The four lieutenants filed out of the dining room, followed by Brick. Jack stayed behind to talk with Tommy.
"We need to think about security for the house. No knowing if that monster is a one-off. There could be others," the younger man said.
"Good point. I want two men near the front door of the house at all times. n.o.body comes or goes without my say so, I don"t care who they are."
Sarah had been pondering Tommy"s description of how Callum had transformed. "From what you told me, these creatures can imitate people change shape. How will you know if somebody is actually who they say they are?"
"I been worrying about that too," Tommy replied. "It didn"t like the fire, did it? We"ll use that as a test. Jack, you still got your lighter?"
"Of course!" He pulled it from his pocket and gave the lighter to Tommy. The gangster snapped back the lid, lighting the Zippo.
"Now, put your hand out."
"But, Tommy " Jack protested.
"Put your hand out," Tommy growled. "Otherwise, I"ll have to a.s.sume you"re not being completely honest with me."
Jack put out his hand and held it over the lighter"s flame, his face creasing at the pain as his skin burnt. After a few seconds Tommy took the lighter away. Jack rubbed his scorched palm, a hurt look on his face. "I thought you trusted me!"
"After what I"ve seen today, I don"t trust n.o.body anymore."
Tommy looked at Sarah. "You next."
"You can"t think I "
"You"ve been in the area less than a month, you"ve wormed your way into my home and you"re the last person I"d suspect."
Tommy loomed over her, his expression bleak and pitiless. "Now put your hand over the flame!"
Sarah reached out her hand tentatively. Tommy grabbed the wrist and held her open palm over the flame. Jack looked on appreciatively, enjoying the spectacle of her pain. Sarah cried out but refused to pull away. She wouldn"t give Jack the satisfaction.
After what seemed an age, Tommy was satisfied. Without comment he put his own hand over the flame and kept it there longer than either of them. He showed no pain in his expression or in his eyes only steely resolve. In the end Sarah could stand it no longer. She pulled the lighter away from Tommy. He smiled at her.
"Thanks. So, no monsters in this room. Jack, test the lighter on Brick. If he pa.s.ses, get him to test the others. n.o.body"s going to give him any grief."
Jack left the room, his eyes dancing at the prospect of using the lighter on another person"s flesh. Tommy watched him go. "I worry about that boy, sometimes he"s a little too fond of fires for my liking."
"Hmm," Sarah agreed, nursing her burnt hand.
"You were right that arm I sliced off Callum might have helped convince the old bill. But I couldn"t admit that in front of the lads," Tommy said.
"Couldn"t admit a woman was right and you were wrong."
"Something like that," he said, looking at the fireplace.
"Doesn"t matter now. Our only piece of evidence has gone up in smoke."
Outside, the smoke from the chimney of 15 Tabernacle Street rose up into the twilight sky. Across London residents were lighting coal fires to ward off the chill winter evening. Factories belched out smoke and fumes, joining the pollution from the domestic fires. The worst concentration was in the East End, where many streets were little more than slums.
As night fell, the temperature began to drop rapidly. A dense layer of fog settled over the city, enveloping streets and lamp lights. By four o"clock, the smoke began mixing with the fog to form a thick, yellow smog. Visibility was soon down to a few feet.
Billy and Charlie only found the Ramsey family home because of the two men standing guard outside the front door. The brothers would probably have stumbled past otherwise, squinting to see the house numbers in the gloaming. "Is this Tommy Ramsey"s place?" Billy asked.
"What"s it to you, sonny?" Both men standing guard were wearing scarves around their faces to keep out the acrid smog.
"n.o.body calls me sonny, I"m " Billy began to rage but Charlie kept him in check. Starting a fight would not help their cause.
"We want to join the Ramsey Mob. We want to help you,"
Charlie said.
"Weren"t you two of the s.c.r.o.t.es we were going to fight outside St Luke"s today? Why the h.e.l.l should we trust you?"
Billy was getting impatient. "Maybe you didn"t notice, but that thing was killing our gang at the same time it was killing your men. Now, can we come inside or not?"
The two guards whispered between themselves before letting the brothers in. Billy and Charlie were escorted into a small, windowless back room and told to wait. A few minutes later, the ma.s.sive figure of Brick appeared in the doorway.
"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l," Billy whispered. "Talk about out of the frying pan...!"
Brick loomed over them, holding Jack"s flaming Zippo lighter. "Put your hand over the flame."
"What?"
"If you want to join the Ramsey Mob, you have to put your hand over the flame," Brick explained.
"Like an initiation test," Charlie speculated. He held his palm over the flame, gritting his teeth against the pain. After a few seconds Brick pushed him away. Billy followed his brother"s lead and subjected himself to the test. Satisfied, Brick closed the Zippo.
"You can sleep in here for the night. Tommy"ll talk to you in the morning." Brick stepped out into the hallway. "I"ll bring you some food later." He closed the door and then locked it. Billy hammered against the heavy wood but could not move it. He glared at his brother.
"Well, this was another of your great ideas!"
Upstairs, Tommy and Sarah were having dinner. Mrs Ramsey had already eaten and gone to bed early, leaving them together.
Sarah picked at her food. Spam fritters were hardly the height of haute cuisine and Mrs Ramsey liked to boil all vegetables until they resembled an unhappy mush of different colours. Tommy shovelled his food with gusto, then helped finish off the remains of Sarah"s helping.
"One thing I learned in the army never turn your nose up at a meal. You never know when you"ll get the chance of another," he said between mouthfuls. "Don"t you like vegetables or something?"
"I just prefer them to be a little less well done. Boiling them just drains away all the natural goodness, especially if you pour the water away after."
"You don"t like me Mum"s cooking, you can always sling your hook."
"No, it"s not that," Sarah replied. "I"m just not very hungry."
Tommy pushed his plate to one side. "What did you mean earlier when you said you"d seen stranger things? That creature today it wasn"t human. I don"t know what it was, but it wasn"t human."
Sarah had been dreading this question. Should she tell Tommy the truth? How would he respond to her announcing that she came from more than twenty years in the future to help save the people of London and perhaps the world? That she came with the Doctor, a man who had made himself into a significant irritant for the gangland boss? That she knew thousands of people would be dying in the next few days? Sarah wasn"t sure he was ready for the whole truth just yet.
"I"ve travelled a lot, been to many strange places. I"ve seen things I didn"t believe were humanly possible," Sarah said.
"I know what you mean," Tommy replied. "During the war I was stationed in Egypt. They had markets there with freak shows creatures that shouldn"t be alive. Horrible, they were, horrible.
But that was nothing to what happened today. I"ll never forget that for the rest of me days."
He dug a packet of Players out of his pocket and offered her a cigarette, which Sarah declined. "Smoking gives you lung cancer, you know."
"Gotta die of something, don"t we?" Tommy said, gratefully inhaling the cigarette"s fumes. "Anyway, helps settle the nerves."
"Do you get nerves? I"d have thought "
"You thought a big-time boss like me wouldn"t get nerves, is that it?" Tommy said, getting up to stoke the fire. "Everybody gets scared, no shame in that. The only men who ain"t nervous going in to battle are already dead or bound for the graveyard, know what I mean?" He flicked his cigarette ash into the fireplace, staring at the glowing coals. "But that thing today..."
"You don"t know how to stop it," Sarah said. She thought of the Doctor. Right now, he was probably facing the same dilemma. He would be trying to find a way of defeating the monster. She wished there was some way of helping him, but knew the best thing she could do was stick close to Ramsey. He was crucial to what lay ahead. If only she knew how.
"No. All we can do is prepare for the worst and hope it don"t happen." Tommy looked at her. "Do you think this is what that watchmender, the Doctor, was talking about yesterday about there being greater threats to London?"
"Maybe," Sarah replied. "Maybe he could help you."
"I don"t see how an old watchmender can be much use. I meant what I said to him yesterday. I"m the best protector the people of these streets have got. The old bill can"t stop a kid stealing apples off a market stall how can they stop that thing?"
Sarah stood up and went to Tommy, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You"re not alone, you have to believe that. Have faith in yourself. When things are at their worst, help can come from the most unexpected places."
The gangster looked at her. "Sarah, I "
"Tommy, you should take a look outside!" Jack burst into the room. He stopped in his tracks, taking in the closeness of his boss and Sarah by the fireside. "Sorry, Tommy, I didn"t realise you two were "
"Ain"t you heard of knocking?" Tommy demanded furiously.
"Now what"s so important you can"t remember the manners I taught you?"
Jack blushed with embarra.s.sment. "Outside, there"s a fog like you"ve never seen before. It"s so bad I had to bring the guards in from the street they could hardly breathe out there."
Tommy strode to a window and pulled back the curtains.
Beyond the window was just a haze of yellow and grey, a lamp light just a few feet away only just visible through the smog cloud. "Just another London Particular," he said dismissively.
"But it came down so fast! It"s not natural," Jack insisted.
Tommy was having none of it. "That monster"s got you all scared of your own shadows! It"s just a bit of fog. Now get back on the phone and keep calling round the other bosses. I want them all here tomorrow fog or no fog."
Jack nodded, retreating backwards out the door. Sarah looked out the window. It had started, she realised. Soon people would be dying, gasping for breath, unable to clear mucus from their lungs, airways clogged with soot. The killer smog had arrived. Unlike Tommy, she believed it had to be connected to what happened earlier. This was just too much of a coincidence.
In the morning she would sneak out to the TARDIS and compare notes with the Doctor. A solution had to be found before things got any worse.
"I"m going to bed," Sarah announced. "See you in the morning."
Tommy watched her go. The fire threw dark shadows across his face.
Jack watched Sarah ascend the stairs to her bedroom. He didn"t trust the new arrival, especially as she seemed to be wielding undue influence over Tommy. Jack resolved to tell her a few home truths once he had finished his phone call.
"Can I speak to Mr MacMa.n.u.s? It"s Jack Cooper calling."
The familiar North London accent soon replied. "Do you know what time it is? I"m trying to eat here!"
"I"m calling on behalf of Tommy Ramsey, Mr MacMa.n.u.s,"
Jack said, making his voice as formal as possible should anyone be eavesdropping on the conversation. "He"s called a Council of War. All the bosses are gathering here at Tabernacle Street tomorrow, midday."
"What"s this all about Jack?"
"I can"t tell you that, Mr MacMa.n.u.s. But Tommy promises to make it worth your while if you attend. He"s already had a.s.surances from the other bosses that they will be here."
"Alright, have it your way. Midday tomorrow. But I won"t be coming alone. Steve MacMa.n.u.s doesn"t walk into a trap unarmed."
"Noted. We"ll see you tomorrow." Jack hung up, his spare hand toying with the lighter he had reclaimed from Brick. He looked down at the flame lovingly. Time for that little chat with Miss Know It All...
Sarah had just changed into her nightie when there was a knock at the door. She pulled the curtains shut before responding.
"Who is it?"
"Jack. I"ve got a message from Tommy."
"Alright," Sarah said reluctantly. She pulled her coat on over the nightie and opened the door. Jack stepped inside and leered at her.
"What is it?"
"I think there"s something you ought to know about your knight in shining armour Tommy Ramsey is no saint," he replied.
"I have no illusions about that."
Jack stepped closer to Sarah, lowering his voice to a whisper.
"But did you know why he spent six months in Wandsworth?"
She shook her head.
"It"s because of what happened to his last girlfriend. Let"s just say she had a nasty accident and the police thought Tommy was responsible." Jack grinned at Sarah"s discomfort.