Penult (48 page)

“
In Victoria’s absence, I
appoint my most trusted advisor, Mr. Harold Wilson to vote in her
place,” said Zhang. Wilson smiled and nodded.

“
Agreed,” said Yaqob.
“Reznak and I will vote for our people.”

Zhang turned to the Old Ones. “You two
are the current representatives I presume? I’m sorry, I didn’t
catch your names.”

The Old Ones said nothing. They just
sat and blinked at Zhang.

Zhang looked around the table. “Are
they … even aware? Of what is happening here?”

“
Don’t you worry,” said
Yaqob. “They know what’s what.”

“
So let us vote. Now,” said
Reznak.

“
Olivier. James. I hope you
will forgive us,” said Zhang. “You’ve only arrived quite recently
and we haven’t yet agreed whether the underworld should be
represented.”

“
Not a problem,” said
Olivier. “Not sure we want to represent Luther anyway. But thanks
for the chance to state our case.”

“
Alright. Those in favor of
peace will please place a green chip on the table,” said Zhang.
“Red chips will represent assent for going forth with a raid on
Penult. Majority rules. Any tie will be decided by the council
chair.”

“
What? You?” said
Yaqob.

“
Yes. Me. As you might
recall, those were the ground rules when we formed this
council.”

Yaqob grimaced at Reznak. I leaned
over and whispered to Olivier. “The Old Ones haven’t said a word
the whole time. Which way do you think they’re leaning?”

“
Kid. I haven’t got a clue.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they abstained. You never know where
their heads are gonna be.”

Zhang slapped a green chip on the
table. Wilson quickly followed with a green chip of his own. Yaqob
and Reznak surprised no one by slapping down their red
chips.

The Old Ones just sat there as if they
were daydreaming. I suspected they were tapped into the Singularity
and were reading the tides, fishing for whatever consensus they
could gather from the myriad souls that made up their constituency.
At no point had either showed their hand by expressing an opinion
one way or another in the deliberations. In all of the recent
fighting, none had contributed to the defense of the lower
terrace.

The room went silent as life gradually
flowed back into the Old Ones’ faces. Their expressions softened.
Their eyes grew bright and alert. They reached out their hands,
chips clasped firmly in their shriveled hands. Each placed a chip
down on the table. Both were red.

Chapter 52: Escape from
Aberdeen

That night, back in my quarters deep
in the warren, I was way too nervous for sleep. In the morning I’d
be flying on the back of a giant man-eating insect to a place
unfamiliar and dangerous. Not the best combination for a good
night’s rest.

Without sleep, there were no dreams,
and no escape from the darkness closing in on me. There was no
possibility of communing with the Singularity, no glimpses of
Karla. It was horrible, sitting there in the chilly darkness of my
stony room. I flashbacks to the feeling I had as a prisoner in that
church basement.

At least all was quiet in New Axum. It
was one small mercy that the warriors of Penult never attacked at
night.

And then everything changed. Every
perception shifted. Sounds, odors, touch. I could hear a motor
whirring somewhere close, an engine whining in the distance. The
dust and must of the stone chamber was replaced by some kind of
floral perfume blended with the aroma of dirty socks. My rough,
homespun canvas blanket was replaced by sleek and smooth cotton
sheeting.

And I realized I was no longer in the
Liminality. I had faded. This was not the same luxurious hotel
suite I had found myself in Glasgow. The shades were drawn but the
light of a grey dawn seeped around the edges. This room had two
double beds packed in close with a night stand between them. I
occupied one. Helen and Jessica occupied the other, sleeping
soundly after another long day of amateur detective
work.

I pulled my covers off and sat up,
nearly fainting from the rush of blood. I was parched and hungry
and my head throbbed like a hammered thumb. There was a half empty
bottle of Highland Spring and some leftovers in a plastic container
on the TV stand. I polished off the bottle and wolfed down hunks of
cold lasagna with my hands.

I checked the clock. It was a little
five a.m.. Various brochures and maps were strewn about the desk. I
raised the shades slightly to let in more light and saw that every
pamphlet had something to do with Aberdeen. Why Aberdeen? Had the
ladies gotten a hot lead on Karla’s whereabouts? My heart started
to thump. I wasn’t even sure I was ready to see Karla in person
yet. I just didn’t know what I would say to her, I was so upset
about what she had done.

I noticed a sheet of paper on the
floor next to the door and an envelope beside it. I tiptoed over to
avoid waking the ladies but I shouldn’t have worried. There was a
mostly drained bottle of scotch on the bed. They slumbered deep and
drunk.

The first sheet was a note from the
hotel staff warning that the credit that had been provided had
failed to clear authorization due to a hold and to please stop by
the front desk as soon as possible to arrange for an alternative
form of payment.

Then envelope was addressed
specifically to me. I slipped out the note it contained and
unfolded it. My stomach quaked as I read the scrawl.

“
Leave Aberdeen ASAP or
die. The Friends are on to you and after you.”

My heart commenced to thump and I
threw on the clothes someone had folded neatly for me on the
bedside chair. I stuffed an extra pair of clean socks and underwear
into the pockets of my hoodie and grabbed a pen and a sheet of
hotel stationery from the desk.

Dear Helen, Jessica, Fiona
and Britt,

“
The chase is over. It’s
time for me to go somewhere quiet and lay low. Thank you so much
for all you did for me. Just so you know, you guys don’t need to
worry about Karla anymore. I saw her. She’s fine. No one ever
kidnapped her. She ran off on her own. So you can all go home
now.

Love,

James

P.S. Be very careful
around Aberdeen. Someone appears to be looking for me.

It was a bit terse, but I hope it
conveyed my gratitude and warned them sufficiently of any potential
risks they faced.

I slipped out the door and closed it
behind me as gently as I could. As I made my way down to the lobby,
I fished around my pocket for the ivory credit card that was no
longer worth the plastic it was printed on. I sighed, seeing how
little cash I had left, took the card and stuck it in a heat
register along the wall. I should have known that it would only be
a matter of time before the Friends of Penult figured out I had
broken my promise.

I was actually surprised it had taken
them so long to intervene, and that fact alone gave me hope. It
told me that they were less than godly. They were not nearly as all
knowing and omnipresent as they liked to make people believe. They
were just people like me, and capable of laziness and
incompetence.

I left the hotel without the slightest
of where I should be going. It was cool out. Overcast, but the
pavements were dry. The sky looked more like it wanted to clear
than to rain.

I decided my priority should be to get
out of town by the least predictable means possible. So I turned
down the first narrow alley I came to, followed it to the end, and
at the juncture, flipped a coin to determine which way to turn. It
turned out to be a stupid thing to do, leading in a circle that
would have taken me back to the hotel had I not abandoned that
plan.

When I came upon a larger street I
just went straight, keeping my hand clasped around the pen I had
taken from the hotel, hoping might serve as a suitable focus for my
will in lieu of a sword.

The streets proved empty except for a
single drunk man in a tie and raincoat. I played hopscotch with a
newspaper van delivering bundles of freshly printed tabloids to
every newsstand along the route. When I came to a bridge, I crossed
it, and on the other side found a road sign pointing to Inverness,
240 km. That was the last place I wanted to go at this point, but I
continued onward, seeking only to get the hell out of Aberdeen and
put some distance between me and the ladies, for their safety if
nothing else. Maybe at some point I could veer south, though I
realized that might send me into the Cairn Gorms again, the mere
thought of which made me shiver. Better to hug the coast maybe, to
Dundee and Perth.

A small blue Vauxhall pulled out of a
space and rolled slowly up to me when I reached the main drag. The
passenger window rolled down. A youngish man with sideburns and
longish red hair peered out.

“
You look like someone who
could use a ride out of town.”

“
Um. Thanks, but no
thanks.”

“
No. Seriously. Get in.
It’s not safe for you out here.”

I took a step back.

“
How do I know you’re not
with the Friends?”

He reached into his coat pocket and
pulled out a card.

“
Here.” He handed me a
black, carbon fiber credit card just like the one I had once gotten
from Wendell, with my name in glossy black letters over a matte
background.

“
Keep this one. It’s yours.
The white card they gave you? Destroy it. It’s how they track
you.”

“
I already got rid of
it.”

“
Good! Now hop in. We need
to whisk you away from here.”

“
Was it you who stuck that
note under our door?”

“
Reggie’s the name. Didn’t
expect you to go rambling off on foot, but glad to see you took us
seriously.”

“
Do you work for
Wendell?”

“
Let’s just say we share
the same employer. Come on. Hop in. I’ll get you out of
here.”

Footsteps clattered on the pavement
behind me.

“
James!”

“
You know her? Is she a
threat?” Reggie lunged over and reached into the glove
compartment.

I turned. Jessica, flannel shirt
dangling over pajama bottoms, was running across the bridge
barefoot.

“
No. It’s just
Jess.”

Something popped across the street.
The driver’s side window splintered, forming a many-pointed star.
Reggie grunted and slumped. A perfectly round and blood-rimmed hole
had appeared in his temple.

I yanked opened the door and dragged
him out of the driver’s seat, taking his place. Jessica arrived
breathless and aghast at the sight of the dying man lying in the
roadway.

“
Get your ass in here and
get down!”

Another pop. The next bullet took out
what remained of the window glass and passed inches from my cheek,
miraculously missing my face. I could almost smell it as it hurtled
by.

Jessica was halfway in the door when I
squealed away from the bridge, forgetting where I was for an
instant and driving on the wrong side of the road. This was the UK,
you idiot.

***

It took a good five minutes for
Jessica to catch her breath.

“
James. What is happening
here?” she said. “Who shot that poor, poor man? And why did we
steal his car?”

“
It’s the bad guys, Jess.
The bad guys are onto me.”

“
May I ask … which … bad
guys? Sedevacantists? Those assassins? The drug
dealers?”

“
Nope. None of the above.
This time it’s the Friends.”

“
Friends? I’m
sorry?”

“
The Friends of Penult.
They work for those angel wannabes in the Liminality. They’re
trying to exterminate us, first there and now here.”

Jessica looked confused. I didn’t
blame her, but I didn’t bother to explain it any more detail. Maybe
the less she knew, the better. I already felt bad for dragging her
into this web.

As I drove, I spent more time looking
in the rear view mirror than through the windshield. So far so
good, the only headlights I saw were not keeping up with
us.

“
Where are we going?” asked
Jessica.

“
Your guess is as good as
mine. Any suggestions?”

“
Why don’t we go to the
police?”

“
Fuck no! If they detain me
I’ll be … we’ll bit sitting ducks for whoever is coming after
us.”

She sighed. “Alright. Would you rather
we go somewhere and hide? Someplace remote, perhaps, with limited
access?”

“
Yeah. That sounds good.
What do you suggest?”

“
Well. My aunt has a
cottage in the Orkney Islands. We go there on holiday from time to
time but no one’s living there at the moment. I know where she
stashes the key.”

“
How do you get there from
here?”

“
Follow the A96 to
Inverness, and then go north on the A9.”