Jani and the Greater Game (The Multiplicity Series Book 1) (27 page)

“Yes, sir.”

“It’s a bloody good job I was on the Chatterjee case meself, what, and traced you up here. Otherwise” – he laughed – “you might have suffocated to death.”

“Yes, sir,” Alfie said. “Ah... how did you find me, sir?”

“Used my grey matter, Littlebody. Knew you were in Dehrakesh and checked all the guest houses.”

“Thank you, sir,” Alfie said, sounding pathetic even to himself.

“Right.” Smethers whacked his thigh with his swagger stick, business-like. “Now, how do you intend to proceed?”

Alfie looked past Smethers. Through the window he saw that twilight was descending. He’d been locked in the chest for hours.

“I... perhaps we’d better enquire at the railway station, sir, and the airyard.”

“In my opinion I don’t think the gel would be foolish enough to choose so obvious a mode of transport, Littlebody. Unlike some people, she’s no idiot, what?”

“No, sir.”

“I checked the warehouse earlier. No sign of the girl. Chances are she’s miles away from here... But I suggest we return to the warehouse and have another quick shufti, hm? You never know, we might find something.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now be a good chap, splash a bit of H
2
O on your dial, change back into your uniform, and we’ll be off.”

In due course they left the guest house and headed across town, Alfie feeling like a kicked dog as he hurried to keep up with the long-striding Smethers.

The emporium, a big, ugly building like an airship hangar, bulked darkly against the jungle and the glow of the setting sun. Smethers rapped on the door with his swagger stick while Alfie moved from foot to foot next to him. From his elation at being entrusted with this mission, he was thrust now into a slough of despond at the thought of tagging along as the inept sidekick of the insufferably arrogant Smethers.

And what had Smethers meant when he said that the Chatterjee girl was in possession of something that the British – and presumably the Russians – wanted?

The sound of bolts being shot issued from behind the steel door, which opened a fraction. A thin face peered out. “Hello?”

Smethers said, “Open up, now there’s a good chap.”

A sing-song voice said, “But I was closing up for the night, sir.”

“Well,” Smethers said, “you’ll just have to jolly well open up again, won’t you?”

The single eye that Alfie could see in the sliver of open door narrowed in calculation. “Ten rupees,” said the man.

“I’ll give you ‘ten rupees,’ my good chap,” Smethers said, and applied his shoulder to the door.

The man went reeling and Smethers stepped across the threshold, Alfie behind him.

Smethers stared down at the prostrated Indian. “And you are?”

“I am Mr Gopal, sir, the warehouse manager.”

“Well pick yourself up, Mr Gopal,” Smethers said, “and turn on the lights.”

“But I was just about to close up, sir!” the Indian said, scrambling to his feet.

Smethers extended his swagger stick and hooked the man under the chin. “I said turn the bally lights on, hm?”

Looking daggers at Smethers, the man flipped a switch beside the door and rows of lights flickered on high overhead.

Alfie looked away, casting his gaze around the wonders twinkling dimly in the cavern of the warehouse. He hoped, by his body language, to dissociate himself from Smethers’ high-handed actions.

“Now, my good man,” Smethers said, “a few questions.”

“Questions?”

“I presume you know what they are? They are words of mine to which you reply with the truth – d’you get me drift, my friend?”

The Indian’s eyes shuttled from Smethers to Alfie and back again. “What questions?”

“The boy – Anand. Where is he?”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Anand? What has he done?”

Smethers tapped the man on the chest. “I’m asking the questions here. Where is the boy?”

The man shrugged. “He left here at midday. He is taking the elephant back to Delhi.”

“The elephant? What the hell are you talking about?”

“I am talking about Mr Clockwork’s Amazing Mechanical Elephant, sir.”

“Was he taking it by train?”

“No, sir. By foot. Walking all the way to Delhi. It has been on display here for one month, and now it is returning to Delhi. In its place, I am displaying the Mech-Man.”

“Ah...” Smethers said, casting his eyes around the emporium, “the fabled mechanical man. Where is it?”

The Indian pointed. “Over here, sir.”

Alfie stared across the warehouse floor to the metal giant standing to attention under the apex of the corrugated ceiling. Now he could see why the street urchins he’d interrogated yesterday had been so impressed. The Mech-Man was a colossus, commanding even when motionless, its brass bodywork glinting in the overhead lights.

They stood and looked up at the giant. “Open it up.”

“Sir?”

“I said open it up. I want to quick look-see inside, hm?”

The Indian moved around to the back of the Mech-Man and climbed, using spars and rivets as hand- and foot-holds. He fingered a catch and the head and shoulders tipped back.

The Indian climbed down and Smethers took his place, balancing precariously on a flange and peering into the giant’s interior. “Not a bloody thing,” he reported. “Not that I expected the girl to be hiding herself in there.”

He jumped down and addressed the Indian. “And you say this Anand chappie skedaddled with a mechanical elephant?”

“Ah-cha. He left at noon for Delhi.”

“And did he have a girl with him?”

The man blinked. “A girl, sir?”

“A girl. A young woman. You know what they are, don’t you?”

“Ah-cha, sir. But no, there was no girl. He was quite alone.”

Smethers stared down at the man, his gaze imperious. He reached out with his stick and tapped the Indian under the chin. “Now, my good man, if I find out that you’ve been lying to me, and this Anand fellow did have the girl with him... then you’ll be for the high jump, ah-cha? I’ll come back here and take a whip to your filthy hide, do y’get me drift?”

The man cowered away. “There was no girl, sir! Anand was alone, sir, very alone!”

Smethers nodded, smiling to himself. “Very well,” he said, looking around the chamber. “Now make yourself scarce. You heard me, chalo. Oh, and before you go – the keys.”

“The keys, sir?”

“We’ll have a quick shufti and lock up when we’ve seen enough.”

The man hesitated, grumbled something to himself, then handed over a big hank of keys. Smethers tossed them into the air, caught them and smiled. “Now chalo,” he said, dismissing the man with a wave of his stick.

The Indian scurried across the warehouse and through the door like a fleeing rabbit.

Smethers tut-tutted. “India would be a fine place,” he opined, “without the bally Indians, don’t you know? They’re either servile and arse-licking, or uppity and bolshy, what?”

Alfie kept his opinion to himself and moved around to the front of the Mech-Man, staring up at its engraved bodywork. The great domed head was imperious, the slit eyes inscrutable. He shivered.

Smethers joined him. “What did you make of what the chap said, Littlebody?”

“I think he was telling the truth, sir. As far as he was aware, the boy left for Delhi with the mechanical elephant.”

“‘As far as he was aware,’” Smethers repeated, looking down on Alfie. “What do you mean?”

Alfie shrugged. “The boy has helped her so far, sir, and I think he might still be doing so. My guess is that he didn’t take the elephant back to Delhi but headed off somewhere else, accompanied by Janisha Chatterjee.”

Smethers nodded. “That’s a possibility.”

The colonel strolled off, poking around the hundreds of mechanical exhibits as if he might find Anand and the girl skulking amidst them. Alfie joined him and they made a complete circuit of the warehouse.

“I think we’ve seen enough, don’t you? It’s too late to set off now, Littlebody, but at first light we’ll commandeer an airship and scan the lie of the land east of here.”

“East, sir? What makes you think...?”

Smethers silenced him with a glance. “Let’s just say that I have intelligence, Littlebody, that the girl might be heading east, hm? As I said, we’ll borrow an airship and have a quick look-see. If the pair are fleeing in a bloody mechanical elephant, it’s my guess that the thing’d leave a hell of a trail, what?”

“Yes, sir. It probably would.”

Smethers led the way to the exit, flicked off the lights with his swagger stick, and stepped from the building. Alfie followed, wondering why Janisha Chatterjee might be heading east, and what it was she possessed that was so dashed important.

East? A hundred miles away was the border with the restricted territory of Nepal. Why might she be heading in that direction?

Smethers halted outside the warehouse, shrugged, then tossed the bunch of keys into the darkness. Alfie was of a mind to retrieve them and lock the door, but Smethers was already striding away from the building.

Alfie hurried to catch up, then stopped.

“What is it, Littlebody?” Smethers asked, turning.

Alfie listened. He was sure he’d heard a sound coming from inside the warehouse. “I thought I heard something.”

“Your imagination, Littlebody.”

“No – there it is again.”

He hurried back to the door, eased it open and peered within. He could see next to nothing in the darkness, but he heard the sound of footsteps and the clank of something metal. Smethers was beside him. “By Jove, you’re right,” he whispered. “Easy does it now. Follow me.”

Smethers stepped into the warehouse and led the way across the cavernous chamber. Alfie followed, his heart thudding. He almost jumped from his skin as he heard a great
clang
, and then the coughing din of an engine starting up.

“Look!” he cried, pointing.

Before them, limned in the light of the stars through a skylight, the mechanical man was coming to life. A sequence of lights flashed on its torso and the sound of meshing gears filled the chamber. As they stared up, transfixed, the giant took a great stride forward, then another, the sound of its engine deafening.

Smethers cried out, drew his revolver and fired. The bullet ricocheted off the bodywork with a sharp
ping
.

Had it not been for Smethers’ rash shot, Alfie thought, the mechanical man – or whoever was driving it – might never have noticed them. As it was, the colossus swung itself in their direction and in one stride was upon them. Smethers, exhibiting a funk Alfie was delighted to behold, dropped his pistol and raised his arms before his face. Alfie was rooted to the spot, frozen with fear and fascination at what the giant did next.

As he stared, the Mech-Man reached out, plucked Smethers up by the front of his jacket and lifted him high. Smethers hung in the air, legs peddling ludicrously, as the great arm swung like the boom of a crane and carried the hapless colonel through the air.

At first Alfie feared that the Mech-Man was about to pulverise Smethers against the wall – and he wondered for a second if this was the janitor, come to exact his revenge for Smethers’ arrogance. The mechanical man took a step, then another, and carried Smethers, wailing in fear, across the warehouse. It paused, gears grinding, and lowered the still struggling colonel into what looked like a great glinting jewel box. With its free arm, the Mech-Man closed the lid of the box and flipped a locking mechanism.

Then the giant turned ponderously until it faced Alfie, then began marching towards him.

Alfie overcame his fear, turned and fled through the open door. He looked over his shoulder, hardly believing what he saw as the mechanical man, without slowing down, ducked through the double doors and strode after him. Alfie whimpered, ran up the hill and threw himself behind a jacaranda tree.

He lay panting, hands clamped around his head, expecting a great metal claw to descend and pluck him up.

The sound of the giant’s approach grew in volume, its engine deafening. Alfie scrunched himself into a ball – and, miraculously, the clashing, grinding, clanking cacophony of the Mech-Man drew level and passed by, gradually diminishing up the hillside.

At last Alfie screwed up his courage, sat upright and gazed around him. All was silent, or almost – the sound of the Mech-Man was faint, and growing fainter. He could see glinting metal in the starlight as it moved off, and Alfie was not inclined to give chase.

He took deep breaths and allowed the minutes to extend. At last, when the shaking in his limbs abated, he climbed to his feet.

He thought of Smethers, imprisoned in the jewelled box within the warehouse. He moved towards the building to free him, then halted.

He smiled to himself as it came to him that he should return to the guest house, spend a comfortable night abed, and then return and free Smethers at first light. He would claim, if the colonel asked at the delay, that the Mech-Man had incarcerated him, too.