Dark River (32 page)

“Miss Fraser, Miss Maya, and the little girl are in Ireland. Mr. Gabriel is…” Winston hesitated. “Mr. Gabriel is in London.”

“What happened? Why aren’t they together?”

“I am just an employee, sir. Mr. Linden and Madam pay me well, and I try not to question their decisions.”

“What are you talking about? Who is Madam?”

Winston looked tense. “I know nothing, sir. Mr. Linden will answer all your questions.”

Winston parked the van near Regent’s Canal and led Hollis down back streets to the crowded arcades and courtyards of Camden Market. Following a zigzag route to avoid the cameras, they reached the entrance to the catacombs beneath the elevated railway tracks. An elderly British woman who had dyed her hair a pinkish-white color sat beside a sign that offered her services as a tarot reader. Winston dropped a ten-pound note on the woman’s folding table. As she reached for the money, Hollis saw a small radio device concealed in her right hand. The old woman was the first line of defense against unwelcome visitors.

Winston walked down a tunnel and they entered a shop filled with drums and African statues. There was a banner at one end of the room that concealed a steel door to a hidden apartment. “Tell Mr. Linden I’ll be here in the shop,” Winston said. “If you want anything, let me know.”

Hollis found himself in a hallway that led to four rooms. No one was in the first room, but Linden sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. Hollis made a quick evaluation of the French Harlequin. Some of the big men Hollis had fought in Brazil were bullies, eager to use their size against a smaller opponent. Linden weighed at least 250 pounds, but there was nothing swaggering in his appearance or behavior. He was a calm, quiet man whose eyes seemed to notice everything.

“Good morning, Monsieur Wilson. I assume everything was satisfactory at the airport?”

Hollis shrugged. “It took me a while to find the employee exit. After that, it was easy. Winston was parked down the street in the van.”

“Would you like some coffee or a cup of tea?”

“I want to see Vicki. Winston said she was in Ireland.”

“Please sit down.” Linden gestured to the opposite chair. “A great deal has happened in the last ten days.”

Hollis put down the manila envelope that had contained his disguise and sat on the chair. Linden got up, plugged in an electric kettle, and measured coffee grounds into a French press. He kept glancing at Hollis as if he were a boxer evaluating a new opponent on the other side of the ring.

“Are you tired from the flight, Monsieur Wilson?”

“I’m okay. This country is just a ‘different room.’ That’s all. I’ve got to adjust to the changes.”

Linden looked surprised. “You’ve read Sparrow’s book?”

“Sure. Is that against the Harlequin rules?”

“Not at all. I had the book translated into French and published by a small press in Paris. Maya’s father met Sparrow in Tokyo. And I met his son before he was killed by the Tabula.”

“Yeah, I know. Let’s talk about that later. When am I going to see Vicki, Maya, and Gabriel? Your e-mail said you’d answer all my questions when I got here.”

“Vicki and Maya are on an island off the west coast of Ireland. Maya is guarding Matthew Corrigan.”

Hollis laughed and shook his head. “Well, that’s a surprise. So where has Gabriel’s father been hiding all these years?”

“It’s just his shell— his empty body. Matthew crossed over to the First Realm and something went wrong. He hasn’t come back.”

“What’s the First Realm? I don’t know all this stuff.”

“L’enfer,” Linden said, and then realized that Hollis didn’t know French. “The underworld. Hell.”

“But Vicki’s all right?”

“I’m assuming she is. Mother Blessing, an Irish Harlequin, left a satellite phone with Maya. During the last few days, we’ve called and called, but no one has answered. Madam was quite annoyed about this. Right now, she’s traveling back to the island.”

“Maya told me about Mother Blessing. I thought she was dead.”

Linden poured boiling water into the French press. “I can assure you that Madam is very much alive.”

“And what about Gabriel? Can I see him? Winston said he was in London.”

“Mother Blessing brought Gabriel down to London, and then he was lost.”

Hollis twisted around in his seat to look at Linden. “What are you talking about?”

“Our Traveler went searching for his father in the First Realm. He’s still alive, but he also hasn’t returned.”

“So where’s the body?”

“Why don’t you have some coffee first.”

“I don’t want any goddamn coffee. Where’s Gabriel? He’s my friend.”

Linden shrugged his massive shoulders. “Go down the hallway….”

Hollis left the kitchen and walked down the hallway to a shabby little room where Gabriel lay on a bed. The Traveler’s body was limp and unresponsive— as if he was trapped within the deepest level of sleep. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Hollis touched the Traveler’s hand. Although he knew that Gabriel probably couldn’t hear anything, he felt like speaking to him.

“Hey, Gabe. This is your friend Hollis. Don’t worry. I’m going to protect you.”

“Good. That’s exactly what we want.” Hollis turned around and saw Linden standing in the doorway. “We’ll pay you five hundred pounds a week.”

“I’m not a mercenary and don’t want to be treated like one. I’ll guard Gabriel because he’s my friend. But first I need to make sure that Vicki’s all right. You got that?”

Hollis had always favored the aggressive approach when someone was trying to order him around, but now he wasn’t so sure. Linden bent down and drew a 9mm semiautomatic pistol from an ankle holster. Seeing the gun and the cold expression on the Harlequin’s face, Hollis thought he was dead. This bastard is going to kill me.

Linden reversed the handgun and offered Hollis the grip. “Do you know how to use this, Monsieur Wilson?”

“Sure.” Hollis took the automatic from Linden and hid it beneath his shirt.

“Mother Blessing will reach the island tomorrow. She’ll talk to Mademoiselle Fraser and see if she wants to travel to London. I’m sure that you’ll see the young lady in a few days.”

“Thank you.”

“Never thank a Harlequin. I’m not doing this because I like you. We need another fighter and you’ve arrived at the right time.”

Hollis and Winston Abosa walked up Chalk Farm Road. Most of the shops on the street were selling different styles of rebellion: black leather motorcycle pants, vampire Gothic dresses, or T-shirts with obscene messages. Punks with lime green hair and pierced eyebrows huddled in little groups, enjoying the stares of the passing citizens.

They bought cheese, bread, milk, and coffee, and then Winston took Hollis to an unmarked door between a tattoo parlor and a shop that sold fairy wings. A room with a bed and a television was on the second floor. The bathroom and kitchen were down the hall.

“This is where you’ll be staying,” Winston said. “If you have any questions, I’m at the drum shop all day long.”

After Winston left, Hollis sat on the bed and ate some bread and cheese. The smell of curry came from somewhere in the building. Cars honked their horns out on the road. Back in New York he could find a way out, but now the Vast Machine surrounded him. Everything would be all right if he could hold Vicki Fraser and hear her voice. Her love made him feel stronger. Love increased you. It connected you to the Light.

Before he went down the hall to take a shower, he stuck a piece of chewing gum in the gap between the floor and the lower edge of the door. The shower stall had mold around the drain, and the water was lukewarm. When he dressed and returned to his room, he noticed that the gum had been pulled in two.

Placing the soap and towel on the floor, Hollis reached beneath his shirt and pulled out the automatic. He had never killed before, but now it was going to happen. He was sure that the Tabula were waiting for him. They would attack the moment he came through the door.

Holding the gun in his right hand, he inserted the key into the doorknob as quietly as possible. One, Hollis counted. Two. Three. He turned the doorknob, raised the gun, and charged into the room.

Maya stood alone beside the window.

** CHAPTER 31

Early the next morning, Maya climbed up onto the roof of the old horse hospital at the center of the Camden Market. The sick horses and the slaughterhouse had vanished at the end of the Victorian era, and now boutique shops selling organic soap and Tibetan prayer rugs occupied the three-story building. No one noticed Maya as she stood next to a creaky weather vane of a galloping horse.

She watched Hollis walk through the market and enter the brick tunnel that led to the catacombs. Linden had spent the night at the drum shop, and Hollis would let her know when the French Harlequin left the secret apartment.

During the last twenty-four hours, she had been continually moving around London. As Vine House burst into flames, she helped Jugger and his friends get out of the back garden. The four of them had found a taxi near Vauxhall Bridge, and the driver had taken them to an empty apartment in Chiswick owned by Roland’s brother. The Free Runners were used to living off the Grid, and all of them promised to stay hidden until the authorities stopped investigating the two dead men in the florist’s van.

Gabriel had told Jugger he was staying at a drum shop in the Camden Market. Maya assumed that both Linden and Mother Blessing were guarding the Traveler. For the rest of the day, she watched the entrance to the catacombs until Hollis arrived at the shop. Mother Blessing would have killed her for disobedience, but Hollis was a friend. He would arrange everything so she could safely see Gabriel.

She was standing on the roof when Linden came out of the brick tunnel that led to the catacombs. With a sword carrier hanging from his left shoulder, the Harlequin strolled off to have breakfast at a café that overlooked the canal. Hollis came out of the tunnel ten minutes later and waved his arms. All clear.

HOLLIS LED HER past the drums and the African carvings to a cold little room where Gabriel’s body lay on the bed. Kneeling on the concrete floor beside the bed, Maya took Gabriel’s hand. She knew he was still alive, but she felt like a widow touching her dead husband. Maya had seen the saint’s book on Skellig Columba and studied the illuminated paintings of hell. She had no doubt that Gabriel had gone there to search for his father.

All the skills Thorn and the other Harlequins had taught her seemed useless at that moment. There was no one to fight, no guarded castle with stone walls and iron gates. She would make any sacrifice to save Gabriel, but no sacrifice could be made.

The steel door to the apartment squeaked open. Hollis looked surprised. “Is that you, Winston?”

Maya jumped to her feet and drew her gun. Silence. And then Linden appeared in the bedroom doorway. The big man kept his hands in his pockets and smiled slightly. “Are you going to shoot me, Maya? Always remember to aim a bit lower. When people are nervous, they aim too high.”

“We didn’t know who it was.” Maya slid the revolver back in its holster.

“I thought you might come here. Mother Blessing told me you had an attachement sentimental to Gabriel Corrigan. When you switched off your satellite phone, I realized you had probably left the island.”

“Did you tell her?”

“No. She’s going to be angry enough when she shows up on Skellig Columba and finds a Traveler guarded by an American girl and some nuns.”

“I had to see him.”

“Was it worth it?” Linden straddled the only chair in the room. “He’s as lost as his father. There’s nothing there but a shell.”

“I’m going to save Gabriel,” Maya said. “I just need to find a way.”

“That’s impossible. He’s gone. Vanished.”

Maya thought before speaking again. “I need to talk to someone who knows as much as possible about the realms. Do you know anyone here in England?”

“It’s not our concern, Maya. The rule is, we guard Travelers only in this world.”

“I don’t care about the rules. ‘Cultivate Randomness.’ Isn’t that what Sparrow wrote? Maybe it’s time to do something different, because this strategy isn’t working.”

Hollis spoke for the first time. “She’s got a point, Linden. Right now, Michael Corrigan is the only Traveler in this world, and he’s working for the Tabula.”

“Help me, Linden. Please. All I need is a name.”

The French Harlequin stood up and began to leave the room. When he reached the doorway, he stopped and shifted his weight from one foot to the other like a man trying to pick the right pathway on a dark night.

“There are several experts on the realms who live in Europe, but there’s only person we can trust. His name is Simon Lumbroso. He was your father’s friend. As far as I know, he’s still in Rome.”

“My father never had any friends. You know that as well as I do.”

“That’s the word Thorn used,” Linden said. “You should go to Rome and find out for yourself.”

** CHAPTER 32

Hollis was making a cup of coffee in the hidden apartment when Linden walked in from the drum shop carrying a satellite phone. “I just heard from Mother Blessing. She’s on Skellig Columba.”

“I bet she wasn’t happy when she found out that Maya was gone.”

“The conversation was very brief. I told her you had arrived in London and she requested that you come to the island.”

“Does she want me to guard Matthew Corrigan’s body?”

Linden nodded. “That’s a logical conclusion.”

“What about Vicki?”

“She didn’t mention Mademoiselle Fraser.”

Hollis poured a cup of coffee for the French Harlequin and placed it on the kitchen table. “You’ve got to tell me how to travel to Ireland, and I’ll need a boat to take me to the convent.”

“Madam said that she wanted you on the island as soon as possible. So…I’ve made other arrangements.”

HOLLIS QUICKLY DISCOVERED that “other arrangements” meant chartering a private helicopter to fly to the island. Two hours later, Winston Abosa drove him out to White Waltham— a small airfield with a grass runway near Maidenhead in Berkshire. Carrying a manila envelope filled with cash, Hollis was met in the parking lot by a pilot in his sixties. There was something about the man’s appearance— the short haircut and straight-backed posture— that suggested a military background.