Danie Ware - Ecko Rising

ECKO RISING

DANIE WARE

TITAN BOOKS

FOR BONES

F.T.W.

PROLOGUE LONDON

“We’re bein’ stalked.”

It was evening. The press of people was close, huddled and submissive to the public monotone that accompanied them home.

Overhead, the streetlights were halogen brilliant, obscuring the heavy, belly-down sky. The drizzle sparkled like shrapnel.

Fuller, tarnished aplomb in suit and overcoat, gave Lugan a nervous look. “You’re sure – ?”

“Shut up an’ keep moving.” One of the cell commander’s massive, oil-stained hands grabbed Fuller’s elbow and propelled him swiftly through the crowd. A gang of kids, laughing at their own defiance, barged into them and were gone.

Reflexively, Lugan checked his pockets.

Get Collator. Subvocalised, his voice was transmitted from the back of his throat directly into Fuller’s ear. I want CCTV access – like, now. Drones if we can get ’em.

Fuller gave a brief nod.

Tense now, Lugan checked the street. The light pools were bright but the shadows were hard edged and darker than oil. Everywhere he looked, unseen eyes looked back, teeth were bared in unseen grins. He shivered, bristled.

What’re you looking for? Fuller asked him.

Dunno. Trouble.

Half a head taller than the blindly ambling workers, Lugan picked out the police-blue glow of the hoverdrone, watched it swing about and head back towards them.

Fuller was rebroadcasting Collator’s info-stream. Data input commencing 18:42:06... 07... Camera locations accessed. Drone ID: 23-987b accessed. Download commencing one minute and forty-five seconds...

Lugan reached for a dog-end. “This stinks.” Watching the drone, he headed for the shelter of the buildingside. As he moved, the crowd stirred and parted.

A shred of silent darkness flickered in his wake.

What was ... ? Further back, Fuller’s voice came over the aural link. Lugan!

“What?” Without thinking, Lugan spun, back to the wall and crouching, hand going for the ten-mil that wasn’t there. Breathing tightly, he kicked in his ocular heatseeker, but the ambivalent temperature of the blankly trudging people defeated him.

There was nothing there.

Telling himself he’d imagined it, pillock, he watched a moment longer.

There was nothing there.

A burst of distant shouting made him start; the hoverdrone swung about to investigate.

Then a voice in his ear said softly...

“Boom.”

“Shit...!” Lugan spun sideways and back, fists balling. “Fuller!” Two paces ahead, Fuller dropped into cover behind a heap of dustbin bags shining with rainwater.

You get it? Lugan snapped.

No, I...

Did the drone get it?

A moment later, he heard Fuller’s voice reply, No screen. It’s gone.

What? Lugan slammed his back to the brickwork, searched his pockets. My smartcard, my headset, my fucking lighter. One black boot kicked the wall, rubbish scattered. What are we – fucking amateur night? We catch this joker, I’m going to wring its neck. Update Collator!

Spitting out the dog-end, Lugan sought the drone. Above his head, the light show had started: bright lasers played on the clouds as if to cut them open. In the wealth of the City and the West End, London still pulsed with life. Here, the shadows were –

Eyes. Some two metres above his head – the shadows were eyes.

A frisson shivered up his spine – whatever this character was, it was playing with them.

Fuller’s rebroadcast was telling him about the building. Human Resource Container standard design 12a, security level eight... Purchased by Mortimer, Hiner and Thompson Finance in 2018... Population: fifty single units...

Lugan watched the eyes. They were red. Just as he figured they were LEDs, they winked at him and were gone.

The frisson became a shudder; he found he was holding his breath.

Under the public monotone, a breath of laughter reached him – dark, malicious, cynical. It stroked his ear like a cold hand.

They were being watched.

The sound had come from the heart of the homeward-walking workers, as if the drugged-up drudges themselves mocked his efforts.

Swallowing hard, Lugan forced himself to move normally. What the hell was this character? Security level eight – and it just... hung on the wall like a gargoyle? Laughed as they tried to track it? Picked their pockets without getting –

Oh wait a fucking minute...

Snarling through his beard, Lugan went back through the pockets of his old leather. He chucked a handful of washers onto the pavement and held up the piece of paper that remained.

“All right, smart-arse,” he said, “you got my attention. Now what the hell are you?”

The laugh came again. “I’m caught. Red-handed.” The voice was a rasp, savage, gleeful and absolutely fearless; a faint hint of an American accent. It came from behind them, but this time neither Fuller nor Lugan turned. “You gonna try an’ shoot me, biker-boy, or are you gonna turn me in?”

“I’ll turn you into fuckin’ chop suey, mate, if you don’t give me back my stuff.”

Still scanning the wall, Fuller said, Rebroadcast kicked, Collator’s with us. Report’s uploading.

“So, the mighty Lugan loses his kit like a rookie. Y’know what they say, the bigger they are –”

“The harder they kick your arse. Whatever you are, you better get out where I can see you –”

“Yeah? Why don’tcha make me?”

Incredible. The rebroadcast was dumping info so fast that Lugan could barely keep pace. The voice was male, adult, lacking a formal education, Chicago-born but living in London for ten years or more; there was a cruel, childlike quality that could indicate psychological damage and/or cybernetic overload...

The eyes were back, closer. “Y’ever heard of the Bogeyman?”

Through Fuller’s aural link, Collator’s smoothly androgynous tone said, ID confirmed, 98.83% probability...

“Yeah,” Lugan said. “He’s the bloke you don’t boogie with.”

The laughter became a cackle. “That ‘One Percent’ tattoo your sense of humour?”

“I know the ‘Bogeyman’,” Fuller said. Tall and wiry, Fuller’s quiet presence and calm voice cut the laughter with a sharp, informative edge. “He worked towards a better world, a liberated world – a world free from pharmaceutical control. He was a crusader, fought for the people. The graphic novel was banned –”

Comic books? Lugan raised an eyebrow. You’re pullin’ my chain...

Fuller ignored him. “It was you last night, wasn’t it? You took out Pilgrim’s new facility, the Serena Installation.”

The rasp twisted into a humourless cackle. “I’ll take any op to fuck with Pilgrim – ’til some grunt gets lucky an’ raises the alarm.” The eyes blinked once and were gone. “Didja see the bang?”

Lugan swore. “That bleedin’ buildin’ did a double backflip an’ swallow dive. You ain’t tellin’ me that was you?”

The shrug was audible. “Hey, it’s traditional to blow up a major London landmark on Fawkes’ Night. Besides, I jus’ laid the charges. Ol’ Bobby Pilgrim set it off.”