The UnTied Kingdom (22 page)

Contrary to what Eve might have thought, he didn’t enjoy killing people. But it was part of his job. It was necessary.

And at least it was done quickly.

Their target was a room on the ground floor, guarded day and night. The squad had ascertained that the Coalitionists only used men on active duty, but that plenty of women worked in auxiliary roles. Thus he had Martindale lead them down the vaulted stone chamber towards the guards, Tallulah beside her.

‘Who’re you?’ said one of the guards.

Martindale gave the man a quick once-over. ‘The Colonel sent us. We’ve a component for the computer.’

‘Show me.’

She gestured Tallulah forward. Pretty, sweet Tallulah, with her big eyes and long lashes. She unslung her pack and made a show of rummaging, letting her cap fall off so her shiny dark hair swung free, blushing prettily when she couldn’t find what she was looking for.

When she had the full attention of both guards, Charlie and Harker stepped smartly forward and dispatched them in the same manner as their comrade outside. When Martindale pushed the door open, Banks was ready to shoot anybody inside.

He fired one shot, the sound muffled by the big silencer on his pistol, then nodded.

Harker and Charlie dragged the guards inside, then Harker looked at the bluish glow coming from the screen of the computer, and grinned.

‘Jackpot,’ he whispered. ‘Be quick, that one made a noise. Lu?’

She obediently held her pack open, and Harker shoved aside the man Banks had shot to grab at the board he’d slumped over. He thought it might be called the keyboard, but he wasn’t sure.

He yanked at the piece of plastic, but it only came a few inches off the desk before being pulled back by a wire.

Harker swore. So did Martindale, her ear to the door.

‘Footsteps,’ she said.

Harker yanked at the keyboard, which came free, while Banks freed the box under the desk of its wires.

‘No, she said we need the wires!’ Tallulah hissed.

‘All of them? There are millions!’

‘I don’t know! That’s what she said!’

Martindale gestured for them to shut up. Harker grabbed the screen, which went abruptly blank.

‘Shit,’ he said. ‘Is it supposed to do that?’

Tallulah gave him a frantic look, and he wedged it in anyway, trailing wires. ‘Is that everything?’

She pointed to the little thing Eve had called a mouse, and he grabbed it as Martindale said, ‘Sir!’ urgently. She pointed to the door.

‘… are they?’ said someone on the other side of it.

Harker winced.

‘Sir, are you all right in there?’ called the voice.

Harker glanced at the dead men on the floor, shrugged, and called back, ‘Fine. Leave me.’ He gestured frantically for Martindale to lock the door, then pointed everyone else to the window.

Banks hurried over and opened it, checking first then dropping out on to the grass. Charlie followed, and Tallulah passed over the two packs with the computer pieces in them.

‘Are you sure, sir? Dunscroft and Walton were supposed to be on guard–’

‘I sent them away. I need to concentrate,’ Harker said. He glanced around the room again, checking for anything else. There were more computers, more pieces of electrical equipment he didn’t recognise. Did Eve need them? Hell and damnation, how was he supposed to know?

‘Well, all right, sir, but–’

‘Now go away!’ Harker said, following Tallulah outside. Martindale came after him and landed awkwardly, gasping as her ankle gave way. Charlie hauled her unceremoniously to her feet as Harker reached up and shut the window, wincing as the sash fell with a thud.

‘
Run
,’ he said, and they did.

Chapter Sixteen

Eve was woken by Tallulah giggling, somewhere on the other side of the door. It took her a minute or two to figure out which door, since she couldn’t remember where she’d fallen asleep, but then she realised she was on the chaise in the drawing room. A loose sheet of music was stuck to her cheek.

‘Oh my goodness,’ Tallulah gasped. ‘I thought for sure that was it when the guard asked what was wrong with you!’

‘That was
brilliant
,’ said Banks, as the door opened and Harker looked in. Eve hurriedly snatched the sheet of music from her cheek as Daz woke with a start in the chair opposite. Harker rolled his eyes and jerked his head for them to follow him.

Eve raised her eyebrows at Daz. He shrugged, got to his feet, and held the door for her.

‘Never fails,’ Martindale said. ‘Whatever they say, it’s still a man’s world, and you can always get them by faking some gruesome female complaint.’

‘Yeah, but did you have to be
so
gruesome?’ Banks said.

Eve yawned and tried to see what they’d got in their packs. Laptop? Desktop? Massive pre-war adding machine broken into parts?

‘I thought you said it was brilliant?’

‘Well, it was, but it was gross, too.’

She followed the squad through the lobby and up the stairs to Harker’s suite. He’d taken to briefing the men in his own private sitting room, usually leaving Eve out. She’d pretended not to mind. Anyway, the room stank of cigarette smoke. Even now, he was lighting up.

Harker shut the door of his suite behind them all, took Tallulah’s pack from her and drew out a computer keyboard.

Eve’s heart did a backflip. ‘Oh, brave new world,’ she said, staring. ‘You have no idea how happy I am to see that!’

‘Is it an important part?’ Tallulah asked.

‘Well, yes, sort of. But,’ she closed her eyes, and re-opened them. The keyboard was still there. ‘But I was starting to think I’d imagined such a thing. Do you have anything else?’

Harker gripped the cigarette with his teeth and took a flat screen out of Tallulah’s bag.

‘Swanky!’ Eve exclaimed. ‘And here’s me worrying I’ll be working on ancient machines. Did you get me a CPU?’

‘You mean this?’ said Banks, carefully extracting a tower system from his own pack.

‘Oh, I love you,’ Eve said. ‘Were you careful with it? Didn’t drop it or get it wet or anything?’

‘Nope.’

She ran over and touched the smooth metal and plastic. It seemed real enough.

‘And a whole bunch of wires,’ Harker added, withdrawing some from Tallulah’s pack. Banks showed her some more, and even Charlie had a few. Eve grabbed a bundle of them; most weren’t connected to anything. Tangled in the mess was what looked like a power cable, although the plug at the end of it was a European two-pronged affair. Her heart sank, and she looked around the walls.

‘Where’s a plug point?’ she said, and Daz pointed.

As she went to examine it, he said, ‘I spoke to Lady Winterton about a phone line – you said you’d need one for an Internet? She said they had one, but it would need connecting up.’

Eve glanced up from the plug socket, which seemed to be compatible with the plug. ‘Can you do that?’

‘I can try.’

She looked around, spotted a writing desk by the window and pointed to it. ‘Bring that over,’ she said, ‘and I’ll plug it in.’

She was dog-tired, but she figured she’d been through less than the rest of the squad, and she could at least see if it worked before she started negotiating some sleep. Harker announced that they should celebrate, and Banks produced a bottle of mead he’d apparently liberated from the kitchen. He poured a mug for everyone, including Eve, who politely ignored hers.

‘There are a lot of things to connect up,’ she warned them as she put the CPU on the desk. ‘I can’t do it all instantly. Especially since these wires are in such a tangle.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, next time I’ll stop to carefully wind them all up separately,’ Harker said, and was ignored.

‘How long will it take?’ Daz asked.

‘I dunno.’ Eve looked at the mess. ‘Last time I moved a computer halfway across a room it took me the best part of three hours.’

‘
How
?’ said Harker.

‘Well, it had to be disconnected from the printer and scanner and modem, and there were wires to speakers, and table legs and lights and things getting in the way,’ she said. She peered at the keyboard, spattered with something red and sticky. ‘Er, do I want to know what that is?’

‘Probably not,’ said Banks.

‘I did say keep it clean and dry,’ Eve said despairingly.

‘Banks, next time you kill some bugger, use a blunt instrument,’ Harker said.

Eve’s head snapped up in horror. ‘Did you
kill
someone for this?’

Charlie rolled her eyes. ‘No, we asked politely. What do you think?’

Eve looked at the computer, disconnected and disjointed, and realised that no matter how bored or depressed she’d been every time she waited for Windows to boot up, she’d never been in danger of getting shot.

‘Right,’ she said. She glanced at the clock over the fireplace. ‘I’ll … if I make a start on this now …’

‘Could have it all done and dusted by morning and we can go home,’ Banks said.

Eve yawned. ‘Right,’ she said again. ‘Okay.’ She picked up the power cable and started trying to untangle it. That cable looked like a USB, and that one might have been Ethernet, but she wasn’t sure. And that one–

‘Sarah,’ Daz said, and Martindale looked round. ‘You’re limping.’

‘Just fell badly, sir.’

He gestured for her to sit down, and knelt by her, feeling at her ankle while she protested there was nothing wrong with it.

‘We should have a light day tomorrow anyway,’ Harker said, ‘you can rest it then.’

Sure
, Eve thought,
she can rest her ankle, when I busted mine I spent the next day hopping up steps and getting locked in prison
. She tugged the end of the power cable free, lost her grip and dropped the whole knot on to the floor.

‘It’s all right, nobody help,’ she said, when nobody did.

‘It’s not swollen,’ Daz said, pressing on Martindale’s ankle. ‘Just twisted, I think. Take it easy tomorrow.’

‘Reckon we all ought to get some rest, sir,’ Charlie said, smothering a yawn.

Eve sat down on the floor and started to pick through the knot of wires again. She gave another yawn.

‘Right, bed everyone,’ Harker said. ‘Sleep in tomorrow. Good work tonight.’

They all trooped out. Charlie cast Eve a distrustful look. Eve ignored her, and unwrapped a USB cable from the prongs of the plug.

‘Cold down here,’ she said, to no one in particular. The squad had all gone.

‘You could drink your mead,’ said Harker, making her jump – and drop the cables again.

‘I’d rather not.’

He stubbed out his cigarette, picked up Eve’s mug and swigged from it. ‘Is that really going to take hours?’

‘Probably.’ Especially since she was tired, and not thinking straight, and her fingers were clumsy, and she
was
cold.

‘Eve.’ He hunkered down and peered at her. ‘Go to bed.’

She looked at the wires, which were so blurry they could have been snake-dancing for all she could tell.

‘Thought you wanted me to make a start on this tonight.’

‘Since when have you ever done anything I’ve said?’

She smiled at that, and Harker took the wires from her, put them on the desk, and held out his hand. She hesitated for a moment – but it was only his hand, she could touch his hand without bursting into flame – and took it.

His grip was strong, of course, and his hands warm, of course, and as he tugged her to her feet she lost her balance and fell against him, just for a second. Just long enough to register how very big and hard he was, before she jerked away, mortified.

‘Night then,’ Harker said, and Eve swallowed and looked away and mumbled, ‘Night,’ and half-ran from the room.

‘Did you sleep all right?’ Tallulah asked Eve the next morning as she lay there trying to summon the will to get out of bed. The trundle bed wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was warm, and Hatfield Chase wasn’t centrally heated.

‘Fine,’ said Eve, who’d been disturbed by dreams of falling against Harker’s hard body in various states of undress.

‘You were talking in your sleep,’ Tallulah said.

Oh God
. ‘Really?’ Eve said weakly.

‘Well, sort of. You were making noises, maybe not actual words.’

‘Bad dream,’ Eve managed, which seemed to pacify Tallulah, even if Martindale didn’t seem to be entirely convinced. She didn’t say anything, but after the look she gave Eve, she didn’t need to.

At breakfast, everyone was giving Eve expectant looks, except for Harker, who seemed to be ignoring her.

‘Well?’ Banks said eventually. ‘Are you gonna fix the computer today?’

‘Look,’ Eve said. ‘I’m not an expert on this. I know how to use a computer, I don’t know how they actually work.’ At their blank looks, she tried to explain. ‘Like when you use a … a car. Do you know how they work?’

‘Yes,’ said Tallulah.

‘Or a gun,’ Eve tried.

‘Yes,’ said Harker.

‘But I mean … if something went wrong, could you fix it?’

‘Yes,’ said Tallulah.

‘Yes,’ said Harker.

‘Or put one together from component parts?’

‘Yes,’ said Martindale. ‘Worked in munitions before I joined up.’

‘Didn’t you join up at eighteen?’ Eve asked.

‘Yes.’

When Eve frowned, Harker said, ‘Not everyone has the luxury of spending their teenage years – what were you doing, Eve? Singing?’

‘Yeah, and it was damn hard work,’ Eve snapped. ‘Fine, look. I’ll go and fix your damn computer.’ She threw her toast back on her plate. ‘I’m not hungry anyway.’

Her stomach betrayed her by growling as she stood up. Banks stifled a smile. Harker’s lips thinned.

‘Oh, get lost,’ she snarled, and stomped upstairs to Harker’s sitting room, where the computer sat in pieces, looking oddly sad.

She’d barely sat down before the door opened and Harker came in, bearing her plate of toast. Eve said nothing, so he set it down on the floor next to her.

‘I said I wasn’t hungry.’

‘And you lied.’

‘I can’t eat it now, I’ll get the computer all … toasty.’

He nearly smiled at that. ‘Well, then. Don’t want it to go to waste.’ He picked up a piece.

‘Bastard!’ Eve yelped, because she really was hungry.

Harker grinned and handed it back to her. ‘You’ll just have to wash your hands.’

She made a face, but ate the toast, which had been spread with honey and was delicious, while Harker sat opposite her on the floor, his back to an overstuffed chair and his legs stretched out.

‘Can you really fix this?’ he said. ‘Or is it all too broken?’

‘I don’t know,’ Eve said. ‘Is there any reason why it should be broken?’ He shrugged. ‘Was it working when you got it?’
When you shot someone for it
?

Harker looked nonplussed at that, so she sighed and elaborated, ‘Was it on? Were there lights here?’ she pointed to the front of the CPU. ‘Was there anything on the monitor? Colours, pictures?’

‘The monitor is the screen thing? Yeah. I didn’t see what they were, though.’

‘Doesn’t matter.’ Eve finished her toast and clambered to her feet, wiggling her sticky fingers at Harker, who pointed to the bedroom. ‘No, I want to wash them.’

‘Bathroom through there.’ When her eyes went wide, he grinned. ‘Yeah, perks of an officer.’

‘Charlie and Daz don’t have their own bathrooms.’

‘Nope.’ Harker stretched. ‘They ain’t in charge.’

Shaking her head, she went through the bedroom to the small but beautifully appointed, rather Victorian-looking bathroom.

The one she’d been using, along with the rest of the squad, was awash with towels, bars of soap, razors and the rather fancy shampoo and conditioner Tallulah had produced from her pack. Unlike the others, Eve had no toiletries of her own and was using what had been provided by the housekeeper, so she’d been able to leave nothing personal in there.

But Harker, it appeared, had also left virtually nothing personal in his bathroom. There were a couple of towels, presumably hung up by the maid, since she couldn’t really see him as the tidy type, and some soap and a toothbrush, along with a pot of the weird-tasting paste they all used to clean their teeth, and that was about it.

He probably didn’t own a razor. Or a comb. Eve would bet good money he’d never even heard of conditioner. But now she thought of it, he was rarely actually dirty. Just untidy. He didn’t smell.

Actually, he did, he smelled of soap and cigarettes and hot skin and other indefinable things that made her pulse speed up just a little.