IRIS WAS USED to orders. She knew the power and efficiency of chains of command. Debate had its place, but so did obedience.
Vikram was driving, as Iris was jacking his MCD into a Cobalt laptop. She was like a machine, snapping from task to task. It all came back to her in a rush. She was trained to do this.
Once, in bed, talking about work, Alfie had said, ‘Damn, Iris, sometimes you’re so freaking sci-fi.’
And Iris laughed and kissed him and said, ‘Well, you’re so bloody medieval, werewolf.’
Now she looked at the map on the glowing screen and muttered, ‘God, Alfie, come on.’
The three coms sets they had used in the cellar to chip themselves had been Iris’s, Blake’s and the spare they used to keep in the glove compartment of their truck. Iris knew that the chip that she had put under her own skin, the one Blake had used to trace her, had been the one from her own coms set. But she wasn’t sure which of the other two chips Blake had stuck into Alfie.
At least it was all compatible with Cobalt equipment. She typed the codes of both into the tracking program and watched the screen, not really daring to hope. Alfie.
It took a while. Vikram drove the SUV in lazy circles, drifting wider and wider.
They were on the North Circular when Iris said, ‘Oh.’
‘You got something?’
‘Yes. I think. But it’s moving.’
‘West. Heading west. It’s outside London. Still inside the M25. Pick up the A40.’ Iris touched the little flashing set of co-ordinates on her laptop screen. ‘But if it’s moving that must mean he dug it out.’
‘Maybe he’s moving.’
‘Maybe.’ Iris wished she knew for sure, but the only thing she really knew was that this little signal was pretty much all she had left of Alfie that wasn’t as intangible as a dream.
The Divine stood staring at Alfie. Her fight with Sabrina hadn’t turned to magic – but it had been vicious. Both women were shaking with rage – rage that seemed to amplify ten-fold when they saw that Leon was gone.
Sabrina said, ‘He tricked us. This was a plan. His plan.’ She pointed a perfect finger at Alfie. ‘We ought to kill him.’
The fatal magic was already taking shape when the Divine shouted, ‘No! We need him. He’s crucial.’
Sabrina stifled the spell and a few wisps of it bounced across the cage and hit Alfie. He yelped as it grazed his arm right where Leon had dug out the chip.
The Divine looked at him, peering at the spot. Alfie’s body was so scarred and injured that she hadn’t noticed this new damage before. She furrowed her brow. ‘You dug that chip out of your arm? Why?’
Sabrina said, ‘Is there someone you don’t want to find you, werewolf?’
Alfie opened his mouth but didn’t speak.
‘He’s losing it,’ said the Divine. ‘I don’t think he’s capable of telling us anything. You might be wrong about his planning his cub’s escape. Leon was always the wild one. Alfie?’
Alfie looked at her, ‘Yes, ma’am.’
The Divine moved closer. ‘Did you help him escape?’
Alfie looked blank.
The Divine moved closer still and unlocked the chains on Alfie’s wrists. ‘Give me a stone or something, Sab,’ she said over her shoulder.
Sabrina pulled a large football-sized boulder out of the air and passed it to the Divine, who set it in Alfie’s newly released left hand.
‘I know you can’t escape those chains,’ the Divine said slowly, ‘but this escape has made me realise I can’t get complacent. Smash your hand, Alfie.’
There was a tiny flash. The Divine had pulled the thrall tight, but a voice somewhere inside Alfie screamed at him not to do it. Screamed and screamed as he hefted the boulder in his left hand and brought it down hard on his right.
While Alfie was still howling with pain, the Divine roughly chained his left arm to the bars of the cage and turned to go. ‘We don’t need your cub anyway,’ she said, walking away. ‘And soon we will begin the collection . . . and your problems will really begin, Beast.’