The Firebird Mystery (23 page)

Once again, if my demands are not followed, I will reduce London to a landscape of burning cinders. And Lucy Harker will die just as her father did.

M.

Jack re-read the message twice before he stared into Scarlet's face. ‘It's too dangerous,' he said. ‘I'll go.'

‘If you go,' Scarlet said, ‘then so do I.'

Mr Doyle appeared ashen. ‘Neither of you will go. It's too perilous…' His voice trailed off.

‘There's no other way around it,' Mr Griffin said. ‘And we will watch their every move. They will never be out of our sight.'

‘Still…' Mr Doyle looked worried.

‘I understand your concern,' Churchill said. ‘Believe me, I would never use children to deal with a monster like M if I had a choice.'

‘But we do not have a choice,' Horatio Kitchener interrupted. ‘The lives of millions of people are at stake.'

‘We will be fine,' Jack said. ‘I'll make sure Scarlet is safe.'

‘I can look after myself,' Scarlet retorted. ‘And I'll make sure you're safe.'

‘Scarlet,' Mr Churchill said. ‘We have not told your father.'

‘Then don't,' she said. ‘He would worry.'

‘I don't suppose,' Ignatius Doyle said, ‘it has occurred to anyone that there is more to this request than meets the eye?'

The room fell silent.

‘Professor M has chosen a famous location for this exchange,' the detective continued. ‘He has no intention of being caught, so why has he done this? And there is no guarantee he will release the bomb to us—if the bomb is even in England.'

‘Do you think it is still on the continent?' Thomas Griffin asked.

‘Isn't it true that, from the moment this crisis began, every airship port and shipping terminal across England was closed?' Mr Doyle said. ‘You have effectively made England a fortress. Nothing in. Nothing out.'

General Churchill shook his head. ‘All it would take is one ship to deliver the weapon.'

‘Agreed,' Mr Doyle said. ‘But if no ships are being allowed in...'

‘It would only take one to slip through,' Mr Griffin said. ‘Do you really want to weigh up the lives of two young people against that of millions?'

Mr Doyle's chin went hard. ‘This is how it always is. Men like you make orders and others do your dirty work.' He clenched his fists. ‘And for what? So you can be safe in your beds?'

Mr Griffin tried to soothe him. ‘Ignatius. We're all doing what we must.'

‘No.' The detective was angry. ‘You could evacuate London.'

‘The entire city?' Churchill said. ‘That would not be practicable.'

‘It would not be easy, you mean.' Mr Doyle's eyes glistened and his voice faltered as he said, ‘You send the best and brightest of our nation into danger like sending lambs to the slaughter...'

Scarlet laid a gentle hand on the detective's arm. It silenced him. Mr Doyle stared at them, as if he was staring into the past.

‘It's just that I won't be with you,' he said. ‘And anything could happen.'

‘Don't you worry, Mr Doyle,' Jack said, displaying a bravado he did not feel. ‘We can handle M. He'll wish he brought the rest of the alphabet with him!'

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Shortly before noon, Jack and Scarlet were dropped off at a street near King's Cross in a steamcar occupied by Mr Doyle and General Churchill.

‘Be careful, team,' Mr Doyle said. ‘Don't take any unnecessary risks.'

‘We won't,' Jack said.

‘We'll keep London safe,' Scarlet added.

‘Good luck, you two,' General Churchill said. ‘We'll be close by every step of the way.'

Their car moved off and a second vehicle chugged along the street towards them. Mr Griffin and another person—a square-jawed man—sat inside. The man produced a small pouch containing the diamond necklace.

He handed it to Jack. ‘Place this around your neck,' he said. ‘And stuff the bag down the front of your shirt.' Jack did as instructed.

‘Keep your wits about you,' Mr Griffin said.

Jack shivered. Mr Griffin had given him exact instructions: only hand over the diamonds in exchange for Lucy and the bomb.

‘We will,' Scarlet promised.

The steamcar took off, leaving Jack and Scarlet alone on the busy road. They started down the footpath. The fog had thickened over the last hour. A few people strode past—an elderly man, a lady with a dainty umbrella, two children. Jack supposed there were MI5 agents all over the place, but he doubted he would recognise them. Likewise, he supposed, M had accomplices hiding in the wings.

If it appeared their lives were in danger, Mr Griffin assured him, MI5 agents would swoop in and save them.

Jack was anxious about Scarlet, but she read his mind. ‘You needn't worry about me, Jack,' she said. ‘I am a capable woman.'

‘You're only fifteen.'

‘Then I'm a capable fifteen-year-old. Between the two of us we can handle M and save London.'

They had the monument in sight now, just a short distance from the bottom of the stairs to King's Cross Station. It occurred to Jack how ludicrous this whole episode was—men and women going about their daily lives while he and Scarlet negotiated with a madman.

‘Who was George the Fourth anyway?' he asked.

‘I'm not sure,' Scarlet said. ‘I suspect he came after George the Third.'

‘People must have loved him.'

‘Why?'

‘To put up such a monument.'

The monument was a hexagonal stone structure with a statue on the top. It loomed above the sea of fog. It was not an attractive sight. Jack's heart began to race a little faster as they approached. Only fifty feet to the statue. He hoped dozens of agents were watching their every move. His mouth went dry. No sign of the porcelain-faced figure. The clock tower at King's Cross Station showed five minutes to the hour.

They reached the bottom of the statue. A bird sailed overhead. A steamcar chuffed down the road. An elderly couple emerged from the mist in the direction of the station. They climbed the steps and disappeared. A steamtruck roared towards Jack and Scarlet. The driver glanced at Jack. He stared back. The vehicle drove past.

Jack's heart pounded as he sunk his hands into his coat, feeling the compass and picture. He knew his parents were with him. The clock chimed. Twelve o'clock. A line of sweat ran down Jack's face and gathered at the point of his chin. Two boys ran down the road, chasing each other. The clock continued to chime. Nearing Jack and Scarlet, one of them yelled something rude and they sprinted away.

‘Horrible little boys,' Scarlet said.

The last chime faded away. The fog shifted around them. It was getting thicker by the moment. A vehicle moved through the haze, invisible except for the chugging of its engine. The sun struggled to break through without success.

Another trickle of sweat found an avenue down Jack's face. He let out a long breath. He heard a train pull into the station behind them. He glanced back and saw ghostly figures in the fog. A whistle shrieked.

‘Where is he?' Scarlet said.

‘I don't know,' Jack answered.

He peered long and hard in both directions. Everyone seemed to be ignoring them.

Where was M?

‘So,' a voice said from behind him. ‘We meet again.'

Jack knew the voice. Though distorted, it was the same voice he'd heard back in Scarlet's apartment. But when he spun around, there was no-one there. Behind them lay the stone foundation. Quickly, they rounded the structure, but there was no-one there either.

‘Look down,' the voice said, ‘you will see a bronze box with an antenna sticking out the top.'

The box, as described, lay at their feet. A fine grill decorated the top. A red button jutted out from the top-left side.

‘Now pick it up,' the voice ordered.

Jack's mouth fell open.
The voice was coming from the box!

‘What is it?' Scarlet asked.

‘It's amazing,' Jack said, ‘is what it is.'

‘To reply to my instructions,' the voice continued, ‘you must press the button on the left-hand side of this device and then release it to listen. Do you understand?'

‘Yes,' Jack said automatically, then realised the speaker could not hear him. He pressed the button and repeated himself.

‘Good. You hold in your hands a radio transmitter. We will be using it to communicate with each other. Is Scarlet Bell there?'

‘I am.'

‘Who are you?' Jack said to the box. ‘To whom am I speaking?'

‘You know who I am,' the voice said.

Professor M!

‘Where are you?' Jack asked.

‘We will meet after you follow my instructions. Now, climb the stairs to the station, buy tickets for Hackney, go to the platform and wait for the 12.05 train.'

Jack, with Scarlet at his side, walked on shaking legs. Scarlet purchased the tickets with a coin from her small pocket and they headed to the platform. There were few people about. A train pulled in and the doors opened with a puff of steam. They climbed on.

The steam train was divided into first and second class. It seated hundreds, but now, in the middle of the day, it was almost empty. A man boarded the carriage at the far end. He glanced at them, but made no indication of recognition. Was he MI5?

‘Let's remain here,' Scarlet said, ‘in case we need to alight.'

‘Good idea.'

They stood in the vestibule area and gripped a pole as the train accelerated. The next stop was on the new Barnshill line. A man moved past them into the carriage and took a seat some distance away. The train started again.

The box crackled. ‘Get off at the next stop.'

Jack glanced up at a railway map attached to the wall. ‘The next stop is Sabre Field.'

Three minutes later the train drew to a halt. The doors opened and Jack and Scarlet got out.

‘There is a train departing on platform four,' the voice snapped. ‘You have one minute to catch it.'

Jack sighted a set of stairs to his left. They ran up them, crossed the overhead bridge and followed the directions to the platform below. A train had just arrived.

‘Blimey,' Jack muttered under his breath.

‘This dress was not made for athletics,' Scarlet puffed.

The doors were closing. Jack and Scarlet made a running jump through, and the doors sealed shut behind them. Gasping for breath, Jack peered down the carriage. He was not sure if the man from the other train had made the switch. He swallowed. In one single move, they may have already lost their protection.

The train started again. Half-a-dozen stations flew past without any instructions from M. They pulled into another station—Hammermouth.

‘I am starting to feel slightly concerned,' Scarlet said. ‘I think we're on our own.'

‘It's nothing we can't handle,' Jack said, not feeling the confidence he espoused.

Scarlet frowned. ‘There was a Brinkie Buckeridge novel where she constructed a gun from parts of a washing machine.'

‘I didn't bring my washing machine with me. Did you?'

‘Hmm. No, I left mine at home.'

The radio crackled. ‘Change trains,' M instructed. ‘Platform five.'

Jack flung open the door as the train pulled into Hammermouth. A train was pulling into the other platform. He took the stairs two at a time with Scarlet behind him. As they sprinted across the overhead bridge, Jack crashed into a man in a suit.

‘Oof!' he cried.

‘So sorry!' Scarlet yelled.

‘Impudent, young rascals...'

Jack did not hear the rest of it. They scrambled down the stairs. The guard blew his whistle as Jack landed badly on a step, twisting his ankle. He sprawled down the stairs.

Argh!

‘Jack!' Scarlet yelled.

‘Keep moving!'

He rolled down the remaining steps and climbed to his feet as the doors started to close.

No!

Scarlet shrieked. She jammed her body in between the closing doors. Jack staggered across the platform and leapt inside. Scarlet let the door close.

An elderly woman gave them a severe look. ‘That's a foolish thing to do.'

‘Yes, we know,' Jack said.

He stumbled through to the carriage with Scarlet, breathless, behind him. When he was halfway down the aisle, the radio crackled again. A seated man gazed at them strangely and they retreated to the far end empty of passengers.

‘Jack and Scarlet,' the voice rasped. ‘Prepare to disembark.'

‘We barely made this train,' Scarlet protested. ‘My attire was not made for jumping from train to train.'

‘You have almost reached your destination,' the voice said. ‘Disembark at the next station. Go to the south side and take the next steambus to the end of the line.'

Jack wiped sweat from his face as the train chugged in to the next station. It was a stop called Bigglesworth. The doors slid open with a puff of steam. They stepped out and hobbled up the stairs.

The fog had cleared, the day had grown warmer and the exertion had pushed Jack to the limit. Scarlet appeared equally exhausted. Her face was red, her dress smeared with dirt and her splendid hair was in disarray.

Crossing to the south side of the station, Jack saw a bus chuffing down the road in their direction. Scarlet paid money to the driver and they sat near the exit.

‘Do you think M is the bus driver?' Jack asked.

‘I don't believe the greatest criminal mind of our time is driving a bus in Bigglesworth. Still, we had best be on our guard.'

The bus stopped three more times before the driver turned to them.

‘Last stop, people,' he said.

‘Thanks,' Jack said.

They exited the bus and saw a river on the other side bordered by shrubbery. The waterway was thirty feet across. Small houses lined one side of the road. A tiny barking dog ran circles in a front yard. Ducks drifted down the river.