The End of the Line

by The End of the Line (retail) (epub)

  Kavanagh stared as he cleaned up his nose.

  ‘What the fuck they doing here?’ Skeebs pushed himself out of his seat. There was a glass of champagne in his hand and from the burn in his eyes, bubbles and coke were sizzling in his blood. Like everyone else in the room, he looked like he was on the arse end of a great night out but he wore it better. Skeebs had a way of looking correct even when he wasn’t. ‘That’s the bitch put my brother away.’

  Amanda froze her expression. Danny’s arrest had been front-page news. The case was next year but everyone knew he wasn’t getting out.

  She felt Caleb stiffen behind her. ‘Say that again?’ the big man growled.

  ‘They’re here to see Andrew,’ Jamison cut in. ‘About the matter we discussed.’

  ‘Thought we were doing this tomorrow,’ said AK, slouching back in his chair. ‘You getting addled? I don’t want to do this. We’re celebrating.’

  ‘I said tomorrow, yesterday,’ Jamison replied, the insult rolling off him. ‘Our partners expect progress and you’ve been putting this off—’

  ‘Fine. Whatever. You two sit down.’

  His chair too small for him, Caleb took a moment to squeeze himself in place, attracting a couple of snorts. He glared around the room.

  Skeebs sat back down, contenting himself with eye-fucking the pair of them.

  Elbows on the desk, clasped hands to his chin, AK studied them.

  Amanda stared back.

  ‘Keep hearing about you,’ said AK. ‘People, the old man here, keep on about you being the best. But every time I hear it, know what I think? I think, how come a woman smart as all that wasn’t out fighting for me? All these guys were. Where the fuck was she?’

  ‘We’re not really ones for fighting,’ said Amanda.

  ‘In the business of making money,’ said Caleb.

  ‘Then let me make this clear. Right now, you ain’t to earn a fucking penny in this city without my say so. I even hear a whisper about you two pulling a job, these guy’s will kill your whole fucking families. You want to work you’d best start by proving what you can do for me. Because unlike your last boss, I don’t have time for cowards.’

  Amanda could barely breathe. Already she could feel her temper fraying. ‘Well if we’re done here—’

  ‘Amanda, please.’ Jamison held out a hand to stop her from rising.

  ‘I told you,’ said AK, raising a hand like Amanda had fulfilled his every expectation. ‘How can you trust anyone who won’t fight for you? How can I be expected to work with this?’

  ‘Because that was what was asked of us,’ Jamison replied, heading for the drinks cabinet to refill his empty glass. ‘To prove to our friends in Kolkata that they’re getting what they paid for. You agreed to this.’

  At the mention of his benefactors, Kavanagh bristled. ‘You fucking agreed to it. If I’d known they were going to start sticking their hand up my arse—’

  ‘You accepted their help, Andrew. You sit in that seat because of them. You came to me with their proposal and asked me to facilitate. That is what I’m going to do.’

  ‘Sit down before you break a hip.’

  The boys in the room exchanged looks, smirking, tittering.

  Amanda looked to Jamison at this new display of disrespect and watched with dismay as the man did nothing but finish pouring himself a drink. Time was, even Henderson would have got an earful if he’d done the same.

  ‘So, what’s this about?’ Amanda asked. ‘What have I got to do with your deal?’

  The aircon whirred as AK spent a moment staring at Amanda, coke straw tapping on the desk, something being fought behind those bloodshot eyes.

  ‘Someone I’d like you to meet,’ he gestured over her shoulder. ‘This is Fergusson.’

  Amanda twisted around. There was a woman sitting by the door, so quiet Amanda hadn’t even noticed her.

  She was dressed in a simple black suit and polo neck, round, soft features, blonde hair in a ponytail. A glass of brandy was cradled in her hand, her knees and shoulders cinched together like she wanted to make as little contact with the room as possible. She straightened uncomfortably under Amanda’s gaze, staring back with wavering defiance like she expected a barb to be sent her way. Her eyes were watery behind thick glasses. Amanda’s gaze proving too much, she tried Caleb.

  The big man just looked straight back, the rasp in his throat like a razor on a leather strap.

  ‘You called me here to introduce your new accountant?’

  For the first time AK grew a wide grin, his eyes flicking to Jamison.

  ‘Tell her what you do, Bridget,’ said Jamison, quietly.

  ‘Well,’ the woman coughed. ‘I suppose you could say I’m a lot of things. I would describe myself as—’

  ‘She’s an Abra,’ said AK. The grin had gone but there was a gleam to his eyes now.

  ‘I’m not sure such a crass term applies but…’

  Amanda’s shoulders clenched like a knife had sunk between them. The alcohol boiled in her stomach. She felt her fingers tighten around the glass.

  AK smirked. His eyes hadn’t left Amanda for a second.

  ‘This a joke?’ Amanda asked Jamison.

  The man didn’t flinch at her tone. ‘The organisation is moving into Black at the behest of our new benefactors.’

  ‘And it’s going to make us a shit-ton of money,’ said Skeebs.

  Amanda’s mouth was dry. Black was a term for some of the darker sides of magic. The kind of stuff her father used to get involved with. She took another sip of whisky and regretted it.

  The old man took a seat beside her, moving close, voice low. ‘I know what you’re going to say. But you have to listen.’

  ‘What’s this got to do with me?’ she asked, voice down to match his. ‘With us? I can’t believe…’

  ‘See?’ said AK. ‘What I fucking tell you? Get back on the phone and tell them she said “no”.’

  Amanda blinked. ‘You promised them me?’

  ‘You wouldn’t fight,’ Jamison hissed. ‘I made you part of the prize. Every side, every side, would have rather seen you dead than standing against them. I did it for you.’

  ‘You didn’t even ask me.’

  ‘You would have refused.’

  Amanda stared, aware her mouth was hanging open. She explored her old mentor’s wrinkled face, his eyes imploring her.

  ‘I’m refusing now,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry but I’m not going to… of all people you should…’

  ‘Get them out of here,’ said AK, waving toward the door. ‘She never works in London again. Pour us a round while you’re up. Indians going to have to do without her. Leaves the work to us real boys!’

  The men around him laughed in appreciation.

  ‘Hang the fuck on,’ said Amanda. ‘Neither of us asked for this. We make good money. And we pay our dues. You ask—’

  ‘Why the fuck should I let you work for me?’ AK stood up, fists on the table. ‘I don’t know you. Jamison, the door.’

  ‘Please, Andrew,’ the old man clasped out his hands. ‘If you’d just… Amanda.’ He placed a hand on her armrest, his eyes pleading with her, desperate.

  Amanda didn’t know what to do. She was caught between anger and guilt, knowing the man who had taken her in when her father had died was still trying to protect her. But working with magic, it turned her stomach. Still, she paused, watching Jamison as he composed himself. Gut tight, she prayed her old mentor would reveal some solution – an alternative that allowed her to work without looking over her shoulder for AK’s thugs.

  ‘Did you see the protests this morning?’ he said.

  ‘They won’t change anything,’ said Amanda, despair ready to pounce on her again. ‘There’s a reason this country got out of Black. It’s dangerous. It’s unpredictable. And the people who use it…’

  ‘That’s going to change, whether we want it to or not. Opinions. The internet. Magic isn’t something confined to a few back-alley texts any more. All someone
has to do is post a hex online and it’s everywhere. There’s gangs in China already using it. Organisations in India are nothing but Abras now. We have to change with the times and we’ve been urged by our benefactors to start recruiting. Legalisation is coming, laws relaxed, markets opened and they want us to be ready. Britain’s about to be the frontier of a whole new land of opportunity and there’ll be others looking for a foothold if they aren’t already. There’s no hiding from this. Magic is returning to Britain and the Indians wanted to know the Abra killer was on their side as… I suppose a fixer.’

  A train rumbled beneath them, the throb and racket of it vibrating the pictures on the walls, felt through the veins rather than heard.

  ‘This isn’t the war,’ said Jamison, lowering his voice so only she could hear. ‘It won’t go away. I can’t guarantee your protection.’

  ‘This is a mistake,’ said Amanda. ‘I’m not a hit man.’

  ‘Nor will you be. More of a consultant.’

  ‘Yeah? Then I advise you tell the Indians to fuck off, get that woman,’ she pointed to Bridget, ‘out of here and forget the whole thing.’

  Jamison flashed a warning.

  ‘Good it’s not your call then,’ said Skeebs. ‘’Cause we ain’t even got to the best part.’

  ‘Skeebs,’ Jamison warned. ‘I don’t think we should be divulging—’

  ‘Fergusson, here,’ said AK. ‘Reckons she can bind a demon.’

  ‘Her theories are compelling,’ said Jamison, quickly. ‘That’s all. Nothing tried yet. We’re helping her develop them.’

  ‘But they’ll work,’ said AK, no room in his tone for disagreement. ‘And when we have a thing that powerful working for us, sky’s going to be the limit. Won’t even need a consultant. Fucker’ll be able to do everything for us. Killing. Robberies. The lot.’

  Amanda worked her left hand, stretching her fingers, palms beginning to sweat. ‘Why don’t you just get her to turn lead into gold instead? It’ll be safer.’

  ‘My theories go beyond—’ Bridget started, only to be calmed by a gesture from Jamison.

  ‘We’re aware of the history,’ said Jamison. ‘Bridget was very upfront about the complications.’

  ‘Like how no one’s ever done it?’ There was nothing that could keep the pure poison from Amanda’s voice. This had gone beyond worst-case scenario. She’d lost this fight before she’d even stepped through the door. ‘Like how everyone who’s tried ends up dead alongside their friends and families?’

  ‘Well not this time,’ said AK. ‘We’re making history. And we’re going to get rich doing it. Indians will end up working for us by the time we’re through.’

  ‘We don’t want to antagonise them,’ said Jamison.

  ‘Fuck them. No one tells me what to do. Or who I work with. Magic, fine. There’s money there. But I don’t know this woman and I don’t want her in this city.’

  Amanda rolled her glass in her hand, watching the light sliding on the rim. A throb was starting in her temple.

  Jamison poured himself a fresh drink. How many had that been?

  ‘We just want to work,’ said Amanda. ‘That’s all we want. You all want to kill yourselves, that’s your business.’

  ‘It is a chance we’re willing to take,’ the old man said. ‘That we have to take. This is the twenty-first century. Magic isn’t mixed with mysticism any more. It’s mixed with science.’

  ‘Which is why it got banned in the first place.’

  ‘Other countries are changing the world,’ Bridget erupted. Allowed to talk without interruption, Amanda could hear now that her accent had a Scottish lilt. ‘The war resulted in terrible misuses but to let that hold us back has been nothing but shortsighted.’

  ‘Then why are you here? Why aren’t you in one of those other countries with your fabulous theories?’

  Bridget flushed, her mouth pinching closed.

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ said Amanda. ‘Bottom line is this is going to unravel. You even try summoning it, if her theory that she can put a leash on it is out even a little, then there will be such a shit storm—’

  ‘We’re going to make millions from this,’ AK roared. ‘This time next year—’

  ‘This time next year you’ll be dead or in prison.’

  ‘Is that a threat?’ AK’s eyes bugged. He leaned across the desk, hands planted, vein pulsing in his forehead. ‘Did she just fucking threaten me?’

  ‘No, she didn’t,’ said Jamison, holding out a hand. ‘Of course she didn’t. Amanda—’

  ‘It’s a fucking promise,’ said Amanda. ‘If a demon doesn’t rip your tongue out your arsehole first, the police will sling a noose round all your necks.’

  AK scowled down at her, breath snorting from his nose like a boar about to charge. When he spoke, he clouded the air with spit from between his clenched teeth. ‘Everything you’re saying, know what I hear? This is all about your fucking dad. Coleman hates magic because her dad used to bleed her like—’

  The glass caught AK square in the forehead, whisky splashing like brains over the back wall.

  The boss blinked, slack-jawed. Even his blood was stunned, frozen in a bright red line before it realised it should be rushing down the creases of his nose to his chin.

  Amanda looked down at her empty hand. ‘Shit, I—’

  ‘Fuck, man. What the fuck?’ Skeebs bolted from his chair.

  Caleb was on his feet, filling the room. The sheer weight the man exerted was enough to keep AK’s boys in their seats.

  The boss was looking down at his desk as though wondering where the long, red drips were coming from. He flinched as blood pooled in his eye.

  ‘Jesus.’ Jamison reached into his suit pocket, whipping out a handkerchief and stuffing it in the boss’ hand.

  ‘I told you,’ shouted Skeebs. ‘I told you, you couldn’t fucking trust them.’

  Amanda spluttered. ‘I didn’t mean—’

  ‘Out.’ Jamison grabbed Amanda under the arm, pushing her towards the door.

  ‘He shouldn’t have said—’

  ‘Out!’

  Chapter 5

  Amanda

  The present

  Wind blew across the train yard, pulling Amanda back to herself. Skeebs was arriving with the new Abra, the jeep he’d taken to the airport weaving its way through the rusting scrap toward them.

  Nine months later, almost everyone who had been in that room was dead, killed by Reeves as she’d predicted. The only reason they hadn’t run that day was Jamison had convinced her not to. If they’d run then AK would have chased and that would have been that.

  The tyres of Skeebs’ jeep sent a wave of stones and dust ahead as it slammed to a halt. The low sun turned the windscreen white granting only the vaguest impression of the figures inside.

  Skeebs was out of the car as soon as the engine died, slamming the door so hard the whole jeep rocked.

  ‘Did you know about this?’ the boy thundered. ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

  The jeep was silent. The silhouette in the passenger seat hadn’t moved.

  ‘You told me this was important. We had to do this your way. And now you expect me to swallow this as well?’

  ‘Let’s get going. Caleb, show him the new set up.’

  ‘No,’ Skeebs shook his head. ‘I’m not getting on that. Not until you explain to me…’

  The boy faltered. In every way possible. Words died on his lips, his pacing slowed to a stop, his taut expression slackened. He’d looked over the supply crates scattered around the door, the empty bags, the packing material drifting in the breeze.

  The empty steel box.

  Amanda looked down at her feet, fists closing in her pockets, readying herself.

  They’d tried to tuck it out of sight. The lid was propped up beside it, revealing the defective protective wards etched into the interior.

  Skeebs let out a small cough. The colour and anger had drained from his face.

  ‘Weren’t any other choice
,’ said Caleb.

  ‘But…’ the boy’s eyes were wide and disbelieving. ‘We’re not taking the box?’

  ‘We don’t have time for this,’ said Amanda.

  Skeebs was rubbing at the back of his neck. ‘Fuck, I can feel it. Can’t you fucking feel it? I’m not getting on there if we’re not using the box. You can just go without me.’

  Amanda heard Caleb jump down from the carriage, the big man joining her at her side.

  ‘Caleb,’ said Amanda. ‘Tell the drivers that we aren’t moving an inch until that man’s on-board.’ Her cigarette jabbed at Skeebs, ash swirling.

  ‘You’re bluffing,’ said Skeebs.

  ‘We’ve got to go,’ said Caleb.

  ‘You want to go?’ said Amanda. ‘Then get him on-board. In chains if you have to.’ She let that hang in the air a while, the boy trying to suss her out. But she was deadly serious.

  ‘Man!’ Skeebs broke, imploring. ‘We don’t go, we all fucking die. Don’t you get it? I’ve seen that thing in there kill a hundred people like it was nothing. Think it’s going to care about us?’

  ‘Then you’d best get on, hadn’t you?’ said Amanda, acting like she had all the time in the world.

  ‘C’mon,’ said Caleb, a flick of the wrist to Skeebs. ‘Box wasn’t working. Come have a look. Sewn up tight. You’ll see.’

  Across the yard came the grinding sound of a train starting to move, the scrape of steel working against steel.

  There was that moment again, when all the cards were dealt and all there was left was to maintain composure. If you’d done your job, you could just sit back and watch your opponent defeat himself. She was back thinking to Camberley again – of how that had worked out.

  She could see the struggle in Skeebs’ eyes. His jaw set and he glared at Amanda one last time. ‘You’re a real fucking bitch.’ He made sure to knock Amanda’s shoulder on the way past.

  Amanda took it, breathing an inner sigh of relief.

  Caleb picked Skeebs up into the container without a hint of effort. Arms crossed, the boy took a chary step inside and disappeared.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Caleb. ‘All safe as houses. Real easy…’

  Something clicked in Amanda’s neck as she stretched, gave herself a moment.