Moriarty- The Road

by Jack Spain

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Balor told them. ‘There’s no point in going back in there. If anyone finds it, they’ll probably just think it’s a lost toy or penknife.’

  Within minutes, they had all bundled themselves back into the van and were on their way. The security guard came around not long afterwards. Although he initially thought that he had just slipped and banged his head, he was less sure when he found Fang in a bad way.

  Michael McManus arrived on the scene within twenty minutes, in his Range Rover. Michael slammed the door of the Range Rover shut and walked over to the guard who was comforting Fang who was bleeding from the nose.

  ‘What happened here?’ Michael demanded to know as he knelt down to look at his faithful dog. The security guard was none the wiser and just shrugged his shoulders as he stood up and looked around.

  ‘The dogs went berserk and began running all over the place. I got knocked over in the commotion and must have blacked out. When I came around, I found Fang staring out through the fence with blood dripping from his nose. That’s when I called you,’ he told Michael. Michael didn’t reply. He immediately took Fang by the collar and led him over to the Range Rover.

  ‘It looks like he’s cut his nostril badly. I’m taking him to the vet,’ Michael told the guard.

  ‘It’s well after midnight,’ the security guard said. ‘He’ll be in bed. The dog will be all right until the morning.’

  ‘I’ll get him up then. How are the other dogs?’

  ‘They’re fine. Leave it until morning. The bleeding will stop.’

  ‘You don’t understand. This is my dog and I’m taking him to the vet and the vet will get up and see to the bleeding, whether he likes it or not. Check around the yard and see if anything has been stolen,’ Michael ordered the security guard as he lifted Fang into the back of the Range Rover and closed the doors. ‘Call me if you find anything,’ he yelled to the guard.

  Michael walked around the Range Rover and took a final look into the yard before going to the driver’s door and opening it. He looked down as he fumbled through his jacket pocket for his keys and noticed something shiny on the ground. When he picked it up, he was surprised to find that it was a miniature sword in a sheath, about five inches long and perfect in every minute detail. It had a strap that appeared to have been severed violently from the sheath on one side. On the handle were three spiral markings.

  Michael froze in the realisation that they were identical to the ones that Emily had drawn.

  The security guard realised that something was up and walked over to Michael.

  ‘What’s that you have there?’ he asked, noticing that Michael was looking at something in his hand. Michael looked up.

  ‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Nothing at all.’ And with that he climbed into the Range Rover, reversed out of the yard and drove off.

  The Spy Emerges

  A shadowy figure watched impatiently from a distance as the King’s men entered the hill with their injured comrade on a makeshift stretcher. A small crowd formed around the entrance to the cavern to see if the mission had been successful. Within moments, the King arrived with the Captain of the Guard and was very concerned about the injured man who was being tended by two nurses.

  ‘What happened here?’ asked the King.

  ‘A pipe burst and knocked him out. He’s broken a few ribs too,’ replied one of the soldiers.

  ‘Will he be all right?’ the Captain asked one of the nurses.

  ‘He’s out for the count. We’ll know more when he comes around,’ she replied.

  The Captain knelt down to take a closer look at the fallen man and sighed. It always affected him when someone was hurt in action. He turned to Moriarty and Balor.

  ‘How did it happen?’ he asked.

  Another guard intervened. ‘It was an accident. Moriarty risked his life to save him. He distracted some guard dogs while we carried him out of the yard. I’d hate to think of what would have happened otherwise.’

  ‘Is this true?’ the King asked the other men. They all nodded, one after the other. The King turned to Moriarty.

  ‘You’ve done well, boy.’ he commended him. ‘Go and get some rest.’

  Moriarty nodded and turned to Balor.

  ‘The mission was a success,’ Balor announced. ‘But we’re not out of the woods yet. I’ve arranged with Grogan to transport us to Carrickhill tomorrow night.’

  ‘I see,’ replied the King, both happy and sad. ‘Your bravery has stopped the machines, but only long enough to allow the citizens of the hill to abandon their homes. You had better get some rest. You know what you have to do tomorrow.’

  Balor nodded and led Moriarty away. The Captain of the Guard indicated to his men to take the wounded man to the infirmary. Then he followed the King away from the crowd. When they were out of earshot, the King stopped and turned to the Captain.

  ‘I have ordered Balor to rig the hill with explosives.’

  ‘Explosives? What explosives?’ the Captain exclaimed.

  ‘Comither concentrate. Something that Balor has been working on. It’s more explosive than nitroglycerine but a hundred times more stable, or unstable. I can never remember which. We need to remove all evidence that we have been here.’

  ‘How much is he going to use?’

  ‘All of it,’ replied the King with a look of concern.

  ‘Will it be enough?’

  ‘It will have to be.’

  ‘And what will we use when it’s all gone?’

  ‘Balor will make some more when we get to Carrickhill. In the meantime, we will need to lay low. He’ll go around in a few hours to collect the Comither magazines from your men. He’s going to need some of those for Grogan,’ the King explained.

  ‘Grogan? Why?’

  ‘After Grogan has dropped us off at Carrickhill, he must have no memory of where we are, just in case they find evidence of us here when they dig up the hill. We’ll have to find a new Sentinel. We cannot be sure that the destruction of the hill will be absolute so Grogan is now a liability.’

  ‘I see,’ replied the Captain. The two men stared at each other for a moment before the King broke the silence.

  ‘It appears that you were wrong about Moriarty,’ he said.

  ‘Wrong, how?’

  ‘It was his idea to buy time to get away. It was his idea to get Grogan to take us to Carrickhill, and it appears that it was Moriarty who saved your man from certain death at the yard.’

  The Captain of the Guard stood silent for a moment, considering what the King had just said. The King turned around and had a long look over the village and the cavern before turning back to the Captain.

  ‘Give the kid a break. He may just turn out to be all right in the end, despite Balor,’ the King told him before strolling back towards the village and his residence.

  The Captain sighed and headed towards the infirmary.

  Morphu watched as everyone went about their business until soon the entrance to the hill was clear. More importantly, there was nobody hanging around the telephone hut so he quickly made his way through the narrow alleys of the village, keeping to the shadows. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he rushed inside the telephone hut and closed the door.

  Once inside, he pulled all of the curtains closed and, when he was sure that he wasn’t being observed, hurried over to the phone and twisted it around. He looked at the back of the phone for a moment and then began to feel around the sides, as if looking for something. The only thing on the back of the phone was a tiny silver mirror with a hole above it. As he grappled with the side of the phone, a bright light came on in the back and then, a second later, it flashed with a clicking noise.

  Morphu jumped back, having been almost blinded by the flash. It was a camera phone and he hadn’t expected that. He covered his eyes and stumbled a bit while he recovered. Having composed himself, he took another look at the phone and noticed a small silver button at the bottom of the back. He tried to press it but it was to
o hard. Having looked about himself again, and checked outside by pulling the curtain across, to make absolutely sure that he was alone, he pulled a sword out from a sheath hidden on his back and used it to lever the button down. There was a quiet click and the back of the phone popped off, revealing the battery. He quickly pulled the battery out and put it into a knapsack that he produced from inside his habit. He was then careful to replace the back of the phone and put everything back the way it had been.

  Morphu took the knapsack and pulled it over his shoulder. He then opened the curtains and went to the door, opening it just enough to peer outside. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he rushed outside and made his way through the shadows to the houses closest to the exit.

  There was only one guard protecting the exit. Morphu stared at him, unseen for a moment, before moving back into the shadows and taking a magazine of Comither from his pocket. He clicked a vial out of the magazine and snapped the tip open, ready to spray. Then, casually and as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he emerged from the shadows and walked towards Seamus, the guard protecting the entrance. Seamus watched him approach and then stood in front of Morphu, raising a hand to stop him.

  ‘Where do you think you’re off—’ Seamus began but he was cut short when Morphu sprayed his hand with Comither. He then moved in close to whisper something in his ear. Seamus moved to one side and, having checked that nobody had seen anything, Morphu disappeared though the exit and out into the moonless night.

  He quickly made his way across the dark fields as fast as he could. It didn’t take him long to reach Old Man Grogan’s house. Before long, he had run down the driveway and was out on the road. He paused by Grogan’s signs to make sure that the road was clear before running towards the bridge and up to the main road. Once again, he paused to make sure that the road was clear, and also to catch his breath. He was panting heavily, exhausted by the weight of the battery in the knapsack.

  Morphu crossed the road by the sliced-loaf rock and descended into a ditch on the other side. He ran through the undergrowth of the deep dark ditch for a short distance and then stopped suddenly, pulling out two swords from his back. He could see several pairs of beady eyes in front of him. They were just mice so he put the swords back and continued, forcing the mice to scurry in all directions. He seemed to travel quite a distance before climbing the wall of the ditch and clambering through a small hole in a fence. In front of him was another hill. He sighed as he looked at the long slope with a house in the middle. Then he tightened the straps on the knapsack and ran up the hill.

  Panting heavily, he crossed the ridge of the hill and began to run down towards an old tree. The hill was slightly steeper on this side which made him run quite fast and he slammed into the tree with a muffled thud. He paused to catch his breath before running around the tree and disappearing into a hole that went deep into the roots and into a cave under the tree. Morphu collapsed onto his back and undid the straps of the knapsack. As he sat up, he pulled a tiny match from his pocket. Still panting, he stood up to strike the match on the stony wall and light a torch nearby. He looked to the far side of the cave. Two eyes, illuminated by the torch stared back. Morphu wasted no time. He undid his habit and dropped it to the ground and began to remove the bandages from his face and hands.

  It was now obvious that Morphu was actually Nemed, an agent of King Conor of the Ox Mountain. He was dressed completely in black and had a black bandana stretched across his face. He then opened the knapsack and took out a small bag of bread. Carrying the torch, he walked over to the corner where the real Morphu was trapped in a cage that had been made of wide sticks tied together with wire. Morphu was tightly tied to prevent him from escaping. He watched as Morphu took the food that was placed in front of him through the bars of the cage.

  The man in the bandana then turned his attention to something that had been covered in a canvas. He pulled the canvas away to reveal a mobile telephone, identcal to the one in the hill. Having taken the battery from the knapsack and turned the phone around, he took one look at Morphu before slipping the old battery out and putting the new battery in. It was a perfect fit and the man seemed to sigh with relief. A moment later, he turned the phone around and switched it on. Morphu moved forward to drink some water as he ate the bread and watched the man who was illuminated by the greenish light from the phone.

  The man keyed in a number and then paused. He was kneeling on one knee and he looked at the ground in front of him and then at Morphu for a moment before he pressed the dial button. He then pressed another button to put the phone on speaker. The sound of a phone ringing on the other end of the line filled the cave. The ringing stopped and a voice filled the cavern.

  ‘Genuine Irish Pizza Company. Can I take your order, please?’

  ‘This is Nemed. I’m reporting in,’ he replied.

  ‘Password?’

  ‘Three barbecue meat feast pizzas with carrots, please.’

  ‘Please wait,’ came the reply and then a pause. ‘Authenticated. Make your report, Nemed. Why the long delay since your last report?’

  ‘The battery on the phone died. I needed to find a replacement. It wasn’t easy.’

  ‘I see. What about the defences for Hill Five?’

  ‘One commando unit. Twelve men. They’re called the King’s Guard, and they’re tough cookies. They train almost every day. The hill has a raft of external early-warning systems, most of them built by the druid Balor. He sees everything that is coming. No other defence mechanism aside from a large reserve contingent. Basically everyone in the hill is on permanent standby for attack.’

  ‘Early warning systems? What are they?’

  ‘A massive complex of infra-red motion detectors, all wired to an alarm system based on lights on a board, like a giant radar. He purchased them in a sale with the assistance of a local collaborator — a farmer called Grogan. He has also just started setting up wireless web-cams around the perimeter of the hill.’

  ‘Is there any way in and out?’

  ‘One blind spot via a farmer’s house. It looks intentional, as if for Balor himself. It’s caved in but could be opened up if you wanted to spend a week or two digging.’

  ‘Any mechanised forces?’

  ‘None, other than a rabbit for defence and high-speed transport.’

  ‘Who ever heard of a rabbit for defence?’ joked the voice on the phone.

  ‘It’s not that kind of rabbit,’ Nemed replied drily.

  ‘How did you get in?’

  ‘Disguised as a village idiot call Morphu.’

  ‘What happened to the idiot?’

  ‘He’s tied up where I keep the phone,’ Nemed explained as he watched Morphu eat.

  ‘Any secret weapons?’

  ‘One,’ the man began. ‘Comither concentrate. They discovered that ordinary Comither burns, and found a way to concentrate it so that it explodes when exposed to fire. The process for concentrating it is known only to Balor. He has coded the instructions in his notebooks. The same applies to the Comither. I cannot find the recipe for that either.’

  ‘Balor was certainly no good at chemistry when he was in our hill. Are you sure?’

  ‘They all call him Balor, but he doesn’t match your description. He’s skinny, old, and has green hair.’

  ‘It could still be him. They mustn’t be feeding him right. What does he keep in his notebooks?’

  ‘Hard to tell as he writes in code using special letters that I have never seen before, writing from bottom to top at high speed. The only things that he writes at normal speed in ordinary writing are stocks and shares valuations. He’s a big investor. He has bank accounts in every major bank, including two Swiss banks. This he does through the farmer, Grogan. As a result, everyone thinks that Grogan is a millionaire.’ Nemed paused a moment. ‘There’s something else you need to know.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Things are bad in the hill. It’s scheduled to be demolished to make way for a new road i
n a couple of days. They’re just in the process of abandoning it to move to Carrickhill.’

  The man on the phone told Nemed to stand by and there was a long silence before another man with a deeper voice came on the phone.

  ‘Nemed? What’s this I hear about Bruan’s hill being demolished?’

  Nemed recognised the voice instantly. It was his own king so he told him about the plans to flatten King Bruan’s hill to build a road, and how they were going to evacuate to Carrickhill.

  The King told Nemed to wait while he considered the situation. Eventually, after a long delay, he came back on the line.

  ‘Nemed, are you there?’ his deep voice boomed.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Nemed replied.

  ‘Yes, your highness,’ the King corrected him. ‘Carrickhill is out of bounds. We have designated it a classified area and it is off bounds to everyone. Therefore we cannot allow King Bruan to evacuate there.’

  ‘Well, they have to evacuate somewhere,’ Nemed said.

  ‘I know. There is another cavern that was built during the projects. Unlike Carrickhill, it has no pre-built dwellings but it is drier and better protected. I’m sure that King Bruan would prefer it. I’ll have to speak to him directly. I’ll pretend that I want to negotiate safe passage for a unit past his hill to go on a reconnaissance of Horan International Airport or something.’

  ‘I understand. What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Nothing. Your mission is complete. Return to base,’ replied the King. There was another voice in the background that seemed to be saying something to the King.

  ‘I understand that you have taken a village idiot as prisoner,’ the King said after a pause.

  ‘Yes. Do you want me to let him go?’

  ‘Negative. Kill him and return to base. You’re a spy. Our identity must remain secret,’ the King sternly replied.

  Morphu overheard heard this. Startled, he dropped his bread and moved to the back of his cage.