Chapter 25

The tap of a fleshy hand on Gawain shoulder dragged her out of a dark room, into the light, and to the sounds of a soft beeping. She rubbed away the rheum around her eyes, and looked up at Esclados.

"Marcel's stuff," he said.

Her eyes widened. "Is it a bomb?"

"I don't know!"

Gawain kicked her seat back, launching herself towards the shelf Esclados had placed Marcel's stuff on, and picked up the watch. The small LCD display read exactly 4am, and it blinked, beeping repeatedly.

"Is it?" Esclados whimpered.

"No," she said, handing it to him. "Just probably when he wakes up every day."

"Ask him anyway, will you?" He turned off the alarm with the press of a button. "Just in case it's something."

"Right." She turned to the screen, where Marcel sat alone in his room. "When did Dirk finish up?"

"An hour ago. Said he was going to bed. I didn't wanna wake you. Wanna see his interrogation clip?"

"No, it's fine. Unlock the door." She pried the watch out of his hand.

With the touch of a button, the light on the door's electronic lock changed from red to green. Gawain pushed it open, and stepped into Marcel's room, her shoes clicking on the concrete floor. 'Marcel," she said.

He was asleep, his head drooped and resting on his right shoulder. A trail of saliva had formed down his cheek and the front of his shirt, creating a dark trail in the material. Around his left hand a bandage was wrapped, stained with blood.

She held the watch by its strap, raised it and smacked Marcel right across his face.

He shuddered awake, tugging at his restraints, before catching sight of Gawain. He slumped back in his seat and smiled. "Back for seconds, Miss Izaks?"

"Your watch beeped."

"Is it five already? It's a good thing you woke me then." He yawned, and sighed heavily. "Your boyfriend already tried everything…" He pointed to his bandaged hand with his chin. "...and he got nothing. What makes you think you will?"

"Because you said it's 5am."

Visibly, the blood drained from Marcel's face. He shifted in his chair, glancing at the door of his room. "Did I? What time is it?"

"It's four."

"Oh, then the watch must be broken, then. Been tinkering around with it for months now and I've never really gotten it to wo-"

Gawain stuck him again with the watch. "What's happening?"

Marcel slowly raised his head into its original position, smiling. "I suppose it makes no difference anymore. Jade's on her way."

"To where?"

"Where do you think?"

"Don't play games with me, Marcel. Where's Jade going?"

"I've changed my mind about it making a di-" The watch strap flicked across his cheek. "Ow! Stop it with that!"

"Where is she?"

"Fine, she's going to CERN. You're too late anyway."

"Go back to sleep." She stormed out of the room to Esclados, who was talking into his microphone.

"-end Gawain and Caradoc and probably Urien as well. Yes, sir, I'm aware. Okay, that can be arranged. Have a nice day, sir." Esclados ripped his earpiece off and set it on the table sighing. "Why can't these people do anything simply?"

"Because they're not our run-of-the-mill mustache twirling villains. Not like Valentine."

"You have to admit Valentine was pretty good."

"I don't think 'good' is the right word for it. When do we leave?"

"Go get Dirk; I'll call Urien. You're taking the train straight to Geneva, then on a helo to CERN. Can I suggest something?"

"Yeah?"

"Take Doctor Estok."

"For what?"

"While you were asleep, he emailed me about those cubes Marcel used. Said there's antimatter in them and he knows how they work or something. If I'm right and Jade's going to CERN for antimatter, he'll know what to do."

"Who is he?"

"He doesn't exist on any file whatsoever," Esclados said. "Not a single database in the world contains 'David Estok' that matches out doc. But that's not important right now. The train's ready."

"This isn't over." Gawain swung out the doorway into the hallway, and jogged down it towards one of the doors and threw it open.

It hit Holly in the centre of her forehead. She stumbled back, holding onto the frame of one of the bunk beds for support.

"Oh goodness! Sorry!" She crouched beside Caradoc's sleeping body, and grabbed both his shoulders.

His eyes opened instantly, as if he hadn't been sleeping at all. "What's going on? Are we being attacked?"

"No, but Jade's going to CERN to get more antimatter. We're meeting up with Charlemagne in Geneva. By train."

"Good enough for me." Caradoc swung his legs off the bed. "I heard there's an armoury on the train."

"You heard right." Gawain turned to Holly, who was sitting on her bed. "You stay put. Sorry about that door. Have you seen David?"

"Esclados' lab, I think."

"Where the heck is that?"

"Opposite the medical bay."

"I know where that is," Caradoc said, slipping into his Oxfords and tying the laces. "I'll be right back." He disappeared through the doorway, leaving Gawain and Holly alone in the room.

"Sorry," Gawain said again, before exiting and hiking her way down the passages, back to the room Esclados was in.

"I'm handing Marcel over to the police, if that's fine with you."

"It's fine. Anything else?"

"Yes, actually." He pointed at the screen, where the face of one of Marcel's dead men was placed on the corner of a white document. "Every single man we killed yesterday was ex-Legionnaire."

"As in…?"

"French Foreign Legion. Foreign volunteers in the French army. Most of them have served in their own militaries as well, so I'm guessing Marcel went for the ones with a shitload of experience."

"Good to know. Armoury in the train?"

"Still functional. You got a tie clip?"

"Nobody wears a tie clip these days."

"Well, it's also a lockpick so grab one."

"Will do." She turned out of the room with a flourish, and took the narrow staircase outside it down to the train station platform. The train's doors opened automatically, and she headed down its LED-lit aisle, to the last caboose, which had "Equipment" stamped into the metal door.

Behind the door were shelves, and on the shelves were guns. Lots of guns.

Gawain grabbed a tie clip from a small box on one of the shelves and slid it on her brand new black silk tie, followed by the addition of a traditional TT-30 to her pocket. Her eyes turned to the umbrella bin stashed in one corner of the room, and she pulled one out, before exiting the armoury and taking a seat on one of the plush chairs.

Caradoc stepped into the same caboose, with Estok right behind him. "Did Esclados tell you about the tie clip?"

"It's a lockpick as well, apparently. Any idea how fast this train goes?"

"Apparently very. Give me a sec." Caradoc made his way through the armoury door.

Estok sat down directly opposite her, smiling. "You people sure go on a lot of adventures. Makes me wish my life wasn't boring."

"Oh, it's seasonal, trust me. This week's just been a damned blast." She flicked her neatly manicured nails at the seat. "Esclados tells me you figured out the antimatter bombs Marcel used."

"Oh, simple really. Don't tell anyone, but I almost blew up the entire lab when I tried to deactivate the field holding it inside."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I simply used a power pack to short-circuit the levitation mechanism, then stripped away everything else."

"No, I mean, how'd you figure it out? Aren't you like, a vet or something?"

"Actually, I'm an anesthesiologist."

Gawain gave him a blank look.

"That means I provide the necessary meds to patients to keep then sedative and painless during operations. Great pay, really."

"How do you know so much about antimatter?"

"I dabbled in university. Had a few friends in the physics department, and in my last year they got hold of some antimatter. They showed me a lot of great stuff; have you ever seen annihilation?"

"Why do you think Dirk's missing an eye?"

"My condolences," he said with a glance to the armoury door. "If you don't mind, what happened?"

"We were on a mission in the Alps, there was a large antimatter bomb, and it blew up when he was in the room."

"I can see the signs of plastic surgery."

"It took him months to recover. But enough about that. More about you. Who are you, really, doctor?"

"I'm David Estok, from England."

"Then why aren't you on any database we have access to?"

"Maybe I'm on a database you don't have access to."

"I find that hard to believe. What kind of man can become a doctor yet leave no trace of himself?"

"An interesting one, I'm sure." He winked. "If you're going to shoot me, you better do it before Dirk comes out and stops you."

Gawain suddenly realised that her hand was halfway into the pocket that contained her TT-30, and quickly withdrew it. "Then you better tell me who you are and where you're from and why you're really doing this."

"I care about the future of the world. Without Kingsman there isn't anyone to protect us from maniacs like Valentine."

"That's not what you really want, isn't it?"

"You won't be satisfied otherwise."

"I don't need to be satisfied."

Estok leaned back and closed his eyes, still smiling. "It's actually because you look a lot like my wife."

"Oh, quit playing."

"I'm telling you the truth. I miss my wife, you look like her, so I was curious. Then I got dragged into all this mess."

"Isn't it a coincidence that you happen to know exactly how to work with antimatter when we need you? Were you waiting for me at that hospital?"

"And what would the point be? Infiltrate you? They've already got spies among you - oh, don't try to hide it, you've been looking over your shoulder since you got here. Someone's leaking your intel to the outside."

"It's very likely that it's you."

"I haven't been allowed access to - pfft - anything, really, other than that bomb. You can do better than that."

"Seriously, why are you doing this?"

"Because you look kind of like my wife," Estok repeated, crossing his arms.

"Oi, I heard that," Caradoc said, stepping out of the armoury. "Why isn't the train moving yet?"

"Urien isn't here yet," Gawain said, leaning to look out the windows. "We're already late."

"Sepak of the devil," Estok said.

Urien, his hair drenched with sweat, stepped onto the train. "Sorry, I was out getting breakfast."

"At four a.m.?" Gawain asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I eat when I can. Are we waiting for anyone else?"

"No," Caradoc said, pressing some buttons on his glasses. "Esclados, we're good to g- wait, what? Oh, okay."

"What?"

The caboose doors opened again, and Jonas stepped in, a guitar case strapped to his back. "You're not leaving me behind."

"I was wondering where you were," Caradoc said. "There are a few rifles in the back, if you haven't picked one."

"I've got one."

The doors sealed, and train jerked a little, accelerating along the track. Soon, the world outside was only the blackness of the tunnel walls, leaving only them in their pocket universe of the train compartment.

Nobody said anything.