“Seize that woman!” the alien shouted.
Chapter 4
Gabriella was taken into custody and dragged out of the theater, despite Subhash’s protests. A crowd quickly gathered on the pavement, gawking at the Visitors and their frightened, yet angry, captive.
“Take your filthy claws off me, your miserable snakes!” Gabriella spat.
The Visitor captain took note of the surrounding throngs—growing all the time as the theatergoers emerged from the lobby—and announced in a stentorian voice that Gabriella was under arrest.
“This woman has given aid and comfort to a terrorist,” he shouted. “She is an enemy of the state.”
“That is for a court of law to decide,” Shree Subhash cried. “Where are you taking her?” He
stepped forward, only to be shouldered aside by a huge Visitor.
“We are taking her to justice,” the Visitor captain said. “If you attempt to stand in our way, you too will be arrested.”
“See here, now,” said a man in the crowd. “No one is trying to stand in your way. There’s no need to threaten anybody, now, is there?” “This woman has given aid and comfort to the enemy,” the captain said coolly. “If any one of you stands with her, you will be adjudged as guilty as her . . . and you too will be arrested. Do I make myself clear?”
The crowd drew back, their fear almost tangible in the crisp afternoon air. It was one thing to discuss one’s rights in private, or even in public . . . but when threatened with conversion or worse, few would stand behind what they had considered their convictions only an hour ago.
“Are you all cowards?” Shree Subhash shouted. “To watch an innocent woman taken away by force without any explanation like this is quite beyond the pale. You are Englishmen and Englishwomen, people with a great tradition of freedom and justice. Can you not find it in your hearts to help this poor woman?” Subhash looked around him in vain for someone who would come to Gabriella’s aid. He could see that several people wanted to help, but all were simply too intimidated by the threatening posture of the Visitors, with their drawn lasers and scowling human masks, to raise a hand in Gabriella’s defense.
“Please,” Subhash implored, “don’t let them take her with them. It will be the end of her life . . . one way or another.”
The Visitor captain turned to Subhash and snarled, “Perhaps you would like to accompany us too, sir?”
Subhash blanched, but he stood his ground. “If you take her, you must take me as well.” The crowd gasped.
“That can be arranged,” the Visitor captain said smugly.
Two soldiers grasped Subhash by his elbows and pushed him roughly forward. Gabriella was shoved after him as the crowd parted and dispersed.
“No,” she cried. “This man hasn’t done anything. Let him go, I beg of you.”
“Silence,” the Visitor captain hissed. “Another word out of you and we’ll kill you and eat you right here on the street.”
Something in his tone made Gabby realize he meant it. This captain was nasty even by Visitor terms. They would be martyrs to the cause of freedom if the captain carried out his threat, but few would ever know about it, what with the censorship the Visitors had imposed on newspapers, television, magazines, and even books.
Nothing bad was ever said about them in a public forum. On those few occasions when someone had spoken out against them, he or she invariably had been arrested as an enemy of the state. Like most people, she had ignored the truth until the man she loved had fallen dead at her feet.
They marched solemnly along Shaftesbury Avenue, towards the skyfighter hovering like some terrible, white insect over the street. The skyfighter began to descend, slowly settling down just a few meters in front of them. A ramp descended from the side of the alien craft.
Just as they were about to board the skyfighter, Gabriella heard shouting coming from an alleyway. She paid it scant attention, going to her doom, and yet something in Subhash’s manner made her wonder what it was all about.
The captain barked an order in the alien tongue, and three Visitors lumbered off in search of the man who had caused the disturbance. The others watched as they ran down the alley.
Their backs were turned to Subhash. Suddenly he reached under his coat and produced a laser pistol.
Before they could move, Subhash had dispatched two of the Visitors in a double blaze of smoking blue light. The dead aliens toppled from the ramp as the rest of Gabriella’s escort looked about them to see where their enemy lay, confused and frightened.
At that moment, the apparently dispirited crowd began to shout, and a man—the very one who had argued with the Visitor captain —pulled a pistol from his pocket and began to shoot at the aliens. He hit one in the head, killing the creature instantly.
A general uproar ensued, with gunfire and laser beams exploding in the busy street. The remaining aliens ran up the ramp as fast as they could, leaving the captain to stand alone and firing indiscriminately into the crowd.
“Captain,” said Shree Subhash, placing the muzzle of his laser behind the alien’s ear, “you will stop firing now.”
The captain froze. He did as he was told, pointing the laser down and taking his finger off the firing mechanism.
“Gabriella,” Subhash said, “please take the captain’s weapon.”
She did as he asked, amazed at the lightness of the laser. So much power to come out of this toylike device . . .
“Now you will come with us, Captain.”
The captain said nothing for a moment. Then he turned and faced Subhash.
“I’d rather die,” he said at last.
“That,” Subhash replied dryly, “can be arranged.”
The captain’s face was inscrutable behind his human mask, but at last he nodded.
“Very well,” he said, “I am your prisoner.”
Chapter 5
The man who had fired the first shot after the distraction in the alley tossed off his cap, revealing a shock of blond hair and a wicked smile.
“Well done, lads,” he shouted as the bodies of the two aliens who had gone after the mysterious noisemaker in the alley were dragged onto the pavement.
“Not bad, Subhash,” he said, loping up the ramp.
“Miss Nicks had very much to do with it, Ian,” Subhash replied. “But now there is a danger that we will be fired upon by those inside the skyfighter. We must get away from here quickly.”
“I think not.” Ian caressed the captain’s cheek with his pistol. “Not with our friend here in our custody.”
“They may very well consider him expendable,” Subhash said, “if they can destroy the London resistance in one fell swoop.”
“I see your point.” Ian turned to the captain. “Shall we be shoving off’ then, old thing?”
The captain glared at him, but there was little he could do but obey. He started down the ramp with the three humans.
“You will all die horribly for this,” said the captain.
“Will we, now?” Ian chuckled.
As they took the alien into custody, people began to cheer. Windows opened on the second and third storeys of nearby buildings, as the curious began to pop their heads out to get a look at the resistance leaders who had made fools of the Visitors.
“My Mends,” Ian shouted to them, “this is only the beginning. For every atrocity the lizards have committed, we’ll kill half a dozen of them. How does that strike your fancy?”
An approving cheer rose from the people leaning out their windows and those gathered on the pavement. Ian basked in their adulation for a few moments. As soon as he tired of it, he jerked the captain’s elbow and pushed the alien roughly through the crowd.
Gabriella turned to Subhash. “Where is he taking him?” she asked.
“The same place that we are going to,” he replied.
She hesitated for a moment, but Subhash looked so earnestly into her eyes that she decided it would be for the best for her to go along. There was nowhere in Lond
on where she could be safe now . . . except, perhaps, if she was with the resistance. And, if she was to avenge Nigel, it seemed logical that these were the people most likely to help her. Besides, she liked Subhash; he had been kind to her.
“I guess I don’t really have much choice,” she said.
“I wish that it were not so,” Subhash said sadly, “but I am afraid that it is.”
Gabriella and Subhash followed the prisoner, Ian and his men. Ian turned to them as they walked into an alley.
“Here now,” he said. “She can’t come with us. This is a man’s business we’re about. There’s no room for a woman where we’re going, and even if there were, we don’t know if we can trust her.” “I am certain that we can,” Subhash said coolly. “She has shown herself to be a brave woman.”
“That’s not the point, is it?” Ian persisted. “This isn’t something we can just let anyone in on, like queuing up for the cinema.”
Angered, Gabriella clutched Ian’s wrist. “You might think of me as just another silly American girl, but the man I love died in my arms last night, killed by those bloody lizards. I don’t intend to let them get away with it.”
Something in her tone, or perhaps the look in her eyes, gave Ian pause. He relented.
“All right,” he said, still speaking to Subhash, “she can come along . . . but she’s your responsibility. If anything—anything at all—goes wrong because of her, Subhash, it’ll go badly for the both of you. Do I make myself clear?” “Eminently, my dear Ian.”
Gabriella sensed that the more polite Subhash became, the more enraged he was on the inside. She felt grateful to him for sticking up for her, but it seemed to have been her own words that changed Ian’s mind. Now she had to win his trust... if that were possible. Well, there was really nothing for it but to wait and see.
“This way,” Ian commanded.
A van backed into the alley and two men leaped out to open its doors. Gabriella and the others got inside and slammed the doors. A moment later they roared off into traffic. The driver, a thick-necked man of about thirty, turned left and then right as Gabriella watched through the windshield. There were no windows on the van’s rear doors, so if she wanted to know where they were going—and she certainly did want to know—this was the only way to find out.
“You’ll have to put this on, miss,” one of Ian’s men said. He proffered a length of linen.
“What do you mean?” But Gabby was quite certain she knew what he had in mind.
“It’s a blindfold,” the man said, his pink face
apologetic and insistent at the same time.
“I hardly think that’s necessary,” Gabriella protested.
“I’m afraid it is, miss,” Ian said with great annoyance. “If you want to go with us, it’s quite necessary.”
Gabriella looked around her. All the men were staring at her expectantly. She turned to Subhash, and he returned her gaze with a regretful expression.
“I am afraid you must, Gabriella,” he said. “When—and if—we know that we can trust you,” Ian said, “then we won’t worry about such niceties. In the meantime, do as we say or we’ll leave you at the next comer.”
“Very well.” Gabriella sighed. She supposed it was worth it, if only to keep out of harm’s way, let alone find a way to pay the Visitors back for what they had done to Nigel. “I’ll do as you say.” “Good girl,” Ian said. “I’m glad you intend to be reasonable.”
Ian’s less than charming smile made her wish she were in the hands of someone else, but at least she had one Mend among this rowdy lot. She glanced at Subhash’s sympathetic face one last time before the blindfold was placed over her eyes.
Chapter 6
The van slowed to a stop much sooner than Gabriella expected. She heard a grating sound, which might have been a gate opening to admit them. The van moved on slowly and then bumped up onto a hard surface, and the motor was turned off. Gabriella heard Ian barking a command, and then the sound of wooden doors being shut. Apparently they had entered some sort of garage.
The van’s back doors were flung open, and the pungent odor of rotting wood and musk assailed Gabriella’s nostrils.
“Step down, miss,” the man who had given her the blindfold said. His rough hand took her elbow and assisted her. She almost fell, but the steady hand held her up as they entered a building whose walls were made of rough stone, which she rubbed against painfully once or
twice. A dampness pervaded the passageways as she was led along blindly, and she thought she heard the echo of squealing rats. The corridors twisted and turned, and Gabriella was certain they were going underground. At last they came to a halt and someone fumbled noisily with a key.
A moment later, a door swung inward on rusty hinges. Gabriella was led forward and seated in a chair, and her blindfold removed. The light blinded her for a few moments, but gradually she was able to focus on the men standing above her, staring down grimly at their unwelcome new member.
Her new surroundings looked like a dungeon: water seeping from between stones; arched doorways; pikes and battle-axes decorating the walls. She guessed that this building was at least five hundred years old.
There were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment, however. Ian, Subhash, and the others were staring down at her as if they expected her to say something. She decided not to disappoint them.
“Nice decor,” she said, “though the place could use a plumber.”
Subhash and the man who had tied the blindfold smiled, but the other faces remained blank.
“You might find that a more sober attitude will help you here, miss,” Ian said. “This is serious business we’re about.”
Gabriella fell silent. She had the impression that she and Ian were never going to get along very well, unless she became such a fierce and dedicated resistance fighter that even he would be impressed. She sized Mm up as a woman hater, and was quite sure his animosity towards her was more complex than mere concern that a woman was not up to being a resistance fighter —which was poppycock in itself, of course. There were women in the resistance all over the world. Dr. Juliet Parrish was one of the leaders of the American resistance. No, Ian’s animosity went much deeper than old-fashioned British chauvinism.
“You’ll have to live like a man here, miss,” Ian said.
“I’m ready for any hardship.” Gabriella smiled at Mm ruefully.
“We shall see about that.” Ian turned and walked under an arch, leaving the room.
Gently taking her by the hand, Subhash helped Gabriella out of the chair. “You will find that Ian is a strong willed man.”
“Ian will find that I am a strong willed woman,” she said.
All the others had dispersed, leaving them alone. “I have no doubt of your strength, Gabriella,” Subhash said. “But you must cooperate with Ian, at least for a little while. This is very dangerous, and the lizards will kill us if they ever catch up with us.”
Suddenly a terrible sound issued from some unknown part of the dungeon. It was a rasping, inhuman scream, a cry that could only come from a Visitor.
“They are wasting no time today,” said Subhash. “They will extract what information they can from the Visitor captain . . . and they will do it most efficiently.”
In spite of the alienness of the scream, Gabriella was horrified. No doubt such treatment was necessary at times, but they must not have even tried to question the captain before inflicting torture.
“It is Ian’s way,” Subhash said. “Come, let us go to another part of the house, where we will not have to listen to this.”
Gabriella was quick to agree with him, and he led her through a door to another room and then up a dark stairway. They emerged into a lighted room with no decorations on the wall, a small table with writing implements on it, and three stiff-backed chairs.
Pulling one of the chairs out from the table, Subhash indicated that Gabriella should sit down. He sat down next to her, folding his hands as he looked earnestl
y at her.
“I am very sorry that you have been drawn into this,” he said. “You see, Nigel Smythe-Walmsley was one of our key agents. His death has been a blow to the resistance that will take some time to recover from. We arrived at your apartments just moments after you left, and we followed you. It was no coincidence that I spoke to you at the theater.”
“I never noticed I was being followed,” Gabriella said. “But then, I don’t suppose I was looking for humans, was I?”
“Of course not. Not with the Visitors chasing after you, Gabriella ... You don’t mind if I call you Gabriella, do you?”
She laughed. “It’s a little late for you to ask me that, don’t you think? After all we’ve been through together in the past few hours, you may call me anything you like, Mr. Subhash.”
“Just call me Subhash.” He smiled at her, showing two rows of fine white teeth.
“Okay, you’ve got a deal.” She reached out and shook his hand. “There’s one thing I’ve been wondering about, though, Subhash.”
“And what is that?”
“How you’ve come to be a resistance leader.” “It is simple. I am English, and my country has been invaded.”
Before Gabriella could say another word, a man entered the room. He wore a ski mask, and in his hand was a pistol which he pointed directly at Subhash.
Chapter 7
“Jimmy McHugh,” the gunman said, twirling his pistol like a cowboy, “at your service, mum.”
“How did you find your way in here?” Subhash asked.
McHugh laughed, his freckled face flushed beneath his ski mask. “I’ve come to talk a little business with Ian ... or you, Subhash. Whichever of you is more reasonable.”
“Divide and conquer, is that it?” Subhash looked amused.
V 13 - To Conquer the Throne Page 2
