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I looked around sharply, and there they were, the three of them, standing in a tense threatening row on the other side of the room. Coffin Jobe, the Dancing Fool, and Strange Chloe. My three fellow conspirators from the raid on the Tower of London. It all seemed so long ago now . . . a different world. But here they were now, and they were clearly not on my side. Coffin Jobe, the necroleptic, who died and came back to life so frequently he saw the world so much more clearly than the rest of us. The Dancing Fool, who created his own martial art based on Scottish sword dancing, and won every fight because he knew what you were going to do even before you did. Déjà fu. And Strange Chloe, the Goth’s Goth, with her black and white markings tattooed on her face, who could make anything in the world disappear if she just hated it enough. And she had a lot of hate in her.
Friends of a kind. Colleagues, certainly. All of them with good cause to want me dead. Life’s like that, sometimes.
“Guys,” I said. “This really isn’t a good time. Could we do this some other time?”
“What’s the matter, Eddie?” said the Dancing Fool. His voice was harsh, vicious. “Forgotten all about us, had you? The three friends you betrayed and left helpless for the authorities in the Tower of London? The colleagues you stabbed in the back and then left to rot? If Alexander King hadn’t stepped in to rescue us, we’d still be behind bars!”
“Alexander?” I said. “Damn, how long has he been watching me . . . ?”
“Get over yourself, Shaman!” said Strange Chloe. “This isn’t about you! It’s about us!”
“Only Shaman isn’t your real name, is it?” said the Dancing Fool. “Not even close.”
“Drood,” said Coffin Jobe in his gray, deathly voice. “Bad enough that you betrayed us, Shaman . . . But you’re a Drood too?”
“You have to admit,” said Walker, “this is an excellent defence stratagem. Making you fight your way through your own colleagues to get to him. Alexander King made his legend by always being one step ahead of everyone else . . . It’s almost an honour to see such talent at work.”
None of us were listening to him.
“I saved your lives!” I said to all three of them. “Big Aus was pla
“Yeah, right,” said Strange Chloe. “And my arse plays the banjo. You’d say anything to save your own skin, wouldn’t you?”
“I thought you were my friend, Shaman,” said Coffin Jobe. “And now you’re a Drood?”
“How could you turn out to be one of them?” said Strange Chloe. “The professional killjoys, the bullies and spoilsports, dedicated to taking all the fun out of life! You pretended to be one of us when you were really one of them . . . Well, here’s where you get yours, Drood.”
“Alexander brought us here so we could take our revenge on you,” said the Dancing Fool. “He knew you’d try to smash in here to steal the prize you couldn’t win honestly. Typical Drood. And we all jumped at the chance for a little justified payback!”
“You don’t know what’s going on here,” I said as steadily and calmly as I could. “He’s using you, just like Big Aus. You’re only here as another way to hurt me, by making me fight my way through my friends to get to him.”
“This isn’t about you!” Strange Chloe shouted, all but stamping her foot. “Not everything is about you just because you’re a bloody Drood!”
“This is,” I said, and something in my voice stopped her. I looked at the three of them and felt more tired than anything. “Do you really think you can stop me?” I said. “I’m a Drood, with a Drood’s armour and a Drood’s training. You know what that means.”
The three of them looked at each other, uneasy for the first time. They knew what a Drood can do.
“Always wanted a chance to show what I could do against a Drood,” the Dancing Fool said finally.
“Always wanted a chance to stick it to a Drood, the way they’ve always stuck it to me,” said Strange Chloe.
“I thought you were my friend, Shaman,” said Coffin Jobe. “Friends are all I’ve got left . . .”
I could see the confidence growing in them as they talked themselves into it. The Dancing Fool was actually smiling.
“When word gets out I’ve taken down a Drood . . . I’ll be able to double my fees,” he said.
“And have my family come after you?” I said. “You never were the brightest button in the box, Nigel.”
Coffin Jobe and Strange Chloe turned their heads to look at the Dancing Fool.
“Nigel?” said Coffin Jobe.
“That’s your name?” said Strange Chloe. “You real name? Bloody Nigel?”
The Dancing Fool glared at me, so angry he could barely speak. “You bastard,” he said finally. “You promised you’d never tell.”
“Sorry, Nigel,” I said. “But needs must when the Devil’s in the driving seat. And it’s not as if you’re a genuine martial arts master, either. Hell, you’re not even Scottish! You just added a minor talent for precognition to some moves you picked up watching Bruce Lee movies. Whereas I . . . really am a Drood. I’m here to kill the Independent Agent, for good reason. If you knew half the things he’s done, you’d help me do it. Don’t let him screw you over like he did me. I will walk right through you to get to him.”
“Typical Drood,” said Strange Chloe. “Think you can talk your way out of anything. Well, Nigel here may not be the real deal, but I bloody well am. I’m going to hate you right out of the world, Drood; I’m going to stare you down until there’s not one little bit of you left to remind me how much I hate you.”
“Friends of yours?” murmured Walker. I’d forgotten he was there.
“Sometimes,” I said. “More like colleagues. People I work with on occasion. You know how it is . . .”
“Only too well,” said Walker.
“Do you know who everyone is?” I said. “I could introduce you . . .”
“No need,” said Walker. “I know them all by name or deed or reputation.” He studied them with his calm, cold gaze, and they all shifted uneasily. “Small-time operatives with minor talents. Their kind are always turning up in the Nightside, looking to make a reputation for themselves. They don’t usually last long. Most of them end up like this, crying into their beer because the big boys play too roughly.”
“You bastard,” said Strange Chloe. “I’ll show you who’s small-time!”
“You stay out of this, Walker,” said the Dancing Fool, stabbing a finger at him. “Our business is with the Drood. Don’t get involved, if you know what’s good for you.”
“And if I do choose to get involved?” said Walker, smiling just a little.
Strange Chloe sneered at him. “You don’t have your Voice anymore. Everyone knows that.”
“And without the Voice, you’re just another killjoy in a suit,” said the Dancing Fool. “So stay out of it.”
“Whatever you say, Nigel,” murmured Walker.
“Guys, please, don’t do this,” I said. “Don’t make me do this. I’ve already lost three colleagues to Alexander King; I don’t want to lose any more.”
“See, we were never friends,” said the Dancing Fool. “Just colleagues.”
“Then why are you so upset over the thought of being betrayed?” said Walker.
“Shut up! Shut up, Walker! You don’t scare me anymore!” The Dancing Fool’s face was dangerously red with rage. “Without your Voice you’re no better than us . . .”
“I don’t have my Voice,” said Walker. “But I do have other things.”
“Oh, please,” said Strange Chloe. “I could put you through a wall with my eyelashes.”
“Chloe,” I said. “You don’t want to do this. I’m the one who persuaded you out of that grubby one-room flat, found you work, found you friends.”
“You didn’t do it for me,” she said. Her voice was flat, cold, emotionless. “It’s all shit. Everything. Just like I always said. Why should you have been any different? Everyone lies.”