I pulled him close and whispered in his ear, disguising the move with a hug. I trusted Kane didn’t know me well enough to appreciate how distasteful I find that sort of thing.
My natural inclination is simply to write down what I said to him at that point but I know that Watson would never forgive me—he does so love to leave things out to increase dramatic effect during his climaxes. It seems childish and unnecessary to me, but I will accede to his tastes as this account is, by the lion’s share, his.
I turned to Kane, curious to tell whether he had heard me. His face, however, was impossible to read.
“Let’s keep moving,” I said, pointing ahead and pushing past Kane so as to lead the way.
I gave one last glance at Wiggins, who winked at me. Then he lifted Johnson up and began to head back the way we had come.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
So, our party was now two members down. It could have been worse —one of us could have been dead.
I was sure that, by leading the way, I might limit any future accidents. After all, bar Kane, I was the one who had some idea of what we were walking towards.
“We are nearly there,” he said, that growl of a voice coming from just behind me. “There is a hole in the tunnel wall just around the next bend. It used to be part of a factory I think—huge storage areas and chambers, abandoned until we came.”
“We came?” I asked. “I thought you were born down here?”
There was a slight pause. “Indeed, it was just a turn of phrase.”
He was growing less cautious now we were nearly there. I took that as a good sign. After all, it would be easier all round if we could just drop the pretence.
We turned the corner and Kane pushed past me. “I will lead,” he said. “It is difficult to find if you don’t know where it is.”
We gathered at the entrance, the hole covered by a draped length of sacking. “We are here,” said Kane. “We should enter quietly, my father may have left someone on guard. If we can sneak up on them quietly we stand a fair chance.”
“Quietly?” asked Mann. “It’s been as noisy as the Boer War down here so far.”
Kane simply stared at him so I took it upon myself to take control.
“We will do as Kane says,” I told them. “Whatever happens, stay calm.”
The time had come. I suspected I knew what would lie on the other side of that wall. I was fairly certain that I had the measure of how events would play out once we stepped into Mitchell’s lair. Now I would find out if I had been right.
One by one, we stepped beyond the sacking, entering the pitch-darkness of the room beyond. There was a smell, that sweet animal scent of the zoo. From the way the sound of our footsteps echoed I could tell the room we were entering was of a reasonable size. I knew as much when there was the sound of a struck match and the beam of a lantern shone upon us. Then another, and another, and yet one more …
We were surrounded by the beast men, holding up their lanterns and looking at us with their animal eyes.
“Ah, Holmes,” said Mitchell, still wearing his foul pig’s-head mask, “so good of you to join us.”
Kane went to stand by his master’s side.
“You really should have stayed within the safe walls of Baker Street,” Mitchell continued, his voice distorted as it echoed around the inside of that swinish cowl. “Now that you are all here I can do whatever I wish with you, my experiments can recommence with fresh supplies! You are entirely at my mercy!”
All of which, naturally came as something of a relief.
PART SIX
THE ARMY OF DR MOREAU
WATSON
I don’t think I have ever been so disturbed as during those few hours after my capture. Through my association with Holmes I have found myself in perilous situations many times. I have been chased by a wild dog on Dartmoor, shot at by vengeful big game hunters with air rifles, threatened by Thuggee occultists and even injected by Elwood Dunfires, the notorious Babel Poisoner. For all that, I was never more aware of the fragility of my own existence than when faced with the singular madness of Albert Mitchell!
He talked at some length as we travelled in his coach, listing mankind’s crimes against nature with the fervency and imbalance that can only come from the truly lunatic.
“Moreau wished to create a new species in that lab we shared,” he explained, many,
“Didn’t stop him though, did you?” I could hardly help but point out after I had heard the story several times. “I agree fully with your attitude towards vivisection—I have yet to see a worthwhile justification for it. I, however, would simply have punched the blackguard on the jaw and let the animals go.” I stared out of the window at the passing street, rather that than look into his mad eyes. “But then, I’ve always been a rather practical man.”
“You do not know,” he roared, “could never understand what it was like!”
“Yes, yes—” I admit I tried to placate him. It would help nobody were I to end up dead before we even reached our destination “—I dare say that’s the case.”
He stared at me, face red, spittle on his chin. He had been the very model of urbanity last time I had seen him. It would seem that now, having embraced his plan wholeheartedly, the few human traits he possessed were fading fast. His hands clutched at the legs of his trousers, tugging at the material; his feet rolled on the floor, heel to toe, as if he were impatient to run. He reminded me of a caged animal, preparing to bolt the minute he could see open air.
“What have you done with the Prime Minister?” I asked, hoping that a change of subject might help to calm him down.
“Lord Newman will become one of my greatest supporters,” he replied. “After all, we share so many of the same concerns.”
I did not relish the sound of that. “What have you done to him?” I asked again.
He smiled, once more the alpha male. “You will see soon enough. He is a greater man than he ever was.”
We arrived outside what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. As far as I could tell we were somewhere in the area of King’s Cross. I considered making a run for it the minute the door was opened, but one look at the eyes of our feline driver changed my mind. I knew that my chances of getting out alive would drop dramatically once we were inside the building, but if this brute lived up to his natural heritage he would be fast as well as strong. There was no chance I’d be able to outrun him.
I was grabbed by the shoulder, and I could feel thick claws pierce the material of my jacket. If I pulled away he meant to make sure I left a piece of me behind!
“I can’t promise you will be comfortable,” Mitchell said. “But I doubt you’ll have to endure my company for long.”
“Well that’s a relief.”
He stared at me, seemingly at a loss as to why I was being so rude. That’s the problem with lunatics— they’re not awfully self-aware.
“I had hoped that you might be able to assist me,” he said. “As a medical man you would have been an extremely beneficial companion.”
“As a medical man I couldn’t lift a scalpel to help you.”
“You say that now, but let us see if you can maintain that dismissive attitude once you see what I have achieved.”
I was led inside the building, and my first impression was of the foul stench that clung to its ancient brick
