Mike Shevdon - The Road to Bedlam

"And how do we get out?"

"We make our escape route as we go in. All we have to do then is get back to the roof and we leave the way we came. The best outcome is they don't know we've been there until after we're gone."

"Is that likely?"

"If we draw power the alarms will trigger and they will assume there is a break-out in progress. They will not be expecting a break-in. We still have the advantage."

"Until we want to leave."

"Do not get trapped in there, Dogstar. The best of it is that they would break my vow for me. What they will do to you does not bear speaking of, and I would not be the cause of it."

"And yet you've been funding it, all this time."

"These are the depths we are driven to. I do not like it any more than you."

"And yet it continues."

"Do you wish to argue morality or rescue your daughter?"

I stared back across the expanse of rough grassland.

"Good," he said. "Follow me."

He stood apart, gathering energy until he was surrounded by a white aura of power. The warm night breeze chilled in response until he suddenly vanished. In the glare of the arc lights on the distant buildings I could not see him, but I knew where he'd gone. I stood in his place, focusing on the roof of the building he'd shown me, until the energy thrummed through me and the shadow world was overlaid on to reality. Then I stepped behind the curtain of the world into the space beyond, emerging on to a rooftop surrounded by arc lights.

Raffmir waited next to a large concrete structure built into the rooftop. Around us, banks of air conditioner units whirred in an incessant breathy hum.

"Now what?"

"There'll be a moment or two, then someone will come to investigate."

"The alarms have gone off already?"

"No, but the cameras aren't working." He pointed to a pair of wall-mounted security cameras angled to scan the rooftop. Their bare wires hung from them like entrails where he had ripped them out.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because we need this door open without raising the alarm," he said, indicating a service door. "Stand over there, out of sight."

We waited for a few moments until there was the sound of movement from the door. Someone tried several different keys, then the door swung open.

"…but whichever one it is, they ain't working now."

From my position towards the side, I could see two security guards emerging. They wore uniforms, but were not military. As the second one emerged, Raffmir stepped out on the far side of them into their line of sight.

"Ah, I'm glad you've come. We're having some trouble with the cameras."

"Who the hell…"

As the first one spoke, Raffmir stepped forward. The security guard jerked and the bright point of a sword punched through the back of his uniform. He waved his arms ineffectually and sank to his knees. At the same time, his colleague went for the gun holstered at his waist, his scrabbling fingers clawing for the weapon, flipping open the holster. In a second I had my sword drawn, the edge bright against his throat, pressed into his windpipe.

"Drop the weapon," I told him.

He held the unholstered pistol out by two fingers and let it fall to the ground, where it clattered heavily.

Raffmir stepped forward, placed a boot on the shoulder of the kneeling man and pulled his sword free. The man toppled backwards with a final cough, his head lying in a growing pool of blood. Raffmir swept the sword up in an arc, sending a spray of blood across the air-conditioner units.

"Are you planning on keeping him as a pet?"

I pressed the sword upwards, keeping the man on tiptoe, not letting him gain balance and posture to fight back.

"Can we tie him up?"

Raffmir whirled on the spot. The man jerked in my hand as Raffmir's sword thumped into his chest. He jerked again and then collapsed forward on to the blade I held at his throat. I was forced to relax it or slice his neck through. He fell into a heap across his colleague.

"What did you do that for?" I demanded.

"We do not have time to take prisoners, Dogstar. There are no innocents here, remember?"

"He was helpless. You didn't have to kill him."

"What were you going to do? Take him with us? Leave him here to raise the alarm?"

At that moment the smell hit me, a mixture of shit and blood, the smell of death. My gorge rose and I turned away, spewing what remained in my stomach on to the concrete roof. Cold sweat covered my forehead. I leaned against an air conditioner and tried to wipe my forehead.

"Some Warder you make, throwing up at the first sight of blood." Raffmir was amused.

"I do what I have to," I told Raffmir, the taste of vomit still sour in my mouth. "But I don't kill for pleasure."

"Nor I. It is necessary, I assure you," he said. "They might raise the alarm otherwise and we cannot risk that."

"The alarm will be raised as soon as they miss these two," I pointed out.

At this one of the men's lapel radios chirped.

"Did you find the problem, Chris?" The voice was distorted by the radio.

"Now what are you going to do?" I asked Raffmir.

In response, he rolled the dead guard on top on to his back and unhooked the radio. He shifted his glamour into the image of the man on the floor, and clicked the button on the side of the radio.

"Looks like a problem with the wiring to me," he said, using a voice similar to the dead guard's and looking at the broken camera. "You should get someone up here to fix it."

"Right you are. I'll give the security firm a buzz."

"We're on our way down," Raffmir said.

The security guard that was Raffmir tossed the radio on to the bodies. "By the time they find the bodies, it will be too late. Take the form of the other one. It will avert their notice."

It made me feel sick again to take the form of a man I could see dead on the floor, as if I was somehow stealing his identity as well as his life. He had been going for his pistol, so I suppose that meant he wasn't innocent, but did that make it OK? My hands were slick with sweat and I wiped them on my trousers as I followed Raffmir through the access door into the building.

We dropped three flights of metal stairs before opening a service door on to a corridor brightly lit by lines of fluorescent tubes.

"This is the administration floor."

We passed glass-fronted offices, one after another, each with a symmetrical array of desks. Close to midnight, they were deserted.

"How do you know so much about this place?"

"I have seen plans for the building. We funded the construction, after all."

"You're in this up to your neck, aren't you?"

"In my experience, necessity is only the mother of further necessity. We do what we must."

"Which way?"

"Down, always down. The lower floors are the secure area, below ground is where we will find your daughter. There are no windows and fewer exits. It makes it easier to contain the inmates."

"Inmates? Is that what we're calling them?"

"Mongrels, half-breeds, gifted individuals, whatever you would like to call them, that's where they're held."

We pushed through a set of doors and went quickly down a double flight of stairs, exiting on to an identical corridor. As we opened the doors, there were two more security guards walking down the corridor towards us.

"Stay calm," said Raffmir quietly.

"Did you find the problem?" one of them asked.

"Looks like a wiring problem. We reported it and they're calling in the security company," said Raffmir, mimicking Chris.

"Right you are."

They walked past us, the one who had not spoken nodding to me as they did so. I gave him a nervous smile, saying nothing. We heard one of them speak into the radio as they walked on to the stairs we had just descended.

"Chris and Terry on their way down," he said.