He forced a smile, nodded. Mouthed a thank-you to her.
She just cast her head down as if expecting a blow from him.
Mickey moved quickly to the bottom of the next ladder. Started to climb.
Ready for Fenton.
He reached the top floor. There were no lights here, so he had to wait a few seconds, allow his eyes to get accustomed to the gloom. He focused. It was deserted, no people up here. As if it took too much effort for them to get this far. He saw that the bulbs stretched out as on the other floors, but a constant stream of water had rendered them useless. But possibly live, so he kept away from them.
The rain was battering the metal ceiling. If I had to live here, thought Mickey, it would drive me mad. He thought of the inhabitants downstairs. It explained a lot.
He took his torch out, swung it round, checking out the layout. He caught water coming in, so hard and persistent it seemed like it was raining inside.
And then, several containers along, water shining and splashing all around, he saw a shadow move.
Fenton.
Mickey quickly made his way through the cut-out walls, splashing in rusty brown puddles, careful not to touch the electric wires hanging from overhead.
He saw the shadow flit around another corner. Shone his torch at it.
Dead end.
He had him.
‘Fenton… ’ Mickey’s voice echoed off the metal walls. ‘Give yourself up. I’m armed and you’re surrounded. You won’t get out of here.’
Nothing. The rain the only response.
Mickey lowered his voice, tried a calmer approach. ‘Come on, Michael. It’s over. Let’s talk, hey?’
He heard a scream.
The shadow had detached itself from the back wall and was coming straight towards him. Mickey didn’t have time to react before Fenton was on him, punching and clawing at his face and head, screaming all the while.
He closed his eyes as Fenton’s fingers tried to push inside his eye sockets, gouge out his eyeballs. His turn to scream.
He wrapped his hands round Fenton’s wrists, tried to prise his hands away. He couldn’t. He worked his way along, grabbed hold of Fenton’s fingers, tried to pull them out. They wouldn’t budge.
He felt Fenton’s thumb sink into his left eye socket. The pain was becoming intense. He needed to do something drastic. Taking Fenton’s index finger with both hands, he pushed it back as far as it would go, heard the snap.
Fenton let out an animal howl. Mickey felt the pain in his eyes stop. He grabbed Fenton’s neck with his left hand, punched his face as hard as he could with his right.
Fenton fell backwards.
Mickey scrambled to his feet, eyes still stinging. Fenton was backing away from him.
‘Get off me! Get away from me!’
‘Come on, Michael, let’s go… ’ Mickey, walking towards him.
Fenton turned, got to his feet. Made a break back the way he had come. Mickey reached out for him, but he was beyond his reach.
Fenton turned to see if Mickey was behind him, turned back again. And tripped over the welded metal ridge between the containers.
Mickey reached out for him, but Fenton fell backwards, away from him.
‘No,’ called Mickey, ‘don’t-’
As Fenton fell, he reached up for something to steady himself. Found the soaking wet electrical cable running along the ceiling. He pulled, it detached itself and he slipped back, taking it with him as he went.
‘No… ’
Mickey stepped back. Well away from Fenton now.
The cable, worn and uninsulated, hit the pools of water in the container. Fenton, holding on to it, screamed.
Mickey couldn’t watch.
He turned away, the stench of burning flesh and singeing hair in his nostrils. Heard the wire sparking and humming.
He ran for the stairs.
Wanting to put as much distance between himself and Fenton – and the Garden – as possible.
131
‘Come on,’ said Phil, ‘let’s… let’s get you out of here… ’
With Marina supporting him, he crossed to the cage. He was still carrying the blade he had used on the Gardener. Now he dropped it, began untying the binding, opening the door. Finn just stared at him, eyes wide. Phil smiled. It was an effort.
‘Told you I was a friend,’ he said. ‘Told you I would get you out.’
For the first time, there was the ghost of a smile on the boy’s face. Terrified to believe the words, desperately hoping they were true.
Phil fumbled with the bindings, had to stop.
‘I’m sorry, I… ’
‘You’ve lost a lot of blood, Phil,’ said Marina. ‘You’re going to pass out. Here. Let me.’
She moved in front of him, took over the untying. Phil held on to the bars to steady himself. Tried hard to keep his eyes open. He felt like he wanted to sleep. His body telling him to just let go, drift away. He moved about, blinked, fought it.
Caught a glimpse of movement at the far end of the chamber.
Blinked again. Saw what it was.
Glass. Standing there holding a gun.
He blinked again. Hallucinating, he thought.
‘Stand away from the cage,’ Glass said.
Marina turned also. Stopped what she was doing.
‘How did you get in here?’ she said.
‘Through the door,’ said Glass, as if explaining a simple fact to a dull child. ‘This chamber is directly beneath the chapel in the hotel. It was used for… oh, I don’t know. Hiding Cavaliers from Roundheads. Something like that.’
‘And the Gardener was here all the time,’ said Marina.
‘Ever since the Garden was forcibly evicted,’ said Glass. ‘And all down to me, too. If it hadn’t been for me, they wouldn’t have had anywhere to go.’
‘You arranged for their disappearance.’ Marina staring at him.
He gave a small, bobbing smile. ‘I did. Went to them, told them what was going to happen. Offered them an escape route. And gave them my terms and conditions.’
‘Which were?’
‘I wanted to be one of them. An Elder. Because I could see the potential even then. They soon came round to my way of thinking.’
‘And that’s it, is it?’ said Marina. ‘All this? Just for money?’
Glass shrugged. ‘And power. And influence. The usual stuff.’
‘You sold out your job. Yourself. Just for that.’
‘Oh, please. What would I have become if I hadn’t done that? Don Brennan? Old and redundant. Nothing. Him?’ He gestured to Phil. ‘No. The Elders allowed me to become the person I always knew I could be. Always should have been. They made me. They created me. But I don’t expect you to understand. Your mind’s too small. Boring.
