by Mark Hayden
It was Cora’s turn to grip my hand. Her wrists aren’t as strong as mine, but her nails are a damn sight sharper. ‘Listen, Conrad. Mina has been in the presence of the Morrigan. Something I’ve never done. And she’s met the Allfather. She’s received the blessing of the Goddess, apparently. She’s scared of losing you to magick. She’s scared that a mundane partner will never be enough.’
I recoiled from that, physically and emotionally. Lose me to magick? How could that be? Cora pulled me back.
‘She wanted a way in. Something to put her in the magickal world as more than a bystander.’
‘I thought the gods were very sparing on who they enhanced. I now know that the Allfather only chose me because of my link to the Codex.’
‘There was more to it than that, Conrad. Mina didn’t want power over Lux. She just wanted something. Anything. And I thought she could handle it.’
She finally released my hand. Confession over. Except it wasn’t. Not quite.
Vicky, being Vicky, wanted to help. ‘And she’s survived, hasn’t she? She’ll be here soon.’
I gave her a smile, to show I’d heard and appreciated what she’d said and that I knew she’d be there for me, but I wasn’t done with the Dean yet.
‘What was your price?’ I said.
Vicky took a step back. Ruth started unwrapping sandwiches. Cora looked at the floor.
It was Vicky who blinked first. ‘Tell him, Dean. You owe him that much. Don’t worry, everything you’ve said stays in this room, doesn’t it, Ruth?’
‘If it’s not criminal, Cora, then it’s none of my business. It’s between you, Mina and Conrad.’
‘It’s not criminal,’ said Cora. She glanced at Ruth. ‘But it is a little underhand. We did mention Project Midas. Briefly. I asked Mina to cast her eyes over the accounts for Salomon’s House. I thought it might be useful in the election.’
I sat back and took a deep breath. If Mina had paid a high price for the information, I don’t think I could have let Cora get away with it. This, I could cope with. ‘I can’t blame you for that, Cora. I’ve done worse. A lot worse. Let’s focus on the future, shall we? Or the present. I wasn’t hungry until you came back with that tray, Ruth.’
She passed me a plate. ‘You might think twice when you’ve tasted it. I think these places have a special magickal Ward that doesn’t permit fresh food to enter. I’ve got tea, too.’
She was right about the sandwich. ‘Where’s Hannah got to?’ I asked.
‘She wanted to meet the plane herself. I have to stay in here, and there was no one else she trusted available. Hang on.’
She checked her phone. ‘It’s at the gate now. I’ll get things set up.’
Ruth put down her plate and lifted the blinds. The only surprising thing about Interview Room 6 was the fresh, powder blue paint job. Everything else, from the concrete floor to the bolted down chair was as you’d expect. There were two doors, one to the right and one straight ahead. The one to the right led to the same corridor as our room, the other one was marked To Gates. Ruth flicked a couple of switches and the viewing gallery went dark. A crackle from the ceiling told me that the audio feed was now live. ‘Press that button and speak into that microphone if you want to be heard in there.’
We dumped half-eaten sandwiches on the tray, and I grabbed a piece of flapjack. I was finishing my tea when the left hand door opened.
I stood up and leaned forward as Hannah came in. She wedged the door open with a piece of folded paper, then moved behind the table. An enormous, stocky Indian man came into the room, trailing Mina behind him. She was attached to his left wrist by a pair of handcuffs. He was at least six foot tall, and must weigh fourteen stone, perhaps more underneath the swirling white robes. He blocked my view of her completely, and he wasn’t in a hurry to come any further. He scanned every inch of the room carefully, and judging by the hand gestures, he was using magick to help him.
‘My god,’ said Vicky. ‘I would not want to share an aeroplane toilet with him.’
Ruth coughed. I didn’t mind. I’d rather think about the absurdities than the reality. ‘Got to give him credit for the moustache though,’ I added.
‘You’re not wrong, Uncle C. That’s epic, that ’tache.’
It was. It went round his face like a Red Arrow doing an airshow display.
‘Did you just call the Dragonslayer “Uncle Conrad”?’ said Cora.
We all burst out laughing at that point. And stopped when the man came further into the room.
Mina’s head was up, her hair was held back and her nose was pointing defiantly at any curious bystanders. Fury was the main emotion in her eyes.
And breathe. My Mina was back.
I took a proper look at her, and tried to work out why she looked a funny shape. She was wearing white, too, and she sort of looked like a reverse hunchback – there was a strange lump around her left collar bone. And the outfit didn’t look like her clothes. The shalwar trousers were way too long, for one thing, and her Indian wardrobe doesn’t have much white in it because…
‘They’ve come here straight from a funeral,’ I said. ‘That’s why they’re in white.’
‘Poor bairn,’ said Vicky. ‘Not her mother, surely?’
Mina looked round and spotted the mirror straight away. She didn’t take her eyes off it. She lifted her left arm, but it wouldn’t rise all the way, and she bent forward to blow a kiss at the mirror. At me.
Her captor hadn’t spoken yet. His first action inside the room was to sweep his arm around in an imperious gesture, more like a stage magician than the Mages I’m used to. It worked, though, and when he started speaking, I couldn’t hear a word. He’d placed the three of them under a Silence, and everything else unfolded in dumb show.
Hannah was side-on to us, so I could tell when she was speaking. She turned to face Mina and said something. Mina replied, adding a nod, then a shake of the head to the next question. I could guess what Hannah had asked: Are you okay? Have they mistreated you?
The Indian Mage had been carrying a large briefcase in his left hand, the handle disappearing into his meaty fist. He gently lifted it, tugging Mina’s arm along, and placed the case on the table. He popped the catch and took out a piece of paper. He spoke. Hannah picked up the paper and read it. Carefully. She asked Mina another question, and Mina pointed to the briefcase. Hannah shook her head in disgust and took out a pen. She signed the paper with a flourish and slid it back to the man.
He nodded, and touched the handcuffs with his right hand. They unlocked. It was funny, but my brain added the click noise that my eyes said should be there. Or I’d just experienced telepathy. One or the other. Mina extracted her hand and rubbed her wrist, carrying it over to her left side because her arm wasn’t keen on bending. Oh dear.
The Indian Mage reached into his briefcase and took out Mina’s laptop, phone and purse. He placed them on the table and gave her a paper to sign. Don’t you love bureaucracy? She signed.
He snapped shut the case and swirled his hand again.
His voice was cultured, even and deep. ‘I have dreamt many years of coming to England and meeting the Constable of Merlyn’s Tower. It is such a sadness to me that it should be on an occasion like this.’
Hannah couldn’t bring herself to play along, and simply said, ‘I hope you have a safe journey.’
They nodded to each other, and the Mage headed off to his plane. He pulled the folded paper out from under the door and closed it behind him.
‘Who else is with you, Conrad?’
It was so good to hear her voice again that I just stared at the glass. Mina’s eyes dilated in panic, and Ruth pressed the button. ‘This is Ruth Kaplan. I’m with Conrad, Vicky and Cora. He’s a bit overcome, but he’ll be with you in a second.’
‘Could you all come?’ said Mina. ‘There’s something you all need to see.’
I jerked out of my paralysis and pressed the button. ‘We’re on our way, love.’
Ruth led the
procession out of the viewing gallery, down the corridor and round to the interview room. Her magnetic key let us in, and she held the door for me to go first.
Mina held up her hand as I approached. ‘Just a kiss,’ she said, turning her left shoulder away from me. With an audience like that, we weren’t going to go for the full Gone with the Wind, but I did let her know how much I’d missed her. It was mutual.
When we’d disengaged, Mina turned to Hannah. ‘Thank you for coming. I am so sorry to inconvenience you.’
Hannah snorted. ‘That depends on how good your story is. I have never had anything like this happen before, but you’re not okay, are you Mina? Why do you need an audience?’
‘Because you all need to see this, and I don’t want to do it more than once.’ She looked at Vicky. ‘Can you help me get this kameez off? Thank goodness it’s too big for me.’
What on earth was going on? The baggy white kameez tunic, long sleeved, covers everything you’d want covered in public. Mina froze for a second. ‘We’re not being recorded, are we?’
‘No,’ said Ruth. ‘Definitely not.’
With Vicky’s help, Mina eased the kameez over her head, pulling her left arm out last. My jaw clenched until my teeth hurt when I saw her. There were deep scratches along her right abdomen, but they were healing. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and that was shocking enough, but not as shocking as the big dressing above her left breast and the matching one on her left bicep.
Behind me, Cora moaned softly and sat down on one of the chairs.
‘Oy vey,’ said Hannah.
‘Hashem preserve us,’ said Ruth.
‘Bugger me,’ said Vicky.
Mina gave a grim smile. ‘It gets worse. Conrad, can you peel off the dressing. It’s overkill. The wound has nearly healed, but the prison doctor wouldn’t let me travel without it. Same with my arm, but you need to see my chest first.’
There was a lot of padding, held on by a criss-cross of medical tape. I got my fingernail under three or four of the strips and peeled them back. ‘I’m going all in with the rest. Ready?’ She nodded, and I ripped it off.
Underneath the dressing, about four inches wide, was a burn. A burn that was healing into a blue colour. Magick pulsed faintly from it, but it was the shape that made me gasp. I stood back and let everyone else see. Burned and carved into my poor love’s chest, just above her breast, was this image:
Hannah and Ruth were stunned into silence. Cora had covered her eyes, and it was Vicky who spoke first. ‘Ohmygod! Mina! Whoever did this is truly evil.’
‘They are evil, but the image is not. Hannah, Ruth, I am so sorry to show you this, because I know what it means to you and every other Jew in the world. Forgive me. It was not meant to be like this.’
Hannah pulled herself upright. ‘And I know what it means in India. Good luck and prosperity, isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’
Hannah half raised her hand towards the mark. ‘It’s an Ancile. A living Ancile burned into your flesh. How? Why?’
‘You should always be careful what you wish for,’ said Mina quietly. ‘I wished for magick, and this is what I got. My arm got burnt, too, when I tried to stop them. It is almost completely healed, under the dressing. I think we’ve seen enough. Vicky?’
‘Right.’
She shook her head when I offered to put the dressing back on. ‘It doesn’t hurt much, but the medic didn’t want any awkward questions.’ Vic helped her get the kameez back on, and Mina put on a brave smile. ‘Myfanwy must know, but no one else, please?’
‘Of course,’ said Hannah. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
‘Not yet,’ said Mina. ‘There’s something else, and it’s best if I say it now, while you’re all here. It concerns the Watch.’
‘It’s a bit crowded in here,’ said Cora. ‘I’ll wait outside if it’s Watch business.’
‘And me,’ said Ruth. ‘Would you like me to get you anything? Tea? Food?’
‘Tea would be very welcome,’ said Mina. ‘The food in business class is very good. I am not hungry, thank you.’
Vicky blurted out, ‘I’ve gotta ask, Mina, were you handcuffed to Mr Moustache the whole time?’
She laughed. A proper laugh. ‘That would have been the worst torture of all. No. He undid the handcuffs when we were in the air. He was a perfect gentleman.’
Ruth opened the door to leave, and Cora got up, too.
‘Please stay, Dean,’ said Mina. ‘You must sit down. You need to rest more than I do.’
Cora sank back. ‘I thought my contact was just an academic. I’m so sorry, Mina.’
‘What happened is not your fault. Please. I am grateful for your help.’
I got one of the movable chairs and insisted that Mina sit down. I couldn’t wait any longer. ‘What happened, love? How did it come to this?’
‘Stand behind me, Conrad. You are too tall, and I want to hold your hand.’
I did. I stood behind her and she reached up to take my hand.
‘I have been in one of those cells with no magick for nearly a week. It didn’t affect me at all, and they looked after me. Hannah, could you read the charge on that sheet?’
Hannah took the paper and scanned it. ‘Sacrilege and destruction of religious property. Really?’
‘That is what I pleaded guilty to. How I got there is complicated.’
Ruth reappeared with a cup of tea and took up as discreet a position as she could.
‘Thank you,’ said Mina. ‘Before the Sword of Brahman took my laptop away, I did a lot of work on Project Midas.’
Vicky had had one brief chat with Hannah on the journey down from Ribblegate Farm. Hannah had told her that the Sword of Brahman is India’s answer to the Watch. Their chief had not been returning Hannah’s calls. I’m guessing he would now that Mina has been handed over.
‘This can wait,’ said Hannah.
‘I’d rather not. I want to do something positive.’
‘If you’re sure?’
‘I’m sure. We had several monsoons while I was there. During the second one, I had a flash of inspiration.’ She allowed herself a smile. ‘I wondered why the data seemed familiar, and then it came to me: I was looking at a massive case of money laundering. Feel free to disapprove, Constable.’
Hannah shook her head. ‘Repentance is always in fashion at Merlyn’s Tower. I wouldn’t have let Conrad in otherwise.’ Without thinking, she took off her headscarf to re-tie it.
It was the first time that Mina had seen the damage to Hannah’s skull. She stared, then quickly looked away. When the scarf was back in place, Mina continued. ‘Conrad, how much do you trust that Gnome, Lloyd Flint, and the rest of his clan?’
Hannah’s eyes narrowed with interest, and Cora looked up, too.
I pulled my lip with my free hand. ‘Lloyd, I trust with my life. Absolutely. The others, not at all. Lloyd doesn’t trust them much, either.’
‘It is as I thought,’ said Mina. ‘I need to see that Dwarf, Niði. He is the only innocent one. And Lloyd needs to take me there so that you can look him in the eye, Conrad. If the Dwarf confirms what I’ve thought, there is a lot of laundered gold sitting with the Clan Flint.’
Hannah was struggling with this. She didn’t want Mina in any further danger, but this was too good a lead to ignore. She looked at me over Mina’s head. The message was clear: it’s up to you.
I had no problem with Mina getting involved. Well, I did, but as Cora pointed out, I don’t own her. If she went with me, I could keep an eye on her. My problem was Vicky. I don’t think a prolonged underground adventure is what Vicky needs at the moment.
I cleared my throat. ‘If I might suggest, ma’am, it would be good if Hawkins or Metcalfe became involved. Coming with us could be their first field assignment.’
Hannah nodded her head. ‘Good idea. When?’
‘Monday would be good,’ said Mina. ‘This could all change if we leave it too long. If it hasn’t already.’
‘Right,’ sai
d Hannah. ‘Vicky, you’re coming back to London with me. We can do Saffron and Xavi’s inductions on Friday. And your promotion to Watch Captain. Conrad, you’re going to take Mina home, and don’t even think of coming up to town. Clear?’
‘Ma’am.’
‘We’ll head off,’ said Ruth. The room was a lot bigger without them.
Vicky moved next. ‘Give us your car keys, Conrad. I’ll get me stuff.’
Mina let go of my hand, and I moved away. Vicky bent down to whisper something to Mina, who replied, ‘That would be very good. Thank you.’
‘Wait here a minute, Conrad,’ said Vicky.
‘Let’s wait outside,’ said Hannah. ‘I’ve seen enough interview rooms in my life.’
‘You’re not the only one,’ said Mina.
I picked up the bits and pieces, and we gathered in the corridor. Being a good Airman, I even got the tray from the viewing gallery. When I returned from finding a rubbish bin, Vicky was leading Mina away, leaving Hannah and I alone.
‘Thank you, Hannah.’ I said. ‘I owe you big time for this. I can’t imagine what you must have felt seeing that … sign. And to see it like that, and then carry on. Thank you.’
Hannah shrugged. A very Jewish shrug that said we have all seen worse and lived. ‘Don’t worry, Conrad, I’ll make sure you do extra assignments to pay me back.’
The girls emerged from the ladies toilet. Mina was dressed in some of Vicky’s clothes. She looked almost normal, and judging from the fit of the sleeves, she’d taken the dressing off her arm. She bowed to Hannah, and we walked out of the Border Force building hand in hand. It was dark outside, but my sunshine was back.
Mina had her priorities straight. ‘Do you have a charger in the car, Conrad? My phone battery is flat.’
9 — Don’t mind me
There was a charger in the car. Mina fiddled with her phone while I set the satnav and drove out of the Border Force compound. We’d be home in two hours. I accelerated on to the motorway and turned to face her for a second. ‘Your mother?’