London Wild (64 page)

She spared a moment or two’s thought for Myajes
. He had come to this cell to rescue Lara from her captivity and had been captured himself. She grinned to herself at the thought that Myajes was probably considered the Matriarch’s best and that he should be caught so easily! Nevertheless, he must also know where to find the Lesser Matriarch, and it would be useful to try and find out what had happened to him, if the opportunity presented itself. He was a second lead on her primary target.

She didn’t like to listen to the rumors the Herbaht tended to bandy around, but being stuck in a cell with ten of the
beasts made them hard to ignore. Rumors of every sort were discussed, from the idea that the humans had simply forgotten about them (the fact that they were still being fed tended to negate this one) to rumors that they were all being kept away from the others in the Cattery for some special purpose. If the humans had found out whom the Herbaht calling herself Roberta really was, that might make this last rumor true. It might also make getting away from the Cattery with her a lot more awkward, as she would be carefully watched.

She moved away from the wooden cell door at the sound of footsteps approaching along the corridor towards them. It must be breakfast already
, and though she didn’t care if the others in the cell should starve to death, she needed to keep her own strength up if she was going to get the chance to escape. Besides, blocking the door from opening would cause her problems, not just with the soldiers but also with the ten hungry Herbaht she was sharing the cell with.

The door opened wide
, and there stood before them three soldiers of the Elite Guard. That was all, no sign of any breakfast. What sort of contempt did the humans have for the Herbaht that they felt comfortable just bringing three soldiers to the cell? She could crush them in less than a second with her serum. Once again her tongue found the tooth. She hesitated to use it. It was still a long way to the main gates, and that side effect of the serum would make her chances of success negligible.

There was a gasp around the rest of the cell. It was Ruby who first said anything
: ‘They haven’t brought our breakfast with them.’ The feeling in the cell seemed to be that if soldiers hadn’t brought food with them, then they had probably come to take some of them for destruction. After three days of not having anyone taken away for that purpose, the idea brought a wave of different emotions. A couple started sobbing, while another stood up and fixed the soldiers with a glare as if challenging them to take her. Starlight remained where she sat with her head resting on her knees. She seemed to have resigned herself to her fate. Khosi would have preferred if they took both her and Lara. Her chances of escaping with her quarry were bound to improve if they were led from this cell to anywhere else in the compound closer towards the main gates.

The leader of the three soldiers whose name badge claimed he was Johnson seemed attuned to what those in the
cell were thinking and quickly tried to settle them down. ‘Don’t panic. Please, don’t panic. We haven’t come to end your lives.’

‘That’s what they all say,’ Amba hissed at him.

‘You eleven are going on a nice little ride to another Cattery where you will be allowed to live for a while longer,’ Johnson continued unabatedly. ‘So long as you continue to be of use to us, we will keep you alive.’

‘Of use to you?’ asked Jewel
. ‘How are we of use to you?’

Johnson just smiled at her and winked
. Then he stepped to one side, clearing a path through the door, and continued, ‘So if you’d like to make your way out to the courtyard, there you’ll find a truck. Don’t board the truck yet. We shall want to check that we have everyone we’re supposed to have before we leave. We aren’t going to take responsibility for someone we haven’t got.’

One of the other soldiers whispered something in Johnson’s ear
, and Johnson nodded and whispered something back. Khosi didn’t hear what the first soldier said, but her surgically enhanced hearing picked up the reply: ‘Locked? Well, I guess they won’t be able to get aboard yet, then.’

‘Red tape,’ Amba muttered under her breath.

‘Indeed,’ agreed Johnson, turning his attention back to the cell with another wink. ‘Everything must be recorded properly, you know.’

Khosi wondered if the soldier was really winking or if perhaps he had a nervous twitch that was triggered whenever he spoke. She could understand if he was nervous, especially around the Herbaht. She didn’t like them either. Nevertheless
, he did seem to be fairly willing to answer their questions and comments. Perhaps she should hazard one herself. She quickly ran through how she would phrase the question in her mind and held back as the others in the cell were led out in single file. One of the soldiers, his nametag reading Evans, led the entourage.

Other than Khosi, the last to leave the cell was Amba. She gave Khosi a dirty look as she stepped out into the corridor. That angered Khosi, just because she was waiting to be last out so she could ask this Johnson a question. She decided then that she would settle with Amba later. Khosi would settle with all of them later.

‘Can I ask, what will happen to that devilishly handsome man who came to the cell the other day?’ she asked of Johnson. The words made her feel like cringing. A Herbaht handsome!

‘The cat
, you mean?’ was Johnson’s reply.

Khosi nodded emphatically. The others were a fair way down the corridor already, but she was in no hurry. It was still raining out there
, as she could see through the cell window.

Johnson laughed at her, ‘Oh
, you don’t want to worry about him. You should be far more worried about yourself!’

‘But what’s going to happen to him?’ She tried to sound pathetic.

He looked her straight in the eye, gazing at her menacingly. ‘Why do you ask? Do you really think I’m likely to tell you? ’

‘What harm can telling me do?’
She kept her voice sounding pathetic.

The third soldier
(this one’s nametag told her he was Hughes) rested a hand on Johnson’s shoulder and shook his head. ‘Just ignore her; let’s go.’

Johnson nodded and waved for Khosi to lead the way down the corridor. She felt a little nervous that they were following right behind, but then again she knew she could handle them any time she wanted. With that thought
, her tongue again found the tooth with the serum. She would have to stop doing that; it would be too easy to accidentally break the tooth and ingest the serum at the wrong time.

A quick look at the truck they were going to be traveling in told her that the doors and sides of the vehicle were made of metal
, and though metal was harder than the cell door, it was a lot thinner, being less than a full inch thick. She should have no trouble breaking out of this vehicle if she got the chance. Indeed, since Lara was going to be traveling with them on this journey, maybe she should take the opportunity the second it presented itself. To be honest, she’d like to try now, but those towers on either side of the courtyard looked nasty, and though they were supposed to be concentrating on the surrounding tree line, the activity in the courtyard had attracted their attention. Besides, it was still quite a fair way to the main gates. She would have tried to make her escape now if she wasn’t so sure that a better opportunity would show itself a little later.

She shivered a little, more with the cold than the rain. It was worse out here than the cell had been, but not much
. The amount of protection that the cell walls had given them from the cold was negated by the way that they had actually seemed to hold the cold for longer. Once they got in the vehicle, maybe the soldiers would be good enough to send some heating into the back and warm her up a little.

She stood about
, looking around the inner courtyard of the Cattery. She loved the smell of the fresh air, even if it was cold. She was glad to be away from the stink of Herbaht in the cell, the memory of which was still strong in her nostrils. She liked that she was able to stretch her legs properly, after five days of confinement, and not have to worry about tripping over another inmate in that very small cell. The way Lara and Amba had sat almost constantly, with their legs jutting halfway across the cell floor, and Starlight joining them from time to time had only exemplified the problem.

She wonder
ed what they were waiting for. She was glad that they had a bit of time before getting loaded in a cramped-looking vehicle with these still stinking creatures. Couldn’t they at least get a wash before they went anywhere else? Yes, she realized as she considered how much the others stank, she too was to blame for the smell all eleven of them were generating. It had been six days without a wash and without a change of clothes.

Then the reason for the apparent delay appeared. Lieutenant Colonel Norton, clipboard computer in hand, marched across the courtyard and stood before Johnson. They exchanged salutes
, and then the Colonel did a quick head count of the prisoners.

Then the one called Hughes suddenly made a precision turn and commanded, ‘Answer your names when they are called out.’ He then began the roll call: ‘Roberta, Amba, Jewel, Mazaline, Ruby, Khosi, Stripy, Starlight, Mary, Stripy and Juno.’

Khosi didn’t feel like causing trouble just yet and obediently responded to her name. It seemed Lara also wasn’t in the mood for making waves that day, as she responded when the name Roberta was called out. The others, well, they were all domesticated stock and wouldn’t know how to resist if their lives depended on it. The only real problem was the two who shared the name Stripy, as both had tried to answer each time their name was called out. 

Hughes then marched over to the waiting Colonel and said in a voice loud enough for Khosi to easily overhear, ‘
All present and correct, sir.’ He saluted and walked back to the waiting Herbaht.

The Colonel signed something on the clipboard and then handed it to Johnson. He pressed one of the buttons on it and then also signed it before handing it back to the Colonel. Then the Colonel handed over something that looked very like a paper map
. They saluted again, and then he marched back the way he had come.

Khosi watched him for a minute until he disappeared behind one of the cellblocks. There was something in his mannerisms that suggested to her that he was up to something, but he gave no real clues as to what that something might be. Although her hearing had been surgically enhanced
, the rain was too heavy and the Colonel was already too far away for her to overhear anything he might say or do.

Her attention was brought back to the courtyard when Johnson climbed into the driver’s cab of the truck, while Evans began to unlock the back. It seemed that it wouldn’t be too long now before they’d be underway.

‘The whole place smells of death,’ Lara commented under her breath. She was looking about the rest of the compound, and her attention was constantly drawn to a small building positioned next to the cellblock with the big ‘
20
’ painted in white on it.

‘It does,’ agreed Amba.

Khosi looked away, not wanting to look Lara or Amba in the face. Personally, she couldn’t smell anything like that. The number of executions that must’ve been carried out here in the last week may well have been in the thousands, but they had all been done in a fairly sterile environment. She wondered if the Herbaht sense of smell was really strong enough to pick up the smell of those who had died or if it was in some way psychological because they knew what had happened here. She eyed the building. Perhaps it was where the executions had been carried out, but there was nothing external to point to this. It could have been anything.

Evans seemed to be struggling to open the back of the truck. He was actually shaking as if afraid or possibly excited about something
, or maybe it was just the cold. There was far more happening here than met the eye, she decided to herself. The others seemed to be aware of this too, or at least Lara and Amba. The domesticated stock wouldn’t have noticed something like this if it came up to them and smacked them in the face.

Eventually Evans managed to get the door unlocked and opened
, and he stood back. ‘Okay, ladies, if you would all like to board the coach and find yourselves a seat, make yourselves comfortable. Guardsman Hughes and I will be along to make sure you’re secure before we start off.’ He then seemed to look about the courtyard nervously and up at the watchtowers.

Khosi’s eyes followed his to the watchtowers and saw that the spectacle of what was happening in the courtyard hadn’t been enough to really keep the attention of the soldiers up there on duty
, or perhaps the soldiers had simply felt they should do what they were being paid for. Whichever it was, Evans seemed happy and made a quick hand signal to the one called Hughes.

Hughes signaled back; then he too looked about the compound and then headed towards the small building that had so caught Lara’s attention a little earlier.

Khosi tried to watch him for a minute, but Evans hustled her into the back of the truck. She didn’t argue with him. She wanted to be away, and if they were going to leave without one of the soldiers, so much the better. Besides, the others had already climbed aboard when she turned back.