She screamed once, her voice so loud and high-pitched that surely it must have been heard all over Shoreditch. The scream flew up into the church, to be joined by a second and then a third, each scream becoming an echo of the other. Matt turned and saw her, an old woman wrapped up in black, standing a few metres away, pointing. At the same time, he saw the blood on the cold, stone floor.
He ran forward.
William Morton was lying on his back, one hand clamped to his stomach, trying to hold shut the wound made by the knife. There was a lot of blood. At first Matt thought he must be dead. The woman was still screaming. None of the other worshippers had come near, although Matt could hear them whispering, murmuring, afraid to show themselves. Then the bookseller opened his eyes and saw Matt, saw what Matt was holding. Despite everything, he smiled to himself. It was as if Matt had brought flowers to the funeral he was about to have.
“You are…” he began.
Just two words. Then he died.
At the same time, the doors were flung open and half a dozen men ran in. Matt looked up and saw police uniforms. So the Nexus hadn’t been lying to him. There really had been a protective ring around the church. It was just that it hadn’t worked. The police had arrived too late.
He was surrounded. More people were screaming. The police were trying to keep them back. Other officers came through the door. Matt recognized one of them. It was the Assistant Commissioner. He looked grim.
Richard Cole arrived a few minutes later, bursting in with Fabian. By now the body had been covered. The congregation had left. More policemen had come. Matt was sitting on his own, holding the flower, which had already begun to wilt. He was very still. There was blood on one of his trainers.
“Are you OK?” Richard asked. His face was filled with horror.
“Yeah. Sure.” Matt wondered if he was in shock. He didn’t feel anything. “I didn’t get the diary,” he said. “Whoever killed him took it.”
“How did they know he was here?” Fabian muttered. “Nobody knew about the meeting. He told only us.”
“Somebody knew,” Matt said. He waved a hand in the direction of the dead man. “They took the diary. He had it with him when we met but just now I looked and it wasn’t there.”
“To hell with the diary,” Richard said. “You were with him. You could have been killed too.” He paused and frowned. “What happened?” he asked. “Did you see who it was?”
“No. I was out in the cloister. He made me get him this.” Matt held up the flower.
Now it was Fabian’s turn to look puzzled. “What cloister?” he asked.
“The church has a cloister,” Matt said. “Morton asked me to go there. He said it was some sort of test, but I think he was lying.”
“This church has no cloister,” Fabian said.
“It’s through there.” Matt looked in the direction of the door.
“Let’s go out,” Richard said. “You need some air.”
“There is no cloister,” Fabian insisted.
Angrily, Matt stood up and walked over to the door. “It’s through here,” he said.
He opened the door. And stopped dead.
There was no cloister on the other side. There were no flowers, no fountain and no monks. Instead, he found himself looking at an alleyway lined with dustbins and, on the other side, a grimy backyard filled with rubble and broken concrete.
He looked at the flower in his hand and then threw it down as if it were scalding him. It lay, floating in a puddle, the only colour in a world of grey.
DANGER AREA
In the end, it all seemed too easy.
Matt didn’t want any part of it. He would have liked to forget the Nexus, the Old Ones, William Morton, the diary, the second gate and all the other weird things that had somehow closed in on him and taken over his life. Certainly he had no great desire to visit Peru. And yet, here he was at midday, sitting on a British Airways jumbo jet on the runway at Heathrow Airport, on his way to Lima via Miami. Once again, he got the feeling that he hadn’t chosen to be here. It had just happened.
After the death of the bookseller at St Meredith’s church, there had been another meeting of the Nexus – and that was when they had put it to him.
“Matt, we want to send you to Peru.” This time, Miss Ashwood had done most of the talking. Maybe they felt she knew him best. “We’ve lost the diary. It wasn’t your fault but it’s a catastrophe. It means that whoever was bidding for it in South America probably has it, or will have it soon. The diary will show them how to find the gate. Worse than that, it may show them how to open it.”
“There’s nothing Matt can do,” Richard said. “You sending him all the way across the world… what’s the point?”
“I can’t really answer that, Mr Cole. How can I explain? Imagine this was a game of chess. Losing Morton was like losing a pawn. Now, sending you to Peru, it’s as if we’re advancing a knight. In the end, it may be too late. It may not help. But at least it shows we’re still on the attack.”
“The boy and the gate are linked,” Nathalie Johnson said. Matt could see that the American woman had already made up her mind. “He’s part of it. Something is going to happen in Peru and whatever it is, he should be there.”
“Well, Peru’s a big country. Where’s he supposed to begin?”
“In the capital. Lima.”
“Why there?”
“We may have one lead,” the Assistant Commissioner explained. “William Morton had his mobile phone with him when he was killed. Fortunately for us, his killer left it behind. I’ve looked at it and it seems he made a dozen calls in the week before he died. Some of them to us, of course. But three of them were to a number in Lima.”
“We’ve traced the number to Salamanda News International,” the Frenchman said.
“What’s that?” Richard asked.
“It’s one of the biggest businesses on the whole darned continent,” Nathalie Johnson explained. “And the man who fronts it, Diego Salamanda, is one of the richest. I’ve had dealings with him in the past. I’ve never met him. I’ve heard he’s disabled in some way and he keeps himself very much to himself. He runs newspapers, TV and satellite stations, publishing houses and hotels and he does it out of an office in Lima.”
“Was he the one trying to buy the diary?”
“Perhaps,” she continued. “We can’t know for sure. But not much happens within his organization without him knowing it so it probably comes down to the same thing. If it’s Salamanda we’re up against, that’s bad news. He’s powerful. But on the other hand, maybe it’s good that we know who the enemy is. At least it tells us where to start.”
“OK.” Richard nodded. “So you send Matt to Lima. What does he do then?”
“He stays with me as my guest,” Fabian replied. “You will both be welcome in my home. I told you already that I have a house in Barranco. It is a quiet part of the city where many artists and writers live. I’m not far from the beach. You will be safe there.”
“William Morton thought he was safe. And look what happened to him!”
“We don’t know what went wrong,” Miss Ashwood admitted. “None of us knew the meeting place until the day before, and of course we didn’t tell anyone. We can only assume he must have been followed. However, I agree with you. Your safety is of paramount importance – which is why we’ve decided to take extra precautions. Nobody must even know you’ve left England.”
“What about passport control?” Richard asked.
“Exactly!” Miss Ashwood agreed.
“I’m seeing to that.” The Assistant Commissioner had taken over. “I’m going to arrange false passports for you. This man – Salamanda – may not have any agents at Heathrow Airport but he’s sure to have people on the lookout when you arrive in Lima. So you’ll both travel under assumed names. Nobody outside this room will know who you are.”
“It still sounds crazy,” Richard said. “Your plan is that you don’t have a plan. Go to Peru! End of story!”
“No,” Matt interrupted. It was almost the first time he had spoken and the thirteen adults in the room all turned to look at him. “I think Miss Ashwood is right. We can’t just walk away. Not after all that’s happened. The second gate is in Peru. It’s going to open. We have to be there.”