“Given we tied him up with rosary chains, you’ve got to laugh at the irony, right?” Vin shrugged and looked at Mallory. Mallory glared back at him with a face like a thunderstorm.
“Oddly, I don’t.”
“No. Right.” Vin stared at the floor.
THEY STOOD IN silence: Vin listening, and Mallory turning over every possible option in his mind. None of them were great. A couple of them were terrible. Only one made any sense – and even then, it was about as far from ideal as it was possible to be.
“Vin...” he said, looking up, “I don’t think I’m going to get out of this one.”
“Don’t even start.”
“I think you’re...”
“Would you shut up already?” Vin snapped at him, but Mallory smiled grimly.
“You know what I’m asking.”
“Yeah, and you can go fuck yourself. I’m serious.”
“No you’re not. You’ll do this because I’m asking you to and because it’s a mercy.”
“No way.
“Vin...”
“Nope.”
“Vin...”
“I’m not listening.”
“Kill me. Kill me and leave – before we all lose the chance to make the choice.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Gambit
“YOU’RE OUT OF your fucking mind!” Vin spluttered. “It’s absolutely out of the question. You’re insane – and even if you weren’t, it’s still not going to happen.”
“I wish I was.” Mallory sighed, but it felt better, having said it. “This isn’t about him.” He gestured towards Toby. “It’s about me. It’s about me and it’s about Rimmon, and it always has been and it always will be.”
“That’s it, isn’t it? You’ve finally lost it.”
“I’ve not lost it, Vin. I’m collateral damage.”
“Round the twist, that’s what you are.”
“He told me, alright? He told me. That kid, over there, is going to die. Because of me. And then they’re going to throw him out like so much garbage... and they’re going to find themselves another one. And another one after that. And I can’t help them, and I can’t stop it!” His voice trembled with rage, and Vin took half a step back. He’d never seen Mallory like this.
“It won’t end. Not until I give them what they want.”
“And what is it they want?” Vin already knew, but he still had to ask.
“Me. They want me.” Mallory hung his head.
“Why? You’re bolshy, bad-tempered, you drink like a fish and you’ve got an itchy trigger-finger. And, by the way, you owe me money.”
“I always owe you money, Vin.”
“Exactly my point.”
“Stop. Please.” Mallory was too serious for Vin to carry on pretending.
“Alright. But I’m still not doing it.”
“There’s no other way.”
“There’s always another way.”
“Not this time.” Mallory shook his head. “I won’t stand by and let them torture and kill and say it was all because of me.”
“Coward.” Vin looked Mallory in the eye as he said it. And meant it.
“Coward? Really? You think that’s what I am?”
“You’re running away. You’re giving up. That’s cowardice, isn’t it? Where’s your faith? Where’s your fight, for that matter?”
“Look at him.” Mallory held Vin’s gaze, unblinking, but raised his hand and pointed at Toby’s broken form. “Look at him. You want that on your conscience? Because I don’t. I can’t.”
“You know that anyone else would let him die. Everyone else. I’m not so sure I wouldn’t.”
“Not him.”
“Why? What’s so special about him?”
“Nothing. That’s the point,” replied Mallory.
“I DON’T THINK I’ve ever heard anything so messed up. And I’ve heard a lot of messed-up shit.” Vin was still shaking his head in disbelief. “This isn’t about Rimmon, or the kid. It never has been. It’s about you. You think Rimmon’s doing this as some kind of taunt, don’t you? You seriously think he’s smart enough to come up with this all by himself? He’s a flunkey: you’ve said it yourself a thousand times. This? This is Lucifer. It’s always Lucifer. It’s why he goes after you, it’s why Rimmon went after Alice” – Vin watched Mallory’s face darken – “and which I now remember Raphael told me to make sure you never found out about. Yes. Moving on.
“How is it possible that you – the smartest guy I know – can be so thick? I mean, tactically you’re the best of us. Better than...” He paused and lowered his voice. “Better than Michael, even. But sometimes, talking to you’s like talking to a rock. A stupid one.”
“You know, I’m beginning to wish Rimmon would come back. Then I could suggest that maybe he’d like to kill me instead. Or you. Either would work.”
“I’m trying to help you.”
“I don’t think you can. Unless...”
“Just listen. You’re not seeing it all, are you? You’re still not seeing it. It’s all Lucifer. All along. He knew you’d talk: it’s why he picked you. He wanted to send a message to everyone that he wasn’t to be messed with, and he knew you wouldn’t be able to help yourself. And so it goes – right up to now. Lucifer picked this kid because he knew you’d feel responsible for him, just like you’d feel responsible for the next one.”
“Then he’s right.”
“You’re impossible.” Vin kicked out at the wall.
“It doesn’t matter why it’s happening, Vin. It doesn’t matter what the reasoning is behind it, and it doesn’t matter who did it, or why. What matters is that they will kill him, right there” – Mallory pointed at the chair – “and they will do it, ultimately, to get at me. Maybe because it’s part of a bigger ‘torment Mallory’ plan just for shits and giggles; maybe because I won’t do what they want. End result is the same.”
“There must be another way...”
“And if you can come up with it, then I’m all ears. But I don’t think there is one. I will not Fall, and I will not let this stand.”
“There has to be another way.” But Vin was starting to sound doubtful.
“Then find it. But find it fast.”
Vin sighed, and stared at the floor. “Jester?”
Mallory shook his head. “I think we both know what that means.”
“This whole thing. It’s...”
“Yes, Vin. Yes, it is.”
DOWN THE CORRIDOR, across the warehouse floor with its stacked crates and its pit, through an opening draped with plastic sheeting and down a flight of dark stairs, stood a door; and beside it, a window. It looked not out, but in: behind it, there was a room with nothing in it but a table, bolted to the floor. A small group of men gathered on the outside, looking through the glass. One was tall and blond, and wore a suit: his red eyes reflected in the silver of the glass. One had dark hair and carried a cane. One would have been handsome, but for the scars which covered half of his face and smeared his features into one another, drawing his lips back in a too-wide smile. The last of them had wings which shone with white sparks, crackling as the feathers rubbed against one another. They looked through the window, and they waited.
At a nod from Lucifer, Xaphan unlocked the door and opened it wide, grinning as Florence stepped unsteadily out. She held out a red-smeared hand, pressing the sticky knife into his outstretched palm, and slumped against him.
“Did I do alright?” she asked, her voice pleading.