Stiletto (77 page)

Felicity dropped to one knee, retrieved her club from the floor, and whipped it up as she stood, bashing the creature in the chin. Not that she believed for a minute that would kill it. Without stopping, she changed her grip on the club, took a step to the side, and twisted to hit the monster in its knee. It buckled, and she spun around, using her momentum to whack the creature square in its lack of a face. The monster toppled backward into the hole it had emerged from, its yellow fingers scrabbling at the rim.
Again
. She brought the club down on one of the hands, and this time it fell.

Keep going!
She turned and ran up the next flight of stairs, heading for the roof.
There might be creatures on the rooftops,
but there’s definitely one behind me and it’s in a shit mood.
She scrambled through a tiny bedroom with slanting ceilings and out through a dormer window. She dropped lightly onto the roof of the house next door and clung to the tiles as she made her way across the rooftops. Finally she let herself down in another alleyway. She wasn’t sure if her recent movements had set her back or forward on her route, so she jogged until she found herself, purely by luck, on the pitch where the helicopter had dropped them off.
Okay, now I just go to the pub the same way as before.

And then?

There was the temptation to turn her back on the village and run off into the countryside. The smoke hung thick in the air. Gunfire echoed, and she felt the occasional gut-churning sensation of a Pawn lashing out with his or her powers. Felicity didn’t know what pushed her to walk back into it. Maybe it was the thought of abandoning her fellow Checquy operatives. Maybe it was years of lessons about duty and responsibility. Maybe it was because her charge Odette was in there. Maybe it was because her
friend
Odette was in there.

Maybe it was all those things.

So she went back in.

Now that she was oriented, she made her way to the pub with relative ease. She was just approaching the last corner before the courtyard when something rushed out of a side passage. Felicity dropped to her knee and held her last knife low, ready to stab up, but it held out a hand.

“Stop! Checquy!” It was a man, in armor. A tall black man with a shaved head, he had a distinctly military air about him. A long gun was slung across his back, and he was holding a submachine gun identical to Felicity’s. “Trevor Cawthorne.”
A Retainer,
she thought.
Must have been recruited from the army.
He held out a hand.

“Pawn Clements,” she said, taking his hand and pulling herself up. “Felicity.”

“Yeah, you scouted the church,” he said. “I thought you would have got killed in the first confusion.” Felicity shrugged. “Nice club, by the way.”

“Thank you.”

“Is that — that’s not from a Clavell desk, is it?”

“Well, it
was,
” she said.

“Shame,” he tutted. “Wouldn’t care for some ammunition, would you?” He drew a couple of clips out of his vest and handed them over. “You have to be right up to the creatures to have any effect, right in their faces, but not as close as you need to be with a club.” Felicity gratefully accepted the clips and retaped her kitchen knife to her forearm. With a reloaded gun in one hand and her club in the other, she felt a little better. “You’re keeping the club?” he asked.

“Sentimental value,” said Felicity.

“Fair enough. So, why are you soaking wet?”

“Fortunes of war,” she said. They quickly exchanged stories. Cawthorne was a sniper and had been on one of the roofs on the far side of the church. After those creatures had burst out of the ground all around the church, one had sprung up onto his roof and dragged his spotter down and toward a hole in the earth. He had hesitated only briefly before shooting the woman dead.

“A mercy, I think,” he said. He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes for a moment. “I hope.” He had seen a Pawn on the next roof grow several extra arms and grapple with another monster for a few minutes. He had shot at it, but his bullets had no visible effect, and then the creature tore the Pawn apart.

“Have you heard anything over the radios?” she asked.

“There was a few seconds’ worth of shouting over the air from the chief, then static.” After that, Trevor had beat a hasty retreat and was making his way through the alleyways back to the pub when he ran into Felicity.

“You didn’t meet up with any other Checquy?” she asked.

“I saw two,” he said, “both of them involved in fights. I went to help one, Sally, but the creature walked through her gunfire, snatched her up, and bounded up onto the roofs before I got within twenty meters. The other one was Jimmy Hourani; he was spraying that acid mist of his at three of the monsters. I fired a few bullets at them, but it’s best not to get too close when the conflict gets, uh,
eccentric
. Some of my Pawn mates can get a bit carried away. Jimmy started flooding the alleyway with that stuff, and I got out of there. I take it you’re heading to the pub too? For the backup radio and satellite phones?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Felicity. “Those
would
come in handy. But I’m also looking for a girl from our side. She was in the pub with Pawn Kirkcaldie when things got edgy.”

“Right, the guest you brought.” Cawthorne nodded. “I heard about it over the radio when you arrived. She was some kind of VIP?”

“Well, she’s an
I,
anyway,” said Felicity. The Retainer’s eyebrows went up. “And a
P
as well,” she conceded.

“Let’s see if she’s around, then,” said Cawthorne. “Shall I lead the way?” They proceeded around the corner and into the courtyard. The back door of the pub hung on its hinges, and they waited for a moment, listening for any sounds, before they ventured in, guns at the ready. Felicity found herself praying as she went in.
Please.
She didn’t even know what she was praying for.

But this certainly wasn’t it,
she thought. The front room of the pub was empty except for the corpse of a soldier sprawled awkwardly on top of the beer taps. There was, however, a gaping hole in the middle of the floor.
Damn it, they came up in here as well
. The windows had been blown out, but there was no sign of the thick black smoke she had seen pouring out of the building, nor of any fire. The place was riddled with bullet holes, however. Through the windows, they could see that the area around the church was now deserted, no sign of either the monsters or any Checquy people. Acrid smoke from burning cars wafted over the street.

“It’s not looking good for the chief,” said Cawthorne. “Or any of the lads and lassies who were in here.” He shook his head over the dead man. “Pawn Lenton. At least he went down fighting.” Felicity looked at the corpse — instead of hands, long stone blades projected from his wrists, scraps of that yellow and green skin fluttering on the ends.

“The others?” asked Felicity. “Any sign?”

“Either scattered or down the rabbit hole,” said the Retainer grimly.

Did they take Odette?
she thought.

“Can you stand guard for a sec?” she said.

“Why, do you need to go to the lav?” he asked. “Because I think we can find a slightly more secure place than a building with a gaping hellhole in the floor.”

“No, I’m going to take a peek into the past.”

“Fine,” he said. “But make it fast, and move back from the hole a bit. If something comes out, I want to shoot it before it snatches you.” She nodded and sat where Odette had been sitting. Cawthorne watched as her body stiffened and her eyes went distant, and then he turned his attention back to the rest of the world.

Felicity returned to her body a few minutes later to find that Cawthorne was kneeling down by the windows, his long rifle out at an angle. He held his finger to his lips and gestured for her to get low. She joined him, and he pointed down the street to where one of the monsters was prowling. She lifted her weapon.

“Any problems while I was gone?” she whispered.

“Just our friend down the lane there,” he replied in low tones. They watched tensely as the creature moved along the street. Finally, it entered one of the snickelways and vanished from sight. They relaxed slightly.

“So, what’re the results of your trip into the past?”

“As soon as the creatures emerged outside, Pawn Kirkcaldie ordered his aide to take Odette out the back. A few moments later, that hole opened up in the floor and three of the things came out.” She didn’t mention how relieved she had been that Odette had escaped. “Four of our people were pulled down into the burrow, including Kirkcaldie, I’m afraid.” His face was grim. “The smoke I saw came from a Pawn. A creature pulled his arm off, and it poured out of him. Then his body evaporated.”

“Cutler,” he said. “A good man. Good friend. But your girl got away?”

“Yes, or at least away from here. But I don’t know where she went,” said Felicity.

“Can you track her with your powers?”

“I could, but it would take a while. However, I have another way.” She backed away from the window, retrieved her handbag from where it lay in a corner, and produced her mobile phone. “I’ll give her a call.”

“That reminds me,” said Cawthorne. There were several large plastic cases in the kitchen of the pub, and he cracked one open. “Satellite phone. And more ammunition. But I think we should find somewhere a little more secure before we start making calls.”

“I don’t think there’s
anywhere
particularly secure in this place,” she said with feeling, but they made their way back through the snickelways to a nearby house and briskly broke in. From a bedroom on the second floor, Felicity began to dial.

“Wait. Text her,” suggested Cawthorne. “If she’s hiding, the ring might give her away.” Felicity nodded and thumbed in a message.

RU OK? Is it safe to ring you?

The answer came back straightaway.

Yes
.

Felicity called her immediately.

“Clements?”

“Odette!” exclaimed Felicity.
Thank God.

“You’re alive! Are you all right?”

“Yes. Where are you?” asked Felicity. Odette explained that she and Burrows were in the attic of a house on the outskirts of the village. “Do you have an address?”
For all the good it will do.
As it turned out, she
did
have an address, the apparently resourceful Burrows having snatched some mail from the letterbox before they’d hidden. “Okay, hold on a sec.” She turned to Cawthorne, who had been talking intently on the satellite phone.

“The Checquy is aware of the situation. They’re sending backup troops,” he said. “They should be here within the hour, and then they’ll march through and kill everything that’s not us.”

“Okay, so, we’ll just hole up here and wait?” she said.

“Probably easiest,” he agreed. Felicity put the phone back to her ear.

“Odette, reinforcements are on the way. We’re going to wait until they arrive. Okay? Odette?”

“Felicity, there’s something moving about downstairs,” came the whispered reply. “I think there’s more than one.” She sounded terrified.

“Keep quiet,” said Felicity. “We’re on our way.”

“We are?” said Cawthorne in surprise.

“We are,” said Felicity firmly. She slung the gun back on her shoulder and took up her club. “Let’s go.”

*

“How are we going to find them?” asked Cawthorne, following her down the stairs. “This place is a maze.”

“Internet directions,” said Felicity, holding up her phone.

“It won’t have the alleys on it,” he warned. “We’ll be using the streets.”

“Then you’ll want to have your big gun ready,” she said, and she opened the front door. According to her app, Odette’s temporary address was two minutes’ drive away. “Let’s run.”

They ran, taking care to keep to one side of the street. Out of the corner of her eye, Felicity saw a flicker of green and yellow as a creature let itself down from a roof.

“Keep going!” Cawthorne said to her as he stopped and turned to face it. “I’ll take care of it!”

“Thanks,” gasped Felicity as she ran on, but she didn’t think he heard her. Behind her, there were rifle reports, then silence. She couldn’t even look back to see what had happened; she had to keep on running. Then she heard footsteps and tried to speed up. She fumbled for her gun, ready to swing around and fire.

“It’s me!” shouted Cawthorne from behind her. “Keep running! They don’t respond well to getting shot in the middle of the face!” He drew level to her.
A bit fitter than me,
she acknowledged. Rounding the corner onto Odette’s street, they saw two creatures prowling about outside one of the houses. “Machine guns!” barked Cawthorne. “Faces!” The creatures whirled toward them, and the two Checquy operatives slowed as they brought up their guns and fired.

Cawthorne was correct — the middle of the creatures’ faces, like the napes of their necks, seemed vulnerable to bullets. The two they shot fell to the ground almost instantly.

“That’s Odette’s house!” Felicity wheezed. There were creature-size holes in the wall —
Why make more than one hole?
she thought — and the two operatives eased their way through them.
Maybe those we killed made the holes,
she thought hopefully. Cawthorne silently touched her hand and pointed upward. There were more holes punched in the ceiling.
They’re really not very clever monsters.
She heard movement above but couldn’t tell if it was human or otherwise. Guns at the ready, they went up the stairs.

The landing was empty, but there were no holes in the ceiling.
So they might not have gotten into the attic yet,
she thought. She was about to call out quietly for Odette when two of the creatures stalked out of a bedroom into the hallway.
Ohhhh, shit.
The two pairs looked at each other, and then Cawthorne said from behind her, “Shoot ’em.”

Felicity immediately pulled the trigger, but, with that horrible quickness, the creatures had ducked back into the bedroom.