Anhur Page 5

Skink took a step towards the motorhome. ‘I’m sorry, boss. I thought it best you know.’

  ‘Shut up, idiot,’ he said. ’General? You have a minute to placate my mood.’

  The general swallowed and shifted in his stance, his feet spread apart. He tucked his hands into his belt and took a deep breath. ‘Luka was captured by that hooded bastard who now seems to be helping the hamlet we were travelling to.’

  Rebus felt his heart lurch, and his mouth go dry. His sweet love. The boy who he’d saved from the marauding Bisons gang, and had groomed in his image. He loved him as much as Enyo. Where was his Amazonian beauty? His fierce warrior princess, who’d calm him down with the slightest touch and the sweetest whisper. He looked past the general, across to the main double doors guarded by more of his men. Scanning the desolate factory, he couldn’t see her.

  ‘Skink, where is Enyo? Bring her to me.’

  ‘She’s probably off aggravating someone, boss.’

  ‘Go and get her, you little toad,’ Rebus said, turning and glaring at his nephew. ‘Don’t make me beat you up in front of the general.’

  Rebus stood up and walked towards the general, swinging a right fist into the man’s midriff. The man went down to his knees with a groan, and Rebus yanked his grey ponytail and brought his face in close. The smell of rotting teeth and vodka repulsed him.

  ‘Your sole reason for living was to protect Luka out there.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Rebus,’ the general said.

  ‘Have I not been good to you people?’ he said, slipping the small dagger from his belt and pressing it up against the man’s throat.

  ‘Rebus?’ a husky female voice called out to him.

  ‘Enyo. Where the fuck have you been?’

  ‘Tidying up after these idiots you employ.’

  Rebus turned to look at her, his depressive mood lifting. His six-foot African American Amazon. Wearing brown shorts and black army boots, she had tied a narrow scarf around her chest to cover her breasts. He stared at her and licked his lips. Enyo glided over to him, her shoulders swinging from side to side, glistening beneath the open bulletproof vest. She carried a long staff in her left hand. She was decorated in black and white paint and wore two leather forearm guards like the mythical Spartan soldiers. Rebus knew only too well the guards hid two small daggers. Tattoos covered her shoulders, neck and chest. A white-painted Zorro mask across her eyes was finished off with a Mohican styled haircut which was adorned with red and white feathers.

  Rebus blinked and noticed the small girl hanging on to Enyo’s hand. He smiled. ‘Who have we here?’

  The girl stepped in behind the tall woman. The little waif was dressed in a stained yellow dress that reached her knees, her straggly blonde hair hanging over her shoulders.

  ‘She was with the Hooded Man when our paths crossed,’ the general said.

  Rebus backhanded the man across his unshaved jaw. ‘It’s been two days, and you people bring me this now?’

  ‘Sorry, Rebus, she got lost in camp. Enyo eventually found her.’

  ‘Come here, little girl,’ Rebus said, holding out his hand.

  The girl looked at Enyo, who nodded her forward. She took a few small steps, dragging her feet. She had no shoes on, and her feet were brown from sun and dust. Rebus shuddered at the dirt that covered her.

  ‘I am Rebus Maze, and this is my place. What’s your name?’

  ‘Maddy.’

  ‘That’s such a nice name, Maddy,’ Rebus said, holding her cheek with his hand. ‘General, you may speak. What happened to Luka?’

  ‘We were in convoy passing The Sinks, just outside Townsend, when we caught two of their vehicles. There was a chase because Luka decided he wanted to capture or kill them. He was as high as fuck, Rebus. You know how he gets on these patrols.’

  ‘How the hell did they get him?’ Rebus turned towards him. ‘He was in the same truck as you, yet here you are.’

  ‘We chased them into Townsend, and in a deserted parking lot, he rammed one of their old trucks with ours. All hell broke loose. We exchanged fire with the occupants of the other truck too. Our second truck arrived and engaged them, which kept them away from us for a short while. This girl, plus a few others, had been thrown clear when we rammed them. There were quite a few civilians which was surprising considering it was a battle truck. Luka jumped out the side door to try and get this girl plus another teenager. I remember taking her from him as he handed her to me. Then a man from their truck tackled Luka, and before I could jump out to help, one of my men had reversed the truck, and we started to drive off.’

  ‘You left my love without firing a shot?’

  ‘Of course, there was gunfire. There was nothing I could do, boss. Our second vehicle had left already, and the Hooded Man in the other truck had started circling. We were outnumbered and outgunned. I thought we should get back here to let you know what happened. We had the girl Luka grabbed.’

  Rebus swallowed hard, the taste of bile filling his mouth. He went back and sat down in his chair again. ‘Maddy? Come over here.’

  ‘Let’s send her back in pieces,’ Skink said as he walked towards the group. He stopped and stared up at Enyo. ‘Where the fuck have you been, woman? I’ve been looking for you all over.’

  ‘No, you haven’t. You must have been jacking off again in the bushes somewhere. I’ve been right here with Rebus all along.’

  Skink turned to face her.

  ‘Shut up, you two. Let me think,’ Rebus said, lifting Maddy onto his lap. ‘Now, young lady. Are you friends with the man they call the Hooded Man?’

  She smiled and shook her head, a small dirty hand rubbing her eye.

  ‘You’re a friend of his and not supposed to tell anyone. Right?’

  She giggled and nodded.

  ‘We have to get Luka back, general. Tell me something. Anything that will save your life.’

  ‘As I said, one of our scouts followed them to a small hamlet in Knoxville. It’s fortified and will be difficult to breach. My men say it is impregnable.’

  Rebus chewed his lip and looked across to one of the nearby 38 Roadsters, and a lieutenant of the general before him. ‘You come here. Give me your sidearm.’

  The man hustled over and presented an old Beretta 9mm.

  ‘Chamber one for me, son,’ Rebus said. He looked at Maddy, who had turned to look at him. She was a cute little thing. ‘Now, Maddy. Have you ever heard a gun being fired?’

  She nodded.

  ‘It’s a loud bang, isn’t it.’

  ‘It hurts my ears,’ she replied as she watched the man slide the bolt back.

  ‘I’m sure it does,’ Rebus said. ‘But you know what makes it a lot less loud? If you pull the trigger yourself. Do you want to try?’

  She stared at him and then up at Enyo. Rebus took the weapon and held it out, aiming at the general. The man swallowed hard.

  ‘Please, boss. Let me take two trucks and get him back. I owe you that.’

  ‘Do we believe him, Maddy? Do you think he is telling the truth?’ Maddy closed her eyes.

  ‘Please, boss, let me try to make this right.’

  ‘What do you think?’ Rebus said. She nodded.

  ‘General, the young lady thinks you should be given a chance to atone for your idiocy.’

  The gun snapped back as the blast of sound deafened them all. The top of the kneeling man’s head erupted in blood, and he collapsed to the side. Maddy screamed and covered her ears, wriggling to try and slide off Rebus’s lap.

  ‘I, on the other hand, don’t listen to little girls.’

  Skink laughed and walked forward to take her. ‘Let me take the girl to your harem.’

  A black and white blur struck Skink across the arm, causing him to jump with fright. Enyo swung the staff back behind her back and whirled it around her head, bringing it back around in front of her. ‘Don’t you touch her, you little worm,’

  Skink pulled his knife and spun around to meet her gaze.

  ‘Stop it,�
�� Rebus said. ‘Enough of this. I need you two to start working on a plan to get my Luka back. And a way to get the Hooded Man’s scrotum into my palm.’

  ‘Do we have to risk everything we’ve built to go and get that idiot?’ Enyo said.

  Rebus felt his anger rising again.

  Skink walked forward. ‘Luka is always swanning around, thinking that he can order all of us around. He manipulates you emotionally and gets his way all the time.’

  Rebus stood up, throwing Maddy to the ground as he covered the three metres between him and Skink in a single bound. Backhanding him with the Beretta, he pushed his nephew to the ground. Raising the Beretta, he placed his foot on the shocked man’s chest. A cool touch sent sparks up his tense neck. Strong fingers slid up the back of his neck as he felt her warm breath nearing his ear.

  ‘Leave the little man, Rebus. Luka needs you, and we need to come up with a plan. Skink is your only family left, and while I’d love you to bury him, he has his uses.’

  Rebus took a deep breath and straightened up, handing the Beretta to the waiting soldier. ‘Skink, get out of my sight. Enyo and I will come up with a plan to get Luka.’

  Skink crawled for a metre and then stood up, looking back as he hurried away through the open factory gates and out into the dust and sun.

  Rebus looked at Maddy who had buried her face into the side of Enyo’s shorts. ‘We may be able to trade this little peach for Luka.’

  ‘It is worth a try. Let’s get Skink to put the word out amongst the addicts to see if there are any in Knoxville who can get a word to the hooded bastard.’

  ‘I want to draw this Hooded Man out so I can look into his eyes when we make the exchange. Then I am going to kill him and all of his crew. But first, take the girl back to the others, then get that great arse of yours back to my truck.’

  Chapter 7

  University Medical Centre, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA – 2043

  Gibbs felt uneasy walking down the length of the UMC canteen. A hundred eyes tracked his every move, and he wanted to lift his hood to shield his face. Round wooden tables filled the rectangular hall, every seat filled with hungry adults. The children ate at school, and he was sure their hall would be noisier. These adults were weighed down in thought and beaten down in life. In a world of despair, the odd smile started to appear, and then more eyes gleamed as he walked down the middle. A whisper to his left, then another further away. He still had all his weapons on him because gangs could attack at any minute, but for now, a sense of peace had descended over the enclave. No one came up to him to chat, which was a godsend. He didn’t want to engage with any more of the residents than he had to. Talk too much, be too nice, and they’d want to go with him when he left. They always wanted to join him in the end.

  A mop of white hair came into view and lifted his mood. Stuart, now fifteen, was the spitting image of his late mother and stood as tall as Gibbs. Ten years wasn’t long enough for memories to dissipate. It was a bittersweet joy to look at his son, and be reminded of her. Gibbs moved around Stuart, placing a hand on his shoulder, before sitting down next to Warren Smith, a friend and fellow warrior since before the Kharon epidemic. Someone who’d worked for his wife in London before they came to New America. Warren shifted along the bench, grimacing as he moved up.

  ‘You been to see the doc yet?’ Gibbs said.

  Warren nodded and spooned another mouthful of grey gruel. ‘He said that the bullet is lodged in the knee joint and has given me strong painkillers again.’

  ‘Can’t he remove it?’

  ‘You do know he’s a dentist?’

  ‘Sorry, I forgot. Best we keep looking.’

  ‘He says because it’s healed over and there was no infection, I’ll survive as it is, but it would be better to see if we can find a surgeon to remove it. There’ll be no marathon running for a while.’

  ‘There’s a bit of luck.’

  ‘I’ll have to cut down on the training with Stuart. It’s become too painful even with the killer tablets I’ve got now.’

  ‘You’re running scared, old man, that’s all,’ Stuart said, smiling as he ate his oatmeal.

  ‘What Stuart was trying to say is that he’s eternally grateful to you for looking after him so much. I am too. We couldn’t do what we do out there if it wasn’t for you covering for us in here,’ Gibbs said.

  ‘Don’t forget that I changed his nappy more times than you did all those years ago,’ Warren said, his eyes narrowing as the laugh lines appeared.

  ‘Excuse me, but I’m eating here you know,’ Stuart said. ‘Plus I’m a man now, so let’s leave the baby stories alone. Thanks for looking after me, but I don’t need more training.’

  ‘Yes, you do. Another year of training and you’ll be ready to go out there and join the rest of them,’ Warren said.

  ‘I’m ready now, thank you.’

  Gibbs pulled a bowl of oatmeal closer. ‘You’re a long way from being ready. When you can compete with, and beat, Smithy or me in knife or unarmed combat, you’ll be ready. And that ain’t anytime soon.’

  Stuart looked up at Gibbs with a roll of his blue eyes in a way that all teenagers do, then shook his head and looked back down to his food.

  ‘Don’t be too hard on him. We all had to start somewhere. Even I had to learn in the beginning,’ Warren said. Gibbs smiled. ‘Anyway, with these tablets, I can start going out there with you again,’ Warren said.

  Gibbs placed his hand on Warren’s shoulder. ‘Great news, mate. Be good to test those harnesses you built in the back of the truck.’

  ‘I have a few more ideas to make it easier for me to get from the left to right side windows or up to the roof machine gun, if necessary. We’ll have to mount weapons or window clamps because it’s impossible to swing the harness across if I’ve got a machine gun in my hands.’

  ‘That would be great. If Smithy took a hit up there, it was always going to be a weakness not having someone to take his place.’

  ‘I can do that, you know, Gibbs,’ Stuart said, looking up at his dad.

  ‘Out of the bloody question.’

  Warren laughed. ‘I’ll never get used to him calling you by your name.’

  ‘Needs must. Our little group of men seem to be getting more popular, and that means enemies will be getting closer. It’s best that Stuart is seen as just another stray that we have picked up.’

  Stuart shook his head, sighing as he shovelled another spoonful into his face. Guilt surged through Gibbs as he glanced at Stuart’s hand, his little finger missing. A cough near them drew their gaze to a middle-aged woman who was standing at the adjacent table, holding a parcel with both hands. She wore a light blue dress. Gibbs smiled at her, which she returned, lighting up her beautiful face. She approached them, her eyes fixed on Gibbs.

  ‘This is a little something for you and your men. A small thank you for keeping us safe.’

  ‘You are most welcome,’ Gibbs said and stood up. ‘You really didn’t have to.’

  She placed the parcel, which was wrapped in brown paper, on the table. ‘It’s a small pot cake. We had some flour left from last year’s harvest and wanted to show our appreciation.’

  ‘Thank you, Sheryl, but you should have kept that flour for tougher times,’ Warren said.

  Blushing, she walked around the table towards Gibbs and kissed him on the cheek. He felt a warm glow in his cheeks. ‘God bless you, Hooded Man.’

  ‘Um… My pleasure,’ he said and looked back to a smiling Warren.

  She also blushed and walked away between the tables of UMC residents. Murmurs and the odd giggle filled the air as Gibbs sat down and looked at the parcel.

  ‘Keep that with you, Stuart,’ Gibbs said. ‘We’ll give a piece to Maddy when we get her back.’

  Stuart’s blue eyes lit up. ‘Do you think she’s okay?’

  Gibbs looked at Warren, who would not catch his eye. He’d lost his girlfriend to gangs in the Floodzones of London twenty years before. Gibbs stopped for a second.
‘Warren, you’re nearly forty aren’t you? We could use it as a birthday cake.’

  ‘That’s next year, old man.’

  Gibbs smiled and looked back to Stuart. ‘We were unlucky to bump into that convoy when we did. If our forward scout van hadn’t broken down, she would’ve been here to eat this cake with us.’

  ‘We should have done more to save her from them,’ Stuart said, placing his spoon on the empty plate. He waved a fly away from the spoon handle.

  ‘It’s easy to say that as we sit here in safety. We did circle back but were taking heavy fire from the second truck. There were just too many who could have been captured or killed. It is my responsibility to think of all of you. This gang is one of the toughest that we’ve faced, and they would’ve killed us all if they had the chance.’

  Stuart put his hands on the table and played with the stump where his little finger used to be.

  ‘Chin up, mate,’ Warren said. ‘I’m sure we’ll get her back soon enough.’

  ‘I know you believe it’s stupid to feel about her the way I feel, especially since we only picked her up a few weeks back, but I got on so well with her.’

  ‘Is that a little romance in the air?’ Warren said. ‘Have you kissed her yet?’

  Stuart lifted his middle finger.

  ‘I had no idea you felt that way about her,’ Gibbs said. ‘I thought of you more like a brother and sister.’

  ‘That’s disgusting. We’re nothing like that.’

  ‘We’ll have to get her back then.’

  Stuart smiled and placed his hands back under the table.

  ‘This morning, we made contact with the gang. Things are still at a tricky negotiation stage, but we may have convinced them of a place to make a trade for their dopey Roadster.’

  Stuart turned quickly to face Gibbs. ‘I want to be involved in the negotiations. I need to be there.’

  ‘You’re too young to be getting into action like that. Leave it to us to handle it.’

  ‘That’s bullshit, Gibbs. Boys in this place are getting married at fifteen, and I’ll be able to do that next year. So I have to help get Maddy back,’ Stuart said, standing up.

  ’Sit your arse down,’ Gibbs said, his voice louder than he realised. A hush drifted across the nearby tables, and residents looked at them. ‘Your mother would never have allowed you to get married at such a young age, much less go into battle.’