‘People will come to you, soon, I think, and ask you to join the organisation. To take a post on the board. To join their faction against me. I will need you to say no to them. No matter how many times they come back, you must always refuse. Is that clear?’ Nathaniel kept his gaze fixed on Allie. ‘Agree to that and we all go home tonight. And life goes on.’
The alternative to going home that night was not mentioned but Allie thought it was quite clear what he meant. If she refused, someone would die.
She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d never wanted to be a part of the organisation. What did it even mean? Going to meetings? Telling the prime minister what to do?
She didn’t understand what he was afraid of. Who would want her to run anything, anyway?
She wanted to scream at him: I am seventeen years old.
But she had a feeling that wouldn’t matter. He was obsessed – like her grandmother and everyone else she knew – with the Orion Group. And with power.
‘Don’t say anything, Allie,’ her grandmother warned her. ‘Nathaniel, that’s quite enough.’
‘It’s OK,’ Allie heard herself say, and couldn’t quite believe she was saying it.
Everyone turned to look at her.
‘Allie …’ Lucinda cautioned but Allie shook her head.
‘It’s fine.’ She looked at Nathaniel. ‘I don’t want to be a part of any group you’re in. I will say no. I won’t be in Orion or on the board. If anyone asks me I’ll say no. OK?’
Her grandmother looked pained. As if she’d done something very hurtful.
Nathaniel studied her with curious intensity. ‘I have your solemn vow?’
‘Sure. Yes.’ She held up her hands. ‘I vow it. I’ll sign whatever you want. Just don’t hurt anyone else.’
After she spoke there was a long pause, while everyone seemed to absorb what had just happened. Allie got the feeling she was alone in not fully understanding what she’d agreed to.
‘At last.’ Nathaniel gave a triumphant laugh and raised a fist to the sky. Then he turned to Lucinda, his expression gleeful. ‘How astonishing that you ended up with such a docile granddaughter. So willing to do what you will not.’
‘She doesn’t understand what she’s doing,’ Lucinda said quietly. ‘She doesn’t know she’s been tricked. Deceiving a child is hardly anything to be proud of, Nathaniel.’
He gave an irritated flick of his hand. ‘You should have taught her better, then.’
This conversation was unnerving. They were talking about her like she wasn’t there. Like she’d made a huge mistake.
Allie risked a quick glance at Carter only to find he wasn’t watching the discussion at all. Instead, he was staring across the dark hilltop. When she realised what he was looking at, her heart began to pound.
Behind Gabe and Jerry, two shadows had broken free of the trees and begun moving with lethal steadiness towards them.
Absorbed in Nathaniel and Lucinda’s dispute, the two men had noticed nothing as the shadows crept up behind them until they were perfectly positioned.
Allie held her breath.
The shadows pounced.
Jerry gave a rough cry of surprise as the gun flew from his fingers. He scrambled after it, but was pulled back. Gabe struggled to keep control of his own gun. Allie heard the slap of fist against face. The bone-crunching sound of metal striking a skull. Someone grunting from the pain.
Behind her, Nathaniel’s voice rose. ‘Is this your doing, Lucinda? You were to come alone.’
‘And you were to trade fairly for Jerry Cole,’ her grandmother replied with icy indignation. ‘I am not alone in breaking the rules of parley.’
That was when the gun went off.
It was too dark and too chaotic to see who fired. Later, Allie would think through that moment over and over again, trying to see more. Had Jerry recovered his gun? Was it Gabe? Was it accidental?
But at that moment, as the retort cracked through the air, she just flinched and reached instinctively for Carter, who caught her hand and pulled her to the ground with such force it knocked the wind out of her.
Then the echo of the gunshot faded away and the night went silent again.
Allie fought to get her breath back. Cool strands of grass, soft as feathers, tickled her cheek. Carter had flung his arm across her, holding her down. But he wasn’t moving.
‘Carter? Are you hit?’ Her voice sounded breathless and thin.
‘No. Are you?’ As he spoke, his hand pressed against her back as if seeking verification that she was OK.
‘I don’t … think so,’ Allie said, unsure. ‘I don’t feel shot. I think—’
‘Lucinda?’ The voice that interrupted her was Nathaniel’s. He sounded strange. Frightened.
Somehow, Allie knew then. She just knew.
She sat up just in time to see her grandmother sag into Nathaniel’s arms and then slowly, so slowly, slip down to the ground.
39
Thirty-nine
For an instant, Allie didn’t move. She felt dizzy. The lights of the city at the foot of the hill seemed to spin up and around her.
Grandmother.
Stumbling to her feet, she began to run towards her. She was vaguely aware of Carter’s voice calling her back but she kept going. She wasn’t far from Lucinda but those few steps seemed to take forever. As if the world itself had slowed down.
She could hear Nathaniel talking to Lucinda but his words made no sense. Saw him reaching for her hand.
Then she fell to her knees beside him. The lights of London illuminated the bloom of red on the white silk of Lucinda’s neat blouse. Just above her heart.
‘Grandmother?’ Allie was shaking now, her teeth chattering, as she reached out to the woman she’d only known a few months. Only seen a few times.
Nathaniel looked pale and drawn. He pressed both his hands against the wound on Lucinda’s chest. Blood bubbled between his fingers. His breath hissed between his teeth.
‘Oh God, Lucinda,’ he whispered.
This is bad, Allie thought. Bad, bad, bad …
‘Allie.’
Lucinda’s voice was unexpectedly strong. At the sound of it, relief flooded through Allie. She sounded fine. Yes, she’d lost a lot of blood but she’d be OK. They’d get her an ambulance.
‘I’m here,’ Allie said, fighting back a sob. ‘We’ll get you to a doctor …’
Her grandmother reached out with a blood-slick hand and grabbed her wrist.
‘Your promise.’ Lucinda held her gaze with fierce grey eyes. ‘Keep your promise.’
Allie’s brain wouldn’t function. Too much had happened. ‘My promise?’ At that moment, someone grabbed her from behind, dragging her roughly to her feet. Lucinda’s hand slipped from her wrist, letting her go.
‘No!’ Allie screamed, struggling in the unknown arms, swinging her elbow back to connect with a muscular torso. But the hands only tightened.
‘Allie.’ Carter’s tone was grave. ‘We have to go.’
She stopped fighting. At her feet, Nathaniel was still pressing his hands against Lucinda’s wound and talking to her in a low voice. ‘Stay with me, Lucinda. Please. You can’t do this.’
‘Go?’ She stared at Carter. ‘We can’t go. Lucinda …’
‘Your promise,’ he said, holding her gaze as if to force her to remember, ‘was to run.’
Suddenly she remembered the conversation in Isabelle’s office. Lucinda’s insistence that she swear she’d leave if she was hurt.
For the first time she paid attention to the landscape around them. Dark-clad bodies had flooded the hilltop. Guards from both sides were all around them. Everywhere was fighting and shouting.
She thought she saw Nicole, her long braid flying as she kicked a man in the face, sending him crashing into a tree. Then the two moved into shadow and Allie couldn’t see her any more.
The whole nightmarish scene, she realised, was like the paintings in the Cimmeria library – crowds of people, the
ir faces contorted with hate, trying to kill each other.
Carter didn’t wait for her agreement. Holding her hand in a tight grip, he ran down the hillside through the fight towards the trees, half dragging her with him.
As they ran Allie looked back at Lucinda, still on the ground with Nathaniel hunched over her. Then fighters stormed in between them.
She saw a flash of dark blonde hair and realised it was Isabelle, fighting a man much bigger than her. The headmistress whirled and kicked, blocking his blows, then leaped into the air to aim a flying kick at his jaw that struck clean and true. The man crumpled like a toy.
Isabelle can really fight, Allie thought, dazed. But then another man came up behind the headmistress, aiming a blow at her head. The headmistress dodged at the last minute and turned to take him on.
Allie and Carter were nearing the trees now, and she dug in her heels.
‘We should stay and fight,’ she protested. ‘They need our help.’
‘We can’t stay,’ he said, pulling her hand. ‘We promised.’
Before Allie could reply, a thick, muscular arm wrapped around her throat from behind, yanking her off her feet.
Her hand slipped free of Carter’s.
‘Allie!’ Carter spun towards her but then someone else grabbed him and pulled him down to the ground with a heavy thud.
Helpless, Allie was dragged up the hill, towards the melee.
She yanked at the arm, clawed at it. But it was like iron. Nothing she did mattered. She could feel the hard muscles of the man’s chest against her back and it made her skin crawl.
Suddenly her blood ran cold. Gabe had grabbed her like this that night in the woods with Sylvain. Was this Gabe?
She squirmed in his grip, trying to see who held her. This turned out to be a bad idea. He tightened his grip across her throat.
‘I like it when you fight,’ a voice hissed in her ear. ‘Fight some more.’
Now she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she gasped futilely for air.
Bright flashes of light began to dance in her vision like fireflies.
It’s over, she thought in a cold haze of surprise. He’s killing me.
Then, with no warning, the man shook. His arm released and she fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
When she looked up, Gabe lay on the ground next to her, blood streaming from his head. Christopher stood over him, holding a truncheon.
Allie stared at him in disbelief.
He reached out his hand to pull her up. ‘You OK?’
Too stunned to argue, she nodded. ‘Lucinda. Grandmother. Someone shot her.’
His lips tightened. ‘I saw.’
‘You get the hell away from her.’ Out of the darkness, Carter hurtled at Christopher. He was drenched in sweat, fists clenched.
Christopher adopted a defensive stance with the truncheon ready in one hand.
‘No!’ Allie stepped between them. ‘Carter. This is my brother. This is Christopher.’
‘Oh?’ Carter, who knew everything Christopher had done, kept coming until only Allie’s body separated them. ‘Then you really need to get the hell away from her.’
‘He just saved my life, Carter.’ Allie raised her voice. ‘Stop this.’
With clear reluctance, Carter backed off. He turned his attention to Allie. ‘We have to go, now.’ Allie’s gaze darted to her brother. She didn’t want to leave him with Gabe who lay groaning on the ground.
‘He’s right,’ Christopher said. ‘Get out of here. I’ll cover your back.’
‘Will you be OK?’ Allie asked, hesitantly.
‘I’ll be fine,’ he promised. ‘Go as fast as you can.’
Carter started to pull her with him but she turned back.
‘I want …’ Allie hesitated. She didn’t know what she wanted. ‘Thanks, Chris.’
His responding smile was bittersweet. ‘You’re welcome, Allie Cat. Now go.’
Turning, she and Carter ran side by side, weaving their way through clusters of fighters. As they ran, she scanned the heath for familiar faces.
She saw Zelazny shove his elbow into someone’s back and then bring his fist down on the arch of a neck with brutal force. At his side, Eloise was a whirling dervish, kicking and punching.
In the distance, she thought she saw Zoe swoop across the grass like a bird of prey. At least, she hoped it was her.
Then they’d reached the edge of the woods and they were safe. They rushed into the darkness with relief.
But they’d only gone a few steps when a voice called out to them: ‘Stop right there.’
A black-clad man stepped out from a cluster of trees. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’
Allie squinted at him in the dimness. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him before.
One of theirs.
‘Look –’ Carter raised his hands – ‘we don’t want trouble. We’re just leaving.’
The man walked towards them, his gaze steady on Allie’s face. She’d come to know that look of recognition well. He knew exactly who she was.
‘You can go,’ the man said. ‘The girl stays with me.’
Carter walked right up to him. ‘The hell she does.’
He punched the man in the stomach in a move so quick, to Allie it was a blur. Just one minute the man was standing there staring at her, and the next he was doubled over, vomiting.
Carter walked back to her side. ‘Let’s go,’ he said.
This time she didn’t argue.
When they emerged from the park some time later, the street lights blinded them at first.
A night bus roared by and Allie looked around in confusion. She had no idea where they were. They hadn’t come out on genteel Tanza Road but somewhere else completely – this was a wide, steep avenue, busy with cars and buses even after midnight.
In her mind she kept seeing the red blood pouring on to Lucinda’s clean white blouse. She forced the image away with iron will.
She would have years to cry about this night.
Not now.
She could see the confusion on Carter’s face, too and it helped to calm her. She was the one who’d grown up in this city. She needed to be the one to get them to the safe house. There were other people on this pavement. Normal people. She wondered how they must look to them – a couple of battered and bloodied kids wandering around Hampstead in the middle of the night. Someone might call the cops.
Smoothing loose strands of hair away from her sweaty face, she schooled her features into the bland, disinterested look every Londoner eventually acquires.
Ahead of them, a group of kids their age in hoodies swung around the corner and began walking towards them. Allie saw Carter stiffen as they neared, ready for a fight.
‘Act cool,’ she said, as much to herself as to him. She was surprised by how calm she sounded. How controlled.
The kids didn’t even glance at them when they passed.
Allie waited until they were just out of earshot. ‘Look. I don’t know where we are,’ she said in a conversational tone.
Slapping at his pockets, Carter shot her a helpless look. ‘My GPS – it’s gone. I must have dropped it in the fight.’
Allie bit her lip and looked around them, but nothing seemed familiar.
‘I’m going to stop for a second,’ she said. ‘Just … follow my lead.’
When they reached an ancient-looking pub set back off the road, Allie walked on to its front path and crouched down, pretending to tighten her shoelaces. As she did so she checked out the signs around them.
Spaniard’s Inn … Spaniard’s Road …
In her head she visualised the maps they’d memorised. This wasn’t any of the streets they were told to look for, and it took her a second to place it. When she did, her heart sank.
‘Oh bollocks, Carter.’ She stood up. ‘We’re on the wrong side of the bloody park.’
He held up his hands. ‘Which way to the safe house?’
&n
bsp; She pointed down the long, curving road running alongside the dark heath.
‘That way,’ she said grimly. ‘A long way.’
He didn’t argue. ‘Let’s get walking.’
Hampstead Heath sprawls for hundreds of acres. Nathaniel’s guards were all over it right now. They needed to get away from it, fast.
Allie pressed her fingertips against her forehead as she mapped out a mental route.
‘OK,’ she said after a second. ‘Stick with me. I think I know where to go.’
Carter didn’t question her as she set off at a rapid pace. He stuck close to her side, letting her lead.
The need to plan and think of practical logistics cleared the fog from Allie’s mind. She felt in control. They needed to get out of here. She could focus on that.
One foot, she told herself. Then the other foot. One foot …
After ten minutes fast walking they turned off the busy road on to a leafy residential lane lined with well-maintained houses. No light came through the wide windows at this hour. No cars passed them.
It was peaceful here. Their footsteps made soft rubbery sounds against the pristine pavement. Their breathing seemed unnecessarily loud.
Images from the park kept intruding into the controlled space of Allie’s mind. Lucinda’s fierce expression. The suppressed glimmer of her blood-covered diamond ring.
Some part of Allie simply couldn’t accept that it really happened. Lucinda Meldrum could not be shot. People like her did not get shot. They were protected. They were safe.
She kept seeing the haunted look on Nathaniel’s face. Hearing his pleading voice. ‘Stay with me, Lucinda. Please.’
‘Did he shoot her?’ The words came out unexpectedly. She hadn’t meant to say it aloud.
In the dark, Carter looked pale. His dark hair clung to the damp skin of his forehead.
‘Who?’ he asked. ‘Nathaniel?’
‘Yes,’ Allie said. ‘Was he the one who shot her?’
‘I saw two guns,’ Carter said. ‘Gabe’s and Jerry’s. But there were a lot of people. I don’t think Nathaniel did it though.’
‘No,’ Allie agreed. ‘He actually seemed upset.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t get it … I thought he hated her.’
C J Daugherty - [Night School 04] Page 27