London Wild (27 page)

‘But don’t you see…’ Kitty implored, but she stopped as February caught her eye. Talking about this made her nervous
; she was beginning to think the army would somehow have realized they had been discovered and attack right now while she was there.

‘She means she thinks the rounding up of the domesticated ones is just the first step. They’re getting them out of the way so they can deal with us. We may have time, but less than a week
, I’d guess.’

‘And when word of all four tracking devices gets around all the tribes and they start removing them all from the weapons
, then the army is likely to think they don’t have that much time left,’ Kitty added frantically.

‘Assuming you do spread the news
,’ February offered.

‘I can’t not tell them
.’ Stenhas climbed awkwardly to his feet. His tone didn’t sound worried, but his words did. ‘We should probably take this threat seriously just in case.’

‘Move the headquarters?’ Kitty suggested helpfully.

Stenhas looked at her as if she had sworn. ‘I spent everything I had building this place; I’m not going to let it fall without any resistance. Most should go, though. I’ll get word to as many of our people as I can, both in this branch and as many others as I can reach. We’re all in danger. You should prepare too; I’d guess there is a war coming.’

‘You have a nice source for hostages at least,’ February suggested. Even in this part of the holotheater the air stunk of herd
; there had to be hundreds, maybe even thousands of human visitors a day.

‘Only if I have no other choice,’ he sighed and seemed to shrink before them. ‘This is my building, and I’m not about to give it up without a fight. So I guess after today we won’t see each other again. Unless you’re back before they do attack.’

‘You’re not serious?’ February almost pleaded.

‘Would you not be willing to die for your home, for your people?’
he asked her. ‘Still, cheer up. Perhaps you’re wrong. If they haven’t attacked within a month then I think it’s unlikely they’re going to. After all, there are more than sixty regional headquarters and they must all be hit at the same time for maximum impact. The last I heard, the government was cutting the defense budget.’

Kitty didn’t mean to be rude and ignore Stenhas or her friend, but the conversation did feel a little dull to her and she was fascinated about what was going on elsewhere in the place. Having never been in a regional headquarters before
, she was amazed at how smoothly it all seemed to work. February had to tap Kitty on the shoulder to catch her attention. Kitty turned back to face her and Stenhas.

February then tapped the edge of the bag that Kitty was still holding
. ‘Give that to Stenhas.’

Kitty obeyed, only too happy to get the thing away from her. Stenhas was still too close for comfort, but at least an explosion now wouldn’t be her fault.

‘It’s a bomb,’ February told him before he could ask. ‘Be very careful; it’s extremely powerful. I tested one last night.’

‘That was you?’ Stenhas commented
. ‘I heard a loud bang, but I found nothing on the newspaper to account for it.’

‘Newspapers don’t like to report our victories,
’ February reminded him, ‘but I didn’t think we were anywhere near your district. Maybe the noise was just a coincidence.’

Stenhas nodded, took the bomb from the bag and removed the paper February had wrapped it with. Then he was looking at the two parts. It was fairly obvious what did what, and he wouldn’t need it described to him. ‘Maybe,’ he commented.

‘The main thing is I found it in the patrol car of the soldier I killed.’ She added, ‘I think he was in the process of delivering them to his base when he saw me.’

‘Could he have been an
Elite Guard in disguise?’ Stenhas suggested. He seemed to be studying the thing closely.

February shook her head vehemently. ‘I don’t think so. He wasn’t that good.’

Kitty turned back to watching the figures moving around the plastic-covered area. They were setting up a table there now and placing paper plates and plastic cutlery on it. The center of the table had been left empty for the food that was to come.

February glanced round to see what Kitty was looking at and grinned to
herself before saying, ‘Fancy a snack before we leave?’

‘What are they making?’ Kitty asked as she watched more plates being brought in.

‘Oh,’ February started slowly, ‘you know, nothing much. Just that guy we brought in with us.’

For a moment time seemed to stop for Kitty
; then she felt quite ill. She should have guessed. It didn’t help that both February and Stenhas had found her reaction funny and were laughing. That had once been a living, breathing human they were about to devour. She wondered at what sort of monsters she had found herself living among, but she had no choice. At least these monsters wouldn’t kill her out of hand for being what she was because technically, she was one of them.

‘I think I can help you with the cash,’ Stenhas said as soon as he was able, and even then he seemed to have found it so funny that he had trouble getting the words out smoothly. ‘
Goddess knows I’m probably not going to need it much longer. As for a laser pistol, well, we have an ice-gun that no one seems to want. It’s the best I can offer, though.’

‘An ice-gun!’
February spat. ‘Well, I suppose it’s better than nothing, though not much.’

Even Kitty knew about the ice-gun
. She had seen a network special on it and that, of course, was part of the problem. It was a pretty useless Herbaht invention. A freezer in the gun froze small droplets of water into deadly spikes of ice that could actually kill without a trace. At least, that was the intent. The freezer caused the gun to jam if it wasn’t defrosted regularly, and that meant daily. The needles of ice were so weak that you needed to be standing right next to your victim with the ice-gun touching his or her body for a needle to even have a chance of penetrating. A knife was more reliable and had the same range. Its main value had been as a terror weapon, because it was exotic and appeared to be a lot more dangerous than it was. However, thanks to the network special, even the herd were now well aware that these weapons were as good as useless.

February looked spitefully at the thing before pocketing it. ‘Thank you,’ she told Stenhas, ‘perhaps I can even get it to work properly.
’

Stenhas laughed and then pulled out his wallet. ‘How much do you think you need?’ He seemed to struggle to open his wallet properly, but his one hand moved quite dexterously
, considering. It held the wallet and counted the notes before pulling them out and handing them to February. He had definitely compensated for his lost arm. ‘I hope that’ll be enough.’ 

February thought it would be more than enough. 

‘I feel your warning is worth a lot more,’ Stenhas piped in suddenly. ‘Besides, you were always one of my favorites. Remember that spray stuff I said I had in my office? Before you leave I’ll make sure you have a couple of cans with you. I warn you, it’s not perfect. You’ll have to cover yourself with it, and it only lasts for about a day, if that. The next version should require a lot less spraying for longer effect, but we work with what we have.’

‘The anti
-sniffer dog spray?’ February commented redundantly. ‘That’d be nice, but I’d prefer the better stuff.’

‘Wouldn’t we all, dear,’ Stenhas replied
, shrugging, ‘but we have what we have. Perhaps the new stuff will be available next month. That’s if we’re still here.’

Kitty missed the next part of the conversation as her attention was pulled back to the setup in the center of the room. She really didn’t want to be here when the food was brought out. How long would it take to get everything they had come for? How long was February going to talk to this tom?

Her attention was caught by February shortly after. ‘If we can be out of here by seven, we will have time to get you some clothing tonight. It seems silly to come back tomorrow if we can do it all tonight.’

‘Shops close at eight to eight thirty. The mall is open until ten
, though,’ Stenhas put in.

‘Ten?’ said February
, turning back to him. ‘They made it later? Well, we have plenty of time then; most of the good clothes shops are in the mall.’

‘The mall closes at ten because of the big department store in there. Most of the little shops are forced to close earlier than that. It seems the mall security doesn’t want to pay enough officers for the whole mall, but they aren’t big enough to tell the department store what to do. Last I heard
, many of the smaller stores would like to stay open that late but the mall won’t let them.’

‘That’s silly,
’ February said.

‘Don’t tell me,’ Stenhas agreed.

‘We’re losing time,’ Kitty insisted suddenly; she wanted to be away before the food was brought out. She wondered how long it took to cook a man. Well, they hadn’t gotten the meat all that long ago, so surely it had to be a while yet.

‘I’m sorry,’ February said to Stenhas, ‘but she’s right
; we need to get a move on if we’re going to get out of here by seven.’

He simply nodded and waved them away
. ‘Go, have fun, and if I see you again before we’re both with the Goddess let’s hope it’ll be in better days.’

‘Absolutely,’ February replied
, and she and Kitty headed away from him toward the small stall near the back of the theater, whose owner was currently sizing up another member for a wig.

Stalking Prey

Unlike many of the public houses in the area, the one Jhosatl was currently a customer of actually had staff
: a barman and two serving maids. There was also the
server
machine that most public houses had in one form or another, but it was rarely used here. A
server
was little more than a glorified vending machine.

Because bar staff in a public house
were considered archaic, the public house had turned itself into a theme pub of olde worlde charm. Of course, they had mixed things up a bit. Wagon wheels were stuck on the front of the bar, and on a lip above the bar were nailed a number of authentic-looking beer-mats advertising every beer the owners had been able to think of, and from every period throughout history. There were also posters all around the walls that seemed to cover the history of beer from the Middle Ages to the present day.

The place was crowded. There were a lot of tables, but more people than chairs. The saloon bar alone must
have been making a roaring trade, and that was only one of three different bars in the place. Jhosatl, wearing the same makeup disguise that he wore on the stage, had been lucky to have gotten a stool by the bar itself. Especially lucky because it was more or less where he wanted to be.

He was lucky, but he wasn’t happy. The place stank, both of the masses of herd that had gathered there and of the smoke that some of the patrons were pouring into the atmosphere. The room was noisy. It seemed that everyone was talking, and there were simply too many people. He could hardly hear himself think and had had to shout just to make his order heard. No wonder a few people were still willing to use the
server
. Part of him wanted to leave and forget all about it. But Amba meant the world to him and over in the opposite corner of the saloon were four soldiers, the only trail he could follow to her: the four trainee Elite Guards who had called at their performance last night and taken her away with them. They were off duty and out of uniform, but he’d recognize those scents anywhere.

The four had chosen their table because it was slightly hidden behind the rail of a flight of steps leading to a higher floor. Those stairs actually led to a fourth bar that occupied the entire upper half of the public house. It was closed for now and was only opened
up for special occasions, Christmas parties, marriage receptions and the like. You could get a drink up there at any time, but only from another
server
machine, and most people would rather wait in the queue to be served by a human.

‘I’ll have another, mate.’
He spoke the words deliberately to the barman. He’d only had one so far, but already he could feel his words slurring a little. He wasn’t used to alcohol. He emphasized each word in an attempt to show that he wasn’t slurring, but only made it more obvious that he was.

The fact that smoking was allowed in one small part of the public house had been a shock. They might be far enough away for the herd, secluded as they were in a small section of the saloon bar. To Jhosatl
, though, they might as well have been sitting next to him. The smoke stank, and he was sure not everything being smoked was legal. 

The barman looked at him uncertainly, weighing how drunk he was. Then he started pouring him a fresh beer, placing it on the counter in front of him. Jhosatl thanked the man and pulled some money out of his pocket
; he didn’t bother to count it before handing it over. The barman sorted out the amount he wanted and placed the rest on the counter in front of Jhosatl. Jhosatl didn’t look drunk, though his eyes did seem a little glazed, but they had looked like that when he had first entered the saloon bar, before he had even ordered his first pint. No, he didn’t look drunk; well, not too drunk; he looked more like a man who was brooding about something.