Ironheart (10 page)

‘But how will I find you again?’ she asked. There was no reply.
The reindeer was gone and only the endless, white silence of the snow remained.

She woke with a start in Mrs Chang’s guest room. It was still dark outside, several hours before dawn, and the fire in the grate had faded to an ember. The
half-remembered dream had left her feeling unsettled and anxious. She wondered if Verity and Calculus were back yet.

Calculus had said little on the journey back to the hotel and he seemed anxious to return to the Trans-Siberian Mining Company as soon as possible and check on his mistress. India’s
shakiness after her encounter with Lucifer Stone had given way to a headache and as soon as they arrived at Mrs Chang’s she had gone straight to bed.

Unable to get back to sleep, she got up and pulled on some clothes before going to the window. The street was empty and shuttered and the boardwalks glittered with a coating of ice. She looked up
and was startled to see a thin, white streak of light passing noiselessly across the sky to the East; a shooting star, like the one she had seen in London. A second streak followed and then a
third. And then a whole swarm of fiery stars arced gracefully across the night sky towards the mountains. India realized she was holding her breath. Verity had said when someone died their star
falls to Earth, so what did this mean? She clutched at her pendant and hoped that Bella was safe.

As the last shooting star faded away, a movement across the street caught her eye. She ducked behind the curtain as a lone figure moved briefly out of the deep shadow. She recognized the black
hair and chalk-white face immediately. Sid! Downstairs the wood and glass front doors smashed inwards and the shards scattered across the hallway. She rushed from her room and peered over the
banisters. Bearded men in long-johns were gathering on the landing below in confused groups and Mrs Chang could be heard shouting in the dining room.

‘What do you want? I told you no come back after last time. Get out of my house!’

There was the sound of more breaking glass and then Sid’s voice. ‘Shut up, China woman. Tell us where the girl is and we might not burn this place to the ground.’

‘What girl? There’s no girl here. Are you crazy? You get out right now or I set Mr Chang on you.’

There was a sound of scuffling and then a heavy iron clang rang out, followed by a howl.

‘Ow! Boss, she hid me. My node, id’s bleeding.’

‘Never mind your precious nose, Cripps. You and Silas, get upstairs and find the girl. Make sure you get all her stuff too.’

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. India darted back to her room and slipped a chair under the door handle. She guessed she had a minute, maybe two at most, before they found her room.

The side window of her room looked down on to an alley, a bone-breaking thirty feet down and too far to jump. But when she leaned out, there was a narrow ledge running just under the sill, and a
drainpipe that offered a possible route to the ground.

India pulled on her boots with shaky fingers, then picked up Verity’s bag and stuffed her own things into it. Trying not to look down, she opened the window and lowered herself over the
sill to the ledge, standing motionless on the icy beam. The sharp night air made her breath come in quick gasps. Out here, the ledge felt much narrower.

She began a slow, cautious shuffle along the beam, towards the iron drainpipe. The frozen metal of the pipe stuck painfully to her skin until she pulled the sleeves of her shirt over her hands
like mittens. Then she started to climb down carefully.

Just when it seemed she might escape, her foot slipped on the icy metal and she pitched sideways into the alley. Her grip on the pipe was lost in a heartbeat and her arms and legs flailed wildly
as the ground rushed up to meet her. The impact knocked the wind from her chest and something hit her hard in the mouth. She groaned and lay still until she felt strong enough to open her eyes.

A foul-smelling pile of rubbish had broken her fall, probably saving her life. She sat up slowly; all of her limbs seemed to be working normally. Her knee had been twisted in the fall and her
lip was bloodied, but she was otherwise OK. She climbed shakily to her feet.

‘You! Stop there!’ Two more men turned into the alley and were running towards her. She took off in the other direction, hobbling on her injured knee.

The alleyways behind the guest house were dark and stinking and she soon became hopelessly lost in the twisting maze as she tried to shake off her pursuers. Her breath came in ragged gasps and
tore at her throat. Just as she felt her legs were about to give way she rounded a corner and ran straight into a massive figure blocking her path. She jumped back in alarm and looked up at the
shadowy outline.

‘Calc!’ she cried. She hugged his metal body, her arms not quite meeting around his middle. ‘I’m so glad it’s you. Where’s Verity?’

‘I was hoping she was with you,’ he said. ‘There was no sign of her back at Stone’s place. What are you doing out here?’

She spilled out the story of her escape from the guest house while trying to keep her voice from shaking. ‘Good grief!’ she cried. ‘You’re shot!’

He put a hand to the three small holes in his shoulder armour. ‘When I went back to find Verity, Stone’s men were waiting for me. My self-healing mechanisms will take care of the
wound but I was lucky to get away. Sid’s thugs are all over the town and I fear for Mrs Brown’s safety if she is still at Trans-Siberian.’

‘Then we have to go and rescue her,’ said India. ‘What are we waiting for?’

‘India, these people are not like the men in your village,’ he said. ‘They are trained killers and there are too many of them for us to deal with. If they have captured Mrs
Brown there is nothing we can do right now.’

‘But you’re her bodyguard! Aren’t you even going to try to rescue her?’

‘There are times, India,’ he said calmly, ‘when a tactical retreat is the best strategy. If we went back to Trans-Siberian then we would almost certainly be captured or killed
ourselves. Mrs Brown gave me orders to ensure your safety. When that is done I will consider how best to help her.’ He looked up and down the alleyway and grasped her hand. ‘Come on, we
should head for the harbour. I’ll try to find a cargo ship that will get you home.’

She allowed herself to be pulled along through the narrow alleys as they headed for the waterfront, reeling from the events of the last hour.

They emerged into a floodlit yard laced with rail tracks and India gave a small yelp of surprise before Calculus yanked her quickly back into the shadows. Their route across the tracks was
blocked by a monstrous black train reeking of hot oil and wood smoke. It sat in the siding like a slumbering beast, exhaling great gasps of steam and splashing hot, hissing fluids on to the frozen
ground. India was stunned by its immensity.

‘It must be the engine Stone was bragging about,’ she said. ‘The
Tolstoy.’

‘We have to get past it,’ said Calculus. ‘It’s the only way to the harbour.’

They picked their way along the dark tracks, stepping over railway sleepers and staying out of the yellow pools of light from the carriage windows as they made their way towards the engine. The
Tolstoy
was a beast. Each of its eight wheels stood taller than Calculus and the bearings and connector rods were as thick as a man. They passed a muscular, soot-covered man stoking the
roaring firebox and walked carefully around the front of the train.

Calculus peered along the platform. ‘Just a few passengers,’ he said. ‘I think there’s an alleyway over there that leads down to the harbour.’

But India wasn’t listening; she was looking at the front of the engine which was adorned with a large red star.

‘Calc, I need to get on this train.’

‘This train is going east, India, it won’t help us.’ He continued to scan the platform. ‘Now, get ready to run as soon as the guard turns his back.’

‘I know where it’s going, Calc. It might sound weird, but I’ve dreamed about this. Actually, since my dad went missing I’ve had a lot of strange dreams. The
one I had tonight told me to follow a red star over the mountains. It means I should get on this train, Calc, don’t you see?’

He looked at the red star and then at India. ‘No, I don’t see. Why would you want to do something that will only take you further into danger?’

‘You’re not listening to me!’ She took a deep breath. ‘Look, you told me a shaman can control another person’s dreams, so isn’t it possible that’s what
is happening to me? I think someone is trying to send me a message. The dream told me my dad was still alive but there was something with him, something that shouldn’t be woken. It said if I
didn’t get there soon something bad would happen. I have to go east, Calc, I just have to.’

Calculus gazed at her steadily. It was impossible to tell if he was buying into any of her story. ‘It is possible,’ he said eventually, ‘that you are experiencing some sort of
psychic phenomena. But have you ever considered that whoever is sending you these dreams may not be telling you the truth?’

This had not occurred to India, and it was a chilling thought. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said after a pause. ‘But I’m still getting on this train, so you’d better
leave me here.’

The android made a noise like a sigh. ‘I can’t do that,’ he said.

‘Well, why not? I’m fed up with being treated like a child. Give me one good reason why you can’t let me go.’

‘Because, after what happened this afternoon, Mrs Brown gave me orders to look after you. It was the last thing she told me to do before she disappeared. So now I have to make sure
you’re safe; it would go against my programming to do anything else.’

‘Oh,’ she said, taken aback. They were both silent for a moment.

‘We’ll find Verity again, I know we will,’ she said. ‘But I made a promise too. I promised my dad that if he ever got lost I would come and find him and I promised Bella
I was going to bring him back so we could be a family again.’ She went to the edge of the platform and paused. ‘You coming?’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘If I get on the platform with you I will be noticed immediately,’ he said. ‘I’ll travel underneath the train.’

‘Whatever works for you, Calc,’ she said with a grin.

‘Here,’ he said. ‘If we are going to be separated I want you to have this.’ He touched a panel on his arm and a thin strip of metal peeled away from his wrist like a
sliver of steel skin. ‘It’s a communication device. If you need me, just press the button on the side and as long I am functioning I’ll be able to hear you.’

She placed the band over her wrist. It curled naturally around her arm and fastened itself with a small click. ‘My very own bodyguard,’ she said. ‘I feel safer
already.’

She hopped up from the tracks, wincing at the pain in her knee. On the platform, well-heeled passengers shared drinking flasks and breathed clouds of steam into the night air while busy porters
ferried boxes. A station official checked his pocket watch and held a green flag in readiness.

Shouldering her bag, India started down the platform – then stopped in her tracks.

Silas and Cripps stood at the station entrance. The one with the lazy eye held a bloody handkerchief to his face. They were scanning the passengers as they arrived and no one dared to meet their
gaze. India knew they were looking for her.

She turned away and focused on getting on the train. No sooner had she placed her foot on the bottom step when a hand fell on her shoulder and a red-faced ticket inspector barked something
incomprehensible at her.

‘He wants to see your ticket,’ whispered Calculus from the dark space beneath the train. ‘He said if you don’t have one he’ll have to take you to the
office.’

The inspector called over the guard, who checked his pocket watch and frowned. ‘Ticket,’ he said.

India swallowed. ‘Er, it’s with my dad,’ she said, her mind racing. ‘He’s already on board.’ She gave them a broad smile.

‘No ticket, no train,’ said the guard. ‘Give ticket or come with me.’ Some of the passengers were looking and tutting at India and the exchange had attracted the
attention of Silas, who was now peering gormlessly in their direction.

She looked around for an escape and was about to run when her eyes alighted on a familiar, barrel-shaped figure rolling up the platform. It was Captain Bulldog, deeply engrossed in a meat pie.
She seized her chance.

‘Dad!’ she cried out. ‘There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you.’ Bulldog stopped in mid-chew, looking startled as India ran up to him and took his arm.
‘This man wants to see my ticket, he really is being very tiresome.’

Bulldog’s face remained locked in surprise and his eyes flicked between India and the ticket inspector. He quickly swallowed his mouthful of pie. ‘Er, hello, dear,’ he said
tentatively. ‘I was just getting something to eat.’

India laughed lightly. ‘Thinking of your stomach again, Dad? I bet you forgot to buy my ticket as well, didn’t you? You really are becoming very absent-minded.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, forcing a tight smile, ‘I’ll be forgetting I’ve got a daughter next.’

The ticket inspector looked unimpressed. ‘No ticket, no train,’ he repeated.

At the end of the platform, Silas and Cripps were now both peering in their direction. India hid her face and Bulldog seemed suddenly to grasp the gravity of the situation. He exchanged some
words in Russian with the inspector and they laughed loudly together. ‘Let me thank you for your trouble,’ he said, taking out a roll of notes and peeling some off The inspector and the
guard grunted and touched their caps. As Bulldog returned the roll to his pocket, India noticed that, like Verity, he also wore a pistol in his belt.

Bulldog ushered India on to the train and waved cheerily to the porters as he closed the door. Silas and Cripps were both peering at them now. They attempted to push through the turnstile, only
to be stopped by the red-faced inspector. ‘No ticket, no train!’ he barked, holding out an expectant hand.

While they fumbled for change, Bulldog quickly dragged India into the carriage. ‘What the hell’s going on, India?’ he said. ‘Sid’s gang are all over town looking
for a girl and a metal man. They must have stopped me six times on the way here.’