Tunnels 04, Closer

this."
    Colonel Bismarck laughed.
    Elliott smiled wearily back at him. "And I didn't have any explosive in my rucksack either. I used everything I had with me for my big entry at the pyramid." She unwound the cable from her arm and shrugged the rucksack off her back. "Other than a couple of handguns, this is full of dirty clothes."
    The Colonel laughed even louder, but Will was far from amused. He tried to jump up, but the two New Germanians on either side of him on the metal bench held him back. The soldiers were both stronger than he was, on top of which his wrists were bound, so he didn't put up a fight.
    "For God's sake," he fumed, as he stared daggers at Elliott. "You gave the Dominion to them. Why, after all we've done to stop them getting it? Either you've completely lost the plot, or you're a bloody traitor! Or both!"

Part Three
    Restitution

21

    "Eddie, I'm going to take Chester for a spin in the car," Drake said. "All he does is mope around in his bedroom, zapping things on that PlayStation you bought him."
    Eddie put his paintbrush down and pushed the magnifying glass aside. "A change of scene might do him good," he agreed. "Do you want me to come too?"
    "No, that's fine," Drake replied.

    * * * * *

    As Drake crossed the Thames over LondonBridge, Chester was in the passenger seat next to him, enjoying the breeze on his face through the open window as he peered at the river. But as they approached the banks of cameras at the perimeter of the City, London's financial district, Drake closed all the windows. Chester watched as the tinted glass slid up, sealing them in the car.
    "Keep your head down through here," Drake advised Chester. "Damned CCTVs everywhere, and they have facial recognition programs now. You'd think the whole country was run by the Styx."
    "I'm beginning to get the feeling it is," Chester mumbled pathetically.
    Drake gave him a sharp look. "You can drop the Eeyore act right now. Unless Eddie's bugged the car -- which he hasn't -- there's no need to keep the charade going."
    "Okay," Chester said, his voice brightening. "But why all the pretence, anyway? What's going on with him?"
    "All will be clear, in time," Drake said, glaring at a black cab, which had swerved in front of the Range Rover.
    They were heading northwest out of London and into the never-ending suburbs. As he regarded the throngs of people on the streets, Chester still hadn't adjusted to the sight of so many of them after his months underground. His head soon began to hurt as he tried to scrutinize each of them in turn, wondering how many were either Styx in disguise, or had been conditioned with the Dark Light and were their agents. Maybe he'd become paranoid, but -- he told himself -- that was probably a good thing.
    As they passed the end of a parade of shabby-looking shops, Drake turned into a run-down industrial estate, one side of which was formed by a line of old railway arches. Built from Victorian brick, stained soot black from decades of pollution, the arches were either boarded up, or cheap glass and aluminum frontages had been fitted across them, with signs that proclaimed, "Pine Furniture -- U Won't Find Cheaper!" or "Office Equipment -- Best Deals In London". Drake drove on until he came to a unit that appeared to be some sort of car body shop, and pulled up outside.
    "This way," he said, and Chester followed him through a door in the metal pull-down. The interior was littered with discarded car panels, and in the middle of the floor there was a van up on a stand with a man working under it, energetically whacking its exhaust pipe with a hammer.
    "Morning," Drake said loudly, and the man stopped what he was doing and emerged from beneath the vehicle. Dressed in faded blue overalls, he was heavily built and completely bald.
    "Mr. Smith," he greeted Drake, tucking the hammer away in his tool belt.
    "Everything ready?" Drake asked.
    The man didn't answer, giving Chester a lingering glance.
    "It's all right -- he's with me," Drake assured him, then took two glittering objects from his wallet. As he dropped them into the man's palm, smeared with engine oil and dirt, Chester saw they were a pair of large diamonds. "As I told you before, be careful how you dispose of them."
    "Sell 'em? Not a chance, mate, I'm keepin' these," the man grinned, revealing one of his front teeth was gold. "Pension fund for me and the missus, these are." He began to move to the back of the workshop, and Chester trailed after Drake as they