Jane Higgins - The Bridge

‘And you would again, if you needed to. And rightly. Perhaps I cannot entirely trust you – no one trusts the city – but I do now believe you came here to find your friend.’ She studied me. ‘I know fear when I see it. It’s a great leveler. We use it when we must. We would do the same again.’

‘I almost told you once, but then Max told me about your family.’

‘Ah.’ She nodded and fell silent. The fire crackled and spat. At last she said, ‘It’s time, isn’t it, that someone told you about your family. Sit.’ I sat across the table from her.

‘Your mother’s name was Elena,’ she said.

‘You knew her?’

‘No. I never met her and – here’s an admission – I didn’t realize she was black. You’re the wrong color, you see, for all my preconceptions. But now that I look at you, you are so like your father. I should never have missed that.’

‘How do you know about her if you never met her?’

‘Your father told us. But they lived in the city and she never came over the river.’

‘You met my father?’

‘Oh, yes.’

‘What happened to them?’

‘Elena was killed in an ISIS raid on what they thought was a Breken cell. Your father was in the Marsh at the time.’

‘Is that where he died?’

She looked at me. ‘Nikolai, child. Your father is not dead.’

Who is he? Where is he?Why don’t I know about him? Does he know about me? If he knows, why did he leave me in that school all those years? Can I meet him? All that, I wanted to know – and more.

Levkova told me some of it. ‘He’s a strategist. One of our best. He moves around – it’s safer that way. We spread the rumor that he died getting out of the Marsh and, as far as we know, ISIS bought it and aren’t hunting for him. We must keep it that way. Do you understand?’

‘You mean I can’t tell anyone.’

‘I mean exactly that.’

‘Can I meet him?’

‘Yes, you can meet him, I promise, but right now I want to save Sim from a bullet. Oh, one more thing. Your friend is here. Sleeping upstairs. Safer, I thought, than leaving her in the infirmary.’

She called Jeitan in. ‘Jeitan thinks I’m mad to ask you for help. Why would a Citysider save the life of one of the city’s ablest enemies? But Sim is also one of its best chances for peace. Without him, CFM crumbles and the fanatics rule the day.’

‘What do we do?’ said Jeitan.

‘Start a rumor. That DeFaux is back, that he intends to assassinate Commander Vega at the ceremony tonight. Say that there’s a price on DeFaux’s head: medicine for a year for the family of whoever finds him before sundown. Nik, you’ll have to do this – you’re not a known face in the township and people down here won’t know or won’t care that you’ve been banished. Jeitan, go back up the hill, and when the rumor gets there, do your best to confirm it as officially as you can. Say that you’ve heard that Council will guarantee the reward. They can hardly deny it.’

‘What if we get to sundown and we’ve got nothing?’ asked Jeitan.

‘Then we escalate.’

‘How?’

‘We start a riot. Anything to stop the Crossover ceremony taking place. Are we clear? Good. Find some food and take an hour’s sleep upstairs if you must. I’ve sent word to the CFM leadership in Ohlerton, Gilgate, and Ferry Junction.’ She looked at me. ‘Those are the bridge councils that CFM still holds, upriver. I hope some of their people will get here in time for tonight.’

I hesitated in the doorway and decided to push my luck. ‘After this – if it all works out – will you help me find Fyffe’s brother?’

She looked up from the fire. ‘Yes, Nik. I will.’

Crossover morning dawned cold, with mist rising off the river. I spent it standing in the bread queues, wandering in the Crossover Day market, and hovering at street corner fires saying, ‘Have you heard…’ And thinking about my father: I had a father and I was going to meet him. Did it occur to me that he might not want to meet me? Not for a second. He was going to be overjoyed that I (a) existed, (b) had survived, and (c) had found him at last.

Before long I realized that I had a shadow. Lanya was watching me. She didn’t come close enough to talk, but whenever I looked around, there she was, standing on a street corner or leaning on the side of a building. After three hours of me wandering about rumor-mongering, she was still there. I came out of the crowd in the market square and saw her sitting on the steps of an old theater. She looked up at me as I approached and I stopped in case she didn’t want me near, but she nodded towards the steps and I sat beside her.

‘How’s Fyffe?’ I asked.

‘She’s on the mend, but worried about her brother. What are you doing?’

‘Something for Levkova.’

‘Oh.’ She nodded. ‘Do you think she’s forgiven you?’

‘I don’t know. Have you?’

She looked across at the crowds in the market. ‘I can see why you did it. You couldn’t leave a child to the traffickers. I asked the Commander about Fyffe’s brother – they turned Goran’s place into pieces, but he wasn’t there.’

‘No. They got wind we were looking and took him somewhere else. At least we know he’s alive.’

We watched the crowds and Lanya said, ‘What you’re doing for Levkova. Is it so secret you can’t tell me?’

‘Probably,’ I said, and told her.

She listened, frowning, then said, ‘Remnant are on the attack. We can’t lose Commander Vega. That would be disastrous. Levkova is right: if anything’s going to unearth DeFaux, the promise of a year’s medicine will do it. But there’s not much time, is there.’

‘We have to try.’

She held up a finger. ‘Did you hear that?’

‘What?’

‘You said we. We have to try. What do you mean? Why would you help us? Don’t you have loyalties?’

‘To what? The city?’

‘Of course.’

‘I don’t know what that is anymore. I thought I knew. I thought I knew what Southsiders were like as well.’

‘I see. You’re not a very good Citysider, are you?’

‘My mother was Breken.’

‘Your mother? Well, that explains a few things. But don’t you have people over there? Fyffe’s family? Your school?’

‘My school is a bombsite. My best friend is dead. Fyffe’s family – yeah, I’ll do what I can to get her and Sol home.’

‘You have a girl. Fyffe said so.’

‘Sort of. At least… I don’t know. I thought I did.’

She grinned. ‘You sort of have a girl?’

‘Well, you’re finding it hard to forgive me and I’ve known you all of two minutes. I’ve known Dash most of my life and I’ve only just told her I speak Breken. She didn’t take it all that well. She doesn’t know about my mother yet.’

Lanya laughed.

‘What’s funny?’ I said.

‘You are. You’re afraid to tell your girl – what’s her name? Dash. You’re afraid to tell Dash about your mother.’

‘So?’

‘You think she’ll be upset because your mother was Breken?’

‘Yes. No. All right – she’ll be upset because I am.’

She twisted round to look at me, still smiling. The world brightened. ‘There,’ she said. ‘You said it. It’s not so bad! And for that – yes, I do forgive you. Can I help you spread the rumors?’

Early afternoon, we headed back to Levkova’s. Fyffe was sitting at the kitchen table, talking to Vega and Levkova about Sol. ‘Remnant have him, almost certainly,’ said Vega. ‘I’d say he’s well cared for. He’s worth a lot of money.’

‘For you, too?’ asked Fy. ‘If you get him back, you’ll have us both to ransom.’