"I see. So you'll risk what might happen after death because you haven't got any idea what it is."
"One thing I'm not going to do is accept what the soul is because an old man and a kid tell me it is. Besides, I might win. There's only one loser. It's a good deal for Todd and Tedd. They guarantee souls and we have a fifty percent chance of winning."
"It's a ridiculous idea. Ashley did it to save my life. That I can understand. I'd do it for her. But to risk your soul for money is pathetic."
"That's a reasonable point of view. Everyone's got their own scale of values. I don't judge others because they don't share my view of things. Don't worry, you'll get a chance to see how strong your convictions are."
"Are you suggesting they're going to tempt me? Is that why you're taking me to them?"
"I don't know what they want. But you're cannon fodder, my friend. You're one of those who believes whatever these two say. If they say the soul's the most precious thing in the world, you'd swallow it, because how could they do what they've already done? How could this game of chess be real?"
"I'd pay more attention to them than you do. That's one thing I'm sure of."
"I told you, you're cannon fodder. At least they're not going to cheat me. I make decisions trusting in my instinct instead of letting their words sway me."
"We've already seen that," Aidan paused. "Who are they really?"
"What more can I give you? The problem is the same as the soul. Are you going to believe what they tell you? If that's the case they could be anyone. If they said they were the devil trading souls, would you believe them? It'd be better that they were aliens controlling human life."
"I don't know," Aidan said.
"Take your time. They won't tell you that. I've already told you that they consider themselves to be collectors. It's the only explanation I've heard them give. In any case I would dare to guess that they will tell you whatever suits them in order to seduce you. Strangely though, they don't usually lie."
"I've got to admit the way you treat all of this impresses me. Aren't you curious to know the truth?"
"Like everybody. Is there anybody who doesn't want to know what's after death?"
"Then?"
"Then, nothing," Dylan answered. "There's no way of knowing and that's it. That's the only truth. You're free to believe what Tedd and Todd say if it'll make you feel any better. Personally, after seeing what they get up to, I would prefer to not take what they say seriously. My serenity is based on the fact that I'm sure there are questions that will always remain unanswered."
"Let's leave it for now, because I can see you're capable of convincing me too. But just the same, I feel like strangling you for your involvement in all of this." That was a much stronger temptation than Aidan would have believed. Without any doubt, Dylan was living a happier life than Aidan. His way of thinking allowed him to live a less complicated existence. And Aidan envied him for that. His own life was a mess. He'd just lost Carol, Lance's death was still fresh in his mind, and he had no idea what was going to happen to Ashley. As Dylan had said, he was cannon fodder.
It wasn't a good moment to philosophize. At that moment, it was all the same to him. He was what he was, for good or bad, and wasn't going to change. He'd confront whatever was coming his way the same way he'd handled everything else in his life.
The limousine stopped.
"We've arrived," Dylan advised him.
"Thanks for telling me all this," Aidan said, shaking his hand. "I still don't like you, Dylan. But at least I've been able to share your point of view."
"Take care of yourself, friend," Dylan said. "Maybe we'll see each other again. I don't know how your story's going to finish, but if you come and visit me, I'll buy you a drink."
* * * * *
CHAPTER 29
As soon as Aidan Zack had put two feet on the pavement Dylan Blair's limousine drove off and disappeared down the street into the traffic. Aidan looked up and down the pavement and realized suddenly that he had no idea where he was supposed to go. He was in the middle of the city, nowhere in particular. He wasn't in front of his house, the police station, or anywhere else that meant anything to him. Pedestrians passed by as they had been doing a few minutes before, the shadows lengthening, as the sun lowered itself slowly on the horizon.
He lit a cigarette, with nothing better to do, and wondered if Dylan had made a mistake in dropping him here. He was supposed to be meeting Tedd and Todd, but there was no sign of them, and nothing was happening. He was getting impatient. He still hadn't been able to see his wife and…
"Careful with the step, Tedd," he heard Todd's voice advising Tedd somewhere in the distance.
He spun round and saw the inseparable couple approaching the entrance to the Underground. The old man and his walking stick, and the child at his side supervising every one of his steps.
These two never said hello like everyone else that Aidan knew. But that didn't matter. Dylan had left him in the right place after all. He threw the cigarette in the gutter and zigzagged his way towards them through the crowd of pedestrians.
"Hey, you. I believe you were looking for me," Aidan said as he got closer. "Or at least that's what your butler Dylan Blair told me."
"Our dear friend has arrived, Tedd," Todd said. "And he seems to be in a good mood judging by this little joke that he just made about Dylan."
"The time's come, Todd," Tedd pointed out without raising his head. "The moment's arrived to finish all of this."
"Before you do anything, I want you to tell me why you say you're my friends when you tried to kill me in the art gallery," Aidan asked, gritting his teeth, fighting against the mad desire to strangle the two of them there and then on the pavement.
He kept on telling himself they weren't normal and he needed answers. It was the only thing that was holding him back. He needed to know where Ashley was and what had happened in the game.
They went down the stairs to the station and Todd held the glass door at the bottom open for the old man. Aidan hardly noted the silence that reigned in the place, his curiosity and impatience dulling other instincts.
"He's doubting us again, Todd," Tedd said. "After all we've done for him."
"Maybe, that's because he didn't understand it very well, Tedd," Todd said. "He seems confused. Something's made him think that we've tried to kill him."
"I'm not confused," Aidan informed them. "You sent me to that gallery by telling me that my wife was waiting for me there, and I finished up trapped inside in the middle of an inferno."
"That's what I'm referring to, Tedd," Todd said. "You see how mistaken he is? He thinks we sent him to the art gallery."
"An unbelievable mistake, Todd," Tedd said. "You're completely right. It must be because of the flyer that fell out of your pocket. He must have assumed Ashley was there. Anyway, it doesn't matter. If he goes over the conversation we had, he'll find that we never said that his wife was in that place. He jumped to conclusions and went off so quickly that we couldn't ask him where he was going."
On the way to the platforms, Aidan went over the conversation he'd had with them in the park and realized that the old man wasn't lying. Neither of them had said explicitly that Ashley would be there. He'd just jumped the gun as they'd said he had. And while he couldn't dispute their version of the story, he somehow felt that they'd manipulated him just the same.
Dylan had warned him that Tedd and Todd never lied. Now he understood what he meant. They confused people into doing things. And not looking at anyone directly in the eye helped them in their deceit.
Todd pointed his finger at the turnstiles and they opened without him needing to insert a ticket. It was only when that happened that Aidan realized that the station was deserted. There was no one there except them. No employees, no commuters. It was very strange. Tedd followed the boy and Aidan followed him. They went down an escalator.
"Where are you taking me? I want to see my wife?"
"He isn't showing us any resp
ect, Todd," Tedd lamented. "I can hear it in the tone of his voice."
"He'll get that back straight away, Tedd," Todd said, "As soon as we take him to his wife. Then he will realize what great friends we are."
"I hope that's the case, Todd," Tedd said. "We wouldn't take everyone to see the conclusion of a game. He should understand that it's a show of how much we appreciate him."
Aidan didn't know what to say. He had no idea what the end of the game meant. But either way, it didn't matter. The only thing that did was finding Ashley. They went down several passageways without seeing anyone. It was as if the Underground had been specially closed for them.
"It'd be a good idea to explain the rules, Todd," Tedd said. "For his own safety. We don't want anything bad to happen to anybody."
"There won't be any problems, Tedd," Todd replied. "He's a sensible man. He's already got a reasonable idea about the reach of our influence, and he knows that we would be obliged to act against Ashley if he doesn't obey the basic rules. I'll tell him that he can't cross the railway line under any circumstance, and that it would please us that he expresses himself properly."
"It's better to ensure that he's understood, Todd," Tedd said. "We can't let him see Ashley without being sure that he's going to behave well. It may be terribly hard, but we can't permit any change of attitude here."
"I understand perfectly," Aidan promised them, taking the warning seriously. "I won't cross the railway line and I won't do anything out of the ordinary."
Tedd and Todd seemed pleased with his words and they continued on to the platform.
There was no one waiting for the next train. The track was covered by a light fog that restricted vision across to the other side. They walked along the platform slowly, until they were more or less in the centre. The electronic board that indicated the time of the next train wasn't working. And the name of the station that should have been visible in several places was nowhere to be seen. The tunnel entrances at each end of the short platform were two impenetrable black circles.
Aidan Zack began to feel nervous as he studied the desolate scene. It was deathly quiet, the tapping of Tedd's walking stick on the platform the only sound. Todd kept turning his head in both directions, expectantly.
There was no need to explain that this place didn't figure in any current map of the London Underground because it was quite obvious that Aidan wouldn't be able to return to where he'd come from without Tedd and Todd's help. The sense of the bizarre made Aidan feel tiny and insignificant. He shifted his weight restlessly on the platform until he made out two shapes through the fog on the other side of the track.
They were the silhouettes of a man and a woman. Aidan hadn't heard them arrive. He continued to stare at them as the fog slowly thinned, and in a matter of seconds he recognized Otis and Ashley. Now he understood why he'd been banned from crossing the track. They wanted to keep him out of it.
The fog lifted completely and his eyes found Ashley's. A hurricane of emotions was unleashed inside him. She was the most beautiful woman in the world and he wanted to throw himself across the track and take her in his arms. He still couldn't believe that she was alive after five years of believing the opposite, after five years of therapy to cope with her presumed death. Now she was in front of him, only a few yards away, but he couldn't lay a hand on her.
She looked back at him sadly, her face a reflection of what she was feeling. Their looks welded into one, and Aidan felt absolutely incapable of looking away.
"I… I'm sorry," Aidan stammered, trying to excuse himself for making the queen lose in exchange for his life. "I didn't know."
"I know," Ashley answered understandingly. "Throughout these last few years I could see you, and I knew what had happened. You don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault. I'm the one who got into all of this. Please God, forgive me. I couldn't… I couldn't let you die."
A tear ran down Aidan's cheek and he had to summon all his strength to stop himself from crossing the track.
"I would've done the same for you. My soul is nothing compared with your life."
"Don't say that, Aidan," she shouted, visibly alarmed. "Promise me that you'll forget that idea. That's what they want."
"As much as it hurts us, Todd," Tedd said. "I believe it's the moment to interrupt this conversation. We've still got to evaluate the result of the game."
Ashley fell suddenly and strangely quiet as soon as the old man began to speak. Aidan forgot for a second who they were and stared at them with hatred. Tedd and Todd showed no sign of being aware of the shift in his mood.
"You're right as always, Tedd," Todd agreed. "It's time to collect what's coming to us."
"You can't collect anything," Otis called out. The game has finished in a draw. No one has lost. Therefore we don't owe you anything."
A draw. They'd forced a draw? If it hadn't been for that, Ashley would have won. Why had Ted and Todd allowed a draw to be forced?
"My dear Todd," Tedd said, "Inform this poor fellow that his interpretation of our pact is incorrect. It's our duty to ensure that he understands it perfectly."
"Of course, Tedd," Todd said. "Don't worry. He won't fail to fulfil the obligations that he assumed of his own free will, once he's understood."
Aidan was distracted by the conversation and looked nervously at his wife in search of an answer. Ashley didn't say anything but he could read in her expression that she was in as much doubt as Otis was.
"The deal was that we play a game and only give up our soul if we lose," Otis reminded them. "That was very clear at the time. And in this game, no one's lost."
"No doubt there's fine print," Ashley said. "They set traps to get a draw."
"They haven't understood anything, Todd" Tedd said. "Ashley thinks we set traps. She doesn't understand that that's impossible. No one can interfere in the game."
"That's a lie," Ashley protested. "You put my husband in danger to force me to move the queen to that square."
"With a little patience they'll understand, Tedd," Todd promised. "Ashley has to understand that we didn't oblige Aidan to go that place, which he himself can confirm. And besides, Aidan isn't a piece anyway. She was free to move wherever she wanted to. It was her decision and nobody else's."
"You manipulated everything," Ashley insisted. "You chose that site because I couldn't move there. I could only send Helen and she was beside Otis, ready to make the final move, but after that, she couldn't. I got into this to save Aidan's life. I couldn't let him die."
"It's important that Ashley understands that we will take responsibility for her problem, Todd," Tedd said. "It is extremely difficult to combine the chess match with real life. Of course, what one gets in return is extremely difficult too, or even impossible. Or does she think it's easy to save the life of a man in the state in which we found her husband when she sought our help? We explained all the implications that our duty demands, and we acted in accordance with her request. You can't ask for a miracle and then go back on your agreement."
"She's not like that, Tedd," Todd said. "She knows we only did what she asked us to do. Our work is to help the rest, although it's clear that our services are so special that they must come with an agreed price. That's logical and easy to understand. It's not possible that we can force someone to play. And, on the other hand, it's impossible to change the game. It's that simple."
"It's not so simple when the deal doesn't say anything about a draw," Otis objected. "I just went over that."
"How does he dare, Todd?" Tedd asked. "Our contract couldn't be any clearer. There's no fine print. Ask him to repeat it and we'll tell him what is stipulated in the event of a draw."
"Very well. I'll repeat it. The player that obtains victory doesn't have to surrender his soul and will be able to–"
"I don't see how something so simple can confuse anyone, Tedd," Todd said. "It's as clear as water. Just as Otis has repeated it, the one who wins is free to go without any obligations attached."
Aida
n grasped it then. And judging by the look of panic on the faces of Ashley and Otis, they did too. The one who wins doesn't have to surrender his soul, but nobody had won. That was the trick and didn't require any fine print. It was unfortunately very clear. Tedd and Todd had forced a draw to finish up with two souls instead of one. They got at least one soul from each game. All the better if it was two.
"It seems there is no doubt, Todd," Tedd said satisfied. "It hasn't been that complicated after all."
The old man hit the ground with his walking stick and the fog began to rise out of the blackness of the railway line. Aidan unleashed an inhuman scream when he saw Ashley and Otis begin to be shrouded by a grey cloud. First Lance, and now, just after having met her again, his wife. It was more than he could bear and now he had absolutely no reason to hold back. If, as he understood it, Tedd and Todd were the owners of his wife's soul, he wasn't going to let them carry her wherever they wanted. He forgot everything and ran towards her determined to cross the line and get her out of the fog.
When he was two steps from the edge, he came to a dead stop. It wasn't that he'd changed his mind, it was just that instinct made him freeze, as he saw a train out of the corner of his eye, hurtling out of the tunnel at full throttle. If he hadn't stopped when he did he would have been carried away by the train.
But worse was to come, when the train had passed, and once the fog had lifted across the track, there wasn't a trace of Ashley and Otis to be seen.
"You've taken my wife away and now I'm going to give you what you've had coming for a long time," Aidan screamed, turning to face Tedd and Todd. He was as wild as he'd ever been and nothing mattered to him now other than running this miserable old bastard through with his own walking stick. He'd do the kid next. "I don't give a fuck who you are. You'll pay for this."
The Big Ben mystery Page 28
