Simon Green - Live and let Drood

Nice reaction time, my dear, the Regent said briskly, but right now I m more interested in how Miss Mitchell was able to smuggle a bloody big handgun past all our supposedly top-rank security measures. Find out, Ankani. You are authorised to use severe language and excessive force. I m also authorising a complete lockdown; no one gets in or out until they ve been thoroughly checked. I want a full investigation into how Crow Lee was able to use his mind games on one of my most trusted people. Have the body removed. I want a full autopsy. See if she was under any outside influence. I doubt it, to be honest, but I do feel I should give the poor old thing the benefit of the doubt. Oh, and I ll need a new carpet.

Of course, sir, said Ankani. I ll have a full report on your desk by morning.

You ll have it here by end of day, growled the Regent. No one goes home till we ve got this sorted.

Yes, sir, said Ankani.

She made her guns disappear somewhere about her person, and then bent down and picked up Miss Mitchell without any obvious effort. She slung the body over one shoulder, smiled winningly at all of us, and then left, pulling the door quietly shut behind her.

Given that your tea lady turned out to be an assassin, are you sure you trust her any better? Molly said sweetly.

Ankani? Of course! said the Regent. Been with me for years. One of my best agents. Trust her implicitly.

You trusted Miss Mitchell, I said, looking at the large bloody stain on the carpet. There were quite a few bits of bone and brains, too. Miss Mitchell had meant business. Crow Lee s business.

Yes, well, said the Regent. There s trust, and then there s trust.

That s a real Drood answer for you, said Molly.

The apple never falls far from the tree, the Regent said vaguely.

If Crow Lee had a traitor inside your organisation, I said thoughtfully, who s to say he didn t have someone inside the Droods? I mean, how else could he have known about Alpha Red Alpha? Most of our family didn t know it was down there, underneath the Hall, on the grounds that if they had, they d probably have left the Hall en masse and set up tents on the grounds rather than live over such a dangerous thing. Hold it hold everything. Go previous. Drop anchors. Grandfather, has anyone ever talked to you about the Original Traitor?

No, said the Regent. And it does sound like something I ought to know about. Tell me about this Original Traitor, Eddie. Tell me everything.

So we all sat down again, and I filled him in on the latest conspiracy theory within the Droods that there was a traitor inside the family who went back years, maybe decades, maybe even centuries. Subtly sabotaging us, working from within to undermine everything we did for his own hidden purposes.

I ve been away too long, said the Regent.

Far too many things I don t know Why the Original Traitor?

Because we don t know how far back he goes, I said. There is some evidence to suggest he goes way, way back.

Given how many of your family s more important secrets have been forced out into the light recently, said Molly, maybe the Original Traitor feels you re closing in on him at last. He must be getting a bit desperate.

We re pretty sure he murdered Sebastian, I said.

Good God! said the Regent. Really? He worked for us, you know.

Sebastian worked for everyone, I said. He was murdered during the Hungry Gods affair, while he was being held inside one of our supposedly secure holding cells. Which is supposed to be impossible.

And Freddie went missing around the same time, said Molly. He s been declared missing, presumed dead.

Both of them rogues, said the Regent. Are we assuming a connection?

I don t know, I said. But I think we need to track down the remaining rogues and make contact with them. Apart from you and me, they re the only Droods left in this world. A world that probably wouldn t be too unhappy if we were to become extinct I did make contact with some of them when I was declared rogue by Martha. But most of them have disappeared. The Mole has gone deep underground, and no one s seen Mad Frankie Phantasm or Harriet Hatchet in ages. Of course, it could just be that the rogues don t want to talk to me because I killed one of them. Arnold Drood, the Bloody Man.

I did hear about that, said the Regent, nodding slowly. It was a righteous kill, Eddie. If ever a man needed killing, he did.

And Tiger Tim, I said. He needed killing, too.

The Regent looked at me sharply. Timothy? Jack s boy? That was you? I d heard he d been killed, but I didn t want to believe it. He was Jack s only child.

I know, I said.

And my only other grandson. Did you really have to?

Yes, I said.

You were there, said the Regent. It was your decision to make. But he still didn t want to look at me. Poor Jack. Life has not been kind to him.

What about James s children? said Molly.

They d be your grandchildren, too.

The Grey Bastards? said the Regent, not quite turning up his nose. I know all about them. I think not. They re not Droods, you see. Just half-breeds. I know it shouldn t matter that they re all illegitimate, but it does. I think I m old enough to be allowed to be old-fashioned about some things.

There s still Gerard Drood, Grendel Rex, the Unforgiven God, said Molly, just a bit mischievously, and perhaps showing off a little. Still securely bound and buried, sleeping deep beneath the Siberian permafrost.

We don t talk about him! the Regent said sternly. And we all managed some sort of smile.

Do you know of any rogue Droods I might not have heard of? I said. Any who might be willing to help us against Crow Lee, or even any who might be working with him?

I know of thirty-seven other rogues scattered across the world, said the Regent. I sat up straight in my chair.

Thirty-seven? I said, not even trying to hide my disbelief. I never knew there were that many still alive, running loose in the world!

I told you, said the Regent, smiling easily.

It s my job to know everything and anything that matters. Because you never know when it might come in handy Can t hold out much hope for contacting most of them. Too busy with their own little schemes, which my people are, of course, keeping a careful eye on And I really don t see how Crow Lee could have suborned any of them without my agents knowing.

You didn t know about Miss Mitchell, said Molly. And she was right under your nose.

True, said the Regent. Very true. I ll have my people reach out to the rogues, Eddie, but

Yes, I said. But.

Some of them might talk to my people, where they wouldn t talk to you, said the Regent. And I ll approach the more cautious ones through a series of cutouts, so they won t know who s asking. Might learn something useful Anything else I can do for you while you re here?

Yes, Molly said bluntly. Do you know where my sisters are?

The Regent blinked a few times at the sudden turn in the conversation, but he recovered quickly. Isabella and Louisa? Can t you just contact them yourself?

Normally, yes, said Molly. We re very close. But for the moment they ve both got their auras turned off.

The Regent looked at me. Does that mean anything to you?

Not a thing, I said. And I know better than to ask.

Oh, good, said the Regent. It s not just me, then. He looked at Molly. The last I heard, which I ll admit is some time back, because it s never easy keeping up with any of the infamous Metcalf sisters Isabella was busy investigating an ancient set of stone catacombs deep underneath the Sahara Desert, while Louisa had brought something interesting back from her investigation of the Martian Tombs.

Really? I said.

As far as we can tell, yes, said the Regent.

If you ever find out how she got there and back, please tell me. We d really love to know. It seems she took whatever it was she found down to the Black Heir Headquarters, down in Cornwall. They specialise in the study of things left behind after alien contact: bodies, tech, altered people the usual. Louisa wanted her big find studied by the big man himself, Professor Nightshade. A very impressive mind, by all accounts. Haven t heard anything about Louisa since. I can put in a request for information direct from Uncanny to Black Heir, but they ve never been big on sharing. If Louisa brought them something important or valuable enough, they d never even admit they d seen her. She could be sitting right there in their office when the call came in, and they d still deny they d even heard of her.