by ES Richards
“Okay,” she nodded, “When do we go?”
Chapter 13
The group of them had debated the particulars of what sort of a deal they needed to strike with the Rikers for several more hours. As urgent as it was that they started out, they also needed to all agree on what they were going to say and what they could offer when the Rikers inevitably asked what was in it for them. Those that were going needed to present a united front and have complete faith both in the plan and in each other. It wasn’t unlikely that things would end in disaster and they needed to leave the cave comfortable with the knowledge that not all of them might return.
As such, it boiled down to just Luc, Taggy and Henry Packham himself who were willing to go. Alfred, in fairness to him, was very keen for the trip, but he was too old and would likely only slow them down or put them in more danger. Everyone else, to Henry’s surprise, was less than willing. Several had valid excuses like children that needed looking after, but that hadn’t stopped them running out into uncertain situations so far. Despite his feelings though, Henry knew he couldn’t force any of them and so thanked everyone for their advice and input and allowed them to go back to their days.
“That didn’t end as well as I would have liked,” he said with a wry smile as he closed the boardroom door again. “Looks like it’ll just be the three of us.”
“With all due respect, Henry,” Taggy replied, “you can’t come. These people need you here, if anything were to happen to you this place would just fall apart. You’re too valuable to just go wandering off.”
Henry laughed at the casual nature of Taggy’s remark, though he knew there was some truth to it. He hadn’t been planning to volunteer at all until it became apparent no one else was going to. He knew the cave needed him, but the cave wouldn’t be around for much longer if they couldn’t prepare for some sort of a future.
“It can’t just be the two of you.”
Taggy looked at Luc and raised her eyebrows, silently asking him a question. Much like he had read her earlier, Taggy saw what was going on in Luc’s head and nodded. “We’ll ask Walter and Lin,” she proposed, “they’ll both come. I’m sure of it.”
Henry paused for a second and thought. He was aware of the close bond the four of them had formed in recent weeks and had even considered inviting them along to the meeting, perhaps if he’d known them himself for a little while longer, he would have. Looking from Taggy to Luc and seeing how certain they both seemed, he knew he couldn’t say no.
“Okay,” Henry nodded, “they have to agree to it though. Everyone needs to be on the same page.”
“We will be,” Luc replied with a smile. “We’ll get this done, Henry. You can count on us.”
***
Six hours later the four of them were ready to leave at last. They’d wanted to depart earlier, but once Luc and Taggy had finished ironing out the details with Henry, they were forced to wait for Walter and Lin to return to the cave from a scavenging mission with some of the new arrivals. Thankfully the discussion about whether Walter and Lin were up for the next adventure once they were back didn’t take long. Just as Luc and Taggy had predicted, they needed no convincing. Walter and Lin were with them one hundred percent and the four of them were prepared to do their bit not just for the cave, but for the city.
“I’m not sure there’s enough gas in this old girl to get us there and back now,” Walter remarked as he sat in the driver’s seat of the yellow cab, using the same vehicle he and Lin had been in all day. “We might have to stop somewhere to refuel if possible.”
“I was thinking maybe leave the car somewhere around Jackson Heights,” Luc suggested as he claimed the passenger seat, leaving Lin and Taggy to get into the back alongside their gear. “It’ll be better to approach on foot once we’re nearby anyway, we can only get so far through the streets. Some of the roadblocks have been blown already, but we won’t get all the way.”
“Yeah sure, that works,” Walter nodded. “All ready?”
Murmurings of agreement rolled through the cab as Walter switched the engine on and the vehicle roared to life again. In the immediate weeks after Trident’s collapse, the streets of New York had been almost impassable. Wreckages obstructed every corner and there were more cars burning to a crisp than there were suitable for driving. Now however, as the remaining population of the city had gradually begun to adapt and organize once more, it wasn’t completely unheard of to see a car rolling by.
The streets had been cleared in perhaps the only operation led by the Gov that did any good – Walter had helped with that one, recruiting people to better their communities and in return providing them with clean water and food. As a result, it meant if you had fuel, you had a quicker way to get around the city, though the roadblocks created their own problems there as well. Several of them had been blown accidentally by vehicles, but even with that there wasn’t a straight path anywhere. Still, it was quicker than walking and with a decent supply of gasoline in the cave, it made sense to speed things along.
“Give us the details then,” Lin said as they pulled away from the cave, anxious to hear more about the plan that Luc and Taggy had devised. She and Walter had agreed without even a whisper, now they needed to use the journey north wisely to both take on as much information as possible. Once they were among the Rikers, they couldn’t afford for any of them to slip up.
“Okay,” Luc clapped his hands together, ready to explain. “So. How are you around wild animals?”
***
Walking through the Bronx Zoo, Taggy couldn’t help but feel like she was being stalked. When Henry had told her and Luc that the Rikers had set up their headquarters in the middle of the zoo, she had struggled to believe it. Now that she’d had more time to reflect, it made perfect sense. These were violent and aggressive criminals, of course they wanted to be surrounded by nature’s most deadly beasts. The animals that remained in their cages – about half – tracked them with their eyes as they walked past, watching carefully as the newcomers entered their domain.
It wasn’t the half that they could see that Taggy was concerned about though. Equally as noticeable as the caged beasts were the open doors, the fences that had been ripped down and the warning signs which had been pulled off the walls. The large gates to the lion enclosure were wide open, not a single creature visible in the enclosure. They could just be sleeping, camouflaged against the fake African savannah backdrop, or – the more likely option – they were loose somewhere else.
Taggy wondered whether the animals would’ve stayed inside the confines of the zoo or fled further afield. They might associate the place with reliable daily meals, or they might see it as a prison and therefore naturally flee from it like the inmates of Rikers Island had. The longer she thought about it, the more similarities Taggy found herself drawing between the animals and the prisoners. Both were deadly and she didn’t particularly want to meet either of them.
“Reptile house,” Luc announced, reading the sign of the building up ahead. “This is it.”
“Isn’t this all a bit odd?” Lin questioned as they approached the reptile house, the place where Henry had assured them, they could find members of the Rikers who were willing to negotiate with them. “Why isn’t anyone around? You’d think we would’ve seen someone by now.”
Henry had sent out a message to the Rikers earlier in the week and warned them that they would be coming. Lin was right though, they all expected that such a warning would mean the Rikers would be waiting for them. Instead they were hidden away. Yet another parallel to the beasts they now shared their home with that couldn’t be avoided.
“They must be watching us,” Walter said in little over a whisper. “This place is too creepy.”
“I feel like we’ve been followed since the entrance,” Taggy added. “I don’t like it.”
“Come on guys,” Luc tried to instill a bit of positivity into the group, worried their attitudes were going to let them down. “Remember what we’re here for, re
member what we’re trying to do. This is bigger than any of us, we need to make the Rikers see that too. Ready?”
Luc waited with a hand on the door to the reptile house until he’d had a positive nod from everyone, then, with a deep breath he pushed open the door and led them inside. Instantly they all felt out of their depth; despite the power being out, the reptile house still felt hot and sticky. The sound of running water dripped somewhere in the distance and there was a sort of fuzzy haze in the dimly lit air. If the zoo had been creepy before, things had just been kicked up another notch.
“Hello?” Luc called out, his voice echoing through the building. “Is anyone here? We’ve come from the city. Henry Packham sent us.”
He turned to look at Taggy and shrugged as no response came, preparing to open his mouth and speak again when suddenly three figures emerged from the mist. The sight of the men in front of them made even Luc feel nervous. The largest man stood in the middle, wearing nothing on his top half but a black, leather vest that sat open on his chest. He wasn’t rippled with muscle but had the sort of body where you could tell he worked out – he reminded Luc a little of a football player, someone that he certainly didn’t want to take a hit from.
If that man wasn’t intimidating enough, then the two who flanked him certainly played their part. The reason behind meeting in the reptile house was immediately clear, both men sporting snakes which wrapped around their shoulders and slithered by their sides. Luc felt Taggy shrink slightly beside him and he positioned his body at an angle to offer her some protection. If any of these men came at them there was little they could do, but Luc still felt the need to protect his friend in any way he could, at least until they knew exactly what sort of threat they were facing.
Using all his courage, he forced himself forward and held out a hand in greeting. “Luc Chambers,” he introduced himself. “It’s nice to meet you.”
The man in the middle stared at Luc’s outstretched hand for a second, as if debating what to do with it. Eventually he accepted the handshake, locking Luc’s hand in a vice-like grip and smiling, showing off a mouth severely lacking in front teeth.
“You look familiar, Luc,” he spoke, “do I know you from somewhere?”
“I don’t think so,” Luc replied, “though people do say I have one of those faces.” He did his best to hide the nerves from his voice as he replied – it hadn’t gone unnoticed by their group that they were sending two former police officers to negotiate with a group of criminals. Luc and Walter between them were likely responsible for locking some of them away, if any of them found out they used to be cops, they could be in real danger. With that in mind, Luc did his best to remain calm and smiled at the man without a snake, waiting for him to drop the matter and move on.
“Huh,” the man eventually replied, “fair enough. We don’t get many visitors here you see,” he explained, “much like on the island. Faces can tend to blur into one.”
“That’s okay,” Luc tried to move on swiftly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Didn’t give it to you,” the man laughed, turning his back to Luc and his group and sharing the joke with his reptile-wielding companions. “It’s Thatcher,” he admitted finally. “And this here is Coyote and Bull.” He nodded to each man in turn, introducing them with what Luc assumed had to be made up names. Not that he was about to question the methods of three previously incarcerated men, Luc just wanted to get to the reason for their visit, get their answers and get out of there. As such, he introduced Taggy and the others and got straight to the point.
“I assume you know why we’re here,” Luc started. “The Gov are getting out of control and we can’t let them take over the city like this. We’ve got people who are willing to stand up and fight against them, we just don’t have the ammunition. We know you’ve cornered the market, but we also know you’re lacking in fuel and a few other basic necessities. Do we have a trade? Are you happy to supply us with what we need?”
“Slow down, Luc,” Thatcher addressed him, walking past Luc and down the corridor. His two henchmen stood their ground and indicated for Luc and the others to follow, nodding ahead into the mist where Thatcher had just disappeared. The last thing Luc wanted to do was follow the man, but he knew Thatcher was playing a game and until they came to some sort of agreement, he needed to play along.
“Society is a lot like the animal kingdom when you think about it,” Thatcher’s voice carried through the gloom, seeming to come from all directions at once. “It’s eat or be eaten. Adapt or go extinct. Those who are clever enough to hunt the weak or the young rise to the top and those who stand up and try to fight the alpha get swatted out of the sky like a fly. Why are you trying to fight the alpha, Luc? Don’t you know your place.”
By now Luc had located Thatcher again, finding the large man standing above the crocodile enclosure. The transparent screens that had once protected the visitors from the animals were long gone, nothing but empty space between Thatcher and the carnivorous beasts below. One wrong step and he would fall down into their hungry jaws, his life teetering on the edge of a needle as he walked so absentmindedly along.
“They don’t deserve to be the alpha,” Luc replied, using the same language Thatcher was. “New York City isn’t a pride of lions, we’re a community, a hive, if you will. We need to all work together to ensure our future. We can’t be split into factions.”
“Even a hive has it’s queen though,” Thatcher pointed out. “And within the hive there are the soldiers, the workers, the drones. Society, like nature, is made to be divided. You cannot fight it’s natural path.”
“This isn’t the natural path though,” Luc argued back, unable to keep his voice calm and continue coming up with animalistic metaphors. He wasn’t here to talk, they needed something from the Rikers and if they weren’t going to get it, then he just needed to hear that so he could leave. “The Gov shouldn’t be in charge and they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with what they’re doing. They’ve planted bombs all over the city. They’re blowing up whole communities, murdering women and children. We can’t just stand by and let that happen!”
“We’re not, Luc,” Thatcher said, spinning round and staring straight at him while a crocodile jumped up and snapped at his heels from the pit below. The walls were just too high for the beast to reach Thatcher, but it came within centimeters and the man didn’t even flinch. If he didn’t know it already, Luc saw he was dealing with a very unique type of man.
“You are,” Thatcher continued. “The Gov – as you call them – aren’t bothering us. We keep to our part of the city and they keep to theirs. It’s what happens when you have two equally matched alphas in the area, they learn to coexist in neighboring territories. We don’t go into theirs and they don’t come into ours. Your problems are exactly that,” Thatcher grinned. “Your problems.”
Luc pursed his lips and thought for a moment, becoming increasingly frustrated with the conversation. A glance over to where Taggy and the others waited told him they were equally as uncomfortable as he was, none of them any the wiser on what they could say to diffuse the situation and convince the Rikers to help them.
“Don’t you want to be the alpha though?” Luc proposed, going out on a limb and drawing Thatcher’s attention once more. The man cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, silently encouraging Luc to continue.
“Why share the city,” Luc suggested, “when you could have it all? If you get rid of the Gov, there’s no one else standing in your way. You could have all of the city rather than just the Bronx. You could spread out. You could colonize.”
Thatcher nodded and seemed to consider the option, tempted by Luc’s proposal. “But then what about you? If we take the place at the top, won’t you then just have the same problem?”
“Better the enemy you know,” Luc shrugged, doing his best to hide his smile as he could tell Thatcher was finally coming around to the idea. In truth, the Rikers in control of the city was the last t
hing Luc wanted, but he remembered the conversation he’d shared with Taggy and Henry back at the cave. With the Gov running the city, they had the knowledge and the power to do what they want, the Rikers had power, but even after meeting them Luc still doubted whether they knew how to wield it properly. He was taking a risk in tempting them to the top, but it was a risk he was willing to take.
“You make an interesting point,” Thatcher replied after a pause, looking away from Luc and returning his attention to the crocodiles. “But sadly, I cannot accept. We have our own plans here, Luc, and helping your merry bunch does not fall into that. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Wait,” Luc didn’t want this opportunity to pass them by. “Just think about it.”
“Luc,” Taggy’s voice came from his right, drawing his attention in her direction. Thatcher’s two henchmen were closing in on them with their snakes, the two animals hissing and slithering about, moving in a way that only a snake could and dangling dangerously aloft in the air.
Briefly Luc looked back at Thatcher and in that very second saw that it was time to go. The man’s demeanor had changed from someone willing to talk and potentially negotiate to that of a bloodthirsty criminal again. In all the clever metaphors and careful conversation, Luc had almost forgotten what sort of people they were dealing with. The Rikers were criminals and it was definitely time to go.
Chapter 14
The walk back to where they had left the cab and indeed the drive back to the cave following that were both a quiet and somber affair. Despite his best efforts and reassurance from his friends, Luc couldn’t help but feel like he had failed. He kept going over the conversation with Thatcher in his head, replaying it over and over and trying to figure out where he had gone wrong. Perhaps if he’d played into the man’s hands a little earlier, appeased him more with the metaphors, maybe something would’ve made a difference.
