Twincy Quinn and the Eye of Horus Part One (37 page)

It was a very
direct question. And as she delivered it, she did so with perhaps
the most direct and challenging look I had ever received.

‘
I imagine he requires a stiff drink and a good sit down,’ John
interjected.

‘
John, do not interrupt them,’ Vanessa hissed.

I found the
need to swallow suddenly, and I patted at my dust-caked hair
industriously.

What was I
going to do now?

I had just
lived through . . . something. I had just found
an abandoned factory full of children who had been changed
by . . . something. And now I was standing
before a woman I hardly knew, yet one that made me
feel . . . something.

I swallowed
again, heavily and loudly, finding at least I had the courage to
look her directly in the eyes.

‘
I am going to do what I can—as a detective of Scotland Yard,
as a citizen of this country, and as a plain, ordinary man—to help
you.’

There. That
was my answer.

Perhaps my
choice of words had been clumsy, perchance my delivery had been
shaky, yet I meant it all. Every last word.

There was no
other path for me now. Not after what I had just seen and
endured.

Devices of
wonder and power were infiltrating this city, and if somebody did
not stand up to the madmen behind this, they would leave us with no
legs to stand upon at all.

She looked at
me for entirely too long, and it sent the strangest of shivers
escaping over my chest and back.

‘
Very well,’ she answered.

‘
First, we should make our way down to the secret lair,’ John
began.

. . . .

Secret
lair?

‘
John, you are revealing our secrets to this man,’ Vanessa
chided immediately.

‘
What? He’s clearly one of us now,’ John shot back.

‘
Are you?’ Twincy asked through a soft whisper. ‘For if this is
just an act-‘

I did
something rather rash in that moment. Something well-mannered
gentlemen such as myself would never do.

I reached out
and I plucked up her hand, staring as sincerely as I could right
into her eyes.

Thank God she
did not hit me. Instead she stared warily back.

‘
You have my word,’ I reversed my grip on her hand until her
palm pressed into mine. Then I shook it. Solidly. ‘Twincy Quinn, I
will help you.’

No matter what
it takes.

And it would
surely take a lot.

We were up
against men more powerful than any sane person could imagine.
Devices that surely did not belong in our times. A doctor with a
genius and lack of scruples that set him apart from even the
greatest megalomaniacs of history and literature.

The
impossible. We would face the impossible. Yet I, Detective Michael
F. Stanford, had just made a promise.

I would not
break it.

She
nodded.

A short but
gentle move. As she did, she locked me with a watchful look. More
intense than any gaze I had yet experienced, it made my cheeks rush
with energy and my lips prickle as they plucked up into a true
smile.

She nodded
again.

‘
Then it is time to begin,’ Twincy Quinn said.

The End.

Part Two is available now.

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