by Darrell Pitt
‘I’m going to crush you,’ he said, his eyes wild with fury. ‘And grind your bones into dust. You’ll regret you were ever born—’
Bang!
Mr Doyle had fired Clarabelle into the air. He stood twenty feet behind, his gun now trained on Dudley. ‘Surrender,’ he told him. ‘This can only end one way.’
‘You’re right about that, Doyle,’ Dudley said. ‘I will build a throne made of human skulls—beginning with your own.’
He advanced on Mr Doyle. The detective fired point blank, and though Dudley twitched, the bullets, even at this range, were nothing more than irritations. Mr Doyle was driven back to the edge of the roof.
Jack and Scarlet started down the church spire, but Dudley’s last attack had weakened the structure. The whole thing was swaying. It could collapse at any second.
Mr Doyle finished by emptying Clarabelle directly into Dudley’s face. This time Dudley winced, turning away. One of his eyes was bleeding. Mr Doyle had finally found a weak point.
But then Dudley leapt at Mr Doyle, knocked the gun away and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Lifting him over the edge of the building, Dudley turned back to Jack and Scarlet.
‘Time to say goodbye,’ he said, and dropped Mr Doyle.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Jack screamed.
But he did not hear himself. The world went silent as Mr Doyle fell, his arms clawing the air as he disappeared from sight.
No-one could survive that fall. Warren Dudley had killed him as surely as a man stepping on a bug.
Scarlet grabbed Jack, tears in her eyes. ‘Jack,’ she moaned. ‘Oh no.’
Jack started back down the weaving spire, filled with a rage unlike anything he had ever felt. ‘I’m going to kill you!’ he screamed. ‘I’m going to—’
‘The only thing you’re going to do,’ Dudley said, laughing, ‘is die.’
In one almighty bound, he crossed the roof and pushed the spire. The whole structure began to topple towards the street.
But then a hand appeared over the edge of the roof where Mr Doyle had fallen. Huge fingers gripped the brickwork, followed by a muscled arm and shoulder, and the head of Ben Sykes. He lifted himself onto the roof, a precious bundle under his other arm.
Setting Mr Doyle onto the roof, Ben dusted his hands. ‘You were always a small man, Dudley,’ he said. ‘Now you’re a small man in a large body.’
Dudley stared in astonishment. ‘Sykes!’ he said, but then a smile played on his lips. ‘Ben Sykes…the freak.’
‘Only one of us is a freak,’ Ben said. ‘And it’s not me.’
Dudley gave the spire a final push. Jack raced back towards Scarlet as it toppled sideways over the street, held on by only a cobweb of broken timbers. Scarlet screamed, slipping—but she managed to grab an exposed crossbeam.
Skirting the two men, Mr Doyle raced to the base of the spire, now a shamble of debris, broken timber, tiles, bricks and metal.
‘Hold on!’ he yelled, climbing through the rubble. ‘I’m coming for you.’
Jack continued towards Scarlet on hands and knees, balanced on the ever-narrowing edge of the spire. She slipped further. Jack threw himself along the length and grabbed her arm. Grunting with effort, he dragged her back to safety.
‘If I’d known today would turn out this way,’ Scarlet said, ‘I would have eaten a smaller breakfast.’
‘Come on,’ Jack said. ‘We don’t have much time.’
Ben and Dudley were engaged in mortal combat, each trying to smash the other into submission. Swinging his leg around, Ben swept Dudley’s out from under him. Dudley hit the ground, picked up a rock and flung it at Ben’s head, knocking him backwards.
‘You’ve probably wondered why the potion didn’t work,’ Dudley sneered. ‘Now you should probably know the truth.’
Ben stopped. ‘The truth?’
‘There was nothing wrong with the original mix,’ Dudley said. ‘Until I tampered with it. It was my tampering that turned you into a freak—forever!’
Jack and Scarlet edged back along the spire. Mr Doyle was heading towards them, but he was still several feet away. An airship came in low, but held its fire. They don’t know who to fire on, Jack realised. People were watching the battle from apartment buildings. Others had gathered on the street, transfixed by the scene.
Ben continued to battle the monster, but Dudley was clearly stronger.
Mr Doyle yelled out, ‘The eyes! The eyes!’
Ben scraped up a handful of brick dust and hurled. Dudley screamed, clutching at his face. Scrambling away, Ben hovered at the edge of the roof.
Still fighting for sight, Dudley charged at him. ‘I’ll destroy you, freak!’ he screamed. ‘You’ll be sorry you didn’t die!’
Ben waited until the very last instant. Only then did he duck, allowing Dudley’s momentum to drive him over his shoulder—and off the edge of the building.
The monster’s scream continued all the way to the ground, only ending when he slammed into the street below.
Mr Doyle reached Jack, then Scarlet. ‘Come on, you two,’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here!’
Forming a chain, they held hands as they started back along the spire.
Ka-chung!
The spire collapsed another foot, almost sending them flying. They were still twenty feet away from the edge of the roof, but now Jack saw the spire was held on by a single iron beam. Another few seconds and the spire would fall.
‘Hold on!’ Ben yelled, climbing over the rubble, grabbing the beam. He could not stop it from breaking loose—even he wasn’t strong enough for that—but he could slow it down. ‘Quickly! Now!’
Mr Doyle led them along the remaining length of the spire. Ben Sykes held on with all his might. His muscles bulged, the sinews in his neck standing out like cords. ‘Can’t…hold on…much longer,’ he grunted. ‘You… must…hurry.’
Mr Doyle threw himself onto the roof. Jack and Scarlet followed as the iron snapped. Ben released the spire and it fell downwards into the street, smashing into the footpath.
‘That was too close for comfort,’ Mr Doyle said.
Jack grabbed his arm. ‘Mr Doyle,’ he said. ‘I thought…when you went over the edge…’
‘I know.’ Jack and Scarlet threw themselves into his arms. ‘I thought I was finished too.’
They followed Ben Sykes down to the street. Warren Dudley lay in a bloody heap. Emergency services had already arrived. People were reappearing from everywhere now that the crisis had passed. Police had turned up, uncertain who to arrest—if anyone needed arresting. The fire brigade put out spot fires.
People stared in silence at Ben Sykes. First they began to clap. Then they began to cheer.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
‘So Warren Dudley was behind the entire scheme?’ Gloria said.
Three days had passed since the fight on the roof. The fires had been put out, the rubble taken away, and that entire part of London evacuated, until engineers could determine when it would be safe to return.
The crash of the Stapleton h
ad resulted in more than twenty deaths. Many were in the auction room where the potion was being sold; others were the bridge crew who Warren Dudley had brutally murdered. But most of the passengers in the gondola below had been evacuated without loss of life.
Thanks to the efforts of Ben, Jack, Mr Doyle and Scarlet, there was only one fatality at the church.
Warren Dudley.
‘Not only was he the mastermind behind everything, but he was also Lady Death,’ Mr Doyle confirmed. ‘Police were able to establish a match between the handwriting of the letters and those found in his desk. After learning of the Valkyrie Circle through his wife, he decided to use them as a cover to mask the theft of the potion. You remember the organisation simply made threats for a number of years. It was only in the last year that the bombings began. That was Dudley’s work. Creating the persona of Lady Death made it appear the organisation was under new leadership, hence the bombing campaign. He then formed a partnership with SCAR and Joe Tockly, who built the bombs.’
‘And Mrs Dudley?’
‘We’ll never be able to prove it,’ Scarlet said, ‘but we think she may have been a member, or even in charge of, the Valkyrie Circle, before it was hijacked by her husband.’
‘You haven’t been able to catch any other members?’
‘They were a loose affiliation at best,’ Mr Doyle said. ‘Mostly the organisation inspired others to acts of insurrection, such as painting on walls and sending letters to the newspapers. Most of the members probably never met each other.’
‘So why did Mrs Dudley ask you to join the investigation?’
‘She really did want to track down whoever had taken over the Valkyrie Circle,’ Scarlet said. ‘In the beginning, Mrs Dudley probably had no idea it was her husband. Later, after we found the bomb at the suffragette meeting, we think she realised he must have set it.’
‘Why?’
‘He headed off very suddenly, saying he had to leave for a meeting. When we checked his appointment book later, there was no record of any meeting. She probably noticed the same thing.’
‘It must have been a terrible shock when he found out he was prepared to kill her.’
‘It wasn’t so much that he wanted to kill her,’ Mr Doyle said, ‘as much as he wanted to kill us. He was afraid were getting too close to the truth.’
‘And what happened to Joe Tockly?’ Gloria asked.
‘He was one of the men at the meeting on board the Stapleton,’ Mr Doyle said. ‘He was killed during the gunfight.’ He paused. ‘How Dudley and SCAR contacted each other, we’ll never know. Possibly SCAR initiated the scheme. According to Griffin, they have a talent for approaching people in dire financial straits and offering them a way out.’
‘And Dudley thought selling X-29 would do it.’
‘Absolutely. He had more faith in Ben’s work than Ben himself. He doctored the potion so it would appear a failure.’
‘And caused his terrible deformity,’ Scarlet added.
Mr Doyle continued. ‘Working in the same lab as Ben, Dudley dearly wanted to steal the potion,’ he said. ‘But security at the lab was vigorous. It was impossible for him to simply walk out with it. And if he did steal the potion, suspicion would fall immediately upon those working in the lab.
‘He needed a scheme to divert attention from himself. Hence, the bombings. That final threat against the London rail network was enough to make Scotland Yard and MI5 withdraw their security to aid in the evacuation of the stations, leaving X-29 undefended.’
‘So how did John Fleming get involved?’ Gloria asked.
‘Fleming was already working as a double agent with Domina,’ Jack said. ‘They decided there was so much money involved in stealing X-29 that they had to have it for themselves.’
‘Which is why they kidnapped me and Jack,’ Scarlet said. ‘But of course we didn’t know anything about it.’
‘And when everything went wrong aboard the airship,’ Gloria said, ‘Dudley could only see one way out?’
Mr Doyle nodded. ‘Dudley took the potion, thinking it would help him escape,’ he said. ‘He would have been caught eventually, if not by us, then by Scotland Yard.’
‘And what of Ben Sykes?’ Gloria asked. ‘What is he up to now?’
‘Actually,’ Mr Doyle said, ‘the future is looking bright for him. As you know, he was not forever stuck in the sewer system. He did venture out at times.’
‘That’s right. He had that odd preoccupation with cats. Surely he wasn’t…’
‘Eating them?’ Mr Doyle laughed. ‘No, he was lonely. Whereas people would shy away from him, cats had no such prejudice.’
‘But he did come here once,’ Jack said. ‘That’s when I saw him. He had overheard Toby and his mother speaking one night. He wanted to know what we were up to.’
‘Why did he care?’
‘Why indeed?’ Mr Doyle raised an eyebrow. ‘Ben often went to Toby’s house to check on him and his mother. It’s fair to say he has developed an interest in their wellbeing.’
‘Really?’ Gloria said.
A faint smile played on Mr Doyle’s lips. ‘Among other things,’ he said, ‘he has described Sally as a sleeping angel.’
‘My goodness. And are his feelings…reciprocated?’
Scarlet leant forward. ‘They’re going to a dance next Saturday night!’
‘He’s also made contact with the Darwinist League,’ Mr Doyle said, ‘with the intention of taking on a position. Something to do with tripling egg production in chickens.’
‘So nothing in connection with a warrior potion?’
‘The only known vial was the one that Dudley drank,’ Mr Doyle said. ‘And Ben has vowed to never work on it again.’
‘I never thought Ben would ask out Toby’s mother,’ Jack said. ‘I wonder what changed.’
‘Ben’s view of himself changed,’ Mr Doyle said. ‘I think you both had a hand in that.’
‘Thank you, Mr Doyle.’
‘And the revelation that Dudley poisoned the potion, causing his deformity, played a part.’
‘Really?’ Gloria said.
Mr Doyle nodded. ‘Ben’s words were to the effect of, “Dudley didn’t know who he was dealing with if he thought he could ruin me like that”. Sometimes a man just needs a goal to drive him forward.’
Scarlet glanced up at a clock. ‘Speaking of goals,’ she said, ‘we’ll be late if we don’t leave now.’
‘Of course.’
‘You’re coming with us, my dear?’ Mr Doyle asked Gloria.
‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ she said, putting the Out of Office sign on the front door.
They took the elevator down to Bee Street. The city was back to normal now that the bombing campaign was over.
They joined the crowds as they headed towards Oxford Street. Scarlet gave them all a cheeky smile.
‘Looks like there are a few people about,’ she said.
‘I hope there are,’ Gloria said. ‘I’d hate it if it were only us four.’
‘It won’t be.’
Crowds were everywhere by the time they reached the corner. Turning into Oxford Street, Jack saw people as far as the eye could see. Men, women and children waved signs and banners. Chants were starting up.
Give women the vote…give women the vote…
People laughed and cheered. It was a carnival atmosphere, more like a celebration than a protest march.
‘I must remind you,’ Mr Doyle, ‘that this march is still illegal. Technically we are breaking the law.’
He looked up and down the street at the crowds. There must have been fifty thousand people.
‘Although, laws must sometimes be broken for the greater good.’
He winked at Scarlet.
‘I think change is coming,’ Jack said.
‘How will an old fossil like me will handle it?’ Mr Doyle asked.
‘One step at a time?’ Scarlet suggested, smiling as they all linked arms. ‘Shall we?’
Go back to where the adventures first began
THE FIREBIRD MYSTERY
BOOK I in the JACK MASON ADVENTURES
Jack Mason has grown up as an acrobat in a circus. Now, after the tragic death of his parents, he must live inside the gloomy walls of Sunnyside Orphanage in London, a city of fog and snow, filled with airships, steam cars and metrotowers that stretch into space.
Luckily for Jack, he’s taken under the wing of the brilliant and eccentric detective Ignatius Doyle. Little does he know how dangerous life is about to become.
‘Lots of mechanical mayhem and derring-do—breathless stuff.’ MICHAEL PRYOR
VISIT TEXTPUBLISHING.COM.AU/KIDS-AND-TEENS
THE SECRET ABYSS
BOOK II in the JACK MASON ADVENTURES
When the world’s deadliest assassin, the Chameleon, escapes from prison, Jack, Scarlet and Mr Doyle begin their most dangerous investigation yet.