‘He may just have to,’ Njinga answered grimly, ‘depending on how things go for us. But the bottom line, kid, is that that thing he can do, it’s a different kind of energy channelling altogether. It’s something that the old Grandmasters of the Councils learned to do, after centuries, hell, thousands a’ years a’ meditation an’ study. They learned how to tap into the most potent energy streams a’ the universe – I’m talkin’ stuff beyond this planet, beyond this dimension. William was one a’ the few younger beastwalkers who was able to learn how to do this in a relatively short space of time; decades instead of centuries. But he ain’t no master a’ it, not even close, not how the old grandmasters were. Sure, he can pluck it outta thin air, no matter where he is or what’s around him, but his, how do I put it, his grasp on it, if you wanna think of him being like, a lion tamer—’
‘A tiger tamer would be more appropriate,’ Chloe interjected, grinning to herself.
‘All right, all right, tiger tamer then,’ Njinga continued. ‘Well, it’s as if his tiger ain’t really tame at all, an’ might turn on him an’ maul him at any moment. You get what I’m sayin’? He’s got the ability to call the tiger, an’ to ask it do what he says … but it’s got a mind a’ its own, an’ sometimes it obeys, but sometimes it don’t. And when it don’t wanna do what he wants it to do, it hurts him. It hurts him bad. Hell, even when it does go where he wants it to, it takes a heavy toll. He has to use a lot a’ his own life force as well, you see, when he does this. If he pushes it too hard, he could kill himself.’
‘Oh, wow,’ Chloe murmured. ‘I … I guess I understand now.’
‘That’s why we have to do things this way, with guns, as much as I – we – all hate doin’ this kinda shit. If this whole thing was going down in an ancient forest, an’ we’d had time to prepare ourselves, it might be a totally different story. But it ain’t, an’ here we are, in the belly a’ the fuckin’ beast, fightin’ on their terms. I ain’t too happy about it kid, but desperate times, an’ all that shit.’
Chloe nodded.
‘I get it.’
‘I’m glad you do, an’ please believe me when I say that this is a last, desperate resort. I really, really wish there was some other way, but this is it. We’ve reached the end a’ the road, an’ there ain’t nowhere left to go.’ She paused and allowed these weighty words to hover for a while in the air, thick and pungent like cigarette smoke. After some time, she continued. ‘All right kid, I’m gonna give you a quick pop quiz, just to make sure you know your part a’ the plan backwards. Tell me, at what exact time are you going to retrieve your weapons?’
Despite the anxiety that was percolating like a virulent infection in her guts, Chloe answered with the unflinching rapidity and confidence of a trained soldier.
‘Eleven thirty-seven and fifteen seconds. Exactly fifteen seconds after the power outage.’
‘Where you gonna go to retrieve your weapons?’
‘At exactly eleven-thirty-five I’ll head over to the women’s bathroom at the back of the underground-level VIP bar. I’ll wait in a stall for the power to go out. There’s a janitor’s closet in the corner of the bathroom, which this key will unlock.’
Chloe pressed a button on the wrist of her stormtrooper outfit, and a small compartment opened on the wrist, revealing a key hidden inside. Njinga nodded and continued with her questions.
‘You got it kid, you got it. And what are you gon’ find inside the janitor’s closet?’
‘A combat shotgun, two bandoliers of ammunition, two nine-millimetre pistols, a belt equipped with three stun grenades, two smoke grenades and five assault grenades.’
‘An’ after you get the weapons?’
‘I’ll head out of the bathroom and turn left. From there I take the hallway that leads to the access door to the private section of the club.’
‘An’ then?’
Chloe breathed in deeply before she began to recite her perfectly memorised response.
‘After you and Zakaria have cleared out the first wave of Huntsmen troops, Ranomi’s gonna open the door from the inside. I’m gonna meet up with you guys then. You, Zakaria, Kimiko, Ranomi and me will storm the place. I’ll be covering your backs while you guys head straight for the main conference room, where the Huntsmen Board Members will be having their dinner and meeting with Sigurd, Hrothgar and Joao for Sigurd’s Winternights festival. Awang will detonate tear gas grenades in the club and in the streets outside, causing chaos and preventing Huntsmen reinforcements from getting inside. After that he’ll take up a sniper position on a rooftop nearby to cover our own retreat and pick off any Huntsmen troops who come after us. William and Sharaf will be waiting on the upper floors to cut off the Huntsmen Board Members’ escape, and cut ‘em down as they try to flee. We go in quick, strike hard, and get out just as fast.’
Njinga placed a hand on the shoulder of Chloe’s stormtrooper armour.
‘That’s it, kid. You know your mission parameters well. You got this.’
Chloe inhaled slowly and fully, holding the stale air in her lungs as long as she could in a bid to try to stay calm. It worked to a degree, but the writhing, thorn-scaled parasite
