Part 25 (2/2)

'An invitation.'

'Yes. We'd like you to come and join us. We're having a little gathering.'

'Who is we?'

'Myself, Ace and Ray Morita. We're in Ray's apartment. Why don't you pop up as soon as you can?' There was the m.u.f.fled buzz of a voice in the background and the Doctor said, 'Yes, yes, of course. That's what I'm saying.

Bring Lady Silk with you when you come, Major.'

'I'm not coming anywhere,' said Butcher, although he was tempted to accept the invitation just to get the h.e.l.l out of the confines of this tin shack, where he was sealed away with a beautiful woman who was smelling better by the minute. Making a pa.s.s at a female who was in your custody was just about as low as it could get. But it was the middle of the night and Butcher was feeling weary and embittered and ignored, a lowly member of the team that was about to detonate a device that might just wipe out the greater part of New Mexico.

'I really think you ought to join us, Major. You would find it very interesting.'

'How's that?'

'Well, I imagine you've been wondering what happened to that other body at the Chapel of the Red Apocalypse.'

At these words Butcher felt an icy crawling sensation along his spine. He gripped the phone so hard his hand began to hurt. 'I'm talking about the missing corpse of Imperial Lee,' said the Doctor. Butcher said nothing. 'Are you still there, Major?'

'How did you know about that? And how the h.e.l.l did you give me the slip and get back to Los Alamos before me?'

'All will be explained Major. Just come to Ray's apartment. And bring Lady Silk.' The Doctor hung up.

Butcher sat silently at the desk. He was inclined to ignore the call. Then Lady Silk crossed her legs and the raincoat slipped to one side, revealing a shapely calf. Butcher turned abruptly away from the girl. He unholstered his gun and checked it, making sure it was fully loaded and that the action worked smoothly. Then he holstered it again.

169.There was a rumble of distant thunder and then the sound of rain beginning to fall on the tin roof. Butcher put his slicker on and ushered the girl out, locking the hut behind them as they stepped into the cool, steady downpour.

The door of Ray Morita's apartment was half open, as usual, and the sound of jazz was throbbing from within, even though it was four-thirty in the morning.

Butcher led Lady Silk inside, past the closed door of the bedroom, into the living room where they were all sitting around the record player. Ray and the Doctor and Ace.

Butcher shook moisture off his coat. The storm seemed to be pa.s.sing over the Hill, and the rain was now easing up. He noticed that the Doctor had brought his umbrella with him. It was resting between the small man's knees as he sat in an armchair. 'I know why you wanted us to come here,' said Butcher.

Ray and Ace and the Doctor exchanged a worried look. Ray had a pile of papers in his lap and was clutching a pen. His hands and face were stained with ink. 'Really?' said the Doctor quickly. 'Why?'

Butcher threw his wet coat over the back of a chair. 'Because Ray here wants to see the beautiful Lady Silk again. A last farewell. For old time's sake.' The girl beside Butcher said nothing, but she began to unb.u.t.ton her coat.

'No,' said the Doctor.

'Why, then?' said Butcher. He was trying to decide if he should help Lady Silk off with her coat she was, after all, a traitor when he heard the sound of a door opening behind him. Before he could turn around he felt for the second time in a matter of weeks the cold pressure of a gun on the back of his neck.

'I'll tell you why I wanted you to come here,' said a voice behind him. 'Because of her.' A hand reached down beside Butcher's waist, fumbled with his holster, unb.u.t.toned it and took out his gun. Then a sudden shove caused Butcher to stumble into the centre of the room. He caught his balance and turned around.

Standing there in the doorway was Imperial Lee, the j.a.panese punk, last seen lying at the bottom of the red well in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the chapel. 'Dead,'

said Butcher.

'Not me,' Imperial Lee grinned. 'I'm alive and well.'

'I saw you,' said Butcher. He turned to the Doctor. 'You touched the body yourself. You said he was dead and cold.'

'That man was,' said the Doctor. 'But that man was not Imperial Lee. He was merely his double from this world.'

'No,' snarled Butcher. 'Not that double talk again.'

170.'He's never going to believe you, Doctor,' said Imperial Lee. He seemed very amiable and talkative, for a man with a gun in his hand. 'Why don't we just show him?' He gestured for Butcher to sit down and turned to Lady Silk.

Butcher was surprised to see that the girl was looking at him with genuine loathing and fear. He reached out and touched her cheek and she flinched.

Lee grinned.

'How can anyone not not believe in parallel worlds?' he said. 'Parallel worlds and magic and synchronicity. What else but synchronicity could bring her here,' he touched Lady Silk again, and again she moved away from him, 'at the exact same time as me? It was fate. Destiny. The curve of binding energies.' believe in parallel worlds?' he said. 'Parallel worlds and magic and synchronicity. What else but synchronicity could bring her here,' he touched Lady Silk again, and again she moved away from him, 'at the exact same time as me? It was fate. Destiny. The curve of binding energies.'

'Don't try and talk physics, Lee,' said Ray, with contempt in his voice.

'How did he get in here?' said Butcher. 'Los Alamos is the most secure military establishment in the entire United States.' He had got over his astonishment at seeing a dead man brought back to life, and was now puzzling over ways and means.

Imperial Lee smiled. 'Ray brought me here.'

Butcher turned to Ray. 'I told them they should have locked you up. How did you manage it?'

'With his equations,' said Lee. 'Or what our late friend Albert Storrow would have called his incantations. It's probably easier if you just think of it as magic.'

Butcher looked at the pile of ink-stained pages in Ray's lap. He laughed, a hoa.r.s.e, savage sound. 'You can point a gun at me. But you can't make me believe that.'

'You'll believe it in a minute whether you like it or not,' said Lee. 'Because Ray's magic was strong enough to bring me over, but not strong enough to bring Silk too. But now that her double is here,' Lee nodded at the frightened girl, still standing there in her raincoat, 'nothing is going to stop us.'

'You're talking gibberish,' said Butcher.

'Show him, Ray,' said Lee. Ray Monta sighed and began scribbling on a fresh piece of paper. After a few minutes he stopped writing and got to his feet. 'Don't try anything cute,' said Lee, moving his gun back and forth so it pointed in turn at everyone in the room. Any of you.' Butcher realised that the Doctor and Ace and perhaps even Ray were not Imperial Lee's accomplices.

Rather they were prisoners being held at gunpoint like himself.

Ray gave the piece of paper to Imperial Lee. He took it and offered it to the girl. She was reluctant to accept it, but Lee pointed his gun at her and she reached out and took it. The moment her hand touched the paper her entire body jerked and her face suddenly came to life. She smiled and crushed the paper into a ball and threw it playfully across the room. Her eyes were bright with malice and mischief and she began to chuckle. It was hard to imagine a 171more total contrast with the frail, beaten figure who had been standing there in the drenched raincoat.

In the raincoat. . .

Butcher suddenly realised that this girl wasn't wearing a raincoat, or indeed the sober black two-piece suit that Silk had been dressed in for the photographs with the General. Instead she was in a black sweater and tight black trousers, with white tennis shoes on her feet. She saw Butcher staring at her and she chuckled again.

'Major Butcher is impressed with my apparel.

It's the blowing-up-the- universe look, Major. It's all the rage.'

'How did you do that?' said Butcher. 'It's some kind of illusion. Some kind of trick.'

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