loaded.â
âAs if,â Bree sneered.
âNo loud noises, please.â Jonah glanced at Patch, who was holding his false eye in one hand; now he flipped up his eye patch to reveal the empty socket. âPatch has got his eye on you. And since you know so much about us, Iâm assuming youâre aware of how he keeps all kinds of stuff in that insulated glass. Tonight itâs stuffed full of plastic explosive â enough, we reckoned, to take out the radio mast that Blackland uses to keep tabs on his books.â
âThe arming device is in the pupil,â Con explained, as Patch showed around the fake eyeball like a magicianâs assistant. âYou press on it once to arm it â then, when you take your finger off, youâve got maybe five seconds before it blows.â
âIâd show you,â said Patch, looking pale and sweaty, âbut Iâve
already
armed it. If I take my finger off the pupil Iâll blow up the whole bleedinâ lot of us.â
âYouâre bluffing,â said the old man calmly.
âNo, Heidel.â Sorin shook his head. âWe saw him arm the mechanism. Or else weâd have taken them.â
âKendall wouldnât harm his friends,â Bree stated.
âI donât want to hurt anyone,â said Patch, waggling the eyeball. âAnd I get bloody nervous at times like this, so no one make my hands any shakier, yeah?â
âGive me my gun back,â said Tye.
Bree weighed the gun in her hand, then held it out to Tye. But as Tye reached for it she tossed it out of the open window. âItâs useless, remember?â She smirked at Patch. âWell, Kendall? Going to blow us allsky high for my disobedience?â
Jonah tutted. âYou want to keep your gang under control, Heidel. Any more surprises, we could all wind up dead.â
âNow stand in the far corner, all of you,â Con snapped. âNo tricks.â
Heidel stared at her for a few moments. Then he signalled to his gang and slowly, dutifully, they backed away.
Jonah crossed to Tye and knelt beside her. âYou OK? Is Motti all right?â
Tye shot a poisonous look at Heidel. âHeâs breathing.â
âFor now,â said Bree casually.
âUnlike that poor old sod on the floor,â said Jonah, straining as Tye helped him half carry, half drag Motti over to where Con and Patch waited. âIs that Blackland?â
âYes, itâs him.â The red-haired girl under the desk had poked her bruised face out. âThey killed him.â
âAnd for what, my dear Maya?â Heidel produced a small, brown book from his pocket. âAh yes, for this. Blacklandâs greatest treasure. The Guan Yin manuscript.â
âGive that to us,â Con demanded. âThrow it on the floor and ââ
âOh, I donât think so.â Heidel smiled faintly. âThatâs the problem when oneâs only weapon is mass destruction â it offers little finesse when negotiating.â
âOh?â
âYou wonât detonate that explosive if I donât comply with your demands, Con. In a confined spacelike this you risk killing yourselves at the same time.â He walked slowly towards them, pausing with his back to the window, holding up the book just as Patch was holding the eyeball. âBesides, I know just how valuable the Bloodline Cipher is to Coldhardt. I know what depends on it, whatâs at stake. You
darenât
destroy this manuscript.â
âYouâre insane,â Maya piped up quietly. âAll of you.â
Jonah remembered Coldhardtâs warning back in the hub:
That manuscript is of paramount importance. Take no chances with its welfare ⦠damaged it is of no use to me
.
âColdhardt wouldnât need to know
we
destroyed it,â said Con icily. âYou wouldnât be alive to breathe a word.â
âSo you would betray your master, eh,
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