The forger opened the door quickly and dragged him in without introduction; she must’ve had the same thoughts. It just wasn’t normal for a herd to be walking around a dark street in the dead of night. His mere presence might be deemed suspicious to many.
‘Jhosatl, I assume,’ she said as she closed the door.
‘Er, yes,’ he replied, stuttering a little. He noticed that she held a vicious-looking laser pistol in her left hand. It was probably fair enough; she couldn’t be sure he was really Herbaht until she had caught his scent. The laser was obviously just for her own peace of mind.
‘Good,’ she said curtly. She offered her right hand for him to shake while she replaced the laser pistol in its holster. The holster was attached to a thin leather belt that had been lazily slung over the bottom post of her banisters. ‘I’m Nikklah, or Nicola, if you prefer. Actually, I prefer Nicola because it saves me having to remember my name when I’m forced to interact with the herd.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ he replied anxiously, taking the hand and shaking it. He wanted to make the exchange quickly and get out. Time was ticking, and he didn’t want to be late to rescue his wife. He couldn’t afford to be late.
‘So, how much do you need?’ she said, getting straight to the point. She was also making it clear from her body language that she wanted him gone as soon as possible. She led him into the living room where the newspaper was still reporting its network’s opinion about some event. ‘Can I get you a drink?’
‘Er, no thanks, mate,’ Jhosatl replied; he didn’t want to be delayed by a drink. Besides, he had the feeling she might resent it if he actually accepted the offer. ‘I need three million. I can pay three quarters of a million in legal currency for it. We’d have preferred to use all legal currency to pay for what we need, but we’re very short.’
‘Ok,’ she said simply. Under normal circumstances he expected she would have pushed for a better deal, but she was obviously tired and wanted to get this exchange over with as quickly as possible. To that end, she added, ‘It sounds like a fair deal to me. I’ll have the notes ready for you in two days. Okay?’
‘Two days!’ Jhosatl was shocked, and he sounded insistent as he continued, ‘But I need them today, mate. I need to leave with them, and I need them no later than an hour from now. That’s why I had to see you tonight. Tomorrow is too late!’
‘Can’t be done.’ Nikklah sounded cross. Perhaps she felt that Jhosatl was being too demanding. She explained the situation for him. ‘Oh, I can make the basic prints in that hour, but all the holographs that notes use to prove they’re authentic, they’re what takes the time. The machines have to be calibrated constantly, and each note has to be done individually, taking ten minutes to a quarter of an hour for each.’
‘I don’t have that much time,’ Jhosatl told her anxiously. ‘I’ll have to risk taking the notes as they are without the holographs then and risk them being discovered.’
‘You want me to compromise my work?’ If it was possible for her to sound more offended than she had at just being woken up in the early hours of the morning, then she did so now.
‘I have no choice, mate; my wife’s life is at stake. I’ll have just one chance to rescue her, and that’s less than two hours from now.’
She nodded her head slowly, and a sort of calm came over her, as if the explanation of why he needed the money so soon somehow absolved him from having the tenacity to wake her up in the first place. ‘I understand what it’s like to lose your spouse; my husband died about a month ago. Lucky, really, he missed all the troubles that we’re currently experiencing. All right, I’ll do it. But do me a favor.’
‘By all means, what do you want, mate?’ Jhosatl asked.
‘If anyone asks you where you got these notes from, it wasn’t from me. I have a reputation of integrity to live up to.’
‘No problem,’ he told her, ‘I’m grateful to you for doing this. It would be the least that I could do, mate.’
‘Okay,’ she commented, and then she led him out of the living room and up the stairs to her spare bedroom where all her machinery was kept. ‘I have about twenty thousand in fairly small notes I can give you. These are fully done, complete with holographs. But the rest, I’m afraid, will be without. I wish you luck in your endeavor to rescue your wife.’
‘Thank you,’ he said as she handed him the bag holding the notes. Then he watched as she turned on the main computer that oversaw the operation. This computer was kept separate from the house computer, and it was not connected in any way to any sort of outside network. It was through this computer that she controlled the entire printing operation, not just controlling the machine that would print the notes but also deciding which combination of denominations should be produced from the print run. The computer also controlled the machine that would paint on the holographs and the final machine in the lineup that would age each note in a slightly different way, making some crumpled and dirty, whilst others were left virtually untouched, giving the notes that authentic ‘used’ look. The computer oversaw the entire operation, and from it, any part of the operation could be overridden. In this case, the holograph-adding stage was to be missed.
The projected hour-long wait, with any luck, could be over a lot quicker. In the end, it all really depended on what selection of notes the computer chose to print out and how many notes there would be all together. Nikklah had even managed to influence this a little by telling the computer to aim for mainly high denomination notes; after all, Jhosatl didn’t want to carry a suitcase filled with notes when he left.
A relatively short time later, he was back in his car. The envelope—now with counterfeit notes in it—he placed gently on the passenger seat. Every second that passed was a second closer to rescuing his wife. He longed to see her again, but he was scared that everything could still go wrong. The problem that the notes were counterfeit was just one more detail that might destroy things for him.
‘Oh well,’ he thought to himself, starting the car, ‘time to go and pick Judith and Sult up.’ There were probably still a million and one things that could go wrong. Judith and Sult, being herd, were the weak links in the entire operation, but then again, without them he wouldn’t be as close to rescuing his bride as he was. He was being silly; of course he could trust them. He was just tired, and he had spent too long chatting to Nikklah while the notes were printing. After the loss of her husband to the herd, her opinions about their trustworthiness were only too pronounced.
He was glad now that he had left earlier than originally planned. The detour to Nikklah’s house had taken more time than he had made allowances for, but he still arrived at Judith’s small house sooner than they had originally agreed, although only by ten minutes.
Judith was already waiting for him. She was glancing out of one of her bottom floor windows as if waiting for him to arrive. Her hair was neat and clean, but her face had a bedraggled look about it.
‘You look as if you got about as much sleep as I did, mate,’ he told her as she came out to the car. ‘Where’s your vehicle?’
‘I was busy last night,’ she told him. She went round to the passenger side of the car and waited for him to move the envelope to the dashboard before joining him. ‘Once we do this, we’ll want to change vehicles in case they track yours. So I took the van to Byfleet late last night, caught a taxi back. You won’t believe how hard it is to get a taxi late at night. Even in places where your people aren’t that prolific, most refuse to operate after dark, and those that do have their drivers secured in a metallic shell and insist on taking a D.N.A. sample before they’ll take you anywhere.’
Judith had bought that van specifically for the group to use. It had a big enough cabin for all five members of the group and a storage area large enough for all the instruments and equipment that the group would need to perform.
‘Oh, I believe it, mate, I believe it,’ Jhosatl replied. ‘Do you have everything you need? We might not be back for a while.’
/> ‘Ideally we should alter your plates, just in case someone reads them. They could lead back to you,’ Judith interrupted.
Jhosatl shook his head. ‘I’m not sure we have time to change the plates, and we certainly don’t have time to go and buy some.’
‘Maybe we should steal a different car. That might stop them tracing the vehicle back to you,’ Judith then suggested.
‘Do you know how to steal a car?’ Jhosatl seemed only mildly interested. It was obvious to him that she was trying to help, but he was sure that the quality of her suggestions was a direct result of how tired she really was. After all, if everything went as planned then no one else was even going to see the car, let alone the plates.
‘Not really. I know you have to convince the vehicle’s computer that you’re a proper designated driver of the car. How you do that, though, is anyone’s guess. You probably need to know something about the working of the computers involved.’
‘I see,’ Jhosatl commented dryly. ‘So, do you have everything you need, mate? You seemed quite empty-handed when you left your house.’
‘It’s all in the van, saves us loading and unloading more than necessary,’ she told him. She rested her head back against the car’s seat. ‘You can go. Let’s go get Sult.’
Even with the wet weather, it took less than ten minutes to make the journey from Judith’s house to Sult’s apartment. That short trip was made pretty much in silence. Jhosatl spent the whole journey worrying. Was his wife holding up all right?
Conversely, Judith seemed to fall asleep within a minute of taking her place in the car, and the only sound the whole trip was her gentle rhythmic snoring.
Upon their arrival at Sult’s apartment it became clear that Sult, at least, had had no trouble getting to sleep that night. All the lights in his apartment were out, and there was no sign of life whatsoever.
Jhosatl got out of the vehicle to go and fetch Sult, slamming the car’s door behind him to ensure it closed properly. There might be others of his race out on the prowl tonight, and Judith might prove a tempting target. Jhosatl hoped he wouldn’t be gone from the car long.
Sult finally emerged from his apartment after Jhosatl had been hanging on his door buzzer for five minutes or more. He looked like one of the walking dead. It was as if he was still asleep and was in a trance as he walked through the apartment block’s communal garden. Behind him were a pair of suitcases on wheels. There seemed to be nothing guiding them, but they followed Sult loyally.
Jhosatl then gave Sult a hand in loading the cases in the car. There was room for one in the rear storage area, and the other could fit on the back seat next to where Sult would be sitting. With the luggage of just two people taking up so much room in the car, Jhosatl was glad that Judith had had the foresight to load her gear directly into the van. Presumably she had unloaded the instruments too, so as to give them even more room. It might well have been awkward trying to find room for the luggage of all three of them in his small car.
Jhosatl’s own luggage had been enough for two people. He’d had to pack enough for Amba as well, including something she could change into immediately to get her out of those awful prison rags that he expected she’d be wearing. There was also a disguise for her to put on, though she could do that once they were on the move again.
When Sult was secure in the back, Jhosatl started the car again and they were off. Sult had spent part of the previous night pointing out where on the map the rendezvous was, but Jhosatl began to wish that it was Sult sitting next to him in case he needed more precise directions as they got closer. Still, two very old cottages in the middle of nowhere would be hard to miss, and with Sult sitting behind him to put him right if he did take a wrong turn, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. Actually, Sult should probably be driving, not just because he knew where to go but because, of the three of them, he seemed to be the only one to have gotten any sleep.
‘Did you get the money?’ Sult asked after a minute or two.
‘Three million, mate,’ Jhosatl replied. He couldn’t keep the nervousness from his voice and hoped that Sult would think it was caused by the anticipation of seeing his wife again, or maybe the fear of what they were intending to do. He pointed at the envelope sitting on the car’s dashboard.
‘You’d better pass it back,’ Sult told him. ‘I’ll put it away until the exchange.’
Before Jhosatl could think of an excuse to refuse him, Judith had taken the envelope from the dashboard and passed it to him. Jhosatl felt a shiver pass down his spine as Sult opened the envelope and glanced quickly at the notes therein, but it must’ve been too dark for Sult to see that they were fake. Instead he smiled and placed the envelope in his jacket pocket. Jhosatl let loose a breath of relief as silently as he could, and then he concentrated on driving.
It was less than fifteen minutes later when the sun had risen enough above the horizon to illuminate the world. Had Sult chosen to check the notes now in the better light, then the game would probably be up, but Sult seemed to have no such desire. Instead he just sat on the back seat of the car, humming an old song of theirs. Jhosatl hoped that he was also keeping an eye on the route they were taking, because once they reached the country lanes that led to the Cattery he might need some precise directing.
After a while the city streets gave way to a narrow country road, parts of which were too narrow for two cars to pass. Fortunately it was a little used road, and for the rest of the journey they didn’t pass another vehicle.
The road Jhosatl wanted was located just past the bridle path that led to the Cattery, not that Jhosatl had any clue when he was passing the entrance. Sult might be willing to help Jhosatl rescue his wife, but he wasn’t about to reveal national secrets to him.
‘This is it,’ Sult commented as they approached the cottages.
Jhosatl nodded and pulled to the side of the road between the two buildings. ‘I’d like to wait here with you, mate.’
‘You know that’s not possible,’ Sult commented. ‘They want as few witnesses to the transaction as possible. If they see you waiting with me they’ll probably just drive on past, and you’ll never get to see your wife.’
‘Maybe I could hide in one of the cottages,’ Jhosatl suggested hopefully.
‘These people are the Elite,’ Sult told him. ‘If they even suspect someone else is here they’ll probably call the whole thing off. And trust me, they will see you. What’s more, they will recognize you for what you are even through your disguise.’
‘We must go,’ Judith offered. ‘Let Sult do what he’s good at. Don’t put your wife at risk now; you are so close to getting her back.’
Jhosatl nodded sadly. ‘I guess we’d better leave you to it then, mate. We’ll return in about an hour or so.’
‘Yeah,’ commented Sult. ‘You’d better get going. They’re probably loading the truck by now. They could be here at any moment.’
Less than a minute later, Jhosatl lost sight of the cottages as he took another turning and got out of sight of the road that the truck would be traveling along. Nothing must interfere with his rescue of his wife. He hoped they wouldn’t spot that the notes were fake until the exchange was made and they were long gone from the scene. Well, he could do nothing now but wait, wait and hope and anticipate seeing his wife again.
24
Time To Go
It was still raining outside as the first rays of the morning sun broke through into the cell, causing a rainbow-like pattern to be illuminated on the far wall. Khosi opened her eyes from a fitful sleep and looked around at the inert bodies of the other ten inmates of the cell. Some of them were already awake, though, lacking anything much to do in the cell, they just lay there looking at the ceiling, or the window, or at each other. Others were still asleep and might stay that way for a few more hours yet. There was no need to wake up, as there really was nothing to do. Khosi had nothing but contempt for the lot of them.
Two of those who were already up—and, knowing them, they h
ad woken up the second the sun had peeked over the horizon—were Lara and Amba. They sat by the window, backs to the outside wall, as they always did, with their feet out halfway across the floor of the cell, taking up much more than their fair share of the available space. With them this morning was the one called Starlight. She sat next to Amba, with Lara on Amba’s other side, her knees tucked under her chin and her head otherwise in her hands. She appeared to be sobbing quietly to herself again.
Khosi closed her eyes again and considered going back to sleep. There was nothing to do here except wait for breakfast. She started to think about escape from this nasty little place and the warmth of her own little room back home. When the opportunity presented itself, she knew she would take it, and she knew how she would go about it. She just needed that opportunity. She shivered in that cold cell and wished, not for the first time, that the Elite would supply them with some proper heating as she pulled the rags she had been issued tightly about her.
Memories came to her. Six days ago, her commander had summoned her and her partner, Iashuggent, into the briefing room and ordered them to sit down in front of a large split map. The right half of the map showed the area around London and the southeast of England. The other half showed the area of Florida mainly occupied by Herbaht. ‘The leaders of the Herbaht now call themselves the Greater Matriarch and the Lesser Matriarch. Your mission is simple: go and kill them. How you carry out your mission is up to you.’
Well, it had seemed simple enough. It had been a long time since she had been sent on a mission with such a clear-cut objective. So why was she sitting in a cell six days later, hardly any closer to her target?
She brushed her hair as well as she could with her hand and stood up to try and stretch her legs some. If the opportunity to escape did present itself, she would need to be as fit as she could to take advantage of it. It was no good letting her muscles atrophy from inactivity by just lazing on the floor of this cell as these others seemed to want to.
London Wild Page 45
