Jane Higgins - The Bridge

‘Scavenging.’

‘Call it what you like—’

I pushed past them and went back outside. I peered into the second shack. It was almost completely dark in there. A woman lay on a camp bed near the door and beyond her in the shadows were piles of furniture. I couldn’t see any kids. The woman moaned at me and shooed me out or beckoned me in, I couldn’t tell which. She was deep in some disease or other – skeletal, haggard. I backed away and went to the third shack. I found kids there, four of them. Same deal as before: eyes staring, mouths open. Silent. Like they were spellbound. Vega and Jeitan arrived in the doorway behind me.

‘They’re drugged.’ I said. ‘Or drunk.’

‘They’re hungry,’ said Goran, pushing through us. ‘That a crime? Never seen hungry kids before? Look!’ He walked up to one of them, a boy maybe eight or nine, skinny and filthy. Not Sol. Goran pulled him to his feet and gave him a little push. The kid stumbled forward and stood in front of the Commander, like he was waiting for inspection. Vega looked him over and said something to him and the kid replied in Breken, then turned away and sank back to the floor. ‘See?’ said Goran. ‘Free to move around. You’re a Campaign for Free Movement man, Commander – you should appreciate that.’ He sniggered at his joke. ‘Only thing they’re not free to do is eat, ‘cause we got no food. You could help us, Commander. What d’you say? A little charity’d feed a hungry tribe. Then maybe I wouldn’t have to go to Council about your illegal search.’

Vega nodded at Jeitan. ‘Talk to them. Find out where they’re from. If they’re here willingly. I’ll start on the others.’ He headed for the door.

Goran put a hand on Jeitan’s arm. ‘That’s a big step without a warrant. Wouldn’t you rather do some business?’

‘What business?’ said Vega.

‘I hear you’re looking for DeFaux.’

‘Where do you hear that from?’

‘Ah, well. Word’s about.’

‘You’ve seen him?’

‘May have. May have. Can’t help you though, if you destroy my little operation here.’

Vega hesitated in the doorway and I saw my chance slipping away – they’d take this deal, they had to. DeFaux was what they wanted, not some crook they might or might not be able to pin a trafficking charge on.

I went back into the yard. If Fyffe was here, I had to find her now. The Commander was going to leave at any moment and I was going to be left with nothing.

My hand dripped blood on the ground and hurt like a burn. What if she was here and hurt? Or drugged like those kids? I couldn’t leave without knowing. And I’d run out of time.

I put my head back and yelled in Anglo. ‘ Fyffe! Are you here? Fyffe! ‘ The Commander turned in the doorway to stare at me and Sett came out of the first shack, knife in hand. I yelled again, turning a full circle. In the doorway of the middle shack where the sick woman was, a figure appeared on hands and knees, wearing ragged clothes and with a mess of fair hair. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked across the yard at me.

Goran strode over to her. ‘That’s my niece. She’s sick. You can’t come in here and harass my family.’

‘She’s not your niece,’ I said. ‘Get out of the way.’

‘I got her papers.’

‘You can’t have her papers. She has no papers.’

‘Then you can’t prove she ain’t mine.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I can.’ I pushed him out of the way and knelt in front of her, brushed her hair back from her face. Her eyelids fluttered, almost opened, closed again. ‘Fyffe,’ I said, and in Anglo, ‘Talk to me. Come on. Wake up.’

‘Nik?’

‘Yeah, it’s me. Come on, wake up. You’ve been drugged. We need to get you out of here.’

‘Where’s Sol? I can’t go without… I’ve lost…’ She started to cry.

‘Fyffe, please. Try to stand up. You can do it. Come on.’

‘I saw him. I saw Sol. He was here, then they took him away. Nik…’

‘Come on.’ I helped her stand.

She put her arms round my neck and her head on my shoulder. ‘He was here.’

‘Good. Because you know what that means? That means you did it. You found him. And he’s still alive and in Southside. We’ll track him down. I promise.’

Commander Vega was staring at me, narrow-eyed. Then he turned to his rooftop gunmen and shouted, ‘Round them up! Dig deep. They’ll be hidden, most of ’em.’

The squad jumped down and began kicking in doors and herding out kids. Vega snapped his fingers at two of the squad. ‘Stefan and Marena, work out who’s local, who’s city. Feed them all. Put them somewhere safe – and watch them. I want to talk to them once we’re done here.’ He looked round and saw Lanya standing by the gate. ‘You! Go with Marena. Make sure this one gets to the infirmary.’ He nodded at Fyffe, then he looked at me. ‘Jeitan! Benit! Lock him up.’ Jeitan and a pale, thin young guy stepped forward to stand on either side of me. Vega scanned his squad to make sure everyone knew what they were doing and said, ‘Go!’

We went.

They took me back to HQand stuck me in a cell below ground. It was windowless, concrete, and narrow, with a mat a thumbnail thick on the floor and a jug of water in the corner. Benit was enjoying himself. He snapped his fingers at me. ‘Boots.’

‘What?’

‘You heard me. Take off your boots.’

‘You’re kidding.’ I looked at Jeitan. Nope. Not kidding. They were going to do this by the book. I took off my boots. Felt the cold seep through the mat.

‘Coat.’

‘No.’ I stepped back, hit a wall.

Benit marched up to me, stuck an arm against my throat and his face in mine. ‘Everything you’re wearing is ours. We could take all of it. We’ll take the coat. Be grateful.’

Grateful, no, but I could do the sums. I took off the coat and he tossed it to Jeitan.

‘Better,’ said Benit. ‘Right. Name? Full name.’

I’d given up pretending. ‘Nikolai Stais.’

He hit me hard across the mouth. ‘Real name!’

I licked blood. ‘That is my real name, you shit.’ That got me a punch in the stomach.

I heard Jeitan say, ‘Go easy, Ben.’

The guy backed off, but he wasn’t done. ‘Think you can stuff us around? Think again.’

‘Leave it,’ said Jeitan. ‘Not our job.’

He glanced at Jeitan. ‘C’mon, J. We could find things out. Save Vega the trouble.’

‘Leave it. Let’s go.’

They slammed the door and left me in the dark.

The blood on my palm had dried and crusted. I thought about trying to wash it but I couldn’t see, and anyway I didn’t know how clean the water in the jug was.

Some time in the early hours, the door opened and a light came in. The doctor crouched in front of me. ‘Show me your hand.’ He cleaned it, stitched it, bandaged it, and left without another word. No painkillers this time.

I don’t know how long they left me there. Long enough that Lou showed up in the corner and started talking to me. His face was bloody and so badly burnt I could see his teeth and tongue through his cheek. I knew , he kept saying. I always knew you were Breken. We all did .

Some time, a long time, later, when Lou had gone, the door scraped open. Jeitan tossed me my boots and coat.

‘Out!’ He led me blinking up the stairs to a washroom, then to a tiny kitchen where he gave me a mug of something hot and bitter and a flatbread pocket stuffed with a cold slab of meat sub. Silent the whole way. I tried thanking him for getting the doctor. And I thought about asking if they’d come yet to evict Levkova and Max, but I’d forfeited any right to know.