The Code War (31 page)

'Oh, I can see it,' shouted Ruth.
'Oh, it's amazing. It feels like a dream.' Everywhere around her,
leaves and branches were in several places at once, sometimes solid
and sometimes with a ghostly see-through quality about
them.

'Remember, you're in the Ninth
Dimension, not the Fifth. All light here is flexible and moves
around easily,' shouted Jo whose own black plumage seemed to Ruth
to move like waves on a midnight sea.

'The patterns are unbelievable.
Even the hangars and factory buildings are moving.' Ruth was
holding her hand to her mouth and looking increasingly
anxious.

'Don't worry, it will stop soon,'
reassured Jo. 'The wind doesn't blow for long. But flexible light
is the reason we're here. We can control it. We can make it go
fast, slow, stop, go backwards, bend it and make really fun shapes
out of it. Chan and I have combined some fairly well-known
astracraft technology with some light manipulation and developed
the Fundial. That's why it's called a lightcraft.'

'Can we get down on the ground?' begged
Ruth. 'I need solid earth beneath my feet. Or even rocky
desert.'

'Sure let's go.' And Jo fluttered
her wings and neatly hopped to Ruth's branch and led her down to
terra firma.

Jabez and Chan were sitting in the
Fundial,
discussing its
capabilities.

'So it can hold onto light in a
way that makes an astracraft invisible not only to humans but also
to Supernaturals.' Chan was drawing pictures in the air with his
hands. 'Plus it has the usual properties of regular astracraft
technology in that it can fly right through Fourth Dimension
solids. It just pushes the molecules aside.'

Jo and Ruth listened in.
'Now as I understand it,' stated the practical
Jo, 'you want to carry out some fiddly stuff on Earth in the Fourth
and make sure you're not spotted by the other side. What you gotta
remember is that while you're inside the Fundial you can't be seen.
But if you step out of it, you're back to normal rules. Also,
although they can't see you, make sure they don't work out your
location by what you do.'

'What does that mean?' asked a puzzled
Jabez.

'It means,' explained Jo patiently,
'that if they can't see you but they can see something that you've
just moved or changed, they can work out that you might be there.
Then they might decide to try and figure out how to do something
about it.'

'OK,' said Jabez, 'I think you're
telling me that nothing is foolproof and that I must take normal
safety precautions.'

'Exactly,' said Jo, 'you got it.
By the way we can also override the controls and recall the Fundial
at any time, whether you're inside it or not. So don't think of
taking it on an extended leave of absence. We can still bring it
back even if we can't see it.'

'Foiled again,' laughed Jabez. 'Looks
like I can't give up the day job just yet.'

'Seriously though,' he continued, 'Ruth
and I are working on an Earth project and the Fundial would come in
real handy. Can I take it into the Fourth for some hands-on
application work?'

'Ruth has already had our hands up
our backs and 'persuaded' us to let you take it,' said Chan,
grinning broadly. 'I don't need to say 'be careful' because only
you know the dangers you're facing. But, hey, we made the Fundial
for work as well as for pleasure so it would be good to see it
tried out in a real enemy-facing situation. Here, take the
keys.'

Chan held his right arm out with his
forearm up at 90 degrees. Jabez did the same, placing his forearm
against Chan's and took his hand. It was a traditional angel
greeting and marked the symbolic handover of the Fundial to Jabez's
care. Jabez took Jo's hand in the same way. 'It's a superb piece of
engineering. I'll guard it well,' said Jabez to Chan and Jo. Ruth
looked on in approval.

'Ruth, how about I give you a lift
home?' Jabez motioned to Ruth to step aboard the two-seater
craft.

A minute later the Fundial disappeared
from view.

Chan and Jo looked at each other and
sighed. 'Come on Jo, let's go and sing,' said Chan. 'I need a break
from avionic systems that move around as you're trying to engineer
them. It's doing my head in.'

As they walked back to the factory
which was still swaying drunkenly, they both lifted up their voices
and broke into the Music allowing it to consume them and wash over
them. They kicked up their heels and sang as they danced in unison,
now a hornpipe, now a tango, then a reel and now a jive. They
circled each other dos-a-dos, and they cartwheeled and span. They
waltzed through a copse of dry trees and down a path and up a long
high hill. And when at last they collapsed on the ground laughing
and breathless they talked of engineering and light and time and
how they would realise their dream to install a Fundial in every
house in Paradise. Then darkness came and they lay out a while
under the starlight
, holding hands,
watching the dry leaves twinkle and the trees walk until sleep
overtook them.

Flying Hippo, 25000
feet above Sahara Desert

Jabez peered out from the Fundial
and took in the sights below. It was night-time over North Africa
and the Earth's surface looked both lonely and desolate with only
moonlight to display its wonders. Beautiful too though, in its own
way.

The four-engined plane carrying Nancy,
Adima and Jimoh Bah was just a few hundred metres off his side. He
had watched it take off, waited till it had got to altitude and
spent a few minutes cruising beside it, taking in its bulky beauty
and its thundering ruggedness.

Now's the time, he said to himself.

Jabez could have done this operation
without the Fundial. Angels could stay hidden on Earth, when they
wanted to. But he needed to avoid oversight not just from people
but from Infernals who might be tracking Nancy at all times.

Jabez swung his craft in towards
the Hippo. He took the Fundial right inside the aluminium plane
until he was inside the cabin. He leaned out of the craft's side
window, found the clock in front of Jimoh Bah and breathed his
instruction upon it. Then he breathed on Jimoh Bah's watch. Finally
he did the same to the clock in front of Nancy. He paused to
observe her for a moment. She seemed happy, excited and making
plans about the future. He looked into her mind and saw what she
was thinking and was sad for a moment. She was a nice girl who'd
simply run into some very bad luck when Bezejel had decided to make
her a project. I will protect you, I will bring you back, whispered
Jabez. Jimoh Bah's watch and both clocks were showing 1.11 as Jabez
swung the Fundial out of the Hercules and soared up into the sky.
He took it away from Earth, past Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and out
to Alpha Centauri and beyond. He looked down at the thousands of
planets and systems where he knew angels were working, preparing
for the day when the drawstring would be pulled that would untangle
the convoluted chemics to create new heavens. What delights lay in
store for humankind, he thought. What shining physics and twists of
bio forms lay waiting for them to discover and explore. Oh how they
would marvel.

His thoughts turned homeward and
he selected a nearby gateway to take him back into the Fifth.
Shortly he returned to the heavenly shore and was trudging over the
shingle to his rustic accommodation and hammock. Agatha had sent
him more tea and biscuits. He supped the hot brew and crunched the
wafers and thought about friends.

O
n the
Flying Hippo, Zhivkin fumed. The tough satyr was on sentry duty
that night, watching Nancy. 'Someone's been here,' he called
angrily to Kodrob. 'Someone's messed with my stuff. They've changed
things right in front of me. I was watching, didn't take my eyes
off her, but they've been here. The filthy white boys have been
here. I'll have them. Nobody sneaks up on me and gets away with it.
I'll have them.'

Eilat,
Israel

'I want another mission,' repeated
Nancy. 'Oh, and I'd quite like to be paid. And I want to meet your
boss.'

'And perhaps you'd like my job too,'
replied Habib sarcastically. 'And my Swiss bank account
numbers.'

'All in good time,' rejoined Nancy,
equally sarcastic.

They were sitting in Habib's car in the
parking lot at the secret Eilat airport where Nancy had first
embarked. Habib had been waiting for her off the plane and at first
had been hard-faced and stern. But he was thrown off balance when
Nancy had walked towards him bearing a smile. A smile indeed!

'Look, for the thousandth time,' she
continued, 'when you sent me off to Gambia I hated you for
manipulating me. I was frightened. I was angry. But something
happened out there. I discovered myself. I found myself. I can't
just go back to a nothing job in a wet high street travel
agency.'

'Wet? What means wet?'

Nancy was enjoying Habib's
discomfiture. She knew he was prepared to deal with tears, anger,
threats and blame. For all of those he had a strategy worked out.
He knew how to confront force, even violence, and turn them aside
to get his way. He was a seasoned manipulator. But this was totally
unexpected. Nancy had thrown him by asking for a job. With Brother.
No-one worked for Brother unless they were already outside the law.
Even with her crumpled clothes and unwashed hair Nancy knew she was
the image of civility and niceness.

'Surely you can see that my story makes
sense?' As Habib looked away Nancy tapped him heavily on the
shoulder to bring him back, force him to look at her. Two could
play bully.

Habib regarded her with frustration.

'Lafi,' he almost spat the word
out. 'That no-good son of a camel. Yes, Nancy, it makes sense. It's
just like him to think he could run a secret business on the side,
using Brother's resources to help him. Probably thought he was
really clever. Child-trafficking too. Now that really is evil.' He
looked at her with feeling. Habib has values. Oh,
really?

'If what you're saying is true he
put in danger the entire cocaine supply chain from South America to
Europe.' This was becoming personal, Nancy could see. If Lafi
brought down the supply chain, Habib would go down with
it.

'It took Brother years to put that
together. And I was part of it.'

It was personal.

'If those villagers hadn't killed
him, I would have.' Habib came the closest to losing his temper
that Nancy had ever seen him. 'Plenty of others who can take his
place.' He stared out of his side window and this time Nancy
allowed him.

'I will verify your story, Nancy,'
he said after a moment, his usual self-control restored. He leaned
towards her, the bullying side of his character returning, staring
menacingly into her eyes. 'If you have lied to me, I will hurt you
and your friends. It would be better you leave Israel than wait to
see what I will do.'

Nancy absorbed his stare. She returned
it with a glare of her own.

She could see he didn't enjoy
being put on the spot. Habib was used to forcing decisions on other
people. Now he found himself backed into a corner by an enigmatic
whirlwind he couldn't read. A whirlwind who was clearly in no fear
of him at all. He needed space.

'OK Nancy, here what we do. First,
you off the hook. For now. While I check your story. You free to
have your holiday. You go home to your three boy friends.' Nancy
gave him a sour look. 'Tell them your aunt OK, false alarm. Second,
if you tell anyone about your mission, ever, we come after you.
Even in ten years' time. We have people in England too.
Understand?' She nodded. 'Third, meet me in Café Haifa on the beach
front in two days. At noon. If your story is true, who knows?
Brother always looking for people with ability. Maybe we use
you.'

She nodded again.

'
We talk
more then. But I make no promise. OK?'

'Fair enough,' Nancy replied after a
moment. 'I'll see you then.'

Nancy wanted to say more, but she
realised she would only damage her prospects if she kept haranguing
him with the same demand. She was also keenly aware of the irony
that a man who had threatened her and her friends and forced her
into a perilous situation was a man that she was now asking,
voluntarily, to help her find a place in his organisation. But in
the back of her mind she also knew that a future in Brother might
open a lot of doors and one of them just might lead to an
opportunity to pay him back.

Enough of that now, she thought, she
mustn't let him think for a second that revenge might be on her
mind.

Habib drove them back to Eilat
town and dropped Nancy near the beach. It was 9.00am and she didn't
want to face the boys just yet. Even though she was dirty and
desperately wanted to wash her hair she stopped at a café and
ordered tea and toast. The Gulf of Eilat was a perfect blue while
the still air and cloudless sky promised another hot day.
Windsurfers and swimmers were already out in the bay, sharing the
warm water's hospitality. Almost, she felt she could relax. A
solitary dinghy came past cutting a fine dash through the water and
displaying the number 1.11 on its sail in bold lettering. Nancy's
breakfast arrived and she ate it quickly then paid without waiting
for change and went home. As she entered the shower and looked in
the mirror she remembered the R and shuddered.

Red. 1.11.

Bugger it. Bugger it all.