We drove past a number of police cars on either side of us. I kept my gaze on the road ahead. The last thing I wanted was to catch a dagger cop's eye. At the end of the road I turned left, heading into town. After I'd been driving for at least five minutes, Dylan piped up.
'Take the next left,' he ordered.
I turned into the indicated road and carried on driving at a steady speed, well within the limits.
Dylan now took over, telling me when and where to turn until after about fifteen minutes, we turned into the car park of a hypermarket. The car park was about half full. Most of the cars were parked as close to the hypermarket entrance as they could get. I cruised to the emptiest part of the car park, which was the area furthest away from the shop entrance. The odd trolley sat conspicuously in various bays where no one could be bothered to put them back where they belonged.
'This is where we part company,' said Dylan once I'd stopped the car.
'Thanks, Dylan,' Morgan said gratefully. 'I owe you one.'
'You owe me several,' Dylan told him. He turned to look at me. I kept my mouth tight shut.
'You can take the suitcase with your stuff in it out of the boot,' said Dylan. 'Could I have the wigs and glasses, though. I might need them again.'
'Are you telling me what to do?' I asked.
'No. Merely suggesting,' said Dylan.
We pulled off the disguises, then all got out of the car. The early evening sun shone warm and welcoming but I felt uncomfortably hot. I dismissed it as nerves. Being outside the L.M. fold had made me jumpy. Nervous. I looked around. I didn't fancy hidden police springing out from behind a load of cars and ambushing me. Morgan and Dylan shook hands.
'Till next time,' said Morgan.
'Till next time,' Dylan said seriously. He nodded in my direction. I ignored him. No way was I going to get chatty with a dagger. Dylan got back into the car, this time in the driver's seat, as I took out the suitcase which contained our luggage. I'd barely slammed the boot shut before he was off, the wheels slipping slightly on the gravel beneath them. I turned to Morgan.
'Since when have you been so matey with a Cross?' I said.
'Are you accusing me of something, Jude?' Morgan asked mildly.
'No. Should I be?'
Morgan shook his head. 'Dylan is a contact I made a few years ago, before you'd even joined the L.M. You left me in charge of contingency planning and that's what I did. I installed him or other Crosses who're on our side at all the dubious hotels we've stayed in over the last few months just in case.'
'I see,' I replied.
And I did see. I'd left all our backup plans to Morgan, relying on him to make sure that we always had a way out in case the cops came knocking. And I'd never questioned him about his plans or procedures before now. What he did and how he did it was his business. And deep down, I had to admit that without the dagger, it would've been much harder to get away from the hotel. But that thought burned through my gut like excess acid.
|
|
|
'I don't like relying on daggers,' I admitted. 'There's not one of them that can be trusted.'
'Jude, sometimes we have to work with sympathetic Crosses,' said Morgan.
'"Sympathetic" and "Crosses" are two words that're mutually exclusive. They've been in power for centuries. They're not going to give it up now. Not to us our skin is too light.'
'The Liberation Militia aren't asking Crosses to give up power. I don't know what you're fighting for, but I'm in the L.M. to fight for equality. All we want is a level playing field.'
'You need to wake up and smell the coffee,' I scoffed. 'Level playing field, my left ass cheek. I've got news for you. We're not on the playing field. We're not even in the game.'
'Yes, we are. Thanks to people like Dylan, we are,' Morgan told me. 'And your kind of negative thinking holds us back.'
At my snort of derision, Morgan continued, 'I've worked with Dylan and other Crosses before.'
'And you're OK with that?' I asked.
'I'm OK with whatever will further our cause.'
'And you don't care who we have to crawl into bed with to do that?'
'I'm not... blinkered enough to think that every Cross on the planet is against us no,' said Morgan.
'Then more fool you,' I said with scorn.
Morgan regarded me steadily. 'You'd better be careful, Jude.'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'I joined the L.M. to fight for equal rights for noughts,' said Morgan. 'What's your reason?'
'The same,' I shrugged.
'You sure? Or is the L.M. just a way for you to carry out your vendetta against every Cross who crosses your path. 'Cause that's how it looks from where I'm standing.'
'You need to look again then, or stand somewhere else,' I told him.
'Which is it, Jude? What d'you care about most? The cause or vengeance?' said Morgan.
How dare he ask me that? 'I'm not even going to bother answering that,' I said with all the disdain I could dredge up. 'We have more pressing matters to discuss like who tipped off the cops that we'd be at the hotel.'
Pause. Then Morgan nodded, prepared to go along with my blatant change of subject.
'Yes, I've been thinking about that too. It has to be Andrew's handiwork. He must be getting desperate.'
'Which makes him even more dangerous,' I pointed out.
'Yes, I know.'
'The police know we're together, so we need to split up,' I said reluctantly. 'We'll use our mobile phones to stay in touch and meet at least once a month. That way we can co-ordinate our efforts to bring down Andrew Dorn.'
'I'm not going to rest until he's paid for what he did to us,' Morgan said stonily. 'What he did to all of us. Pete's dead, Leila's rotting in prison and your brother was hanged because of him...'
'Callum's death wasn't down to Dorn or at least only in part. My brother died because of Persephone Hadley,' I said harshly.
'I'm not even going to go there,' said Morgan, refusing to discuss it. 'We both lost a lot let's leave it at that.'
We stood in silence as we both thought about just that what each of us had had taken away from us. Morgan had lost the stability and sense of belonging that came from being at the heart of the L.M. I'd lost all that and a lot more. Morgan didn't understand, but then how could he? No one could begin to guess at the depth of the hatred I held for Sephy Hadley and all daggers. But mainly Sephy Hadley. Everything began with her and my brother. And that's how it would end. Callum was gone. Sephy would pay. Destroying her would be my life's mission. My over-riding, overwhelming ambition.
|
|
|
'We're agreed then? We'll lay low until we can bring down Andrew Dorn?' said Morgan. I nodded. 'And we'll keep in contact?'
'Yes,' I said, my tone clipped. 'You'll be OK?'
Morgan nodded. 'So where should we meet?'
'The second of next month at Jo-Jo's in the Dundale Shopping Centre,' I decided. 'And we mustn't phone each other unless it's an emergency. If the police get hold of our phone IDs, they can trace and even listen in on every call we make.'
'Should we still change our phones regularly?'
'We'll play it by ear OK? But whatever else happens, we mustn't lose touch.'
'OK,' Morgan agreed. 'Well, until we meet again, keep your head down.'
'You too.' And with that I turned and walked away, my footsteps crunching on the gravel beneath my feet.
And even though I wanted to, I didn't look back. I could sense that Morgan was still watching me but I didn't turn round. Jude's rule number five: Never get so close to anyone or anything that you can't walk away at a moment's notice if you have to.
When you have to.
