reinforcements the Baron’s brought in there’re about six or seven thousand WFA stuck here in the Industrial Zone and Clement has about five times that number of SS StormTroopers surrounding us. My guess is that in the confusion a couple of hundred of us might slip through, but no more. But then as long as you and I are numbered amongst the living, who gives a damn?’
Ella looked around the warehouse where she was sitting, casting an eye over all the young WFA fighters clustered there going through their final preparations in advance of the breakout: cleaning their rifles, checking their ammunition, doing the thousand and one things that soldiers do to take their minds off the slaughter to come.
They all looked so young.
‘They’ve asked me to perform a blessing before the fighting starts,’ she said quietly.
Vanka laughed. ‘Why not? You’re the one who performs miracles, Ella, you’re the one who opens impenetrable Boundary Layers and suchlike. Maybe they should ask you to perform another miracle. Maybe you could make them all bulletproof?’
‘Don’t be silly, Vanka,’ Ella protested, but as always she found his refusal to take anything seriously hugely comforting. ‘I just find all this blessing business odd.’
‘Odd for Ella Thomas perhaps, but you’re not Ella Thomas any more, are you? Now you’re the Lady IMmanual, ABBA’s right-hand woman.’
The unfortunate thing was that what he said was true. Since the Miracle of the Beyond people had been treating her differently. Everywhere she went in the cramped enclave of the WFA’s final redoubt the fighters saluted her as she passed; when she walked into a room the conversation immediately ceased and everybody stood and bowed reverently.
Ella was no longer ‘the Shade’ or ‘the Daemon’. Now she had a new name, one that was whispered in worshipful tones. Now she was the Lady IMmanual. Now she was the Spirit who had led the people of Warsaw to the Promised Land, the Holy Woman who had parted the Boundary, the Divine Saviour sent by ABBA to save His Children.
Now she was the Messiah.
Those who believed in her and her ability to perform miracles had a new sign, one that she saw daubed on walls everywhere in the Ghetto, the same sign that a great many of the fighters had embroidered after the letters WFA on their armbands. It was the sign of the inverted ‘V’ – a lambda sign, – supposedly signifying the drawing back of the veil that cloaked the Beyond. And those who wore the symbol called themselves IMmanualists.
It was an indication of how rapidly IMmanualism had swept through the ranks of the WFA that of the three hundred fighters gathered in the warehouse almost all wore the sign. For Ella all this attention and reverence was at best mildly amusing and at worst hugely embarrassing, but, she mused, if it brought comfort to people what was the harm in it?
‘So you think I should bless them, Vanka?’
Another uncaring shrug. He took out his watch to check the time. ‘There’s only an hour to midnight, so I don’t think we’ve got enough time for you to play Lady IMmanual and piss about blessing people, which is just as well because I don’t think Colonel Dashwood would approve. And anyway, what I’m more worried about is who’s going to bless you? I think you’re in more danger than any of these kids.’
‘How so?’
Vanka edged a little closer. ‘Because these kids will only have the SS trying to kill them: you’re going to have the SS and Trixie Dashwood trying to off you.’
She could not hide her surprise. ‘What?’
‘The trouble with you, Ella,’ he said quietly, ‘is that you always want to see the good in people. With me it’s different: I see them for the shitbags they really are. I eavesdropped on a conversation between Trixie and that tame gorilla of hers, Wysochi. They’re planning to kill you during the breakout.’
‘Kill me? Are you sure?’
He nodded. ‘Believe me, that’s what they’re plotting. People V like Trixie Dashwood don’t like rivals.’
‘Rival? I’m not Trixie Dashwood’s rival!’
‘Shh!’ He put a finger to his lips. ‘Keep it quiet. And for your information, yes, you are a rival – for her fighters’ allegiance. When half the WFA is wearing the Sign of the Lady IMmanual on their sleeve then Trixie knows she’s got competition, and believe me, the last thing the commander of an army wants is to be second-guessed by a religious icon.’
‘Come on, Vanka, Trixie Dashwood and I have been through a lot together: she knows I’d do nothing to undermine her authority.’
‘Oh yeah? That’s not how she sees all this business about democracy you were spouting. And now you’re Lady IMmanual – the Messiah – people are starting to listen to you. I’ve heard mutterings in the ranks that the fighters think it should be you who’s leading them, not her, and that must have gone down like a lead balloon with Trixie the Terrible. And she’s a devil when it comes to purging opposition: there’s something of a Heydrich about that young lady.’
‘Now you’re going too far, Vanka. Trixie’s fighting Heydrich.’
‘Yeah, and she’s fighting fire with fire. She hates the SS and the UnFunDaMentalists almost as much as Heydrich hates Poles and nuJus and that sort of hatred distorts the soul. I thought when her father returned from the grave that it might have had a calming effect on little Trixie but from what I hear she’s as hate-filled as ever. Shooting that poor sod Wozniak…’ He shook his head. ‘She enjoys killing a tad too much for my liking.’
‘Oh, come on, Vanka.’
‘Don’t “oh, come on, Vanka” me. You didn’t see her reaction when she read one of the pamphlets young Penn over there produced.’ He glanced in the direction of a tall, thin fighter who was sitting in a corner of the warehouse scribbling in a notebook. ‘That twerp is the worst of all the bloody IMmanualists. You know he’s writing down every word you say as though it’s the word of the Spirits.’
‘Oh, William’s harmless enough.’
‘Harmless!’ Vanka nearly gagged. ‘His little pamphlet giving an account of the Miracle of the Beyond and recording your Sermon on the Boundary nearly caused Trixie Dashwood to bust her stays. She hates you, Ella.’
Much as Ella wanted to deny it, she knew deep down that Vanka was right: Trixie did hate her… hated her enough to kill her. And that was why, since the parting of the Boundary Layer, Trixie had been avoiding her, instinctively staying far enough away from Ella so she couldn’t be read.
‘So what’s to do, Vanka?’
‘The WFA is going to try to break out of the Ghetto at midnight. I’ve a feeling in my water that during the fighting it’s planned that you succumb to lead poisoning.’ He pulled out his Colt revolver and checked that it was fully loaded. ‘So it’s probably time we made ourselves scarce. We need to keep a very low profile until the fighting starts and then head for the long grass.’
‘But what about the Twelve? They won’t leave me.’
‘Oh, those idiots.’ Vanka stole a look at the twelve men and women who had elected themselves as Ella’s personal bodyguard – the Twelve, they called themselves – and who were now seated in a phalanx around her, just out of earshot. ‘Let’s take them with us. They may be following you around like a bunch of lovesick puppy dogs but they’re good fighters.’
‘But then how will we get to ExterSteine?’
‘Bloody ExterSteine. Bloody Norma Williams. I wish you’d forget about saving that bitch. But if you must, I’ve got an idea…’
He was interrupted as Rivets scuttled up and began to speak breathlessly. ‘Someone’s coming, Vanka. I think it’s that big bastard Wysochi you told me to keep an eye out for.’
Vanka took Ella by the arm and led her towards the rear exit of the warehouse. ‘Time to go. I think Trixiebell Dashwood is intent on doing some early Spring cleaning.’
‘She’s gone,’ Wysochi whispered in Trixie’s ear when he reported back. ‘I should have known that fly bastard Maykov would have anticipated what was going to happen. Shall I send out men to look for her?’
Trixie shook her head. ‘No, we’ll deal with this matter later.’ She smiled guilelessly at the five officers who now made up her Military Council. It didn’t do for commanders to discuss the assassination of rivals in front of their officers: it was bad for morale. ‘We have learnt that the SS have infiltrated cryptos into the WFA charged with the assassination of the Lady IMmanual.’ The use of the Shade’s ridiculous honorific caught in her craw. ‘We believe that the most vicious and dangerous of these cryptos is the Russian who calls himself Vanka Maykov. Maykov has
