The Firebird Mystery (27 page)

They threw caution to the wind and raced across the open field. Jack expected M at any instant to leap from the cave, screaming, ‘I knew you were there! Now you die!' But he didn't appear.

They made it to the entrance. It was congested with steam and smoke, providing some cover as they entered. The first thing Jack saw in the gloom was a train. A faint light came from the engineer's cabin, illuminating the coal caboose and an open flat car with an object tied to the middle.

The bomb.

How long had M been planning this? It must have taken years. And now he and Scarlet were here to witness the final act. And they were the only people who could stop him.

Sunnyside Orphanage and Charley Spratt didn't look so bad.

The steam in the boiler must have reached capacity because at that moment the train gave a lurch. Jack and Scarlet grabbed the rear of the flat car and climbed on. Scarlet snatched her elbow and bit back a cry.

‘Lay down,' Jack told her.

They pressed themselves against the timber floor as the train began with a gentle swaying motion. After a few minutes it screamed along the tunnel, a stream of smoke pouring over them like a horizontal waterfall.

The train steamed on into the dark. Time had no meaning. It was as if they had been devoured by the earth. How far underground were they? Jack didn't know. Above them lay houses and families asleep in their beds. Little did they know that the devil himself was beneath them, dragging an atomic pitchfork behind him.

Jack lay facing Scarlet. She looked frightened, but resolute. Her hair had been blown flat by the wind. He reached over and pressed her hand.

The carriage shuddered as M applied the brake. As it slowed, Jack wondered how they could avoid being seen. A dim light shone up ahead. A platform, not unlike one at any underground station, was on the left.

‘We need to get off now,' Jack told Scarlet. ‘Remember, jump and roll.'

‘How could I forget?'

They flung themselves from the rear of the train. Jack landed well. Scarlet went sprawling, but did not cry out. Lying motionless, they watched the train come to a halt. M yelled out instructions and a man in blue overalls leapt off the platform. Steam and smoke filled the cavern. The second man helped unload the bomb from the flat car. After that, the figures disappeared into the mist.

Jack wondered, briefly, if the man would be so willing had he seen the deaths of his comrades.

M called out more orders in his gravelly voice and soon Jack heard footsteps fade away. He and Scarlet started down the black passageway until they reached the platform, where a ramp led up from the tracks. So this was how they had moved the weapon. A long wide tunnel led from the chamber.

‘Quickly,' Scarlet said. ‘We must not fall behind.'

They climbed onto the platform and darted along the passageway until reaching a T-intersection. To his left, Jack saw darkness. The opposite direction was fitted with gas lighting. They turned to the right.

They were halfway along the passage when they heard another shot. The sound seemed to ring throughout the underground tunnels forever. Jack thought of the man in the blue overall who was now, undoubtedly, dead. Swallowing hard, Jack continued along the corridor. A circular chamber opened up at the end. Two vehicles were parked, their rears open. Another tunnel lay beyond.

Jack felt a slight breeze waft at his hair. There must be an exit. The breeze carried an unpleasant scent. Did this tunnel connect with the London sewer system? Jack shifted his attention to the interiors of the vehicles. A single crate sat in the back of one. Four crates were in the other.

‘Look,' Scarlet hissed.

They scooted across the chamber and snooped in the rear of the nearest steamtruck. The bomb lay in an open box. The weapon's insides were exposed as if someone had been operating on it. A tangle of wires had been cut and reconnected. They moved across to the second truck. In the back were four smaller yet similar weapons.

Five bombs.

‘Good heavens,' Scarlet said. ‘What is going on here?'

‘I'm not sure,' Jack said. ‘There's only supposed to be one. Where did these others come from?'

Distant footsteps echoed down the tunnel. They scampered from the vehicle and took refuge behind a supporting column. A figure hurried from a side passage.

It was Lucy Harker!

‘Lucy!' Jack hissed, breaking cover.

An expression of complete astonishment crossed her face.

‘Jack? Scarlet?' She raced over to them. ‘Thank God you're here.'

‘Did you escape?' Jack asked. ‘How did you get away from M?'

‘One of his underlings was guarding me,' she explained. ‘I distracted him and knocked him out with a piece of wood.' She gripped their shoulders. ‘I'm so pleased to see you both. Is Mr Doyle here?'

‘No,' Scarlet said, looking past her. ‘We lost him on the way. We need to make our own escape.'

‘You mean no-one's coming for us?'

‘I'm afraid not,' Jack said.

‘Then we need to move.' She pointed in the direction of the breeze. ‘I think the exit is through that tunnel.'

‘I think so, too.'

‘You lead the way.'

Jack started towards the exit. He had taken only a few steps when a cloud of mist enveloped him. He glimpsed Scarlet's startled face. They both turned to see Lucy covering her nose with a handkerchief. She had a spray bottle in her other hand. Jack tried to speak, but couldn't utter a sound as his vision swam. He heard Lucy's voice as if from a distance.

‘Breathe deeply,' she said. ‘It's easier that way.'

CHAPTER THIRTY

The stench of sewage woke Jack. He shook his head, opened his eyes and a chamber lit by two flickering lanterns came into view. Water from a series of tunnels flowed into a well behind him.

He was in the sewerage system under London, a meandering labyrinth that ran for miles in all directions. It was rumoured that people had been lost down here and never found. Others said that strange beasts lived in the tunnels, devouring the homeless who tried to live underground.

How did he get here?

His hands clanked behind him. He'd been secured to a chair with two sets of handcuffs. None of this made any sense. He spotted Scarlet next to him. She was fastened to another chair. Her eyes were filled with fear.

A face hovered before him. It was Lucy.

‘Hello Jack,' she said. ‘I thought you'd never wake up.'

‘What's happening? Why are you doing this?'

Lucy clasped her hands behind her back and tilted her head, examining Jack as if he were a bug. No trace remained of Paul Harker's loving daughter. Her left eye twitched and a smile played about her lips, as though she were privy to a joke that no-one else had heard. She looked quite mad.

‘Why am I doing this?' Lucy repeated. ‘Because I can, Jack. The world is full of small people. They go about their small lives and die their small deaths. Mr Darwin spoke about the survival of the fittest. He was right.'

Scarlet began. ‘But why...how..?'

‘I am happy to explain,' Lucy said. ‘I rarely get a chance to speak to others, to tell them my reasoning, to share my dreams. And besides, you won't be telling anyone else.'

Jack swallowed. That could only mean one thing...

‘That's right,' Lucy said, leering. ‘I'm going to kill you. I like killing people. I like to see the light drain from their eyes as they die.'

‘You're sick!' Scarlet said. ‘You're a monster!'

‘If you say so.' Lucy seemed amused. ‘I'll admit I am different from other people. I do not care or feel love as others do.'

‘But you were in love,' Jack said, remembering Mr Doyle's comment about Lucy's relationship.

The smile faded from her face. ‘I thought it was love. By the time I met Douglas Milverton, the inventor of Terrafirma, I had long suspected my father led a double life. There were places he went and people he met that he kept secret. One of them was Douglas. I first saw him one day when he arrived unexpectedly to visit my father. Douglas and I were instantly attracted to each other. Through him, I found out about the Phoenix Society and its history. I came to understand the power they held. Their advanced technology. Their weapons that could crush cities.

‘With him at my side, I thought we would rule the world. I told him of my plans. I expected him to be overjoyed, to be enraptured by my dream.' Lucy's face twisted. ‘But he said I was mad! Me! And that's when I saw him for what he was. A weakling! A fool!'

‘So you murdered him,' Scarlet said.

She was trying to keep Lucy talking, Jack realised. The longer Lucy spoke, the better chance they had of surviving this. But how could they escape?

Lucy nodded. ‘I killed him. With him gone, I turned to Partington to discover more about the Phoenix Society. It seems he was not much of an angel himself.'

‘What do you mean?' Jack asked.

‘He was a Nazi,' Lucy said. ‘He believed in their nonsense about master races. There was a place where he attended meetings in London. I pretended to become a believer and befriended him and the group. Through him, I wanted to discover the location of the Phoenix Society's lab—the Swiss compound.

‘I confronted him with what I knew about the society, but he refused to tell me anything. He would not betray their age-old oath of secrecy.'

‘You killed him, too,' Scarlet said.

‘I had found one of the preservation machines at Milverton's home. I knew it initially encased a body in ice, but the body remained perfectly preserved once the ice melted. I had already used the process on Milverton—with my own special variation.'

Jack remembered the expression of terror on Milverton's face.

‘Oh no,' Jack moaned.

‘Yes.' Lucy smiled. ‘I used the process on him while he was alive. Not the most pleasurable way to die. Partington's demise was far more mundane. A knife to his heart. I preserved him and contacted the Nazis. I offered them the equipment and the bodies as proof in exchange for their cooperation.'

‘And they agreed to work with you?' Jack said.

Lucy smirked. ‘They agreed to work with M.'

‘So you're working with M?'

The woman burst out laughing. It rang around the chamber, reverberating through the tunnels until it sounded like a multitude of women were mocking him.

‘You silly little boy,' she said. She swung away from him. When she turned back, she was wearing the porcelain mask. ‘Tell your masters that Lucy Harker's life is over.' The gravelly voice thundered about the chamber. ‘Today she will die and at midnight so too will London.'

She lowered the mask. And winked.

Scarlet was the first to realise. ‘You're M.'

Jack stared at Lucy in amazement. It wasn't possible.

‘There is no M,' Lucy said. ‘He is a shadow. A delusion.'

‘Why?' Jack asked.

‘Because women are not respected!' she snapped. ‘Men think us weak and small. Creatures to be coddled and cherished. I needed a mask, a legend that would strike terror into the hearts of any who stood against me. I needed M and he needed me. So I invented him.'

Lucy loomed over Scarlet. ‘You're a modern woman. You understand me,' she said. ‘Don't you?'

‘I don't understand you at all,' Scarlet replied, her bottom lip trembling. ‘Women may be oppressed, but they must never become the oppressors. Men and women must work together to make a better world for all.'

‘Spoken like a child,' Lucy said. ‘The only partnerships worth having are those that make you powerful. That's why the Nazis agreed to work with me.'

‘That's how they found the warehouse?' Jack said.

‘Indeed. I had already ransacked Scarlet's home without success. I returned to find the three of you there.'

‘Why was your father's apartment attacked?' Scarlet asked. ‘And how did you get to the island?'

‘I knew the Nazis could coerce the information from your father if your safety, or my father's, was threatened. I suggested they attack the tower. I already knew about their island hideaway. I was overjoyed when Ignatius Doyle and I were kidnapped by the Phoenix Society. I thought they would lead us to their Swiss compound, but I quickly realised they were small players in the organisation and didn't know its location.

‘Fortunately, when Doyle initiated our escape, I had a map with me showing the location of the island. I slipped it in with the other pages on the boat. I intended to continue my alliance with the Nazis, but it wasn't to be. They double-crossed me and raced ahead to the Swiss compound.'

There's no honour among thieves
, Jack thought.

‘Once we reached the compound, I knew I had to possess the atomic weapons. It would make a person a God among men.'

Jack remembered something Lucy had said about the bombs back at the Phoenix compound.

It's like holding the sun in your hands.

He should have realised that Lucy was behind this, but no-one had suspected her. Not even Mr Doyle. She had fooled everyone. And now they were going to die.

‘What about the bomb?' Jack said. He needed to keep her talking. Stall her to buy time. ‘Don't you care that millions will be killed?'

Lucy waved a hand. ‘You're still a child, Jack. Those people are going to die anyway. It might be today or tomorrow or fifty years from now, but one day they will be dust. The Nazis believe in a master race, as do I. The only difference is that I believe in a master race of one.

‘I will divide the uranium—their power source—between all five weapons. London is just the beginning. One by one, I will drive other nations to their knees. The London blast will be smaller than expected, but the destruction of the inner city will be enough to make other countries bow before me. I will extort money from Paris, Rome, New York. They will pay me or they will burn.'