Walker

by Michael Langlois

  “These are your threats,” said Iyah. “Keldon will control you or kill you to keep you out of Cannette’s hands, and Cannette will kill your friends and family to get you to work for him, or kill you if none of that works. Then at least he can have Keldon voted out for losing the one chance the Guild has had at a new world in a century. Oh, and Waldgrove will kill you if it looks like Vincent and Cannette could split the council over you.”

  Daniel blinked. “That sucks.”

  One corner of Iyah’s mouth quirked up in a half smile. “Truly.”

  Daniel looked out over the water. Everyone was willing to kill him except for Doctor Wolternel’s group of hopeful escapees, who were, ironically, more likely to accomplish the feat than anybody else.

  “Since you guys are working for Keldon, I assume that your advice is to hand the world over to him and hope he can protect me from everyone else.”

  “I think it’s probably your best shot at staying alive. Cannette is a monster, but Keldon is worse. He hasn’t stayed in power for a hundred years by being anything less than the most frightening man on the council,” said Saul.

  “Either way, I’m going to be too valuable to set free, aren’t I? After all, if they think I’m the only person that can find new worlds for them, I’m never going to be more than a trained monkey on a very short leash.”

  “We are all on a leash, Daniel,” said Iyah quietly, rapping her Arc on the wooden railing.

  “If there’s a way to take these off, I can get us to a place that they can’t follow. We could be free.” Daniel didn’t look at her as he spoke, but he could feel her gaze hot on the side of his face.

  Saul spun him around with a jerk and snarled, “And then they kill everyone you’ve ever known. Great fucking plan. I’m the First Tracker, Daniel. Do you know what my job is? I find runners and bring them back. I know every trick in the book, and my Arc is unlocked, I can Walk anywhere I want. I have the best chance of escaping of anyone you will ever meet. And they know it. And they don’t care. You know why?” Saul leaned into Daniel’s face as he spoke. “I had a wife and daughter back in New York. They happened to die in a car crash ten years ago when I didn’t come back from a run on time. I had no idea they were even looking for me until I came back and got the news.”

  His gaze flickered to Iyah, then back to Daniel’s face. “If I do anything the Guild doesn’t like, then they’ll go after the people I care about. I’m not fucking around with that, and neither should you. I don’t want to hear about it again, understand?”

  Daniel could only nod. Iyah put one hand on his shoulder and said quietly, “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

  They walked off the bridge and onto a street heavy with foot and carriage traffic. It looked like an English tourist town, with cobble streets, gas lamps, and Tudor buildings as far as Daniel could see. There was a mix of the modern and antiquated that contributed to a staged, theme park-like atmosphere, with electric lights inside the shops and modern plate glass windows set into wattle-and-daub half-timbered buildings.

  Iyah prodded him to keep moving and said, “This is New Lothbury. The town rings the Guild campus and provides all the goods and services that we use.”

  “Except that nobody lives here. Houses for the peasant class, those they keep in New Camberwell, well away from the delicate sensibilities of the upper crust,” said Saul bitterly.

  “What other towns are there?”

  “That’s it,” replied Iyah. “At least those are all of the Guild towns. There are probably settlements out in the wilderness made up of runaways, but I doubt they’re very large. Only the Veil blind could possibly escape without being brought back by a squad of Trackers and Protectors, and those would probably be hard pressed to fend off Olympus’s wildlife. It’s much more abundant and aggressive than what you have back home. Go this way.”

  She guided them off to the right, parallel to the river, and into an open air café called Mermaid’s Bounty. The hostess, a girl of no more than twenty years with bright red hair tucked haphazardly under a lace cap, took one look at their Arcs and led them through the small indoor dining area and out onto the terrace to be seated. Their table was at the rear of a platform that stretched out over the water, affording them a view right into the tumbling river. Saul ordered for everybody, since there were no menus and he obviously ate here often.

  “Chairman for a hundred years, huh?” said Daniel, more to change the subject than anything else. “How old is that guy?”

  “Let’s see, he was elected when he was about eighty, so I figure he’s pushing two hundred by now.”

  “Two hundred? Are you serious? I mean, shit, that’s incredible. What world is he from?”

  Iyah laughed. “Everyone on the council is from Earth, Daniel. As is anyone in charge of any of the departments, like Saul. If I weren’t Tuotian, I’d have Gray’s job.”

  “And he lived to be two hundred, how?”

  “It’s a perk of being on the council, but I can’t tell you more than that. They do age, just slower than we do.”

  “How much slower?”

  “Nobody knows,” replied Saul. “Keldon is the oldest person I know of, and he’s obviously older than his early portraits. I’d put him at around his late forties, early fifties if I didn’t know better. Age is hard to tell with people that have high Veil affinity, even without being on the council. Even you’ll age a bit slower than normal folks.”

  Daniel made a show of squinting his eyes and peering at Iyah closely. “You know, you’re pretty hot for an old chick.”

  She laughed and threw her napkin him. “I’m younger than you!”

  “I’m the only old guy here, so knock it off you two,” said Saul.

  “You want us kids to get off your lawn?’ asked Daniel with wide innocent eyes.

  “Yes. Please.” Saul scowled and they laughed.

  The waitress appeared with their food, three large plates filled with whole roasted fish, heads on, on a bed of diced, sautéed potatoes. Small curls of steam escaped when Daniel broke through the seared crust. It was the best fish Daniel had ever tasted, flaky and delicate, with a faint herbal touch. The potatoes were spicy and added just the right punch to compliment the fish. He had a few bites while the waitress fussed with plates and drinks.

  “Seriously,” asked Daniel after the waitress left, “how old are you?”

  “Forty-five in October. I think the only people you’ve met in person that are really old are Keldon and Gray. Hell, I even heard that Gray fought in the Second World War. Most of the council members are over a hundred, or so they say, but it’s hard to tell.”

  “Gray. I really hate that fucker,” said Daniel.

  Saul lowered his fork and gave Daniel a serious look. “Watch out for him. If Keldon decides to have you killed, Gray will be the one to turn your lights off for you. On the other hand, if anyone else comes after you, Gray will go after them, and believe me when I tell you that nobody in his right mind wants that. Should keep Cannette’s goons on their toes for the time being.”

  They finished eating in silence, then sat and picked at finished plates, each thinking dark thoughts. After a while, Daniel dropped his fork in his plate with a clatter and pushed it away.

  “I like you guys, okay? I mean that. But I’m not going to be a slave. I’m going to find a way out from under Keldon and Cannette both, even if that means working against the two of you as well.”

  Saul looked grim. “Then you’re going to lose the people you care about. Simple as that. They were in your mother’s room, Daniel.”

  “If I could find a way around that problem, would you join up with me and dump the Guild?”

  Saul barked out a bitter and incredulous laugh. “That’s not possible and it’s irresponsible to even attempt it. I’m telling you, don’t fuck around with these guys.”

  He dropped some money on the table, British pounds by the look of it, and stood up to leave.

  “Thanks for the heads up anyway,”
said Daniel. “I know you’re going out on a limb with Keldon leveling with me like this, and I appreciate it.”

  “Yeah, well. I brought you in, so I felt like I owed you one. See you around.”

  Iyah stood up to follow, but before she left she leaned in close and spoke quietly. “Saul is the only father I’ve ever known, and the work the Guild has him doing eats away at him. It’s my fault that he’s done it for as long as he has, because I’m the only family he has left. My fault. Don’t be trapped the same way, Daniel. Your mother would never want you to sacrifice yourself for her, just like I don’t want to be the stone around Saul’s neck.” She looked at him for a long moment, then turned and walked away.

  Daniel sat and watched the river long after they were gone.

  11

  By the time Daniel returned to his apartment, it was getting on towards evening. He had spent several hours wandering around campus trying to think, and had eventually wound up in a library. It was much like any you’d find on your typical university grounds, with only the oddly dressed patrons drifting around the stacks and sitting in the numerous comfy chairs to distinguish it.

  Some of them were the bleary-eyed student types that Daniel had expected, shaggy and huddled in small groups of scholastic persecution trying to study for some arcane class. The rest were business types going through material in a brisk, determined way, like trial lawyers busy at work in the firm’s legal library.

  The Guild campus was odd in that way, half corporate compound and half university campus. It made for an eclectic atmosphere of general tolerance that was easy to blend into.

  He perused various histories about Tuote, but the smugly righteous tones used to describe what was essentially a rape culture only pissed him off, so he gave it up in favor of general histories of the Guild, which were half self-congratulation and half outright propaganda. Mostly he stared at open pages without seeing them and thought about the box he was in. It was galling to think that each side was willing to kill him for choosing the other, leaving no safe avenue that he didn’t invent himself.

  It would be one thing if he had made some kind of bad decision on tequila and pigheadedness that he was now paying for, but he’d been screwed ever since he got the Guild’s attention. Hell, even the option of being a slave was unlikely, since he’d be killed as soon as he handed the leash to one side or the other. Or his mother would be.

  He was depressed and angry when he finally decided to head back to his apartment. It had started to get dark anyway, and he didn’t want to miss Leland when he dropped by to pick him up for the party. He certainly didn’t feel like going anymore, but it seemed important to Leland, and besides, he felt like he could use a drink at this point.

  He entered his apartment to find the lights already on and a man sitting on his couch, reading out of a folder in his lap. When Daniel came in, he put the folder down on the coffee table and stood up. He was tall and rugged looking with an athletic build, and had graying hair that was nonetheless thick and elegantly groomed. He was wearing slacks and a golf shirt, the kind of outfit that passes for jeans-and-a-tee-shirt casual at a country club, and carried himself with a confident, relaxed air.

  His clothes and meticulously coiffed hair stood at odds with his thick features and heavy brow, making him seem harder and more pragmatic than your average executive. He held out one hand. “Hello Daniel, Vincent Cannette. Pleased to meet you.”

  Daniel shook the hand of the man who was threatening his mother’s life. Vincent’s hand was like warm iron, and his grip was just a shade too tight. Daniel let go as soon as he could, wanting to wipe his hand on his jeans.

  Irritated into recklessness, he said, “So, you’re the guy who’s going to kill my mother if I don’t do what you want. I have to tell you, I don’t think we’re going to hit it off.”

  Vincent chuckled and sat down. “You can never tell, Daniel,” he said in an easy, intimate voice laced with old Chicago, before television had washed away much of the country’s strong dialects. “I know that my nephew likes to explain things in the most dramatic way possible, and for that I apologize. Let’s just say that I’m taking an interest in your mother’s — Lauren’s — well being. She now has ‘round the clock private nurses at her disposal taking care of her, at my expense, as well as access to the finest team of oncologists in the United States, also at my expense.” He made an expansive gesture. “Her stay at Magnolia Acres is pre-paid for the rest of her life with a generous trust in her name, no matter how long she may live.”

  “Which is entirely dependant on if I fall into line, right?”

  Vincent gave a small shrug. “I have no reason to believe that things will be anything other than cordial between us. In fact, I came here not to talk about what I’m willing to do to you, but rather what I’m willing to do for you.”

  Ice began forming in Daniel’s stomach, stilling his nervous hands. “Such as?”

  “For starters, I won’t insult you by paying you some junior Walker’s salary like Francis is doing. You have a valuable service to offer, and I respect that. Five million dollars, just for getting my boys in when you open up this new world. And five more for any other ones that may come up in the future, provided that knowledge of this little transaction remains a secret. That’s a hell of a lot better than the crumbs Francis is throwing you, and I’ll even put the money in an account that the Guild doesn’t know about, how about that?”

  Daniel blinked. “Wait, you still want me to find the world for Keldon? All you want is to get access to it, too?”

  “That’s all,” agreed Vincent, spreading his hands out in front of him.

  “But if Keldon gets access for the Guild, then don’t you get in, too? Why not just wait until it becomes Guild property?”

  Vincent barked out a short, bitter laugh. “You sure don’t know much, do you? Francis Keldon is the top dog on the council, and he didn’t get there by sharing shit with everybody else. His Walkers don’t piss without his okay, so everything that makes the trip, he knows about. That’s not good for me.” He leaned forward. “So, what do you say?”

  Francis would kill him if he did, and Vincent would kill his mom if he didn’t. When he spoke, his voice was low and angry.

  “You know I don’t have a choice. You may as well keep your money though. A slave is a slave, whether you pay him or not.”

  “Don’t be childish,” snapped Vincent, “we all have obligations and responsibilities to meet if we’re going to put food on the table. You’ve had to go to work and follow orders to earn a living your whole adult life, right? That’s not slavery, that’s life, Daniel, and this is no different.”

  “They never threatened to kill my family if I quit.”

  Vincent shrugged. “If you were important enough they would. It’s just the way the world works at this level, ask Hoffa and JFK.”

  Daniel leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and counted to ten in his head, trying to keep his mounting fury under control. Calmer, he opened his eyes and said, “I’m not going to debate this with you. I know you think it’s a great deal because you’re the guy on top, but I’m not enjoying it.”

  Vincent’s craggy face fell into a scowl and he poked one blunt finger at Daniel’s face. “I know what you’re thinking, that you can just run to Keldon and get outta my pocket. But I want you know that if he finds out, no matter how he finds out, you’ll be getting little pieces of your mom in the mail for a long time. So it’s in your best interest to make sure this stays out little secret.”

  “You’d torture my mom just because of some political friction? That’s insane!”

  Vincent lowered his voice, “You know why people don’t cross Keldon? Because they’re scared of him. Sure, some of it’s because he’s the man in charge and he can make life pretty hard, even for me, but mostly it’s because he’s a fucking maniac. Got a government that won’t toe the line? He’ll send their enemies some nerve gas and watch the bodies pile up until they’re burning ‘em in th
e street. I’ve sat not ten feet away from him and heard him do it like he was ordering a martini. Even worse is that psycho Gray. He’ll do anything Keldon wants, no hesitation, no questions asked. Keldon points and then a couple days later somebody finds you inside out in a garbage can somewhere. Nobody wants to get on Keldon’s bad side. You breathe a word and I swear that your mother will take weeks to die, you understand me?”

  Daniel’s eyes went flat and hard. “I understand you, and I’ll keep my mouth shut, but I’ll tell you right now that one day I’m going to make you think back on this conversation and know that you fucked up.”

  Vincent looked at Daniel for a moment with a bland expression, unimpressed. Then he snapped across the intervening space in a blurred flicker and slammed Daniel back into his seat by his throat.

  Vincent’s forearm and elbow crushed the air out of Daniel’s chest, and his fingers felt like hot steel bars across his trachea. He leaned into Daniel’s face and said, calmly, with no trace of his former accent, “You will show me the respect due my station. I’m indulging you enough by even meeting with you in private like this. Normally someone like you wouldn’t be allowed near me without a serving tray in their hands.”

  Fear crawled up Daniel’s spine at the realization that Vincent’s humanity was only an affectation to be discarded like a mask when it was no longer useful, revealing the polished bone remnants of his personality, left after the softer emotions had been scoured off after a century or more of power and command.

  The real Vincent stared naked into Daniel’s face, and was unknowable and terrifying. Daniel began to see a red haze as his lungs burned with need, his racing heart using up the last of his oxygen with desperate speed.

  “You’re nothing more than a pet monkey who happens to have one good trick. Don’t ever speak to me again as if you were my equal, and if I hear anything else from you that sounds like a threat, you’ll find out that there are other ways to break in a disobedient pet.”