Live and let Drood

CHAPTER EIGHT

Molly and I still weren t talking to each other when we left the Establishment Club, so it was just as well there was a distraction waiting for us. The Regent of Shadows had sent us a nice new car, along with one of his agents to explain why. I took my time looking over the car, and let the agent wait till I was ready to talk to her. The car was big enough that it took me a while to walk around it; a great red beast of a car, with white stripes, gleaming chrome and high tail fins. A classic of its kind from when Detroit dinosaurs roamed the earth, and about as conspicuous in London traffic as a piranha in an aquarium. I finally sat on the bonnet and gave the Regent s agent an equally thorough inspection.

She smiled back easily, a very cool and poised middle-aged lady, still good-looking in a never heard of Botox and wouldn t use it even if I had kind of way. Dressed in an elegantly cut tweed suit with a creamy white panama hat crammed down on her long grey hair and a flouncy white silk scarf round her throat. She just sparkled with charm and grace and gave every indication that she ought to be off organising a garden party somewhere. I was quite taken with her. Molly, less so.

What the hell kind of car is this? said Molly.

It couldn t stand out any more if it had a target painted on it.

And hello to you, too, Molly Metcalf, said the agent in a clipped, cut-glass, finishing-school voice. I m Diana, one of the Regent of Shadows s most established agents. Hello, Eddie Drood! Delighted to meet you both. And this is a 1958 Plymouth Fury. Classic American muscle car, fully restored, with all kinds of useful extras. And, bless me, look at the chrome on that!

It is a bit conspicuous, I said.

It s registered to the Regent, said Diana. An official Department of the Uncanny vehicle, with all the right papers filed in all the right places, so no one will bother you. And, after all, it s not as if you can hide from Crow Lee s all-seeing eye, no matter what you re driving. Sneaking up on the Most Evil Man in the World was never going to be an option. I m sure the Phantom V s privacy shields were first-class; your Armourer always did do good work. But they won t hide you from Crow Lee. His many agents will undoubtedly be watching all the roads for the Phantom V, but they won t be expecting you in this. Word will get out, of course, but driving the Plymouth should buy you some wriggle room.

Very kind of the Regent, I said. I ll take it. Does it come with a warranty?

She doesn t even come with insurance, said Diana. She s called the Scarlet Lady. Take her; we re glad to be rid of her.

Why did I just know she was going to say that? said Molly. All right, what s wrong with her?

She s not been exactly lucky, said Diana. In fact, we ve searched her thoroughly several times, just in case someone accidentally built a dead albatross into her somewhere. But I think she just needs a firm hand on the wheel and a chance to prove herself.

Molly looked at her. I want the Phantom back. I knew where I was with the Phantom.

You never liked the Phantom and you know it, I said.

I like this even less, Molly said firmly.

Hush, said Diana, She ll hear you.

Convince me, I said.

The Scarlet Lady has first-class protections, and more built-in weaponry than some third-world countries, Diana said briskly. She can hit Mach four with the wind behind her, can outrun anything on four wheels and can punch right through a brick wall without even slowing. And she has a sat nav programmed to take you straight to Crow Lee s little hideaway down in Surrey. That is where he s retired to, in case you were wondering.

We had already worked that out, thank you, said Molly.

How clever of you, darling, said Diana, smiling sweetly at Molly for just a moment before giving me her full attention. Eddie, there s something I need to talk to you about. Not really any of my business, I know, but that s never stopped me before. I need you to consider this. I know you don t want to think about it, but even if you do bring down Crow Lee and destroy his nasty little organisation, there s still no guarantee you ll be able to find or retrieve your lost family. You have to face the possibility that the Droods could be lost forever, wherever they are. You have to consider that on this occasion, even your formidable best might not be good enough. Have you thought about what you re going to do if there s nowhere for you to go back to after this? And you really are the Last Drood. What will you do?

Carry on the family tradition, I suppose, I said.

Fight the good fight. What else is there?

Molly gave me a sharp look there, which I didn t understand till later. Diana gave me a brilliant smile.

The Regent was lost for a long time after he left his family. So he made himself a new family his Shadows. That hasn t changed just because we re calling ourselves Uncanny these days. You could join us, Eddie, become a part of our family. I know it wouldn t be the same how could it? but we would make you very welcome. And you, too, of course, Molly. You could do good work with us, both of you. You don t have to be alone in the world.

I could hear the sincerity in her voice. I had no doubt she meant what she was saying, and it did intrigue me. It also puzzled me that this should mean so much to her.

Thank you, I said. That s very kind, but

He doesn t need you, said Molly. He has me.

Think about it, said Diana. She smiled briskly at both of us and was immediately all business again. The Regent assured me that we ll take good care of your Phantom V while you re gone. You can pick her up again anytime you re back in London, after this is all over.

I wouldn t mess with the Phantom, if I were you, I said carefully. The Armourer builds his cars to look after themselves.

That s Jack for you! said Diana. Never met a car he didn t customise till it hurt. Trust me, I did raise that point most forcibly with the Uncanny car pool. The Phantom will be treated with the utmost respect.

You know the Drood Armourer? said Molly, not even bothering to hide her suspicions.

Of course, Diana said easily. And then she just stood there, smiling easily.

More secrets, Molly said disgustedly.

Of course, said Diana. We are secret agents, after all. Secrets are our business, our stock-in-trade. Now, I know what you re thinking.

No, you don t, said Molly. Or you wouldn t still be standing there.

I could practically see the tension spitting and sparking on the air between them, so I made a big deal of going round to the driver s-side door and opening it to look inside. The sat nav immediately turned itself on.

About time! it said in a harsh and strident female voice. Come on. Get in, park your arse and let s get moving! I haven t got all day!

I just stared at the sat nav for a moment. We re not going to get on, are we?

Like I care, said the sat nav.

I straightened up and looked at Diana. Would the Regent be very upset if I was to rip out the sat nav and throw it under the next passing heavy-goods vehicle? It s not as if we re going to need it. We re not driving down to Surrey.

We re not? said Molly.

We are going directly to Crow Lee s place through the Merlin Glass, I said. You have heard of the Glass, Diana? Yes, of course you have.

We maintain up-to-date files on everyone, Diana said carefully. On friends and enemies and everyone in between. I m sure the Droods are in there somewhere. Though I don t think our researchers believe half of what they ve heard when it comes to the Merlin Glass. Some have been heard to suggest that it s all just Drood misinformation, designed to demoralise people like us.

Believe every bit of it, Molly said sweetly.

Especially the really disturbing parts.

The clue is in the name, I said. Merlin Satanspawn always believed that weapons should be double-edged. But we re not going to Crow Lee s place in Surrey straightaway.

You re not? said Diana.

Molly and I have already discussed this at some length, I said carefully. If we just drop in on him now, he ll have all kinds of defences ready and waiting for us. I ve got a better idea. The Merlin Glass operates in time as well as space. You might remember, Molly, that during out recent side trip to foreign parts, the Glass returned us to the exact moment in time and space that we left from. Therefore

Hold everything, said Molly. Are you saying what I think you re saying?

Time travel! said Diana, clapping her hands together excitedly. You re talking about time travel, aren t you?

I was going to say that! said Molly, sulking. She glared at Diana. Don t you have somewhere else you ought to be?

Wouldn t miss this for the world, said Diana.

Molly glowered at me. Since when did you start discussing family secrets in front of strangers? You might trust the Regent, Eddie, but we ve no reason to extend that to his whole damned organisation. If Crow Lee has people inside your family, you can bet he s planted even more inside the Department of the Uncanny. Probably back when they were just Shadows.

I suppose that is always possible, said Diana, in an entirely reasonable tone of voice she must have known would put Molly s teeth on edge. I wouldn t put anything past Crow Lee. The treacherous little shit. But you can trust me, Eddie. The Regent specifically chose me to come here and talk with you because he had no doubt that you could trust me. Do you trust me, Eddie?

I looked at her. I knew I shouldn t trust her, that I had no good reason to, but somehow I did. Molly could see what was happening on my face, and made a point of tutting loudly and rolling her eyes.

You always were too trusting, Eddie Drood. And always far too ready to be impressed by mutton dressed as lamb. All right, what s the plan with the Merlin Glass?

Simple, I said. I ll arrange the arrival coordinates so that although we enter the Glass here and now, we ll arrive at Crow Lee s estate twenty-four hours in the future. That should give him more than enough time to become worried about all kinds of things where are we, why haven t we arrived yet, what we re planning. It should also provide enough time for his private army to get tired of standing guard for a threat that never comes, and get bored and complacent and sloppy.

I don t know, said Molly. This is Crow Lee we re talking about.

It gives us an advantage we wouldn t otherwise have and that he won t suspect, I said patiently.

Unless you actually want to drive all the way down to Surrey. Arriving worn-out in the early hours of the morning, having driven all through the night, being nagged all the way by the sat nav?

I heard that! said the sat nav.

You were meant to, I said.

Why only twenty-four hours into the future? said Diana.

Because I don t trust the Merlin Glass any further than that, I said. There are far too many things that can go wrong with time travel. And, besides, I just can t stand the thought of Crow Lee having any more time than that. I am going to destroy his house and his grounds and everything he owns, bring his whole world crashing down about his ears and then I m going to make him bring my family back. Whatever it takes.

I ll help, said Molly.

Couldn t do it without you, I said.

We smiled at each other, and just like that everything was all right again between us.

I hate to be the wet blanket here, said Diana, but won t Crow Lee detect you approaching through the Merlin Glass? I mean, that thing gives off a hell of a lot of magical energies, and he s bound to be looking for it. If we know you ve got it, you can be sure he knows.

He ll be looking for spatial travel through the Glass, I said just a bit smugly. Not time travel. He doesn t know the Glass can do that. No one does.

You re so sharp you ll cut yourself one day, Molly said admiringly. Death from Above, via the Timestream! I love it!

And she did a little jig of joy, right there in the street.

He ll never see it coming, I said solemnly.

And then all three of us looked up sharply and round as a big red double-decker London bus came thundering down the street towards us. It was really travelling, moving much faster than any London bus should, and it took me only a moment to realise all the windows were darkly tinted, so no one could see in. I couldn t even see the driver at the wheel, never mind any of the passengers. The bus roared right down the middle of the road, its engine making a hell of a racket as it struggled to maintain its speed. Tinted windows? On a public-transport bus?

That s odd, said Diana. The route number on the front of that bus is all wrong. It shouldn t be anywhere near here.

We watched curiously as the bus drew nearer, straddling the middle of the road, and then the driver slammed on the brakes so that the bus slowed down as it passed us. The whole frame shuddered from the sudden strain, and the wheels made harsh squealing noises. And every one of the tinted windows just disappeared, replaced by dozens of assorted gun barrels. They targeted Molly and me and Diana as we just stood there gaping, and all of them opened fire at once.

I armoured up. Molly raised a protective field before her. And Diana just stepped smartly backwards into a handy shadow and disappeared. I knew there had to be a reason why the Regent s agents were called Shadows, I thought as the first bullets found me. All the guns were firing at once, and the combined roar was like the wrath of God. A noise so loud it was actually physically painful, even inside my armour. The bullets issued from the side of the bus like a pirate galley s broadside; thousands of bullets from dozens of guns, like a wall of death. Bullets ricocheted harmlessly from my armour and were swallowed by Molly s shield, and chewed up the brick wall behind us, and, rather surprisingly, just bounced harmlessly off the Plymouth Fury without making a mark.

Don t you shoot at me, you bastards! screamed the sat nav. I m a classic! Shoot at them; I m just the ride! They re the ones you want! Shoot the fleshy ones!

We will have words later, I said to the sat nav.

I glanced quickly behind me. The door to the Establishment Club was firmly closed, and, amazingly, taking no damage at all from the massed fire raking back and forth across it. And the bullet holes in the brickwork were already repairing themselves. Bullets might be a bit of a low-class threat to a setup like the Establishment Club, but it was clear it could look after itself.

Whoever was giving the orders inside the bus soon realised that their armoury of guns wasn t having the hoped-for effect. The assault shut off abruptly, and the bus s engine roared as it sped up again. I ran out into the street and sprinted after the bus, my armour s speed more than a match for its hurried departure. I quickly caught up with the bus and plunged both my golden hands, well past the wrists, into the rear of the vehicle. My golden fingers dug in deep. I took a firm hold and then forced my golden heels into the street. The bus screeched to a halt despite itself, skidding wildly, as my heels dug two deep furrows in the road. I grinned behind my face mask. Good to be a Drood.

I wrestled the bus to a reluctant halt, the whole rear wall bowing out towards me, stretched and distorted by my hold. The driver gunned his engine and the bus shook back and forth as it fought to pull free, black smoke billowing out from the tyres. But I had my hold, and the bus wasn t going anywhere. I pushed my arms farther in and lifted the whole rear of the bus up off the road, so that the rear wheels just spun helplessly in midair.

The tinted windows at the rear of the bus disappeared, replaced by a whole bunch of gun barrels moving quickly to target me at point-blank range. They opened up with everything they had, trying to blast me loose, but I just stood there and took it. Bullets hammered me from head to toe, ricocheting in every direction at once, even back into the bus, and I didn t feel a single impact. Some of the guns fired directly into my face mask, and a lot of good it did them. I didn t even blink. One by one the guns ran out of ammunition, and then they all suddenly withdrew. The tinted back windows reappeared, and the bus driver shut down his engine.

It was very quiet in the street. No gunfire, no straining engine, no squealing tyres; not a single sound. I dropped the rear of the bus back onto the road, and it bounced a few times on its heavy tyres before settling. I wrenched my hands back out of the bus, and they emerged easily amid the shriek of ruptured and tearing metal. Molly came forward to join me, and stood beside me as we looked over the silent double-decker.

What the hell was that all about? said Molly.

I think, I said, that we have just been the victims of the hidden-world equivalent of a drive-by shooting. What the hell did these silly bastards think they were doing? Battles in the hidden world are supposed to stay hidden from the everyday world! You don t squabble in front of the children; everyone knows that!

Look around you, said Molly.

It took me only a moment to see what she meant. There was traffic all around us; cars and taxis, white vans and cycle couriers but not one of them was moving. Time had stopped around us. The drive-by and its intended victims were all caught in a single frozen moment, held between the tick and tock of the world s clock. So the shooting could take place without anyone noticing, until time started up again. The bus would be gone, and all that remained would be the bullet-ridden corpses of the victims. Just another mystery in the busy heart of London. Probably put it down to gangs.

A drive-by shooting, I growled. I hate them. I mean, come on. Is there anything more cowardly than a drive-by? Drive up at speed, spray bullets in every direction, hope you hit the right target among all the innocent bystanders and then run away. I want the creeps behind this, Molly. I want to explain to them the error of their ways. Let s take a look inside the bus.

Let s, said Molly. I feel we should have words with these scumbags.

Harsh words, I said.

We walked along the side of the big red double-decker bus. The windows remained darkly tinted and very firmly closed. Not a sound or a movement from inside. I came to the cab door, well above the ground, reached up with one golden hand, and casually tore out the whole door and threw it aside. The sound of rending metal was very loud in the quiet, followed by an equally loud reverberating clang as the door hit the ground. A massive gun barrel protruded from inside the cab, aimed directly into my face mask. I didn t give the gun s owner time to fire, just grabbed the long barrel and jerked the whole thing right out of his hands. There was a howl of pain and upset from inside the cab, from the gun s owner, who hadn t let go of his gun fast enough.

I looked the gun over. Cheap Kalashnikov knock-off piece of shit. The assassin s gun of choice when he hasn t enough money for anything decent. I broke the thing in two and threw the pieces aside. Cheap guns and a drive-by shooting on a London double-decker didn t really tie in with the sophistication of time control. Devices like that are hard to find, and they never come cheap. I peered into the cab, but there was no one at the wheel. The driver had retreated into the bus s gloomy interior and was hidden among his fellow would-be assassins.

It s not like we ve any shortage of enemies, Molly said behind me. But I can t think of anyone dumb enough to organise such a low-rent attack on us. I say we board the bus and bounce people off the walls until someone feels like telling us what s going on here.

Sounds like a plan to me, I said.

And me, said Diana, stepping elegantly out of a nearby shadow. She didn t look in the least troubled or disturbed by what had just happened. Molly and I both made a point of not jumping even a little bit when she reappeared, just on general principle.

Regent of Shadows, said Molly. Much suddenly becomes clear. I take it you re one of his Special Agents?

Of course, said Diana. One of his first, in fact. We go way back, the Regent and me. You think he d entrust your safety to just anyone? I am rather annoyed at the crudity of the attack, though. I m used to better, quite frankly. Fiendish master plans and complicated death traps; that s more my sort of thing. I say we go inside the bus and kick bottom!

All right! said Molly. I m starting to like you.

So pleased, said Diana.

I hauled myself up into the driver s cab, looked into the gloomy interior and was immediately met with the roar of a heavy electronic cannon, one of those customised jobs that can pump out thousands of explosive fl chettes a second. Being a sporting sort, I braced myself and just stood there and took it. The bullets slammed into me like a solid mass, and the whole front of the bus, behind me, just disintegrated, blown away by the sheer concentrated firepower. My armour wasn t bothered in the least.

The problem with this particular kind of gun is that by its very nature it goes through a hell of a lot of bullets really quickly. The gun fell silent abruptly, and someone said, Oh, shit. I stepped quickly forward into the bus s interior, grabbed hold of the massive cannon, and ripped it right off its floor mounting. I then crumpled the heavy gun in my hands like it was made of paper, wadded it into a ball and let the metal mass drop to the floor with a loud and disquieting thud.

The man who d been firing the cannon retreated quickly towards the rear of the bus, making choked noises of distress. All the bus seats were full, with row after row of hard-faced men in flak jackets, carrying all kinds of guns. They started to aim them at me and then had a rush of common sense to their heads and changed their minds. Seeing Drood armour up close will do that to you. Which is, of course, the point.

The hard-faced fighting men lowered their guns to the floor and then put their hands as high in the air as they could get them. Which was only sensible, if a bit disappointing. It isn t nearly as much fun to beat the crap out of people who aren t fighting back. It wouldn t necessarily stop me, though. I was still pretty annoyed about the whole driveby thing. And then a voice at the very rear of the bus spoke up, saying:

Take him down or you don t get paid!

Just when everything was going so well There s always one. There was just the briefest of pauses while the gunmen looked at one another, and then they all reached inside their flak jackets and produced any number of magic amulets, glowing handguns, pointing bones and enchanted brass knuckles. The gunmen all surged forward at once, clearly hoping to achieve close up what they hadn t managed at a distance: bringing me down through sheer weight of numbers. I could have told them that was never going to work.

They punched and kicked at me, hitting me with every weapon they had, shouting fierce war cries to encourage themselves and one another, falling on me from every side at once and none of them could touch me. Their various toys just broke and shattered against my armour, and in the limited space of the bus s aisle they were more a threat to each other than they were to me.

I finally lost my patience and waded into them, slapping weapons out of their hands and striking the gunmen down with swift, efficient punches. I knocked them down and trampled them, bounced them off walls, picked them up and slammed them against the low ceiling. I was careful to control my armour s strength. I wanted living prisoners capable of answering questions. So while they did their very best to kill me, I didn t kill a single one of them.

Because I, not my armour, was in control.

Molly was quickly there with me, darting back and forth, smiling happily as she threw shaped curses that made guns blow up in their owners faces and punching in the odd head here and there, for the good of her soul. She whooped loudly as she ducked wild punches, kicked the legs out from under people and trampled them viciously underfoot. She dispensed much-deserved beatings to the ungodly, and loved every moment of it.

I laughed and fought alongside her, and that seemed to upset the gunmen even more. Especially when Diana joined the fight, darting in and out of the many shadows inside the bus, appearing and disappearing with bewildering speed as she dispensed elegant karate blows and fierce savate kicks and the odd elbow to the back of the neck to a victim who didn t have the sense to hit the floor fast enough. Diana was a graceful, efficient fighter, her tweed skirt swirling about her as she moved with surprising speed for someone her age. And not one of the gunmen was able to point a weapon at her fast enough to save himself.

Eventually, the three of us just ran out of people to hit. We stood together, none of us breathing particularly hard, and looked around us. The inside of the bus was littered with battered and bloodied would-be assassins lying in piles, draped over the seats, gasping for air and staunching bloody mouths and noses and occasionally crying bitter tears. As professional assassins went, this bunch hadn t travelled far. They never stood a chance, and they knew it. Molly and Diana and I looked hopefully around for someone else we could teach the error of their ways, but everyone kept their heads well down and avoided our eyes, hoping not to be noticed.

Well, that was fun, said Diana, adjusting the silk scarf at her throat and brushing herself down. I was hoping I d get the chance to see the two of you in action, and I have to say, you re everything the reports said you were. I m really quite impressed.

Not bad yourself for an old girl, Molly said grudgingly. Can all the Regent s people do what you do, jumping in and out of shadows?

Oh yes, said Diana. The clue was always in the name. Apparently, the Regent acquired this very useful ability from the Hanged Man s Clan, back when he was first on the run from his family. I say acquired; another version of the story says he stole it, and I wouldn t put it past him. The Regent has never had any problem with being practical about matters of morality. When necessary. The shadow thing is very useful in our line of work. Do keep it to yourselves, my dears.

I still want to know who was in charge of all this, I said loudly. There was a certain amount of stirring among the beaten-down gunmen, but no one said anything.

Got to be one of these scumbags, said Molly.

I don t think so, Diana said thoughtfully. Take a look out the windows.

We all leaned over the nearest bodies, which did their best to flinch out of the way, and looked outside. The windows weren t tinted from the inside, and we had a clear view of the street. The cars and other traffic were all exactly where we d left them, not moving at all, fixed in place in their frozen moment held outside of time.

So whoever stopped time is still in here with us, I said. Hiding in plain sight and hoping to go undiscovered. I can t See him anywhere, even through my mask.

Molly looked slowly and carefully about her, and even hardened assassins avoided her gaze. She scowled. I m not Seeing any glamours or illusions, and no dimensional door he could have escaped through. So he s definitely still here in the bus with us, the arrogant little scrote.

Hell with it, I said. I suppose I ll just have to punch a hole in the petrol tank, set light to the whole bus and watch them all fry.

It s the only way to be sure, Molly said solemnly.

Diana looked at us sharply and was about to say something when a new voice spoke up suddenly from among the piled-up assassins.

All right! All right. Don t do anything dramatic! I m right here.

And one of the most battered and bloodied-looking gunmen stood up abruptly. He shook himself briefly, and all his wounds disappeared, his whole shape changing as he became someone else. The hard-faced seasoned gunman was replaced in a moment by a sulky-looking teenage boy of no more than seventeen or eighteen. Wearing distressed jeans and a T-shirt bearing the legend Revenge Is Forever.

It s an Immortal! said Molly. A flesh-dancer! No wonder I couldn t detect his presence!

Diana looked at him thoughtfully. So that s what they look like. I d heard they never aged past their teens, but Eddie, I thought your family killed off all the Immortals when you raided their secret base at Castle Frankenstein.

We got most of them, I said.

Evil, vicious little bastards that they were, said Molly.

But a few did get away, I said. Because they just deserted their own kind and ran, like rats deserting a sinking ship. I walked up to the teenage Immortal, who flinched but didn t back away. So, I said.

I thought the few of you who survived had gone to ground, hiding in squalid little bolt-holes in the armpits of the world. What brought you out of hiding to do something this dumb?

You did, said the Immortal defiantly. Your family s dead and gone, Drood, just like mine! I thought it was finally safe to show my face again, to start up my life again and make the world march to my tune, as it should! And then you turned up, the Last Drood, alone and vulnerable. How could I resist? How could I resist the chance to avenge my murdered family?

One, I said, your family spent centuries exploiting and enslaving Humanity, just because you could, hiding behind your ever-changing faces. You tried to wipe out my family when we tried to stop you. Your family deserved everything it got, and then some. And two, a Drood is never vulnerable.

Why a bus? said Molly. And why this bunch of underachievers?

The Immortal shrugged quickly. Money was limited. I had to go with what I could afford. I took the Time Distorter with me when I left the castle. All of us took something, just grabbing whatever came to hand. There was just enough energy left in the Distorter for one last time seizure. So I put together the best wild bunch I could, and came looking for you. He glared about him.

I should have chosen more carefully. I ll do better next time.

There isn t going to be a next time, said Molly. I really don t believe in killing in cold blood, but for an Immortal I ll make the effort. Some enemies are just too dangerous and too treacherous to be allowed to live. Don t look at me like that, Eddie. There isn t a cell that can hold a shape-shifter like him, and you know it. And any word of surrender he gave you would be worthless. He ll never stop coming after you.

It s not just me! There are lots of us out there! the Immortal said defiantly. Not just the few Immortals who escaped your massacre; all the people you ever fought, Drood! Everyone whose lives your family has ever interfered with or tried to stamp out! All your enemies, all the ones with good reason to hate you, come home to roost at last! The word is out and we re all coming for you. To wipe out the Last Drood. To take our revenge on you for everything your family did. We ll never stop coming for you!

Unless we send them a message, I said, and something in my voice shut him up.

What kind of message did you have in mind? said Diana.

I was thinking about sticking his severed head on a spike and leaving it somewhere prominent, I said.

Eddie, you can t! said Diana.

Pretty sure I can, I said.

Sounds good to me, said Molly.

Diana stepped forward to look right into my face. Her gaze was cold, her voice flat. It s in your file, Eddie. That you always said you were an agent, not an assassin.

Yes, I said. Even now, after everything that s happened, I still believe that. But sometimes you have to do something bad to prevent something worse. I have to put the fear of Drood into my enemies to keep them off my back while I get my family safely home again. You heard the little shit; they re all out there, watching, waiting for me to show some sign of weakness. They think if they can drag me down, they can put an end to the Droods forever. And they might just be right. I m the last hope my lost family has. If his severed head will hold them off, buy me some time

Diana was already shaking her head fiercely. This isn t the Eddie Drood I heard so much about. The man whose career I followed for so long. The man I wanted so much to meet

Oh, my God, said Molly. She s a fan.

Please, Eddie, said Diana, staring earnestly into my face mask. Don t do this. There are other ways.

Such as? said Molly.

Hand him over to me, Diana said steadily.

I ll deliver him safely to the Regent, and he ll hand the Immortal over to the Hush Squad. Those telepaths could get answers out of a stone. He ll tell them everything he knows about everyone he s met, and what they re planning.

No! said the Immortal. No! You re not handing me over to them!

He produced an oversized pocket watch from somewhere and cranked the handle quickly. The Time Distorter. He thrust his hand forward, aiming the thing right at me, and a huge blast of time energy shot out of the watch, shimmering in the air with a hundred different possibilities. Like a distorting heat haze generating glimpses of a hundred alternate Futures. The time energies hit my armour and immediately rebounded, unable to get a grip. They blasted right back at the Immortal and sank into him, suffusing his Immortal cell structure with concentrated temporal energies. And just like that, he began to age.

He became a young man and a middle-aged man and then an old man, all in the space of a few moments. The Immortal raised a shaking wrinkled hand in front of his sunken face and let out a low, sick cry of horror. Because the one thing Immortals can never do is age. They can change their shape to any appearance, young or old, but always with the knowledge that they can change it back again. They can die, but always as a teenager. It s the way they re built. Or cursed, depending on how you look at it. Either way, enforced aging was a hideous thing for an Immortal.

He threw the Time Distorter on the floor and stamped on it, but it didn t break and it didn t change the way he looked.

He glared at me with his old, shrivelled face, and for the first time there was something else in his eyes apart from hatred. He turned away, grabbed the nearest gun, put it to his head and pulled the trigger. The whole back of his head blew away, spattering across the window. His body slumped to the floor and lay still. The gunmen stared at him silently. Some of them had blood and brains on them, but none of them wanted to be noticed just then.

This is the second time that s happened to me today, I said. I wish I could say I m getting used to it.

Damned fool! said Diana. They wouldn t have hurt him at Hush; that s the whole point. She broke off, unable to continue.

He didn t want to betray his family, I said. I can understand that.

He knew something he didn t want us to know, said Molly. Probably something really unpleasant that the rest of your enemies are planning, Eddie. Something really bad, to be worth dying over.

What do we do now? said Diana.

We cut off the Immortal s head and stick it on a spike and leave it somewhere prominent, I said. Or, at least, what s left of his head. Waste not, want not.

You re serious, said Diana, looking at me like she d never seen me before. You re really serious.

Of course, said Molly. You heard the scumbag; something bad is coming. We need to send them a hard message, now more than ever. Throw a real scare into them. They won t know he shot himself.

Diana shook her head slowly. I d forgotten how cold Droods can be.

She turned her back on Molly and me, walked into a shadow and was gone.

Molly looked out the side windows of the bus. Traffic s started up again. The Time Distorter must have broken when it went up against your armour.

The Immortal threw his pocket watch on the floor, I said. But I don t see it anywhere.

I ll bet you Diana took it with her, said Molly. You heard Patrick in the Armoury: The Regent s agents are always picking up useful items and taking them home.

The Regent will send more agents to look after this lot, I said, glaring about me at the assorted gunmen. So stay put, all of you. Don t make me come after you.

There was much general nodding and mutterings of complete agreement.

We need to get out of here, said Molly. Before someone official turns up and starts asking questions. I m really not in the mood to deal with official questions.

Right, I said. I looked at the dead Immortal.

You know, I m really not in the mood to do the whole severed-head thing. I m just not angry enough anymore. Let his body send the message.

Molly glared quickly about her. All right, everyone. Listen up! Do not take this as a sign that we re getting soft! None of you are to leave this bus until the nice agents from the Regent of Shadows arrive to take care of you! Anyone tries to do a runner, we will find out and we will track you down and perform acts of massive unpleasantness on you! Any questions?

A surly-looking gunman raised a hand, and Molly punched him in the head so hard that everyone around him winced in sympathy.

Any other questions? Molly said sweetly. I love answering questions.

I armoured down, and we got off the bus and strode unhurriedly back to the Plymouth Fury, ignoring the screeching of brakes and hooting of horns from the resumed traffic. First rule of being a pedestrian in London: Never let the traffic intimidate you. I opened the driver s door and then paused.

Diana s probably making a report on us to the Regent right now, I said. She seemed disappointed in me.

She doesn t know you like I do, said Molly. And, anyway, why should you care what she thinks about you?

I don t know, I said. I shouldn t care, but I do. She reminds me of someone.

I shrugged quickly, slipped into the driver s seat and settled myself comfortably behind the steering wheel, and then slammed the door shut. The sat nav immediately raised its strident female voice again.

Don t slam the door! You ll damage something! And can I remind you that you re supposed to be looking after me? The Regent made me your responsibility! What were you thinking of, letting me be shot at like that? I m a classic!

I looked at the sat nav thoughtfully. Are you speaking for the car, or are you the voice of the car itself?

I ll never tell! the sat nav said smugly.

Is there any way to turn that thing off? said Molly as she settled into the passenger s seat beside me and deliberately slammed her door shut.

Is there any way to turn you off? said the sat nav.

Shall I go back to the bus and get a gun? said Molly. Or perhaps a really big hammer?

You wouldn t dare! said the sat nav.

I m a loaner!

I know something that ll shut it up, I said.

I took the Merlin Glass out of its pocket dimension and fed it the revised time and space coordinates for Crow Lee s place through my torc. The Glass jumped out of my hand, ghosted straight through the Plymouth s windscreen, and shot forward to hover in the air ahead of us. It grew quickly in size until it was more than big enough for the Plymouth to drive through. On the other side of the opened doorway, I could just make out a leafy country lane. The sunlight there was subtly different. It felt odd to know I was looking at tomorrow.

What is that? said the sat nav nervously.

What the hell is that? I don t like it. Just looking at it makes me feel funny.

No one else is paying any attention to the big dimensional door hanging in midair, said Molly, peering quickly about her. The Glass is pumping out a really heavy-duty, don t-look-at-me aversion field. I didn t know the Merlin Glass could do that. Could the old Merlin Glass do that?

Beats the hell out of me, I said. But this new version is certainly keen to show off all the clever tricks it can do. Very eager to please

Do you find that as worrying as I do? said Molly.

Oh, at least, I said.

What? What? said the sat nav. What do you mean, worrying? What is there to worry about? Okay, forget it! I m not going anywhere!

Oh yes, you are, I said.

Heh heh, added Molly.

I fired up the Plymouth s engine, set the car rolling forward and aimed her right at the Merlin Glass hovering before us. The sat nav made loud whining noises of distress. I put my foot down hard and drove the Plymouth Fury through the gateway and into tomorrow.