Tim Lebbon - Reaper's Legacy

“And if the distraction fails,” Reaper said, “we’ll be waiting to mop up the pieces.”

“It won’t fail,” Jack said. But the fragility of their alliance was already obvious. Reaper and his people seemed almost flippant in their confidence, and there was no telling what their real aims and ambitions were. Reaper had left Miller alive because he amused him. Like a cat leaving a mouse to play with the next day.

And yet Jack was certain that there were underlying insecurities that he had yet to find. If not, why did Reaper not rule London?

And why was he even still here?

He sighed, and thought of his mother and Emily.

They slowly drew together with the others. One of the women with Breezer could communicate in a basic way with her mind, sending hints and urges rather than words. She liaised their meeting point, and long before they got there, Jack and his friends saw the huge area of stacked containers.

It was almost beautiful. The rectangular metal containers came in an array of colours—yellow, green, rusty red, cream, varying shades of blue. There seemed to be no design to how they were stacked, and the mess of colours was busy and pleasing to the eye. But knowing what lay within the container park gave it a sinister edge.

This was where Miller and his Choppers operated from. A place of imprisonment and cruelty. A place of chopping to see what made London’s survivors—the New—able to do the amazing things they could. He probed inward and reached out, but he was not able to see far into the maze of containers. It was confused. He wasn’t sure why, but his senses were flooded with input from all around, like splashes of colour and light on a dark background. Thousands of containers filled with millions of items. Perhaps they all meant something to someone—all bearing distinct, deep histories—and that concentration of meaning was confusing his talents.

They crossed a wide spread of concrete and approached the first of the containers, watching out for movement. Breezer and his people emerged from behind one of the metal boxes where they had been waiting, and without a word they joined forces. It was a significant moment, marked by no more than a glance between Reaper and Breezer. Both men hid their thoughts.

The Choppers already knew they were there. Of course they did. They had the girl working for them. But this time the advantage belonged to the New.

Jack and Fleeter held back at the tail end of the group as they moved into a shadowy passageway between container piles. The route quickly became as wide as one of London’s streets—wide enough for container trucks and mobile cranes, Jack guessed. Sparky and Jenna led, with Breezer and the three Irregulars just behind them. Puppeteer followed, to the side and slightly apart. Reaper had vanished, advancing from elsewhere, and Jack knew that others would be with him—Shade, Scryer, and more.

So these are the New , Jack thought, and a tingle ran down his spine. Tense though this moment was, it was also painfully exciting. He had seen more death and murder than anyone his age should ever see, and he hoped that this might be the first step beyond that.

But he also knew that grudges ran white-hot. The slightest mistake could push one side or the other over the precipice.

After ten minutes wending their way between piled metal containers, Fleeter grabbed his arm and pulled him close. The others paused as well, watching expectantly.

“The open area is around the next junction,” she said, nodding at where two routes met a hundred yards ahead.

“The air’s loaded,” Jack said. “Tense.”

“Don’t need Spidey senses to feel that,” Sparky muttered.

“They’ll have guards,” Jenna said.

“And the sharpshooters I told you about,” Fleeter whispered, pointing up.

“Come on,” Jack said. “Fleeter and I will get out of sight while you move on. But…”

“Of course we’ll be careful,” Sparky said

Jenna nodded. “I’ll look after him.”

Jack watched his friends moving away from him, and the sinking feeling could only have been dread.

Fleeter grabbed his hand and pulled, edging into a much narrower gap. Then she started to climb. He followed, glancing up and then looking away, embarrassed, when he realised he could see up her short skirt. He heard her chuckling above him, and he concentrated on handholds and footholds. In places it was easy, and elsewhere he had to prop himself across the gap and edge upwards an inch at a time. After a few minutes Fleeter’s hand reached down and helped haul him up, and they emerged into sunlight.

Jack rolled onto his stomach and looked around. They’d climbed four containers, and around them many were stacked only two or three high. Fleeter pressed her finger to her lips and pointed, and thirty yards away Jack could see someone lying on a lower box, rifle resting before them. They had one hand pressed to their ear, listening to some sort of communicator. Binoculars sat beside them. Fleeter gesticulated “wanker,” then nodded in the opposite direction. To the east the wide, open area where there were no units at all was obvious. They crawled across the roof of the container, keeping as low as possible, and looked down onto a large expanse of concrete.

There were several Chopper vehicles parked there, Land Rovers and a few of the powerful motorbikes they’d seen only recently. People rushed around, weapons on display. They exuded an aura of confidence. Good , Jack thought. We’ll soon change that .

Fleeter tapped his arm and pointed. Across the other side of the open area, which must have been the size of a football pitch, several metal containers seemed somehow out of place. They’d been placed side to side in two distinct arrangements, one consisting of four units, the other three. Electrical cable was strung around them, and around them were the signs of a well-used compound. Oil drums were stacked beside one, pallets held plastic containers of food and water. Spare tyres, a row of portable toilets, stacked bags of rubbish, and there were even several large, open tents.

They’re settled , Jack thought. Safe. At ease . He could not hold back the smile. And then from below, a shouted warning.

“Stop right there!” Across the clearing, men and women brought up their weapons and pointed them at the intruders. Some of them edged sideways until they aimed from behind vehicles. Others went to their knees, rifles propped against shoulders.

Sparky, Jenna, and the others had emerged from the maze of containers and now stood at the edge of the open area. Breezer glanced back, and Jack realised for the first time how nervous the man was. He’d spent the past two years trying to avoid Choppers. Now he was offering himself to them, in full knowledge of what they did.

“Stay strong, not long now,” Jack muttered. Beside him, Fleeter giggled. He ignored her.

The man next to Breezer lowered his head and looked at his feet, and Jack just caught his words. “Drop your weapons.”

From across Camp H, the clatter and clash of guns being dropped.

“That’s us,” Jack said, turning to Fleeter. She raised an eyebrow at him, licked her lips as she looked him up and down, and then vanished with a crack! and a swirl of dust.

Jack concentrated, grasped the talent, and did the same.

“You don’t seem surprised,” Rook said.

“Seen it before.”

“On TV or something, yeah?”

Lucy-Anne shook her head. Rook frowned, but said no more.

The sculpture was huge, outlandish, and it seemed even stranger now that there was no one left to appreciate it. The table was thirty feet tall, plain, square-edged. An equally plain chair was tucked halfway beneath it, and together they dwarfed the landscape. Lucy-Anne couldn’t shake the unsettling conviction that she, Rook, and the surroundings were too small, rather than the table and chair being too large. It was dizzying and unreal, but she was not too concerned with what she saw now.