chit number 14 down next to the cash.
‘OK, then. Find the lady.’
He pointed to the card he’d been looking at. Liv flipped it over. It was the three of hearts. She scooped up the cash and the chit and shrugged. ‘You can’t win ’em all,’ she said. ‘But everyone gets a prize in this game.’ She handed him the chit with 26 written on it and walked quickly back to the car.
Ten minutes later they were driving over the bridge and crossing the border.
Gabriel shook his head and smiled. ‘Where on earth did you learn to do that?’
‘Coney Island. I did a series of articles on classic boardwalk cons and an old-time grifter showed me how they worked. When all this is over, I’ll show you how it’s done.’
Gabriel’s smile deepened. ‘Deal.’
They passed under the sign welcoming them to Iraq and Gabriel parked in the shade of the arch ready to go through the whole process again with Iraqi customs and immigration officials. The office on the other side was almost identical to its Turkish counterpart — the only difference being the uniforms. The patrol guards here wore drab green fatigues with military-style badges showing palm fronds encircling a sword and an AK-47. There were plenty of US military personnel around too. Gabriel had spotted a small enclosure of field tents set up off the road behind the main buildings. The Hummer they had seen earlier was parked in front of one and several other vehicles suggested there was a full platoon stationed here — thirty men at least.
The border guard studied their passport photographs, checked them against their faces, then handed them back. He finished his checks, stamped the vehicle documents and that was it.
‘Welcome to Iraq,’ he said.
It had been easier than Liv had thought. All they had to do now was drive for several hundred kilometres along some of the most dangerous roads in the world with no escort and no real idea of where they were going, to a place they hoped would lead them to the ancient site of Eden. It wasn’t the most promising of missions, but even so, it felt like a minor victory to Liv as she pushed through the office door and back out into the blinding sun. Then she saw the welcoming committee.
There were three of them, all wearing the chocolate-chip fatigues of the US Army. Two were inspecting their vehicle, the third faced them, his eyes hidden behind standard-issue Oakleys. ‘Could I see your passports, please,’ he said, his finger resting on the trigger of his cradled weapon.
‘Is there a problem?’ Gabriel stepped in front of Liv, as if that might protect her from what was happening. The soldier said nothing, he just continued to hold out his hand for the passports. Gabriel handed them over. The soldier didn’t even look at them.
‘Follow me, please. We need to ask you a few questions.’
92
Brother Axel was strapped to his bed and stripped to his loincloth. He lay moaning, his fingernails drawing blood from his palms as they worked away at the only bit of skin they could reach.
Athanasius, Thomas and Malachi were in the washroom, silently scrubbing their hands and faces with antiseptic soap in the stone sinks, wondering if the same poison that had claimed Axel was now working its way through them. It had taken all three of them to hold him down until the attendant Apothecaria had eventually managed to subdue him with a well-aimed shot of strong sedative.
They emerged from the washroom and were met by Brother Simenon, drawn here by the news that the contagion had claimed a new victim. He was hunched over the pustulant chest of Brother Axel, drawing a sample of fluid from one of the larger boils. When he finished, he handed it to an assistant then turned to the group, unsnapping his gloves and lowering his mask. The face beneath was drawn and hollow. He looked as though he hadn’t slept in a month, though in truth it was only a few days.
‘Well, at least this solves one problem,’ he said, moving away from the bed to the far side of the room and perching on a reading desk. ‘Brother Axel is not alone; there have been three other new cases of the Lamentation in the past few hours, apparently unconnected to the initial outbreak, which changes the game somewhat. I was wondering where we could put these new patients to keep them isolated; I might as well put them here. We can easily fit them in if we take more desks away and convert the second reading room. As you said earlier,’ he nodded at Athanasius, ‘the sealed nature of the library makes this a perfect isolation ward.’
‘And what about us?’ Malachi asked, his magnified eyes terrified and tearful. ‘Are we to stay here too, sharing a room with the infected?’
‘I see no reason to keep you. The purpose of your quarantine has now been negated by the fresh outbreak. I have recommended a new form of general quarantine within the mountain. From our studies of existing cases we have managed to identify a few early-warning symptoms. Anyone displaying these should be moved immediately to a containment ward. Everyone else should restrict themselves to their main area of work, and general movement throughout the mountain must be forbidden.’
‘And has Brother Dragan sanctioned this?’
Simenon shook his head. ‘Brother Dragan has locked himself in the forbidden stairwell and retired to the chapel of the Sacrament, advising everyone to pray for salvation.’
‘Then who is in charge?’
‘At the moment? Nobody.’
Athanasius’s mind hummed with this new information. He turned to Malachi and Thomas. ‘Then I suggest we three set up an emergency council to help implement Brother Simenon’s suggestions. Between us, we can appeal to our guilds to remain steadfast, and quickly organize the logistics of a lockdown throughout the mountain. We can organize food distribution to the major stairwells, so no one need travel to the refectories, and keep the corridors clear for swift evacuation to the infirmaries in the event of new cases. Only by staying calm can we hope to see our way through this.’
Thomas nodded in agreement and Simenon brightened a little, as if someone had just removed a sack of rubble from his back.
‘And where should we base ourselves?’ Malachi asked. ‘My main area of work is here in the library, and that is about to become a haven for the infected.’
Athanasius nodded as if considering this problem, though in truth he already had the answer. ‘We could set ourselves up in the Abbot’s chambers,’ he said. ‘For one thing, it is vacant, plus there’s room for all three of us and it’s well placed for coordinating efforts throughout the mountain.’
What he didn’t say was that the Abbot’s chambers, situated on the outside of the mountain with one of the few glazed windows in the Citadel, overlooking the modern city below, offered the best chance he was likely to get of picking up a phone signal.
93
The army tent was air-conditioned, but it was still hot enough inside to make Liv feel light-headed. The soldier led them down a canvas corridor towards a door that shook when he knocked on it.
‘Yes!’ The voice beyond the door sounded busy and officious.
The soldier opened the door and stood aside to let them pass.
Inside was an office with a desk, a military laptop, a phone and some aluminium folding chairs. There was also a lean colonel with a shining, shaved head and skin so black he could have been carved from ebony. He was sitting behind the desk reading an official-looking fax displaying two pictures: one of her and one of Gabriel. Liv’s knees almost buckled at the sight of them.
The soldier stepped forward and placed their passports on the desk. ‘Thank you,’ the colonel said, ‘that will be all.’
Liv heard the door close, and boots marching away. The colonel inspected the passports then finally looked up, fixing on Gabriel and shaking his head with the air of a disappointed parent.
