Peril by Joss Stirling
From being proud of his heritage as part of an oppressed race who had turned their fortunes around and beaten their masters, he felt utterly disgusted with Ade, and with all his so-called friends. Could no one else see what they were becoming by hounding a girl like this? They were becoming as bad, if not worse, than the people who had originally persecuted them.
No wonder she had run in terror. She was right to do so.
Kel heard a scuffling at the door, a scrape of a key in the lock. Lee came in wearing his black combat gear, expression all business.
‘Ade wants you downstairs. Will you behave?’
Anything to get out of this room. ‘Yes.’
‘He wants your word of honour.’
‘Honour? Do we have any of that left?’
Stance softening a little, Lee held out a hand to help him up. ‘We all get it, Kel. You like her. Ade liked her. It’s tough when personal matters conflict with our people’s policies.’
Fine for Lee to speak. He hadn’t spent the last week with Meri. He didn’t know her like Kel did. ‘Our policies are wrong.’
‘Then give your word and come and argue that downstairs.’
‘All right. I’ll behave.’
‘No escape attempts?’
‘So I’m a prisoner now?’
‘You’re being held for your own safety. We all know that you want to go and find her. Ade is just trying to protect you.’
‘I resigned.’
‘Doesn’t matter. He’s still your prince and he’s trying to be your friend.’
Kel’s heart sank yet further. ‘I’ll appeal to his uncle. He’s our king and can overrule him.’
‘And you think he’ll be more merciful than Ade who actually knows the girl?’
Another door slammed shut in Kel’s mind, limiting his already narrow options. ‘Then maybe he and his family have been ruling us for too long.’
Lee shot a glance over his shoulder. ‘Shut the hell up, Kel,’ he hissed. ‘You’re in enough trouble without spouting treason.’
‘Me? In trouble? I’m not the one advocating murder.’
‘You brought a Tean right into the court of the crown prince.’
‘On his fecking orders.’
‘We know, but it doesn’t change what you did.’
Kel felt a drag on his anger, a heavy weight of despair. ‘Lee, when will we change? When after all these centuries will enough blood have been spilt?’
‘It’s not personal to Meredith.’
‘I bet it feels pretty personal to her right now. I could be killed by a tiger tomorrow if I had the misfortune to meet one of the few survivors in the wild but I don’t say we should go round shooting all the ones in zoos. How is this different?’
Lee dug his hands in his pocket, rocking on his heels. ‘Look, maybe caging her will be enough. If you calm down, then you can make that argument.’
‘I shouldn’t have to.’
‘I’m not arguing with you. I know we won’t agree.’ Striding across the room, Lee picked up a flannel from the sink and tossed it to Kel. ‘You’ll want to wash your face. You’re messed up. Hit your nose when you did a face plant.’
Kel scrubbed off the dried blood. That explained the crashing headache. ‘What’s happening downstairs?’
‘Swanny and I scooped up the guardian on his way back from work. He seemed to be expecting us and came along willingly. He’s downstairs now, hurling abuse at Ade, but it’s you he really wants to see.’
So that’s why they wanted him. ‘Fine. I want to see Theo too.’
‘Your promise?’
‘I promise not to try and escape tonight.’
Lee nodded, accepting that was as much as he would get. ‘Don’t try and go out into the garden. We’ve orders to stop you if you do.’
‘And you’re OK with that?’
‘I’m just following orders, Kel.’
‘The cry of storm troopers throughout history. You’d better do some reading. Start with the Third Reich.’
‘And you’d better decide where your loyalties lie.’
In razor-edged silence they walked down the broad flight of stairs, through the elegant foyer and into the reception rooms.
Theo Woolf had been shown into the library. He was currently standing over Ade, voice raised in fury, while Swanny looked on with amusement, something that stuck in Kel’s craw. This was far from funny even though Theo was a bit of a lightweight to take on Ade and Swanny at the same time.
‘This has gone way too far. You will tell my daughter there’s nothing to be scared of. You will let my girl come home and finish school without fear or I’m reporting you to the police!’
Ade steepled his fingers, every inch the prince. ‘I’d be delighted if Meredith came home.’
Theo tossed his head, his fair hair rippling like a mane. ‘Don’t say that in those tones, you little shite. I’m not stupid. I know that means you aren’t calling off the hit on her. What did she ever do to deserve this persecution? Sod all, that’s what. Well, she’d not a four-year-old anymore, not alone, and I’m not scared of you. I’ve got friends—contacts in the government.’
‘Mr Woolf, no matter how many friends you have, I’ll always have more,’ said Ade calmly. And that was true: the Perilous made sure they had people planted throughout government and law enforcement in each country where they had a community. ‘Just tell us where she is.’
Theo was saved from answering by spotting Kel's entrance. ‘You!’ Then to everyone’s shock, maybe even his own, Theo launched himself across the room and threw a punch that connected with Kel’s jaw. Kel ricocheted into Lee, both of them only prevented from hitting the floor by collision with a bookshelf. Theo stood over Kel, panting. ‘You lying bastard! I hope you’re ashamed of what you’ve done. She’s running—she’s terrified—she’s got nothing now thanks to you. Not even a home!’
Kel wiped his wrist across his mouth and nose. Bleeding again. Not a bad hit for a scrawny fella with more ear jewellery than sense. Theo should never have come here.
‘What? You’ve got nothing to say for yourself?’ Theo looked ready to take another punch but, as Kel hadn’t struck back, had no excuse.
‘Mr Woolf, we understand that you’re angry but I really can’t have you beating up one of my men like this,’ said Ade. ‘Kel, are you OK?’
‘Sod off,’ said Kel, accepting a bundle of tissues from Lee.
‘He’s OK. Mr Woolf, as you may have worked out, Kel isn’t that pleased with us either. It’s not his fault. He didn’t want Meri to make a run for it. Why don’t you tell him where he can find her so he can persuade her to come back?’
‘Don’t tell me anything, Theo,’ Kel said quickly.
‘What? Why?’ Theo’s eyes went from Ade to Kel. ‘What’s going on here?’
‘What has Meri told you?’ asked Ade.
‘Don’t say,’ hissed Kel.
‘She’s told me nothing, apart from the fact that she knows you are her enemies.’ From the alarm that now travelled across his face, Theo had only just now worked out that he might also be in danger here.
‘And why did she say that?’
‘She wouldn’t tell me.’ Theo got out his mobile. ‘I’m calling the police. This has gone far enough.’
‘Please do,’ said Ade graciously. ‘But what will you say? We have CCTV in the house. All that you can report is yourself for taking an unprovoked swing at Kel here.’
‘I’ll report that you are terrorising my girl.’
‘How? What exactly have we done?’
Theo struggled with his temper, then pocketed his phone.
Kel knew that Ade was at his most dangerous when he used that cool I’m-in-charge tone. ‘Ade, let Mr Woolf go. This doesn’t involve him.’
‘Of course it does. He knows where she is.’
Theo bristled with outrage. ‘I’ll never tell you. There is no threat you can think up that would make me do that, I promise you.’
‘I’m not going t
‘He means you to lead her to the slaughter,’ said Kel. ‘Don’t do it.’
‘Keep quiet, Kel.’
‘Not in this lifetime. And never again on your orders. You and I, we are way past finished.’
Disquiet flickered across Ade’s face before being ruthlessly suppressed. ‘Mr Woolf, you really should tell us. It is the kindest way of handling this for all concerned.’
‘Tell him to piss off.’
Theo’s eyes glittered. ‘Yeah, I think I will.’
Ade shrugged. ‘I didn’t really expect you to give us the information but I do know you’re in contact with Meredith. Tell her that if she wants everyone she cares for to remain safe and well,’ his gaze went to Kel then back to Theo, ‘then she’d better turn herself in. We’ll track her anyway but if she does this she makes a good case for no one else to get mixed up in this mess.’
Theo lifted his chin. ‘I’m not telling her that.’
Ade leaned forward, hands dangling between his spread knees. ‘I know it sounds harsh but I guess you don’t know what’s really at stake here. She doesn’t mean to be, but she’s dangerous, like the carrier of a deadly virus. I feel sorry for her. I’m just trying to stop something worse happening.’
Theo studied Ade’s earnest expression for a moment. ‘That’s what you think you’re doing but you’re so wrong. Sitting there like the bloody junior Godfather! You’ve lost sight of the fact that this is a real person’s life you are playing with for some stupid reason of your own—an innocent. I wasn’t sure at first if she was right to run, but she was, wasn’t she? You’re all fanatics—terrorists—and I’ll tell you something: I’m bringing you down.’
Ade shook his head. ‘Take Mr Woolf home, will you, Swanny?’
‘This way, sir.’
‘I’ll find my own damn way home.’ Theo stomped to the door.
‘Then just make sure he leaves,’ amended Ade.
Theo paused by Kel on his way out. ‘Sorry about the, you know?’ He mimed a fist connecting with his face.
‘I’m not. I deserved it.’
Theo gave him a nod. ‘You OK? Do you want to come home with me?’
More than anything. ‘I don’t think they’ll let me leave tonight.’
‘Well, when you do, come find me. I seem to have a spare bedroom all of a sudden.’ And then he left, slamming the front door behind him. One of the stained glass panes cracked.
Kel made no effort to break the silence that followed Theo’s departure. He’d been tasered by his best friends and now imprisoned—his disappointment with them was so huge, life altering, shaking him on a fundamental level. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get past it.
‘Kel, I need you on my side on this,’ Ade said at last.
‘Back at you, mate. I’m on the humane, let’s give the innocent a chance side. Which one are you on?’
‘The protect my people one.’
‘At all costs?’
‘I’ll do what’s necessary.’
‘Then we really have nothing more to say to each other.’
Ade ran his fingers down the spines of the books on the shelf by his chair. ‘My uncle’s coming to deal with this personally. Your father will be with him.’
‘No surprises there.’
‘They both want to talk to you.’
‘I bet they do.’ Kel folded his arms. ‘Did you tell them I resigned?’
Ade gestured to Lee and Swanny to leave them alone. ‘Kel, sit down.’
‘I’d prefer to stand.’
‘Fine. I told them we argued. I wanted to give you a chance to rethink.’
‘Just stop and consider what you’re asking me. How can you yesterday be a reasonable human being and today turn into a tyrant?’
‘You think I don’t care about her?’ Ade got up and went to the window. ‘You think I don’t know what I’m saying when I give the order for her to be brought in? Sod you if you think I want to do this.’
‘Then don’t.’
‘I swore a vow—to protect us.’
‘I get that. But I don’t get how murdering a friend achieves that. You’ll destroy us.’
Ade turned to look at him. ‘No, you’ll destroy us if you choose her over your people.’
‘I don’t see that you’re giving me a choice here.’
‘To use your own words, back at you, mate. What options are you handing me by your behaviour?’
‘So what are you going to do with me?’
‘I don’t know. Let your father talk to you tomorrow, I suppose.’
‘We shouldn’t have to hurt her.’
‘I agree, but biology has made it a necessity. She’s our last natural predator; we’re her prey.’
‘Then why is she the one being hunted?’
Meri studied the other young people in the hostel kitchen while trying not to make it too obvious that was what she was doing. Meals were cooked on an ‘everyone muck in’ basis and she had been given the carrots to peel. A huge mound. Not that she minded. Anything to take her mind off what was really bothering her.
A girl sat down opposite her with a basket of onions. She had a a snub nose and a strong no nonsense build to match her expression. Meri felt an instant liking for her. She looked like she didn’t put up with any crap. ‘Hi. I’m Anna.’
‘Hi Anna. I’m…Em.’
‘Short for?’
‘Emma.’
‘Cool. So are you an Idippy like me?’
‘What’s that?’ Meri watched a perfect curl of carrot skin slip to the board, pleased with the peeler she’d been given. She was making herself take pleasure in small things as the big picture was so grim.
‘You are green, aren’t you? An I.D.P. or internally displaced person. I’m from Lincolnshire originally. We had to move out when the sea moved in. There’re special grants for us to relocate.’
‘Oh yes, I did know that. No, I’m not an I.D.P. Just here to…you know…?’
Anna nodded, supplying her own answer. ‘See a bit of London before eco-service.’
‘Yes, exactly.’
‘Where are they sending you?’
‘I’m not sure. Didn’t get the paperwork in time.’ She started chopping her first batch of carrots for the casserole.
‘Bad luck. That probably means they’ll put you on sewer duty or something gross.’ Anna leaned forward, pointing at Meri with the vegetable knife. ‘Between you and me, the eco-service admin is all over the place. My sister works in the Climate Change ministry and is always moaning about it.’
‘Any chance they’ll just plain forget me?’
‘You wish, but they might lose you once they’ve got you.’ Anna grinned. ‘In a bog probably.’
‘That doesn’t sound too bad. I wouldn’t mind getting lost.’
Anna diced an onion with impressive speed. ‘Depends on who you take along for company in my view. My eco-team sucks out loud. The leader is a total arse. If he comes up with another, “we’re all in this together” slogan, I’m going to deck him.’
‘Where are you working?’
‘Essex marshes—or what’s left of them. Trying to save Canvey Island. We won’t win. As I keep telling Dexter: hasn’t he heard of King Canute?’
They chatted some more while finishing their task, Meri learning the names of the other girls in the hostel kitchen and the boy carting out the recycling. All were proud Idippies.
‘So it’s like a club?’ asked Meri, handing round some peeled carrots that had escaped the pot.
‘Yeah, a totally exclusive one,’ agreed a girl called Zara. She had long black hair and an ink tattoo of a Celtic symbol on her bicep. Her taste ran to layers of lacy clothes accesorized with navy blue lace-up boots. ’Hippies? So last century. Idippies is where it is at. Now
‘Where are your family, Em?’ asked Anna.
‘I’m an orphan.’ It was the first time Meri had ever admitted this. It rather killed the conversation.
‘I’m sorry.’ Anna looked rather desperately at the others to say something to help.
‘No, it’s fine. Well, not fine, obviously, but it happened a long time ago. Anna, can I borrow your phone a moment? Mine’s dead.’ Theo and she had agreed not to call each other on their usual numbers in case they were being monitored. He had asked Valerie to swap his for hers for a day or two.
‘Sure. Dinner will be in about an hour so you’ve plenty of time.’
‘I won't take that long.’ Meri took the phone into the cold porch where the eco-service volunteers left their boots and overalls and dialled Theo. ‘Hey, it’s me.’
‘You OK?’ Theo sounded odd, not his usual self at all.
‘You alone?’
‘Yeah, thank God. I’ve just got back from seeing those madmen you went to school with.’
‘You didn’t! Theo, I told you not to!’
‘Well I did. Didn’t have much choice as they met me at the station.’
‘So they know.’ Meri had hoped she had a little more time to make her escape.
‘They certainly suspect something, though what the hell that is I don’t know as none of you will give me a straight answer. Meri, I don’t think Kel’s part of it. In fact he looked as though they’ve roughed him up a bit before I came. I didn’t help things by throwing a punch at him.’
Meri squashed a surge of concern for Kel. Theo was the one she should worry about. ‘Are you completely mental? He’s an expert in martial arts!’
‘He didn’t fight back. I feel really bad about that. He let me get in a free shot.’
Meri pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘He may not be part of it but he is one of them.’
‘And that makes absolutely no sense.’
‘I can’t explain.’
‘I’m sick and tired of you saying that. Why can’t you explain? Why can’t I go to the police? Why are we living in some Alice-In-Wonderland world where we’re running scared of a bunch of boys living in a posh house?’