The Enemy

He raised his hand for silence and started to speak.

‘This morning my ambassador spoke to you.’

Maxie bit her lip. Since when was she David’s ambassador?

Just John obviously didn’t like the idea of an ambassador any more than Maxie did.

‘Ambassador?’ he said, his voice sounding choked and nasal. ‘What you talking about, you ponce?’

‘The girl, Maxie, was speaking on my behalf. Now I will speak for myself.’

‘Listen, mate,’ said Carl. ‘We didn’t come here to talk, we came to get John.’

‘That wasn’t the deal, though, was it?’ said David. ‘The deal was – if you wanted John back you’d have to talk.’

‘There’s nothing to talk about,’ said Carl. ‘As I see it we won the fight.’

‘But we’ve got John,’ said David.

‘This doesn’t need to get heavy,’ said Jester. ‘We don’t have to be enemies.’

‘Who says?’

‘We have food here,’ said Jester. ‘We have security. We also have many more kids than you do. We have weapons as well, good weapons, and a well-organized army. All we’re saying is – why not join us? Together we can be strong. We can take on any other gang of kids we like. We can rule London.’

Again Maxie winced. She had no desire to rule London. She just wanted a roof over her head, food on her plate and to be able to sleep at night without waking every half-hour in a sweat of fear and anxiety. But maybe this was the only language the squatters would understand.

‘We don’t want you to change,’ said David.

‘That’s big of you,’ said Just John.

‘You can keep your camp,’ said David, ignoring the interruption. ‘You can still be in charge, John. But we make peace. We grow food together. We share everything. If there is an outside threat we stand shoulder to shoulder against them.’

A couple of the squatters sniggered at David’s fancy language. But Carl was looking at Just John with a questioning look.

‘You say you won this morning,’ Pod chipped in. ‘But we could have destroyed your whole camp if we’d wanted.’

‘You didn’t fight fair,’ said John. ‘You cheated.’

Now it was the turn of some of the palace kids to snigger. The idea of someone like Just John complaining about fair play was more than faintly ridiculous.

‘I could have beaten you with a blindfold on, man,’ said Achilleus. ‘You are sad.’

‘Oh, tough guy, aren’t you?’ said John, and Achilleus shrugged. ‘I was trying to talk to you and you whacked me. If I’d’ve been ready for you, you wouldn’t be standing there now.’

‘If you was any good you’d have been ready,’ said Achilleus. ‘But you ain’t nothing.’

‘All right, all right,’ said David, raising his hands again. ‘That’s enough of that. We don’t need to start an argument. This isn’t about fighting each other, it’s about becoming allies.’

‘This is boring,’ Achilleus muttered. ‘It’s too much like politics.’

‘All I’m asking for is a truce,’ said David.

‘There’s unfinished business,’ said John darkly.

‘What unfinished business?’ said Jester.

‘Me and him.’ John pointed at Achilleus.

‘You want another fight, I’m ready,’ said Achilleus.

John spat on to the carpet and shuffled over to Carl. The two of them had a quick quiet chat, which ended with Carl slapping John on the shoulder.

‘We’re ready to make a deal,’ he said.

‘As long as you understand that we might not accept it,’ said David. ‘As I see it, we have the upper hand. We have John prisoner, and –’

‘You go

‘I’ll listen,’ said David. ‘But it better be good.’

‘It’s good,’ said John. ‘It’s the best you’ll ever get.’

‘Go on then.’

‘It’s like this. We’ll do everything you say. We’ll help you grow food; we’ll join up with you if anyone attacks. All that what you’ve said. We’ll make a truce. On one condition.’

‘Which is?’

‘Him there.’ John was pointing at Achilleus. ‘If he can beat me in a fair fight.’

‘It’s a deal,’ said Achilleus without any hesitation.

‘Wait,’ said Maxie. ‘That’s just stupid.’

‘Yeah?’ said Carl. ‘Well, it’s our deal. Take it or leave it.’

‘What do you say, David?’ asked John, his chin raised cockily.

‘What if we lose?’

‘If you lose you can forget any kind of truce, and if you want to start a war that’s fine with us. We’ll be ready for you.’

‘Wait a moment.’

David and Jester went over to Achilleus. It was their turn for a quiet chat.

‘Can you beat him?’ David asked.

Achilleus smiled. ‘No problem. I took him before. I can take him again. He’s all talk.’

‘Are you sure? A lot rests on this.’

‘You don’t think I can do it?’

‘He can do it,’ said Jester.

‘All right.’ David broke away from the huddle. ‘You’ve got a deal.’

‘Wait a moment,’ said Maxie, pushing between David and Jester. ‘We need to think about this.’

‘I have thought about it,’ said David. ‘It’s agreed.’

‘Wait…’ said Maxie, and Achilleus put his hand on her arm.

‘Don’t you want revenge?’ he said. ‘For what he did to Freak? Don’t you want to see him dead?’

‘If I’d wanted that I could have killed him myself this morning.’

‘Revenge, Maxie.’

‘I don’t want revenge. And I don’t want any more fighting.’

‘It’s not your decision,’ said David, and he walked over towards John.

‘The two of you will fight for it,’ he said. ‘Our champion against yours.’

‘All right.’ John smiled, showing his small jagged yellow teeth, and shook hands with David. He didn’t let go. Instead he leant closer until their faces were only about an centimetre apart. ‘The wi

David laughed, trying to pull his hand free. ‘I don’t think we have to go quite that far,’ he said. ‘We’re not talking about a fight to the death.’

‘Oh yes we are,’ said John, and he gri

A great hubbub broke out in the room. There were cries of protest, and angry accusations. John stood there, smiling his smile, clutching David’s hand in an iron grip. David looked unsure of himself. Once again he turned to Achilleus for reassurance.

Achilleus was unfazed.

‘What’s the problem?’ he said once the noise had died down. ‘That’s my kind of fight.’

He walked over to Carl and the other squatters. ‘Better get your spades ready, chaps. You’re go

‘No,’ Maxie shouted. ‘This is horrible. We’re not animals.’

‘Speak for yourself, bitch,’ said John, and the room erupted into a chaotic frenzy of shouting and shoving.

John stood there in the middle of it all with his broken-toothed grin, his hard bony head nodding slowly on his long neck.

52

Sam and The Kid were sitting at the bottom of the Gherkin. The weird skyscraper that looked like a huge vegetable. They were finishing off the last of the provisions from The Kid’s leather satchel. Some murky water in an old plastic bottle, and a tin of peas.

They’d been wandering, lost, through the empty canyons of the City of London for the last hour. The street plan made no sense. There were no straight lines, roads twisted and turned and came to sudden stops. The boys were trying to reach the river so that they could get their bearings, but it was proving impossible. Every direction they tried seemed wrong, or took them back to where they’d started. So time and again they made their way back to the Gherkin as the chief landmark in the area.

And now it was growing dark.

Paper fluttered in the air. Sam looked up to see that it was spilling from a broken window high up on the Gherkin.