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Donnell ran his fingers through his hair. “If Major is going to take the leadership of Queens Island at breakfast, that means we’ve got two hours to stop him. Perhaps I should make a speech to remind everyone of how deeply Major was involved in Cage’s bid for power.”
Machico and I both shuddered. “The other divisions are fiercely independent, Sean,” said Machico. “If you publicly intervene in the internal politics of Queens Island by making speeches, you’ll alienate the whole alliance.”
“Wall, Ghost, and Ice will be as horrified by the prospect of Major regaining control of Queens Island as I am,” said Donnell.
Machico sighed. “They’d be even more horrified by you taking sides in a Queens Island leadership challenge. You’ve held the alliance leadership for eighteen years because you’ve enforced the alliance rules with strictly impartial fairness, while never interfering with the other divisions’ internal politics.”
“Machico’s right, and there’s a second reason you can’t make speeches as well.” I hesitated, trying to find the most diplomatic way to say this. “Major is clearly building his leadership challenge on two points. One is that Raeni has only led Queens Island for a few days, so she’s inexperienced. The other is that she’s a woman, which Major will argue makes her weak.”
I paused. “If you start fighting Raeni’s battles for her when you’ve never done anything like that before, it will give the impression that you believe she’s weak too. That would undermine her position rather than help her.”
Donnell groaned. “That’s true. Raeni has to be the one to deal with Major, but she’ll be keeping vigil over Rogue’s body, so may not be aware of what’s happening. It wouldn’t be a problem if I send a message to tell her there’s been trouble in Reception, would it? I could phrase it as being a complaint about Major’s behaviour rather than a warning.”
“There’s a danger of Major intercepting any written messages for Raeni,” I said. “It would be safer for you to speak to either Destin or Madra. Now Rogue is gone, I think those two are Raeni’s most loyal supporters.”
“Once we’ve got the remaining hospital patients to safety, I’ll see if I can attract the attention of someone in Queens Island,” said Donnell. “Can you go back to the hospital patients now? Send the Resistance, Queens Island, and Manhattan patients through Reception first, and then bring the off-worlders and take them up to the sixth floor of the Resistance wing.”
“Are you sure it’s necessary to take the off-worlders all the way up to the sixth floor?” I asked. “It would be easier to get Phoenix to one of the empty rooms on the ground floor of our wing.”
“The off-worlders aren’t going to be safe with just a curtain between them and Reception,” said Donnell grimly. “If Major succeeds in his leadership challenge, he’ll use his old tactic of uniting Queens Island by inciting hatred against outside groups. Since Major is working closely with Shark and Malice, he may not want to push the conflict with Manhattan too far, and the off-worlders are the obvious alternative target.”
I nodded, hurried back through the curtain to Sanctuary, and along the corridor to where the group of patients were waiting. Nadira was leaning over where Phoenix was slumped in her wheelchair, checking her pulse, but turned to look anxiously at me.
“The shouting suddenly stopped. Is that good or bad?”
“People have gone back to their own wings of the building now,” I said. “Donnell and I need to get all of you through Reception while things are quiet. Everyone from the Resistance, Manhattan, and Queens Island should go ahead. I’ll be bringing the off-worlders in a couple of minutes.”
“You aren’t going to help guard us as we go through Reception?” asked the same resentful male voice that had complained about the patients from Brooklyn and London going through Reception first.
I turned to look for the speaker, saw it was Wasp from Manhattan, and had to fight not to laugh. Until four days ago, he’d been strutting around making sneering remarks about the uselessness of a female deputy alliance leader. Then he’d gone out with Vijay’s hunting party, stood on a roof to shoot arrows at geese, and the roof had collapsed under his weight, badly injuring his leg.
Wasp’s surface wounds had been easily treated with regrowth ointment, but we didn’t have the expert knowledge needed to use ancient medicines on internal injuries, so those would have to heal naturally. Now that Wasp was hobbling on crutches, he’d clearly realized how vulnerable he’d be in a fight, and was whining about wanting that same despised female deputy alliance leader to defend him.
To make the situation even funnier, Wasp had been one of Cage’s most devoted supporters, and close friends with both Shark and Malice. Now Wasp wanted me to defend him from trouble being stirred up by his own friends, and was scared that stepping outside the building might mean Cage shot him by mistake.
I did my best to keep my voice neutral as I replied. “Donnell and all his officers are waiting in Reception, ready to watch over you as you go through. My orders are to act as your rear guard. Go quickly now.”
Wasp hurried off, his crutches making loud clicking noises on the floor. The other patients followed, with a nurse pushing the woman in a wheelchair, but Nadira stayed with us.
“I think Donnell was expecting you to go with the others, Nadira,” I said.
She gave a stubborn shake of her head. “I stay with my patient.”
I accepted that, and waited until my gun’s tracking display showed the other patients and the nurse had reached their wings of the building.
“We move now,” I said, and led the way along the corridor, and through the curtain into Reception. As our group entered the room, Donnell came over to look at Phoenix, and frowned.
“Phoenix, there are some mattresses just inside the Resistance wing. Would you like to lie down on one of them? You could rest for an hour or two, before we carry you up to the sixth floor.”
Phoenix had been slumped down in her wheelchair, but now she forced herself to sit upright. “No. I understand we’ll be much safer behind the steel security door on the sixth floor. We should go there at once.”
“If that’s what you prefer.” Donnell glanced back at his officers. “I obviously can’t trust Luther and Julien to stop arguing while they carry Phoenix upstairs, so can Weston and Vijay help her, please?”
I went ahead to hold the Resistance curtain open for the others, and saw there were a couple of mattresses blocking the way forward, but Tad hastily went through the curtain to tug them aside. Braden pushed Phoenix’s wheelchair to the foot of the stairs, and Weston and Vijay each grabbed an arm of the chair and lifted it up.
Tad gave them a worried look. “You’re a little old to try carrying Phoenix upstairs. You’d better let me and Braden do it.”
I winced. Weston and Vijay were notoriously sensitive about comments on their age.
“Are you going to strangle Tad, Vijay,” asked Weston, “or do you want me to do it?”
“I was considering using him as a target for archery practice,” said Vijay.
Weston laughed. “A tempting thought, or we could just go back to the old idea of throwing him off the roof.”
I heard a gasp from Phoenix, and Tad took a nervous step backwards.
“Please don’t make jokes about throwing Tad off the roof,” I said.
“Were we joking, Vijay?” asked Weston.
“I wasn’t entirely joking,” said Vijay.
“That’s enough!” I said sharply. “You’re frightening Phoenix.”
“Yes, the pair of you should stop upsetting my patient at once,” said Nadira, in a forbidding voice. “Otherwise you’ll find your next injury requires unusually painful treatment.”
Weston sighed. “We could settle for explaining some basic facts to Tad rather than killing him.”
“You can explain your basic facts while carrying Phoenix up the stairs,” said Nadira sternly.
Weston and Vijay led the way up the stairs, effortlessly carrying Phoenix between them. “The point that Tad doesn’t seem to understand,” said Vijay, “is that we’ve been frontline Resistance fighters since Donnell first raised the Earth Resistance flag.”
“Exactly,” said Weston. “We’re still alive after over thirty years of combat. That proves we aren’t just incredibly handsome, witty, and charming, but strong, fast, and lethal in all forms of warfare as well. Anyone who casually dismisses us as being old is making a grave and probably fatal mistake.”
“You’re right,” said Tad hastily. “I’m very sorry for my silly remarks.”
Weston looked at Vijay. “Do we forgive the infant?”
“I suppose we have to make allowances for a boy barely out of crèche,” said Vijay grudgingly.
They manoeuvred Phoenix’s chair around the bend in the stairs, and started on the next flight of steps, moving with perfect teamwork. “Where are we taking the off-worlders anyway?” asked Weston. “Back to their old rooms on corridor B6?”
“No!” said Phoenix sharply. “We can’t go back to those rooms. We were in them when Tad nearly got thrown off the roof before. We have to go to Blaze’s apartment.”
I blinked. “My apartment only has a small bedroom and living room. It will be over two months before the alliance leaves New York. I can’t have the three of you sleeping on my living room floor for that long.”
“The rooms on corridor B6 aren’t suitable for a patient in Phoenix’s condition,” said Nadira, “but neither is somewhere as cramped as Blaze’s apartment. I was planning to set up a temporary hospital ward in one of the large meeting rooms.”
“But we have to go to Blaze’s apartment,” Phoenix’s voice shook with distress. “It’s the only place I’ve felt safe since we came to New York.”
“We’ll go to my apartment to begin with,” I said quickly. “Nadira is right that we need more space though. How about using the apartment next door to mine? It’s much bigger, with two bedrooms and a large living room.”
“Would all four of us move into that apartment?” asked Phoenix.
“I thought that I’d stay in my own apartment while the three of you live next door,” I said cautiously.
Phoenix made a soft doubtful noise. Clearly her fever-ridden state had made her fix on the idea that my apartment wasn’t just the only safe place in New York, but on Earth.
“Remember that I can protect you much better now I’ve got my gun,” I said.
There was silence for the next two flights of stairs as Phoenix considered that. “Your apartment has eight bolts on the door to make it extra safe,” she said thoughtfully. “Could we have eight bolts on our apartment door as well?”
“Of course,” I said. “I’ve got lots of spare packets of bolts. If anyone tried to break through your apartment door, I’d hear the noise and come to deal with them at once.”
Phoenix gave a soft sigh that seemed to indicate consent.
Once we reached the sixth floor, I put my hand on the security plate, and the bulky steel door slid open. “Weston and Vijay, I don’t think we’ll need your help any longer, so the two of you can go back to join Donnell in Reception.”
Weston and Vijay carefully lowered Phoenix’s chair to the floor, and turned to start walking down the stairs.
“Weston, have you ever stopped to think how different our lives would have been if Sean Donnelly hadn’t been so staggeringly good looking?” asked Vijay. “Neither of us would have been dazzled into joining the Resistance.”
“That’s very true,” said Weston. “We’d probably never have met each other, and you’d have ended up marrying the man who shot me.”
“He didn’t shoot you deliberately,” said Vijay.
Weston gave a disbelieving grunt.
I wondered whether the man had ever existed, or Vijay and Weston had just made him up. Their joking exchanges usually included elements of truth, but they were generously mixed with complete fiction.
I led the way on towards my apartment, with Nadira pushing Phoenix’s wheelchair after me, and Braden and Tad bringing up the rear. As I went through the fire doors into the final stretch of corridor, I became aware of a sick feeling in my stomach.
Promising the off-worlders the apartment next door to mine had been a mistake. After all the things I’d learned in the last few weeks, I’d thought I wouldn’t care about going into that apartment again, but I was wrong. Memories from six years ago were surfacing, and my new knowledge just added extra reasons for them to be painful.
I forced myself to walk steadily on, open the door to my apartment, and turn on the light. “Phoenix, you can rest in here until we’ve got a room in the other apartment clean and ready for you. Nadira will make you as comfortable as possible.”
“Thank you,” said Phoenix.
I took Phoenix’s medicine and treatment chart from my pocket, and handed them to Nadira. “I’ll take Tad and Braden to see the apartment next door now.”
Nadira nodded, and Tad and Braden followed me to the door of the neighbouring apartment. I felt ludicrously tense just looking at the door handle, but tried to speak in a calm voice.
“This apartment belonged to Hannah before she was caught stealing and moved downstairs.”
Tad frowned. “Why did Hannah get a bigger apartment than you?”
I shrugged. “She wanted the extra space, and I didn’t care enough to argue about it. No one has been in there for six years, so I expect it will need a lot of cleaning.”
“I can do the cleaning,” said Braden cheerfully. “I worked as a cleaner on Adonis.”
I gave him a confused look. “I thought you worked as a pilot.”
“I did work as a pilot, but aircraft are like portals. All the old ones are breaking down, and even Adonis doesn’t have the technology to build new ones. There’s less work available for pilots each year, and if we ever get to Zeus, then I doubt there’ll be any aircraft there for me to fly at all. I’m thinking of training to be a nurse instead.”
“That’s a very good idea,” I said. “You’ve been doing an excellent job helping Nadira care for Phoenix.”
I reached out to touch the door handle in front of me, and was hit by memories of one crucial day. Hannah had been caught stealing the precious medicine stored here on the sixth floor. I could remember the exact whining tone of her voice, as she’d told me it was all a silly misunderstanding.
Hannah was my best friend, so I’d believed her version of the story, and tried pleading with Donnell on her behalf. He’d been implacable though, taking away her security access to the sixth floor, and ordering her to move downstairs.
Hannah hadn’t even been allowed time to get her things from her apartment. I’d stood in this corridor, helplessly watching as Donnell and two of his officers went in there, reappearing a few minutes later with her possessions crammed into sacks.
Once they’d gone, I’d walked into the forlornly empty apartment, and stood there for a while in silent misery at Donnell’s injustice, before turning around and leaving. I’d slammed this door savagely behind me, and it hadn’t been opened since.
Why hadn’t I guessed something was dreadfully wrong back then? Why hadn’t I realized that Hannah might have been truly my friend during our childhood back in London, but now she was working for Cage? Why had I stayed loyal to Hannah for the next six years, believing her poisonous lies about Donnell?
I remembered the words Vijay had said earlier, about how different his and Weston’s lives could have been. My life and my relationship with Donnell could have been so different too.
“Is something wrong?” asked Tad.
I hastily opened the door, and was reaching to turn on the light when a rank smell hit my nostrils. “Yes, there’s something wrong. We won’t be able to use this apartment because the window seal has failed and let water in.”
“Couldn’t we mend the window seal and clean up?” asked Braden.
“No.” I turned on the light, and gestured at the thick patches of mould on the walls and floor. “You’d never be able to clean that up.”
“You’re right,” said Braden sadly.
I stepped back and closed the door again. Hannah’s apartment had been decaying for six years, so the place was uninhabitable now. It somehow symbolized our old friendship. That had been decaying for six years too, being slowly killed by Hannah’s lies and her spying for Cage, until now it had gone far past the point where it could be salvaged.
Braden looked at me anxiously. “What shall we do now? Phoenix was counting on us being able to use that apartment. Is there another apartment on the other side of yours?”
I sighed. “Yes, there is.”
“Then let’s check if that one is usable,” said Braden briskly.
I hesitated. I didn’t want to let anyone set foot in the other apartment, but I couldn’t refuse and distress Phoenix when she was so ill. Obscurely, I blamed Hannah for this situation. She’d caused me so much pain in the past, and now I had to face another old, emotional wound because of her.
“I know the other apartment is in good condition, and the bathroom is in working order. It was only used for a couple of weeks six years ago, but I store a few oddments there because it has four large rooms.”
“That sounds ideal,” said Braden.
I led the way to the other apartment door, forced myself to open it, turned on the light, and beckoned the off-worlders inside. Braden took a rapid look around the living room, then opened the doors to the other rooms to glance inside.
“It should only take me a few hours to get this place thoroughly clean. Two of the rooms are totally empty, but Tad and I can bring the furniture from our old rooms on corridor B6.”
Braden moved towards the smaller of the living room cupboards, but I hastily blocked his way. “The person who lived here left some things in that cupboard. I’d rather you didn’t touch them.”
Tad wasn’t always good at understanding things, but he’d obviously worked out what was happening here. “We promise we won’t open that cupboard.”
Braden looked confused. “Did the owner of this apartment die, Blaze?”
“The owner of this apartment didn’t die,” I said coldly. “Seamus sold the alliance secrets to the people at America Off-world, and helped them blow up the New York portal relay centre, in exchange for a place on a colony world called Pyrrhus in Beta sector.”
I moistened my lips. “My brother’s betrayal is the reason there are no working portals in New York, so no easy escape from the coming firestorm. Seamus is probably still alive, but I don’t know for sure.”
There was a short silence. I wondered if I’d been wrong to blame Hannah for the six-year rift between Donnell and me. It had been Seamus’s betrayal that lit the flame, while Hannah just piled fuel on the fire.
“I’m sorry.” Braden looked anxiously at my face.
I brushed my hand across my eyes. It didn’t matter whether Seamus, Hannah, or both of them had caused the rift between Donnell and me. The important thing was that my father and I were building a new relationship now.
“There’s no need to apologize,” I said, “just don’t touch the small cupboard. The packets of bolts and the drill are in the larger cupboard.”
Braden nodded. “Let’s go and tell Phoenix about the apartment. I expect Nadira will want to make a quick check of my cleaning efforts before allowing Phoenix to move here.”
I managed a fleeting smile. “I’m sure Nadira will want to make an extremely thorough check.”
I led the way back to my own apartment, and saw Phoenix was lying on the couch with a blanket over her.
Nadira turned to look at us. “Braden, can you make sure that Phoenix gets her next dose of medicine on time? I need to take first aid supplies downstairs in case there’s trouble later.”
“Of course,” said Braden.
Nadira hurried off, and Braden and Tad began telling Phoenix about the apartment next door. I sat down on a nearby chair and listened to them, with the ghosts of old memories drifting through my head. A knock on the door dragged me back to the present.
Phoenix looked nervously at the door. “Who is that?” she whispered.
I stood up. “Who is that?” I repeated Phoenix’s words in a louder voice.
“Blaze, it’s me, Aaron,” called a voice from the other side of the door. “Donnell sent me to tell you that Major won’t let anyone out of Queens Island.”
I grimaced and shouted back. “That means Donnell couldn’t get a message to Raeni. That’s bad.”
“It’s very bad,” said Aaron. “Donnell says he’ll need you downstairs at first light, and while I’m here ...”
Aaron’s voice hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Blaze, will you marry me?”
