A Few Words for the Dead (28 page)
He got in the car, shoved his sandwich in the bag with the rest of the kit he’d prepared, and drove back to the main road.
He had to annoy a few fellow motorists to begin with, overtaking and cutting between the other cars as he tried to get the car he was tailing in sight. Once he’d spotted it a short way ahead, he settled back and followed, heading out of the city and towards the house where soon he would die.
On the hill above the safe house, Shining brushed the remains of a sandwich from his fingers, raised a pair of night-vision binoculars to his eyes and followed Jennings as he stepped out of the cottage and made his way over to the two other security officers.
Shining had been in position for several hours now, had monitored the movements of the security officers as they took it in turns to make circuits of the building, plodding through their duty in the thorough manner only ex-military could really manage.
You learned a great deal training in the army, but he often thought that one of the most impressive skills you inherited was an ability to do the mundane without going mad with boredom. For himself, as important as his supervision was, he had found himself begging for something to happen within a couple of hours of setting up position. Waiting wouldn’t kill him, he knew, but there were times it felt like it would.
He reached for his phone, checking for messages. Nothing. This was no great surprise. Fratfield was waiting on his orders like the good professional he was. Shining wondered when those orders would be given. He trained his glasses on the blank window of the interrogation room, picturing the target beyond the drapes. He wondered when it would be time for August Shining to die.
It would have to be soon. Should he risk it? Was it better to have Fratfield arrive too early or too late?
Too late, probably. Still… He glanced at his watch. He’d give it another half an hour and then set the assassin moving.
Convergence.
From his position on the hill, Shining saw it all come together.
He saw the car leave with the security officers inside it, bouncing its way out of the rough driveway, then speeding off along the road, its lights receding.
He saw Fratfield jogging along the road before making his cautious circuit of the house. He received the man’s text message and replied accordingly. How strange it was to be sat here, orchestrating events from afar, pulling strings like a puppeteer.
It made him a little bit too much like the enemy for comfort.
Any moment now, he felt sure, August Shining – the other August Shining – would die and then the night’s work would be all but over. He checked his weapon. He hated to kill but Fratfield must die. Alive he would always be a threat to Toby and Tamar. Perhaps he should just kill him now? Then kill his other self?
He wasn’t sure he was capable of that. Besides, in that split second while he aimed his shot – perhaps more than a split second, he was not the practised killer Fratfield was – might the higher power not see it had been tricked? What might it be capable of then?
Best to stick to the plan, however rough it was. Surely, as long as he was quick, everything would work just fine.
But plans are slippery things and, however much you may think you have anticipated all the possibilities, life invariably surprises you.
The first surprise of the night was the presence of another car on the road. This in itself was not worrying, it was an open road after all and, even at this time of night, traffic was only to be expected. When it pulled into the driveway of the cottage, however, Shining’s plans really began to fall apart.
April! What was she doing here?
Everything hinged on the fact that his other self would get everyone else out of the house. No risk of innocent casualties. His possessed body would step out of the front door, Fratfield would take his shot and then August would take out Fratfield… but now?
August began to run down the hill. He had to figure out a way of getting his sister out of the house.
The wind began to blow. Harder, then harder still. It robbed him of his balance and he fought to keep his feet as he heard the sound of another car approaching. What was this now? The wind. Fratfield. The curse… surely they were out of the country? Toby and Tamar couldn’t be here!
He saw the car headlights streaking towards the house, swaying along with the car as it fought to keep to the road. Then he saw it bounce and tip into a roll.
He looked back at the house.
April or Toby and Tamar. That was his choice. Damn him for coming up with such a stupid plan. Damn him for not anticipating better…
He ran towards the road.
Toby pulled himself free of his seatbelt, falling onto the roof of the upturned car. ‘Tamar?’
She grunted and he reached for her seatbelt even as the car began to spin again, turning on its roof.
‘Oh God,’ he moaned. ‘Tamar…’
The car flipped again and he collided with the dashboard, losing consciousness.
The car nearly hit Shining as he skidded onto the road, the wind forcing him to bend forward, legs wide. Keeping low, the upturned vehicle shielded him from some of it, he could see both passengers were out cold.
Toby was closest, and Shining pulled him out through the shattered window. The car shifted again and he toppled backwards, losing his grip on Toby, who rolled down the incline of the verge, coming to rest at the foot of the hedge.
It was Tamar he needed to get clear, she was the trigger.
He undid her seatbelt and lifted her out, throwing her over his shoulder.
Glancing towards the road, he could see the wind demon, puffing up its cheeks in preparation for another gust. Around it, detritus swirled, a cyclone of dead leaves and small branches.
August had the wind behind him as he ran, moving up the hill away from the road as fast as he could. There would be a point, he knew, where Tamar was far enough away from Fratfield that the curse ceased.
Of course, now it occurred to him that easiest course of action would have been to kill Fratfield but then he would have been in the position of having to face his duplicate, possessed self. Maybe that would have worked, maybe the whole plan would then have come crashing around him, nobody would ever know. He’d made his decision and now he was sticking with it.
But what if he didn’t manage to get back for Fratfield? What if the assassin escaped again?
What would be would be. For now he just had to do his best to ensure Toby and Tamar survived the night.
He stumbled, both he and Tamar falling to the ground. Still too close, he thought, as the wind howled around them. He grabbed her by her T-shirt and began to drag her, his energy fading. If they weren’t clear soon, he would never make it. He couldn’t keep moving much longer.
He saw the demon at his heels. It had followed him, its pale white face looking quizzically at him as he dragged Tamar a few more feet.
Suddenly, the wind stopped and Shining collapsed, in relief.
‘Far enough,’ he sighed lying down on the grass next to the unconscious Tamar.
‘Far enough,’ the demon agreed.
Shining sat up and looked at it, fighting for breath. ‘You can talk?’
‘Why shouldn’t I?’
‘No reason, I suppose. I just looked upon you as a force of nature.’
The demon scratched at the soft skin of its face, its cheeks distended like defaulted balloons. ‘A force of nature that can speak.’
‘Yes.’ He tried to get up. He had to keep moving, had to deal with Fratfield. He sank back down, it was no good, he could barely breathe.
‘Why do you want to run?’ the demon asked. ‘She is safe now.’
‘Not while the man who cast you is still alive she’s not.’
The demon nodded. ‘He is a dark man, I look for a soul inside him but I think he has none. I wish I was not bound to him.’
Shining thought for a moment. ‘Can I release you?’
‘Only by turning the curse back on the man who cast it. It is possible but not simple.’
Shining nodded. ‘You just let me worry about that.’
He left Tamar and worked his way back towards the house. Every part of him ached. He was getting far too old for this sort of exertion. His vision was blurring and there was a pain in his chest as he neared the road. What was wrong with him? He’d never felt so… the pain in his chest increased, tightening, crushing…
August Shining fell to the ground, barely able to draw breath.
A few seconds later he was unconscious.
Light. The sound of birds. Wetness on his face.
He opened his eyes on to a new morning and, just for a moment, he had no idea what had happened. Then he remembered and sat up in panic.
‘It’s over,’ said a voice from next to him. He turned to see an old man stood a few feet away, a gleeful-looking Labrador sitting patiently by his side. ‘Your heart broke. I fixed it for you.’
Shining got to his feet. ‘But what happened at the house? Did it work? How’s April? Is…?’
‘The rebel has ceased to be. We owe you thanks. The rest of your people have long gone. They are all alive and well.’
Shining checked his watch. He’d been unconscious for hours.
‘My heart broke?’
‘I fixed it for you.’
‘You said. Thank you.’
‘It was a gift.’ Then the man’s facial expression changed and, in his own voice, he said, ‘Hello there, you all right?’
Shining nodded. ‘Fine, I think. Overdid it last night.’
‘I’ll say, falling asleep in the middle of a field at your age. You want to take it easy.’ With this advice, he wandered off, his dog trotting on beside him.
Shining got to his feet and walked back to his car.
He felt better than he had for years. So Fratfield had escaped; that was unfortunate but he now had a contingency plan for that. He checked his pocket and found the piece of paper the demon had given him. The ancient symbols on it were quite beyond his understanding but he didn’t suppose that mattered. The important thing was that it would work.
He climbed into his car and brought out his phone. He should see how everyone was. They’d be shocked to hear from him, of course, maybe even angry at what he’d put them through. But, once they understood that he couldn’t have revealed himself earlier, once they saw what he had done, they would forgive him. For one brief moment, August Shining felt like a man at the top of his game.
Then he checked his emails.
Across the road from the Church of the Sacred Mind, August Shining watched as the three people who loved him — the three people left alive — climbed into the car and drove away with his ashes.
‘You are still hiding?’ said a young mother pushing a pram.
‘I thought you’d gone. Don’t tell me you’re going to start making a habit of possessing people now.’
‘No. I will leave soon. I just wanted to understand. Why are you still hiding?’
‘Because, in the long run, this is better.’
‘To have them thinking you’re dead?’
‘To
be
dead. Just for a moment I thought I was clever, I thought I’d beaten the odds again. I hadn’t. Do you know how many people died at the hands of your rebel?’
‘Many.’
‘Yes,’ he nodded, ‘many. And all because they knew me. Because they were involved in Section 37, because I made them targets.’
‘Is that true?’
‘I think so.’
‘So you are going to stay dead.’
‘I think it’s best for all concerned. They’ll get over it. Maybe without me they’ll all make better, safer decisions with their lives. I’m surrounded by victims. Cassandra, Derek, Alasdair, Jamie, Lucas…’ He shook his head. ‘It’s too much. It’s all just too much.’
‘I understand.’
He looked at the young woman. ‘You’re not going to tell me I’m wrong, then?’
‘What would I know? I am not flesh like you, it all seems chaos to me. Where will you go?’
‘I have one more thing to take care of,’ he told her, ‘then I’ll go wherever I want, as long as it’s a long way from here.’
Bill Fratfield paid the bill for his lunch and then got up from his table. Time to walk that off, he decided, then I can plan what lazy way I wish to spend my afternoon. Maybe I’ll even go for a swim, take a dive from some of the rocks.
‘Thanks,’ he said, waving vaguely towards the waiter.
He looked out at the sea, glistening in the sunshine.
‘Careful,’ a young man collided with him, having jumped up from his table.
‘Apologies,’ the young man said, with a faint German accent. ‘I do not look where I go.’
‘No problem,’ Fratfield replied, still too full of seafood and drink to think too much about it.
Fratfield aimed towards the cliff path as the young German walked over to a different table. He placed the envelope he had just stolen from Fratfield’s pocket in front of the man who was sitting there.
‘Perfect,’ said Shining. ‘Many thanks, Gustav. Now watch yourself in future. If I catch you dipping pockets again, you’ll have worse to deal with than a little favour.’
Gustav tutted in annoyance and walked off.
Shining opened the envelope, removed the money that was inside and replaced it with his note and the scrap of paper that contained the wind demon’s curse.
Job done, he decided, blank slate.
He called over the waiter.
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