Page 7 (2/2)
By the tih, Harry had a lotht, just sort of placid and not entirely with it He re so ed he could really shine, but right now there wasn’t even a spark
Orto Rhodes?’ Harry asked hiht out I’d be out of here right now but I wanted to be sure you were OK first I reckoned I owed you that at least, and probably a lot et Trevor and Ken out of there, if they can be moved Also, I have to see if I can discover what they caainst Their Greek liaison ht be able to help me on that’ He looked at Harry speculatively ’And I had hopes that you ht be able to help etting, and all’
Harry nodded ’I have my suspicions,’ he said, ’but we’d all better pray I’! See, I know the dead wouldn’t haris so important to them, or toood job on me I don’t remember my dreams in any detail - not the ones which they send me, anyway - and I can’t try to clarify them And as for the Möbius Continuum God, I can’t add two and tithout it comes out five!’
Darcy Clarke had personal experience of the Möbius Continuuh it From here, this very house, to E-Branch HQ in London over three hundred et and, he hoped, never repeat, all the days of his life Even now, these years later, it was printed on his memory in vivid detail
There had been Darkness on the Möbius Strip, the Prian A place of negativity, yes, where Darkness lay upon the face of the deep And Darcy had thought that this could well be that region froht, and caused the physical universe to split off from the metaphysical void
There had been no air, but neither had there been time, so that Darcy didn’t need to breathe And without time there was likewise no space; both of these essentials of a universe of matter had been absent But Darcy hadn’t ruptured and flown apart, because there’d been nowhere to fly to!
Harry had been Darcy’s single anchor on Sanity and Being and Huht, but he could feel the pressure of his hand And perhaps because Darcy was himself psychically endowed, he’d felt he had so of the place For instance: he kneas real because he was here, and with Harry beside him he’d known he need not fear it because his talent hadn’t prevented hi here And so, even in the confusion of his near-panic, he’d been able to explore his feelings about it
Lacking space it was literally ’nowhere’, but by the sa time it was every-where and -when It was core and boundary both, interior and exterior, where nothing ever changed except by force of will But there was no will, except it was brought here by soh Harry was only a h the Möbius Continuum were Godlike? And what if God should coht of The God, rought a Great Change out of a forht had also occurred: We aren’t meant to be here This isn’t our place
’I understand how you feel,’ Harry had told him then, ’for I’ve felt it, too But don’t be afraid Just let it happen and accept it Can’t you feel the ic of it? Doesn’t it thrill you to your soul?’
And Darcy had had to admit it thrilled him - but it scared hi it, Harry had taken hi out, they’d seen a chaos of ht etched against an eternity of black velvet, like an incredible meteor shower, except the tracks didn’t dim but remained printed on the sky - indeed, printed on Ti was this: that two of these twining, twisting streaht had issued fro away into the future -
The blue life-threads of huh space and time But then Harry had closed that door and opened another, a door on the past
The myriad neon life-threads had been there as before but this ti into a eting on a faraway, dazzling blue core of origin
And in the main, that hat had most seared itself on Darcy’s ht of Mankind
’Anyway,’ Harry’s voice, decisive now, brought hi with you To Rhodes, I azed at him in astonishment He hadn’t seen or heard hi with - ?’
’They’re my friends, too,’ Harry blurted ’Oh, maybe I don’t know them like you do, but I trusted in the They were in on that Bodescu business They have their talents, and they have invaluable experience ofthings Also, well it seeo And lastly, we really can’t afford to have anything happen to people like those two Not now’
’We can’t afford it? What "we", Harry?’ And suddenly Darcy was very tense, waiting for Harry’s answer
’You, me, the world’
’Is it that bad?’
’It could be So I’ with you’
Sandra looked at them both and said: ’So am I’
Darcy shook his head ’Not if it’s like he thinks it ht be, you’re not’
’But I’ht be able to help with Trevor Jordan He and I used to be able to read each other like books He’s my friend, too, remember?’
Harry took her arm ’Didn’t you hear what Darcy said? Trevor’s a one’
She pulled a face and tut-tutted ’What does that o", you of all people should know that It hasn’t "gone" anywhere - just gone wrong, that’s all I ’
’We’re wasting ti anxious ’OK, so it’s decided: we’re all three going How long will it take you to get ready?’
’I’m ready,’ Harry answered at once ’Five s’
’I’ll need to pick up ed ’That’s all Anything else I need I’ll buy out there’
’Right,’ said Darcy ’You phone a taxi, and I’ll help Harry pack If we have time I can always put HQ in the picture froo’
And in their graves the tee dead relaxed a little -for the ht he’d heard their ave a s like that It was just the frisson of knowing But of course his friends - his living friends - knew nothing at all of that
Unbeknown to the three, Nikolai Zharov was at Edinburgh Airport to see them off He had also been across the river with a pair of KGB-issue nite-lite binoculars when Wellesley broke into Harry’s house in Bonnyrig And he’d seen what had left the garden to plod back to their riven plots in a cemetery half a mile away He’d seen and knohat they were, and still looked haggard fro it
But that didn’t stop Zharov coding a h to the KGB cell at the embassy So that in a very short tiencies knew that Harry Keogh was en route to the Mediterranean
It was 6:30 pm local time at Rhodes Airport when Manolis Papasta the taxi ride into the historic town, he told them in his frenetic fashion all he knehat had transpired But seeing no connection, he made no mention of Jianni Lazarides
’What of Ken Layard now?’ Darcy wanted to know
Papastamos was small, slender, all sinew and suntan and shiny-black, wavy hair Handsome in a fashion, and usually full of zest, now he looked harassed and hagridden ’I don’t knohat it is,’ he gave a series of questioning, desperate shrugs, held out his hands palms up ’I don’t know, and blame myself because I don’t know! But they are not easy to understand, those two Policee policemen! They sees - but never explained to me how they knew’
’They’re very special,’ Darcy agreed ’But what about Ken?’
’He couldn’t swied hiot the salt water out of him, went for help Jordan was no use toto himself He was suddenly crazy! And he’s stayed that way But Layard, he was OK, I swear it! Just a bump on the head And now’
’Now?’ said Harry
’Now they say he ht cry ’I did all I could, I swear it!’
’Don’t blame yourself, Manolis,’ Darcy told him ’Whatever happened wasn’t your fault But can we see hio to the hospital now You can see Trevor, too, if you wish it But,’ and again he shrugged, ’you won’t get much out of that one My God, I am so sorry!’
The hospital was off Papalouca, one of the Nen’s e all of a hundred yards long ’One section - a ward, clinic and dispensary - is reserved mainly for the treatment of the tourists,’ Papastaates ’It’s not ust the work doesn’t stop The broken bones, bad sunburns, heatstroke, stings, cuts and bruises Ken Layard has a room of his own’
He told their driver to wait, led the way into a side here a receptionist sat in her booth clipping her fingernails As soon as she saw Papasta to her feet and spoke to hiasped and went pale ’My friends, you are too late,’ he said ’He isdead!’ He looked at Sandra, Darcy and Harry in turn, and shook his head ’There is nothing I can say’
They were too dumbstruck to answer for a moment, until Harry said: ’Can we see him anyway?’
Harry looked cool in a pale blue jacket, white shirt and slacks He and the others had slept on the plane, catching up on a lot of lost sleep And despite his travails of the night before, he seeh it better than thened; unlike Sandra’s and Darcy’s, Papastaht: A cold-blooded one, this Harry Keogh
But he rong: it was simply that Harry had learned to view death differently Ken Layard ht be finished ’here’ - finished physically, materially, in the corporeal world - but he wasn’t all dead Not all of hiht now, desperate to engage him in deadspeak Except Harry was forbidden to hear him, and forbidden to answer even if he did
’See hiirl tells me that first the doctor wishes to see us His office is this way’ And he led theh high, narros
They found the doctor, a small bald man with thick-lensed spectacles perched on the end of his hook of a nose, in his tiny office roo papers
When Papastamos introduced them to hi his very genuine dislish and shaking his head sadly, he told them:
"This bump on the Layard’s head - I ’fraid is entlee inside? This is not certain until the autopsy, naturally, but I thinks this one is causing the death The daain he shook his head, gave a sad shrug
’Can we see hiain And as the doctor led the way: ’When is the autopsy?’
Again the Greek’s shrug ’One days, two - as soon as it can be arranged But soon Until then I aue’
’And when did he die - exactly?’ Harry was relentless
’Exactly? To the minute? Is not known One hour, I thinks About ah, 1800 hours?’
’Six o’clock local time,’ said Sandra ’We were on the plane’
’Does there have to be an autopsy?’ Harry hated the thought of it; he knew the effect necroosani had been a necromancer, and oh how the dead had loathed and feared him! Of course, this wouldn’t be the saist, whose skills would be those of the surgeon as opposed to the torturer, but still Harry didn’t like it
Sakellarakis held up his hands ’It is the law’
Layard’s rooently antiseptic He lay full length on a trolley, covered head to toe by a sheet The bed he’d used had been ain, and theclosed to keep out flies Darcy carefully laid back the sheet to show Layard’s face �C and drew back at once, wincing Sandra, too Layard’s face wasn’t in repose
’Is the spas ’The ht Then Layard, he is doing the correct sleeping’
Harry hadn’t drawn back Instead he stood over Layard, looking down at hiorrather more than that His jaere open in a scream and his upper lip at the left had lifted up and away fro His entire face seemed pulled to the left in a sort of rictus, as if he screa unbelievable, unbearable
His eyes were closed, but in the eyelids under the brows Harry sain slits in the meainst the overall pallor ’He’s been cut?’ Harry glanced at the Greek doctor
The spasm,’ the other nodded "The eyes come open It can happen I make the small cuts in the muscles no problem’
Harry licked his lips, frowned, peered intently at the large blue lu into his hair The shiny skin was broken in the centre, a sh Harry looked at the lump, reached out a hand as if to touch it, then turned away And: ’That look on his face,’ he said, under his breath ’No muscular spasm that, but sheer terror!’
Darcy Clarke, for his part, had taken one look at Layard and drawn back first one pace, then another But he hadn’t stopped drawing back and was now out in the corridor His face was drawn, eyes staring into the rooure on the trolley Sandra joined him; Harry, too
’Darcy, what is it?’ Sandra’s voice was hushed
Darcy only shook his head ’I don’t know,’ he gulped ’But whatever it is, it’s not right!’ It was his talent working, looking out for him
Papastamos put back the sheet over Layard’s face; he and Sakellarakis came out of the room into the corridor ’Not the spasm, you say?’ The doctor looked at Harry and cocked his head on one side ’You are knowing about these things?’
’I know sos about the dead, yes,’ Harry nodded
’Harry’san expert,’ Darcy had himself under control now
’Ah!’ said Sakellarakis ’A doctor!’
’Listen,’ Harry took him by the arht And then hecremated?’
’Yes, cremated Reduced to ashes Tomorrow at the latest’
’My God!’ Manolis Papastamos burst out ’And Ken Layard was your friend? Such friends I don’t need! I thought you were the cold one but you are not merely cold, you are as dead as he is!’
Cold sas beading Harry’s forehead now and he was beginning to look sick ’But that’s just the point,’ he said ’I don’t think he is dead!’
’You don’t - ?’ Dr Sakellarakis’s jaw fell open ’But I know this thing for sure! The gentleman, he is certain dead!’
’Undead!’ Harry aying now
Sandra’s eyes fleide So this was really it But Harry had been caught off guard; he was shocked, saying too lish expression!’ she quickly cut in ’Undead: not dead but merely departed Old friends simply pass on That’s what he meant Ken’s not dead but in the hands of God’
Or the devil! Harry thought But he was steadier now and glad that she’d come to his rescue
Darcy’sovertiion,’ he said, ’which requires that he’s burned -cre Harry only wants to be sure it will be the way he would want it’
’Ah!’ Manolis Papastaht that at least he was beginning to understand Then I have to apologize I am sorry, Harry’
’That’s OK,’ said Harry ’Can we see Trevor Jordan now?’
’We’ll go right now,’ Papastamos nodded "The asylum is in the Old Town, inside the old Crusader walls It’s off Pythagoras Street The nuns run it’
They used the taxi again and reached their destination in a little over twentyand a cool breeze off the sea brought relief fro the journey Darcy asked Papastamos: ’Incidentally, can you fix us up with somewhere to stay? A decent hotel?’
’Better than that,’ said the other ’The tourist season is just starting; many of the villas are still e After you have seen poor Trevor, then I take you there’
At the asylum they had to wait until a Sister of Rhodos could be spared from her duties to take them to Jordan’s cell He was strait jacketed, seated in a deep, high-sided leather chair with his feet inches off the ground In this position he could do himself no harm, but in any case he seemed asleep With Papastamos to translate, the Sister explained that they were adular intervals It wasn’t that Jordan was violent,
’Tell her she can leave us with hi, and we know the way out’ And when Papastamos had complied and the Sister left: ’And you, too, Manolis, if you please’
’Eh?’
Darcy laid a hand on his arood fellow, Manolis, and wait for us outside,’ he told hi’
The other shrugged, however sourly, and left
Darcy and Harry looked at Sandra ’Do you feel up to it?’ Darcy said
She was nervous, but: ’It should be easy,’ she answered at last ’We’re two of a kind I’ve had plenty of practice with Trevor and know the way in’ But it was as if she spoke more to convince herself than anyone else And as she took up a position behind Jordan, with her hands on the back of his chair, so the last rays of the sun began to fade in the tiny, high, recessed stained-glass s of the cell
Sandra closed her eyes and the silence grew Jordan sat locked in his chair; his chest rising and falling, his eyelids fluttering as he dreahts they were that troubled hi a little, too, where it was strapped down by his thigh Harry and Darcy stood watching, aware now of the gathering dusk, the fading light
And without warning Sandra was in!
She looked, saw, gave a strangled little cry and stumbled back away from Jordan’s chair until she crashed into the wall Jordan’s eyes snapped open They were terrified! His head swivelled left and right and he saw the two espers standing before him - and just for a moment, he knew them!
’Darcy! Harry!’ he croaked
And as simply and suddenly as that Harry kneho had co his help!
But in the next an to twitch and shake in dreadful spas butwas denied the chance The shuddering stopped, his fevered eyes closed and his head lolled, and he sluain But even as he returned to his ed one last word:
’Ha-Ha-Haarrryr
They rushed to Sandra where she stood half-fainting against the wall And when she stopped gasping for air and was able to hold them off:
’What was it?’ Harry asked her ’Did you see?’
’I saw,’ she nodded, sing rapidly ’He’s not mad, Harry, just trapped’
Trapped?’
’In his own , terrified victieon’
’A victiaped at her tre in Harry’s arms
’Oh God! Oh God!’ she whispered, her tre to shake Harry, too, as her eyes went fearfully back to Trevor Jordan lolling there unconscious in his chair And Darcy felt his blood stiffen to ice in the haunted light of her eyes, as finally she answered: ’Of thewho’s in there right now, talking to hi him about us!’