by Vance Huxley
In reality, the electrics on the pipe bomb taped against the container of paraffin and oilmight not detonate anything. The string hanging from the side definitely would set off a very short clockwork timer, and ignite the bomb. In case nobody could get to it, two people would chuck their petrol bomb on thepickup to set it off. They’d promised to do so out of spite, because if it did kick off they were all going to die.
The small pipe bombs taped to the bottlesof oil and paraffin were Barry’s burning version. Kharon’sclockwork fusesshouldrelease between four and six seconds from string being pulled, detonating a percussion cap and the fire bomb. Every person on this trip had volunteeredthree times during selection, knowing the odds. Harold had weeded out those who were a bit too keen on payback against anyone, then any showing hesitation. Except Trev, who was terrified but resigned, fortified with cider, and reassured by the sheer number of armed friends along.
Now, the force spread out either side of the transmitter. The big double entrance doors were unbarred and opened, and a small group of unarmed civvies came out. “The servants will strip down enough so you don’t get nervous.” Beetch called to the men and women and they shed jackets and jumpers, and in a couple of cases, shirts. The servants carefully picked up the timbers under the transmitter parts, sliding the impromptu litter off the pickup and heading inside.
“You are the first armed outsiders into Beth’s since we arrived.” Ken didn’t look happy, but then suddenly smiled. “Caddi will have a fucking heart attack, because Barbie Radio will tell everyone you came for an orgy.” She actually laughed, though it sounded a bit manic. “It mightturn into one, once the radio works. I’m going ahead to make sure everyone behaves.” She left, shouting at a couple of Barbies to take their hands offtheir effing weapons.
The immediate escort of Barbies shed their weapons apart from small blades,also to avoid accidents, Beetch explained.Harold would bet a horde of heavily armed women lurked just out of sight, probably with Ken in charge by now. Curious faces peeked out from all sides,while equally curious Orchard Close guards looked back as they finally made it inside. The first shop each side had no glass in the window, but a sheet of steel set at an angle sealed the bottom half of the opening. At least the women standing behind it were showing their empty hands, not aiming crossbows. The crossfire from there should rip any attackers apart as they came through the doors. Unless, Harold thought with a private smile, they brought hand grenades.
Conditions in the rest of Beth’s weren’t anything like as bad as Harold expected. A wide strip of the floor had been torn up, but only to grow marijuana. A few of the shop windows lining the sides of the wide hall were smashed, and some displays ransacked, but mostlooked intact and many still contained goods.The store dummies were arranged as an orgy, and graffiti decorated everywhere, but otherwise the place didn’t look that much different from before the Crash.
The civvies looking out of the shops, or from beyond the broad staircase ahead, seemed healthy, decently dressed and not at all cowed. Given the reputation the Barbies had, their servants shouldn’t be smiling and excited. The two men and a womanon leads, and one tied to a post who’d definitely been whippedor caned,were almost a relief.
The servants carrying the transmitter were reminded to be careful by several of the spectators, servants as well as Barbies. The Barbies referred their civvies in here as servants. They spoke to them quite reasonably,definitely better than Caddi’s lot spoke to the serfs in the Mansion. The servants treated the misshapen lump and clumps of wires with tenderness and caution, which didn’t make for quick progress.
It seemed to take forever to get across the wide foyer. The whole procession kept to one side, well clear of the wide strip of luxuriant growth running directly under the glassed strip in the roof. The Barbies grew what many considered to be the best marijuana in the city,a major source of revenuefor the nutters which was why Harold threatened to burn it. He’dneed a lot more fire bombs to get it all. The plantscontinued back beyond the stairs, directly under the glass roof, as far as Harold could see.The Orchard Close guards tensed when savage barking broke out. “Maggie, leave! Down.” The young Dobermann, looking very much like her sire Fury rather than Lucky her Labrador ma, obeyed and laid down. She still watched the armed intruders intently, and the Barbie guard next to her kept a firm hold on the leash.
“Even if you sold her, we can hardly tell her you’re a friend.” Beetch looked Logan up and down. “Unless you let your boys come shopping on a regular basis?”Harold watched,but the dog seemed to be under better control than her sire ever was. Casper would have tried to make friends.
“Casper would have wanted to hug her. He might visit just to see her.” Harold paused when the name registered. “Maggie? I thought you’d call her Mz Fang or Ball-biter.”
“Margaret Thatcher. Hardest bitch to ever run this country.” Beetch smirked and chomped her teeth together with a click. “Ball-biter would work because she goes for the nuts.” The Barbie looked up ahead of them. “I’ll go up the stairs first to clear the riffraff.” She quickly cleared the people waiting at the top and the procession started up. As they did some of the tension seemed to ease, with a couple of Barbies calling out to some of the Orchard Close guards. None of them answered, staying with the job, but Beetch called back. “Not now. If you want to get friendly, wait until the radio is fixed.” A fewcheered or laughedat that.
After a short trip along the balcony, the servants set the gear down inside the radio room and left. As the Orchard Close escort settled in, after checking the room for surprises, quiet comments were exchangedat the state of the transmitter. Harold already knew the pictureslooked like bomb damage. Now he could see the whole setup, the thought a smallbomb had been shoved inside the front of one panel.
Trev started stripping out the ruined section, sending everything down to the transport outside. With luck, some of it could be salvaged to use or sell elsewhere. People clustered at the bottom of the stairs and within minutes Ski and Beetch came up to see Harold. “Will it work?”
“Give us a chance! I keep telling you, maybe. Trev has already told me there’s big nasty surprises the pictures didn’t show.” Harold glanced back at Trev, who hadn’t said any such thing but the Barbies needed slowing up. “Just keep clear of him. We nearly had to carry him in.”
“What’s the matter with him?” Ski seemed genuinely curious.
“We don’t know what’s the matter with a lot of our refugees, men and women, and we don’t pry. He arrived in a bad way, andhasn’t said why.” Harold glanced back again but Trev seemed engrossed. “Let him be because he’s got to concentrate. He’s trying to find out if the bomb threw any crap deeper inside, and messed up more of it.”
“It wasn’t…” Beetch relaxed and shrugged. “It won’t happen again.” She left with Ski,speaking to several people outside, servants and Barbies. The small crowd in the foyer started up a low-key party,with a bit of dancing and some animated talk and laughter. The maniacs appeared to be on holiday, or just missing because the crowd out there were a mixture of relatively unarmed fighters and servants. Harold was looking carefully, ignoring his first impressions, but these people were definitely too happy for gangster slaves.
Not that Harold relaxed. He knew the real maniacs had to be just round a corner someplace, gripping serious weaponry. The ones below were the ordinary soldiers, mixed with people who kept the toilet unblocked and the food grown or cooked.All of them were obviously fond of what was a genuine radio station. Barbie Radio appeared to be a proper studio with mikes on booms and turntables as well as disc players. They’d ripped off the complete article and someone had installed it properly,unless it had always been here. The way everything neatly fitted in meant Harold thought that a real possibility.
The components Orchard Close brought started going into the hole, orpartially anyway because the repair would neverfit. Harold doubted the Barbies would care how it looked.Trev sweated,and said cripes a lot, but kept saying no
t to worry. Meanwhile, the escort ate their own food in shifts, drinkingtheir own boiled water to avoid drugging. Patty came back from talking to the Barbies at the top of the stairs. “They’re not worried, but that doesn’t look to be coming along very fast.” She nodded towards where a couple of his escort were holding wires or bits of electrics for Trev. “It gets dark early this time of year. What happens if Trevhasn’t finished? I don’t fancy trying to load up and keep this lot off us at night, not once that’s working.”
“Good point. Ask your girlfriends out there to send for one of the top three.” Patty flashed a grin and went to do so.
Malibu turned up so Harold beckoned her forward. She looked in at the mare’s nest of wires,and Trev busy testing and fitting together.”Fucking hell, that’s a mess.”
“It was a worse mess until he started repairing it?”
“Possibly.” Malibu squinted. “Something certainlyseems to be going in.”
“Then how about we start on the payment?” Harold looked up and down the shopping Mall. “Lovely though Beth’s is, we don’t expect a sleepover.”
“If that thing works, I could guarantee you’d all enjoy it.What do you have in mind?” Malibu kept watching Trev, but Harold didn’t think she understood any better than him.
“How about one of my people goes down and supervises emptying your music shop, then raids your CDs and DVDs?” Malibu didn’t look keen, but Harold kept going. “If Barbie radio doesn’t work, the loaded vehicleswon’t move.”
“Maybe.” Malibu took a long hard look at the lump still attached to the electrics. “What about that bomb? How come it’s still stuck on there?”
“If your transmitter works,the bomb will make sure we get clear with our payment.Once we are back at the border I’ll remove the battery and disable my remote. We’ll wait there with your escort until you confirm the bomb has come off.” Malibu still hesitated, so Harold tried a diversion. “Who would you like down there to supervise?” He grinned, sticking his chest out, and Malibu enjoyed the joke.
“Would Soldier Boy like to go down there among all those lovely girls? They’ll make you really welcome and would love you to supervise them, all of them.” Harold would never have believed the word supervise could sound so downright filthy.
He feigned disappointment, not very well from Malibu’s expression. “I daren’t. These women would pine or be jealous.They’d nag me about it for months afterwards.”
Malibu’s eyes roamedover the Orchard Close party and her lips curved in a big smile. “How about Patty, so we can show the Demon all the benefits of Barbie membership? Just the sight of that fancy sheath is loosening knicker elastic.”
“By all means go for it.Maybe she’ll persuade a couple of yours to follow her home instead?” Harold pointed at the decorated sheath on Patty’s rifle. “She might let someone look under her tassels if she’s asked right.” He raised his voice.”Patty?”
Once Harold explained, Patty nodded happily. “No problem. A teacheronce told me it’s a good thing to broaden my horizons.” She tapped her rifle and blades. “I’m sorry but I insist on staying dressed.” Malibu agreed so Patty followed herout the door, then looked back.”If I don’t come back, a Demon expects a decent pyre.Something hot, downright incendiary and definitely memorable.”Several of the escort waved their bombs in the air, but the Barbies loved it. Those near enough to hear burst out laughing, passingher comments on to the rest.
*
Once Patty left, Harold once again tried to reassess the Barbies becausereality wasn’t gelling with the rumours. Some of the people downstairs could have fitted into Orchard Close without a ripple. It kept him occupied, and calmed his nerves, as time slipped away without the electrics producing even a burst of static. The Barbie troops were nutters, but so were Caddi and the Hot Rods. Barbie humour had a real bloody edge, but being surrounded by gangs who thought women were natural prey might cause that. Any captured Barbie could expect a long slow death, probably chained up as a sex toy.
A tiny worm of unease stirred in Harold because outside, when they’d been shaking bombs, some of his peoplewere definitely as manic as any Barbie. Was he training up an Orchard Close version of the local nutters?Yet in here that savage edge seemed dulled at least, so maybe the Orchard Close fighters would calm down once they were homemA woman introducing herself as Vinnie underlinedthe relaxation, by bringing Splash up to say hello. Now a full grown Staffy, Splash wouldn’t come near until Vinnie said Harold was a friend,but then went wriggly and waggy-tailed. A few casual questions confirmed that the dogs spent their nights on guard.
A succession of Barbies came to spend time guarding the Orchard Close guards, chattingwith both men and women. Harold watched, wondering if the GOFS and Barbies had rubbed off on each other a bit.Perhaps the fabled sex slaves and slave labour didn’t exist? The Barbies weren’t enlightened, but neither were they tyrants. Harold visited Caddi’s headquarters on a regular basis, but only met the other gangs at agreed trading posts. Maybe Caddi and the Hot Rods were worse than most of the other gangs? Not the Geeks, Harold had plenty of evidence showing how nasty the Geek Freeks were. What he saw here matched with the way Finn told him the Barbies treated their tenants, those outside Beth’s. Those were treated much better than the Geek or Hot Rod serfs.
A continual stream of top Barbies talked to Harold, Alfie and Ru, making it clear that the Barbies were interested in more trade. Chandra, wearing her silk curtains of course, seemed keenest. “We didn’t just come for the beer you know.” She very obviously ogled a few of the nearest women. “Or your women and polite men, as lovely as they are. Malibu kept sending different fighters to have a beer and a look and ask questions.She wanted to know how your women are treated when nobody is looking, and if we can trust you.Those football matches were unexpected and are very popular. We’ve threatened some really bloody retribution if anyone fucks them up.”Chandra looked into the radio room, at all the armed Orchard Close fighters. “We had to find out what made you tick, especially before we let you near Beth’s.Near, not inside.None of us expected you to get this far,as the choirgirls said to the actress.”
“I might have been a bit pushy, but I never expected to see that.” Harold gestured to the relaxed and definitely not tortured Barbie servants dancing below. “As the actress said to the choirgirls.”
“Is that what happened with Mercedes?” Chandra grinned, her eyes alive with mischief. “Come on, give us the latest dirt.”
“It was a bit like that, I suppose, and I definitelydidn’t expect what I saw.” They bantered for a bit about choirgirls and actresses, and how far they might go or what they might see.
“We’ve had questions asked about your gun repairs. Where did you learn?” Chandra slipped that in, then smiled sort of innocently at Harold’s look. “Seriously.”
“In the Army, and I’m probably not the best out there. The Trainspotters had someone and I’ll bet the General has a gun repairer. Some might even be the real deal, from pre-Crash.” Harold chuckled because where he’d learned was obvious. “What I learnt is enough for running repairs, because HM likestheArmy’s weapons to work.”
Chandra found that funny, but soon got back to business. “We definitely agree with HM about weapons.Some of us agree with your wench, the home one, about those bidets. We had a look in the shops, and we’ve got a few with all the fittings but they’re still boxed up.Can your plumber fix them up, and maybe a couple of the fancy baths with bubbles and suchlike?”
“Are you serious, after this?” Harold looked at all the weapons on display. “You’d be tempted to keep him, so are you inviting this lot back inside again?”
“Above my pay grade but maybe, if you don’t leave a mess on the floor?” Chandra seemed serious, but Harold wasn’t so sure. “We’ll expect you to keep quiet about this place, what we’re like at home. Some arses would think we were getting soft. We’d have to make another example, decorate a couple of lamp posts.”
“Is that what happened
last time, the raid?” Harold had often wondered why the idiots had attacked a gang headquarters.
“Just idiots, we reckon, because until now nobody but Barbies ever saw inside Beth’s and left alive. Malibu must trust you, at least that far, so maybe your plumber would be safe. Fergie and Louise could come as escorts?” Despite her laugh, Chandra wasn’t joking about the last part.
They talked about plumbing and this and thatuntil Harold dropped in his own innocuous question.”So how many Murphy refugees have you intercepted?” He did his best to look innocent as Chandra gave him a long look.
“Not quite intercepted, but we’ve got people hidden in the right place to inspect them. If the runners look mad as hell and ready for a fight, we make them an offer. Most people look frightened, running for sanctuary, so we let them go.” A tiny question appeared in Chandra’s eyes. “You could have told us your girlfriend had found a way under our border.”
“I don’t know how they get out, not exactly, just that there’s a place they all aim for. I don’t even know it’s Mercedes, not officially. Why don’t you make them all that offer?”
“We don’t want the unwilling ones, just those ready to fight. We’d like some of their weapons, but if word got back I’m sure the refugees would suddenly find another route. This way, if Caddi or the Murphies follow one of them, we get their weaponry. We’ve only had two fighters come through, following a lass who was too frightened to be careful. They didn’t go back to report.” Chandra’samiable manner took on a serious edge. “If Caddi takes over the rest of the Murphy estates, we can use the same bit of sewer to go right under his border guards.”
“Someone might be lurking at the other end.” Harold didn’t want the Barbies and Mercedes coming to blows.
“I reckon she’s more likely to leave a map showing where Caddi sleeps. If she wanted to give us any grief, she’d have saved that route to help her boss.” Chandra thought for a moment, then smiled in anticipation. “Let her know we’ve got an ambush this end.She might send him through there once the war is over.”They discussed what might happen when the war finished, until eventually Chandra left. When Harold checked, Trev seemed to have connected a lot of wires in the interim.