Ack-Ack Macaque (38 page)

I turned back slowly and looked Tori in the eye. I started unwinding my bandages, letting them fall to the floor in dirty white loops.

I said, “I don’t care about any of this. I just want you back.”

She bit her lip. Her hand went to her own scar. She opened and closed her mouth several times. She looked at the TV, and then dropped her eyes.

“I want you too,” she said.

T
HE
B
ARON’S BURNING
plane hits the hillside and explodes. Lola Lush cheers and waves a fist over her head, but Ack-Ack Macaque says nothing. He circles back over the burning wreck and waggles his wings in salute to his fallen foe. And then he pulls back hard on the joystick and his rattling old plane leaps skyward, high over the rolling hills and fields of the French countryside.

Ahead, the Akron stands against the sunset like a long, black cigar. Its skeletal oxen paw the air, anxious to get underway.

Lola’s lips are red and full; her cheeks are flushed. She shouts: “What are you gonna do now?”

He pushes up his goggles and gives her a toothy grin. The air war may be over, but he knows he’ll never be out of work. The top brass will always want something shot out of the sky.

“When we get back, I’m going to give you the night of your young life,” he says, “and then in the morning, I’m going to go out and find myself another war.”

ACK-ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I
’D LIKE TO
thank the crew at Solaris Books for their support, especially Jon Oliver, Michael Molcher, David Moore, and Ben Smith. Also, Jetse de Vries and Andy Cox, for publishing the original Ack-Ack Macaque short story in
Interzone
. Jake Murray, for the awesome cover illustration. My family, for their unflagging belief and encouragement. Justin Pickard, for making me consider all the repercussions of setting a story in an alternate timeframe. My sister, Rebecca, for reading the first draft, and for helping me with French grammar and translation (any errors or omissions are my own, not hers). Gemma Morgan, for providing the reference photo of Hong Kong harbour. Emma Dmitriev, for sending me a handy list of Russian swearwords. My agent, John Jarrold, for his support. And, most of all, my wife Becky, for keeping me going when the outlook looked bleak and the hill too steep to climb; for giving me as much writing time as she could; for reading and commenting on the first draft; and, without whom, none of this would have been possible.

My heartfelt thanks to you all.

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