Blake jumped the last four steps and turned sharply onto the platform. He hurled himself forward. His hand reached out to Mary and grabbed a fist of matted hair. A fraction of a second later, Mary’s head jarred backwards, followed by the rest of her body. The train missed her body by less than an inch, the air displaced by the train buffeting hard at her face.
Mary and Blake landed on top of each other in a crumpled heap on the ground. She twisted herself free as a train company employee arrived at the scene, her face filled with concern.
‘Are you okay?’
Mary looked away, leaving Blake to answer. ‘Yes, thank you,’ said Blake, hauling himself upright and brushing himself down. ‘We’re fine.’
‘Would you like to come and sit in the station master’s office?’
‘Honestly, it was nothing. I tripped. That’s all,’ said Blake, forcing a smile.
‘I can help you fill in an incident form if you’d like?’
Blake’s voice hardened a notch. ‘Everything is fine.’
‘Fair enough, I’m glad to hear it,’ said the station woman. With that she turned, adjusted the crackling radio handset that hung from her belt, and marched off in the direction of the station master’s office.
‘What the hell did you think you were doing?’
Mary didn’t answer, which was answer enough. Finally, she drew in a long breath. ‘You should have let me do it,’ she said with a blank, downcast expression.
‘You’re not thinking straight.’
Blake and Mary fell silent for a moment, waiting for the passengers to board the train. In the ensuing jostle, Blake’s eyes searched Mary’s features. She looked back at him with dead eyes. ‘It’s over,’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’ said Blake, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She took a step backwards and shook his hand away. ‘They took the Rod from me.’
‘On the Millennium Bridge?’
Mary nodded and struggled to find the words. ‘I was entrusted with the Rod and I failed Him.’ Mary’s bottom lip began to tremble. ‘It’s been concealed for millennia, but I led them straight to it.’ There was a terrible sadness in her voice. ‘Don’t you understand? The world is on the brink.’
‘Make me understand,’ said Blake.
She made no answer, feeling the guilt overwhelming her again. ‘It’s over, all of this,’ she made a vague gesture in the air. ‘They have the rod. They know the Logos Stone is somewhere in London and the Reckoning is a day away.’ She grabbed Blake’s arm. ‘The great Reckoning is at hand.’
Blake felt a surge of frustration but mastered it in time. ‘Listen to me, they have my friend Carla Sabatini, the woman I was with, when I discovered the Rod in the crypt under St Paul’s. I’m begging you. We have to save her.’ Blake fixed his eyes on her. ‘I have no idea where she is. They’re going to kill her.’
Mary swayed slightly on her feet and pulled at the back of her matted hair. ‘She was the woman I touched in the tube train?’
He nodded.
‘I have felt her aura,’ she said. Her look penetrated Blake.
‘What?’
‘That time in the tube, something passed between us, something like electricity. Our auras are connected.’
Blake didn’t understand what Mary was talking about.
At that moment, Mary’s attention snapped up towards the bridge spanning the platforms.
‘What do you mean?’
There was no response from Mary. Instead, it seemed like she was straining to listen to something, some sound carried on the air.
‘You know a lot more about this than you’re telling me, for God’s sake,’ said Blake, swallowing down his desperation.
Looking over Blake’s shoulder, Mary’s concentration was transfixed on the stairs. Blake turned to follow her line of sight. A hard, thrumming sound echoed high on the gantry, its cadence quickly increasing. Blake squinted upwards expecting to see someone running late for a train, but there was no one. The reverberation stopped abruptly and was replaced by the tumbling clatter of footfalls moving down the stairs. Blake’s eyes followed the sound downwards.
A moment later, the black dog skidded to a stop at the bottom of the steps, its chest heaving fast. Mary rushed forward, tears welling up in her eyes. She embraced the animal, her cheek nuzzling against the dog’s neck. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she breathed in the dog’s ear.
She pulled away, leaving streaks of tears glistening on the fur of its neck. Mary looked squarely into its bright, intelligent eyes. The dog sat on its haunches and tilted its head to one side. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said in a trembling voice. ‘I will never leave you again.’
The dog barked up at her and licked her hand.
Blake inched forward and touched Mary’s shoulder. ‘Please help me,’ he said gently. ‘My friend is in terrible danger.’
Mary wiped her nose with her sleeve and turned to Blake. ‘There might be a way,’ said Mary, ‘but I have sensed her aura is very faint.’
‘Sensed?’ Blake’s eyes narrowed.
‘Since I touched her, that day in the tube station, I feel there is a connection between us.’ She looked intently at the dog. ‘It’s like with him.’ She leaned forward and smoothed down the dog’s glistening coat. ‘It’s beyond words, like a feeling, or sometimes I see pictures.’
Blake’s body almost swelled in expectation. ‘You can connect with Carla?’
‘Maybe, but I think she is getting weaker. To bridge our minds, I will need something.’
‘What do you need?’ said Blake, his eyes flashing with eagerness.
‘A possession or some clothes, maybe jewellery?’
Blake stood up and thought hard. All Carla’s clothes were locked in her hotel room. For a moment, he imagined getting a search warrant to open up her room. He dismissed the notion and screwed his eyes up to the sun. As he wiped away the trickle of sweat running down the side of his face, his eyes lit up. Carla’s sunhat; she had left it on his kitchen table, before they had gone to see Eli with the lockbox. ‘I’ve got her sunhat back home. Would that work?’
Mary’s nostrils flared as she took a deep breath. ‘You can’t force these things.’
Blake was undeterred; it was a million-to-one shot, but right now, he was all out of options. ‘I’ve got my car at the police station. It’ll be quicker if I drive us home.’