Read Online Jani and the Greater Game (The Multiplicity Series Book 1) by Eric Brown - Free Book Online Page B

pull through, thanks be, so I’m told.”
    “Just three...” she murmured.
    “Now I know this can’t be pleasant to think back on, Miss Chatterjee. Raking over old coals, never good for the equilibrium. Fact remains... this is a dashed odd business all the way round, from beginning to end.”
    “Odd?”
    “Decidedly.” He caressed his long jaw, lost in thought. He looked up. “I say, how rude of me. Would you care for a cup of tea while we’re chatting?”
    “That would be most pleasant, thank you.”
    The brigadier poked his head into the corridor and called out, “I say, nurse. D’you think you could rustle up a pot of Darjeeling, by any chance?”
    In due course, china cup and saucer in hand, Cartwright said, “Where was I? Ah, the attack... Bizarre. Most odd. Y’see... we’ve had our investigators go over the crash site with the proverbial fine TC. How we reckon it went is like this: the Russians came over the border with an artillery piece, or several, and went at the airship all guns blazing. The engine-room took a direct hit and down she comes. Not many survivors then, twenty or so, we reckon. Anyway, the Ruskies turn up in one of their airships loaded with troops and... well, to put it bluntly, go through the wreckage and account for the survivors. Hellish business. They’ll pay, mark my word.”
    Jani sipped her tea, watching the brigadier. He stared into his cup, biting his lip as he marshalled his thoughts. “Now... I know this can’t be easy, reliving the event. But I’d like to ask you what you recall of the attack – or rather the aftermath. It’s what happened on the ground that we’re really interested in, y’see.”
    Jani finished her tea and set aside the cup. “Well, I must have passed out when we came down,” she began. “The first thing I recall is waking up in the morning...”
    She recounted finding Lady Eddington and helping her, then setting off in search of medical supplies, food and water, and other survivors.
    “And what did you find, Miss Chatterjee?”
    “I came upon just one survivor, and located a few medical supplies, food and water. Then I returned to Lady Eddington and did my best to splint her broken leg.” She was not wholly sure why she had omitted her discovery of the prisoner.
    The prisoner... For the first time she recalled the coin that Jelch had given her. Under Cartwright’s scrutiny she felt unable to move her hand to the pocket beneath her dress’s waistband.
    “And can you recall what happened then,” the brigadier asked, “if it’s not too painful?”
    “I heard gunshots, and then I saw three soldiers approaching. I knew that I had little hope of concealing myself and Lady Eddington... and then I saw Mr Gollalli.”
    She told the brigadier about the film-maker and his singular ledger of faux wounds. “It was our only hope, you see. I told Lady Eddington to play dead and applied a wound to her, and then did the same to myself.”
    “Extraordinary! Quite remarkable... And it fooled the blighters, hm?”
    Jani hesitated. “Well, for a minute or so, yes. But one of them must have noticed something, and... and then...”
    “In your own time, my dear. No need to rush these things.”
    “And then they threatened us, and a soldier drew a revolver and was about to shoot Lady Eddington. I closed my eyes, expecting to hear the gunshot at any second.”
    “Only...?”
    “Only... Well, it never came, and when I opened my eyes, some time later, the three Russian soldiers lay dead.”
    Cartwright was absently stroking his chin and nodding his head. “I see, I see... And – I’m sorry to press the point – but are you sure that you didn’t see how the three met their end?”
    Jani shrugged and held the brigadier’s gaze. “I assumed at the time that... that rescue had arrived and accounted for the soldiers. I must admit that I didn’t look too closely. In fact, I think I pretty much passed out again at that point.”
    “Just so, and there’s