Ironheart (9 page)

Verity looked impressed. ‘Well, with all that going on, it’s a wonder you can still find the time for target practice.’

Stone puffed out his chest. Something in the way he brandished his gun reminded India of Mehmet. ‘This is still a frontier town, Mrs Brown, and I like to keep my skills sharp. Let me show
you!’

At the far end of the roof stood a large contraption on wheels that looked like an old-fashioned catapult, designed for bashing down castle walls. Stone gave a signal and a man in overalls wound
a handle which pulled back a flexible metal arm until it nearly reached the ground. He took a large green fruit from a pile and placed it into a basket at the end of the arm.

‘Watermelons,’ explained Stone. ‘We have them specially imported. Nothing explodes like a watermelon when you shoot it.’ He looked around. ‘Except maybe a
man’s head, no?’ The group laughed on cue. He hoisted the gun to his shoulder. ‘Pull!’

The steel arm snapped to attention and the melon was flung in a high arc away from the roof. The gun blasted once and the melon burst into pink mist, casting a thousand fragments of red flesh
into the street below. Everyone applauded again.

‘Bravo, Mr Director,’ said Verity.

India didn’t clap. She didn’t think there was anything special about being able to hit something the size of a watermelon.

‘That’s a bit of a waste, isn’t it?’ she said, earning a scowl from Sid. Verity flashed her a warning look, as Stone’s eyebrow formed a thick V shape.

‘Mr Director,’ said Verity quickly, ‘may I introduce my, er, business associate?’

Sid sneered and whispered something into his father’s ear. Lucifer Stone examined India closely. ‘Ah yes, the daughter of John Bentley if I am not mistaken. You seem to have
inherited your daddy’s unfortunate habit of speaking first and thinking later. I assure you our watermelons aren’t wasted.’ He walked to the edge of the roof. ‘I combine my
shooting practice with my welfare programme. Look!’

In the icy courtyard below was the most wretched group of men, women and children that India had ever seen. Despite the cold, they crawled on their hands and knees to pick up the shattered
pieces of fruit from the filth and cram them into their mouths.

India’s hand went to her mouth. She knew what it was like to go hungry and she understood how it could drive you to do just about anything. ‘That’s horrible,’ she said.
‘Why are you tormenting them? Why don’t you just give them the fruit?’

Stone’s eyebrow creased even further and silence descended on the group. He leaned towards India until she could see the dense crop of blackheads on his nose. From the corner of her eye
India saw Verity reach for her gun before remembering it wasn’t there.

‘Because, Miss Bentley,’ he growled, ‘where would be the sport in that?’ He turned and tossed his gun to an assistant. ‘Don’t feel too sorry for them, they
are just primitives. They’ve been drifting into Angel Town for months now although heaven only knows why.’ He went to the edge of the roof and glared down at the crowd who were now
gazing up expectantly, waiting for the next melon. ‘Vermin!’ he roared. ‘If I had my way I would exterminate the lot of you.’ He turned away and pulled on his overcoat.
‘Come, Mrs Brown, walk with me and we can talk business. Dr Cirenkov, please join us!’

A severe-looking woman in a black suit stepped forward. India noticed, uneasily, that Sid followed too, walking a few paces behind.

‘Dr Cirenkov is my chief scientist here,’ said Stone. ‘It’s her job to make sense of what you tech-hunters bring me. She has a genius for taking things apart to find out
how they work.’

The doctor stretched her mouth into a thin-lipped smile that didn’t reach her eyes and bowed low. Her sinuous movements and cold-blooded expression reminded India of a reptile. ‘I saw
your bodyguard in reception, Mrs Brown,’ she said in a clipped accent. ‘He is a very impressive machine, would you consider selling him to us? You could name your price.’

Verity raised her eyebrows. ‘Really, Doctor? I’m surprised you’d be interested in such a relic. He’s highly unreliable and well past his best. In any case, surely the
great Lucifer Stone has no need of a bodyguard?’

‘My need is not for a bodyguard, it is for an army,’ said Stone. ‘The doctor wants to take apart the metal man so we can learn to build others just like him. With an army like
that, Trans-Siberian would be unstoppable.’

Verity looked perturbed. ‘Take him apart? I don’t think I could allow that, Director. I am sorry but Calculus is not for sale.’

Stone and the doctor exchanged glances.

Stone led them to the other side of the roof overlooking the harbour front and the railway sidings. ‘When I came here twenty years ago I built my first factory with my own hands,’ he
said. ‘Then came the roads, the refineries and the ports. Now my railways extend for five hundred miles into the wilderness and I have an Emperor-class engine, the
Tolstoy,
that can
make the Obdoria run in ten hours straight!’ He shook his head grimly. ‘But it’s not enough. At our present rate of progress it will take a hundred years or more to put the world
back the way it was before the rains. If we find Ironheart we can do it in a fraction of that time.’ He turned to Verity. ‘So you understand, Mrs Brown, how disappointed I was to
discover you had been so careless with John Bentley’s journals.’ He held up the two slim volumes.

‘I think we all know perfectly well how they got here,’ said Verity, glaring at Sid.

‘And I think we all know perfectly well that they are worthless,’ said Stone, tossing them back to Verity. ‘So tell me why you’re here. And don’t give me any
nonsense about expecting to get paid.’

‘We know there’s nothing in the journals,’ said Verity. ‘But we have something much better: a message from John Bentley that will take you straight to
Ironheart.’

Stone’s eye twitched. ‘Really? So where are you keeping that information? Somewhere safe this time, I hope?’ He shifted his glance to India and her heart beat faster. The metal
pendant felt cool against her skin. ‘No doubt you’re about to tell me that this is worthy of an increase to your fee,’ he continued. ‘So what do you want?’

‘A joint venture, Mr Director,’ said Verity with a smile. ‘First thing tomorrow I will give you the location of Ironheart in return for a small share of your profits. Shall we
say thirty per cent?’

Stone made a hawking noise and spat on the ground.

‘You would do well to remember that I control every inch of Siberia from here to Vladivostok. No one is going to find Ironheart unless it’s in one of my rigs.’

Verity’s smile stayed fixed. ‘If you’re not interested, Director, I could always find another buyer. The Chinese perhaps.’

‘I’ll pay you five per cent for your information,’ he said, ‘and that is more than fair.’

‘How can you talk about what’s fair?’ said India suddenly. ‘Is it fair that those people down there are starving and being used for sport?’

Stone growled at the back of his throat.

‘Not now, India,’ murmured Verity.

‘My town is very well run, Miss Bentley,’ said Stone, with simmering menace. ‘Ask anyone here, they’ll tell you they are all very grateful to me.’

‘They’ll say anything because they’re all terrified of you,’ said India.

Stone’s knuckles tightened to bloodless knots. ‘What did you say?’ He advanced on India.

She tried to take a step backwards but found herself at the edge of the roof. ‘I’m only saying those people deserve to be treated fairly,’ she said, swallowing hard.
‘They don’t des—’

Her words were cut short as Stone grabbed the front of her shirt and hoisted her off her feet. She gasped as she found herself dangling over empty space and looked down to see the hard, icy
cobbles, eighty feet below ‘Please . . .’ was all she could manage to cry out.

‘Mr Director, I’m sure we can do a deal,’ said Verity rapidly.

‘If you are so concerned for those people, Miss Bentley,’ growled Stone, shaking her like a rag, ‘why don’t you go and join them?’

India’s head swam.

‘All right then,’ said Verity quickly. ‘I agree to your offer of five per cent, Mr Director. Do we have an agreement?’

Stone looked for a moment as though he had not heard Verity. He continued to stare angrily at India as she thrashed helplessly at the end of his arm. Then slowly, he pulled her back and
deposited her on the roof once more. India’s legs immediately buckled underneath her and she collapsed to her knees, panting for breath. Sid laughed openly at the terror on her face.

‘Very good, Mrs Brown,’ said Stone in a matter-of-fact way. ‘We have a deal. And I’ll not ask for proof of what you claim either. But if that information is not with me
by the morning then I’ll have both of your skulls for bookends.’

Verity helped India to her feet. India felt sick and her legs would not stop shaking.

‘So!’ said Stone brightly as he rubbed his palms together. ‘How about we seal the deal with a glass of vodka in my office? Alone,’ he added, with a final poisonous look
at India.

‘Of course, Mr Director,’ said Verity, with a forced smile. ‘I’ll be right with you as soon as I have spoken to my business associate.’

Verity put her arm around India and led her quickly down a flight of iron stairs at the side of the building. When they got to the bottom she hugged the trembling girl. ‘It’s OK,
India,’ she said. ‘It’s over now. But what were you thinking? Stone is the most powerful man in Siberia. We were here to do a deal and you just picked a fight with him.’

India bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, wiping her nose on her sleeve. ‘It’s just the way he was treating those people made me so angry.’ She took a deep
breath. ‘I’ll go back and apologize. Perhaps if I talked to him again . . .’

‘Oh no,’ said Verity holding up her hands. ‘You’re not going anywhere tonight. Here, take my bag, Calculus will take you back to the hotel. I’ll go and smooth
things over with Stone. Let’s hope Calc can crack the code and find the location of Ironheart by the morning or we’re all in trouble. In the meantime you just concentrate on staying out
of sight and looking after that pendant.’

Verity led India away to find Calculus before she joined the Director for a drink. As they left, India was surprised to see that Stone was still standing on the roof, deep in conversation with
Sid and the doctor.

‘Why d’you give ’em five per cent, Pa?’ said Sid. ‘They got nothing. Them journals were useless and now they’ve made up some story about a
message but they got nothing.’

Stone lashed out suddenly. The blow from the back of his big hand sent Sid sprawling.

‘You’re a fool, boy! You got eyes and ears but you don’t use ’em. Didn’t you hear the way she threatened to go to the Chinese? You don’t make that kind of
threat unless you’re holding good cards. And didn’t you see the way she looked at the girl when she spoke? And how the girl kept touching her neck? If Bentley left a message then he
most likely gave it to his daughter. Now get up!’

Sid picked himself up from the floor and dabbed his lip with a sullen expression.

‘I’m not paying five per cent to anyone,’ continued Stone, ‘but it suits me to play along with Mrs Brown for now. If we don’t find Ironheart in the next four weeks
then the hard snows will set in and I can’t afford to wait until next season.’ He turned to Cirenkov ‘Doctor, I’ll need your help to take care of Mrs Brown and her war droid
tonight. That machine will be no pushover.’

Then he rested a hand on Sid’s shoulder and spoke in a kinder tone. ‘And I want you to do what you do best, son. As soon as it gets dark, round up your boys and get over to the China
woman’s place.’

A slow smile spread across Sid’s face.

‘Nothing fancy and no messing,’ said Stone sharply. ‘If anyone suspects what’s under those mountains before we get there then we’ll have a war on our hands. Just do
it clean, find out what she’s hiding and then drop the body in the vats. No one will ever question the disappearance of another runaway in Angel Town.’

Sid didn’t need telling twice. He was away down the steps with his long coat flying behind him and the nastiest of smiles spreading across his face. Tonight, he thought to himself, he
would teach that vicious little alley cat a lesson, and whatever his pa might say, it wasn’t going to be quick or clean.

She climbed to the top of the hill, cold air stinging her cheeks. A white reindeer stood at the edge of the trees, young and slender, unafraid. She stroked its neck and
noticed it had one eye of ice blue and the other of the darkest brown.

‘Do you know where my father is?’ she whispered.

The reindeer spoke clearly. Its voice sounded inside her head.

‘He rests among the heads of warriors, beyond the fast-flowing river. He is safe, for now, but he is not alone. Something waits with him and soon it will awaken.’

‘How am I meant to find him?’ she said.

‘You must look for me first,’ said the reindeer. ‘Follow a red star to the East where it leads you over the mountains and I will protect you when you make the crossing. You must
hurry, India Bentley. Find the heart of iron before the snows come or the winter will be ceaseless and without light. But now the wolves are coming and you must flee, quickly!’