“I’ve been waiting for you, Morgan. I see you’ve brought Tori along.”
Mike.
Ice Diaries ~ Lexi Revellian
CHAPTER 23
The problem with guns …
We both switched on our torches. Their combined light showed Mike sitting sideways on the Polaris’s seat ten metres away, a picture of confidence and relaxation. The Glock was not in evidence. He must be keeping it as a little surprise, not knowing Serena had tipped us off. The bag of Semtex lay on the floor in front of him, along with some of our stuff out of the trailer. I kept my torch trained on Mike as Morgan flashed his around, illuminating shadowy spaces and concrete walls and beams.
While his face was turned from the light he muttered so only I could hear, “Mac and Hong are behind us. When he shoots, dive.”
We’d walked into a trap. I was sweating in the cold air, my heart banged against my ribs, and I had trouble keeping my torch steady. The click of a lighter made me jump. Hong was moving around, lighting half a dozen tea lights – mine from our trailer – and setting them at intervals round the walls where they gave out a weak golden light, illuminating small circles of dusty concrete. Mike got to his feet, left hand holding the torch, right hand in his pocket. I wondered if his finger was on the trigger. He looked cocky enough.
“Your problem, Morgan – or I should say, one of your problems, because you’ve got quite a few right now – is you’re not as smart as you think you are. Whereas I’m a lot smarter than you think. You thought I’d be in the corridor outside Tori’s flat waiting for Eddie to smoke you out, didn’t you? It’s the obvious thing to do. It’s probably what you’d do in my place. But I worked out that if I found the Polaris – and I knew it had to be somewhere not too far away – eventually you’d join me. And here you are.”
Morgan drawled, “Bit of bad luck for Eddie, being used as a decoy.”
“That’s about all he was good for. Eddie was dumb.”
I said, “You should send someone to get him. He’s injured and lying in the snow.”
He smiled at me, head on one side, as if I’d said something naïve and rather charming. “I was afraid that might be the case, but unfortunately I don’t have the manpower right now to pick him up. Besides, he’s no longer part of my plans.”
Morgan said, “What are your plans?”
“I’m taking the Polaris and everything with it, including the Semtex you stole and, in the circumstances, your share of the gold – plus some rather flashy diamond-set jewellery I found in a bag. As you won’t be going south, and I doubt her flat is habitable any more, I’m offering to take Tori with me –”
“Not interested.”
“Wait one moment, Tori, I’m talking to Morgan.” His hand moved inside his pocket making my heart jolt. “Please would you move six paces to your left?”
“No.” I stayed where I was, next to Morgan. As soon as I moved he’d shoot him.
“Do it,” Morgan said out of the corner of his mouth. I hesitated. “It’s okay.”
I stared at his face for more information. Was he saying that to protect me, or because he had a plan and I was in his way where I was? He’d told me not to get in his way. We should have had a code – except we weren’t expecting to need one. His expression was intent, focused on Mike, unreadable. Reluctantly I walked six paces to my left and stopped, watching the two men picked out in the gloom by each other’s circles of torchlight.
“I’ll tell you what the deal is,” Mike said. “You can walk away from here on three conditions. One, you apologize. On your knees. Two, you hand over the Polaris keys. Three, Tori agrees to come south with me.”
Morgan laughed. “Dream on. She’s already told you she wouldn’t do that.”
“She might change her mind if it’s the only way to save your useless life.”
Mike pulled the Glock out of his pocket with the flourish of a gambler producing a winning ace; his new toy that made him more powerful than a cage fighter. He held it in his right hand at shoulder level, arm bent, the square black barrel pointing at Morgan’s chest. My heart rate redoubled, even as random thoughts surfaced in my mind. Shouldn’t he be holding the gun in both hands, arms straight, to minimize the recoil? Serena said he’d been taught how to fire it. Of course, his torch was in the other hand. He hadn’t thought this through.
“Now don’t think about trying to rush me. I haven’t had a lot of practice, but you’re ten metres away, and I’d have time to fire several shots before you got anywhere near me, and the nearer you got the harder it would be to miss.” His eyes moved in my direction. “So Tori, it’s up to you.”
“No it’s not,” Morgan said. “I’m not going to apologize, so we needn’t bother with Tori’s part of your fucking stupid deal.”
Mike had opened his mouth to reply when footsteps behind me made me look over my shoulder. Somebody else had arrived, panting like a dog. I couldn’t see who in the dimness, but his torchlight bobbed from Mike to Morgan.
“Thank goodness I’ve found someone, can you two come and help?” Archie, so out of breath he could hardly speak. He sounded beside himself. “Tori’s flat’s burning and I shouted through her back door and she didn’t answer and she may be trapped in there overcome by smoke. I couldn’t get in. Greg’s not home. Eddie’s hurt and lying out in the snow, back by Tori’s flat. He may die or get frostbite. I can’t lift him.” His voice went up a notch. “We need to get back there fast.” He was level with Morgan now, so I could see him. Sweat trickled down the side of his face. Hastily he took off his spectacles, wiped the snow and condensation from the lenses and replaced them on his nose, saying urgently, “Come on.” Something about Morgan’s expression made him look closer at Mike. He said in shocked tones, “Mike, is that a gun? Are you threatening Morgan? What’s going on?”
Mike said, “Stay out of this, Archie. Turn round and go home. Now.”
Archie spotted me in the shadows, came over and clasped my hands. He peered into my face with relief and anxiety. “Thank God. Are you all right?” I nodded. “Is Greg here?”
“No.”
He turned to Mike again and spoke with authority and no trace of fear in his voice. “Put the gun away, Mike. That’s not the way to go on. Eddie needs you. I know there’s bad blood between you and Morgan, but I’m sure you can come to an agreement if you just sit down quietly together and talk it over, maybe tomorrow when both of you have had a chance to calm down. I’m willing to act as a mediator if it’ll help. But right now we have to help Eddie.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said get out.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Mike. Tori, I think you should leave now.”
I remembered the trailer half full of Molotov cocktails just outside the building, and the lighter I always carried. There had to be something useful I could do with them. “Okay,” I said, turning to go.
Mike raised his voice. “Stay where you are or I’ll shoot Morgan.”
I turned. “You don’t want to do that,” I said. “Firing a gun for real isn’t like it is in the movies. Did you know the noise a gunshot makes is between 140 and 160 decibels? Loud enough for one shot to damage the microscopic hairs in the inner ear, and like you said, you’d need to fire several times. It might harm our hearing too if we were unlucky, but you’re only a couple of feet from the Glock so it would be much worse for you. Ears are delicate. That’s why people on shooting ranges always wear ear protection, and soldiers are issued with ear plugs. Fire that, and you risk tinnitus, increased sensitivity to noise, and hearing loss in the higher registers. And it’s likely to be permanent. Non-reversible.” I remembered what he’d said to Nina at the dinner. “Mozart would never be quite the same.”
“You made that up. A few shots wouldn’t hurt me.” But he looked rattled. Serena had said the previous owner gave him a demo – perhaps he’d already experienced some of the symptoms I’d described.
I shrugged. “It’s the truth, but if you want to find out the hard way …
Straight after the shot, you’ll get ringing in your ears and a muffled sensation. It might gradually wear off over the next year, or it might not. You’d have to wait and see.”
There was a long pause. He lowered the gun. “Clear off, the three of you.”
Archie was about to say something, so I grabbed his arm and pulled. I didn’t want to hang about. Mike might change his mind. We walked past Mac and Hong, past Eddie’s trailer (I saw Morgan consider taking it, and decide against) and into the blizzard. No one followed us. We ploughed as fast as we could through the snow, sinking up to our ankles, checking over our shoulders for signs of pursuit. Now we’d got away I was shaking all over and sweating as if we were in the tropics. I drew the free icy air deeply into my lungs. Morgan was giving me sidelong glances. After a few minutes he said,
“I don’t know how you did that.”
“Nor do I – it was all I could think of, I’m amazed it worked.”
“Then you didn’t know his father was hard of hearing? He’d worked with heavy machinery in his twenties. He was too macho to bother with ear defenders. Mike used to take the piss when his dad couldn’t hear what people said. He wouldn’t want to end up like him.”
“I had no idea. You and Serena both said he was neurotic over his health, that’s all. I thought it had to be worth a try.”
“You knowing it was a Glock helped. Now he thinks you’re a gun pro as well as an expert on the inner ear.”
Archie said, “How did you know all that about hearing damage?”
“I know a lot of useless facts.” I grinned. “Occasionally they turn out to be useful after all.”
Ice Diaries ~ Lexi Revellian
CHAPTER 24
Trip to the chemist
For the next few minutes no one said anything. It was difficult to talk as well as keep up with the pace set by Morgan. I found I could still worry, though.
Eventually I said, “What are we going to do without the Polaris and all our stuff? We won’t get it back, will we?”
“No. It’s no use to him because I’ve got both keys, so my guess is he’ll take a small part out of the engine to stop it working and move the trailer. I reckon we’ll have to cross it off for now.”
I went on worrying. As it became clear we were not heading for Bézier, Archie stopped, his hand on Morgan’s arm. “Will you come with me to move Eddie?”
Morgan shook his head. “Sorry. Right now Eddie’s welfare’s pretty low on my list of priorities.” He started walking again.
Archie hurried to catch up with him. “He’ll die if he’s left there much longer.”
I said, “Where are we going?”
“To the chemist to get all the earplugs they’ve got before Mike does.”
“After that, then?” Archie looked distressed, and I could see why. I too was unhappy at the thought of a human being lying helpless in the freezing cold, succumbing to frostbite and hypothermia, dying alone. I nearly offered to go with him, but Mike might turn up …
Morgan said, “Okay, after that. He can tell me where he left his sled.”
Snow had drifted against the door to the staircase leading to the shops, making it difficult to open. We set off fast down the stairs which were dark, cold and claustrophobic as a dungeon. It’s bad enough in daylight. I experienced a sudden longing to be curled up cosily on my sofa in front of a roaring stove with a good book, and felt panic that my home was no longer a haven I could return to, and all our travelling supplies were now in Mike’s hands, along with the Polaris. I’d fallen between two stools. If we couldn’t get our sled back, or get hold of Eddie’s, I was now stuck in London like before. Only I’d have to start all over again with a new flat, chiselling a hole through the wall for the stove’s flue, collecting provisions and cutting up firewood, a daunting prospect. Perhaps not everything had been burnt, some of it might be salvageable … I could look when we went to rescue Eddie.
We’d arrived at ground level, and wove our way between shops and ice tunnels to reach Superdrug, right at the end. It’s not a huge shop, but there are two long aisles and we had to flash our torches on every shelf searching for earplugs. At last we found them on the lowest shelf next to the corn plasters, only two kinds. We put them in a plastic bag, then checked the stock room, found three boxes and stashed those too. Since we’d lost everything except what we carried in our backpacks, I bagged soap and some toilet rolls while we were there. On the way out I picked up several packets of earplugs from a display by the till – Morgan was impressed I’d spotted them. Archie got fidgety in Argos, as it took us some time to check in the catalogue then find the items they stocked. They didn’t have ear defenders, only Zoggs Aqua Plugz. We gathered up the lot, even the Junior ones, and headed back, me swinging the bag.
As we reached the door, Morgan held out his arm in front of us and stopped. “Someone’s coming,” he muttered. “Turn the torches off. Don’t move.” We stood in the utter blackness, listening. I could smell Archie’s aftershave and hear his breathing above the faint scratchings of rats. Then I saw a small bobbing light approaching from our left, the chemist’s where we had been, and heard soft footsteps. The shadowy figure of a man appeared in the snow tunnel, and Morgan jumped him. The man’s torch fell and rolled to one side.
Morgan yelled, “Tori! Light!” I shone my torch on the newcomer – Hong – being careful to keep the beam out of Morgan’s eyes. They punched and grabbed at each other, dodging and kicking. Not many of the punches landed, they were both too good at evasive action. Then Hong got hold of Morgan and tripped him. They crashed to the ground, Hong on top. They grappled, and I couldn’t tell who was winning. Hong lay sideways across Morgan, awkwardly thumping his head. Morgan twisted like a snake and they were upright again, crouching, each trying to get the advantage. I noticed Archie was gripping my arm. Suddenly Hong threw a punch. Morgan’s foot lashed out unbelievably fast and connected with Hong’s jaw. He fell like a tree, bounced and lay still. Morgan knelt and started going through his pockets. Torchlight flashed on another sled key. Hong groaned and stirred.
Morgan gripped the neck of his jacket. “Where’s your sled?”
“If I tell you, he kill me.”
“I’ll kill you if you don’t. Or maybe just break your arm, which comes to the same thing. Where is it?”
Hong said nothing and Morgan punched him. Archie said, “You shouldn’t hit a man when he’s down,” which was the first time I’d ever heard that phrase used literally.
“He’s only got to tell me where his sled is and I won’t.” Morgan’s attention went back to Hong. He hit him again. “Mike won’t know you told me.”
“Building south of Bézier. Not far. Roof sticks out.”
“That’s the truth, is it, because if it’s not you’ll regret it.”
Hong nodded and Morgan got to his feet, rubbing his knuckles.
“Are you all right?” Archie’s voice.
“Yeah,” said Morgan.
“I meant him.” Archie stooped beside Hong as he propped himself unsteadily on one elbow and spat.
“Leave him if you want us to go and get Eddie. He’ll be okay.”
Archie picked up Hong’s torch and handed it to him. “Can you get yourself back on your own?” He nodded sullenly, and Archie levered himself uncertainly to his feet. None of us was having a great evening, but poor old Archie was having a truly rotten time dealing with one difficult choice after another, struggling to do the right thing.
Snow whipped in my face when we came out of the doorway at the top of the stairs and turned towards my erstwhile home. My legs ached as I wearily plodded behind Morgan, my feet in his tracks like Good King Wenceslas’s page. A snippet of the carol went round and round in my head, and I couldn’t remember the rest;
“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer.”
I had a bad feeling we’d find Eddie dead under a mound of snow, and if he was dead, then M
organ would have killed him. I didn’t like the thought of Morgan being a killer. And I’d bear some responsibility for not going with Archie to help him twenty minutes earlier because I was afraid of Mike. I prayed he would be alive and without frostbite. We rounded the corner of Bézier. The fire was almost out, just a few small flames tenaciously licking the wooden floor of the balcony, spitting at the snow. A great scorch mark stained the building right to the top. All my panes of glass had cracked, and some of them fallen out. There was a horrible smell of burnt things that are not supposed to burn. Puddles of sticky black goo were all that remained of my solar lights. The inside of the flat wasn’t gutted, but smoke had blackened the parts near the windows and, open to the elements, it was no longer fit for human habitation. I wanted to cry. I looked towards where Eddie had been. Nothing, no human-shaped heap of snow.
“Tori!” Greg’s voice, from inside my flat. An indistinct shape waved at me. We made our way across the balcony and through the twisted glassless door, and saw Eddie next to him huddled on the sofa in front of the glowing window of my stove.
“Thank goodness,” Archie murmured, hurrying over. “Bless you, Greg.” Eddie’s white bandage was now red and his eyes, which had always been rather piggy, were so swollen he could barely see out of them. His nose was bleeding copiously and must have been extremely painful; but apart from his bruises he was a normal colour and breathing through his mouth, so it could have been a lot worse.
Greg turned my way. “I saw the flames and came in case you needed me, then I found Eddie. He’s not very well. I think perhaps he’d better stay at my flat, when he’s had a rest and can walk there. Do you want to too, Tori?”
“Ah, thanks, Greg, I might take you up on that. I’m so pleased you rescued Eddie. I thought he’d be done for, lying in the snow.”
Ice Diaries Page 17
