City of Shadows

Chapter 20

7.27 a.m., 12 September 2001, North Haven Plaza, outside Branford

Maddy led Foster by the hand out of the coffee shop, through the stools and tables to meet the others in the middle of the toddler play area, ‘Chuckle Zone’.

Liam spoke first. ‘Bob just picked up a warning signal from SpongeBubba.’

‘I also just detected two idents,’ added Bob.

‘Where?’

‘Three hundred and seventy yards in that direction,’ he said, pointing along the central concourse of the shopping mall towards the front entrance to the parking strip beyond. He was pointing in the direction of their RV.

‘They must have visited our bus first,’ said Sal.

‘How did they know which vehicle was ours?’ Maddy asked. The parking area out front already had a few hundred cars in it. Even more now surely.

‘Your lab unit,’ said Bob. He turned to Rashim. ‘Your lab unit must have left its wireless communication on.’

Rashim nodded. ‘They must have homed in on Bubba’s signal.’

‘All the way from New York?’ said Liam. ‘I thought — ’

‘It’s only a short-range signal. Half a mile and you’d lose it,’ said Rashim.

‘Then they must have already been tailing us,’ said Maddy. She looked at Foster. ‘Do you think?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t know. It’s possible.’

Becks had been watching the quick-fire conversation, her gaze snapping from one person to the next. But now her eyes suddenly widened as they settled on something at the far end of the concourse. ‘They are here,’ she said softly.

She pointed.

All of them turned to look. Two silhouetted figures emerging through large rotating glass doorways, striding purposefully in their direction, the pallid glow of morning light outside behind.

‘Jay-zus! There’s two of them!’

‘We can’t fight,’ said Maddy. ‘We’ve got to run!’

Bob stiffened, bristled like a guard dog. ‘I can fight them. I can provide you with time to escape.’

‘Don’t be an idiot, Bob,’ said Liam. ‘They’ll rip you to pieces, so they will.’

‘Shadd-yah! Who are they?’

‘We’re wasting time,’ said Maddy. She turned to look in the opposite direction. The concourse carried on another fifty yards where it terminated as a circular eating area, tables and plastic bucket chairs surrounded by a dozen fast-food outlets. A lift and a couple of escalators could take them up to a balcony overlooking the central area, and the upper floor of shops. But as far as she could make out, the only way out of the mall was back towards the approaching support units… and out of those big revolving glass doors at the front.

‘How about in there?’ said Sal. She pointed towards a large store with two floors, upper and ground. A pre-school toy store called TOYS-4-TOTS! All bright, happy-clappy colours inside. Out in front of the store a tall, surly-faced young man was putting on the head of a costume, the store’s mascot, a livid pink dinosaur that Maddy suspected was a blatant rip-off of Barney.

‘Yes! Go! Go!’ She grasped Foster’s hand and led the way. The others followed.

She pushed her way past a toddler on reins. The child turned to watch them pass by, blue eyes suddenly round and wide at the sight of Bob. Presumably thinking he was another store mascot, the toddler chuckled gleefully and reached out to grab and hug one of his tree-thick legs.

‘Back off!’ boomed Bob. The toddler toppled backwards in shock, landing and bouncing on its nappy-cushioned behind. It gazed up at them in confused silence, watching this odd assortment of grown-ups leave the play area before finally deciding to bawl.

Maddy led them into the store TOYS-4-TOTS! She shook her head. How’d they get away with a name like that? Still early enough in the morning it was mainly staff milling around inside: puffy-faced teens in gaudy pink store shirts bearing plastic name tags.

It was the right place to hide, cluttered with racks of chunky, plastic nonsense, large furry soft toys, rotating display stands of storybook CD-ROMs and nursery-rhyme favourites.

‘Everyone split up! We’ll lose ’em in here.’ She had hold of Foster’s hand still. She wasn’t going to let it go. She wasn’t losing him again. ‘Split up… and we’ll rendezvous…’

Where?

‘The diner?’ said Sal.

‘Yes…’ Not the RV. Definitely not the RV. There might be another of them waiting for them there. The diner was next to the motel. Good enough. ‘Make your way to the diner!’ She looked back out past the knock-off-Barney mascot standing out on the concourse. She could just make out the distinctive outlines of the support units. Closer now. The pair of them could so easily be Bob and Becks.

‘Go!’ she hissed. ‘We stand out like a sore thumb. Split!’

Their group fragmented in different directions: Rashim and Sal; Bob, Liam and Becks.

She pulled Foster with her, quickly weaving past an extravagant diorama made from BaBe-Blox building bricks into a maze of aisles laden with romper suits and cute, frilly Babygros. He was already breathing hard. This was getting difficult for the old man. ‘Maddy… I…’

‘Shut up, Foster! I’m not leaving you behind.’

She crouched low, pulling aside clothes hangers on a rail to peer out. Across the store she could see the top of Rashim’s head for a moment, then it was gone behind a row of super-large Sesame Street cuddlies. She looked back at the store’s entrance, hoping to see the support units striding past and missing them.

Nothing for the moment. Perhaps they’d already gone past.

‘Maddy…?’

‘Foster, shhhh… I’m trying to see — ’

‘Excuse me? Miss?’

Maddy turned to see a member of staff looking down at her. A girl in a pink shirt, with a nose stud and up-way-too-late-last-night red-rimmed eyes, stared wearily down at her. A face that clearly indicated this was too early in her cruddy day to put up with customer-stoopid like this.

‘Ma’am, you’re not really allowed to hide among the clothes like that.’

Maddy straightened up. ‘I… err… I was just looking for… umm… bargains.’

‘I think it might be best if you step out of the store, ma’am.’

Maddy remained where she was, her eyes on the store’s entrance. ‘Just give us a sec here… we just need… to uh…’

‘You need to leave, miss. You’re clearly not shopping. You’re being a nuisance — ’

‘Christ!’ Maddy turned on her. ‘Just give me a freakin’ moment, will you? It won’t kill you!’

The girl didn’t like that. ‘I’m asking you politely to leave, please. If you don’t, I’ll call the manager. I’ll call mall security.’

Just then Maddy saw them. The support units standing in the entrance, two pairs of grey eyes sweeping the toy store like prison searchlights.

Knock-off Barney, the implausibly pink dinosaur, sauntered cheerily towards them, probably wearily parroting the store’s moronic catchphrase: Friends That Play Together Stay Together!!

The female support unit — Becks, Maddy found herself thinking — lashed out with a fist and caught Barney in the throat. He disappeared from view.

‘Whuh?’ said the girl in the pink shirt to herself. ‘Did she just punch Joshua…?’

The male support unit’s eyes panned round and caught sight of Maddy just as she was about to duck back down out of sight. He raised his arm, something in his hand glinted. Someone screamed.

And then the gunfire started.