‘No. I’m going to stick with unhinged and what’s more, I think she’s cleaning up.’ He poured a measure of brandy into his empty cup and passed the bottle back to Wheeler. ‘Yawlander and Blackburn,’ he mused, staring into his cup. ‘It’s a start.’
Wheeler froze, his eyes fixed on Helix. ‘Cleaning up?’
Helix nodded. ‘Makes sense.’ He sipped his brandy. He’d had better. ‘She’s got Ethan, she wants Gabrielle and when I deliver her, she’ll try to take me out as well.’
He tapped out a short drum roll with his fingers. ‘If she succeeds, after she’s finished with us, she’ll tie up any other loose ends.’
‘Loose ends? What loose ends?’ Wheeler laughed. ‘You surely don’t mean me, do you?’ His eyes darted between Helix and Sofi. ‘I was his—’
‘You’re starting to sound like a parrot.’ Helix sighed. ‘Be under no illusions. She’ll come for you too.’ He nodded, happy with his conclusion.
Wheeler wrung his hands and loosened his tie. ‘She doesn’t know where I am.’
‘Not yet,’ Helix said, pointing to his right eye. ‘But I’m sure she watches the news.’ He climbed up from his chair and stretched. ‘Did you know everything I see with my right eye is recorded? Ethan may be temporarily offline but his AI isn’t. It listens, it sees and it could, if I told it to, distribute footage of you leaving Paddington station. We could even go live from our living room.’ He clamped his hand on Wheeler’s shoulder. ‘But look, I’m a reasonable man. If you work with me, I can protect you. The last place you need to be at the moment is here, in London.’
‘What have you got in mind?’
Helix pulled the curtain aside and looked out. ‘It’s dark and still pissing down. That’ll make things easier. We need to keep off public transport so I hope those shoes are good for walking.’
‘Where are we going?’
Helix slung his holsters over his shoulders. ‘To collect the dirt you have on Ormandy.’
‘Nice try, Major. You might be in a bit of a pickle with her at the moment, but I know where your loyalties lie. You’ll take the information and use it to curry favour with her and ship me off to halo-confinement. No, thanks.’ Wheeler pressed the glass to his forehead. ‘I’d sooner die.’
‘Hmm. Tempting but I’ve got better things to do than pull her strings. That said, nothing would make me happier that to see her go the same way as you.’
‘And what about Ulyana Lytkin? Your masterplan doesn’t resolve that issue, does it?’
Helix tidied the gun cleaning kit back into its box. ‘True. But I’ll take my chances.’ He folded the silver case closed and pressed down on it with his palms. ‘So, I guess, if your answer is no, then you’ll be taking your chances with Miss Lytkin too.’ He folded his arms. ‘Or I could just shoot you. I’ve seen what she’s capable of. I’d be doing you a favour.’
Wheeler searched for the answer in the bottom of his empty glass. Helix left him to it, taking the second of the two cases into the bedroom. He heaved it onto the bed, opened it and checked the contents.
‘I’ve got the munchies,’ he said, returning to the sitting room. ‘There’s a place purporting to be Lebanese just out on the main road. They do deliveries.’
Sofi sauntered over to him. ‘I’m not hungry,’ she said, reaching up and kissing him on the cheek. ‘I’m tired. Think I’ll take a nap.’
‘OK. Close the door so we don’t disturb you,’ he said. He clapped his hands together. ‘Right. Food. What do you fancy?’
Wheeler sighed. ‘Alright, Major.’
‘I know what I’m having. You?’
‘No. I meant alright, I’ll take you there.’
Helix feigned surprise. ‘Excellent choice. But I still need to eat.’
Helix teased a piece of laboratory lamb from between his teeth with a toothpick and nodded towards the TV. ‘Another ten-thousand people out of work thanks to the unrelenting drive of technology,’ he said.
‘Don’t you ever crave more time to yourself?’ Wheeler replied, pushing away his half-eaten food. ‘To do the things you want to do, catch up with friends, go to the theatre, the opera, a concert, dining out?’
‘The opera? Me? I’d go out of my mind with boredom.’ Helix tore off a piece of pita bread and wiped the gravy from his plate. ‘No. I’m too busy catching bad guys and there aren’t many of them these days, present company excepted. It’s not for me,’ he said, pausing to swallow. ‘I mean look at the castle in Chepstow. Where was the pleasure in that for you?’
‘It’s nice to have nice things, Major,’ Wheeler said, folding his napkin.
‘To have nice things. Served on a silver salver or a paper plate in my world. What about making those things for yourself? The planning, gathering the tools and materials, preparing the site, sweating the blood, and then standing back and admiring your handiwork.’
Wheeler shrugged. ‘Never been very good with my hands.’
‘Apart from counting beans.’
‘Very droll, Major.’ He interlaced his fingers. ‘We’ve come a long way since the pandemic, don’t you think? People, I mean.’
‘Some people. Mainly in the cardinal cities. What about the folks outside? The diggers as your sort call them.’
‘I think they’re content with their lives. For all the reasons you listed. They’ve evolved just as much as the city folk. They’ve found a way to—’
‘Out of necessity. Natural selection, survival of the fittest. Call it what you like. But better to evolve rather than be evolved by some unnatural ethereal force. Give me Darwin any day. And a fat lot of help they’ve had. To be honest, I reckon even if you offered help, they’d tell you where to stick it.’
‘They made their choices.’
‘If they had a few million in the bank when the shit hit the fan, maybe.’ Helix folded his arms. ‘Otherwise, the only choice they had was leave or die. Personally, I reckon they made the right choice.’
‘So, what’s holding you back?
