“There have been no deaths for two weeks now, not since they announced when opening night would be. Sabatini keeps going on about getting maximum entertainment out of us. They work us like dogs all day and we’ve had lots of injuries, but he wants to keep the rest of us alive for opening night and then he’s going for a high death count, he says. There’s going to be a lavish ceremony on opening night. It’s all top secret. Not even the performers know what’s happening. Your mother’s the guest of honour – she’s made it part of her election campaign.”
“When is that?” I say, the heaviness in my stomach growing by the second.
Before he can answer, a klaxon sounds, so loud that it makes everyone jolt.
Immediately, they all scramble up to their feet.
“Get up,” Emmanuel says. “Go. You’ve got one minute. There’s an empty cell at the bottom, I’ll show you.” Everyone is suddenly dashing past us, pushing past each other urgently. They all run into the little caged rooms and there’s the sound of metal doors clanging shut and bolts being pulled across.
Why are they so keen to lock themselves up?
“Take that one,” Emmanuel says urgently, pushing me towards a cell. “Get in there. Make sure your door’s locked. Quick, before they let them in!” He turns away, sprinting down the suddenly empty corridor to a cell nearby. He dashes into it and slams it shut.
I stand in the doorway, looking into the tiny bare room in front of me.
I don’t like enclosed spaces. I don’t want to shut myself in. Why can’t I just leave it open?
“Quick,” the woman opposite me hisses. “Shut your door, before it’s too late!”
I swing the door shut, but I don’t lock it.
There’s a loud clanging sound and an iron gate descends from the ceiling, about two metres from the entrance door, and then another one drops the other end of the corridor, so that we’re sandwiched into the middle.
There’s a furious scrabbling noise from overhead and then, with a click, the heavy stone back door of the cell swings open and they appear, pushing against the metal gate. Snapping, snarling, frenzied.
The gate rises and they stream down the corridor. I shoot my head back quickly and pull the bolt across.
The corridors are full of animals. An angry, snarling pack of them. That’s why everyone stays in their cell so obediently. They rush past along the corridor, snapping at each other’s feet and sniffing the ground desperately.
One of them stops right outside my cell. My hands fly back off the bars. It stares at me with cold yellow eyes and bares its sharp teeth. I flinch back.
This is what Emmanuel meant, then. This is how they keep us in check. This is what’s cheaper than paying security guards.
Wolves. Dark, lean, mean.
We’re being guarded by wolves.
HOSHIKO
I try to kick, try to fight, but the grip round me is too tight. I’m dragged through the dark alleys and narrow paths. Eventually, we come to a halt, right on the edges of the slums, in the shadows of one of the huge rubbish tips.
The hand over my mouth is sweaty and smelly and foul.
I look up at the bloodshot eyes and cracked skin of the man holding me. His breath on my face is rancid.
There’s another man here too: thin and pale and wiry.
“We’re early,” he says. “Didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you?” When he laughs, he has hardly any teeth, just gaping holes in his gums.
“Might as well have a bit of fun while we’re waiting,” the man holding me says. He pulls me tight against him and wraps his arm across my waist. “She’s even better-looking in real life.”
I try to wriggle from his grasp. He laughs and holds me even tighter. “I like them feisty.”
For a second, the dirty hand over my mouth loosens a little. I bite down hard.
“Damn it!” He snatches it away. “Little bitch bit me!”
The gummy one laughs again and grabs my arm and twists it hard behind my back.
“Help!” I scream as loud as I can. “Help!”
He clamps his hand down over my mouth.
“Shut it! You’re going nowhere. You’re going to make us our fortune. You’re our ticket out of here. Cops are going to give us a nice big pile of cash in return for you!”
He talks to the other one over my head. “Why didn’t you get the little girl too? She’d have been easy.”
“Opportunity was too good. This one was right at the door. They might have guns for all I know. I don’t know what Kadir gave them, do I? Anyway, she’s the one they want. She’s the only one they were going on about – they didn’t even mention the kid.”
He’s still nursing his hand, looking up and down furtively.
“How long do you reckon until they get here?”
“Stop being so twitchy. We’ve done the hard bit already.”
“Can’t I have a closer look at the merchandise, then?” He steps closer to me. “The police won’t care what state she’s in.”
“If anyone sees us … if anyone saw us. You heard what Kadir said. He’s guaranteed them protection.”
“By the time Kadir finds out she’s gone, we’ll be gone too: long gone. And we’ll be rich. Just calm down. The police will be here any minute.”
I wait for an opportunity to shout out again, or to get away, but it never comes.
The thin guy’s grip on me doesn’t loosen for a second.
The other one keeps leering at me, licking his dry lips.
I see the blue lights before them, gliding silently along the street outside and stopping just the other side of the fence.
A car door opens and shuts lightly, and then another one and a searching torchlight spans across us as two police officers duck through the broken fence panel and walk slowly towards us.
They come closer, a male and a female.
“Well done, lads,” says the man, his voice low. “Did anyone see you?”
“No. All good,” answers the shorter guy. “Vicious little cow bit me though. Hand over the money and you’re welcome to her!”
“It’s not quite that straightforward,” says the woman. “We aren’t the ones who give out the reward. You’ll have to come to the station for that.”
“Come to the station? You never said that.” The thin one sounds panicked. “We’ve risked our lives getting her to you! We need to get out of London before it’s too late! Get the girl and we’ll get you the money, that’s what you said.”
“And we will. At the station. Let’s just all get in the car and we’ll sort it out there.”
“I’m not getting in no cop car!” The short one’s voice is getting louder.
“Keep it down! You don’t have a choice if you want the cash.”
“You ain’t getting the girl, then,” the tall one says.
The male officer laughs and shines his torch over to the woman’s gun and then his own.
“I think you’ll find we are,” he says.
There’s a tense silence for a few seconds as they all eyeball each other, and then another, different laugh, loud and hard, from behind, and a figure steps out from behind the rotting heap of rubbish.
The officers swing their beams round, illuminating Kadir.
“Well, well, well. What’s going on here then?” He grins, his teeth flashing in the torchlight.
BEN
A lone wolf howls. Others join it, raising their grizzled heads until the air is full with the cries of the pack: an eerie, collective moan that fills your head and makes the hairs on your neck stand on end. After a few minutes, it stops and then they start prowling about again – looking for food, I suppose.
I count fifteen of them. Fifteen huge wolves, pacing up and down. Every now and then there’s snarling and snapping as a fight breaks out between them. One of the skirmishes happens just outside my cell and the bars jolt as wolves fling themselves against them.
I bolt backwards and scrunch up in the corner of the room with my hands over
my ears. It doesn’t stop the sounds though: the cries and the howls and the panting breaths.
From time to time, the wolves stop whatever they’re doing and break out into their mournful howls and there’s another sound too, a human sound; the sound of someone crying, a loud, hysterical sob.
“Shut up, Maggie!” a voice shouts out. “For God’s sake, you’re worse than the wolves!”
But Maggie, whoever she is, doesn’t stop. The shout only makes her cries louder.
I try to think of nice things, of Hoshiko and the feel of her hand in mine, the softness of her hair, the sound of her voice, but I can’t: it’s impossible.
In the end, I give up. I crouch there, listening to the wolves, jumping every time one stops outside my door. I don’t sleep. No one could sleep through this. I just sit there, huddled in that corner all night. It’s the longest night of my life.
HOSHIKO
My eyes flick to each of their faces in turn: the police officers, the kidnappers, they all look equally petrified. All except Kadir, who stands there – smiling, self-assured, in control.
“Who wants to explain?” he asks, softly.
“It’s not what it looks like!” blurts the tallest guy, releasing his hold on me.
“I see.” Kadir’s voice is low and pleasant. “That’s good. Because it looks like you were about to hand over my guest to these officers. I guaranteed this girl protection; I assured her of her safety in the slums. I informed everyone of this a few short hours ago. It looks like you were about to disobey my orders.” He takes a step forward and his eyes glint. “It looks like you have forgotten whose side you are on.”
He takes another step forward.
“Hoshiko, come here, please.”
I run over to stand next to him. I still don’t like the guy but he’s got to be better than these horrid men.
“Not so fast!” The policeman raises his gun, points it at Kadir. After a second, the woman does the same.
Kadir looks at them, his eyes widening in mock horror, and then laughs, a booming, hearty laugh. “What rank are you two? Been in the force long? Didn’t think so: you’re still a bit green around the edges, still not clear on how the land lies around here.”
He raises his hand and clicks his fingers. Out of the darkness, figures appear, encircling us. Thirty, forty, too many to count.
High up on the rubbish tip, more dark figures, looming over us.
“These are my slums. Mine. I’ve put up with a lot from your end lately. Cars driving through, destroying people’s houses. Officers banging on doors, upsetting my people. I’m getting a bit fed up with it.”
He takes another step towards the officers. Their guns are still raised but they don’t look very confident.
“Tell you what, I’m feeling generous. Here’s what’s going to happen. You turn your backsides round, right now, and slink off back to where you came from. You don’t mention your little discovery. You tell your bosses, the boy’s mother, anyone who asks, that the girl’s not here. You tell them that the next time a police officer sees fit to step into my slums, I will let my people do whatever they like to them.”
“You’re forgetting something,” the policewoman says. She’s trying to sound tough, but her voice cracks with nerves. “We’re the ones with the guns.”
Kadir’s head snaps round and the smile is gone as he stares at her through lowered lids.
“You are beginning to irritate me,” he says. “Like I said, I guaranteed this girl my protection. One way or another, she will have it, and one way or another, you will be going back to your station. Whether it is intact or in pieces is up to you.”
He raises his hand again, clicks his fingers twice more. The ring of figures steps closer, tightening around us.
“I have long had an unspoken arrangement with your seniors: you leave me to get on with things in here, and I will leave you to carry on out there. My people won’t riot. My people won’t attack, not unless I tell them to. I will keep control, I will maintain order here, just as I have done for many years now. We have been at peace, your side and mine, but it is a fragile peace, a tentative one: and you would be wise not to test it. If my dominion in the slums is challenged, I will have no choice but to react; no choice but to let my people off their leash.”
The policeman lowers his gun. The woman glances at him and then does the same.
Kadir smiles. “That’s better. Now—” He raises his voice suddenly to a roar. “Get out!”
The police officers both turn tail and run. There’s the screech of tyres as the car speeds away.
In the middle of the circle of men, my kidnappers cower.
Kadir stares at them, coldly.
“Kadir—” the thin one begins.
“Don’t speak!” he roars again. The big one starts snivelling. I find myself grinning. I can’t help it.
“Take these men to my office. I will deal with them shortly,” he orders, and holds out an arm to me. “Hoshiko. Let me escort you; your companions are waiting.”
After a second, I take his arm and we glide off through the silent streets of the slums.
When we approach his headquarters, he turns to me. “It’s been rather an eventful day.”
He’s waiting for me to say something. I know what he wants, but it’s hard to get the words out. He’s just saved me, but I still don’t like him, still don’t trust him, and I don’t like being in his debt.
“Thank you,” I say after a moment.
He waves a dismissive hand in the air. “Don’t mention it. As I said, you have my protection. All I ask is that you remember, when the time comes, who your friends are,” and he doffs his little hat to me. Then he leans closer, anger darkening his face
“Those turncoat fools won’t get the chance to challenge my command again, I can promise you that.”
BEN
Everything passes, even the longest and darkest of nights. Eventually, even this one reaches an end. The lights come on, glaring and harsh, but I stay huddled up in my corner, wincing at the brightness.
The metal grid near the back rises and there’s a rush like a sudden wind as the wolves all turn and run to the back door. I creep to the edge of my cell and peer out cautiously.
A hatch at the top has opened and something is dropping out of it, down to the frenzied pack below, like post falling through a letter box. This isn’t paper cascading down on them though. It’s meat, bloodied and raw. The sound as they eat is horrible: growling and whimpering and snapping and gnashing and tearing.
In the middle of the pack, the largest wolf of all, a black, shaggy beast, raises its head. A hunk of meat hangs out of its mouth, blood dripping from it on to the scrabbling beasts below. Its cold yellow eyes meet mine for a second and then it tosses back its head and gulps the meat down.
I’ve always been fascinated by wolves, about the way the packs operate. This one must be the alpha, the dominant male. There’ll be an alpha female too and then a hierarchy stretching all the way down.
One of the wolves, a mangy, lean one, pushes its way forward from the back. The others turn on it, snarling, and it scampers back out of the way. Its leg is bleeding and it licks at it forlornly, whimpering to itself. The omega; the weakest member of the group.
It doesn’t take long for the meat to disappear, but the animals remain there, sniffing the ground frantically for scraps and licking up the blood that stains the floor.
After a few minutes, the door clicks and swings open. The wolves all turn tail and head out as one. I can hear them running above our heads. Where are they going? I wonder. Presumably they don’t just roam around the circus as they wish.
After a minute or two, there’s the sound of bolts being pulled back and people start creeping slowly out into the corridors.
It feels unsafe, coming out from the tiny room I’ve been huddled in. I can see now why everyone entered the cells so willingly.
I thought the stench last night when I arrived was bad, but now it’s unbearabl
e. It’s an animal odour; the smell of meat and the earthy reek of the wolf droppings spattered everywhere. At one end of the corridor, a girl has an old broom and she’s sweeping up, a disgusted look on her face.
Emmanuel steps towards me.
“OK?” he asks simply.
I nod.
“Does that happen every night?”
It’s his turn to nod now.
“Every night. They’re trying to break us, take away what we are.” He scowls. He looks intimidating when he scowls. “We can’t let them. We won’t let them.”
“So what happens now?” I ask.
“Breakfast, if we’re lucky, and rehearsals for most of us.”
“But I’m not performing. That’s what Sabatini said. What will I have to do?”
“Build stuff, clean stuff, set stuff up, I suppose. They’ll certainly find a use for you. It’s all hands on deck for tomorrow.”
“What’s happening tomorrow?” I ask.
He looks at me. “What’s happening tomorrow? You don’t know? Tomorrow’s opening night. Tomorrow, the show begins again.”
HOSHIKO
In Kadir’s waiting area, Greta, Jack and Rosie all sit, anxiously perched on the edges of their chairs.
“Hoshi! Thanks goodness!” Greta nearly knocks me off my feet with the speed and strength with which she throws herself at me. “What happened?”
“Some guys grabbed me when you were all asleep. They were going to hand me over to the police.” I glance towards Kadir, silently watching. “Kadir saved me.”
He smiles graciously. “Like I said, it was nothing. In fact, I believe Bojo here is the real hero of the day.”
He holds a hand out to Bojo, who looks at Greta, seemingly for approval, and then bounds over to him.
“Bojo told us you were missing!” Greta declares proudly. “He woke us up! He was very upset. He kept pointing at the door and covering his mouth with his paws, like he was shocked. That’s how we knew something had happened! We ran to Rosie’s and she said to come here.”
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