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"This is definitely it! Leads straight to the Mole!"
"Then you might want to open it," I said. "The trolls will be here any minute."
"I can’t open this! Only the Mole can open it."
"Stand aside," I said. "I’ll smash it in."
"No, you bloody won’t," said Molly, grabbing me by one golden arm and glaring right into my mask. "The Mole values his privacy, and you can bet good money that door is protected by seriously heavy-duty security. You even look at it fu
There was a worryingly long pause. The trolls were getting closer. I could feel the vibrations of their pounding feet through the stone floor. I sealed the compass away inside my armour and started to reach for the Colt Repeater. The trolls burst out of the tu
"Eddie! The door’s open! Come on!"
I turned and ran for the narrow dark opening in the wall. Molly was already inside. She pulled me in, and then slammed the door shut in the trolls’ faces, right behind me. The door didn’t look like much, but it held firm, despite the pounding of heavy fists on the outside. The trolls hooted and howled, slamming against the closed door in frustrated rage.
"Should we brace ourselves for an explosion?" I said to Molly.
"The Mole knows what’s going on now," she said breathlessly. "He’s expecting us. Eddie, be nice to him. He’s not used to visitors."
I followed Molly down the narrow tu
The tu
"You’ve been here before," I said. "What’s his place like?"
"Ah," said Molly, carefully not looking at me. "I haven’t actually been here before. Not in person, that is. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has. You should be very flattered he let us in. The Mole doesn’t normally allow visitors. In fact, he tends to discourage them by killing anyone who turns up."
"Hold everything," I said. "You mean, there was a real chance he might not have opened that door for us? That he might very well have just left us out there to die?"
"Well, that was a possibility, yes. But I was pretty sure he’d be so curious about you that he’d let us in. Besides, he sort of likes me."
"He likes you."
"No, I mean, he likes me."
"How, if you’ve never been here before?"
"Oh, I’ve been in his lair lots of times, just not in the flesh. I’ve dreamwalked here a dozen times, astral travelling. That’s how I knew the way. And we talk on the phone a lot. He can be very chatty, as long as you keep your distance. I really was pretty sure he’d let us in."
"Because he likes you."
"Yes. I do him favours…"
"I’m almost afraid to ask. What kind of favours?"
"I find him these dodgy porn sites on the Net…"
"I was right. I didn’t want to know."
The tu
I’d expected the Mole to be a dumpy little guy with squinty eyes behind huge spectacles, and that was exactly what he was. He was very pale, with long flyaway hair around a podgy face, and he blinked and twitched quite a bit. He wore Bermuda shorts, grubby trainers, and a T-shirt bearing the legend Tarzan, Lord of the Geeks. He also wore a Buddhist charm on a chain around his neck: the All-Seeing Eye. And above that, the golden collar of the Droods. One plump hand rose to touch it as he looked at me and the torc around my throat, and finally he relaxed a little. He smiled briefly at me and nodded to Molly.
"Hello, my dear. So good to see you again. And in person, at last. Yes. But please, both of you, don’t come any closer. I’m not used to company anymore. No. No. Hello, Edwin. Fellow Drood, fellow rogue. Yes. I don’t normally allow visitors. They’re too hard on my nerves. But if I can’t trust a fellow rogue…So, welcome to my lair. Edwin, Molly. Yes."
"Nice chair," I said for want of anything else polite and nonthreatening to say.
"It is, isn’t it?" said the Mole, brightening a little. "I ordered it specially. Through a whole series of cutouts. I have to be very careful. The armrests hold coolers for soft drinks. Would you care for one?"
"Not just now," I said.
"Good, because I’m ru
"Really?" I said. "Who else is after you?"
"Pretty much everybody," the Mole said sadly. "I know so many secrets, you see. So many things that some people don’t want other people to know. Oh, the things I know! You’d be amazed! Really. Yes."
"How do you power all this equipment?" I asked, genuinely curious.
The Mole shrugged. "I tap all the energy I need from the Underground. And the city. They don’t notice. I have all the utilities down here, and I’ve never paid a bill. Though I could, if I chose. I’m really quite remarkably wealthy. Oh, yes. So, Edwin; you’re the new rogue. Let me look at you…I know you by reputation, of course. The only field agent to keep the family at arm’s length for almost ten years. Unprecedented! Always knew it couldn’t last…The family doesn’t trust anyone or anything it can’t control. I used to be Malcolm Drood, you know."