Twincy Quinn and the Eye of Horus Part One (34 page)

The
desperation, the unending desire to escape no matter the costs.

Incarceration,
that was what Twincy was running from, but more than that. Some
horrible reality I didn't want to begin to imagine. A reality,
nonetheless, the children around me had already endured.

If I had
imagined this morning that the modernity being thrust upon London
was a terrible one, it was nothing compared to the reality that was
unfolding before me now.

This was sick
and this was wrong and it must, must be stopped.

That thought
was a fittingly steeling one, enabling me to straighten my back and
narrow my gaze. I was the only adult here, or at least whilst
Twincy was unconscious. It was up to me to take charge. I was the
detective too, and I had a responsibility to keep the peace and to
protect.

‘
Let me see, now what have I left out? Well, most days and most
nights we work tirelessly to put a stop to Esquire's plans. Through
whatever mysterious machines he has invented that I have not yet
been able to understand, he is capable of searching out suitable
children throughout London. He takes them, kidnaps them, if you
will, and returns them to his laboratories.’

On the word
kidnap, my brow practically collapsed over my eyes. ‘You mean he's
the one behind the kidnappings?’

‘
Most certainly. We try to put a stop to what we can, but we
are not always successful. There are few of us, and many, many of
his foot soldiers. He has power, he has the ear and the wallet of
Lord Ridley, and he has a certain lack of morals that permits him
to do things and to invent things we will not.’

I brought a
hand up and clutched it over my mouth, trying to stop my lips from
trembling.

‘
My good man, you appear a little undone. I apologise if this
news upsets you, but at least it is keeping you silent,’ John
paused as he stared down at Twincy, then he mumbled something at
the young girl beside him and she brought up some kind of coloured
liquid in a vial.

Though the
sight of an injured woman should surely traumatise children as
young as these, they were nothing of the sort. They appeared like
professionals, like the nurses and doctors I had seen on the
battlefield. In fact, John was downright conversational. Though I
assumed that slight kink to his brow suggested he was controlling
himself, he was obviously not about to suffer from a bout of
hysteria.

‘
We are almost done,’ John managed, and there was a slight
waver in his tone. He stood up from his crate for a moment,
pressing his shoulders behind him as they cracked. I fancied I
heard the creak of more than bone and joint and tendon; somewhere
in there was the crack of metal.

It forced me
to shake my head again. Who could do this to children?

Who could do
this at all?

As I thought
that, rage built within. This was more than indignation, this was
more than frustration; it was moral fire. The sense that someone
had done something so outrageous to another human being, it was
impossible to extinguish.

‘
Are you okay?’ It was a silly question to ask, but I asked it
anyway, and loudly, flicking my gaze around the factory floor as I
did.

John shot me a
confused look and shrugged his shoulders, and the girl, Vanessa,
rolled her eyes. ‘This is not the first time Twincy has been
injured. We are in a dangerous line of work, and we are all
professionals, I assure you. If anybody looks less than well, it's
you. Perhaps you should sit down before you fall down, or before we
make you fall down,’ Vanessa added with a growl.

I blinked my
eyes in surprise, but I didn't say anything.

Instead I
waited.

As John
worked, he soon appeared to be satisfied, and with a nod to the
small girl by his side, he finally jumped off the crate and walked
away. Cracking his shoulders again, he peered out at me and offered
a gentlemanly smile. Then he walked over, confidently, and offered
his hand.

I did not take
it; it was covered in blood and grease.

He peered down
at his own palm, made a polite noise, wiped it on his pants, and
settled for a nod instead. ‘You came here to check on her, didn't
you?’

‘
I still say he's a security risk. We do not know who he could
be working for. He could be one of Lord Ridley’s spies,’ Vanessa
took several snapped steps forward, and glared at me through her
spotting scope.

‘
Oh pish, I've already concluded it is highly unlikely that he
is. For you see, I have assessed his physiological condition, the
blood flow to his cheeks, the speed of his heart, and the frequency
of his inhalations. And I assure you, they all suggest the man is
genuinely undone. I can spot a liar, and this Detective Stanford
here undoubtedly is not one. Ay, old chap?’ John added.

It felt
surreal. More than surreal. The child was acting exactly like a
gentleman should, and, for the love of God, he’d just attended to
some devices that had been grafted onto the very bones of a young
woman.

Yet he was
right. I certainly was undone.

Taking
somewhat of a shuddering step backwards, I planted a hand on my
brow and pushed it backwards over my head, letting my fingers dig
as hard as they could into the flesh.

I was
unquestionably pale, and a cold sweat drenched by back and
arms.

‘
I would offer you alcohol to stiffen your resolve. Alas, we
are only children,’ John conceded with an affable shrug. ‘Instead I
can offer you a seat, and you can introduce me to your fine
friend,’ John nodded down at Barney.

To his credit,
Barney had not barked once since he had walked into the room.
Instead he sat neatly by my side, though occasionally nuzzled as
close as he could to my leg.

I could share
the sentiment.

This couldn't
be happening, could it?

When I had
imagined Twincy’s secret, I had not conceived of this. If you had
given me a millennia, I could not have predicted a single scrap of
the strange scene unfolding around me.

I clutched my
free hand to my mouth and let it fall again, then I shook my
head.

‘
I assure you, she will be fine. The damage to the devices was
minimal, yet the blood loss is significant. It won't matter though,
more will be manufactured soon; Doctor Elliot Esquire did do a
remarkable job with Twincy, after all.’

‘
Don't say it like that,’ Vanessa snapped as she glared at
John. Promptly, she turned that glare to me. ‘What do you intend to
do?’

I swallowed
hard.

‘
Answer my question. What do you intend to do?’

‘
I,’ I swallowed again.

‘
Why did you follow her here? What is your interest in Twincy?
Do you work for Ridley?’ If John was gentlemanly, then Vanessa was
like a field marshal. The way she looked at you, the way she stood,
and the barrage of questions, I felt as if I were back in the
army.

‘
Stop berating the man; clearly he requires a good sit down and
a moment to take all of this in. Vanessa, need I remind you, you
are not a pretty sight.’ John straightened up.

Vanessa
rounded on him. ‘How dare you.’

‘
I was simply being honest,’ John tipped his head back and
looked indignant.

‘
You are a brute, and you treat everybody like a machine. You
have the morals of a maggot,’ she snarled at him.

‘
And you are paranoid, and would not trust your own
reflection,’ John snapped back.

I took a step
forward. ‘Children,’ I began. Finally deciding I had to intervene
before it came to blows.

Yet as I said
the word children, somebody else did too. A light voice, a feminine
one. One I recognised. Though I had not often heard her speak, the
precise lilt to her words felt as recognisable as the back of my
hand.

Twincy.

I snapped my
head up, just as John and Vanessa whirled on their feet.

She was
pushing herself up.

There was a
dressing on her face, and a thick wad of bandages on her side and
arm.

The surgery,
if you could call it that, had ended less than five minutes ago,
yet she was now conscious. Conscious enough to push herself up, and
conscious enough to speak.

Taking several
strides forward, and not caring that it could possibly get me shot,
I closed the distance between us, locked a hand on her shoulder,
and pushed her down. ‘You have been injured,’ I began.

She pushed
against my grip, and quickly shouldered out of it. ‘What are you
doing here?’ Her eyes snapped wide.

‘
Vanessa let him in,’ John trilled from behind me.

Twincy shifted
back, and I could see from the look in her eyes that she
indisputably wanted to run.

I couldn't let
her.

So I did
something that went against everything I had been taught.

I took a step
backwards. I didn't try to push her down; I didn't try to stop her
from moving or injuring herself further. I simply put my hands up
and took several more steps back. ‘I'm not here to hurt you.’

‘
You followed me,’ her bottom lip shook as she clutched a hand
at her side then at her arm, never shifting her gaze off
mine.

‘
No,’ I glanced down at Barney as I still had my hands up, ‘he
followed you here. Or, more accurately, he followed your trail of
blood.’

‘
Really?’ John suddenly announced from behind me. ‘How curious,
I assumed you had used some device, or had spied Twincy directly.
Following her blood . . . ? That is very much
last century.’

‘
But effective,’ I managed, not glancing at John, unable to
look at anyone or anything other than Twincy.

Thankfully she
was still on the table, though she did have one leg hooked over the
side, her hand holding onto the edge. At any moment she could fling
herself forward and run, yet for now she did not.

‘
You were injured, you could have died,’ I continued, realising
I had to use the only thing she would let me to convince her of my
true motivations. My voice. I could not catch her, for she would
run. All I could do was use my honesty to prove to her I had no
malevolent designs. ‘I did not lie; I can help you,’ I tore my gaze
off her and turned my head this way and that as I surveyed the
children. As I did, my gut kicked with nerves and deep,
deep-bellied anger, ‘and I will. For what has happened here is an
abomination. Whoever has done this must be brought to justice,’ I
practically spat as I spoke, the passion that had built at this odd
situation surging within, ‘the perpetrator must be brought to
justice before they can do this again.’

Maybe my words
stilled her, or maybe my passion did, but I fancied she relaxed a
little, though her gaze never softened. ‘Are you here to arrest
me?’

I snorted. It
was an entirely unattractive move, and accompanied with a quick
jerk of my shoulders. ‘No,’ I answered truthfully. ‘I followed you
because you were dying, because you burst out of that doorway and
bled into my arms and along my cheek,’ I stopped holding my hands
up in surrender, and brushed my fingers over my cheek, letting them
fall down after a short moment. ‘I followed you because Jennifer
Fairmont told me, with an honest demeanour and an unwavering tone,
that you saved her. I followed you because Lord Ridley has claimed
to the world that you are behind the kidnappings, yet I have no
evidence of this. I followed you because I have seen the way you
move, the way you fight. I followed you because you caught my eye,’
I added, unnecessarily, and perhaps far too truthfully.

She blinked,
and it was a quick move. As she darted her gaze down, her cheeks
touched with red.

I took a
heavy, steady breath. ‘I followed you because for the past several
years something has been happening to this city. These devices,’ my
voice shook as I glanced back at Vanessa, ‘and their creators,’ I
forced myself to swallow, my teeth locking together, ‘are not the
wonders the city proclaims. I do not trust what is happening, and I
must do everything I can to find out what we are doing to ourselves
before it is too late. I serve this city, I serve my country, and I
serve its people. And that includes you.’ Perhaps it sounded over
the top, maybe my voice wavered too much, and my chest punched out
a little too far, but I didn't mind. For it was all natural and
spontaneous, a reaction to the situation and the horrendous reality
that was all around me. And most of all a reaction to the look in
her eyes. Beyond the anger, the uncertainty, and the wariness, she
stared at me with a touch of pleading.

She obviously
wanted to reach out for help, but could not. For Twincy was
evidently someone not used to receiving it.

‘
A passionate and well-said speech, my good man,’ John
interrupted from behind me.

‘
We cannot trust him,’ Vanessa interjected
immediately.

‘
Yes we can, didn't you hear his rousing words? If you can't
trust that, then you are a buffoon,’ John shot back.

‘
Rousing words are not facts. We know nothing of his true
intentions,’ Vanessa snarled in reply.

‘
Children,’ Twincy said, just as I moved my lips to say the
same.

She met my
gaze.

I held it.

She looked
away.

After several
seconds she looked back.

‘
Twincy, we cannot trust him,’ Vanessa said, a note of strong
pleading in her tone.

‘
Twincy, yes we can,’ John rallied.

She held up a
hand. It was a slow movement, but I fancy they got the point.