“I talked to Anne before I left. I explained what I was feeling. She understood.”
“You seemed to enjoy seeing her today. Any regrets?”
A lot, Simon thought, but none of them about Anne. “No.”
“Do the Templar stay married?”
“Most of the time. More so here than in the outside world.”
“But divorce still sometimes happens?”
“Yes. Some people aren’t meant to be married. They still have children, though.”
“That’s what’s important, after all.” Leah’s voice dripped sarcasm. “The rest of the world is getting overpopulated. It’s a wonder that you people haven’t.”
“That’s been a concern since the beginning. The population within the Templar Underground is carefully monitored. Occasionally the numbers have grown too quickly. At that time the word goes out that there aren’t supposed to be any more births.”
“And if Templar do have children?”
“They generally don’t.”
“People, as a general rule, don’t like being told what to do.”
“The people that live here,” Simon reminded her, “aren’t general populace.”
“Holier-than-thou much?”
“After everything you’ve seen even in the short time that you’ve been here, if you don’t see a difference in these people, you never will.” Simon’s voice had an irritated edge to it that he hadn’t intended.
“Point taken.” Leah took a breath and a new tack. “What about the people who choose to ignore the high command and decide to have kids anyway?”
Simon kept his voice neutral, getting the feeling that she was testing him for some reason and not knowing what that was. “There are consequences. People get passed over for promotion. Housing needs are met, but wants are ignored. Special privileges are revoked.”
“ ‘Special privileges’?”
“Some of the Templar are permitted to work outside the Underground.”
“Why?”
Simon sipped his tea and found it still almost too hot. “To observe.”
“Observe what?”
“Politics. Economics. Developments in technology.”
“The Templar seem withdrawn from society. And their technology is ahead of anything anyone else seems to have.”
“When it comes to weapons, yes. But the Templar know they’re too focused when it comes to tech development. Medicine is just as important, but they don’t have the resources to follow up on it. The Templar exist separately from the rest of the world, but are not cut off. They’re here—we’re here—to guard the rest of the world against the demons.”
Simon had realized how much he’d cut himself off from the Templar and had tried to change that. But it sounded awkward acting like he was one of them as well. That had been the way it had always been.
“Then why aren’t the Templar bringing the other survivors in the city here? Why are they leaving them out there to fend for themselves?”
“Because coming here isn’t the answer. If we brought them back here, the demons would follow.” Simon breathed calmly even though he was angry because she didn’t already see the answer to her question. And perhaps he was partly conflicted with memory of those hard-pressed survivors he’d seen while trekking into the city. “The sacrifice those warriors made on All Hallows’ Eve will have been in vain. We have rations here, a plan in place that will carry us through the fight with the demons, but we can’t afford to take on a lot of untrained personnel.”
Leah looked at him. “What happens to me? I’m untrained personnel.”
Simon sat back and didn’t answer. He honestly didn’t know.
“Simon Cross.”
Waking immediately, groggy from the lack of sleep and achy from the pounding he’d taken the night they’d been attacked, Simon looked up and spotted Bruce Martindale pulling on his armor next to the bed. Bruce was Derek’s second-in-command. He was young and arrogant, everything a Templar should be.
Taking the man’s lead, Simon sat up and started pulling armor on. “What’s going on?” Simon asked.
“We pulled an assignment.” Bruce shrugged into his breastplate. “We’re going outside.”
“What is it?” Simon stepped into his boots.
“When you need to know,” Bruce replied, “you’ll be told.”
Simon nodded. He hated the abrupt manner the other Templar showed toward him. But there was nothing he could do to change it. He concentrated on the promise he’d made to his father. That was the most important thing. He didn’t intend to break it again.
The readout on Simon’s HUD showed the time as 3:14 a.m. He’d gotten a little over two hours’ sleep after his conversation with Leah had dwindled away to nothing. When he’d returned to the barracks, he hadn’t been able to sleep at first. He dampened his audio and yawned, a real jaw-creaker that bordered on painful. It was enough to make his eyes water.
Traces of white snow gleamed on the streets, windowsills, and buildings, and on the wrecked cars, double-decker buses, and military vehicles and tanks mired in the street. Weak moonlight barely chased back the pitch-black shadows draping the urban landscape. There were no lights, no flames or lanterns or candles to light the existence of anyone who still lived in the city.
After two years of guiding clients through the wild outside Cape Town, the city of London looked strange. And dangerous. Gargoyles sat atop some of the buildings, and Simon knew it would be hard to separate them from the demons that might be lurking.
The Chelsea district where they were now was generally thought of as well-to-do. Residential houses in the area were very expensive. Simon had passed through the district with his father.
“There’s a house just off King’s Road,” Derek announced in a quiet voice to the twenty Templar massed in the tube station. “I’m giving you the location now.”
A light pulsed on Simon’s HUD, signaling the upload of a map. Superimposed on the viewscreen, a street map took shape. King’s Road was clearly marked. The Thames was only a short distance away.
“This is our target,” Derek said.
A red dot formed on the map half a block off King’s Road seventeen long blocks from their present position inside the Sloane Street tube station.
“One of the lads in the research division sniffed out an artifact we’re supposed to lay hands to,” Derek went on. “A book.”
A few of the men shifted tensely. “A book?” one named
