Tunnels 05 - Spiral

a squeak from the Styx in nearly three days now,” he said loudly, sweeping a grimy hand at the brass message tubes across the room. “And nobody’s seen one in the streets in as many days. For all we know, they’ve gone . . . they’ve scuttled the Colony.”
    The prisoners gasped.
    “And you seem to be forgetting the fire . . . an attempt was just made on our lives — by some of our own people. That’s how far things have gone.” For a moment he stared thoughtfully into the Second Officer’s eyes. “Where’s your warrant card, Patrick?” he asked. “Fetch it for me.”
    The Second Officer did as he was bidden, going to his tunic where he’d left it on the back of a chair and retrieving the warrant card from it. As he handed it to the First Officer, the man plucked the quill pen from the pot on the counter. The Second Officer and the prisoners listened to the scratching of the pen, then the First Officer handed it back. “Congratulations,” he said.
    The Second Officer read what he’d written on the warrant card. “No!” he exclaimed.
    “Yes, I’m handing my chips in. I’ve had all I can take. I’m resigning and going home to take care of my family,” the First Officer said. “So now you’re in charge.”
    The Second Officer reeled.
    “Take these, Squeaky,” the First Officer said, detaching a large bunch of keys from his belt and lobbing them to the man with the rat face. “In the evidence room, on the bottom shelf, you’ll find a case of Somers Town malt. Bring it back here, will you? We’re going to toast the new First Officer’s promotion in style.”

PARRY LOOKED EVERY BIT the military leader as he strutted up and down in front of the map displayed on the big screen in the Hub.
    He now turned to everybody. “Right . . . the Phase is under way at this very moment, so the clock is ticking fast. We need some positive action to find it and put a stop to it. We need to move quickly!”
    “We do,” Drake agreed.
    “So let’s analyze what we know,” Parry said. “The Phase will be taking place on the surface, because that’s one of the preconditions. And it’s somewhere . . .” — he twisted to the map of the UK on the screen — “somewhere here, and probably at a single location.”
    “Yes, that’s correct,” Eddie confirmed.
    Parry tugged thoughtfully on his beard as he went closer to the screen and pointed with his walking stick. “But can we reasonably assume it’s in the London area? It might be in the home counties, or anywhere in the country for that matter. Would the Styx bother to venture farther than a hundred miles from London?”
    “London and its environs make sense,” Eddie said. “Unless they chose somewhere remote because it would be more secure.”
    “That doesn’t help us at all. It’s like searching for a poisonous needle in a haystack,” Parry grumbled to himself, tugging even more forcibly on his beard. “But we do know that the Styx need an ample stock of human bodies for the breeding process. Unless they’re abducting Topsoilers willy-nilly, that means Colonists and maybe New Germanians are being used as the living hosts. Which would suggest somewhere around London, because they wouldn’t want their supply chain to be stretched too far.”
    “Particularly not with the disruption to the transport network
they’re
responsible for down in the southeast,” Drake put in. “Getting around isn’t as easy as it used to be.”
    Parry drew in a breath. “Everyone put their thinking caps on. How, precisely, do we find the Phase site?” he asked, then spun to Eddie. “Can’t we snatch a Styx from the London streets and interrogate him?”
    “Even if you could find one, you wouldn’t get anything,” Eddie replied.
    Parry wasn’t to be deterred. “OK, then — what if one of your men returned to the Colony? He could gather the intel we need down there.”
    “No, I told you — my men have cut all ties with our people and covered their tracks,” Eddie said categorically. “One couldn’t just show his face as if nothing had happened. He’d be executed the instant they laid eyes on him. It would give us nothing, and simply put them on notice that there’s a splinter group of disaffected Limiters.”
    Parry went on tugging his beard until his fingers came away with a tuft of hair. “But what are the Styx doing at the Phase site that will put up a smoke trail we can spot?” He looked pointedly at his son, then at Danforth, who was