Gideon snapped iron cuffs around Lucas’s wrists and yanked him to his feet. They stared at each other through the swirling dust. Gideon’s pale eyes were cold, amused.
‘Well,’ he said. ‘This is interesting.’
Lucas gathered together the shreds of his story. He began to say something about the Hammers, about having a few too many, taking a wrong turn –
‘Indeed you have.’ Gideon smiled with real pleasure. Then he spoke into his earpiece. ‘Alpha One to Alpha Two. Protocol Six security breach in one-oh-nine, requesting back-up.’
The fae-dust was already fading away. Soon there would be no trace of it. Lucas knew, however, that there was no hope of denying what Gideon had witnessed. It was witchwork of a very high order. He cast around for an explanation, however hopeless.
‘There was an intruder in the office,’ he said. ‘I saw them from the courtyard. I wasn’t thinking clearly but I thought I should . . . y’know . . . chase them off. But as I was coming through the window, the dust appeared. I think whoever it was must’ve been a witch. I mean, that fog stuff wasn’t normal, was it? Anyway, I never got a proper look at the person. As I was trying to get in, they fought to get out. Then you arrived – it all got confused – and –’
‘So how did this other intruder get in and out?’
‘Um, the same way I did, I guess. Through the catacombs. I found the door in the cloister already open. You know, someone should probably go and search the place.’
There was a knock on the door. Lucas was relieved. If he was lucky, it would be an officer he knew. He must stick to his story until the proper authorities took over and his father or Jonah were brought in.
But the newcomer was not an inquisitorial guard or even a directorate worker. It was Zilla, the inquisitor playing the witch at the Hammers’ mock-trial. She was wearing her costume under her coat, but there was no sign of the flirtatious party-girl of before. If this was ‘Alpha Two’, then Lucas was in serious trouble.
‘Watch him,’ Gideon told her as soon as she arrived. ‘And check this.’ He tossed her Lucas’s rucksack, then made a call on his phone. ‘Hello? It’s Hale . . . I’m sorry to disturb your evening, sir, but there’s been a break-in at your office . . . yes . . . I think so . . .’ He glanced at Lucas. ‘There’s something else . . .’ He went out in the corridor and shut the door.
It didn’t take long for Zilla to find and confiscate Lucas’s torch, phone, keys and gloves. She had brought along gloves of her own and an evidence bag. The hacksaw went in along with the rest.
Lucas watched from a chair. He tried to look tipsy and confused, a guilty schoolboy who’d been caught where he shouldn’t be, but he knew it was probably too late. The call to Paterson was a bad sign. The correct procedure was to summon the officer of the watch. They should all be in the custody suite, filling in paperwork, by now.
‘Good news,’ Gideon announced, when he returned to the office. His phone call had taken some time. ‘The Colonel has authorised us to make further enquiries and you, Lucas, are going to assist me. Together, we’re going to get to the bottom of who broke into this place. Maybe we’ll even find the witch responsible. I’m sure you’ll find it very enlightening. I know what an eager student of the Inquisition you are.’
‘Sure, yeah, I’m ready to make my statement. If you’ll take me along to the guard room –’
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’
Zilla hauled him to his feet.
‘Where are we going?’
‘Somewhere we won’t be disturbed,’ said Gideon. ‘We can’t be too careful: there are witch-terrorists on the loose.’
Lucas licked his dry lips. ‘OK, it’s just that people are going to wonder where I am. Jeff Buller knows I’m here, and Rory Dixon. Then there’s my dad, of course. If I don’t sign out soon, they’ll start to worry.’
‘There’s nothing to worry about, Stearne. Colonel Paterson and I have been working together very closely, you see. I have his full confidence.’
Gideon was smiling as he stepped forward, his hand flicking out to pull down something that had been hidden against his wrist. Lucas jerked away from Zilla’s grip, but it was too late. He could already feel the sting where the syringe had pierced his inquisitor’s cloak, driving through to his skin.
Lucas tried to kick, to wrench himself free. Instead, he sagged. His body was like that of a puppet whose strings had been cut. He tried to shout that Gideon and Zilla were traitors and criminals; that the integrity of the Inquisition was under threat. But when he opened his mouth, the only sound to come out was a drooling bray. ‘Wha – wha – whaa –’
Zilla and Gideon took him between them and half carried, half pushed him down the corridor, and out through a side entrance. His limbs were ridiculously floppy. His sense of direction had gone too, but he could feel the cobblestones of Kindle Yard underfoot. A couple of Hammers were walking ahead, on their way home. Zilla returned their banter.
The trio approached the security gate. It wasn’t Jeff Buller on duty. Gideon’s voice was confident, capable. ‘I’m afraid young Stearne’s taken the celebrations a bit too far.’
The guard tutted. ‘These young lads just don’t know when to stop.’
‘It’s nothing a few pints of water and an aspirin won’t cure. Don’t worry; Zil and I will see he gets home safely.’
With monstrous effort, Lucas tried to work through the drug, forcing his tongue to retrieve the shape of words. All he came out with was a garbled slur. Even looking the guard in the eye was impossible, when his own were rolling all over the place. There was more laughter, and remarks about the morning after. Gideon’s arm squeezed him fondly.
The three of them walked out of the Inquisition, Lucas with legs of rubber and a head full of fuzz. Locked in the other two’s supportive embrace, he was taken along the street and round a corner to where an unmarked van was waiting. And for the second time that day, Lucas found himself cuffed in iron, and bundled into the back of a moving vehicle.