Chapter 22.
Phil Maker made a show of putting the finger back in the bag – “we’ll need to keep hold of this” – then he closed the DNA machine carefully and stroked its lid. He slipped it into his jacket pocket.
“You going to cuff him, then?” he nodded at Nat.
“But… don’t you need to read me my rights or anything?” Nat asked.
Dredd sighed. “Seriously?”
Maker sighed. “Well, the man does have a right to hear his rights.”
“And what you’re charging me with” Nat added.
Dredd stared at him. “Like you don’t know.”
Maker sighed again. “Nathan Jones, we’re arresting you for the murder of Terri Jenkins. You have the right to remain silent…”
“Unless we force you to speak” Dredd said.
“But we would seriously advise against it” Maker added
“Unless you want a few more broken bones” Dredd finished.
“Happy now?” Maker asked.
“Terri’s dead?” Nat asked.
“And, therefore you do confirm that you know her” Maker said with a big smile. “Come on Justin, cuff the bastard and we can still catch last orders.”
Dredd looked at his watch. “Yeah, good idea. That place around the corner should still be open.” He reached down to his belt. “Shit.”
“What now?”
“I don’t have my cuffs. Wearing my business suit.”
“Don’t worry” Maker said. He put the bag with the finger down on a small table next to him (about the only thing in the room that wasn’t completely wrecked, though its leg was bent dangerously and it seemed only a matter of time), and took from his jacket pocket a small, silver looking tube. He unscrewed the top and pulled out a syringe; it came out of the tube with a popping sound, and Nat stared at the deep blue liquid inside.
“What’s that?” he asked nervously.
“Nothing to worry about. It’s what we’re moving to instead of handcuffs. Cheaper and easier to carry around. It just stops your brain working so well for a short period of time, so you won’t try to escape while we take you to the station for questioning…”
“No way are you injecting me with that!” Nathan backed himself against the outside wall. He looked to Joshua and Dark Angel for help. Joshua was still staring fixedly at the finger, now lying on the coffee table. Dark Angel was sitting on what was left of the bed, studying her fingernails.
“It’s completely safe” Maker said.
“Well, almost completely” Dredd added.
“Come on Nathan, don’t make this difficult for yourself.”
“Go ahead, make it as difficult as you want” Dredd continued. Without warning, he grabbed Nat, pulled him towards him and twisted him round, locking his hands behind his back.
“Stop doing that!” Nat shouted.
Dredd ignored him. “Go ahead, Phil.”
“Thank you.” Maker slid the cover off the syringe needle and stepped towards Nat. “Ah, I always forget I need to roll your sleeve up first.” He looked round for somewhere to put the syringe, couldn’t find anywhere, and with a shrug, put the syringe between his teeth. “Now then...” Maker reached forward to roll up Nat’s left sleeve.
And then, suddenly, Joshua was flying forward towards the table and trying to scoop the finger. He brushed past Maker who skidded round in alarm, a look of shock on his face. “What the…” he started shouting, forgetting that the syringe was in his mouth. It went flying in the air and Nat watched it arc up and back down, and land in the shoulder of Dark Angel, who had just jumped up when she saw Joshua go. Maker lost his footing and went sliding to the floor as Joshua grabbed the bag with the finger. At almost the same moment Maker crashed into the table and sent Joshua flying towards the door. Dark Angel had stood up and was momentarily stunned, looking at the needle sticking in her arm. She yanked it out and with a fluid motion sent it flying in Joshua’s direction. Joshua had crashed head first into the door, with such force that his head actually dented the laminate panel and left a crater there, complete with blood and hair. He fell to the ground but almost immediately picked himself up again and ran, or stumbled towards the open door. The needle hit him in his backside and he let out a yelp of pain. “Stop him!” screamed Dark Angel as she lumbered forward, stepping on Maker’s stomach in her haste. Maker screamed out in pain and Dredd threw Nat to the floor and had his gun in his hand. “Stop or I shoot!” he shouted at Joshua and without waiting for a reply a shot rang out, just as Dark Angel threw her hefty bulk towards Joshua, who was almost out of the door. The shot caught her in the neck and threw her forward, in the direction she was already heading, and she slammed into Joshua’s back, simultaneously pushing him out of the room and blocking Dredd from taking another shot at him. But she hit his back, or more accurately his backside, and in her final living moment her forehead plunged the syringe deep into him.
The room and the world seemed to descend into slow motion for Nat, as, without thinking, he pulled himself up from the floor and onto his knees. Dark Angel was lying face down, motionless, a pool of blood gradually building up around her head. Her left foot was resting on Maker’s face. Maker was trying to pull himself up, clearly still in pain from the blow to his stomach. Dredd was standing over Nat, his feet almost next to his head, but he wasn’t looking at him. He was staring at the door, over Dark Angel’s slumped body, at the figure of Joshua who should, by all rights, have been limp and subdued after a full shot of Auto-Cuff*1. Dredd had his gun pointed at Joshua but seemed, for some reason, reluctant to fire. When Nat looked at Joshua, he could see why.
Joshua was standing in the doorway, looking back into the room. His tall, slender frame seemed to have changed, bulked out a little bit. The first thing, though, that Nat noticed, was his face. Instead of the dull, unfocused eyes and slackness of features that should have been expected, there was a bright, fiery aspect to his face. His mouth had broken into a wide, crooked and nasty smile but the thing that caught your attention was his eyes. They had always been dazzling, but now they seemed to shine as if they were on fire. And that was what seemed to define him, his eyes, mouth, face, his entire body seemed to be alight, dancing with energy and fire, as he wasn’t so much standing, as dancing in the doorway to Nat’s hotel room. And this was most true in the most bizarre thing of all. In his right hand, he was clutching, raised high above his head as if in victory, the bag with Terri’s finger in it. And the bag, the finger, and Joshua’s hand, were all alight, all actually on fire, flames licking the bag and dissolving it, engulfing Joshua’s hand and gradually burning it, blistering the skin as it turned red and then black, engulfing the finger too but, strangely, not seeming to affect it at all. And Joshua didn’t seem to mind, or even notice, his hand on fire as he held it aloft above his head like a cheap, messed up version of victory.
All Nat could do was stare; all Dredd could do was stare, seemingly frozen in place, unable to pull the trigger on his automatic, pointed at this strange new version of Joshua, who looked on with his crazy smile and snatched treasure and seemed to wait, daring Dredd to do something, knowing he would do nothing.
“Oh fuck” whispered Dredd and dropped his arm. Maker had got to his knees and he knelt, side by side with Nat, as if in prayer. “Oh fuck” instead of offering a prayer he repeated Dredd’s words and Nat looked from him to Dredd, and back to Maker, watching the shock in their eyes. He looked at Dark Angel, lying on the floor, looked at Joshua, who pulled his dark gaze away from Dredd and looked down at Nat. And although Nat could later not be sure about this, so much having happened in such a short space of time, he was sure at that moment that Joshua, the new, improved and kind-of-very-scary Joshua, winked at him, before disappearing down the corridor.
The three of them stayed there, not moving, not speaking, for a few seconds. There was a huge crash from somewhere further in the hotel, and then what Nat could have sworn was a scream, harsh and intense and frightened, and th
en silence.
White Eyes Page 20