‘They can.’
‘They can’t.’
‘They can kill you, Alex.’
‘Grab hold of me and follow me out on to the landing,’ he said.
‘What? Are you fucking crazy?’
‘Do it,’ he said, and looked me square in the eyes. ‘Put a gun to my head and walk me through. When you see him, threaten to kill me.’
‘You must be out of your fucking mind.’
‘No,’ he replied. ‘Trust me.’
I looked at him.
‘Please, David. Trust me.’
He got to his feet so his back was to me. I looked up at him, waiting for him to turn around. Waiting to see the fear in his eyes. But he didn’t look down. He stood and stared into the darkness like a soldier about to clear the trenches and head over the top.
‘Do it,’ he said.
‘He will kill you, Alex.’
‘He won’t,’ he said, fiercely this time.
He remained still, looking out on to the landing. I stood and inched in close to him so Legion wouldn’t have a clear shot at me. Then we began to move forward. The floorboards creaked beneath our feet. Alex’s shoes kicked up splintered wood and shattered pieces of glass. We stepped out on to the landing, briefly sliding in Andrew’s blood. And then we turned right and edged into the room with the rings, little by little, every footstep feeling heavier.
Further and further into the lair.
‘I’ll kill him,’ I said, staring into the darkness. All around us was the night, hanging from the walls and the windows like blankets. I looked from corner to corner, pressing the gun into the back of Alex’s head. ‘If it’s him or me, I swear I’ll kill him.’
A half-step towards the centre of the room.
‘I swear.’
There was no reply. No movement.
‘Are you listening to me?’
I glanced left and right.
‘I’ll kill him, I promise you.’
My eyes adjusted a little more. Shapes started to emerge from the corner of the room. An uneven floorboard. The hole in the wall with the message help me. The rings. The water running down the brickwork.
‘Do you want that?’
More shapes.
‘Answer me.’
We shuffled further forward.
‘Answer me.’
Click.
A gun cocked behind me and, before we had a chance to turn, I felt it at the back of my neck. The end of the barrel pushed in against the top of my spine.
Legion had tricked us. He’d moved to the shadows on the stairs while Alex and I had been forming a plan in the next room.
‘Cockroach,’ he said quietly.
‘I’ll kill him.’
He pushed the gun in harder.
‘You’re not a killer, cockroach.’
‘Put your gun down,’ I said, pushing back against his gun’s muzzle.
‘No.’
‘Put it down.’
The same tone, the same controclass="underline" ‘No.’
‘Put your gun down now.’
In the blink of an eye his head was at my ear. I could feel the mask brush against the side of my face. His smell. His hot breath passing through the holes in the plastic.
‘No,’ he said again.
‘I’ve got a gun against his head,’ I said slowly. ‘Do you want to take that chance?’
He moved his head back and pushed the gun in against me.
‘You’re a fucking cockroach, you know that?’
‘Put it down.’
‘You belong in the dirt.’
‘Put the fucking gun down.’
The gun pressed harder against the back of my head, digging in against the curve of my skull. It felt like he was weighing up his options.
‘You’ve got three seconds,’ I said.
The gun didn’t move.
‘One.’
Nothing.
‘Two.’
I cocked the Beretta.
‘Thr—’
With one last push of the barrel, I heard glass crunch beneath his feet as he stepped back, the gun going with him.
I swivelled, so hard Alex almost stumbled, and looked across at Legion. He was standing in the doorway. The gun was at his side, a second one — what looked like a SIG Sauer P250 — in his belt. His sleeves were rolled up, the tattoos creeping out from underneath. His eyes were fixed on me, peering through the eyeholes. Blinking slowly. His tongue came through the mouth slit, and moved along it, making a cutting sound on the plastic. There was some blood close to his right shoulder, but he hardly seemed to notice.
‘Put it down,’ I said, nodding at the submachine gun.
He didn’t move.
‘I’ll put a bullet through his face, I promise you that.’
He looked at me, at Alex, then back to me. Maybe he didn’t believe I would kill Alex. If you’re a killer, you wear it — like a cut that doesn’t heal. He could see I didn’t wear it. But maybe he’d heard about what I’d done to their people before. So he knew, if I had to, I could kill. If it came to that, it would be them before me.
‘You want me to start counting again, you fucking freak?’
His eyes narrowed inside the mask. Then his hand opened and the submachine gun dropped to the floor. Glass scattered as it turned over and came to rest.
‘Now the other one,’ I said, my eyes snapping to his belt.
He paused, then placed a hand on top of the SIG. His fingers slid down the side, like insect legs, one moving in against the trigger, the others in around the grip. Wriggling. Long, grey stalks; dirt and blood under the nails. I shifted the Beretta sideways, from Alex’s neck across his shoulder. I aimed at Legion’s head. His eyes flicked down to the gun and back up to me, and he slid the SIG out from his trousers, held it out in front of him and dropped it to the floor. It hit the ground with a clunk.
‘I can taste your fear, cockroach.’
I nodded, as if I barely heard him. But every word out of his mouth was like the end of a knife blade. He lived off any flicker of fear. Even with both guns on the floor, he was still dangerous.
‘Kick the guns over here.’
I expected to have to repeat myself but he did it straight away. That instantly worried me. Everything else had been a struggle. Now he was sending his weapons across to me, out of reach, without even pausing for thought.
‘Put your hands behind your head.’
He snorted, and instead moved his hands up to his mask and slowly lifted it away from his face. I felt Alex shift a little in front of me. The devil tossed his mask away. He blinked, his eyes fixed on me, and ran a hand across the top of his shaved head. And then he smiled, his mouth widening, his tongue pushing through his lips. Running across them. Tasting them.
‘I’m gonna eat you.’
‘Put your hands behind your head.’
He smiled again. But he did what I asked, sliding his hands behind his head. Too easy again. Something was up. I’d forgotten something. Missed something. What had I missed?
‘Turn around,’ I said.
Legion picked up on something in my voice. Another smile broke out on his face. ‘What’s the matter, cockroach?’
‘Turn around.’
‘You scared?’
‘Turn around.’
His eyes widened, like huge holes in his head, sucking in the darkness from the room. I felt myself losing control.
‘You sssssssssscared?’ he said quietly, menacingly.
‘Shut up and turn arou—’
He swung then, a sudden bloom of movement, pulling a knife out from somewhere behind his back. The handle was small, but the blade was long, slightly curved, glinting even in the gloom. He brought the knife out in front of him, a blur that moved from his waist, and slashed across Alex’s chest. Alex stumbled backwards, knocking me off balance.