there and into the elevator. He used his card without argument. Then we were out in the street. Which was when he turned the tables on me. How? Well, I suppose he saw the future, knew I wouldn't shoot him. Or maybe he saw that I couldn't?
'Anyway, he just twisted round to face me, grabbed the gun and started wrestling me for it. I was so surprised… I just let go of the thing! And the fact was I couldn't have shot him anyway, not an innocent man. But I couldn't say the same thing for him, now could I? And there he was, crouching down, aiming the gun at me!'
The vehicle was nosing down a slight decline. As they came round a shallow bend, Jake saw campfires and started to brake. Then a man stepped out onto the crumbling tarmac and made signals, directing them into a makeshift roadside parking area. As they slowed to a standstill, Liz sat still, said, 'Finish it.' And Jake thought, Why not? Except there's nothing left to tell! Or if there was he couldn't possibly explain it. But he could at least try. 'It's already finished/ he said. 'When I thought Goodly was going to shoot me, I made a dive for cover. I mean, I knew I was diving to safety… but that wasn't possible. How could there be any cover, any safety, out there in the middle of the street?' 'There couldn't be,' she said.
'No,' Jake answered huskily, pale in the flickering firelight. 'There couldn't be. Not out theje in the street. But it wasn't me who reacted to the perceived danger, Liz. Not me but someone in my head. Someone or something that reckoned I would be safer… that I'd be safer—'
But Liz, reading it clearly in his mind, came to his aid and finished it for him:'—That you'd be much safer back in Harry's Room, yes/ she sighed.
He shook his head, frowned and said, 'But safe from what? From Goodly, who didn't intend to harm me in the first place?'
She made no answer but thought: No, just safe — period. Maybe lan Goodly's gun hadn't triggered the thing at all; maybe it simply hadn't wanted Jake out there on his own, on the streets. For whatever it was, this thing had been new to him at that time. Still very strong in him — and having only recently found him — it hadn't been about to let him escape. Not without first exploring him, and not until Jake had explored its possibilities, its potential.
Such were Liz's thoughts. But bringing them back to earth: 'We're there/ said Jake. 'So are we going to sit here all night? Me, I'd like a mug of coffee and a bite to eat…'
CHAPTER SEVEN More Gadgets And Ghosts
As Liz and Jake got out of their vehicle, Trask came over and checked it for damage: a few scratches to the paintwork, some small dents in the hood, and the missing windscreen, of course. 'Did you have this attended to?'
Liz knew what he was concerned about: not the damage itself but rather its origin, and any possible contamination that might have been left behind. She nodded. 'Back at the Old Mine gas station. A squad sprayed her down, cleaned up the mess.'
'I worry, that's all,' Trask explained. 'But having seen some of the measures the Travellers take on Sunside, I suppose that's only natural.' He shrugged. 'I don't know… maybe I'm too cautious.' His reference to Sunside flew over Jake's head, but he was getting used to that kind of thing.
'I didn't see you taking too much care of yourself,' Jake told him. 'Back there, I mean. You and the old man, Lardis? It was as if you didn't give a damn between you.' No nose-plugs or combat gear. No gas masks. No precautions.'
Trask looked at him. 'A paradox? Is that what you're saying? Do as I say, not as I do? Not really. Maybe one day I'll tell you my story. But couldn't it simply be that some of us have less to lose?' And before he could be asked to elaborate:
'As for Lardis Lidesci, he's been doing his own thing all his life. Perhaps there's a partial immunity among the Szgany, I can't say. But even so I watch him, just as he keeps his eye on everyone else. And the day he gets rid of his silver bells, or starts shrinking from the sun…' Trask let it go at that.
'Maybe I haven't been listening very much,' Jake said. 'In fact I'm sure I haven't. There's been too much happening — not only to me but all around me — for my tiny brain to accept it all at once. But what if I start listening as of now? Am I asking too much that we sit down some time so you can fill me in, put me fully in the picture about E-Branch? I mean, if I'm to work for you, isn't it only right I should know something of what's going on?'
'So you've finally decided you'll work for us?'
Jake pulled a wry face. 'Actually, I thought you had!' And the three of them walked together towards one of the campfires.
The rest of the vehicles were arriving and lining up on the road before being allocated parking areas. Making himself heard over the revving motors, Trask shouted a few instructions, then answered Jake. 'Oh, I think there's work for you. But there are still a few things I need to clear up. If I'm to control you, I need to know what I'm controlling.' He looked at the other, his gaze seeming to pierce the younger man through and through, and with a wry smile continued, Tve got to be sure you won't just cut and run — like maybe in a crisis, when you're most needed. After all, you do still have your own agenda.'
'Don't you ever trust anybody?' Jake growled, knowing that indeed Trask had seen right through him.
But, enigmatic as ever, Trask wasn't buying it. 'In my time with the Branch,' he said, 'I've seen what trust can do… and what it's done to some of my favourite people.'
They sat by the fire with one or two other agents, most of them keeping to themselves, lost in their own thoughts now that the night's work was done. It was a night they'd been building up to for some time. The Old Lidesci dished out food — steaks, and steaming stew from a container on a military shallow-trench back-burner, and man-sized chunks of bread fresh from the burner's oven — but with the exception of Lardis himself no one was much interested in eating. Maybe it was the back-burner's roar, the way it sounded so much like a flamethrower…
By the time the three had done eating, and washed the food down with mugs of coffee, the big articulated truck was in situ and lan Goodly had gone to check on incoming messages. By then, too, the rest of the agents had sat down to eat, and the atmosphere wasn't quite so heavy.
Liz had been yawning for some time, and though she swore she would never sleep, still she'd gone off to seek out a bivouac for herself. Watching her go, Jake put down his empty mug and said to Trask, 'Me, I'm not tired either. In fact my mind is going every which way. So, all misgivings aside, I'm asking you to tell me what I've got myself involved with, how it all began, and how you think I can fit in.'
Trask stood up and for a moment looked as if he might say something. But just then lan Goodly came striding from the direction of the Ops vehicle. On top of the first trailer, in fact the mobile Ops Room, a cluster of antennae and radio dishes had poked up, locked into position, and aimed themselves at the sky… also at several communication satellites.
'Ben/ Goodly called in his piping voice. 'David Chung is on the wire from London. You can get him on-screen if you want. He got your message, and he appears to be rather excited.' But as Trask headed for the Ops truck, Goodly had second thoughts; at least he made it seem that way. 'Oh, and Ben! Er, maybe you should take Jake with you? Introduce him to David…?'
The two of them looked at each other in passing, and Jake could swear some sort of silent exchange took place. Then Trask called back to him, 'Jake, if you'd still like to know how you might fit in, perhaps you should come along with me.'
In the Ops Room, the Duty Officer and one other were on listening duty within the oval desk. The D.O. got out of the way when Trask lifted a flap in the desk, walked through and parked himself in the command chair. Jake followed and stood close behind him. Trask looked at the D.O. and said, 'Chung?'
'London HQ, waiting,' the other nodded. 'Do you want him on-screen?'
'Put him up there/ Trask said, indicating a screen on the wall. And the D.O. hit a switch.
As the other lights dimmed a little, the wall screen flickered into life and its picture quickly firmed up. This was the first time Jake had seen E-Branch's chief locator, David Chung. He was small, middle-aged, Oriental as they
