Word of Honour

Fourteen

LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON, AUBREY, GEORGE AND Caroline eventually tracked down Jack Figg in Densmore, working at the Society for Moral Uplift. Jack hadn't heard where Maggie had been staying after the flood in her underground headquarters, but promised he'd find out and let them know as soon as he did.

After leaving the Society for Moral Uplift, they walked for some time, looking for a cab. When a motorcar came toward them, Aubrey was blinded by the headlights. He didn't realise it had slowed until a voice cut through the engine noise. 'Get in. And put the pistol away.'

Aubrey squinted. 'Commander Tallis? What pistol?'

'It's gone,' Caroline said. 'I'm sorry, sir, I didn't realise it was you.'

Pistol? Where was she hiding a pistol? 'Look, Tallis, I'm getting a little tired of being abducted by law enforcement agencies.'

'Quite right,' George said. 'What ever happened to the good old days, when abductions were done by thugs and cutthroats? Doing them out of a job, you are.'

'Get in,' Commander Tallis repeated and his tone of voice indicated that playful banter would be a capital offence if he had anything to do with it.

COMMANDER TALLIS TOOK THEM STRAIGHT TO LATTIMER Hall, the headquarters of the Special Services.

Aubrey and George were kept in a waiting room while Tallis spoke to Caroline alone. Aubrey fumed, but he assumed it was because of Caroline's irregular status with the Special Services. She hadn't been asked to do much, to his knowledge, but he had no doubt that Tallis had his eye on Caroline as a full-fledged Special Services operative.

After some time, Aubrey decided he may as well keep his watch in his hand. It would save him taking it out of his pocket every five minutes to check.

Idly, he polished the Brayshire Ruby. Then he turned the watch from side to side and saw how the heart of fire deep inside the jewel shifted, winking at him.

He flipped open the back plate of the watch and sat for a time, appreciating the work of Anderson and Sutch. The watch's workings were a thing of beauty. The mainspring that drove the whole, complex mechanism set the balance wheel oscillating back and forward diligently, both parts perfectly fitting together. With no more than a daily winding, the watch would keep ticking for years, finely crafted, finely tuned machinery.

He peered closer and saw the jewelled bearings – two or three dozen tiny sapphires and rubies that kept the wheels turning in their ceaseless round.

Aubrey was lost in admiration. In his hand he held the pinnacle of a craft, something so unobtrusively complete that few people even thought about it – however much they relied upon its accuracy.

Caroline appeared after exactly half an hour. 'He was interested in my studies,' she said after Aubrey had asked what Tallis wanted. 'And he wants to speak to you,' she added absently.

Aubrey made a face. Commander Tallis had never liked him. He was sure he was in for a grilling.

Tallis's office was much longer than it was wide. It had no windows, no wall decoration and the desk was bare except for a large black telephone. Tallis sat behind it and glowered at him.

'Sit,' he said. He drummed his fingers on the desktop.

'Now, what's Craddock up to?'

'Sir?'

'Has he told you about the attempt on the Bank of Albion?'

'No, sir.' Had Dr Tremaine moved on the Bank of Albion already? Surely Aubrey would have heard if the most wanted man in the land had been captured.

'He hasn't?' Tallis nodded bleakly. 'I'm not surprised. If it wasn't for the Special Services, the blackguards might have succeeded. We caught them red-handed, trying to dig a tunnel from a building across the road.'

'Why would Commander Craddock be involved?' Aubrey asked cautiously. Much was going on here and he strained to catch every nuance.

'Apparently some magical methods were involved in the attempt. Magisterium operatives investigated, after we'd rounded up the culprits, but we haven't heard anything about what they've found.'

Tallis drummed his fingers on the desk.

'Commander Craddock hasn't mentioned it at all,' Aubrey said.

'Don't you find that interesting? Especially since his operatives found some evidence of involvement from Dr Tremaine?'

'Oh.' Bloch was right! 'Yes, and we both know that you have some interest in the movements of this particular individual.' He eyed Aubrey. 'You're sure he hasn't contacted you about Tremaine?'

'Not in relation to any bank robbery, no.'

Tallis snorted. 'It wasn't a bank robbery. It wasn't even a very good attempt at a bank robbery. Dr Tremaine can't be such a mastermind if he hires help like these idiots. They practically asked to be arrested.'

This didn't sound like Dr Tremaine at all. 'They brought themselves to your attention?'

'To police attention. After a few weeks, they'd managed to tunnel close to the foundations of the bank. But a hole opened in Woolcroft Street, thanks to their efforts. Left them exposed, rather.'

'And the bank is safe?'

'As ever. The police called us in, just in case there were any international implications, the Counting of the Coins being so close.'Tallis sat back in his chair and laced his hands on his chest. 'We've checked all around where they dug, and they hadn't even started to penetrate the foundations. We've backfilled their tunnel, made everything more secure than ever. No need of any of this magic stuff, either.'

Aubrey was busy trying to work out what Dr Tremaine's part in this failed robbery could have been – such a fiasco didn't sound like his plotting – but Tallis's remark was pointed enough that he couldn't ignore it.

'Is there something wrong with magic, Commander?'

'It's a lot of mumbo-jumbo if you ask me. It's just a way for some agencies to demand – and get – extra resources.'

Aubrey was dismayed to see such professional jealousy, but also irritated by the aspersions Tallis was casting.

'I'm sorry you see magic that way, sir, but it's changed. It's a rational discipline now.'

'Rational? What's rational about magic? Trumped-up, self-important poseurs making things happen that have no right to happen. Dangerous stuff.'

'Of course it's dangerous stuff. But electricity is dangerous stuff, too, and I'll warrant that you have it wired into your own home, your own bedroom.'

'I don't,' Commander Tallis said stiffly. 'I have gas.'

'And gas is perfectly safe, is it? You've never heard of gas explosions, gas suffocations?'

'Magic is altogether different.'

'Magic is something that needs a careful, intelligent, rational approach. It's vital for our future that we understand it and harness it properly.'

'And this is what Craddock thinks, is it?'

'I can't presume to know what Commander Craddock thinks,' Aubrey said. 'I just know that this rational approach is how all magical research is conducted throughout the world, wherever modern, enlightened thinking takes place.'