nodded. The air was still, musty and dry.
‘We need to get on,’ he said and what with Kumar, Reynolds and the last two CO19 officers it was getting a bit tight in there. There was only one exit, a doorway framed with more fake ceramic wood.
Like the well behaved coppers we were, we let the CO19 officers go first. After all, there’s really no point bringing them if you insist on standing between them and any potential targets.
The doorway led to a long corridor lined not with fake wood panelling this time but with nasty mauve wallpaper. If I needed any further indication that the Quiet People didn’t have much of a colour sense then that wallpaper was it. At evenly spaced intervals were hung what looked like empty picture frames. Nightingale put a hand on each of the CO19 officers’ shoulders.
‘Quickly and quietly, lads,’ he said.
Off we went, just as quietly as you’d expect from people wearing half a ton of various types of gear between us. Safety tip: wading trousers – not built for stealth. We pulled up short of where the corridor ended in a T- junction.
‘Which way now?’ Nightingale asked Zach.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘This wasn’t here last time.’
‘I really wish you hadn’t said that,’ said Lesley.
I was thinking of Space Hulk myself, but there are some things you don’t say out loud in front of other police.
Nightingale didn’t hesitate. He gestured at the CO19 officers and one went left and one went right. Nightingale went with one and I went with the other.
There was a single gunshot, astonishingly loud in the confined space. I threw myself back round the corner but Nightingale yelled, ‘Hold your fire.’
There was a long moment of silence in which I took the opportunity to pick myself up.
‘I believe that was a warning shot,’ said Nightingale. ‘Peter, if you’d be so good as to ask Mr Palmer to come forward.’
Zach vigorously shook his head but Lesley put her hand on his back and eased him forward until he could stick his head round the corner.
‘Would you be kind enough to tell them we come in peace?’ said Nightingale.
‘Do you think anyone has ever fallen for that one?’ asked Zach.
‘I don’t wish them to fall for anything, Mr Palmer,’ said Nightingale. ‘We need to establish an arrangement, or I fear things could become difficult.’
‘What makes you think they’ll be interested?’ asked Zach.
‘Had they wanted to, they could have shot us down already,’ said Nightingale.
The CO19 officer on the left cleared his throat. ‘We generally seek to de-escalate these confrontations as soon as possible, sir,’ he said. ‘The longer they go on, the greater the likelihood of a sub-optimal outcome.’ It was an impressive speech from a man who was obviously dying to retreat back the way he’d come.
‘Duly noted,’ said Nightingale.
‘For god’s sake Zach,’ I said. ‘Usually we can’t get you to shut up.’
Zach sighed and edged forward until he could look over Nightingale’s shoulder.
‘Yo!’ he called. ‘Is Ten-Tons around? I’ve got a man here wants to talk to him.’
He held our breath. I heard a voice, nothing more than a whisper floating out of the dark.
‘Did you hear that?’ asked Lesley.
Zach shushed her. ‘I’m trying to listen here,’ he said, and then called over Nightingale’s shoulder. ‘What was the last bit?’
Lesley rolled her eyes but stayed quiet – I still couldn’t make out any words.
‘He says that the Nightingale and the soldiers got to stay out, but they’ll talk to the half-caste.’ He looked at me. ‘That’s you, by the way.’
‘Why me?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know,’ said Zach. ‘Maybe they just don’t rate you very highly.’
‘You’re certainly not proceeding on your own,’ said Nightingale.
We were in total agreement on that.
Half-caste, I thought. I hadn’t heard that one in a while. Not since Mum fell out with Aunty Doris who, having grown up in Jamaica in the 1950s, regarded political correctness as something that happened to other people. If they were old-fashioned about that, I figured, they might be usefully old-fashioned in other ways.
‘Tell them we want to bring in a nurse,’ I said. ‘To make sure everyone is healthy.’
‘What are you thinking, Peter?’ asked Nightingale.
I turned back and beckoned to Agent Reynolds, who was at the back with Kumar, closer.
‘Are you tooled up?’ I asked.
She looked puzzled for a moment and then nodded.
Lesley poked me in the arm. ‘Not without me,’ she said.
‘Two nurses,’ I told Zach.
To preserve their night vision, we were keeping our torches pointed away from the CO19 Officers and Nightingale, but even half shadowed I could see he didn’t like the idea of sending women into danger.
‘Sir,’ I said. ‘Has to be done.’
Nightingale sighed and nodded to Zach, who shouted out that he wanted to bring two nurses to meet them. I still couldn’t make out words in the reply but, after a couple more exchanges, Zach blew out a breath and said that they were willing to talk.
‘Who will we be talking to? I asked.
‘Ten-Tons,’ said Zach. ‘Maybe Ten-Tons’ daughter.’
‘Interesting,’ I said.
‘Who you’re not going to try anything with,’ said Zach.
‘Why would I be trying it on with Ten-Tons’ daughter?’ I asked.
‘Just don’t even think about it,’ said Zach.
‘No hanky panky with Ten-Tons’ daughter,’ I said. ‘Got it.’
‘What was all that about?’ asked Lesley.
‘I have no idea,’ I said, but I thought I probably did.
‘If we’re going to go, we might as well go now,’ said Zach. He called out that we were coming and stepped out in front of the left-hand CO19 officer. As I followed him Nightingale told me to be careful.
‘That’s the plan,’ I told him.
‘There’s a plan?’ asked Reynolds.
‘Do me a favour,’ said Lesley.
We joined Zach. As I shone my torch down the tunnel I thought I saw pale faces in the distance.
‘You want to be pointing your light down – in front of you,’ said Zach.
‘Why’s that?’ asked Lesley.
‘They’ve got sensitive eyes,’ he said.
When you’re police it’s important to always convey the impression that you know more about what’s really going on than any random member of the public. The best way to achieve this is to actually know more about something than people think you do. For example: I was pretty certain I knew where the Quiet People’s settlement was. Me, Lesley and Nightingale had taken to calling it a settlement because we didn’t like the demographic implications of the word village. We weren’t that keen on the word hamlet either.
‘What if it’s a town?’ Lesley had asked during the pre-operation briefing. ‘What if it’s a city?’
‘Let’s hope not,’ said Nightingale.
I’d suggested in that case we should hand the whole problem over to Tyburn. Nightingale was not amused.
He said that we should at least establish the scale of the problem before deciding what to do about it. I didn’t point out that the Quiet People had managed to go at least a hundred and sixty years already without being a problem – or at least a problem that affected the Queen’s Peace. Which was more than can be said, historically speaking, for the place we thought they might be living under.
London was the world’s first megalopolis. You can make a case for Beijing, Constantinople or Rome, but for
