The next time I awoke it was evening and the room seemed colder. I was alone in a single hospital ward with seven empty beds. Just outside the door I could see an armed police officer on guard duty, while inside a vast quantity of flowers and cards vied for space. As I lay in bed the memories of the evening returned and tumbled out of my subconscious. I resisted them as long as I could but it was like holding back a flood. Everything that had happened that night came back in an instant. And as I remembered, I wept.
Within a week I was strong enough to get out of bed. Paige and Boswell had both dropped by, and even my mother had made the trip up from Swindon to see me. She told me she had painted the bedroom mauve, much to Dad’s disappointment—and it was my fault for suggesting it. I didn’t think I’d bother trying to explain. I was glad of any sympathy, of course, but my mind was elsewhere: there had been a monumental fiasco and someone was going to be responsible; and as the sole survivor of that disastrous evening, I was the strongest and only candidate. A small office was procured in the hospital and into it came Tamworth’s old divisional commander, a man whom I had never met named Flanker, who seemed utterly devoid of humour and warmth. He brought with him a twin-cassette tape deck and several SO-1 senior operatives, who declined to give their names. I gave my testimony slowly and frankly, without emotion and as accurately as possible. Acheron’s strange powers had been hinted at before, but even so Flanker was having trouble believing it.
‘I’ve read Tamworth’s file on Hades and it makes pretty weird reading, Miss Next,’ he said. ‘Tamworth was a bit of a loose cannon. SO-5 was his and his alone; Hades was more of an obsession than a job. From our initial enquiries it seems that he has been flaunting basic SpecOps guidelines. Contrary to popular belief, we are accountable to Parliament, albeit on a very discreet basis.’
He paused for a moment and consulted his notes. He looked at me and switched on the tape recorder. He identified the tape with the date, his name and mine, but only referred to the other operatives by numbers. That done, he drew up a chair and sat down.
‘So what happened?’
I paused for a moment and then began, giving the story of my meeting with Tamworth right up until Buckett’s hasty departure.
‘I’m glad that someone seemed to have some sense,’ murmured one of the SO-1 agents. I ignored him.
‘Tamworth and I entered the lobby of Styx’s property,’ I told them. ‘We took the stairs and on the sixth floor we heard the shot. We stopped and listened but there was complete silence. Tamworth thought we had been rumbled.’
‘You had been rumbled,’ announced Flanker. ‘From the transcript of the tape we know that Snood spoke Hades’ name out loud. Hades picked it up and reacted badly; he accused Styx of betraying him, retrieved the package and then killed his brother. Your surprise attack was no surprise. He knew you were both there.’
I took a sip of water. If we had known, would we have retreated? I doubted it.
‘Who was in front?’
‘Tamworth. We edged slowly round the stairwell and looked on to the seventh-floor landing. It was empty apart from a little old lady who was facing the lift doors and muttering angrily to herself. Tamworth and I edged closer to Styx’s open door and peered in. Styx was lying on the floor and we quickly searched the small flat.’
‘We saw you on the surveillance video, Next,’ said one of the nameless operatives. ‘Your search was conducted well.’
‘Did you see Hades on the video?’
The same man coughed. They had been having trouble coming to terms with Tamworth’s report, but the video was unequivocal. Hades’ likeness had not shown up on it at all—just his voice.
‘No,’ he said finally. ‘No, we did not.’
‘Tamworth cursed and walked back to the door,’ I continued. ‘It was then that I heard another shot.’
I stopped for a moment, remembering the event carefully, yet not fully understanding what I had seen and felt. I remembered that my heart rate had dropped; everything had suddenly become crystal clear. I had felt no panic, just an overwhelming desire to see the job completed. I had seen Tamworth die but had felt no emotion; that was to come later.
‘Miss Next?’ asked Flanker, interrupting my thoughts.
‘What? Sorry. Tamworth was hit. I walked over but a quick glance confirmed that the wound was incompatible with survival. I had to assume Hades was on the landing, so I took a deep breath and glanced out.’
‘What did you see?’
‘I saw the little old lady, standing by the lift. I had heard no one run off downstairs, so assumed Hades was on the roof. I glanced out again. The old lady gave up waiting and walked past me on her way to the stairs, splashing through a puddle of water on the way. She tut-tutted as she passed Tamworth’s body. I switched my attention back to the landing and to the stairwell that led to the roof. As I walked slowly towards the roof access, a doubt crept into my mind. I turned back to look at the little old lady, who had started off down the stairs and was grumbling about the infrequency of trams. Her footprints from the water caught my eye. Despite her small feet, the wet footprints were made by a man’s-size shoe. I required no more proof. It was Rule Number Two: Acheron could lie in thought, deed, action and appearance. For the first time ever, I fired a gun in anger.’
There was silence, so I continued.
‘I saw at least three of the four shots hit the lumbering figure on the stairs. The old lady—or, at the very least, her image—tumbled out of sight and I walked cautiously up to the head of the stairwell. Her belongings were strewn all the way down the concrete steps with her shopping trolley on the landing below. Her groceries had spilt out and several cans of cat food were rolling slowly down the steps.’
‘So you hit her?’
‘Definitely.’
Flanker dug a small evidence bag out of his pocket and showed it to me. It contained three of my slugs, flattened as though they had been fired into the side of a tank.
When Flanker spoke again his voice was edged with disbelief.
‘You say that Acheron disguised himself as an old lady?’
‘Yes, sir,’ I replied, looking straight ahead.
‘How did he do that?’
‘I don’t know, sir.’
‘How could a man over six foot six dress in a small woman’s clothes?’
‘I don’t think he did it physically; I think he just projected what he wanted me to see.’
‘That sounds crazy.’
‘There’s a lot we don’t know about Hades.’
‘That I can agree with. The old lady’s name was Mrs Grimswold; we found her wedged up the chimney in Styx’s apartment. It took three men to pull her out.’
Flanker thought for a moment and let one of the other men ask a question.
‘I’m interested to know why you were both armed with expanding ammunition,’ said one of the other officers, not looking at me but at the wall. He was short and dark and had an annoying twitch in his left eye. ‘Fluted hollow points and high-power loads. What were you planning to shoot? Buffalo?’
I took a deep breath.
‘Hades was shot six times without any ill effects in ‘77, sir. Tamworth gave us expanded ammunition to use against him. He said he had SO-1 approval.’
‘Well, he didn’t. If the papers get hold of this there will be hell to pay. SpecOps doesn’t have a good relationship with the press, Miss Next. The Mole keeps on wanting access for one of its journalists. In this climate of accountability the politicians are leaning on us more and more. Expanding ammunition—! Shit, not even the Special Cavalry use those on Russians.’