The Ring of Five (6 page)

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"That statue didn't fall on its own," McGuinness said, pointing at a now empty niche high on the wall above them. "Somebody pushed it."

"I'm Danny Caulfield," Danny said, "and I only just got here--to Wilsons, I mean. And I don't know who would want to ... to murder me."

"New boy, eh," McGuinness said, looking at Danny as if sizing him up and finding him wanting. "Must be more to you than meets the eye. I'll have to look into this."

His eye fell on the coat that Danny had thrown on the ground.

"Just get your kit, then?"

"Mad things, like a magnifying glass and stuff. And that stupid coat," Danny said, feeling a bit hysterical.

"Take it easy, son," McGuinness said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you're not in a bit of shock." He picked up the brown coat, turned it lining-side out and looked at the label.

"S.P.," he murmured. "Steff Pilkington himself must have owned this at one stage. This is one of the Marburg coats, a classic. Wouldn't mind one myself."

"You can keep it if you want," Danny said sourly. McGuinness gave him a weary look, which made him wish he had kept his mouth shut. Then, with one swift movement, the man put the coat on. It was too small for him, and he looked a bit silly, but his face was serious.

"Did you have the pockets filled?" he asked Danny softly.

"Yes--there are loads of things in it."

"Find them. Search me," McGuinness said. Danny

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hesitated, then started to search the pockets--or rather, he would have searched them if he could have found them, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find any pockets, and no matter how he patted the lining, there didn't seem to be anything in it.

"Grab my collar, as if you were catching a fugitive," McGuinness said, something like amusement in his gray eyes. Danny did so, and yelped. His hand burned as if he had been stung by a dozen bees.

"And look at this." McGuinness laid the coat on the ground. He pulled at the buttons, which came away, drawing behind them fine but strong wires. Within moments the coat had formed a small but neat dome-shaped tent.

"Don't underestimate these coats. I'd say if it belonged to Steff Pilkington, then it has more features that I don't know about."

Danny picked the coat up with a new respect, and it sprang back to its original shape.

"Are you a spy too?" he asked.

"I am chief executive of the Office for the Enforcement of the Ten Regulations," McGuinness replied, with a mirthless laugh. "In other words, I'm a spy cop. I try to stay out of the proper spy business, and both sides respect that. My job is to investigate crime. Even spies need law and order. Which reminds me, I need to have a look at where that statue stood. You better watch yourself. Here." He took six small bullets from his pocket.

"Keep those for the derringer. Don't use them unless you have to."

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McGuinness turned abruptly and walked away across the lawn. When he got to the edge Danny called out to him.

"Excuse me?" McGuinness looked back expectantly. "I just wanted to say ... thanks," Danny blurted out. McGuinness smiled, a smile that did not touch his gray eyes, and walked on. Within seconds, he was out of sight.

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CAMOUFLAGE, CONCEALMENT AND DECEPTION

Danny went back into the building through the door he had originally used, and was immediately lost again. He might have wandered for hours if Blackpitt had not announced "Break time" from a battered old speaker over his head, and then, in a whisper, "Go left at the top of the corridor and take the second right, Cadet Caulfield."

He did as he was told and was relieved to find himself back in the entrance hall, where the rest of the pupils were milling around, eating chocolate biscuits and drinking lemonade from tall jugs set out on a table beside Valant's desk. As Danny made his way toward Les and Dixie he heard Smyck's mocking tones.

"Nice coat, Caulfield."

"See you got to the Stores," Les said, with a grin. "Got your false glasses and all?"

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"They gave me a light brown wig," Dixie said, looking at her own light brown hair and frowning as if she had just realized that a mistake had been made.

"Most of it's a load of old rubbish," Les said, "but hold on to the codebook. You'll need that for Codes and Ciphers."

"I use the mirror to brush my hair," Dixie said. "The mirrors are kind of weird in Wilsons."

"The coat's a bit ripe," Les said, wrinkling up his nose. "Not exactly smart, if you know what I mean."

"Give it to me later," Dixie said. "I'll do something with it." Danny smiled. He wondered what Dixie might do to the coat.

"What happened to your face?" she said. Danny put his hand up. He'd forgotten about the cut. He realized that he felt a bit numb all over. "Sit down." Dixie's voice came from a long way away. Les caught Danny under the arms and helped him into a chair.

"I'll be all right in a minute," he said, taking a deep breath. When he had recovered he told them about the statue, and about McGuinness.

"You mean
the
McGuinness? The detective?" Les looked impressed. "The man's a legend."

"I didn't expect to meet a detective," Danny said. "I thought this was a school for spies."

"McGuinness used to be a spy," Les said, "but he wanted out."

"He took a Vow of Everlasting Truth and Fidelity in the Hall of Shadows," Dixie said, and shivered.

"The Hall of Shadows?" Danny said. "What's that?"

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"Nothing," Les said quickly, "but it means that he can't tell lies or anything anymore. Means both sides keep him around to investigate crime. Not that the Cherbs really want someone investigating crime, but it's part of the treaty."

"You'll find out what the Hall of Shadows is soon enough," Smyck put in.

"What is it with him?" Danny asked.

"Never mind him," Les said. "Him and some of the others lost everything when the Cherbs took over the Lower World--all except here. They're kind of sour about it. They think Devoy and his lot were too soft on the Cherbs."

"Are there any other people here from ... from my world?"

"From the Upper World? I think you're the only one. Reckon that's why they look at you funny."

"Nothing to do with the eyes and the face, then?" Danny asked sarcastically.

"Do you really think someone was trying to kill you?" Dixie broke in, her eyes like dinner plates.

"The statue didn't decide to fly on its own," Danny snapped, then regretted it. But if Dixie was offended, she didn't show it. In fact, she looked as if she was giving serious consideration to the idea of statues that decided to take off and fly through the air.

"We'll have to take a look at this," Les said grimly. "We can't have people chucking statues at our mates, can we?" Danny felt a surge of gratitude toward his new friend. "Take it easy," Les said, patting him on the shoulder.

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Danny considered the other cadets. Most of them looked like ordinary young people at break time in a normal school. But he was reminded that they weren't when Les sniffed the air again.

"That coat's a bit musty, if you take my meaning," Les said, and used his wings to fan fresh air across his face. Danny almost jumped out of his skin--it was going to take him a long time to get used to the wings.

"Er, Les ...," he started. Les looked at him, but Danny couldn't think of a way of framing the question.

"The wings, dummy," Dixie said. "He's never seen a Messenger before."

"A Messenger?" Danny said.

"Yep," Les said. "Same as them old folk you saw last night. Us Messengers used to carry dispatches backward and forward to the Upper World. You remember them old pictures you would see of angels talking to people?" Danny nodded. "They weren't no angels, they were Messengers. Used to have a bit of status in them days. People looked up to us."

"Do the wings--I mean--do they work?"

"Course they do. You need training, though. I can kind of glide on them. Of course, the old folk you saw dancing, they wouldn't use their wings--it's not supposed to be polite. Most of them wouldn't even talk to the likes of me. Our lot was the branch of the family ... well, my dad got into trouble and got thrown out of the Messengers. Bit too fond of the bottle, he was. When they voted to stop flying he laughed at them."

"They got it into their heads that flying wasn't

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genteel," Dixie said. "If you ask me the old things are a bit ashamed of themselves now that they can't message anymore, and they made up this 'flying is bad manners' lark so they don't have to fly and be reminded of the time when they were useful."

"Class is starting," Blackpitt said testily.

"Come on," Les said. "It's Camouflage, Concealment and Deception. Nothing too tricky about it. It's usually a bit of a laugh--Duddy teaches it. She's mad as a hatter."

Danny followed them through the front door. They turned left and walked down a gravel path between dense shrubberies. They passed an opening in the greenery and Danny, looking in, saw what looked like a maze of yew.

"What's that?" he asked.

"That's the Helix of van Groening," Les said. "It's a maze that changes shape. Kind of dangerous. I'd stay out of it."

The path turned to the left and opened out into a clearing in which there stood an old wooden building with wide eaves and narrow windows. As they emerged from the shrubbery, a figure in a bright red coat dashed across the gravel in front of them. Before anyone could move, the figure produced a gun and leveled it at them. Danny ducked. Les hit the ground, along with most of the others, while Dixie disappeared. The figure pointed the gun just above their heads and unleashed a fusillade, then turned and ran off into the trees behind the stone building.

The cadets got shakily to their feet. There was a long, shocked silence; then they all started talking at once. Dixie reappeared beside them, even paler than usual.

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Danny saw a woman approaching them from the building. She had long gray hair to her waist, and wore a brightly colored knitted scarf that reached to the ground. The upper part of her face was obscured by large dark glasses. As she walked she flicked her hair back and shook her head like a schoolgirl, even though she had to be sixty if she was a day, Danny thought. She cleared her throat loudly.

"Silence!" she commanded.

"But Miss," one of the girl cadets said, her voice shaking and tears in her eyes. The woman held up a hand theatrically to silence them.

"That's Duddy," Les hissed.

"You have just been attacked," Duddy said. Her voice was surprisingly deep. "I would like you to describe your attacker."

They all looked at each other. Apart from the red coat, none of them could remember the attacker's face.

"Man or woman?" A grim smile crossed Duddy's face. "You have learned a valuable lesson. There are two reasons why you did not recognize your attacker. Firstly, she was wearing a brightly colored garment in order to distract you. You saw the red coat and nothing else. Can anyone tell me the second reason?"

"The gun," Toxique said quietly. Danny looked around. He had forgotten about the boy who came from a family of assassins.

"That's right," Duddy said. "When someone points a gun at you, you will almost always look at the gun, not at their face. You have learned two valuable lessons."

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"It was like a gun in a dream," Toxique went on.

"Leave it out, Toxique," Smyck said. Vandra looked at him nervously.

"Yes, well," Duddy said, then clapped her hands, "inside now."

They all filed into the front room of the building, which was laid out like a classroom, with rows of desks and a blackboard. If Danny expected anything as dramatic as the attack to take place, he was disappointed. The lesson was on the subject of animals that disguised themselves as other things--insects that looked like sticks, fish that imitated poisonous species, chameleons and the like. Duddy's deep voice had a droning quality, and Danny found his mind starting to wander.

"For human beings," Duddy went on, catching Danny's attention again, "this kind of disguise is limited to a handful of people who have what we in the trade refer to as the Quality of Indeterminate Location. Come up here, Cadet Cole."

Dixie stood up and walked to the head of the class.

"Please demonstrate your gift," Duddy said. Dixie smiled and looked a little embarrassed.

"Could I not sing a song or something?" she said.

"Cadet Cole," Duddy warned. "Now, class, watch her carefully." Danny stared at Dixie, who was humming and looking into the air. He could see that Smyck was watching her very closely as well. There was no way she could move without being seen, Danny thought, just as Dixie disappeared! He rubbed his eyes. One minute she had been standing there; the next she was