Fall of the Cities

by Vance Huxley

  Vulcan frowned, not quite so happy with that. “Meaning we use our gas. In that case who supplies thediesel?”

  “There’s other plate steel, aluminium sheeting and some solid bar, and big hammers or cold chisels will be enough to remove some of it. You can keep any steel you cut loose sotake extra vehicles. We will be raiding into Murphy territory but not the front lines, so how many troops?” Harold had no accurate count on how many soldiers the GOFS had, or could spare.

  The extras seemed to settle any problems over gas or diesel usage. “The borders don’t have more than a few sentries, because most of their men are tied up fighting Caddi. Forty of yours and forty of mine, properly armed with some firearms, should do it. Even the Barbies would think seriously before taking that on. How many extra vehicles should we take?” Vulcan realised he’d missed a vital bit of information. “How much steel is there? I assume we aren’t raiding for half a dozen plates.”

  Harold tried hard to keep his face straight and voice off-hand. “Between eight and ten tons of spring steel plates, at a guess.”

  “F…Hellfire! Have you found a park? F… Cripes, it’ll take forever to strip that many caravans!” Vulcan looked round at the smiling faces. “Hah. Got me, but I’ll bet you already know about caravans.”

  “Yes, we have a few burned ones over the road. There aren’t many about, nor wrecked pickups and SUVs.” Liz had gleefully used the smaller leaf springs from some of those as well. “People might have caught on faster if there were.” Harold frowned as he realised something. “You might be a tad annoyed when you find outwhere the steel comes from.”

  “Why?”

  “You sold us the first lot. We found the plates among those houses.” Harold hoped the GOFS didn’t take that too badly.

  Vulcan looked round the faces but it wasn’t a windup. “Where was it?”

  “When you see it you’ll know.” Harold shook his head. “I didn’t know about the steel so you weren’t stitched. It had been there since the Crash.”

  “I might still be annoyed, if you hadn’t just offered me four or five tons of the stuff.Now it would be bloody ungrateful. Wayland will kick himself round our yard when he finds out.” From Vulcan’s smile,he’d be the one telling the smith. “We’ll nip over the rubble across a corner of the Barbies’ border,because ours doesn’t quite meet the Murphies now Caddi has advanced. The Spudswill fight over that amount of steel, but we’ll have enough men.” He bowed towards Patty without getting up. “And women of course.”

  Nobody else looked worried. “The Spuds have no idea what they’ve got, so they won’t defend it.”

  “Now I really am curious. I suppose I’ll find out the day after tomorrow, which is the soonest I can get organised. Get to our border as early as possible, the usual place.” Vulcan hesitated, calculating. “Four or five tons each? I’ll make you a deal. We won’t make Rambos if you don’t make the big swords. They’re a real money item for us and with four tons you could undercut. We will continue making our usual knives.” Vulcan thought for a moment longer. “Open season on maces or we’ll arrange a price with you,to avoid a price war? Maces aren’t spring steel but yours are as good as ours.Wayland has had to pretty ours up to compete.”

  Harold didn’t need Liz or anyone else to tell him that was a good deal, but he pushed for something a bit better.”We’ll sort out a price list for all the weapons if you like. I’d assumed you’d keep making your usual knives and we won’t make machetes. We won’t make any blade more than two-thirds the weight of your big swords.” Harold thought the new swords were less than half weight but wanted to leave a margin. Liz had been approached by a hobbyist with drawings of axes, but with narrow heads rather than the big double headed type.

  “There’s only you and the Barbies will use the smaller maces. All the men want the larger type.” Vulcan’s sour look wasn’t completely convincing. “You’ll probably get the Barbie custom anyway,because they still like you.”

  Harold smiled at a smirking Patty. “They still like Patty and her Demons.”

  “Yes, we listen to Barbie Radio as well. ‘Walking the Demon,’’Devil’s Child,’’Number of the Beast,’’Beast and Harlot,’ they do find some delightful love songs.” Vulcan looked around the room, including everyone. “Have you found the Barbies a little bit less manic of late?”

  Everyone looked at each other, not sure how to answer. The Barbies had never been completely manic in here, and several had struck up real friendships since the radio repair, but how much did Vulcan know? After a few moments,Patty answered. “The top lot are a bit full on, but we’ve never had real trouble. Maybe the Barbies just think the point has been made and they don’t need to keep it up.” That was what Harold and his advisors had decided.

  “Unless some idiot raids them. We were invited to send someone to see those trophies.” Vulcan pulled a face. “Until this war of Caddi’s,that was the last raid on any local gang headquarters. I heard that the Murphy guards were dead and the gates unlocked when Caddi’s menarrived. Was that your er, well, Mercedes?” Vulcan half-looked at Tessa, wondering if he’d just said the wrong thing.

  Tessa sat on the arm of Harold’s chair, but her legs weren’t over his. Her jeans were new and tight as befitted a gang boss’s woman, and she wore a tight blouse, but she no longer pulled his hand round her for the act. “Who the other woman is varies. Allegedly I’m the biting one, and have underwear.” Vulcan looked a bit startled. “The other one only wears a knife as underwear, according to Harold. The lively is up for grabs at the moment, but I doubt I’ll keep the title.” Harold sat there trying not to blush.

  Vulcan looked from him to Tessa, not sure if he should laugh or not. “What happens when Mercedes turns up and moves in?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’ve asked Harold to teach me to shoot, just in case.” Tessa gave a lovely smile,but right now Harold could also see real mischief in her eyes.

  “I’m hoping to referee.” Emmy had decided to rescue either Vulcan or Harold. “I’m taking a shotgun or I don’t think they’ll listen.” She sniffed dismissively, then smiled at Vulcan. “I can’t see what the fuss is, but then Sharyn has told me stories about when he wore nappies.She wasn’t too surprised where he ended up, not after he got an Action Man.”

  The moment passed in jokes about what toys people had, and where they’d ended up. Vulcan asked again about more Country and Western sung by Jilli,so Harold promised to bring a couple of new CDs to the raid, as a bonus. As he left,Vulcan kissed the back of Tessa’s fingers, then Emmy’s. After a moment’s hesitation,he asked Patty very formally if he could kiss hers.

  “Yes, if you mean my fingers.” Patty smiled and extended her hand. “But only my fingers, this time. If you come to a dance who knows what or who you might kiss?”

  Vulcan laughed, kissing her fingers and producing a very overdone bow with a sweeping arm. “I can but dream, or perhaps lie awake lonely and heartbroken. Please send me an invitation, to the dance at least. Until we meet again, fair maid.” As heleft the house to collect his men from The Pub, with Alfie to keep an eye on him, Patty became the centre of a circle of enquiring eyes.

  Emmy grinned as she repeated, “But only my fingers, this time?”

  “Well it works for Mercedes, so I thought I’d try it out. What do you reckon? Is he interested?” Patty looked around. “What?”

  Tessa managed to stop giggling long enough to speak. “He’s a senior GOFS. A gang boss?”

  “So is Harold, but that doesn’t stop impressionable women fluttering their eyelashes. Vulcan is a lovely strapping bloke, and I do like that beard. If he’s at a dance here and he behaves, I might even consider a bit of ruffling.” Patty thought about it a moment. “No more, not on a first date. Unless there’s moonlight?”

  Sharyn left Harold thinking hard with her final comment. “Maybe you could invite Mercedes to the Easter dance, and at least three Barbies would kill for the chance. Then Cy could come with Vulcan and Patty would have options?” Har
old knew that promises about Easter burrows weren’t helping him to be objective, so he kept quiet.

  *

  Orchard Close couldn’t manage a very impressive convoy for the raid. Harold took his pickup, three transits, the three captured cars, Rabbit Bob’s estate car, Roy and his men in their car, and the Tank. He left the battle bus, because towing that weight would slow him up too much. With all the pickups and SUVs the GOFSbrought, thirty-seven vehicles carryingfighters brandishing firearms and sharp steel bounced slowly over the levelled rubble towards the Murphies. The GOFS graffiti on many of the vehicles, and the distinctive shape of the Tank, emphasised that the occupants were absolutely serious. The pair of Murphies watching their Barbie border ran for their lives.

  Harold led the way in the Tank, and the only Murphy SUV they saw burned rubber getting clear. Vulcan and Harold set up a perimeter tomake sure nobody could see what happened next. Wayland led a group to secure the actual wagons. When the smith saw them he almost drooled, stroking a couple of the top plates while pointing out they were already the right thickness for big swords. He promptly burst into the same sort of frenzy as Liz had, determined to get them away before anyone else had the chance. Wayland even issued the same sort of warnings about getting heat anywhere near his new steel. The GOFS smith had come prepared, he’d brought cold chisels and hammers to help cut the mystery metal free.

  Both Vulcan and Wayland agreed with Harold, the exact purpose of the raid should be kept a secret if possible. The residents in the nearest street of habitable houses were escorted out of sight, after being promised their belongings were safe and they’d be back home tonight. As the last ones left, two Murphy SUVs full of gangsterscame hurtling up the road. They screeched to a halt at the sight of forty heavily armed fighters running into position and taking cover.

  Neither Harold nor Vulcan recognised the man climbing out. He kept his empty hands in plain view so theyboth showed their empty hands in reply. “Hello there. I’m Vulcan from the GOFS and this is Soldier Boy.”

  “Niall, and what the fuck are you doing? Have you teamed up with Caddi?” Which seemed a reasonable assumption.

  “No, we’ll be going home again before dark. Sorry about the trespassing, but there’s some stuff we don’t want Caddi getting hold of. If you just let us be, we won’t even go into the houses.” Vulcan waved a casual hand towards all the weaponry aimed at the Murphy. “Or you could attack and lose a lot of men? Then we might get annoyed and decide to keep those houses, and maybe a bigger bite?”

  Niall took a good look at all the fighters, and the Tank. He could see more armed men further back even if he couldn’t see the rail wagons. “What are you taking?”

  “Steel, aluminium and plywood from the rail wagons.” Harold patted the Rambo hung from his belt. “The GOFS always want more steel, and now we’ve gone into making weapons as well.”

  He didn’t expect the curled lip and definite anger from the Murphy. “Yeah, we know all about those fucking Rambos. Especially the one you gave to that mad bitch of yours.”

  “Be careful what you call young ladies. There’s quite a few in hearing, and I gave them all a Rambo.” Harold made his smile as nasty as possible. “They’re all looking for a chance to collect ears.”

  “Barbies! You’ve brought Barbies as well?” Niall looked carefully at the fighters pointing weapons at him from behind cover, some of them definitely female. The blonde hair showing from under Doll’s helmet wouldn’t be reassuring. “You must be bloody crazy to team up with those, er, women.” Niall glanced each way before backing away towards his SUV. “I’m not promising anything. I’ll take the message back.” He might still look pissed off when he got back in the vehicle, but his driver looked relieved.

  Harold watched the SUVs head off at speed. “Do you reckon they’ll stand for it?”

  “Especially now he thinks we’ve got Barbies as well. If they bring enough men to throw us out, it’ll leave them sod all facing Caddi. Good thinking, telling him why we want steel. We’d better cut plenty off those wagons.” Vulcan’s grin had a lot of wicked in it. “When Caddifinally finds out what we did, I’d pay a lot of coupons for a video.” His grin widened even further. “He might even be stupid enough to get stroppy in front ofour cannon.”

  “We can but hope.” They turned back towards the houses masking the actual work on the wagons. “We’ll split the aluminium, but I’d rather take the plywood flooring and let you have all the steel apart from the springs.”

  “For the windows in that new enclave?” Vulcan didn’t wait for a reply, he waved a negligent hand. “No problem. It’s not much good to us.”

  To reinforce Harold’s messageall the wagons were dragged over, off their wheels, and Wayland made sure the GOFS cut off anything he could use. Harold’s contingent took most of the plywood flooring, strapping that and sheets of aluminium to the tops of vehicles because the pickups and vans were loaded with spring steel.The coil springs under some wagons, apart from eight Harold kept, were scattered so a casual glance couldn’t tell what had fitted where.

  *

  The small army left before dusk,cutting across the corner of Barbies territory again to get to GOFS territory. Harold wondered if he’d been too trusting, but the GOFS stuck to the bargain, sending the vehicles with Harold’s springs on towards Orchard Close. When the convoy pulled up outside Orchard Close, Vulcan headed straight for Harold. “Those windows back there are being bricked up.” He pointed at the sheets of plywood now being carried in through the gates. “So what do you actually want all that for?”

  There wasn’t much point in lying, because close inspection of the guards would give Vulcan the answer. “Our shields are plywood, under a thin skin of aluminium to cut down on splintering. The fancy paintwork is to cover the waterproofing.” Harold kept his voice low. “It isn’t exactly a secret, but I’d rather the first oik who tries to put his mace through a shield got a fatal shock.”

  “No problem. Is plywood that tough?” Vulcan looked closer at the Orchard Close guards. “I’ve always assumed the shields were aluminium, especially with the curve.I didn’t realise plywood would bend like that, but nowI’ll have to experiment.” His face broke into a big smile. “I could ask Demon if she’ll let me check hers out.”

  “Try calling her Patty,we’re not big on gang names. You never know your luck, you might get that invite to dance.” It might be the buzz from the raid, but Harold made a snap decision. “We could be extending the guest list. A couple of Barbies are interested.”

  “Chandra?” Vulcan whistled softly, then his eyes narrowed. “Mercedes?” Harold shrugged but instead of the grin he expected, Vulcan looked totally serious. “You’ve got a real thing for her, haven’t you?” The GOFS shrugged at Harold’s sharp look. “You were a bit snarky when that Murphy called her your bitch.”

  “I never mentioned her.” Harold tried to sound nonchalant and knew he’d failed.

  Especially when Vulcan laughed. “Yeah, right, except I saw your hackles going up. From what our lads have been told, I reckon she’ll be moving in as soon as this war of Caddi’s is over.” Vulcan glanced around and lowered his voice even more. “If she doesn’t kill Caddi first, let us know. We’ll watch for him getting his men together, then with luck we can catch him between a cannon and a hard place.” He gave the wall around Orchard Close a significant look.

  “Is it that obvious?” Harold was bloody horrified. Caddi would be on his guard, or even more than usual.

  “Not quite, to most, but it’s my job to notice things and prepare for the worst.” Vulcan looked at the plywood again and smirked. “In which caseI should check out these shields as soon as possible. Is Dem… Patty off duty now?”

  Harold shook his head, laughed, and pointed at the gate. “Ask there while you’re being searched.”

  “Has she got a bloke? You know, regular? I don’t want to cause strife.” Vulcan hesitated, his usual confidence definitely faltering. “Does she have a girlfriend?”

&
nbsp; “Patty? I’m not stupid enough to ask about her love life.” Harold tried to keep his face straight. “I’m sure she’ll let you know one way or the other.” He knew there’d be no girlfriend but wasn’t sure about Patty’s opinion of Vulcan, or Dealer’s bodyguard for that matter. Harold smiled as Vulcan headed for the gate, because the GOFS looked downright nervous.

  Vulcanwore a huge smile when he left. One of the guards told Harold the GOFS hadcarried Patty’s shield while they walked to The Pub. Vulcan bought her a drink and they sat together talking and laughing for a good half hour, well past when his men were ready to leave. Patty came to find Harold as soon as the GOFS left. “We’re inviting Mercedes and Barbies to the next dance? When were you going to tell me?”

  “Why, do you want to invite someone?” Harold held up a hand at her scowl and chuckled. “I had a rush of blood when we got back safe, and mentioned that we might open up the guest list.”

  “Mercedes? Caddi will go crazy.” Patty suddenly looked very calculating. “He might have to suck it up if there’s GOFS and Barbies here as well. Ah, right, I agreed that if a Hot Rod and Barbies were coming, we should invite a couple of GOFS. Vulcan will come to make sure they behave.” She muttered thelast part very quietly.

  “Last dances and ruffling?”

  Patty recovered from her temporary embarrassment. “You’ll never know because you’ll be busy playing grab-ass.” Harold had no answer to that.

  A couple of days later Ski complained to Harold about trespassers. Harold complained that someone kept nicking gear from his new houses near the Barbie borders. Ski had a beer and a laugh about all the naughty people running about. Harold took his opportunity, and offered her some gear he felt sure the Barbies had lost. He’d tripped over it while not trespassing.

  Ski looked baffled by the big coil springs until Patty explained those were why the Geek catapults threw so far. Once she was certain it wasn’t a windup, Ski ‘remembered’ losing them and went to get a barrow and some help to load them into a couple of Barbie cars. When she came to see Harold, to find out the price, he let Patty have the fun.