Wanted (Flick Carter Book 1) (34 page)

‘Thank you for agreeing to see me,’ she said. She stood at the back of the table, so she could see the audience, and several of the councillors scraped their chairs around to see her.

‘This matter is of sufficient seriousness that his majesty elected to send me here as his direct representative, and not leave matters solely to the discretion of the local garrison,’ she began.

‘I’ve come here today to request directly that the munitions from the Resolute Endeavour be assigned to the Kingsmen armoury for their–and our–safety.’ She looked at each of the officials seated at the table in turn.

‘I assume you don’t mean on a temporary basis until the goods have been sold,’ Cain said.

‘Should have put in a bigger bid,’ Quinn muttered.

‘I’m sorry, what was that?’ Jessica regarded her with a cold stare.

‘As your highness is aware,’ Quinn squeaked, ‘our policy is to sell all goods to the highest bidder. And you were most definitely
not
the highest bidder.’

‘But this is an exception, surely?’ Jessica said. ‘Your leader said so at the start of this meeting.’

‘We haven’t agreed that… yet,’ Bradbury chipped in.

‘And I’m here to suggest… no,
request
that you do,’ Jessica said sweetly.

‘What’s in it for us?’ Quinn asked. ‘There’s a considerable shortfall between your offer and the top bid.’

‘Let us just say the consequences of selling to Mr Griffin, a most objectionable man by the way, would be…
dire
.’

‘Is that a threat?’ Jim Sharif thumped the table and jumped to his feet. ‘Because we don’t take kindly to threats!’ There were murmurs from the audience.

‘No it’s not a threat. We have intelligence that tells us that Mr Griffin intends to use these munitions to arm an army and start a civil war. Which would be catastrophic for everyone, wouldn’t you say?’ Several people nodded around the table.

‘That counts in my book as “dire”.’

‘I still say we should sell to the highest bidder,’ Quinn said. ‘I think the princess, no disrespect…’ She nodded in Jessica’s direction, but her eyes showed only hostility.

Jessica smiled.

‘…Is talking horse hooey.’ That got more murmurs of agreement.

‘If you don’t want Mr Griffin to make use of the goods, then that is for you and him to resolve.’

Jessica thought for a moment. Then she grinned.

‘Thank you Miss Quinn. If we were to, er,
resolve our differences
with Mr Griffin, say, between the time when he pays you for the goods and the time when he collects them, would that cause you a problem?’

Quinn shook her head. ‘So long as we’ve been paid, and whoever collects the goods has valid paperwork, that’s all that matters,’ she said.

‘Then I think we understand one another. But I would suggest you keep out of the way, conflict resolution has a tendency to get messy. Gentlemen. Ladies.’ She saluted and walked from the room.

The large clock on the wall ticked three times before everyone started shouting.

CHAS LEFT THE group in Bath, hitching a ride on a wagon going by a different road and taking the tracker with him. He gave instructions that the girls should stay away from the main road, sticking instead to small lanes and tracks. They were to wait for him the next day at a rendezvous on the edge of Bristol.

The atmosphere in the vardo was much lighter now. Partly it was because the tracker had been found and disposed of, but also they were now just three girls on their own, scrunched up together on the wide bench seat at the front of the vardo.
 

‘We should work out a cover story, you know, in case we get stopped,’ Hannah said.

‘We could say we were on our way to a wedding,’ Flick suggested.

‘No!’ the others chorused in unison.

‘Okay I get the hint; I’m a crap liar,’ Flick conceded.

There was a fallen tree in the road, and they negotiated the vardo around it.

‘Do you think they’ll go after Dad?’ Hannah asked.

‘I shouldn’t think so,’ Jules said. ‘If they knew you were here, they’d have searched harder. I think they were just keeping tabs to see what we did.’

‘If we’d made a run for it, they’d have come after us then?’ Hannah asked.

‘Oh sure, but that would just be silly. If we look like we’re minding our business they’ll think we’re minding our business.’

‘I thought I heard my brother,’ Flick blurted. ‘When they searched us, I’m sure one of the voices was Adam.’

‘What, the Kingsmen?’

Flick nodded. ‘I didn’t want to say while Chas was here.’

‘I can understand that,’ Jules said. ‘He’s a suspicious bugger at the best of times.’

‘Is this the brother that was taking you to this mythical wedding?’ Hannah asked.

‘No, the real one,’ Flick said, her tone deadly serious. ‘The Kingsmen took him away at the Choosing a month ago. Before all this… trouble.’

‘So he doesn’t
know?
’ Hannah gasped.

‘I haven’t seen him or heard from him, so I don’t see how he could.’

‘Then what’s he doing part of a Kingsman patrol in the middle of the countryside?’

‘That’s what I’d like to know,’ Flick said.

Jules opened her mouth to say something and then seemed to think better of it. They lapsed into silence as the horse pulled the vardo though the leafy, overgrown lanes.

The lane ended at the edge of a large grassy field that descended to a small fast flowing stream. Flick and Hannah ran down to the water to see if there was a suitable place to cross, while Jules and the vardo waited at the top of the hill. They found what looked like a cattle crossing in the far corner and waved for Jules to bring the wagon down.

Beyond the fields they started seeing sections of broken wall peering through the undergrowth, and they crossed large patches of concrete where nothing more than a few small weeds grew. They realised they were reaching the outskirts of Bristol.

They stopped a little way from the crumbling walls, in a patch of open grassland and set up camp. They had plenty of water from the stream they’d crossed earlier and soon a pot was boiling merrily over a little cooking fire. Over supper they talked about what they’d do next.

‘My plan,’ said Flick, picking at a chicken bone, ‘is to meet a friend in Bristol. He told me I’d be safe from the Kingsmen and the thugs that were after me.’

‘Bristol’s not safe from the Kingsmen,’ Jules said matter-of-factly. ‘There’s more Kingsmen in Bristol than almost anywhere else in the country, saving Oxford.’ She threw her chicken bone onto the fire and watched the flames sputter and pop as the grease caught light.

‘Then I’ll get a boat to somewhere that
is
safe,’ said Flick. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and reached for the beer bottle, taking a deep gulp.

Hannah waved for her to pass the bottle across. ‘I know someone who can get you on a boat,’ she said.

Jules raised her eyebrows. ‘Do you now? And who might that be, little missy?’

‘Oh, just someone,’ she replied. Her face flushed.

‘Have you been seeing that Scav boy again? You know I’ve warned you about him,’ she said waving a pointed finger at her daughter.

‘Muuum, of course I haven’t,’ Hanna wailed in a tone of voice that convinced Flick that of course she had.

Jules turned her attention to Flick. ‘I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that those Scavs are not to be trusted. They’re always up to no good, and looking for some angle. Take my advice girl, and stay away from them.’

Flick nodded. Of course there was one Scav she had no intention of staying away from, if only she could find him.

‘If you want my advice,’ Jules continued, ‘head south. That’s where we’re going when Chas gets back.’ Flick nodded. ‘Head for the coast, somewhere like Plymouth. You’ll find a small boat and someone who’ll take you across the channel to France, and then you’ll be well away.’

Flick thought on it for a moment. ‘I still think I want to go to Bristol. But if that doesn’t work out, then maybe I’ll try for Plymouth.’

‘Okay, don’t be too hasty,’ Jules said. ‘Decisions like this shouldn’t be rushed.’

The next morning was cold and damp after the fine night before. Flick and Hannah had slept outside the vardo in tents; it gave them some privacy after being all cooped up together in the wagon. As they emerged from their tents, Jules was already busying herself with the cooking fire, brewing up hot water for tea and making a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.

When they’d finished breakfast, Flick and Hannah wanted to explore some of the nearer ruins. Jules made them up a packed lunch each, of bread and cold meat, and told them not to wander too far.

They crossed the old concrete slab, looking for the widest gap between buildings, thinking it would probably be the main street. Large spindly daisies mixed with the tall grasses that grew in the joints between slabs, making it look from a distance like a giant grassy meadow, but here and there, trees managed to take hold, forcing their tiny roots down between the slabs and slowly pushing them apart until they erupted and split open like giant cement boulders.

The big gap turned out not to be a wide street, but some sort of small industrial complex. All that remained were steel girders, rusted and misshapen, sticking out of the ground like the bones of a long dead animal, the ghostly skeleton of a building. Flick wondered what had gone on here back in the old times. Had it been full of life, people bustling hither and thither, going about the business of making things? Or maybe it was a warehouse that they stored things in that had been made elsewhere. Flick imagined big piles of food, or bolts of fabric stretching as far as the eye could see, or strange mechanical or electrical devices whose purpose she couldn’t even guess at.

The two friends came upon the shell of a tall yellow brick and concrete building. Rust streaked down from cracks in the concrete, but from the outside it looked reasonably intact, at least up as far as the fourth or fifth floor.

‘Shall we look inside? Flick asked. ‘If we can get up to the top, we should have a really amazing view.’

Hannah eyed the gaping black doorway warily. ‘We should be careful, it could be dangerous. There might be bandits hiding in there, waiting to rob us and rape us.’

Flick pulled her knife out of her belt. ‘I’ve got this,’ she grinned, ‘and I’ve had enough of being messed with, so they better watch out!’

That seemed to spur Hannah into action. ‘Come on then,’ she urged and disappeared through the doorway.

‘Wait for me,’ Flick called.
I’m
the one with the knife, after all.’ What was with that girl? she speculated. One minute she’s scared of a shadow and the next she’s charging ahead without a care in the world!

Flick followed her through the doorway. It was cool and dark inside, with a musty smell, like leaf mould mixed with stale piss.
Someone’s been here,
she thought,
but maybe not for a while
. The concrete roof had hundreds of stalactites hanging down from it, like row upon row of little white and brown upside down candles.

‘Up here!’ Hanna’s voice sounded strange and echoey. It came from the far side of the building, through another doorway. Flick half walked, half ran to the door, and saw that it led back outside, to a small gap between similar buildings, and that there was a stairway leading up between them.

‘Come on,’ Hannah’s voice drifted down.

The steps doubled back on themselves and Flick saw she’d reached a small landing which extended both right and left into a long balcony. Hannah had gone even further up, and Flick climbed after. When they’d gone up as far as they could they came out onto the balcony. There was a row of doorways and empty window holes behind them.

‘Apartments!’ Flick realised what they were. ‘This is an apartment building.’ She peered into one of the doorways, but all she could see were a few piles of dirt; all evidence that people once lived here was long gone. They looked out over the balcony, and Flick realised they could see out over the ruins of the nearby streets and houses, right into the heart of the city. Or at least, the top of it.

‘It’s a lot more hilly than I thought it would be,’ she said.

Hannah pointed to a metal spike jutting up above one building. ‘That’s the Kingsmen’s compound,’ she said. ‘It’s really big and full of
lots
of Kingsmen.’

Flick thought she’d seen something like that spike before. Then she realised it looked just like the mast she’d climbed days earlier, when she’d been attacked by a gang of crazies.

‘And just left of it, see that mast? That’s the harbour.’ Flick looked blank. She was wondering where in all these rooftops she’d find Shea. ‘Where the ships are?’ Hannah added.

Flick whistled. ‘Yeah, sorry, miles away. I see what your mum meant,’ she said

‘Don’t sweat it,’ Hannah said. ‘Like I said, I’ve got a friend who can get you on a ship, no questions asked and without being seen.’

‘Thanks, I’ll bear it in mind.’

They gazed out at the skyline for several minutes. Finally Hannah said, ‘This boy you’re meeting, are you and him…?’ She winked impishly.

Flick shrugged. ‘I dunno. I guess maybe… It’s complicated.’

Something caught her eye in the distance: movement.

‘Hang on, something’s happening,’ she said.

As she watched, she could see two figures on horses slowly approaching from the direction of the city. They appeared to be wearing hooded cloaks but she was unable to tell anything more about them.

‘Two people on horses, coming this way,’ she hissed. ‘Quick! Hide!’

The girls ducked down out of sight behind the balcony.

‘We should get out of the building,’ Flick said. ‘We don’t want to get stuck up here with nowhere to go.’

The two girls fled back to the stairwell. Flick glanced out over the balcony as she reached the stairs.

‘Hang on…’ She stopped for a second, staring out. ‘No. Nothing. Run!’

They descended the stairs two at a time and made a dash into the safety of the bushes beyond.

‘What was it back there?’ Hannah whispered once she’d caught her breath.

‘I thought I saw someone else behind those people. But it was nothing. Probably just a tree in the wind.’