Without warning, I possessed the man beside him. Through the glass – and my new eyes – I saw my own body reel before collapsing like a house of cards. The other bodyguard quickly took aim at my host, but I already had the gun against Price’s head. Vance would be livid if they let her Minister for Industry die at such a crucial time for Senshield.
‘Now we can talk – face-to-face, as it were,’ I said, my voice steely. I hadn’t intended to be interrogating anyone tonight, but now that I was, I had to find out all that I could. And if he was going to talk, Price had to believe I was capable of murder. ‘I know you’re manufacturing the portable scanners here. You’re going to tell me where they are.’ I paused. ‘You’re going to tell me how they’re connected to Senshield’s core. And then you’ll tell me how to disable it.’
It was a shot in the dark; I didn’t expect the reaction. Price gave me an incredulous look, then let out a peal of boyish laughter. I stared at him, unnerved.
‘Wait. You don’t think they’re connected here, do you?’ He shook his head. ‘Oh, dear. Somebody really has got her facts muddled. You didn’t honestly believe that by sneaking into this factory, you had Senshield, did you? The . . . portable scanners, as you call them, that we manufacture here – they are deadly, yes, but not yet equipped with ethereal technology.’ Every syllable was savoured. ‘I’m afraid they’re connected to the core . . . elsewhere.’
If he wasn’t telling the truth, then he was very convincing. Still, a little more persuasion couldn’t hurt. I shoved the gun against his head.
‘Liar.’
‘And to think, the Grand Commander genuinely believed you were a threat. I’ve always admired Vance for respecting the intelligence of her enemies, but this will disappoint her.’ He smiled. ‘She suspected you might come here, you know.’
That was how they had been ready for me. The intuition of the Grand Commander. Vance had warned them that Paige Mahoney was sniffing around Senshield, and that this facility was one of her potential targets. She had taught them what to expect from the enemy.
‘I’m disappointed in her, too,’ I said lightly. ‘If she’d prepared you better, I wouldn’t be holding a gun to your head.’
Catrin was observing the conversation with her head tilted back and her shoulders relaxed, as if she were watching a play. Aside from the cut head, she was no worse for wear.
‘Release her,’ I said to the other Vigile. He didn’t move. ‘Open her restraints, or I’ll put a bullet through his head.’
‘She will,’ Catrin said to him. ‘She’s brutal, this one.’
I didn’t take my eyes off her as the Vigile obeyed. She stood and rubbed her wrists before reclaiming one of her knives from the table. As she turned to face Price, I spied a glint in her eye.
‘Well, here he is. Emlyn Price, the Ironmaster. The man who turns blood into gold. You’re quite the legendary figure around here, you know,’ she said. ‘One might say you’re the king of this citadel.’ She lifted his chin with one finger. ‘Well, we all know what happens to kings here in Scion.’
Price, to his credit, didn’t appear to be afraid. His mild smile stayed exactly where it was.
A vision suddenly entered my dreamscape, blinding me. An oracular image. Tom had sent me a crystal-clear picture of a keypad, followed by a glimpse of stencilled letters spelling LOADING BAY.
The scanners. He had found them. And we must need a code to get to them.
‘You see this scar on my face?’ Catrin said to Price. The vision dwindled. ‘Hard to miss, I know. Now, my friend Paige here would like to know where Senshield’s core is. If you don’t start talking, I’ll give you a matching one. What do you say to that, Price?’
‘You can torture me for as long as you like,’ was the calm reply, ‘but I promise you, all you’re going to draw from my lips will be falsehoods.’ He looked back at me. ‘We prepared for all eventualities.’
What happened next cleaned the smile off his face. Lightning-quick, Catrin brought up her arm and rammed her knife straight through the back of his hand. I flinched inside. Price stared at it, at the blade embedded between his knuckles, before he let out a roar of agony.
‘Where is the core?’ I asked.
‘Liverpool,’ he managed. ‘It’s in Liverpool.’
‘Is it?’
I forced myself to keep my eyes on him. He was just another puppet, another piece in Vance’s machine. When Catrin wormed the blade deeper, he made a sound that twisted my gut.
‘Cardiff,’ he bit out. ‘Belfast.’
‘Enough,’ I said sharply. ‘We have no way of knowing if he’s telling the truth.’
‘Oh, I know.’ She let go of the knife. ‘I’m just having fun.’
Price stared at his hand, panting. The blade affixed him to the table.
He had been prepared for this, too. Someone like Vance would expect her employees to be willing to suffer, even lose their lives, to protect her military secrets from insurgents. That didn’t mean the Ironmaster had no weaknesses. And not all secrets needed to be drawn out with a knife.
I unlocked the door and occupied my own body. When I returned, stepping over the crumpled form of the bodyguard I had used to get in, I pulled up a chair and sat down opposite the Minister for Industry. Red burbled from one of his nostrils as my spirit probed the edge of his dreamscape.
‘First, let’s go back to the scanners. I know they’re in the loading bay, but we need you to give us the code to get in,’ I said. ‘Don’t make me ask twice, Minister.’
‘I’m afraid Hildred is a step ahead of you on that front.’ Sweat varnished his forehead. ‘There is only one code to open the loading bay. Entering it incorrectly will destroy its contents.’
The first response this stirred in me was fear, but it faded as quickly as it came.
‘I don’t believe you,’ I said.
‘Why?’ He sounded genuinely curious.
‘Because Vance wouldn’t just destroy huge quantities of her own equipment. We all know how urgently she wants these scanners operational. There’s also the matter of how the contents would be destroyed. I doubt you’d have a procedure which involved blowing up the loading bay, risking the entire facility. Vance isn’t that wasteful.’
‘You’re shrewder than I gave you credit for. Already a little less na?ve than you were. You and Hildred are similar, you know. She also learns from the enemy, and from past mistakes.’ Blood was slithering from his hand. ‘If you were on our side, perhaps she would have been your mentor.’
‘I’m done with mentors.’
‘Now, now, don’t slide into arrogance. Even Hildred has mentors.’ If his watering eyes were anything to go by, the pain was swelling.
I’d like to talk less about mentors and more about the code, Price,’ I said. ‘If you think you won’t tell me, I assure you, you will. It’s hidden in your mind, where Vance thinks it’s safe. Fortunately for me, I know all about minds. We voyants call them dreamscapes.’