Читать книгу Department 19 - 3 Book Collection - Will Hill, Will Hill - Страница 23

By the time he stepped out of the lift on Level 0, Jamie had more or less pulled himself together. His eyes were red, but that was as much a result of rubbing them dry as it was the tears that had spilled from them. A soldier in black armour walked down the corridor towards him, and Jamie asked if he knew where he could find Admiral Seward. The soldier looked surprised at the request, but he told him where the Director’s quarters could be found. Jamie thanked him, then made his way down a grey corridor that looked like all the others.

In front of the door to Admiral Seward’s quarters was another soldier, his black uniform covered in armour plates and webbing, the purple visor of his helmet lowered over his face. He saw Jamie as soon as he turned the corner.

“Identify yourself,” the soldier said. He did not raise his gun, but his right index finger rested steadily on the outside of the trigger guard.

“I’m Jamie Carpenter,” he replied.

The soldier distanced his finger from the trigger, reached up and flipped open the purple visor.

My God. He’s only a few years older than me.

“Say again,” the guard said, a strange look on his face, a look that Jamie didn’t like at all.

“I’m Jamie Carpenter,” he repeated. Disgust curdled on the guard’s face. He strode down the corridor towards him, and Jamie took a step backwards, his hands rising involuntarily in front of him in a placatory gesture. The soldier backed him against the wall, and leant in until his face was inches from Jamie’s own.

“Carpenter?” the guard hissed. “Is that what you said? Carpenter?”

Terrified, and incredibly aware of the heavy black gun hanging inches from his body, Jamie nodded.

“And you have the nerve to be standing here? In this building?”

Jamie didn’t reply; he was too scared to speak. He stared straight into the cold, hard face of the guard, then a voice he recognised called down the corridor.

“Stand down, soldier.”

The guard and Jamie looked in the direction of the voice, their heads turning in unison. Admiral Seward stood in the open door to his quarters. Behind him, looming above the Director, was the enormous shape of Frankenstein.

The soldier stood up straight, but did not back away.

“Sir, I must protest,” he began. “This is the son of—”

“I know perfectly well who he is, Private,” interrupted Seward. “Now stand down, son. That is a direct order.”

The guard stepped back into the middle of the corridor and stood to attention, facing the Admiral. His face wore a look of blazing anger, but he said nothing more.

Seward stepped out into the corridor, holding the door open.

“Come in, Mr Carpenter,” he said. “We have much to discuss.”

Admiral Seward sat behind the long desk on one side of the room, while Jamie and Frankenstein occupied the two armchairs next to the fireplace. Jamie glanced at the huge man next to him, who favoured him with a thin smile.

“Jamie Carpenter,” said Seward. “I would like to welcome you to the headquarters of Department 19. Or Blacklight, as it has always been called by those who are aware of its existence.”

Blacklight. I feel like I’ve heard that word before, a long time ago. Blacklight.

Then a strange thought arrived, unbidden, in Jamie’s mind.

It feels like home.

There was a long silence, then Admiral Seward continued.

“I haven’t seen you since you were a baby. You look like your father, has anyone ever told you that?”

“My mother,” replied Jamie.

“Of course,” said the Admiral. “I’m sorry to hear what has happened to her. She was a fine woman.”

“She still is,” said Jamie, staring at the Director of Department 19.

Seward moved a pile of papers from one side of the desk to the other, nervously. He seemed unwilling to meet Jamie’s gaze, and this infuriated the teenager.

Look at me, old man. It’s the least you can do. Look at me.

Frankenstein, as if able to read Jamie’s thoughts, reached out and placed an enormous hand on his arm. The message was clear: stay calm.

“Sir,” Jamie said, as politely as he could manage, and when Seward looked up, he continued. “Why did the guard outside in the corridor have a go at me? I haven’t done anything.”

The Admiral looked at him, opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again and said, “Don’t worry about that. It’s not important. We need to focus on what we are going to do with you now.”

“Let me look for my mother,” Jamie said, instantly.

“Out of the question,” Seward replied. “We have no idea where she is, or even if she...”

He trailed off, straightened a line of pencils that lay in the middle of his desk.

“If you won’t help me,” said Jamie, his voice low. “I’ll do it on my own. Let me out of here, and I’ll find her myself.”

“I can’t do that,” replied Seward. “We’re taking you off the grid.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that in a little over forty-eight hours there will be no record that you ever existed. It’s for your own safety, and the safety of anyone you’ve ever been in contact with.”

Jamie’s head swam.

“You’re erasing me?” he asked, incredulous. “Is that what you’re saying?”

Seward nodded. “It’s standard procedure in a case like this. Alexandru may try to get to you through people you have known. And his existence, and that of others like him, must remain secret. It’s our top priority.”

Anger flashed across Jamie’s face.

“My mother is my top priority,” he growled. “I don’t give a damn about yours.”

“You see?” said Seward, looking helplessly at Frankenstein. “How am I supposed to...” He hesitated, then returned his gaze to Jamie. “Your father was one of my closest friends,” he said. “Did you know that? No, of course you didn’t. But he was. When I joined the Department he was already a legend. He was one of our finest Operators. For it to end the way it did...”

Jamie waited for the Admiral to say more, feeling the heat beneath his skin, pushing his anger as deep as he was able, but the old man appeared to have finished. The glaze had returned to his eyes, and he seemed to be lost in his memories, remembering better days. When Jamie could take the silence no longer, he tried a new approach.

“What about my mother?” he asked in a low voice. “Why didn’t she tell me the truth about what Dad really did? After he died, I mean.”

Frankenstein spoke in a low rumbling voice, like a landslide.

“She never knew anything about Department 19. It’s forbidden to tell anyone that it exists.”

“So he lied to her his whole life?”

“Yes,” said Frankenstein. His vast face was expressionless, but his eyes never left Jamie’s.

“It’s not so unusual,” said Seward, and the teenager and the monster turned their attention back to the wide desk. “All the Security Services require it; MI5, SIS. And Blacklight is classified far beyond either of them.”

“So how come I would have been asked to join?” Jamie asked. “Don’t you have to be selected, like for the SAS?”

A flicker of admiration passed across the Admiral’s face, and he nodded. “You’re very sharp, Jamie,” he replied, “just like your father was. The document that founded Department 19 entrusted the protection of the Empire to the five founder members and their descendants, in perpetuity. It was later amended to include your family. Over the years, we’ve needed to expand way beyond just the members of six families, and those men and women we draw from the armed forces, the police, the Security Services, just as you suggested. But descendants of the six families listed in the original document are always asked to join, automatically. A tradition that has served us well; a descendant of the founders has headed Blacklight during every year of her history, from Professor Van Helsing’s founding reign until now, when the honour has fallen to me.”

Curiosity temporarily pushed concern for his mother from Jamie’s mind.

“Were any of my family ever in charge?” he asked.

Admiral Seward sighed. “No,” he said, and his voice, which had swelled with passion as he talked about the history of Department 19, now sounded deflated. “That was part of the problem.”

“What problem?”

Admiral Seward’s gaze flicked towards Frankenstein, and Jamie followed it. The huge man’s jaw was clenched tight, the veins in his neck standing out, but he nodded.

“All right,” the Admiral said, a resigned look on his face. “I suppose it’s better you hear this from me than from one of the soldiers.”

“Hear what?” Jamie asked, knowing as he did so that he didn’t really want Seward to answer.

“Two years ago, the day before he died, your father betrayed us. There was an attack, here at the Loop, and a number of men were killed. The attack was carried out by Alexandru, the same vampire who took your mother last night, who ordered Larissa to kill you. Your father gave him the information that allowed it to happen.”

A terrible icy cold crawled up Jamie’s spine and into the back of his head.

Impossible. There’s no way Dad would have done that. Impossible.

“I don’t believe you,” he said, his voice little more than a growl.

“I know it must be hard for you to hear this—”

“No. It’s not,” interrupted Jamie. “It’s easy. You’re wrong.”

Seward looked at Frankenstein.

“You see? He’s too young to understand this.”

“I’m not too young,” said Jamie. “I just don’t believe you.” He looked at Frankenstein and continued. “There were things in our garden the night Dad died. I saw Larissa through our front room window. There were vampires there just before he was shot. If he sold you out to them, why were they there?”

“There were no reports of any supernatural activity in the area around your house that night,” said Frankenstein, softly. “There were—”

“I don’t want to hear this!” cried Jamie, his voice suddenly loud in the small room. “I don’t want to hear any more. Why are you saying this to me?”

He turned on Admiral Seward.

“You told me he was your friend. Why are you saying this about him?”

“I was his friend,” replied Seward, but he dropped his eyes to his desk, unable to meet Jamie’s furious gaze.

“I was his closest friend, Jamie,” said Frankenstein. “I knew him for almost twenty years. What he did broke my heart. But it’s the truth.”

“But why? Why would he do it? You said he was a legend. Why would he have done it?”

“A year before he died he led a mission into Hungary,” Frankenstein replied. “He was following a lead on Alexandru. When your father’s team arrived at an estate outside Budapest Alexandru was gone, but his wife Ilyana was still there. Julian destroyed her, and brought the team home. But he knew Alexandru would stop at nothing to have his revenge, on Julian, and on you and your mother. So he made a deal; he sacrificed us so you would be safe.”

Frankenstein looked down at Jamie, and the teenager was shocked to see tears pooling in the corners of the monster’s eyes.

“I don’t feel very safe,” he replied. “I really don’t. If he made a deal with Alexandru, what happened yesterday?”

Admiral Seward answered him.

“I think we can assume that Alexandru is no longer honouring it.”

“But in the tree. The night he died there were—”

Seward slammed his hand down on the desktop, and everyone jumped.

“Enough!” shouted the Director. “That’s enough. Documents were found, documents in which Julian very eloquently, and at great length, described his hatred for the founders, for the way he believed his family, your family, had been treated over the years. He betrayed us, and good men died, men who deserved better. So you can see why not everyone in this base is pleased to see you, and why finding your mother is not a high priority.”

A thick red fog descended over Jamie’s vision, and he was up and out of his chair so quickly that Frankenstein didn’t have time to react. He flew across the room and lunged over the wide desk. The Director shoved his chair backwards and Jamie’s fingers gripped empty air where Seward’s neck had been. Then he was pressed flat to the desktop as Frankenstein tackled him from behind, wrapping his arms tight against his sides. He was hauled upright and stared with blazing hatred into the beetroot face of Admiral Seward, who returned his gaze with one of utter fury.

“How dare you?” roared the Director. “You little brat, how dare you?”

“My mother did nothing!” yelled Jamie. “She didn’t even know who my father really was, you said so yourself. And you would just let her die? Then let me die too, trying to help her!”

“I can’t do that!” Seward shouted. “Much as I might like to at this moment.”

“Why not?”

“Because, you angry little child, you are a Carpenter, and no matter how much your father may have done to blacken that name, you are still a descendant and it is still my duty to keep you safe, even from yourself!”

Jamie slumped in Frankenstein’s bear hug. His head was spinning.

It can’t be true. I won’t believe it. I won’t. He was my dad. I can’t believe it.

“What would you do?” continued Admiral Seward. “How would you get your mother back? You have no weapons, no training, and no plan. Did the vampire tell you where they have taken her?”

Jamie shook his lowered head. Frankenstein cautiously loosened his grip on the boy and he stood unsteadily in front of the desk.

“No,” he said. “She says she doesn’t know.”

The Admiral snorted. “Of course she knows,” he replied. “She’s just not telling you. Well, we can make her. Ten minutes, at the most.”

“I don’t think so. She doesn’t know where they were going. I believe her. I don’t see why she would be loyal to Alexandru after what he did to her.”

“So she’s useless then?”

“She says she can take us to someone who will know where they’ve gone.”

Seward laughed. “What a surprise. Well, she can forget about that. There’s not a chance in hell I’m letting her leave this base.”

“We could restrict her, sir,” said Frankenstein. “Put a limiter belt on her.”

“Out of the question,” snapped Seward. “I will not devote the resources of this organisation to a wild goose chase. I have not even given you permission to look for Marie yet.”

“I’m going to find my mother,” said Jamie, in a voice edged with steel. “With or without your help.”

Admiral Seward looked at him.

“You will find it very difficult to find anyone if I decide to have you confined to base.” He smiled at Jamie, a thin line with no humour in it. “For your own safety, of course. One of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the world is looking for you. It wouldn’t even be a lie.”

“I will look after him,” said Frankenstein, softly.

“You are a member of this organisation and you will do as you are ordered,” said Admiral Seward, sharply.

“In which case,” replied Frankenstein. “I resign.”

Jamie gasped, and Seward’s eyes bulged in his head.

“You what?” the Director asked.

“I resign. I swore an oath that I would protect the Carpenter family. If Blacklight prevents me from doing that, then I can no longer be a part of it.”

Admiral Seward fell silent. He laced his fingers together and lowered his head. Jamie and Frankenstein stood in front of his desk, waiting. Eventually, he looked up at them. The anger on his face was plain to see, but when he spoke his voice was level. Jamie suspected it was taking him a great deal of self-control.

“Very well,” he said. “You, both of you, may search for Marie Carpenter, under Department 19 jurisdiction. Mr Carpenter, you will be temporarily seconded to the Department. You are not a Blacklight Operator. Do I need to say that again?”

“No,” replied Jamie. “Good. You may not prevail upon this organisation for resources beyond the minimum, and the vampire does not leave this base. I will not have her destroyed, in case she decides to become more cooperative, but that is the absolute limit of my generosity on the matter. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir.”

“Men?” asked Frankenstein.

“You may requisition a driver, you may apply for air transport as the circumstances require, and you may enlist two men at any one time. Only if they are not required for other duties, and only if they agree to assist you once in full possession of the facts. I will not order anyone to help you, for reasons I hope are obvious.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Jamie.

“All right,” said Seward. “Victor, take Mr Carpenter to the Playground and put him through twenty-four hours of basic training.”

Jamie opened his mouth to protest, but Seward cut him off.

“Non-negotiable. God knows it will probably do you little good, but it may help me sleep a little easier if the first vampire you come across pulls your throat out.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Frankenstein. He placed an arm around Jamie and turned him gently away from the desk. As they swung open the heavy metal door, Admiral Seward spoke again.

“Find her,” he said. “Your family has enough blood on its hands. It doesn’t need any more.”

Jamie turned back to face the Director.

“I will, sir,” he said, and the resolve in his own voice surprised him. “I will.”