, I wanted to tear out the man’s heart.”

  “I find it hard to believe Aaron is a traitor too,” said Ghost, “but he’s the only one who could have helped Cage.”

  Wall snapped his fingers. “No, Aaron isn’t a traitor. Cage didn’t need anyone’s help to get from downriver to the recreation area. It’s obvious how he can move freely without danger from the falling stars.”

  Donnell stared at him. “If it’s obvious to you, Wall, then please explain it to the rest of us.”

  “Of course none of you would think of this,” said Wall. “Raeni is too young to remember. Ghost never knew because he belonged to Yonkers as a child, and that division only merged with Brooklyn after the alliance was formed. Ice and Blaze have only been in New York for six and a half years, and as for Donnell ...”

  Wall paused to laugh. “The Resistance came to New York as part of their grand political gesture of occupying the United Earth Regional Parliament complexes on all five continents. They lived in Parliament House from the moment they arrived in New York, so were never subway rats.”

  Donnell’s eyes widened. “Subway rats! Yes, that has to be the answer.”

  “Subway rats?” I shook my head in bewilderment. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “When law and order began breaking down in New York,” said Wall, “the criminal groups set up their headquarters down in the old subway tunnels, so the respectable citizens started calling us subway rats.”

  “You think that Cage is using those subway tunnels now, Wall?” asked Ice.

  “It’s the only possible explanation of how he’s moving around so easily,” said Wall.

  I was only aware the subway tunnels existed because people had to be careful not to fall through old maintenance holes into them. “The subway was an underground transport system,” I said. “It must date from before the invention of portal technology, so the tunnels will be over two hundred years old. Wouldn’t they all be impassable by now?”

  “The oldest tunnels are about five hundred years old,” said Wall. “There are close to a thousand miles of them under Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. They were abandoned a couple of decades after the invention of portals, and the ones under Manhattan are mostly either flooded, partially collapsed, or both. Before my group gained control of central Manhattan, we used the drier stretches to hide out from police raids, but you couldn’t travel far through the tunnels.”

  He shrugged. “There are hundreds of miles of much newer subway tunnels on this side of the river though. They were made using advanced building techniques, so are still in good condition. I first explored them in early 2383, and found they were easy to walk through, with only a few puddles and lumps of fallen debris where overhead inspection hatches or air vents had disintegrated. Even the lights were still working in most of the sections, though sadly the tunnels had no heating at all.”

  “I can understand you knowing all about the tunnels in Manhattan,” said Ice, “but why were you exploring the ones on this side of the river?”

  “Manhattan was one of the first areas of New York to be abandoned by the police and citizens,” said Wall. “With people streaming off world, the city population was dropping rapidly, and there were much better places to live and work than in a mass of decaying skyscrapers. Once we were completely alone in Manhattan, my people had to go and raid other areas if we wanted some excitement.”

  He grinned. “In
2382, the United Earth Government brought in the Criminal Movement Restriction Measures. That added a security block to the portal system so it could only be used by people on a specially created register of reputable citizens. Since we couldn’t use portals any longer, we began using the newer subway tunnels as a route to raid the citizen enclaves on this side of the river.”

  Ice nodded. “I see.”

  “When New York was officially abandoned in 2389,” said Wall, “Donnell sent us a message suggesting forming the alliance. I took some of my key men over the Unity Bridge, and set up a base in the subway tunnels near the Parliament House. The New York power supply had been turned off when the citizens left, so the lights weren’t working, but nothing else had changed.”

  “If you were based down in the subway tunnels back then, it explains the way your party seemed to keep appearing from nowhere,” said Donnell.

  “I had to be extremely careful during those negotiations,” said Wall, “because the Queens group were trying to ambush and murder us. Their leader at the time liked to think of himself as an art collector, and was ridiculously angry about us stealing an art gallery storage box. It was among several stasis boxes of valuables from a Manhattan museum that were waiting to be shipped off world. Queens had absolutely no claim to any of them, but their leader seemed to feel every painting in New York was his personal property.”

  Ghost raised an eyebrow. “I heard the Queens version of that story in the early days of the alliance. The Queens leader said that the paintings were originally from a Manhattan museum, but you stole them when they were in storage in Queens.”

  Wall gave one of his booming laughs. “Possibly we did. The Queens leader had been annoying me by raiding the art galleries in our territory. I decided to annoy him in return, and was rather more successful than I intended. In fact, since Queens merged with Staten Island, and the Queens leader became leader of the merged division, our old conflict led to the murder in Sanctuary that Queens Island won’t let anyone forget.”

  He grunted. “If I’d known how much trouble that art gallery storage box would cause, I’d never have bothered with the thing. It was especially pointless given we ended up abandoning the box after a subway tunnel roof collapsed. Anyway, my alliance negotiation party included a sixteen-year-old Cage. I hadn’t wanted to bring him along with me, but he was already too dangerous for me to risk leaving him behind.”

  Donnell frowned. “So Cage would know all about the local subway tunnels.”

  “Including the crucial detail of how to enter them,” said Wall. “All the main entrances were sealed off when the subway system was closed down a hundred and eighty years ago, and they’ve been buried or built over since then, so it’s hard to find your way in and out. There are also places where the walls of new buildings either jut out into the tunnels or block them entirely.”

  “When you’ve got time, can you please make some notes on the local subway entrances for me, Wall?” asked Donnell.

  “I’ll do my best,” said Wall, “but I haven’t been inside those tunnels for eighteen years. My memories are a bit hazy.”

  “Any information will be an immense help,” said Donnell.

  “Wall must be right that Cage is using the subway system to travel around,” said Ghost. “Falling stars are totally dependent on their gliding attacks, so they sometimes go inside buildings for shelter, but never go underground. It’s going to be a problem finding Cage though. You say that he has hundreds of miles of subway tunnels to hide in?”

  Wall sighed. “Yes. The subway system on this side of the river covers the whole area from Jersey City up to Fort Lee. Cage could be anywhere.”

  “Now the New York power supply is back on, the subway lights are probably working again,” said Donnell thoughtfully.

  “Yes, and it’s far easier to move through the tunnels with the lights turned on,” said Wall, “but don’t think that Cage will make the mistake of letting the subway lights give away his position. When we first started using those tunnels in 2383, we took the lazy option of leaving the lights on when we went to raid a citizen enclave. By the time we were on our way back, it was dark outside, and the glow of lights showing through broken inspection hatches and air vents told the citizens what route we were using.”

  He pulled a rueful face. “We walked straight into an ambush party of vengeful citizens and barely escaped with our lives. After that, we turned lights on as we entered each section of tunnel, and then off again at the other end, so we left no clue to our route.”

  Wall paused. “Cage wasn’t with us on that trip, because he was only about ten years old back then, but he must have heard people tell that story dozens of times. If he’s using the subway tunnels now, he’ll be careful not to leave lights on that could attract our attention.”

  “Yes,” said Donnell. “Our subway rat, Cage, will be turning lights on as he enters each section of tunnel, and then off again at the other end.”

  Donnell’s eyes met mine for a second, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Tad could see every change in power demand on the New York power grid control system. If the subway tunnels had no automatic lights or heating, then Tad should be able to tell us every time Cage turned a light on or off down there, and crucially exactly where Cage was when he did it.

  Chapter Ten

  The meeting ended after that, and the other division leaders walked off into their wings of the building. Donnell and I went over to where Machico, Vijay, Luther, Julien, and Aaron were waiting by the Resistance tables.

  “Weston’s still guarding the off-worlders,” said Vijay.

  Donnell nodded. “Where’s Rebecca, Aaron?”

  I could see Aaron’s hands were trembling, and his voice sounded strained as he answered the question. “I sent her off with Tindra. You’ll need me tonight.”

  Donnell shook his head. “You’re off duty tonight, Aaron. Collect a meal from Natsumi, and then go and rest.”

  Aaron hesitated. “Are you sure you can manage without me?”

  “I’m sure,” said Donnell. “Weather permitting, Rogue’s funeral will be held tomorrow. I’ll need to be away guarding the mourners, so I want you and Blaze to be in a fit state to take charge of the situation here.”

  We all watched Aaron go to the back of Reception, collect a plate of food, and carry it off into the Resistance wing.

  Luther pulled a bewildered face. “Why is Aaron looking such a complete wreck? No one’s shooting at him now.”

  “You’ve no idea what Aaron has been through today,” said Machico. “He was the leader of that hunting party, responsible for the lives of the men in it, and one of them is dead. It’s natural for him to be suffering from shock, though he has no reason to reproach himself. Judging from what the other men have said, Aaron did well. Cage’s first shot took them all by surprise. There was nothing Aaron could have done to save Rogue, but he kept his head, and got everyone else safely through the trees to the restaurant.”

  Machico paused and repeated his earlier words. “Aaron has no reason to reproach himself.”

  I was startled by the note of self-accusation in Machico’s voice as he said that, but then remembered something Donnell had told me. The first time Machico had been put in charge of a mission, he’d lost his nerve under fire. The confused expressions on Luther and Julien’s faces showed they didn’t know about that, but Vijay definitely did. He’d been on that mission himself, and had to step in to take over command from Machico before everyone got killed.

  “Aaron did brilliantly,” said Donnell hastily, “but now he’s suffering from all the emotions he couldn’t allow himself to feel at the time. Later, when he’s ready to talk about it, we’ll have to do what we can to help him. Right now, we should let him get some rest, and hope he can sleep without dreams.”

  Machico had got his voice back under control now. “You need to get some rest as well, Sean. You’ll have to be fully alert at Rogue’s funeral, because it will be a tempting target for Cage.
”

  “I realize that,” said Donnell. “My plan is for Blaze to spend tonight with the off-worlders in Sanctuary as usual. The rest of us will take turns to sit here in Reception keeping watch. Those who aren’t on guard duty will sleep on mattresses in the entrance to the Resistance wing so they can be out to help deal with trouble in seconds. Luther and Julien can go and get a few mattresses now.”

  Luther gave a long-suffering sigh. “Why is it always me that gets given the menial jobs?”

  “It isn’t always you,” said Julien. “Donnell told both of us to get the mattresses, and I’m not complaining about it, so there’s no reason for you to start whining.”

  The two of them were complete opposites in both colouring and build, but their expressions matched perfectly as they glared at each other.

  “I’m not whining,” said Luther.

  “Yes, you are,” said Julien fiercely. “You’re constantly whining about what work you’re given. You seem to think you have a right to all the best jobs. You thought you had a right to the deputy alliance leader position as well.”

  “I may have a few faults,” said Luther acidly, “but at least I don’t drink myself senseless every night.”

  Donnell groaned. “Can’t you two say a single word to each other without arguing? We’ve got enough real enemies to fight without the pair of you attacking each other as well. Now go and get those mattresses.”

  Luther and Julien turned to head to the Resistance wing, and I heard Julien whispering to Luther in an aggrieved voice.

  “I told you that I’ve given up drinking alcohol.”

  Luther responded with a jeering sound of disbelief.

  Donnell either didn’t hear that final exchange or chose to ignore it. “Machico, you’re in charge here. Blaze, let’s collect our meals.”

  The two of us walked across to where Natsumi was standing by one of the food tables. She carefully ladled a portion of fish and wintereat onto a plate, put a cover over it, added it to the stack in a large stasis box, and activated the fuzzy black stasis field.