"This ain"t over, Charlie. It"s just beginning. We thought Callum was starting a gang war and that was right. We just picked the wrong side." Billy realised his brother wasn"t listening.
Charlie seemed to be transfixed, staring over Billy"s left shoulder.
"What is it now?"
Billy turned round to find the Xhinn floating in the air a few feet away from him, arms raised to blast them to oblivion.
"Blimey!"
Callum"s cruel voice echoed in the brothers" heads. "So you two are all that"s left of my little gang. No matter. The Xhinn will soon have no need of your species. I give you a choice serve us, and you will be given unimaginable power when the Xhinn conquer this world."
Billy swallowed hard before replying. "Or?"
The Xhinn"s arms began to pulse, readying for the killer blow. "Or I kill you, here and now. Even your puny intellect should understand that."
Charlie stood up and joined Billy, facing the floating alien.
Around them the shattered building was ablaze with brilliant blue light, sending rats and c.o.c.kroaches scuttling for shelter in the shadows. But the brothers stood firm.
"Well," Billy began, "I guess we"ll just have to "
Before he could finish the Xhinn lowered its arms, as if distracted. The alien"s head c.o.c.ked to one side. "I hear you."
Billy was taken aback. "What you mean, you hear me? I ain"t even "
"Yes, I abandoned human form. But the "
Charlie tapped his brother on the shoulder. "He ain"t talking to us. He"s talking to somebody else."
"His boss, you mean?" Billy replied.
"As you command." The Xhinn began to fade away. Just before it disappeared, the alien glared at the brothers. "I will return for you." Then the creature was gone.
Charlie looked at his brother and laughed.
"What"s so bleedin" funny?" Billy demanded.
"You look like you"ve caught the sun, that"s all!"
Billy put a hand to his face. It felt dry and stretched, as if all the moisture had been baked out of it. "Never mind that. Let"s get out of here. I ain"t sticking around until that, that that thing comes back!" He started running, his brother close behind.
"Where do we go?" Charlie asked.
"Only one bloke round here has got the firepower to stop these sc.u.mbags. It"s time we joined the Ramsey Mob!"
Sarah was on the roof at Tabernacle Street with Brick when the first man got back from the rout at St Luke"s. The bodyguard was showing her his most precious possession.
"So you"ve kept pigeons all your life?" she asked politely.
Brick nodded. "Me granddad got me started. He used to race pigeons. He took me down the Sclater Street Sunday bird market in Bethnal Green when I turned five and bought me my first pigeon. Tommy lets me keep them up here, out the way." The burly enforcer was tenderly cupping one of the birds in his hands, cooing softly to it.
Sarah smiled. "You"re so gentle with the pigeons and yet..."
"I act the heavy for Tommy." Brick sighed. "Generally I can just turn up and most people will pay up or shut up, whatever Tommy wants. When you"re my size, not many will take you on in a fight."
"I suppose not." Sarah pointed at the pigeon in the big man"s hands. "Can I hold him?"
"He"s a her actually. I call her Annie, after me Mum. She died in the war." Brick carefully transferred the pigeon into Sarah"s hands. "She likes it if you stroke her neck feathers."
Sarah followed his advice and was rewarded with a gentle cooing sound. Brick smiled proudly. "She likes you."
Sarah looked around from her vantage point. If she wanted, Sarah could have walked the length of Tabernacle Street without ever touching the ground, just by clambering along the rooftops of the terraced houses. From up here she could see for more than a mile in all directions. Blue lights seemed to be flashing near the steeple of St Luke"s Church but the cause was unclear.
"I wonder how the meeting with Callum"s gang is going," she said.
Brick looked at his watch. "I better go and collect Tommy.
He " The big man was interrupted by a shout from downstairs from Mrs Ramsey.
"Arthur! Miss Smith! Come quick something"s happened."
Brick took the pigeon back from Sarah and slipped the bird into its cage. Then he led her back downstairs, clambering down a precarious ladder, through the skylight and on to the upstairs landing.
By the time they reached the front parlour, Tommy had returned. He was clutching a man"s severed arm and a long, wickedly sharp sword. Only twenty of his men had made it back from the confrontation at the church, and several of them were wounded. Mrs Ramsey busied herself tending to the injured while Tommy called a meeting of his senior men around the dining room table. While Jack was busy gathering the surviving lieutenants, Sarah cornered Tommy in the hallway and demanded to know what had happened.
"You wouldn"t believe me if I told you," he said wearily.
Sarah was having none of it. She fixed him with a steely gaze.
"I"ve seen stranger sights than you can possibly imagine. Try me."
"Alright, but don"t say I didn"t warn you." Tommy gave her a broad outline of events, culminating in the transformation of Callum into a deadly monster that shot blue murder from its limbs. The gangland boss didn"t get the astonishment and disbelief he expected.
"That"s a new one on me, but anything"s possible. What are you going to do next?" Sarah asked.
"I"m meeting with the men to decide. Until I know how many men got away alive, I won"t know whether we can take on these things by ourselves or not. We may need help from outside." Tommy fastened the b.u.t.tons on his jacket and brushed down his hair. "How do I look?"
Sarah straightened his tie. "Better. More in control."
Tommy nodded. He opened the door of the dining room and stepped inside. Just before closing it, he made a final comment to Sarah. "Make everyone a cup of tea, will you?
Thanks."
He shut the door on Sarah, leaving her fuming in the hall.
Hodge ran into the police station, breathless and wild-eyed. It took the desk sergeant ten minutes just to calm the constable down enough that Hodge could speak. Even when he did, his explanation didn"t make any sense.
"Monster killing men. Screaming, terrible screaming. There was blue light coming from its hands. The Ramsey Mob were being torn apart. Don"t know what happened to Callum. His gang were scattering when I arrived. It was terrible, terrible..."
Hodge collapsed, his eyes rolling back into his head.
Sergeant Diggle wasn"t sure what to make of it all. The new constable had been a good lad, quiet but diligent, fair and thorough. The force needed more men like Hodge. But this story! Monsters on the streets of London, flashing blue lights and murder at midday. All sounded like a bad dream, or the ravings of a madman.
Diggle shook Hodge"s shoulders, reviving the constable.
"Now, lad you sure you didn"t dream all this? Monsters that float in the air? Death rays shooting out of their hands? On Old Street?"
The young policeman was adamant. "I didn"t dream it, sir. I know what I saw! If you don"t believe me, come and see for yourself!" He got up to leave but the desk sergeant grabbed his arm.
"You"ve obviously had a shock, whatever it was you saw. I want you to go down the canteen. Get yourself a cup of tea and a sandwich. I"ll go have a look at all this, err, business. Where did you say it happened?"
"Outside St Luke"s Church, just after midday."
"I told you to stay away from there, sonny." Sergeant Diggle picked up the keys to a patrol car and walked out of the station.
"These youngsters, think they know it all. It was different when I started out..."
Elsewhere, three Xhinn hovered in a chamber of unending darkness. They moved through the air in a complex pattern of pirouettes and spirals, tracing out paths invisible to the human eye.
For millennia, the Xhinn had travelled the universe. Their craft were like shadows, fleeting and hidden, unnoticed in the vacuum of s.p.a.ce. Only by the desolation left behind could the progress of a Xhinn mission be charted. Even the name of the Xhinn was a mystery, spoken in a whisper, born of terror. Few who stood against the Xhinn survived. Fewer still succeeded.
The triumvirate slowed in its movements, sharing a thought as one.
"He returns."
The Xhinn that had been Callum shimmered into existence, afloat in the centre of the three. He looked around himself, unsure about the summoning.
"Why have you brought me here? Are you not pleased with me?"
"No."
"But I did as you asked. I walked among the native species, taking its form. I explored their primitive ways, exposing them to our ideals."
"You acted unwisely."
"Precipitously."
"Without consultation."
"Action without consultation is unauthorised."
"Unwelcome."
"Unwanted."
The triumvirate spat the words at him, like daggers into his mind. Their thoughts overlapped and oscillated around each other, in a graceful savagery.
"You revealed us."
"Too soon."
"Too hasty."
"Now we must act."
"Before we are ready."
"Before it is time."
"But these creatures they are no threat to us! We are the Xhinn! We have colonised thousands of worlds, subjugated species after species. What can we fear from these primitives?"
"That is not for you to decide."
"Not for you to know."
"Not for you."
"You were a mistake."
"Too young."
"Too much."
"Why do you hide away here? Why wait? We can take this world for our own. We are the Xhinn! We are all powerful!"
"You forget yourself."
"Unfortunate."
"Unwise."
The triumvirate began to pulse, changing from creatures of light to beings of darkness. As one, the three Xhinn reached out towards the creature that had been Callum.