Chapter 1 – Blood And Rain
48 Years Later.
THE FRONT OF an apartment building had been blown away. A huge section of the wall was no longer there, creating a hole that began in the middle of the ground floor and up to the top of the second. The ruined homes within were open to the rain that crashed down over everything.
Bodies littered the road outside but Langdon couldn’t quite see how many. A blockade of police cars and black funeral vans stopped anyone from entering the street.
People on the other side were being told to stay in their homes until the police gave the all-clear. Some were still wearing the pyjamas they were in when it happened. Not a pleasant way to be woken up.
Langdon had come dressed for the cold, in his usual long brown coat. Beneath it was a set of clothes he never wore out of the house but that’s what happens when you jump out of bed at 3:30 am in the morning.
His typical attire was far more formal and his hair would normally be combed neatly into place. He had started to sort it out until he’d spotted the rain and recognised it to be a pointless endeavour. Like everyone else, his hair was plastered to his head with the damp.
As Langdon tried to find a good position to see properly, he spotted a pale-skinned woman limping past a police car. She reached the wooden barrier that had been put in place, a striped plank resting on two traffic cones, and leant on it heavily.
Her face was half streaked with cuts marked by flying shrapnel. Her arm was torn and bloodied but her leg was the worst. A metal rod was embedded through her calf and her foot was twisted at a right angle. Anyone who saw her quickly turned away.
Langdon checked his watch. It was barely past 4am, the best part of an hour since the explosion. Had the shrapnel hit a main artery she would have been dead long before his arrival. But that was no guarantee she had enough time.
A policeman passed by and the woman caught his arm. Langdon tensed as the pair stared into each other’s eyes. For a moment sympathy lay there and then the typical steely resolve took over. He yanked his arm away and went on with his business.
The pale-haired woman gripped the barriers, breathing noisily through an open mouth. She was in her late twenties, perhaps Langdon’s own age, too young for such a fate. Only two options lay open to her. Find a way to treat herself or die.
At least, these were the two she would know of, however Langdon held in his hand option number three. He couldn’t give it to her, not with so many policemen near by.
As the rain washed off the muck and blood it collected beneath her in a vile corrupted broth. A yell burst from the woman’s lips, an animalistic sound. She threw off the barrier so that she could get away. A pair of policemen moaned and ran to replace the plank of wood whilst they continued to ignore her plight. It might as well have been the wind that did it.
Langdon pushed through the small crowd as if to get a better view of the street when in reality he was keeping one eye on the woman as she hobbled away. He flexed the fingers on one hand as he twiddled the small card he held in the other. Please go out of sight, he quietly urged. Please find somewhere to hide from them.
The pale-haired woman fell and Langdon forced a gasp back down before he gave himself away. Much to his admiration this didn’t stop her. She crawled like a lame beast, away and out of sight. She manoeuvred around a green skip and a metallic bang suggested that she had leant her weight against it. It wasn’t ideal but it would have to do.
Langdon waited an appropriate amount of time, all along twiddling the piece of card. With his free hand he reached into his pocket and pressed a button on his phone.
A noisy chirrup interrupted the mutterings of those around him and many gave him vicious glances. He nodded apologetically and pretended to accept a phone call as he walked away.
“Hello, yes! Yes, it’s mad, an explosion or something.” He followed the trail of blood even as it washed away. When he reached the skip Langdon leaned on its corner and held out the card to the woman that had collapsed there. He stared down at her so there was no mistake that this was for her.
“Get to somewhere away from here, somewhere properly hidden.” Langdon had dropped the obnoxious phone-voice for something more inconspicuous. “Only then, call the number and I can come and help you.”
There was no knowing that she would accept it, not many of them did. In truth the consequences were too much for some to bare.
So would she choose? Accept the help of a doctor and risk arrest or refuse and risk death? A shaking hand reached up and with a gentle touch, removed the card from his fingers.
“It will dissolve within half an hour. You have until then to use it.” Langdon pulled the phone away from his ear and turned away. His heart jumped to see someone had been standing behind him only a few feet away.
It was a young woman, younger than him maybe around eighteen he guessed. Her hair was the sort of red you only got through dyeing it and was tied in a long plait. Water had shaped the end of it like a paint brush and droplets fell from it at regular intervals.
She stood with her feet apart and her arms folded. For some reason a faint smile touched the corners of her mouth. “Mr Langdon.” She held out a hand to him. “It is Joseph Langdon, isn’t it?”
She had caught him off guard and a lie would be far too obvious. “That’s right, Miss…?”
“Freya Robertson,” she answered.
Langdon stepped towards her and kept on going. He needed to give the other woman a chance to get away. As a result they performed an awkward sideways handshake.
“Have we met?”
“Don’t worry,” she reassured him. “I didn’t think you’d recognise me, it was quite a while ago.” Her expression darkened and she waved a hand towards the tragic scene. “As soon as I heard the news I wanted to come and take a look. Did you come to see it, too?”
“Something like that,” he offered vaguely.
“Sorry if I surprised you. It’s not often you see a familiar face in a place like this. Didn’t want to leave without saying ‘Hi’.”
That part of her story rang with truth. He sensed she had no agenda, not with him at least. But when someone’s out in the rain at four in the morning, they must have a reason. After all Langdon had come with a pocket filled with business cards, with the hopes of healing anyone he could.
They had walked back to the barricade where heavy body bags were being hauled into vans. The crowd that had gathered had been forced to give the workers room yet were too entranced by the horror to just go home.
Freya and Langdon came to a halt several steps away from anyone else. “Twelve dead and three injured, it’s very sad.” Freya sighed.
Langdon whipped his head around to look at her. “How did you know that? They don’t release facts to the public this soon.”
She offered him a sad smile in reply. “An educated guess.” Freya paused for a moment, narrowed her eyes then turned to Langdon. “Can I trust you with something?”
“If you like,” Langdon replied slowly.
“There’s something strange about all of this. There wasn’t an explosion, so much as a one-way blast. And more than that, there was a body, up in the building.” She pointed to the floor of the building with the most damage. “Its back was shredded and beside it was a dead creature, a demon.”
“A demon?” Langdon exclaimed.
Freya hurriedly shushed him and pulled him further away from the observers and policemen. “Quiet, do you want to send everyone here into a panic?”
“But how is that possible? There are no demons anymore.”
“That’s what they want you to believe.” Her head nodded towards one of the policemen. “They want you to think everything’s fine and dandy when it’s not.”
“With people bleeding in the streets it’s pretty bloody obvious that nothing’s fine and dandy.” Langdon spun in a half-circle then spun back again, clasping his hands together and raising them to his chin. “How can there be demons? The Hell Gates were closed fifty years ago and nothing’s come through it since.”
“Nothing big,” she corrected. “Look, is there somewhere we can talk about this privately? That is, if you want to.” She shied away, as if she was afraid that she’d come on too strong.
Langdon pinched the bridge of his nose and knocked his glasses upwards. “No, no that’s fine.” She had raised his curiosity and after such a bold statement he had to know more. “Let’s go back to my car and we’ll head to my house.”
The crowd at the barricade has dispersed a little as people decided there was little else for them to see. Van and car doors slammed shut and the bodies were driven away to the funeral houses.
That’s how it was these days. No hospitals as an in-between. It was straight in a body bag and off to the morgue. Langdon had long passed the feeling of anger at the sight of the black vans. For him they had become too familiar and any emotions they wrought had been dulled over time.
Langdon led the way and peered at his phone as they walked.
“Expecting a call?” asked Freya. Langdon didn’t answer, it was safer not to. He had been trying to think where he could have met her and therefore whether she was trustworthy or not. To his annoyance the memory failed to come to mind. He would just have to let things play out and determine what he could from her actions.
If it weren’t for the mention of demons he would have left her behind. It was an idea as fascinating as it was frightening and his curiosity was practically screaming to learn more.
The pair were two streets down when the sound of a whine reached Langdon’s ears followed by a shrill yelp. He halted to locate the source of the noise. On a small path overgrown with weeds and plants was a large dog lying on the gravel. He noticed an injury under its right foreleg. Blood had begun to pool below it. There were other marks also and bald patches where fur had been burnt off. He must have been caught in the blast.
The light in the pathway changed as a cloud shifted to make way for the moonlight. In the improved light Langdon could see the dog more clearly. It was no dog, but a wolf, a werewolf. The creature whined again and rolled onto its back in a display of trust. Was it asking for help? On its back, Langdon could see the wolf’s wound more clearly. It was deep and bleeding freely.
“What are you going to do? He can’t turn back it’s a full moon,” Freya commented. She appeared to be waiting for him to make a decision. “If you want to help him don’t worry about me. I’m not exactly the most law-abiding person you’re likely to meet.”
“That comment’s not as comforting as you’d think,” Langdon drawled.
Freya smiled back. She appeared to be honest and while that alone was no reason to give up good sense, his conscience couldn’t allow him to leave the wolf. Langdon removed his long coat and threw it over the creature. Freya helped him pick it up and both of them shushed it when it whined.
Langdon’s car wasn’t much further. They bundled the wolf into the back seat and Langdon jogged around the car to get in from the other side. Also in the back was Langdon’s bag of tricks, his emergency aid kit. He set to work on the wolf’s main injury and did his best to cover the wound.
Once done, he joined Freya in the front of the car. He checked his phone again to see that no one had called.
Freya clasped her hands together in her lap and her eyes softened their gaze. “I don’t think she’s going to call you,” she muttered.
Langdon slammed his hands against the steering wheel and gripped it tight.
“What?” He could only muster the one word.
“She was too indecisive. She wanted help but was too afraid. If she suffered injuries like the other people caught in the blast I doubt…”
“I am waiting.” Langdon cut through with a stiff tone. He would give the woman the time he had promised. He had to give her that chance. Until then he would treat the wolf as best he could until they could leave.
Water streamed down the windscreen and the windows fogged up. Freya looked as if she was about to lift a finger to the condensation, perhaps to mark it then decided against.
Every minute that passed was further confirmation that the woman wouldn’t call. Langdon knew it must seem unfair to wait even as a wolf lay bleeding on his back seat. If it wasn’t so risky, he could have gone looking for the woman. But Langdon had his rules, rules to give everyone a chance whilst keeping himself out of sight from the authorities. He had to stick to them.
When the given half hour had passed Langdon started the car and drove away.
SOMETHING POPPED UP on a screen to Liz’s left accompanied by a ping. She pushed off the desk and rolled towards it. The small room was filled with monitors and hard drives with the occasional graphics card or circuit board littering the floor.
There were seven screens in total with three sat above the other four. Not one of the screens were turned off or showing a blank background. It was how Liz worked with different things happening in different places.
A rolling news channel ran in the top left corner so that she could keep up to date with what was being broadcast, currently showing the incident Langdon had rushed off to attend. Elsewhere were chat logs and forums to keep her up to date on the news that wasn’t quite so public.
She was a small figure amongst the mass of gadgetry. Her hair was blonde, cut short and pulled back into a stubby ponytail so as to not get in the way. Her slim fingers would glide across a keyboard every so often to make notes or bring forward the next request for her attention.
The window that had pinged into existence was an email sent to her secure address containing some image files.
Liz rolled back to her original position and typed a message under her pseudonym “El”.
El: Thank you for those. He’ll find them really useful I’m sure.
Ty: No problem. It was just luck that I found them to be honest. They were soon taken down.
El: I owe you a favour, Mr Ty.
Ty: You seen the news?
El: The explosion?
Ty: No the robberies.
A reporter was talking about it at that very moment and somewhere else she had a website open with all the bloody details.
A group of young men, some still just teenagers, had robbed five different stores one after the other. Among the gang had been a mage who had helped them to get in and out unimpeded.
Most of the owners had either been shot or stabbed. One had even been dragged into the street for everyone to see. There was a very gruesome video left on pause somewhere on one of her screens of a boy with blood on his hands and face. It was more than she would like to see but she felt it necessary nonetheless.
Ty: It happened fairly close to where I am.
Ty: I’ve heard that they’re going around to businesses and families asking for protection money.
Liz paused for a moment to find her words. She typed a word only to delete it again. What had happened was truly terrible and knowing that someone she knew was so close made it worse somehow. Though he was just a two-letter name in a chat log, she had gotten a feel for his character and had become quite attached.
It was the same for all of her regular contacts, GREY SHEEP, M3LV3, ROOK; it was too dangerous to meet them in person so with the exception of Langdon it became her only form of social activity.
El: That’s terrible, Ty. I hope you’re all okay.
To her it seemed a weak gesture and she hoped he would see the empathy behind it.
Ty: Actually I think I need your help. You’re the only person I talk to like this and I don’t think there is anyone else who can do anything.
Her heartbeat quickened for a moment. She felt silly, she had no obligation to do anything and she was quite safe yet she still worried.
Ty: It’s my brother. Him and a group of others are going to try and fight them. He thinks he’s protecting us but he’s just going to get hurt.
Ty: Could you maybe try and be there after they fight?
Ty: And help anyone who gets hurt?
El: I’ll see what I can do but if you want us to help your brother and keep you informed we’re going to need his name and a description. Can you do that?
Ty: Yes. I’ll send you another email. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
El: No problem. Tell us everything you can and I’ll go over it with my partner.
El: I’ll be honest now. If LAN decides we can’t then we won’t.
Ty: That’s fine. I understand.
Ty: I need to go but I’ll send the stuff over when I can.
The chat logged blipped and Ty was gone. Liz put her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands. There was never an end to it, the people that needed saving.
She had trepidations, too, about entering that particular area of London. There were a lot of cameras, policemen and other not-so-friendly people. Though she hated to admit it, there was a good chance they wouldn’t be able to help. But it wouldn’t stop her trying.
THE FRONT OF an apartment building had been blown away. A huge section of the wall was no longer there, creating a hole that began in the middle of the ground floor and up to the top of the second. The ruined homes within were open to the rain that crashed down over everything.
Bodies littered the road outside but Langdon couldn’t quite see how many. A blockade of police cars and black funeral vans stopped anyone from entering the street.
People on the other side were being told to stay in their homes until the police gave the all-clear. Some were still wearing the pyjamas they were in when it happened. Not a pleasant way to be woken up.
Langdon had come dressed for the cold, in his usual long brown coat. Beneath it was a set of clothes he never wore out of the house but that’s what happens when you jump out of bed at 3:30 am in the morning.
His typical attire was far more formal and his hair would normally be combed neatly into place. He had started to sort it out until he’d spotted the rain and recognised it to be a pointless endeavour. Like everyone else, his hair was plastered to his head with the damp.
As Langdon tried to find a good position to see properly, he spotted a pale-skinned woman limping past a police car. She reached the wooden barrier that had been put in place, a striped plank resting on two traffic cones, and leant on it heavily.
Her face was half streaked with cuts marked by flying shrapnel. Her arm was torn and bloodied but her leg was the worst. A metal rod was embedded through her calf and her foot was twisted at a right angle. Anyone who saw her quickly turned away.
Langdon checked his watch. It was barely past 4am, the best part of an hour since the explosion. Had the shrapnel hit a main artery she would have been dead long before his arrival. But that was no guarantee she had enough time.
A policeman passed by and the woman caught his arm. Langdon tensed as the pair stared into each other’s eyes. For a moment sympathy lay there and then the typical steely resolve took over. He yanked his arm away and went on with his business.
The pale-haired woman gripped the barriers, breathing noisily through an open mouth. She was in her late twenties, perhaps Langdon’s own age, too young for such a fate. Only two options lay open to her. Find a way to treat herself or die.
At least, these were the two she would know of, however Langdon held in his hand option number three. He couldn’t give it to her, not with so many policemen near by.
As the rain washed off the muck and blood it collected beneath her in a vile corrupted broth. A yell burst from the woman’s lips, an animalistic sound. She threw off the barrier so that she could get away. A pair of policemen moaned and ran to replace the plank of wood whilst they continued to ignore her plight. It might as well have been the wind that did it.
Langdon pushed through the small crowd as if to get a better view of the street when in reality he was keeping one eye on the woman as she hobbled away. He flexed the fingers on one hand as he twiddled the small card he held in the other. Please go out of sight, he quietly urged. Please find somewhere to hide from them.
The pale-haired woman fell and Langdon forced a gasp back down before he gave himself away. Much to his admiration this didn’t stop her. She crawled like a lame beast, away and out of sight. She manoeuvred around a green skip and a metallic bang suggested that she had leant her weight against it. It wasn’t ideal but it would have to do.
Langdon waited an appropriate amount of time, all along twiddling the piece of card. With his free hand he reached into his pocket and pressed a button on his phone.
A noisy chirrup interrupted the mutterings of those around him and many gave him vicious glances. He nodded apologetically and pretended to accept a phone call as he walked away.
“Hello, yes! Yes, it’s mad, an explosion or something.” He followed the trail of blood even as it washed away. When he reached the skip Langdon leaned on its corner and held out the card to the woman that had collapsed there. He stared down at her so there was no mistake that this was for her.
“Get to somewhere away from here, somewhere properly hidden.” Langdon had dropped the obnoxious phone-voice for something more inconspicuous. “Only then, call the number and I can come and help you.”
There was no knowing that she would accept it, not many of them did. In truth the consequences were too much for some to bare.
So would she choose? Accept the help of a doctor and risk arrest or refuse and risk death? A shaking hand reached up and with a gentle touch, removed the card from his fingers.
“It will dissolve within half an hour. You have until then to use it.” Langdon pulled the phone away from his ear and turned away. His heart jumped to see someone had been standing behind him only a few feet away.
It was a young woman, younger than him maybe around eighteen he guessed. Her hair was the sort of red you only got through dyeing it and was tied in a long plait. Water had shaped the end of it like a paint brush and droplets fell from it at regular intervals.
She stood with her feet apart and her arms folded. For some reason a faint smile touched the corners of her mouth. “Mr Langdon.” She held out a hand to him. “It is Joseph Langdon, isn’t it?”
She had caught him off guard and a lie would be far too obvious. “That’s right, Miss…?”
“Freya Robertson,” she answered.
Langdon stepped towards her and kept on going. He needed to give the other woman a chance to get away. As a result they performed an awkward sideways handshake.
“Have we met?”
“Don’t worry,” she reassured him. “I didn’t think you’d recognise me, it was quite a while ago.” Her expression darkened and she waved a hand towards the tragic scene. “As soon as I heard the news I wanted to come and take a look. Did you come to see it, too?”
“Something like that,” he offered vaguely.
“Sorry if I surprised you. It’s not often you see a familiar face in a place like this. Didn’t want to leave without saying ‘Hi’.”
That part of her story rang with truth. He sensed she had no agenda, not with him at least. But when someone’s out in the rain at four in the morning, they must have a reason. After all Langdon had come with a pocket filled with business cards, with the hopes of healing anyone he could.
They had walked back to the barricade where heavy body bags were being hauled into vans. The crowd that had gathered had been forced to give the workers room yet were too entranced by the horror to just go home.
Freya and Langdon came to a halt several steps away from anyone else. “Twelve dead and three injured, it’s very sad.” Freya sighed.
Langdon whipped his head around to look at her. “How did you know that? They don’t release facts to the public this soon.”
She offered him a sad smile in reply. “An educated guess.” Freya paused for a moment, narrowed her eyes then turned to Langdon. “Can I trust you with something?”
“If you like,” Langdon replied slowly.
“There’s something strange about all of this. There wasn’t an explosion, so much as a one-way blast. And more than that, there was a body, up in the building.” She pointed to the floor of the building with the most damage. “Its back was shredded and beside it was a dead creature, a demon.”
“A demon?” Langdon exclaimed.
Freya hurriedly shushed him and pulled him further away from the observers and policemen. “Quiet, do you want to send everyone here into a panic?”
“But how is that possible? There are no demons anymore.”
“That’s what they want you to believe.” Her head nodded towards one of the policemen. “They want you to think everything’s fine and dandy when it’s not.”
“With people bleeding in the streets it’s pretty bloody obvious that nothing’s fine and dandy.” Langdon spun in a half-circle then spun back again, clasping his hands together and raising them to his chin. “How can there be demons? The Hell Gates were closed fifty years ago and nothing’s come through it since.”
“Nothing big,” she corrected. “Look, is there somewhere we can talk about this privately? That is, if you want to.” She shied away, as if she was afraid that she’d come on too strong.
Langdon pinched the bridge of his nose and knocked his glasses upwards. “No, no that’s fine.” She had raised his curiosity and after such a bold statement he had to know more. “Let’s go back to my car and we’ll head to my house.”
The crowd at the barricade has dispersed a little as people decided there was little else for them to see. Van and car doors slammed shut and the bodies were driven away to the funeral houses.
That’s how it was these days. No hospitals as an in-between. It was straight in a body bag and off to the morgue. Langdon had long passed the feeling of anger at the sight of the black vans. For him they had become too familiar and any emotions they wrought had been dulled over time.
Langdon led the way and peered at his phone as they walked.
“Expecting a call?” asked Freya. Langdon didn’t answer, it was safer not to. He had been trying to think where he could have met her and therefore whether she was trustworthy or not. To his annoyance the memory failed to come to mind. He would just have to let things play out and determine what he could from her actions.
If it weren’t for the mention of demons he would have left her behind. It was an idea as fascinating as it was frightening and his curiosity was practically screaming to learn more.
The pair were two streets down when the sound of a whine reached Langdon’s ears followed by a shrill yelp. He halted to locate the source of the noise. On a small path overgrown with weeds and plants was a large dog lying on the gravel. He noticed an injury under its right foreleg. Blood had begun to pool below it. There were other marks also and bald patches where fur had been burnt off. He must have been caught in the blast.
The light in the pathway changed as a cloud shifted to make way for the moonlight. In the improved light Langdon could see the dog more clearly. It was no dog, but a wolf, a werewolf. The creature whined again and rolled onto its back in a display of trust. Was it asking for help? On its back, Langdon could see the wolf’s wound more clearly. It was deep and bleeding freely.
“What are you going to do? He can’t turn back it’s a full moon,” Freya commented. She appeared to be waiting for him to make a decision. “If you want to help him don’t worry about me. I’m not exactly the most law-abiding person you’re likely to meet.”
“That comment’s not as comforting as you’d think,” Langdon drawled.
Freya smiled back. She appeared to be honest and while that alone was no reason to give up good sense, his conscience couldn’t allow him to leave the wolf. Langdon removed his long coat and threw it over the creature. Freya helped him pick it up and both of them shushed it when it whined.
Langdon’s car wasn’t much further. They bundled the wolf into the back seat and Langdon jogged around the car to get in from the other side. Also in the back was Langdon’s bag of tricks, his emergency aid kit. He set to work on the wolf’s main injury and did his best to cover the wound.
Once done, he joined Freya in the front of the car. He checked his phone again to see that no one had called.
Freya clasped her hands together in her lap and her eyes softened their gaze. “I don’t think she’s going to call you,” she muttered.
Langdon slammed his hands against the steering wheel and gripped it tight.
“What?” He could only muster the one word.
“She was too indecisive. She wanted help but was too afraid. If she suffered injuries like the other people caught in the blast I doubt…”
“I am waiting.” Langdon cut through with a stiff tone. He would give the woman the time he had promised. He had to give her that chance. Until then he would treat the wolf as best he could until they could leave.
Water streamed down the windscreen and the windows fogged up. Freya looked as if she was about to lift a finger to the condensation, perhaps to mark it then decided against.
Every minute that passed was further confirmation that the woman wouldn’t call. Langdon knew it must seem unfair to wait even as a wolf lay bleeding on his back seat. If it wasn’t so risky, he could have gone looking for the woman. But Langdon had his rules, rules to give everyone a chance whilst keeping himself out of sight from the authorities. He had to stick to them.
When the given half hour had passed Langdon started the car and drove away.
SOMETHING POPPED UP on a screen to Liz’s left accompanied by a ping. She pushed off the desk and rolled towards it. The small room was filled with monitors and hard drives with the occasional graphics card or circuit board littering the floor.
There were seven screens in total with three sat above the other four. Not one of the screens were turned off or showing a blank background. It was how Liz worked with different things happening in different places.
A rolling news channel ran in the top left corner so that she could keep up to date with what was being broadcast, currently showing the incident Langdon had rushed off to attend. Elsewhere were chat logs and forums to keep her up to date on the news that wasn’t quite so public.
She was a small figure amongst the mass of gadgetry. Her hair was blonde, cut short and pulled back into a stubby ponytail so as to not get in the way. Her slim fingers would glide across a keyboard every so often to make notes or bring forward the next request for her attention.
The window that had pinged into existence was an email sent to her secure address containing some image files.
Liz rolled back to her original position and typed a message under her pseudonym “El”.
El: Thank you for those. He’ll find them really useful I’m sure.
Ty: No problem. It was just luck that I found them to be honest. They were soon taken down.
El: I owe you a favour, Mr Ty.
Ty: You seen the news?
El: The explosion?
Ty: No the robberies.
A reporter was talking about it at that very moment and somewhere else she had a website open with all the bloody details.
A group of young men, some still just teenagers, had robbed five different stores one after the other. Among the gang had been a mage who had helped them to get in and out unimpeded.
Most of the owners had either been shot or stabbed. One had even been dragged into the street for everyone to see. There was a very gruesome video left on pause somewhere on one of her screens of a boy with blood on his hands and face. It was more than she would like to see but she felt it necessary nonetheless.
Ty: It happened fairly close to where I am.
Ty: I’ve heard that they’re going around to businesses and families asking for protection money.
Liz paused for a moment to find her words. She typed a word only to delete it again. What had happened was truly terrible and knowing that someone she knew was so close made it worse somehow. Though he was just a two-letter name in a chat log, she had gotten a feel for his character and had become quite attached.
It was the same for all of her regular contacts, GREY SHEEP, M3LV3, ROOK; it was too dangerous to meet them in person so with the exception of Langdon it became her only form of social activity.
El: That’s terrible, Ty. I hope you’re all okay.
To her it seemed a weak gesture and she hoped he would see the empathy behind it.
Ty: Actually I think I need your help. You’re the only person I talk to like this and I don’t think there is anyone else who can do anything.
Her heartbeat quickened for a moment. She felt silly, she had no obligation to do anything and she was quite safe yet she still worried.
Ty: It’s my brother. Him and a group of others are going to try and fight them. He thinks he’s protecting us but he’s just going to get hurt.
Ty: Could you maybe try and be there after they fight?
Ty: And help anyone who gets hurt?
El: I’ll see what I can do but if you want us to help your brother and keep you informed we’re going to need his name and a description. Can you do that?
Ty: Yes. I’ll send you another email. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
El: No problem. Tell us everything you can and I’ll go over it with my partner.
El: I’ll be honest now. If LAN decides we can’t then we won’t.
Ty: That’s fine. I understand.
Ty: I need to go but I’ll send the stuff over when I can.
The chat logged blipped and Ty was gone. Liz put her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands. There was never an end to it, the people that needed saving.
She had trepidations, too, about entering that particular area of London. There were a lot of cameras, policemen and other not-so-friendly people. Though she hated to admit it, there was a good chance they wouldn’t be able to help. But it wouldn’t stop her trying.
