Scavenger Blood

by Janet Edwards

  Hannah hesitated for a second, a calculating expression on her face.

  “If you have information to give me,” I said impatiently, “then tell me what it is right now. If you don’t, then this conversation is over.”

  Hannah spoke in a brisk, business-like voice. “I don’t have information to give you. I have information to sell you. My price is being allowed back into the Resistance.”

  The attempts at emotional manipulation had been abandoned. This was a cold offer of a trade. I replied just as coldly.

  “I don’t believe you have any information that’s valuable enough to buy you a place in the Resistance.”

  “This information truly is that valuable, Blaze.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t have to convince me. You have to convince Donnell. How do you expect to make him listen to you given how much he despises you?”

  “I don’t expect to be able to make Donnell listen to me. If I thought I could do that, I’d have gone directly to him rather than speaking to you. The way this works is that I’ll tell you what I have to sell, then you tell Donnell and bring him here to talk to me.”

  “Donnell won’t agree to come here to talk to you.”

  “You should listen to what I have to offer before you say that, Blaze. Soon after Rogue’s body was brought back yesterday, there was a secret meeting of Cage supporters from all the divisions.”

  I laughed. “That’s impossible. After Rogue’s body was brought back, all the divisions went to their own wings of the building. Cage’s supporters couldn’t have had a secret meeting when Donnell and his officers were watching Reception.”

  “Cage’s supporters met in the Banqueting Hall. I listened to the meeting from behind the Manhattan security door.”

  I stopped laughing and pointed my right forefinger at Hannah, so the red targeting light of my gun focused on her chest. “Wait here.”

  I stalked out of the room and back to Reception. Donnell was sitting at one of the Resistance tables with his three senior officers, Machico, Weston, and Vijay. The empty plates in front of them showed me that they’d just finished eating. Donnell saw me coming and gestured at the bag I was carrying.

  “If you need help taking things upstairs, then tell Julien and Luther to do it. They haven’t had an argument in at least five minutes, so they must be desperate for a new reason to quarrel.”

  “I’ll take things upstairs later,” I said. “I need you to come with me now.”

  Donnell stood up and followed me across the room to the Sanctuary curtain. Once we were through it, he halted and turned to face me. “Something has clearly upset you.”

  “I’m not upset about this. I’m just worried. When I was on my way back from the hospital room, Hannah ...”

  “Hannah!” Donnell interrupted me, saying her name as if he was swearing. “Yes, that explains the expression on your face. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Hannah started causing trouble again. What has she done this time?”

  “Hannah wants to buy her way back into the Resistance with information. She told me that soon after Rogue’s body was brought back yesterday afternoon, there was a secret meeting of Cage supporters from all the divisions.”

  Donnell reacted the same way I’d done. “I’d have expected Hannah to come up with a more plausible lie than that. How could they have managed to meet when my officers and I were watching Reception?”

  “Hannah says the Cage supporters met in the Banqueting Hall, and I believe her. When I was in there this morning, I noticed a table and chairs had been disturbed, then discovered someone had cut through the welding on the security door leading to the Sanctuary wing. Anyone can slide that door open or shut now.”

  Donnell frowned.

  “I know I should have mentioned this when I told you about meeting Madra in the Banqueting Hall,” I added guiltily, “but I got distracted by ...”

  “That doesn’t matter,” said Donnell. “What does matter is that it would have taken a lot of work to cut through the welding, and only Cage’s supporters could have a reason to do it. Every adult in the alliance has the authority to open the security doors leading from their own division to the Banqueting Hall or Parliament Chamber, so Cage’s supporters could all reach the Banqueting Hall directly.”

  He paused. “They must have reopened the security door leading to the Sanctuary wing because they’re meeting in there regularly enough to want an emergency escape route. If anyone else came into the room during their meeting, they’d turn off the lights and leave through Sanctuary.”

  Donnell groaned. “Hannah has been working for Cage for years, but his supporters have just failed in their bid to take control of Queens Island, so she’s decided it’s time to change sides. I’m going to have to talk to her, aren’t I?”

  I nodded gloomily. “She’s waiting in the outdoor clothing store room.”

  We walked on to the store room. Hannah stepped forward eagerly to meet us, and Donnell gave her a look of contempt.

  “Tell us everything you know, and make sure it’s the absolute truth.”

  Hannah lifted her head defiantly. “We agree the price for my information first. I want a place in the Resistance.”

  “I’m not making any definite promises of payment until I find out the exact worth of the information I’m buying,” said Donnell. “If it proves to be a significant help to us, leading us to catch Cage or deal with his supporters’ plots, then I’ll consider taking you back into the Resistance. If the information proves useless, or I catch you in a single lie, however trivial, then you’ll get no reward at all.”

  “That isn’t good enough,” said Hannah. “I need a firm agreement that I can rejoin the Resistance. I’m sure Blaze could persuade Wall to let me leave Manhattan division.”

  “I don’t think I’d need to do any persuading,” I said bitterly. “Wall would be delighted to get rid of you.”

  “Then there’s no problem,” said Hannah. “I can be back in the Resistance tonight.”

  Donnell shook his head. “You aren’t getting back into the Resistance that easily, Hannah. I’ve every reason to distrust you. You can either accept my word that you’ll be rewarded if your information proves valuable, or you can try to sell it to someone like Wall. I’d advise you against blackmailing Cage’s supporters with it, because they’ll take the simple option of killing you.”

  Hannah hesitated. “Wall wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “I’m strongly tempted not to listen to you myself,” said Donnell. “Either tell me your information now in exchange for a possible future reward, or keep it to yourself and have nothing. The choice is yours.”

  “All right,” said Hannah, in a sulky voice. “After Rogue’s body was brought back to Reception, Wall ordered us all into the Manhattan wing. He was busy writing a letter after that, and I saw Shark take his chance to sneak away. I followed Shark to the corridor leading to the Banqueting Hall, but then I heard a couple of other men behind me.”

  “Who were those men?” asked Donnell.

  “I couldn’t tell who they were because they were wearing hooded coats and masks,” said Hannah. “If they’d caught me, I could have been killed. I had to hide in a room and wait until I was sure the men had gone past me. Then I went down the corridor and listened at the security door to the Banqueting Hall.”

  She scowled. “That’s a thick steel door, so I could only hear part of what the people inside were saying. Major and Shark were doing most of the talking, but there were at least half a dozen other voices, and I’m sure one of them was Nero. Major was talking about organizing trouble between Queens Island and Manhattan to help him with a leadership challenge.”

  “So far you aren’t telling me anything that I didn’t already know,” said Donnell. “It was painfully obvious that Major and Shark carefully arranged last night’s arguments between Queens Island and Manhattan, and Nero helped Major make his leadership challenge this morning. I need information about who else was in the meeting.”

/>   “I don’t know who else was there,” Hannah whined. “I told you that the security door was too thick to hear properly. I could only recognize the loudest voices, and hear Major mention two plans.”

  “Two plans,” repeated Donnell sharply. “One was Major’s attempt to take the leadership of Queens Island. What was the other?”

  “Major didn’t say what it was, just that if the leadership challenge failed then Cage would expect them to use the Bronx plan.”

  Donnell frowned. “Are you suggesting that Major is in contact with Cage and he’s hiding somewhere in the Bronx?”

  “I’m not suggesting anything,” said Hannah. “I’m just telling you what Major said.”

  “So you don’t know who else was in the meeting, and you’ve only given me a minuscule amount of information about what was said.” Donnell sighed. “That’s unlikely to help us enough to buy you a place in the Resistance. If you discover anything else, then tell Blaze or me at once.”

  Hannah made an exasperated noise. “I’m not going to have much chance to learn anything else now, am I? Raeni will keep Major locked up until his punishment is over, so he won’t be able to organize any meetings.”

  Donnell laughed. “That’s not my problem.”

  He waved at me, and we turned and left the room. Donnell paused halfway down the corridor, and looked around warily before speaking in a low voice.

  “What did you make of that, Blaze? Was Hannah telling the truth or lying?”

  “I think it has to be true that Cage’s supporters have been meeting in the Banqueting Hall. As you said, it must have taken a lot of work to cut through the welding on the door to the Sanctuary wing. Hannah couldn’t have done it herself.”

  I shrugged. “I can’t tell if any of the rest is true or not though. Hannah spent six years lying to me, so she’s extremely good at it. Thinking back on the things she told me that I should have guessed weren’t true, Hannah used a tactic that had something in common with Kasim’s ridiculous stories, and the comedy routines between Weston and Vijay. When she told me an important lie, there was always an element of truth mixed in among the fiction.”

  Donnell nodded. “Kasim used real facts as inspiration for his stories, and Weston and Vijay picked up the trick from him. A classic example is their comedy routine about people creating a genetically modified flying pig for Thaddeus Wallam-Crane. That was based on a real fact that Thaddeus Wallam-Crane arranged for many extinct Earth species to be genetically salvaged.”

  “Exactly. Kasim, Vijay, and Weston use that tactic to entertain people, but Hannah used it to deceive me and protect herself. She’d a method of including a very unlikely true detail among the lies. There were a few times when I got suspicious about what she was telling me, and I naturally checked the most unlikely thing she’d said. When I discovered that was true, then I believed the rest without question.”

  Donnell frowned. “The most unlikely thing that Hannah said to us was that Cage is hiding in the Bronx. That can’t be true because he was at the recreation ground yesterday afternoon, and it isn’t possible for him to be making repeated journeys between Unity City and the Bronx. Cage can’t be using our boats because I had Machico remove some key parts from their engines, and the other boats in New York aren’t safe to use after rotting away for decades.”

  “Hannah only said that Cage would expect them to use the Bronx plan. It was you who suggested that meant Cage was hiding in the Bronx.” I had a dreadful thought. “I can think of a reason why Major might use that name for a plan.”

  “What reason?”

  “My idea is probably totally wrong,” I said, “but ...”

  “What’s worrying you, Blaze?

  I moistened my lips. “The three divisions that were formed by the remnants of New York gangs are all named after boroughs of New York. Manhattan. Brooklyn. Queens and Staten Island merged together to become Queens Island. I’m worried that now Major’s failed to take control of Queens Island, his alternative plan is to have Cage’s supporters start their own new division and name it after the Bronx.”

  “Chaos weeping.” Donnell tugged at his hair. “That’s a horrifying theory, Blaze. We have Cage shooting at us with a sniper rifle, we’re under siege by a host of falling stars, and there’s a firestorm coming. The alliance must stay united for us to have any chance of getting out of New York and finding a new home. The worst thing that could happen at this point is for all Cage’s old supporters to get together and start a new division.”

  “As I said, I’m probably wrong.”

  “In my bitter experience, any theory this horrifying has a serious chance of being right.” Donnell stood in silence for a moment. “I’ll discuss this with Machico and investigate if ...”

  He broke off his sentence, and frowned at something behind me. I turned and saw that Nadira was coming down the corridor towards us.

  “Are you two able to come up to the sixth floor of the Resistance wing for a few minutes?” she asked.

  I looked at her anxiously. “Is there a problem with Phoenix?”

  “Phoenix feels much safer now she’s on the top floor of the Resistance wing, which is helping her recover from the strain of the move,” said Nadira. “Her temperature is lower than yesterday, and I left her dozing with Braden watching over her.”

  I relaxed.

  Nadira turned to Donnell. “Thaddeus asked me to come and find you. He said that he knows you won’t want him coming down to Reception himself, but he needs to speak to you about something important.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  My first reaction to Nadira’s words was that Tad must have discovered some clues to Cage’s movements. Then I realized the second point. She’d referred to Tad as Thaddeus!

  Donnell raised an eyebrow. “The boy’s told you who he is then, Nadira?”

  She smiled. “Not deliberately. When you nurse people who are delirious from fever, you learn a lot of secrets. That’s why I insisted on nursing you myself when you had winter fever, Sean. You were babbling some extremely personal details.”

  Donnell gave her a nervous look. “I’d better not ask what I said.”

  “Your secrets are safe with me,” said Nadira soothingly. “When I found out about Thaddeus and his web, I’d have broken my usual rules on confidentiality to tell you, but the way that you and Blaze were behaving showed you already knew.”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t bother asking why you were protecting the boy, Sean. It seemed an odd decision to me, but you were obviously committed to it. Later, your reason became clear.”

  She gave a meaningful look in my direction, and I felt myself flushing hot with embarrassment. Nadira had always been efficient and professional, only discussing medical matters with me, so I’d assumed she hadn’t noticed anything was happening between Tad and me. I’d been wrong.

  Nadira faced Donnell again. “I’m only mentioning Tad’s identity now to explain why I was willing to bring you a message from him.”

  “Thank you, Nadira,” said Donnell. “We’ll come upstairs at once.”

  The three of us went back to Reception, and Donnell waved an urgent arm at where Machico, Weston, and Vijay were still sitting at their table in the Resistance area.

  Machico raised his eyebrows and pointed at his own chest. Donnell nodded, and Machico picked up a stasis box from the chair beside him and came over to join us.

  “Blaze, the breakfasts for you and the off-worlders are in this box,” he said, holding it out towards me. “Natsumi says the soup is for Phoenix.”

  I tried to take the box from Machico, but Nadira snatched it from my hands. “You’re going to be busy for a while, Blaze. I’ll take the food upstairs and see if I can coax Phoenix into eating her soup.”

  She rushed off through the Resistance curtain, and I stared after her in bewilderment. “Why did Nadira run off like that?”

  Donnell grimaced. “Because she didn’t want to risk getting caught up in one of my planning meetings. Nadira says that he
r job is keeping our people alive, so she can’t get involved in making plans that could get them killed.”

  Donnell, Machico, and I followed Nadira through the curtain at a more normal pace, and climbed the stairs to the sixth floor of the Resistance wing. We found Tad waiting just inside the security door. He opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated when he saw Machico.

  “Don’t worry, Tad,” said Donnell. “If you want to talk to me about the subway theory, then you can speak freely. I told Machico all about it last night.”

  “Good,” said Tad. “You said I should tell you at once if I found evidence that Cage was using the subway tunnels.”

  “Yes. Where is he now?” demanded Donnell.

  “I don’t know where Cage is now,” said Tad. “I only know where he was the night before last.”

  I gave Tad a bewildered look. “I don’t understand. You said that you’d set up something to alert you to power changes happening in the subway tunnels. How can that have alerted you to power changes that happened the night before last?”

  Tad gave an embarrassed cough. “My algorithm monitoring the subway tunnels hasn’t alerted me to these power changes. In fact, it hasn’t sent me any alerts at all yet. I just remembered the Earth data net runs a daily sequence of automated backups. I should have realized that yesterday evening, but I was too shocked by Rogue’s death to think properly.”

  He shrugged. “Anyway, the New York power grid control system gets copied each night at an hour before midnight. I’ve just been comparing the copies taken over the last two weeks. Last night, there weren’t any lights on in the J1 subway tunnel. The night before last, there were two lights on down there. Lights have been turned on or off in other local subway tunnels during the last two weeks as well.”

  Donnell tugged at his hair. “You’re saying that someone has been turning lights on and off in the local subway tunnels. That person must be Cage because we’ve taken precautions to stop anyone else sneaking away. You’re also saying that your algorithm hasn’t reported anything happening in the subway tunnels since yesterday evening.”