Twincy Quinn and the Eye of Horus Part One (35 page)

They stopped
bickering.

‘
Which one of them is right?’ She slowly stared my way. ‘Can we
trust you or can we not? Are you working for Lord Ridley, or do you
have an open mind that can see the horrors of what is occurring
here, a mind moral and strong enough to do something about
it?’

It was a
challenge. And I was more than up for it. An easy test. For I knew
the answer; I had already made up my mind.

And I would
not change it.

‘
Trust me,’ I said, and it was more of a command than a
concession. ‘You can trust me. I,’ again I looked around, trying to
still the deep anger that came up at the sight of these poor
children and the injuries Twincy had endured, ‘will do everything
in my power to ensure this will never happen again. To anyone,’ I
added through bared teeth. ‘The people responsible will be brought
to justice.’

‘
Doctor Esquire and Lord Ridley? Do you believe it is them? Do
you trust our story?’ Twincy challenged again.

I thought for
a moment. It was a quick moment. For this conclusion was a
relatively easy one. I had already half reached it before Twincy
Quinn had jumped into my life.

Lord Ridley
was a despicable man whose practices in other countries were amoral
and disgusting. As for Doctor Esquire, though I had never met him,
he unsettled me deeply. More than anything, his devices were a
constant source of disquiet.

I already did
not trust these men. Yet despite Lord Ridley's attempts, I was
beginning to trust Twincy.

So I nodded my
head.

‘
I believe you,’ though my voice may not have been loud and may
not have rang out with the same passion I'd used in my impromptu
speech seconds before, it still held the same certainty. For I held
the same certainty.

The more I
thought about it, the more it made sense. Doctor Esquire was
responsible for nearly all of the devices flooding into London.
Though other scientists worked on modern machines, they never
attained the same success he did. So if somebody had grafted
technologies onto a living human’s bones, there was only one person
I knew of who could have done it. The doctor.

That deduction
stilled my nerves, it also stiffened my jaw, and I clenched hard on
my teeth, almost enjoying the sharp pain that jabbed down into my
chin.

Determination.

Perhaps Twincy
could see it, as for the first time she relaxed in my presence. The
arm that had stiffly propped her up, and the fingers that had
clutched onto the wood of the table, slackened. She flopped her
hand into her lap, and took a moment to stare at the floor.

‘
I suppose that is settled then,’ John slapped his hands
together, ‘it seems as if we have a new ally. A potentially useful
one, I might add,’ John looked calculating, ‘as you can inform us
far more directly of Lord Ridley's activities in public. It is
quite,’ he shrugged, ‘hard for most of us to go out in public, you
see.’

John looked
excited as he suggested more things, and soon Vanessa chimed in,
shooting down almost every single one of his statements.

I didn't pay
attention. Instead I focused on Twincy, and I fancied she focused
back.

‘
If you do anything to these children,’ she said in a quiet
voice, ‘if you make them trust you and you—’ she began.

I put both my
hands up again, spreading the fingers wide, making the move count.
‘You have my word. I'm not going to stop until I find out what has
happened here, and I'm not going to stop until it never happens
again.’

That appeared
to satisfy her, and she reached a hand up to her head, tugging
something off.

The wig.

It revealed
her long, luxurious black hair, and it fell around her shoulders,
brushing up against the dressing on her cheek.

‘
You should be careful,’ I tried quickly.

She looked up
at me slowly. ‘I will heal; I am designed to heal,’ she added
warily.

Though that
was a welcome sentiment, it made me feel sick, for the way she had
said it was not a pleasing one. It didn't appear to make her feel
secure, far from it. The look she cast the table was a mixed and
sorrowful one.

‘
What did he do to you?’ I asked in a soft, shaking voice,
still barely managing a whisper as the children continued to bicker
behind us.

She chose to
stare at the floor. ‘He designed me for attack,’ she said after a
pause, choosing her words carefully.

Everything
from her expression to her tone made me shiver. And it was a cold,
entirely unpleasant move.

‘
How . . . did
he . . . ?’ I tried to make sense of it all; I
tried to ask one question that would reveal an answer that could
give me some closure. Yet it was a hopeful, damn naive
wish.

‘
Doctor Esquire has been working for many years creating these
devices. Yet you must understand, he does not create them entirely
from his own genius. Many of them he has derived from ancient
cultures. He has adapted them to modern times; he has not invented
them solely from his own intelligence and ingenuity.’

I gave a
choking cough. Was she serious? Devices from ancient cultures? The
mere thought of it shattered the concept I had of history. History
was progress, in one direction and one direction only: forward.
Though I knew of previous cultures from the Romans to the Greeks,
and I appreciated their advances in morals and machines and
thought, I knew they were less advanced than we now were.

‘
There is much you don't know,’ she opined.

That was an
understatement.

Yet whether I
knew everything or not was currently irrelevant. The most pertinent
factor now was the following: if I had managed to follow Twincy’s
blood, couldn’t another have done the same? Especially this Doctor
Elliot Esquire, considering the devices he had?

I took a sharp
step backwards. ‘Is this building secure? Are you confident that
you would be able to repel an assault?’

The children
behind me stopped bickering.

‘
The security of this building is none of your business,’
Vanessa snapped.

‘
Twincy,’ I ignored the child, ‘I followed you here by using my
bloodhound. You left such a trail that it was relatively easy. If I
could do so with the help of a dog, don't you think this Doctor
Elliot Esquire could find some far more sophisticated way of doing
so?’

Silence.
Perfect silence met my suggestion.

Twincy pushed
herself up.

I took several
steps in, wanting to give her a hand, but she offered a sharp look
to suggest it wasn't welcome.

‘
Secure the perimeter,’ Vanessa turned on her foot, ‘John,
calibrate your devices. We must know whether anybody is heading
down the street.’

‘
Children, get to a safe place. Come on,’ Twincy waved them on,
still locking a hand onto the corner of the table to steady
herself.

The children
rushed around, all clearly having pre-assigned tasks to
perform.

I, however,
did not. ‘What can I do? What will he do? What is coming after
you?’

She wouldn't
look at me; she was too busy to afford me any attention.

I stood there
as the children raced around, still reeling from how damned surreal
this whole experience was. Yet as frantic expectation filled the
air, reality caught up to me.

I had to do
something. Anything.

So I cleared
my throat.

Everyone
ignored me, except Barney, of course, who huddled closer to my leg,
even offering me a commiserating low bark.

Well, if I
wasn't going to get attention by standing there and doing nothing,
it was time to make a move. So I did: I took several confident
strides forward, located Twincy, and angled straight towards
her.

Her dress was
still a mess of fabric and blood. Of course it was. She had only
recently been injured. Yet she was standing, and the colour had
returned to her round cheeks.

‘
Tell me what I can do,’ I demanded, ‘surely the police,’ I
began.

That got her
attention. One little word. Police.

She whirled on
her foot. One of her heels was broken, yet that did not stop her
moving with grace and confidence.

‘
No,’ she snapped simply.

It was a
succinct and effortless move.

For some
reason it startled me. Reason suggested a woman like Twincy would
have no time for the authorities, yet it was still a shock to see
the look flickering in her blue eyes as she shot my suggestion
down.

‘
We cannot allow this situation to spill out onto the streets.
The ordinary citizens of London—’ I began.

‘
Know nothing of this world, and they will continue to know
nothing,’ she replied with ease, though for a second her gaze
darted off mine, and I wondered whether she believed that sentiment
herself. Yet that moment of indecision quickly lifted, and as it
did, so did her chin. ‘Dr Esquire will not attack the
city . . . yet.’

I paled at
that. Any normal man would. The warning was clear and could not be
ignored. Neither could her expression. A mix of dead-eyed fatigue
that sharpened momentarily as certainty inflected her words. It
made my back crawl just to look at her.

‘
I have to . . . ,’ I trailed
off.

I was a
detective, an ex-solider too—surely in a situation like this I
could be of some use. Yet as I looked around, I simply couldn't
figure out what that could be.

Again Twincy
appeared to look at me with entirely too much focussed analysis.
All too late I realised it was yet another test. Thankfully I
appeared to pass anyway.

With a heavy
sigh that made her twinge in pain, she nodded. Then she pointed
around her. ‘Go find John and see if he needs any help.’

I nodded and
turned on my foot.

Though the
place was a hive of activity, I eventually picked my way towards
the curiosity that was John, and he looked up to offer me a very
chummy nod and a wink. ‘Good evening to you, sir. Come to help,
have you?’ he was leaning over an utterly messy table chock full of
discarded machine parts. There was a strange looking box-like
device in his small, metal hands, and he periodically frowned at it
as he twisted knobs and dials, and scratched at his head.

As I walked in
behind him, I almost lost my footing.

Something
appeared over the box. A moving picture.

It crackled
and moved, dots of light shifting in place with a hiss and a buzz.
The spots of light coalesced to form an image I recognised: the
street outside.

I placed a
hand on my chest to still my ferociously beating heart.

It didn't
work. The thing thumped and bumped in my chest with astonishing
speed.

‘
It's pretty fancy, ay?’ John shifted the box up and gave it a
careful shake as he waggled his eyebrows up and down. ‘Live
pictures, my good man, of the street outside. One of my far more
technical inventions, I will have you know. I won't bore you with
the details, however by the ingenious use of what I like to call
picture-gatherers, I capture live detail of the streets outside. I
use them to ensure none of Dr Esquire's hideous creations are
sneaking up on us. I also use them to keep track of the roosting
habits of pigeons. Fascinating bird, after all.’

Well, that was
a lot to take in.

I had to
solider on though. I couldn't keep falling apart at the latest
technological wonder revealed to me by these children.

I settled for
taking what I hoped was a very manly sniff.

‘
Well, everything looks fine,’ John began, scrunching his lips
around as he twiddled the knobs of the device again.

Then he
stopped.

And for only
the second time since I had met him, I supposed he had a genuine
child-like reaction.

Total
fright.

With a
startled yelp, he almost dropped the machine onto the table.

I leaned down
to see what it was.

I narrowed my
eyes, squinting at the strange device with its moving points of
light.

What I saw
made me twitch back in shock.

A man. In a
bowler hat. Often not a particularly shocking sight, but this one
was holding a gun of rather gargantuan proportions.

And beside him
were . . . good God, I couldn't tell.
Creatures. Men, black and white, with strange bowed-over backs,
perpetually open mouths, and devices lodged over their eyes.

It was a sight
that could easily send one mad.

Yet I mustered
the courage to stand and place a hand reassuringly on John's
shoulder. ‘How far away are they? And
what . . . are they?’

‘
Twincy,’ John suddenly jerked away from me, scrambled forward,
and scampered over the floor like a frightened mouse.
‘Twincy!'

I
followed.

John found
Twincy and ran right at her, wrapping an arm around her legs. Again
he was acting like an ordinary child, and it served to emphasise
how horrible his news must be.

‘
Butler,
Butler
is coming with the
suitables
! They have some kind of new
gun contraption. It looks astoundingly powerful!’ John latched hard
onto Twincy's dress, and his hand shook as he did.

I watched
Twincy pale, losing all the colour that had returned to her cheeks
in a horrible instant.

She took a
moment to dart her eyes around the room. ‘Do you think we have the
defences to fend them off?’

John didn't
say anything.

‘
Children, get away from the walls,’ she suddenly
roared.