The men took him upstairs to the study but it was empty. They waited.
Somewhere else in the house there was crying. He recognised the voices.
No, no, no.
‘Where the hell is Magnus?’ he shouted into the face of the man to his left.
The man smiled.
‘Busy.’
‘I need to see him. He needs to see me. Now.’
‘When he’s finished, he’ll come. Maybe.’
What the hell was he going to do? The beast was with his girls. What had he already done?
‘Listen. You tell him I know where John Collins is. Tell him I know where Prophet John and his people are hiding.’
‘You can tell him yourself when he’s ready.’
‘No. You have to tell him now. Believe me, this is something he wants to know. He won’t want to be kept waiting a moment too long.’
‘Like I said, you can tell him yourself.’
‘Fine.’ Shanti filled his lungs and began to shout. ‘Magnus! MAGNUS! I know where Collins is. I can lead you to him right now.’
The grip on his arms tightened.
‘Pipe down, Shanti.’
He screamed louder.
‘MAGNUS! DO YOU HEAR ME? I KNOW WHERE HE IS. I’LL TAKE YOU THERE.’
The two men slammed Shanti back against the wall. A picture dropped to the floor shattering glass onto the floorboards and rug. Shanti felt the tip of a blade pierce the skin of his throat. He swallowed and the blade sank a little deeper.
‘Now you shut up Mr. Ice Pick or I’m going to cut you a new smile.’
No choice.
There were heavy footsteps in the hallway and the study door burst open.
‘What the fuck is going on in here?’ Magnus wore only his dressing gown, still wrapping it around himself, his sexual arousal obvious beneath it. He took in the scene. ‘Who smashed this picture?’
The guards looked at each other.
‘It’s this one, Mr. Magnus. He’s been misbehaving.’
‘Who allowed him to do that, I wonder?’
Neither guard replied.
‘Did I hear you correctly, Shanti? Did you say you could take us to Collins’s hideout?’
‘Yes. I can take you straight there.’
‘Why don’t you just tell us where it is and we’ll go?’
‘I suppose I could do that but I’ve only been there once. I think there’d be a better chance of sending your men to the right place if I retraced my steps.’
‘Like any stockman worth his wages, I know bullshit when I smell it. You’re lying to me.’
‘No. I’m not lying. If you want me to tell you the way, I will. But the Grand Bishop’s best Parsons are on their way out there right now. If you want your men to beat them to it, I suggest you allow me to go along.’
‘Fuck. Fuck it. You filthy fucking… how do they know where he is?’
Shanti shrugged. He noticed the way Magnus’s body shook. It wasn’t just anger. Even his head seemed to wobble.
‘I told them.’
‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this. You told the Grand Bishop where that skinny lunatic is hiding with his skinny lunatic pals?’
‘I had no choice.’
‘Death’s going to be too good for your wife and daughters, Shanti. Far too good.’
‘If I hadn’t told them, I wouldn’t be here giving you the same information, Mr. Magnus. I haven’t told them the best route. There’s a chance they’ll get a little lost along the way. I’ve bought you some time and you’re standing here wasting it. Do you want Collins for yourself or not?’
‘No one talks to me that way, Shanti.’
‘If I lead your men to the hideout successfully and you take Collins, I want your guarantee that you won’t harm my family.’
Magnus snorted.
‘Harm? You haven’t got a fucking clue.’
‘I’m serious. If you want to stay in control of the town, time’s running out. Promise me you won’t hurt them.’
‘I believe my invitation to you was quite specific, Shanti. You’re late. Very late. And I don’t like to be disrespected.’
‘What have you done to them?’
‘Oh, I haven’t had a chance to get started. Not properly. Not yet.’
Shanti thought about the crying and the erection that still beat beneath Magnus’s robe.
‘Let me see them.’
‘No. I’ll tell you this much, though. Your wife is a natural convert to cuckoldry. There’s nothing she won’t do for her family. You should be very proud.’
‘My girls. What about my girls?’
‘Ah. Now they’re a very different story of course. A real revelation to me. I’ve never had the pleasure of twins before, though I’ve seen plenty their age. And much younger. Let’s just say that I’ve been very gently introducing them to the duties of womanhood.’
Nausea and rage rose up inside Shanti. He felt what little control he had slipping away.
‘Please. Let me see them.’
‘No. But I’ll tell you what. If you and my men come back with John Collins before the Parsons get him, I give you my word I won’t touch any of your family again. But you must both return or I’ll do whatever I want with them. And it won’t take days or weeks, it’ll be years. Pleasure for me and whatever they can salvage from it. Understand, Shanti? You bring him back. You bring John Collins back to me alive. Then and only then will your family be safe.’ His erection had subsided. He adjusted the dressing gown around his shoulders and smoothed it over his paunch. ‘I have to say, I’m a little disappointed to have been interrupted but,’ he spread his palms wide, ‘business before pleasure, eh? That’s what sorts the winners from the losers in this world.’
Magnus walked to the study door and shouted downstairs.
‘Bruno! Take everyone you can spare and get down to the Derelict Quarter. Shanti here is going to take you to see our old friend. Make sure they both come back alive. If you run into the Parsons out there,’ he considered for a moment,‘take them down. All of them.’
He turned back into the study.
‘I believe you mentioned something about running out of time, Shanti.’
And then Shanti was sprinting again. Behind him came Magnus’s burly guards, black coattails snapping at their heels.
After what felt like far too long but what could only have been a few seconds, Parson James Jessup ran into the fray. His brothers were struggling to recover from the shock of the attack. They had no cohesion or formation. They needed a centre.
‘On me!’ he shouted.
The other Parsons seemed to awaken at his call and realise the extent of their jeopardy. They fell towards him; their ranks thickened and gained strength. Their training surfaced and they timed their blows as a unit. The Godless attackers – Parson James Jessup could only assume that these were Collins’s followers and that Collins was among them – pursued them.
The onslaught did not falter but it slowed. The Parsons ceased to fall as often but Parson James Jessup gauged that they had already lost thirty men. That left seventy against the thirty in opposition. It should still have been easy odds but it was not. He moved to the edge of their circle and took the place of a fallen comrade. It was not obvious what had brought the man down. No dark patch on his robes suggested a wound beneath them. No marks on his head or face showed the landing of a blow. But Parson James Jessup had seen men fall many times and he was certain his brother was dead. Most certain.
He found himself facing the Godless tramp that had felled him.
He swung his club in anger, a curve that was swift and heavy. It would stave in the woman’s head when it made contact. But when the bone reached its target, the woman was no longer in its path. He couldn’t see how she had managed to move. Thinking he’d misjudged the distance, he swung back in the natural opposite direction calculating for his mistake. This time he saw that she moved not when she saw the blow coming but somehow just before, almost at the moment he thought of it. Any moment now her attack would come and he was wasting energy on roundhouse swings that made him look like a brawler in Dino’s at the end of a Saturday night.