Page 82 of The Song Rising

“Liverpool,” he managed. “It’s in Liverpool.”

“Is it?”

I forced myself to keep my eyes on him. He was just another puppet, another piece in Vance’s machine. When Catrin wormed the blade deeper, he made a sound that twisted my gut.

“Cardiff,” he bit out. “Belfast.”

“Enough,” I said sharply. “We have no way of knowing if he’s telling the truth.”

“Oh, I know.” She let go of the knife. “I’m just having fun.”

Price stared at his hand, panting. The blade affixed him to the table.

He had been prepared for this, too. Someone like Vance would expect her employees to be willing to suffer, even lose their lives, to protect her military secrets from insurgents. That didn’t mean the Ironmaster had no weaknesses. And not all secrets needed to be drawn out with a knife.

I unlocked the door and occupied my own body. When I returned, stepping over the crumpled form of the bodyguard I had used to get in, I pulled up a chair and sat down opposite the Minister for Industry. Red burbled from one of his nostrils as my spirit probed the edge of his dreamscape.

“First, let’s go back to the scanners. I know they’re in the loading bay, but we need you to give us the code to get in,” I said. “Don’t make me ask twice, Minister.”

“I’m afraid Hildred is a step ahead of you on that front.” Sweat varnished his forehead. “There is only one code to open the loading bay. Entering it incorrectly will destroy its contents.”

The first response this stirred in me was fear, but it faded as quickly as it came.

“I don’t believe you,” I said.

“Why?” He sounded genuinely curious.

“Because Vance wouldn’t just destroy huge quantities of her own equipment. We all know how urgently she wants these scanners operational. There’s also the matter ofhowthe contents would be destroyed. I doubt you’d have a procedure which involved blowing up the loading bay, risking the entire facility. Vance isn’t that wasteful.”

“You’re shrewder than I gave you credit for. Already a little less naïve than you were. You and Hildred are similar, you know. She also learns from the enemy, and from past mistakes.” Blood was slithering from his hand. “If you were on our side, perhaps she would have been your mentor.”

“I’m done with mentors.”

“Now, now, don’t slide into arrogance. Even Hildred has mentors.” If his watering eyes were anything to go by, the pain was swelling.

I’d like to talk less about mentors and more about the code, Price,” I said. “If you think you won’t tell me, I assure you, you will. It’s hidden in your mind, where Vance thinks it’s safe. Fortunately for me, I know all about minds. We voyants call themdreamscapes.”

“You can’t access my memories.”

“No, but I can see things.” I clasped my fingers and leaned across the table. “Let me demonstrate.” I pushed my spirit against him again, dipping into his dreamscape. A vein bulged between his eyebrows. “You feel safest in a garden, where you can escape from the pollution. There are foxgloves and roses, and a winding path, and at the center of it all is a marble bird-bath, sheltered by oak trees. You often see it in your dreams. Is that your home in Altrincham?”

His breathing was shallower. “Impressive,” he said, “but we all know what you can do, dreamwalker.” He dropped his voice to the softest whisper. “The Suzerain has told us all in detail.”

“Your family feels safe there, too, I imagine,” I said, hoping he hadn’t seen my shiver. “You must miss them when you’re here. Are they waiting for you to come home?”

The tiniest flicker of apprehension crossed his face. His pupils were constricted.

“I want the code. If you don’t give it to me, I promise you this: when I leave here, I will go straight to that beautiful garden in your mind, and I will kill your wife and children. You will come home and find them dead, and you’ll wonder why you didn’t just hand over the code. A few little numbers. Vance will never even have to know.”

Somehow, I kept my voice under control. Price’s attention twitched to his unconscious bodyguards.

“I don’t think you would, Mahoney,” he said. “You’re not a born killer.”

“Killers can be made.”

All the amusement fled from him. Slowly, Price extended his uninjured hand toward a control panel. His spousal ring glinted as he pressed one finger into a button.

“That was the door release. The code to the internal door of the loading bay is 18010102.”

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