He scrambled back down to the floor, looking out of the window to see that Rémy and J had moved. They were no longer standing in front of the machine. Thaddeus’ heart turned over as he saw Rémy examining one of the strange armoured suits on the other side of the room. What was she doing? She wasn’t seriously considering getting into one of them, surely?
“Rémy!” he shouted, banging on the glass again. “Don’t do it! It’s not safe! You don’t know –”
He broke off as he watched J, who had suddenly become animated. The boy had grabbed Rémy’s arm and was trying to pull her away, pointing in the direction of one of the three tunnels that led out of the room. Had he heard someone coming? If he had…
“Run!” Thaddeus shouted through the glass, banging his hand flat against it. “Rémy! J! You mustn’t be caught. Get out – run!”
J was obviously telling Rémy the same thing, but she held back. She looked towards the machine again and then pulled her arm out of J’s grip, running back towards Thaddeus. She ran right up to the glass, banging, shouting for him. He couldn’t hear her, and she obviously still couldn’t see him.
“Just go,” he cried, even though he knew she couldn’t hear. “I’ll be all right. Look after yourself. Look after J. Just go!”
Rémy fell still and stared through the glass. For a moment, Thaddeus thought she could see him. She flattened her hands against the window, and he realized that if the glass hadn’t been between them, they would have been no more than two inches apart. He reached out, hesitantly, pressing one hand and then the other to the cold ghosts of hers.
She said something, her lips moving silently. And although he couldn’t hear her, he knew what she’d said, as surely as if she’d spoken straight into his ear.
“I’ll come back,” she said. “I’ll come back for you, Thaddeus Rec. I promise.”
He felt a strange sensation in his chest. There was a jolt, as if something had been plunged deeply into his heart and had lodged there. Thaddeus blinked.
“Go,” he whispered. “Please, Rémy – go.”
She stepped back almost as if she’d heard, staring at the glass for a moment longer. Then she turned and ran. J didn’t wait for her, careering ahead and disappearing down one of the tunnels with Rémy close behind. They vanished into the darkness.
Seconds later, a group of men appeared from the tunnel on the far right. There were four of them, tall and broad-shouldered. They were dressed in loose black trousers and shirts, their faces covered up to the eyes and their heads wrapped in black turbans. Across their chests were strapped wide leather belts, a hunter’s pouch on each. They moved in formation, two ahead and two behind. One of the men in front held up his hand and they all stopped, in unison. This leader gave brief signs with his hands and they separated. They were searching.
Thaddeus stepped away from the window, moving backwards until his shoulders touched the cabinet behind him. Three of the men had walked out of sight. But the leader seemed to know exactly where to go. He glanced up at something above the machine – the wooden platform, Thaddeus supposed. Then he walked straight towards the window.
For a moment, the man stared in blindly, as Rémy had done just a few moments before. Then he pulled out a pair of tinted glasses from his hunter’s pouch. He put them on and peered solemnly at the glass.
The leader shouted something briefly. In seconds, the three other men stood beside him, all wearing glasses and all looking in. And this time, he knew they could see him.
Thaddeus was caught.
Twelve
Dark Discoveries
Rémy followed J into the dark tunnel. She could now hardly see where she was going. She had to put her hands out against the narrow walls to stop herself stumbling on the rough ground. Ahead of her, J, still wearing his glasses, was more sure of himself. He ran on, turning corner after corner before eventually stopping. She drew to a halt beside him, putting out a hand in the dark to find his small shoulder as he bent double and caught his breath.
“We should have gone back into the sewer,” she said after a moment. “Back to the river shore.”
“We’d never ‘ave made it out before the tide turned,” said J. “‘Old on a mo’…”
Rémy heard rummaging, and then the sound of a match being struck. The flame flickered in the darkness, illuminating J’s thin face as he touched it to the thick candle he’d pulled from his pack. She sighed in relief and the light blossomed, yellow in the narrow passageway.
J pulled his glasses down around his neck and tried to smile, though his eyes were dark with worry. “Mr Rec…”
Rémy’s stomach turned over. “I know. But we’ll get him back, J. I promise. Maybe they will not discover him where he is, in the belly of the machine.”
J nodded but didn’t look convinced. “Well, I reckon we’re going to ‘ave to get out some’ow,” he said. “Go back to the Professor, see what he can do to ‘elp.”
“Do you know another way out of here?”
“No,” J admitted. “But there’s got to be another way, ain’t there? Stands to reason. And –”
He stopped suddenly, the flame from the candle light casting lined shadows on his face as he frowned. J turned his head, listening.
“J?” Rémy asked. “What is it?”
“Do you ‘ear that?”
They fell silent for a moment. At first Rémy could hear nothing. She was about to tell J as much when it came to her. A faint, echoing sound like wood being struck with an axe, but tinnier.
Rémy straightened up. The sound was echoing down the tunnel they were in. It seemed a long way away. “Come on,” she said.
“You ain’t plannin’ on going towards it?”
She looked at the boy and shrugged. “Do you have a better idea? That could be coming from the surface, for all we know.”
As they set off along the corridor, Rémy tried not to think about Thaddeus and what had happened to him. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much. After all, with him trapped, she was free. It just didn’t seem the victory that it should have been, somehow.
Ahead of her, J turned the corner and then stopped suddenly, blowing out the candle and plunging them back into darkness.
“J!” Rémy exclaimed, “What –”
“Ssh!” he hissed.
She fell silent, blinking in the blackness. Then, as her eyes adjusted she realized it wasn’t as dark as it had been. There was a faint glow – and the sound they had heard was louder now.
“Come on,” she whispered, taking the lead.
They crept along the shaft. It was becoming narrower, so narrow, in fact, and so low that Rémy had to stoop to keep going. The glow became brighter and the noise more pronounced, until they could eventually see where it was coming from – an opening in the tunnel to their left.
Rémy glanced back at J to see fear etched on his face, and knew what he was thinking. They obviously hadn’t found a way to the surface, and the sounds were most definitely those of industry – heavy, resounding clangs, dull thuds and the shouts of men’s voices.
“Let’s turn back,” he said. “Eh? Let’s find another route, Rémy. Back there, I fink I saw…”
Rémy shook her head. “I must see what they’re doing!”
She moved to the edge of the light, not stepping fully into it. She peered around the doorway.
“Mon Dieu!”
The doorway she stood in was halfway up the wall of what seemed to be an underground quarry. Rough-hewn steps led down onto the mine floor, which was deep and black with streaks of metal that she could have mistaken for silver if she hadn’t known they were under the city of London. There were people everywhere, hacking at the quarry face, dragging chunks of rock hewn out of the earth to rough wooden carts set on tracks that led up and out of a larger tunnel on the opposite
wall.
“Let me see,” she heard J say behind her. She moved to make space for him and he looked, struck speechless by the sight before him.
The people working the rock face were dirty and painfully thin. They were both men and women, dressed in rags and with chains binding their bare feet together. Children no older than J toiled in the dust, too. Guards stood around the edges of the cavern holding huge, flaming torches that matched the ones pinned to the wall. One stood casually eating an apple while a hungry child looked on. When he caught her staring, he lunged towards her and she screamed, scurrying back to her work.
“The man who owns this must be the devil himself,” Rémy whispered.
J wasn’t listening. He was silently watching one of the workers down below. Then suddenly he jerked forward, making as if to run into the light and down the steps. Rémy managed to catch him, dragging him back before he gave them both away.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, as the boy struggled in her arms. “J, are you mad? Stop it!”
“I seen ‘im!” J hissed back, fighting against her. “I seen ‘im, down there! I got to get ‘im out!”
“Who?” Rémy asked, thinking for one confused moment that he meant Thaddeus. “Who have you seen?”
“Tommy!” the boy cried. “Me best mate, Tommy. Let me go!”
“J, I can’t. If you go down there, you’ll be caught. We’ll probably both be caught! We cannot help anyone if they catch us. Stop it. Stop struggling, J. Listen to me!”
J fell still abruptly, nodding. Rémy loosened her grip cautiously, and moved to block his path, just in case the boy tried to run again.
“I can’t leave ‘im there,” J said tearfully. “‘E’s my best mate! I can’t just… leave ‘im.”
“I understand,” Rémy soothed. “I know it is hard. But we won’t leave them. Not any of them – not your friend, not those other people, not Thaddeus. We will get them out. But we can’t do it alone. We have to get out of here, J. Yes? Be patient, please.”
He stared at her for another moment before nodding. “Alright. But let’s be quick about it. I ain’t leavin’ ‘im down there for a minute longer than I can ‘elp. Got it?”
Rémy nodded. They slipped through the light, keeping as low as possible, and then continued along the stone tunnel. Rémy was nervous now – these passageways were obviously used and if someone came the other way they would have nowhere to go. She came to a crossroads in the rock passage and turned left. They had only gone a few more paces before J stopped. She turned to look at him.
“What is it?”
His eyes were large and fearful. “Someone’s coming. Listen.”
She could hear them, too, and it wasn’t just one person. Pairs of feet thudded against the earth floor.
“Which way?” she asked. “Where are they coming from?”
It was almost impossible to tell. The sound echoed, amplified by the close walls of rock and the crossroads they had just passed.
“Run,” she said. “Just run!”
“Which way?”
She picked a direction and fled down it, with J hot on her heels. Rémy took them back the way they had come before choosing a different path at the crossroads. They turned a corner and skidded to a halt.
Ahead of them, men were walking single file in the narrow passageway. They were tall enough to be bent almost double under the rock. The leader saw her immediately, his eyes flashing as he shouted something. They began to run.
Rémy and J rushed back the other way. J stumbled over the rough floor and she picked him up, half-carrying him until he’d found his footing, but it delayed them enough to put their pursuers right on their heels.
She heard a faint cracking sound and then another shout sounded behind her. J fell, tumbling hard against the rock. As she turned to help, Rémy heard another crack and felt something snake around her waist, pulling so tight that it knocked the breath from her body. She was tipped off balance and slammed into the wall before hitting the floor.
The last thing she saw was a sack, coming towards her. Something was stuffed into her mouth as the sack was put over her head, blinding her completely. Her hands were bound and she was hoisted up so that not even her feet touched the ground. Then she was carried off back down the tunnel along which they had just fled.
* * *
Rémy attempted to struggle against her captors, but it was useless. She could hear J’s angry, muffled yells and was relieved to know that he was at least well enough to protest.
At length, they stopped. She could hear voices talking and then, suddenly, Rémy found herself on a damp floor. Abruptly, the ropes on her wrists were cut and a second later the sack was removed from her head. She spat out the gag, finding a dishevelled J beside her.
They were in an altogether darker, danker, smaller underground room than they had seen before. The walls dripped with rust-coloured water and green algae. Rémy scrambled up, the ground slimy under her boots.
They were surrounded by men, all dressed in black. Rémy stood straight, chin high – and then she ran, darting to the left, where she saw an opening.
“J,” she shouted. “Go! Run!”
The men were on her in a second – she fought, scratching and biting, but she was no match for them. Fear bit down on her heart – What did they want? What would they do to her? – and made her fight harder.
“Stop,” said a voice, as deep and dark as the tunnels around them. “Miss Brunel, please – stop.”
She ignored the voice, not wanting to know how the man knew her name. She just needed to get away. And then...
“Rémy,” she heard someone say, this time in a voice she recognised. “Please, let her go. Let me talk to her! She’s just scared, she –”
Rémy was so shocked that she dropped her guard, but the men had already stepped back. The person who had spoken pushed between them to stand in front of her. Rémy stared, open-mouthed.
Thirteen
Concealments
“You!”
Before her stood the Professor – Thaddeus Rec’s faithful friend, the one who had offered them safe shelter and food.
“I should have known!” Rémy cried, struggling again. “I should have known it was you! No one is ever as kind as you were without wanting something from it.”
Rémy saw something flash through the Professor’s eyes as his smile disappeared. It was something sharp and angry and – just for a fraction of a second – a little fearful, too. Her mind whirred as she tried to make sense of it all.
“All those different clothes,” she went on, still trying to break free, “all that make-up. It was to disguise yourself, wasn’t it? To always make yourself look different!”
“Stop,” said the Professor, his smile back in place, raising his hands to placate her. “Rémy, please stop. Everything is fine. Let me explain. Everything is –”
“Did Thaddeus know that you have deceived us?” Rémy said. “I hope he did not. I hope, if he still lives, that he never finds out. He thought you were his friend! He thought –”
“I thought what?” Thaddeus asked, as he appeared without warning at the Professor’s elbow.
“Mr Rec!” J shouted, happily. “Well, ain’t you a sight for sore eyes!”
“And you, J!” Thaddeus smiled and then turned back to Rémy. “I am so glad to see you both. Are you all right? I’m so sorry…”
Rémy blinked for a moment, too stunned to even speak. Then she threw herself at the policeman, her arms around his neck before she even knew what she was doing. Thaddeus stiffened for a moment, before wrapping his arms around her tightly.
“It’s all right,” he said quietly into her ear. “Rémy, it’s all right.”
“I was afraid you were dead!” she said, and then, recovering herself, quickly pushe
d him away. He had a gash over one eye. “What has he done to you?”
Thaddeus touched a hand to his head, as if only just remembering the cut. “Who? Oh – that’s nothing. I just hit my head as I fell into the machine. It’s fine.”
Rémy realized that they were once again surrounded by the Professor’s thugs. The man himself was standing close by as if he had not a care in the world. She pointed at him, her hand shaking with rage.
“This man – this… this traître!” She grabbed Thaddeus’ hand and looked around for J. “Thaddeus – together we can fight him, and his men. He must be working with Abernathy! We can get away! We can’t stay here. You must –”
“Really,” said the Professor, “my dear, there is no need for this. You do not understand. There is a perfectly good explanation.”
Thaddeus opened his mouth to say something, too, but was stopped by a deep voice, echoing behind her.
“Miss Brunel,” it said. “Please do not be afraid.”
Rémy turned to see a man taller than any she had ever seen before. His stature was such that he had to stoop under the low ceiling of the tunnel. He looked like a native of the Indian sub-continent, with dark hair and dark eyes set against walnut-hued skin. His head was bound in a richly-coloured turban the shade of the deepest sapphires, made to match his robe, which flowed around his sandalled feet. His face was half-hidden by a large, dark beard, but his eyes were bright and seemed to hold a smile, though the look on his face was serious.
“I am sorry for your treatment at the hands of my men. They did not mean to harm you, merely convey you to safety in the quickest and quietest manner possible. You were in grave danger.”
“ ‘Ang on a minute,” said J, in an awed voice. “I think I know who you are. You’re Mr Desai, ain’t cha’? You gotta be. I ‘eard of you. I never thought you was real, though.”
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