London Noir (24 page)
“It’s no longer a matter of generating money but of determining how it’s used, creating behavior patterns, displacing populations, altering demographics, shifting perceptions …”
The gun starts to assemble itself from inside your flesh, pieces snapping into place by their own intelligence. Their movement trips a switch inside your throat. You swallow hard. There’s a brief gagging sensation, followed by a mild electrical popping. You reach in and pull out the firing pin.
A pale sliver of movement flashes across a security monitor. She has finished replacing the chip in her cell phone and is preparing it to operate as a weapon. She will enter a numerical code using the phone’s keypad. The device will automatically arm itself.
“Immortality … free-market commodities like reality and fame,” John Frederson continues. “We’re just the universe returning to itself. Humanity is simply another system, a wave of development that expands and dissipates, reaching out who knows how far into space.”
You hold your breath and aim for the head.
He catches a glimpse of her on the monitor, standing at the center of the steel pyramid, clutching the cell phone in a tight white fist.
He’ll point at the monitor. “Who’s she?” he’ll ask.
One last scratchy subtitle appears before your eyes:
Those
who are not born … do not weep … and do not regret … Thus
it is logical to condemn you to death.
“I thought she worked for you,” is all you’ll say.
* * *
Last-minute shifts on the international money markets indicate that an all-out strike against the London business sector is due to take place.
John Frederson will shake his head for the last time.
The framework of One Canada Square contains 500,000 bolts. Lifts travel from the fiftieth floor to the lobby in just forty seconds.
All over the planet, people will be switching on their television sets to watch the dust cloud rising darkly over London.
End transmission.
Daniel Bennett would like to thank Catty May.
Joolz Denby would like to thank Justin Sullivan & New Model Army, Michael Davis & New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack, Dr. Christine Alvin, Nina Baptiste, Spotti-Alexander & Miss Dragon Pearl, and Kate Gordon.
Cathi Unsworth would like to thank everyone who wrote a piece for this book. Also for help, support, and inspiration: Michael Meekin, Caroline Montgomery, Ann Scanlon, Lynn Taylor, Mr. & Mrs. Murphy, Paul Duane, and Michael Dillon.
B
ARRY
A
DAMSON
(
www.barryadamson.com
) was born and bred in Moss Side, Manchester, before heading for the West Side of London, where he has written and produced six or so of his own musical albums, including the Mercury Music Prize–nominated
Soul Murder.
Adamson has also scored several movies, TV shows, and commercials, and he now writes stories and screenplays.
D
ESMOND
B
ARRY
is a rootless vagabond and the author of three novels,
The Chivalry of Crime, A Bloody Good Friday,
and
Cressida’s Bed
. He’s been published in the
New Yorker
and
Granta
. He grew up in Merthyr Tydfil and moved to London, where he lived from 1972–82. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Glamorgan.
D
AN
B
ENNETT
was born in Shropshire in 1974, and has lived and worked around London for the past eight years. He recently finished his first novel.
K
EN
B
RUEN
is the the author of many novels, including
The Guards,
winner of the 2004 Shamus Award. His books have been published in many languages around the world. He is the editor of
Dublin Noir
and currently lives in Galway, Ireland.
M
AX
D
ÉCHARNÉ
is the author of
Hardboiled Hollywood,
Straight from the Fridge, Dad,
and three collections of short stories. His latest book is called
King’s Road.
A regular contributor to
MOJO
, he was the drummer in Gallon Drunk and since 1994 has been the singer with The Flaming Stars.
J
OOLZ
D
ENBY
was born in 1955. She has been an outlaw biker, a punk rocker, a Goth queen, and is an academic in the field of body modification. She is an internationally respected poet, spoken word artist, illustrator, and author of the novels
Stone Baby, Corazon,
and
Billie Morgan
(nominated for the 2005 Orange Prize). Check out
www.joolz.net
.
K
EN
H
OLLINGS
is a writer living in London. His work has appeared in a wide range of journals and publications, including the anthologies
Digital Delirium, The Last Sex,
and
Undercurrents
, as well as on BBC Radio Three, Radio Four, NPS in Holland, ABC in Australia, and London’s Resonance FM. His mind-bending novel
Destroy All Monsters
is avail-able from Marion Boyars Publishers.
S
TEWART
H
OME
was born in South London in 1962 and currently lives in East London. He is the author of twenty-one books, including the novels
Slow Death, Blow Job, Come
Before Christ & Murder Love,
and
Down & Out in Shoredtich
and Hoxton,
all of which might be considered twisted love letters to his home town of London.
P
ATRICK
M
C
C
ABE
was born in 1955. His novels include
Carn, The Butcher Boy, The Dead School,
and
Breakfast on
Pluto
. He has written for stage and screen and has just finished a new novel,
Winterwood
. He lives in Sligo, Ireland.
J
OE
M
C
N
ALLY
is a journalist and photographer who has lived in London for ten years. He has worked on publications as diverse as
Fortean Times
and
Take a Break.
This is his first published fiction.
