Managing Death (11 page)

T
im’s bodyguards stand outside my parents’ place. Dad wouldn’t have tolerated this. Mum would have laughed, maybe made a reference to Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.

They’re two burly guys who Lissa tells me are called Travis and Oscar. Both of them arrived about twenty minutes before me. Tim doesn’t mess around. I rather suspect he had this organised well before he broached the subject with me. They are armed and stationed at opposite ends of the house. Oscar’s at least my height, and nearly that wide, but it’s all muscle. Travis is even bigger. I’m not too sure about all this, having guns in and around the house – they’re nothing but trouble. Dr Brooker’s right about that much.

I’ve drawn enough souls, who were killed by guns, to the Underworld, been nearly killed by guns myself. But this time I suppose they’re a necessary evil. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

We’ve just finished dinner, and I’m on my third beer, helping with the washing up (Dad didn’t believe in dishwashing machines) when Lissa fixes me with a
peculiar, disappointed stare. ‘When were you going to tell me about Suzanne’s deal?’

I lift my foot with exaggerated care, even groan a little, but it doesn’t cut it as a sympathy maker. Lissa’s hands are on her hips now, and she’s scowling at me.

I drop the scrubbing brush into the sink and stop myself from asking who told her. ‘Look, I’ve been a little distracted of late.’

‘I know, but this is big. You’re talking about the most influential member of the Orcus. What does she want with you?’

‘She’s going to give me ten Pomps to supplement our numbers, and all I have to give her is ten hours of my time.’

‘I don’t like it. Suzanne could do a lot with ten hours.’

‘Not nearly as much as you, my dear.’ I know I’ve said the wrong thing at once. I narrowly avoid a tea towel in the eye.

‘She has a reputation, you know.’

I feel my face flush. ‘You’ve got nothing to worry about.’

‘Don’t tell me what I do and don’t have to worry about.’

‘Hang on, you wanted me to get involved, to work harder. And that’s what I’m doing, isn’t it?’

‘I don’t trust her, and you shouldn’t either. The woman’s a scheming bitch!’

That vehemence in Lissa’s voice gets my attention.
What has Suzanne done to her?

‘Think about it,’ she says. ‘They’re pushing so hard. The phone call at 2:30 in the morning. The meeting in the Deepest Dark. Cerbo’s offer – and then someone starts shooting at you.’

‘Lissa, they’re Americans. They’re brash, they’re proud.’

‘Exactly. And who loves guns more?’ She hangs up the tea towel.

‘No, I’m willing to accept that they’re playing at something, but the shooting, it’s got to be a coincidence. Maybe it’s something to do with the Death Moot. Maybe it’s something to do with the Stirrer god – perhaps it has other agents here. What I know for certain is that we need more Pomps. Look at what it’s doing to you. Look at your palms.’

I know how much they must hurt. When Morrigan started his Schism, and as the Stirrers stepped up their invasion, my hands became open sores. And then there was the consequence of pomping itself – the psychic pain and damage. With every pomp it built until you felt as though you were being scratched from the inside out. Things weren’t that bad, but they could be better.

‘I’m all right,’ she says. ‘Things are improving.’

I lean in to kiss her but she pulls away.

‘I don’t think you should do it. Just tell her to piss off.’

‘I’ll take that into consideration,’ I say.

Lissa scowls at me. ‘RMs are devious, and she’s worse than all of them combined.’

I need those Pomps. Ten more workers could make a real difference. Lissa can obviously see me thinking
this; I’m certainly not one of those devious RMs. She takes a deep breath.

‘Look, I’m serious, that woman slept with my father. It’s all I can do not to hit her when I see her. It didn’t stop Mum.’

‘
What?
’ Seems Lissa’s just as good at keeping secrets as I am.

‘It’s a small world in any corporation. It happened twelve years ago, at a Death Moot in San Francisco. Steven, it nearly destroyed my parents’ marriage. It certainly scarred it. I don’t want that woman having anything to do with you.’

‘But you can’t think –’

Lissa glares at me.

‘I mean, I love you. I’d never do anything to jeopardise that. But –’

Lissa’s glare burns into me like the light of a very attractive but blazing sun. I’m withering beneath it.

‘OK,’ I say. ‘I promise I won’t agree to her offer without letting you know.’

That seems enough for now. I hobble to the couch with her and we snuggle and watch a DVD. She’s asleep before the first scene is even finished. I stroke her hair for a while, she snorts in her sleep, and I ease myself out from under her. I’ll wake her in an hour or so. I switch off the DVD, surprised that the sudden silence doesn’t drag her from her dreams.

I’m in trouble. I need those Pomps and I need what Suzanne can give me: her experience. Mr D isn’t enough, already he is distanced from the game, and from what I’ve read, and Suzanne’s comments, he was always a little isolated. If I don’t know what I’m doing, and why, there’s no way that I’m ever going to run my region well.

But I don’t want to hurt Lissa. She stirs in her sleep, frowns as though my plans are already upsetting her. My heart twists in my chest. There has to be a way I can keep this from her, and reduce the capability of Suzanne’s Pomps to spy on me. The new ten could service some of the regional areas, with a couple more surreptitiously inserted into the Sydney and Perth offices. Those are the two that Lissa knows least of all. If I can keep them out of Brisbane I should be all right.

And Lissa has been on at me to keep practising my shifts. It’s not as though she can tell where I’m going. With the preparations for the Death Moot, I’m going to have to be moving about.

Yeah, I think I can do this.

I grab my mobile, fast, before I can change my mind and text Suzanne:
Yes.

A text hits my phone.

Suzanne Whitman.

No time 2 waste. We might as well start now.

‘I can’t see why not,’ I say out loud.

‘I thought you’d say that,’ Suzanne says from behind me.

What?
I spin and face her. Her presence strikes me hard, burns into my skull.

I glance over at Lissa – still sleeping on the couch, thank Christ. In fact, she’s rolled away from Suzanne like a sleeper might from a cold draught.

‘Get out of here, now,’ I hiss, nodding towards Lissa.

Suzanne smiles. ‘Keeping secrets, eh?’

‘Deepest Dark, ten minutes.’

Suzanne is gone.

I walk over to Lissa, crouch down and shake her, gently.

Her eyes open.

‘I have to go out for a little while. Didn’t want you to panic if you woke up and I wasn’t here.’

She yawns. ‘What?’

‘I have a meeting.’

‘With who?’

‘Cerbo.’ Well, that’s almost the truth.

‘What does he want?’ Her eyes narrow.

‘That’s what I’m going to find out. It’ll be about Suzanne’s offer at a guess.’

She purses her lips. ‘Don’t trust her, or him. Never trust another RM or their Ankou. There’s always a bigger game at play.’

‘I know.’

I lift her up gently, she rests her head in the hollow of my neck. All I can smell is her hair. How does it always smell so good?

‘I love you,’ she says into my shoulder.

‘Love you, too,’ I whisper. She’s already asleep, poor tired baby.

I carry her to the bedroom, pull the sheets over her, and set the ceiling fan on high. After a quick peck on her cheek I direct a crow to circle above, to monitor the front and the back of the house. Oscar and Travis are still there. Neither seem to have noticed Suzanne’s sudden appearance. I really wonder how effective they are going to be.

At least the contact with my Avian Pomp hasn’t given me a migraine this time. Must be getting better. Of course I’m probably heading into a much bigger headache with Suzanne.

T
he Deepest Dark is just as cold as the last time we met here. We’re a little closer to the city of Devour. Lights are flashing there, and it’s towards them that Suzanne is staring as I arrive. This shift is a particularly bad one. I’m a few minutes catching my breath. But at least there’s no vomit. Gotta love that.

‘Something’s happening over there,’ Suzanne says. She’s wearing my duffel coat. I can’t quite bring myself to ask for it back.

‘That’s usually a good thing isn’t it?’ I watch the lurid fires burn. ‘If it’s happening here, it’s not happening in the living world.’

‘You’d think so, but their focus is only on our world. Anything happening down here has consequences for up there.’

‘What do you think it is?’

Suzanne shrugs. ‘I have my spies and, of course, I will inform the Orcus of anything that they uncover.’

‘Spies?’

Suzanne smiles. ‘This is your first lesson, I suppose. The Underworld is more permeable than you might think. Stirrers can enter our world through
the agency of a corpse. Well, we can enter theirs, too. It doesn’t always work, but I have received some very good information before my spies have been discovered. And they always are. Just as a Stirrer takes a while to get used to a human body, a human takes a while to get used to a Stirrer’s.’

‘You’re telling me they actually enter a Stirrer body?’ All bony limbs, cavernous eyes and sharkish teeth; what would it be like to inhabit such a form?

‘Yes, remarkable isn’t it? And you’re already learning something.’

‘What’s it like?’

‘Horrifying. It changes people. The ones I’ve managed to bring back, anyway. They’re different, life becomes less appealing to them, more wretched. Let me just say that they don’t tend to stay in the organisation for very long.’

I try and imagine how it must be, trying to make a life in that city. Being so deep undercover that the very smell and essence of life disgusts you. Does the reverse happen? Do Stirrers learn to love life as we do? I’ve not seen it.

I wonder if she mightn’t also use those spies for assassination attempts. Say, on RMs. I’m starting to feel a little uncomfortable out here in the open. If keeping face weren’t so important I’d be away in a shot.

‘And what happens when they’re discovered?’ I can’t imagine ever sending anyone down there.

‘The ones we get out? Well, they survive. But the others …’ Suzanne shrugs. ‘Something horrible, I
suspect. They don’t get to make a report afterwards, Steven. This is the Deepest Dark, after all. You don’t play around down here unless you’re hungry for pain or retribution.’ Suzanne touches my arm. ‘You should understand that.’

‘Is that what you do?’ I ask. ‘Play around down here?’

‘It’s much more serious than that. I’m as concerned by the Stirrers’ plans as you are. Things are in motion, believe me. But we’ll leave that for the Death Moot, not now.’

Where her fingers touch me is the only warmth in this place, and she leaves them there too long. I pull away, but perhaps not fast enough. Hell, I shouldn’t be worrying about what is fast or not. I should be focussing on her conversation. She’s watching me, waiting for a response. And I already feel outplayed. ‘I’m not one for waiting.’

‘Six days isn’t very long.’ Suzanne’s tone suggests she’s talking to a five year old, any more patronising and she’d be handing me a lollipop. ‘Now, let me say how horrified I was to hear of the attempt on your life.’ She closes her eyes a moment. The air glows, dust swirls around us, becoming a round table and two chairs. She gestures at one of the chairs. ‘Sit, sit.’

I touch the chair tentatively. It feels solid enough. I sit down and it takes my weight. I want to ask her just how she does this, but now isn’t the right time. There are more important things before us.

‘Steven, you made a lot of enemies when you performed that Orpheus Manoeuvre of yours.’

‘I had a lot of enemies already.’

‘But these are of greater consequence. You broke rules, you performed the impossible, and that scares people. Does the name Francis Rillman mean anything to you?’

Rillman. Where have I heard that name? ‘It sounds familiar.’

Suzanne nods her head. ‘It should. He was Australia’s Ankou before Morrigan, and a major embarrassment to Mr D. His disgrace is an important, some might even go so far as to say tragic, part of your corporate history. It’s what allowed Morrigan to do what he did. Certainly gave him ideas.’

‘Maybe that’s why his name only sounds familiar. Morrigan didn’t like to share information, not the important stuff anyway.’

‘Yes, well, he was partly involved in Rillman’s downfall. And his downfall certainly led to Morrigan’s rise.’ Suzanne sighed. ‘Francis Rillman, like you, performed an Orpheus Manoeuvre after his wife died. Only he failed, utterly and terribly. I thought he was dead, but the name’s been surfacing lately. And more often than not it’s been around you.’ She sighs. ‘I rather believe that Rillman wants you dead.’

‘Why? Why would someone I don’t even know want me dead?’

‘Because you did what he couldn’t, and Rillman is a bitter creature.’