“Almost?”
Kellie gave a tight-lipped grin. “In the last few years, the government stopped covering their tracks.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Robb frowned. “If nothing else, this Government has always been thorough.”
“True enough,” Kellie said, “but the City States are a different place to what they were thirty years ago. The Premier’s grip is near unshakeable. My guess is that if any of these agents are left alive, they’re finding it harder and harder to stay useful.”
“So what do these more recent reports say?”
“That someone is still radicalising the young men in Karasard and Straybeck. That he persuades them to sacrifice their own life in a make-believe struggle against the government.”
Eliza stared hard at Robb. “That’s him. That’s the one who’s got our boy.”
“Then it looks like we have two choices,” Kellie said. “We either make your boy disappear.”
“Disappear?”
“New name, new card and a new life somewhere else. Or…” Kellie’s face turned grim. “We make this Brynne disappear and hope no one comes looking.”
Robb was searching hard for a third option, but knew it was hopeless. “Neither one will be easy.”
“True. But the first, at least, I can help with. The second…that’s on you.”
Robb considered killing again. Then he imagined the alternative and weighed his son’s life against that of a stranger, finding that it was not even a consideration.
“I’ll take care of it,” he said quietly. “There’s one other thing though.” The thought had been eating away at him most of the morning.
“Go on.”
“These government agents. Could Colonel Stephens have been one? Could it be him that’s behind this?”
Kellie shrugged his massive shoulder. “You knew him better than I did. Does it matter though?”
“It matters.”
“Well let’s go and find out.”
Chapter 52
John had listened to the whole conversation from the hallway. Was his dad really going to kill someone? When the sevener had gone, he opened the door to find his mum and dad speaking in whispers.
“Can you give us a minute John,” his dad said quickly.
It would have been very easy to walk away then, but he knew that Ryan needed him.
“Ryan’s gone to find Brynne.”
“What?”
“He told me this morning. Said he was going to meet Brynne so that he could leave the group.”
His dad grabbed John by the shoulders. “Are you sure? What exactly did he say?”
John was seized by fear, but forced his mind back to that dream-like conversation. “He said he was going to meet the man from the chapel. Said he had too much to hang onto to risk it all now.”
“Did he say where?”
John pulled the folded scrap of paper from his pocket and handed it to his dad. His mum was beside them in an instant and snatched it from them both so that she could read it aloud.
“Safe. Need help. M station. 10. B,” she turned to them, clearly angered by the cryptic note. “What does it mean?”
His dad scanned the note. “This isn’t Ryan’s handwriting.”
“He said he got it at the park last night. It’s from Brynne.”
“He’s arranging a meet up.” His dad’s jaw clenched tight. “M Station.”
“What does that even mean?” his mum snapped. “A police station? A train station? A fucking petrol station?” John had never heard her swear before, which made it all the more shocking.
“M Station,” his dad repeated, threading the paper between his fingers. “It must be the Municipal Station. It has to be. It’s the biggest one in Straybeck. Plenty of exits and big crowds too. If I go now, I can make the next train. Hopefully it’ll get there before Ryan even turns up.” He strode for the front door.
“I’m coming too,” John said, already reaching for his coat. His dad looked ready to say no, but John’s face must have relayed just how useless that would be.
“Wait.” Eliza rushed to them and for a moment John wondered if she was going to kiss his dad. Instead she leaned in close and spoke in a whisper. “Do whatever it takes. No half measures.”
His dad nodded solemnly. “No half measures.”
Then they left the safety of their home and stepped out beneath heavy, white skies. The air had grown even colder and the occasional snowflake circled slowly to the ground. John was so full of nervous energy, it was all he could do not to run ahead. Every few steps he had to check his pace and fall back in line with his dad who was breathing hard and taking long, uneven strides.
“How long until the next train?” John asked.
“A few minutes,” his dad answered, checking his watch. They were at the bottom end of Station Road and as John squinted he saw a figure at the station gates.
“Is that the sevener?”
“That’s him.” His dad said, focusing on the huge figure in the distance. He tried to break into a run, but after two awkward strides he dropped back and gave a shout of pain. “You go ahead,” he grimaced. “Get him to stop.”
John sprinted up the road, running parallel to the tracks where he could see that the train was already waiting. He showed his ID card to the gunnerman and passed through the barrier, only to be met by an empty platform. The sevener had disappeared.
Beside him, the noisy diesel engine growled into life as it prepared to leave and John stared back to the wall in a panic. His dad was still struggling towards the gates, but there was no way he would make it. Summoning his courage, John ran between the doors of the train as they slid shut. He would get to the station and warn Ryan himself.
Robb made it onto the platform as the final carriage trundled away towards the centre of Straybeck. He screamed in frustration before a fit of coughing wracked his body. Hunched double, one hand resting on the wall, he sucked in some air and faced the reality that once again he had failed his family.
“Robb?” a deep voice called.
Even though the platform had been deserted moments before, he snapped his head up to find Kellie standing over him.
“Thank God,” Robb gasped.
The sevener gave a cautious check up and down the platform, but the gunnerman hadn’t noticed and was still in his booth. “What’s happened?”
Struggling for breath, Robb handed over the slip of paper that Brynne had left for Ryan. As the sevener read it his face set hard.
“You know what this means, right?”
Robb was unable to hide the emotion behind his voice. “He’s going to kill him, isn’t he?”
The sevener gave a solemn nod. “Either that or hand him to the gunnermen. If your lad can tie him to the bombing, he’s too much of a liability.”
“There won’t be another train for an hour and they’re meeting in half that.” He paced back and forth as the hopelessness of the situation hit him. “Oh God, John’s on the train. He’ll try and stop the meeting and then Brynne will take him too.”
He rounded on the sevener. “If ever there was a time to help me Kellie, it’s now. Please. I need to save my boys.”
Kellie blew out his cheeks. “Robb, you don’t know what you’re asking me.”
“I do. I need you to do anything in your power.”
Robb waited anxiously while the snow fell between them. Then Kellie turned away and strode up the platform. Robb’s heart sank. It had been the last hope he was clinging to. The last roll of the dice.
“Kellie,” he shouted. “You still owe me.”
The sevener stopped sharply, a hard look in his eyes. Then he dropped down onto the tracks and vanished.
Chapter 53
“Kellie?” Robb limped forwards. “Kellie?” He crouched at the edge of the platform and craned his neck above the track. Directly below him was the opening to a shaft that sank maybe twenty feet into darkness. There were metal rungs fastened down one wall and at the bottom
he could see Kellie’s shadowy outline.
“You coming?” he said, deep voice echoing upwards.
Robb lowered himself onto the track and then clambered carefully down the rusted metal rungs. As he reached the bottom, he realised that what he had first taken for a narrow maintenance shaft actually opened up into a long, wide tunnel. Kellie was standing nearby with a freshly lit gas-lamp in one hand. It cast a warm light through the space and Robb could see the arched ceiling leading off into shadows.
“What is this place?”
“You’ve heard the stories Robb.”
Every kid in the City States had heard about the sevener tunnels. Then they grew up and assumed it was just make believe. “They really exist?”
Kellie ignored the question. “You need to understand something Robb. By doing this…by bringing you down here…I’m breaking a trust that my kind have kept for over a thousand years.”
“Your kind? Kellie, what are you talking about?”
The sevener shook his head. “I’ve already said more than I should. Just know that bringing you here and walking these tunnels, it’s no small thing. You can never breathe a word of this.”
“On my children’s lives.”
“Good enough.” Kellie moved swiftly down the tunnel taking the light with him. “There’s a direct route to the Municipal station. If we hurry we’ll be there in time.”
Robb lurched forwards struggling to keep up with the impossibly long strides but determined that he wouldn’t be the one who slowed them down.
“What do I do if we see another sevener down here?”
“Look taller.”
The train ride across Straybeck went quickly and it was with a mixed sense of relief and fear that John stepped onto the platform at Straybeck’s Municipal Station. He checked the large yellow dial of the station clock and saw there were fifteen minutes until the meet. As the sheer scale of the building hit him, John suddenly realised that he had no idea where he should start looking.
There were eight tracks terminating here and the platform from each one led onto a long, wide concourse. John joined the rest of the commuters and found himself in the busy waiting area beneath a vaulted atrium. Crowds of people pushed past him on either side and John fell into step so that he could walk a slow circuit of the entire area. As he went, he scanned the faces for any sign of Ryan or Brynne. His dad had said they’d want to meet somewhere public to blend in, so he stayed with the crowds.
As the minutes passed though, John grew more anxious. Something wasn’t right. Whenever he had seen his brother meeting Brynne, it had always been dark and secret. He thought back to the derelict chapel and then to that abandoned station in the Manufacturing District.
M station.
He was at the wrong place.
John sprinted for the checkpoint at the end of the terminal and waited in line to show his card. Its progression was painfully slow, but as soon as the gunnerman waved him through, he hared up a short flight of steps and onto the road. Snow was falling quickly now, and a delivery wagon blared its horn, swerving to avoid him. The driver hung his head and shoulders out the window to bellow at him. John ignored the man and continued through the Trade District. Behind him, the station clock began the first of ten strikes.
Alia looked with sad eyes at her reflection in the grimy hallway mirror. There was no other word for it, she looked like a beggar. The only winter coat that still fit her was from her mother’s wardrobe. It was old fashioned and obscenely expensive in its day. On top of Alia’s mismatched clothing though, it just appeared cheap and tacky.
The front door was half open and she frowned uncertainly at the heavy flakes of snow that were drifting to earth. With a huff of annoyance she flung the coat onto the stairs and stomped out into the cold. She had found an iron coin that morning just lying on the street. At first she had marvelled at the idea that someone could lose an iron and not miss it. Then she had marvelled at the person she’d become to have such thoughts. With the coin held tightly in her hand though, she was determined to make a fresh start with Ryan.
Since he had promised to leave his old life behind, for the first time in nearly two years Alia had felt – not hope - but the touch of what hope could be. She set off across Straybeck towards the markets in the Trade District. The main street was lined with the usual mix of newsagents, groceries and buyall stores. It ran parallel to Station Road and as she wondered what to cook her and Ryan that evening, she heard the station clock chiming for the hour. As usual, her eyes darted to the shop where that hateful man worked and she crossed the road so that they wouldn’t meet.
People were hurrying from shop to shop trying to stay out of the snow. They were bundled up against the weather and more than one person cocked an eyebrow at Alia wearing only her thin school jumper and trousers.
She passed a butcher’s window with a selection of animals hanging from hooks. She remembered the wholesome smell of beef stroganoff and the lip smacking taste of veal cutlets in a thyme butter sauce. When she lived in Old Straybeck those dishes would arrive on the table at exactly the right time and temperature presented for the three of them and Alia never gave a moment’s thought to where it had come from or how long it had taken to prepare. Those days were gone, but surely one iron could buy a cheap cut of meat and some vegetables for her to make a halfway decent meal.
With a decisive nod, Alia went to the shop doorway just as a figure sprinted around the corner of the road and clattered against her. The boy lost his footing in the snow and slid onto his backside.
“Are you okay?” Alia said, offering her hand. She couldn’t believe it when she found John staring up at her. “What are you doing here?”
He was on his feet immediately. “Where’s Ryan?”
“He said he was going to see you.” She suddenly felt that familiar churning in her stomach. “What’s happened?”
“He’s in danger.”
“What kind of danger?”
“They’re going to kill him if I don’t find him first.” John had tears in his eyes as he spoke.
“I’m coming with you.”
“No. I need you to wait for my dad. He’s coming on the next train but you need to tell him he got the code wrong.”
“Code? John, you’re not making any sense.”
“M station. It’s Manufacturing, not Municipal. Just tell him, he’ll understand.”
“I don’t even know what your dad looks like though?”
“You’ve got to find him. Look for the man with the limp.”
The station clocked made one last chime and then an ominous silence filled its space. “I’ve got to go,” John said, turning away. “Just tell him. Please.”
For a few moments, all Alia could do was watch him leave. Her body had seized up like rusted gears. Only with a conscious effort could she put one foot in front of the other and move through the shallow snow towards Municipal Station.
They’re going to kill him.
The thought was stuck, blocking all rational ideas. She showed her ID to the guard and drifted into the bustling concourse. A dozen platforms led to and from this main area and Alia searched the boards for one that passed through the Victory Estate. She walked the full length of the station, seeing the lines from the outer districts and those travelling even further to Carlsgard and Kilvaren.
There was a direct line to Karasard and then a commuter line that went to the mining camps at Insel. Not one of them showed the stations they were passing through though and Alia, who had never needed to travel by train, had no idea how to find out.
She glanced up at the huge yellow clock face and saw it was ten past ten. Her anxiety rose to an almost crippling level as she made a second loop of the station. Absently, she felt inside her pocket and grabbed the small bottle of tablets.
“Can I help you miss?” Alia spun around guiltily and pushed the pills out of sight. It was a short chubby man wearing a dark green porter’s uniform. In one hand he was balancing a two-wheeled tr
olley. “You look a little lost, if you don’t mind me saying.”
He was a few years older than her and had a genuine smile that quickly disarmed her suspicions. “I need to know which platform the train from the Victory Estate will arrive at.”
“Ooh, now,” the porter mused, relishing the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge. “That will probably be the outer circle line,” he said as he dragged on a metal chain that draped between his waistcoat button and pocket. It produced a dull metal fob watch which he gazed at for a few seconds. It was the sort of thing Alia had seen her servants wear in Old Straybeck, although now it would have bought her food for a week.
“Oh now hang on,” the porter said good-naturedly. “I’m letting time get away from me. The outer circle line came in just before ten, so the next one to go through the Victory Estate is the slow train from Willensbrough.”
“Slow train?” Alia groaned. “When does that arrive?”
The young porter tapped on his watch as he counted out blocks of five in his head. “Should be through by about half past.”
They’re going to kill him.
Another twenty minutes of waiting. A fresh wave of panic consumed her while the porter prattled on at her side. “If it’s a case of waiting around miss, I’ve just come on my break and could wait with you.”
But Alia wasn’t listening. At that moment, two people emerged from a shadowed corner at the rear of the station. One of them was so huge that he dwarfed those around him. The other was struggling to keep up as he limped towards the waiting area.
Chapter 54
The snow leading to the Manufacturing Station was reassuringly clear of footprints. Ryan didn’t doubt that Brynne could find a way inside undetected, but he hoped that a gunnermen patrol would leave more obvious signs of their presence.
As the clock from the Trade District finished its tenth strike, he skirted around the edge of the road trying to make his own trail as hidden as possible. Passing beneath the wrought iron archway was like stepping into a different world where the blizzard couldn’t reach and the biting winds were barred entry. Ryan descended into the gloom and shadows, halting on the last step to listen for the slightest sign of danger. As before, only one of the overhead lights was working on the disused platform. Ryan waited for ten slow breaths before moving forwards with soft steps.
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