Tunnels 05 - Spiral

look.
    Sweeney nodded, then addressed the Limiters, “Listen up, all you Sticky Boys. You’re going to do the decent thing and give the laddie’s cat a burial. I want a proper hole dug — no skimping. You owe him that.” Sweeney caught Will’s eye. “OK?”
    Will nodded gratefully.
    Sweeney stuck a thumb in Mrs. Rawls’s direction. “And what about the filly?”
    Mrs. Rawls opened her mouth to object at being referred to in this way. She evidently thought better of it and resorted to giving Sweeney a murderous look.
    “Mrs. Rawls is coming with us,” Will said, then went off to collect his Bergen from the jeep, as well as a couple of holdalls Drake had left behind.
    Once he’d returned, Sweeney reached out an arm. “Let me take the weight off,” he said, hooking the Bergen and holdalls with his fingers and hoisting them from Will as if they contained nothing more than feathers. “And you can have your peashooter back,” he added, passing the weapon over. Although Sweeney didn’t have a gun on Mrs. Rawls any longer, Will noticed that he was careful to keep close to her as they walked.
    “Will,” Mrs. Rawls said, “now all the macho posturing is over, I want to know about my family. No one’s told me a thing about Jeff and Chester, but I’m assuming they’re both somewhere safe? Is that right?”
    “They certainly should be,” Will assured her. “And we’ll be joining them soon.”
    “Thank you,” Mrs. Rawls said, looking relieved.
    But the moment they arrived at the Humvee, Drake took one of the holdalls from Sweeney and approached Mrs. Rawls.
    “Emily, I can either continue to treat you as a potential hostile and keep you under restraint. Or I can give you a clean bill of health by making sure you’re not Darklit. It’s your call.”
    Mrs. Rawls inclined her head toward Will and gave him a smile. “I was wrong about the macho posturing. He’s at it again.” Then she turned to Drake. “I don’t want to be in handcuffs when I see my family,” she said. “Do what you have to.”
    Drake delved into the holdall and extracted a small device. It appeared to be a pair of glasses connected by a cable to a small cylinder.
    “Did Danforth make that?” Will asked.
    “Yes, the new improved Pocket Purger,” Drake replied. “I know I’ve said it a million times, but the man’s a genius.”
    “Certainly is,” Sweeney said. “He offered to give my bonce an overhaul once, as if I was his blessed Moggy Minor.”
    “Well, he certainly miniaturized the original Purger,” Will observed.
    Drake nodded. “Will, I need you first.” He held the cylinder in front of the boy’s face.
    “Me? What for?” Will asked warily.
    “Just keep your eyes open and watch the birdie,” Drake replied. He depressed a button on the cylinder, and an intense purple beam shone straight into Will’s pupils.
    Will immediately recognized the color; it was identical to that of a Dark Light, although this time it was having absolutely no effect on him. He squinted as he stared, but only because of the brightness of the beam. “What now?” he said.
    “Anything?” Drake asked. “No feelings of nausea or discomfort?”
    “Nope,” Will replied.
    “Good,” Drake said as he released the button, and the beam went out. “You see, you’re the control. I didn’t expect any reaction, which proves you’re squeaky clean. Now for you, Emily.” Drake held the cylinder directly in front of her and clicked the button again.
    Letting out a sharp breath as if she’d been punched, her body went rigid as a plank. Sweeney used his lightning reactions to catch her before she fell.
    Eddie was watching the proceedings intently. “Fascinating technology. I assume you developed it on the back of your work on my Dark Light,” he said. “But I promise you, Drake — I haven’t given Emily any programming.”
    “No, maybe not you,” Drake said. “But there’s something knocking around in her head. I don’t know what it is, and I can’t take the risk. Put her on the backseat, Sparks,” he told Sweeney. “Hold her tight — I don’t want her thrashing about and hurting herself.”
    Mrs. Rawls was more than a little disoriented as Sweeney manhandled her into the Humvee. Sliding in beside her, he looped his gigantic arm around her shoulders. “Locked and loaded,” he confirmed.
    Drake leaned in through the open door of the Humvee, the glasses attached to Danforth’s device in his hand. “This is the business