'What d'you want me to do about it?'
'If I leave it with you, can you make sure he gets it, next time you see him? It's got his float in it. You'll make sure he gets it, won't you?'
'What do I look like, Salvation Army?' he protested.
'Oh come on, someone will pinch it otherwise — it's his stock, and it's a good coat.'
'Yeah, well. Give it over then.' He took them from me and tucked it down behind the counter. 'If he don't come back for them, I'll give 'em into one of them charity shops. They'll take it.'
'Don't worry. I'm sure he'll stop by. Thanks, you're a gent.'
'Too bleedin' kind-hearted is what I am. Yeesh.'
I walked out of the market down the main aisle, making sure I was visible long after I left. I would return tomorrow and see what happened.
Alex wasn't good at waiting, and the time between fivethirty when the tower closed to the public and nine o'clock when they shut the tower up for the night was spent in increasing impatience and irritation. She wanted to get on with it, to get what they came for and leave, but Eve was insistent. They had to wait for the key.
Cloaked in glamour, they clustered up on the wall near the Water Gate, watching the Yeoman Warders pace through their duties, checking each building and arming the alarm systems that protected the crown jewels and the tower. As the light faded the shadows became deeper and the activity ramped down. Patrols still walked the yards and checked the doors, but their frequency diminished as the human guards transferred their trust to electronic surveillance and security systems. There was joking among the guardsmen and a degree of ribald humour that was reserved for when the public had left.
'Right,' said Eve. 'Chipper, Sparky — you've got the difficult job. You have to get close enough to the jewels to make them think it's a real raid, but not so close you get caught.'
Sparky grinned in the twilight. 'Don't worry, we're cool.'
'I do worry,' said Eve. 'I worry that your arrogance and hubris will bring disaster down on our heads. These are some of the most sophisticated systems known to man, but their weakness is that they are aimed against other men, and they are protecting the jewels, not our true targets. By creating a distraction you will draw their attention, and that is both good and bad. They have automatic weapons, infrared vision — for all we know they have a satellite trained on us right now, or the ability to co-opt one for their use. Don't take chances. Take out everything you can see but be prepared for things you can't. Infrared lasers, x-ray scanners, we just don't know. All you have to do is draw their attention. Give us five minutes. That's all we need to get in and out. Stay out of sight and keep concealed until it's time. Once the operation begins we will be out of contact and hidden, even from each other. There's no going back and we'll get one chance, so don't bottle it.'
'We won't bottle it,' said Sparky.
Chipper's eyes shone in the darkness. He looked more alive than Alex had ever seen him.
'I'm not worried about you.' Eve glanced at Alex.
'I'll be fine,' said Alex. 'In, out, we're done. I've done this before,' she confirmed.
'Not like this you haven't,' said Eve. 'If it comes to it, be prepared to use whatever means you have. We cannot afford to get caught, understand? We meet up outside the bar, The Hung, Drawn and Quartered on Great Tower Street.'
'Got it,' said Sparky. Chipper nodded. Alex licked her lips, which were suddenly dry.
'Alex, you understand your part?'
'One feather, black, coming up,' she said.
'The ceremony of the keys begins at nine sharp. They'll escort in the tourists and walk them around. When they are furthest from the gate down at the White Tower, that's when we hit them. Don't screw up,' said Eve. 'We're not coming back for you if you get caught. You all have positions. Cloak yourselves, we're on.'
Chipper sprinted away into the dark, followed by a flash of a smile and Sparky was gone too. That left Eve with Alex.
'Stick to the plan,' said Eve. 'It'll be fine.'
'Yeah,' said Alex. She wasn't sprinting for anyone. She walked away along the wall, hugging the shadows and cloaking herself more deeply with every step.
Alex had avoided the paths, figuring that if she was in charge, that's where she would put the pressure pads. Instead she took the stone steps up onto the wall and dropped quietly onto the roof of the aviary. She landed as quietly as she could, but still the birds set up a raucous cawing when she landed. She balanced at the peak of the roof, listening for sounds of human alarm. If there was any, it was drowned out by the birds.
She edged along the peak of the roof and then slithered down to the eaves on her belly, amid the caws and calls from the occupants. No matter how quiet she tried to be, they got more and more agitated. This wasn't making her job any easier.
'Shut up, bird brains,' she muttered under her breath.
Below her was a wooden wall with a window covered over with wire mesh. Even if she could get past the wire mesh, she had no guarantee the window would open. She pushed herself sideways along the roof, positioning herself above the door. As she reached it, a figure loomed out of the dark on the path.
'Ere, what's up with you lot, eh?' said the figure. He was dressed in uniform, but as far as Alex could tell he was unarmed. He didn't look up, failing to notice the girl sprawled across the roof, but went to the door of the aviary, rattling keys until he found the right one.
'All right, all right, keep your feathers on. Anyone would think there was a snake in there with you.'
He pushed through the doorway, clicking on a light so that it spilled out into the pathway.
Alex waited, counting heartbeats, listening to the old man chatting away to himself and the birds. It was clear that something had agitated them, but so far he had no idea what. When she got to forty-six, three uniformed figures sprinted across the courtyard, heading for the White tower. There was no alarm sounding, but then who were they going to call? The police? They already had the military here, if they couldn't handle it, who could?
The guy in the aviary hadn't seen them. It was now or never.
She moved sideways and rolled over the edge, making as little noise as possible. The birds went wild, cawing and screeching, providing ample cover for her descent. She pushed herself to her feet and slid along the outside wall. He was talking to them like they were people.
She leaned around the doorway. The old man was watching the birds flapping around inside a large cage, talking to them quietly. One of the birds fixed her, turning hits head sideways in curiosity, so that it could focus on her with the black bead of an eye.
'Caaaaawww,' it said.
The man spun around, following the gaze of the bird. Alex had seconds to react. She stepped in close as he turned, placing a hand on his chest as his eyes widened in surprise at the sudden appearance of the curly-haired teenager in front of him.
His eyes rolled upwards and he dropped like a tree, falling full length, sawdust billowing around him as he crashed to the floor.
The birds started a cacophony of calls. 'Aaark! Arrk!'
'Shut up!' shouted Alex. Surprisingly, they did.
Alex looked at them. They regarded her, turning their heads to train first one black eye on her, then the other.
'You can speak?' asked Alex.
In answer, one of the birds hopped down off one of the bare branches they had been provided with and stalked across the floor to where the keeper lay full-length, eyes rolled up, breathing shallow.
'Aaark?' It said.
'It's all right, calm down,' said Alex. 'He's not dead, just unconscious. He'll be fine in the morning.'
'Caaaaaw,' said another bird from the safety from the branch.
'You're in there, and I'm out here, right?'
The birds fluttered back and forth in the cage, but they seemed to calm at her words. They watched her carefully, cocking their heads and listening to her.
'You think I'm coming in there with you lot, you've got another thing coming,' she said.
They cawed in rasping agreement, as if they were laughing at her cowardice. The birds hopped sideways. To Alex's ears, they seemed to find it funny.
