The Kingdom of Night (Book 3)

Thirteen - Scare Tactics

George

Wittenberg ambushed us on my next leave. I'd decided that Hannah needed a quintessential English experience while she was here. We were walking along Piccadilly Circus, my arm around her shoulder and her head on my arm, and didn't even see the big German bloke creeping up behind us. Then, all at once, Hannah was ripped from my side with a scream that was cut off abruptly by a dull thud.

     'Hannah!' I lunged blindly after her, not even aware of which direction she'd gone, but somebody grabbed the back of my tunic and yanked me back, jamming a gun barrel into the base of my skull. Instantly I froze.

     'Into the alley,' growled a thick German-accented voice behind me. 'Now.'

     I raised my hands to show my lack of weapons, and allowed myself to be pushed forward, into the waiting dark alley. I stopped short–and pushed from behind to force me to keep going–when I saw a large hulking man, one of his arms around Hannah's neck. He had a scar slicing up his face, taking out his left eye. In his other hand he held a gun, pressed to her temple. She appeared to be unconscious, and with a flare of anger I saw how: there was a bruise blooming along her jaw.

     'What do you want from me?' I grunted as the man released me from behind and stepped around to face me, pushing me up against the wall. 'Wittenberg.'

     'Ah, yes, it seems you already know me.' One of his eyebrows went up. 'I must say, you aren't as frightening as I thought you were going to be.'

     'If I frightened you, why did you come after me in the first place?' I snapped, but he shoved the gun muzzle into my chin and forced my head backwards into the wall. 'Just to see if you could turn the tables on me?'

     'None of that,' he said with a click of his tongue. 'You want me to tell you why I'm really here? And why Fritz has such a tight hold on your girlfriend back there?'

     'Better than you beating about the bush like you have been.' I scowled at him, and he flicked the muzzle of the gun off my chin with a smirk that I wanted to punch off.

     'I am, as you know, gathering intelligence on where the Order may have scattered the pieces of the Essence Machine. And then I got to thinking, what better informants than the children of the Elementals with the highest positions? Don't give me that look, George. I know exactly what your parents do.'

     'So what if my parents are important to the Order? What makes you think they'd have told me anything? In case you haven't noticed, I haven't exactly been here for them to give me that information.' I was glad I sounded braver than I felt. Hannah and I could both be shot here on the spot, and no one would know.

     He shook his head. 'Feisty, aren't you? You know I like that in a woman, but not from a boy like you. Maybe you and your cousin are more alike than I thought. Alice, isn't it?'

     'You went after her?' I clenched my fists. 'You're disgusting.'

     'She said as much,' he said, sounding bored. 'I like her, you know. Has this streak of darkness that I don't see in her sister. It makes her all the more intriguing.'

     'You leave her alone.' I narrowed my eyes at him, my shoulders tensing. 'She's lost so much already because of you.'

     'And I suppose you're going to stop me?' He raised an eyebrow at me.

     I didn't answer, instead lowering my head and rushing him. We collided with a bone-shaking crash, up against the opposite wall. For a moment, our scuffle was a confusion of kicks, punches, fingers in mouths and eyes, and pulling at clothing. Then there was a muffled crack and a burning pain in my side. The tosser had shot me.