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"No," I said. "But I’m sure you’re about to tell me."
Molly hit me in the ribs with her elbow, but Sebastian didn’t notice. He had a story to tell, and nothing short of an appearance by Death herself was going to stop him.
"The family sent me out into the world to be their agent," he said grandly. "But I decided that I liked the world much more than I liked the family. Never any room in the family for personal ambition or advancement or the acquisition of lovely things. So I just walked away, disappeared behind the scenes, and set about using the torc for my own purposes. To enrich my life and make it so much more comfortable. And I have! I have become quite extraordinarily successful at my chosen profession, and I am one of the most admired professional gentleman thieves in London. It could have been the world, but I do so hate to travel.
"With the help of my armour, I can break into any establishment and walk off with anything I take a fancy to. And I do. Alarms and security mean nothing to me when I’m in my armour. I come and I go, and I take what I will, and no one ever knows anything about it until it’s far too late. Scotland Yard, baffled again! I have the very best antique furniture, everything from a Louis Quinze chair to a Hepplewhite sideboard. Famous paintings, in their original frames! Whatever catches my eye. Nothing is safe from me.
"You know how I track it all down? I simply make it my business to patronise all the best auctions and make a note of who buys what. There are those who hide behind anonymous bids, but auction house security is a joke to such as us, Eddie. All the lovely things in this flat originally belonged to someone else who couldn’t hold on to them. Probably didn’t appreciate them, anyway. Not nearly as much as I do. I’m sure the pretty things are all much happier here, with me."
"Wait just a minute!" Molly stalked over to a side table and snatched up a stylised statuette of a black cat. "This is mine, you bastard! I always wondered what happened to it…This is the Manx Cat of Bubastis! I went through all ma
"Really?" said Sebastian airily. "I honestly don’t remember where I acquired that particular piece."
"It’s mine!" said Molly dangerously.
"It’s only yours if you can hang on to it, Molly dear. But if you’re going to make such a fuss about it…"
"This leaves here with me," said Molly, striding back to my side with the Manx Cat firmly in her grasp. "And if I hear one word of objection from you, Sebastian, I’ll rip your nipples off."
"Dear Molly," said Sebastian. "Gracious as ever."
"I thought we were going to be polite," I said, amused.
"You be polite," she growled. "He wouldn’t believe it if it came from me. The Manx Cat has power I invested in it long ago. It can restore a lot of the energies I’ve been using up recently. Though it’ll take a while."
I turned my attention back to Sebastian, who didn’t seem in the least put out by Molly’s actions. "How have you stayed hidden from the family for so long?" I said. "Hell, how did you stay hidden from me?"
"Oh, I’m pretty sure the family has always known roughly where I am," he said easily. "But they know better than to rock the boat. You see, some years ago I took the precaution of leaving certain very detailed information packets with a number of journalists, and other interested parties, all over the world. In well-sealed caskets, set to open automatically in the event of my death. Even our family couldn’t be sure they’d got all of them, so they leave me alone. In fact, they’d do well to ensure that nothing ever happens to me…"
"How very…practical," I said. "But you could still die in an accident. What then?"
He shrugged. "If I’m dead, I won’t care. I’m sure the family will think of something. They always do." He looked at me thoughtfully. "I really don’t think I can help you, Eddie. Whatever it is you want, I can’t supply it. The family is very upset with you, and I don’t care to get caught in the middle. I look out only for myself these days. And before you ask, no, I have no idea why you were made rogue. I have no contact with anyone inside the family. I don’t even speak to the other rogues. You’re just wasting both our time by being here."
"Then why did you agree to see me?" I said, feeling a slow hot anger build within me. "I don’t have time to waste."
He sneered at me. "I always wondered if you’d be the one they sent to kill me. If they ever did find a way to dismantle my little safeguards. You killed poor Arnold, after all, and you did live just up the road from me."
"How did you kill the Bloody Man, Eddie?" said Molly. "I mean, I thought the armour made all you Droods invulnerable."
"Only when we’re wearing it," I said. "I staked him out, learned his routine, and then shot him through the head from a safe distance using a rifle with a telescopic sight. He never knew I was there, never got the chance to armour up. Very effective; if not especially honourable. But I was a lot younger then, and he was the Bloody Man. You don’t take chances with a man like that."
Sebastian smiled. "Fu
There was a sudden sting in my neck even as I heard the window glass beside me shatter. I started to turn. I thought, I’ve been shot. And then my legs were buckling, and I sank very slowly to my knees. I put my hand up to my neck, and it seemed to take forever to get there. Sound slowed, and my vision blurred, as though I was underwater. My numbing fingers found a feathered dart in the side of my neck, just above the torc, and I pulled it out with the last of my strength. Tranquilizer dart, I thought, and the words seemed to echo around and around inside my head. I tried to call up my armour, but my thoughts were already too dulled to concentrate on the activating Words. I slumped to the floor, hitting it in a boneless heap, and I didn’t even feel the impact.
This all happened in a few seconds. Molly threw herself down beside me, below the shattered window, out of the line of sight of any more darts. She put her hands on either side of my face and muttered urgently under her breath. I could feel her touch when I couldn’t feel anything else, and then I felt subtle magics flowing into me, fighting off the effects of the tranquilizer. My body was still numb, still helpless, but my thoughts slowly began to clear. Molly glared up at Sebastian.
"You bastard! You sold us out!"
"Of course," he said smoothly, giving all his attention to the adjusting of a cuff. "It’s what I do. Rest assured, I got a very good price. For both of you. A certain Mr. Truman of Manifest Destiny was very pleased to learn exactly where and when he could be sure of finding you. I was on the phone to him the moment I stopped talking to you. And then all I had to do was keep you entertained here until his people could get into position."
The door burst in, and a dozen armed men streamed into the apartment, all of them in familiar black uniforms. They looked quickly around to make sure the place was secure, their guns constantly trained on Molly and me. She stayed very still. I twitched my fingers ever so slightly. Molly’s magics were fighting off the drug, but only very slowly. I looked at the guns and wondered why the soldiers weren’t already shooting. I would have. One of the men knelt down beside me, checked the sluggish pulse in my neck, and then stood up again, satisfied. He yelled out the open door, and his group commander sauntered in. And if I hadn’t been so tranked, I would have yelled out in shock and anger.
I knew the group commander. She wore battered old army fatigues still stiff with dried black blood from fighting in a hell dimension. She wore her black hair cropped short, so enemies couldn’t grab at it during close combat. Her scarred face was no longer pretty, and her bare muscular arms were scarred too. I knew all these things about her because I knew her. She was Janissary Jane, an old friend and colleague to Molly and to me. Except it wasn’t her. Not really. Around her neck she wore a Kandarian amulet on a chain, and that meant this was really my old adversary Archie Leech.