BLUEMANTLE by Karen Langston (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud TXT) 📕

trained on what he knew to be true. He grasped that belief like a totem. Confidence flourished; self-assurance squared the last remaining circle. It was always the same; this time was no different. Nothing had changed.

Conscious of time, Chase crept into the dying daylight. He ducked down a side street, dwarfed by towering concrete blocks – a soldier ant scurrying to perform its duty. He turned left down a narrow alley and stopped before a solid steel door.

The door opened onto darkness. Stepping inside and closing the door behind him, Chase waited for his eyes to adjust. Shafts of dusty light fell from grilled apertures high above his head, illuminating rectangles of dirt and debris on the cold, concrete floor. A rat darted through one of the patches of light, visible for barely a second, as if the light was a projection and the rat merely frames spliced into footage of nothing. Real, but not real.

The scrape of boot sole against stone killed the silence. A shadow that might have been a pillar before, moved forward. A broad silhouette loomed large, shifting from black to greyscale down one side as it intersected a shaft of light. Chase could make out one side of a man’s face, one eye glinting, and one side of a leather trench coat.

“What have you got for me this time?” said Wulfwin.

Chapter Seventeen

“You advised me that patience would pay off. It appears you were correct in your counsel.” Blix sat bolt upright in her office chair, her long, pale fingers tapping the desk in rapid rhythm. Her eyes scanned Wulfwin’s report. “And the news itself…”

“I was surprised, Governor,” said Wulfwin. “I had not expected it. Not so soon.”

“And this man… Chase Newell. Your assessment of his reliability.”

“He’s informed for us for some time, albeit in a sleeper capacity. When he has provided us with intelligence, it has proved to be accurate and of value. I have no cause to doubt what he told me last night.”

“It has taken you until this morning to inform me. Explain.”

“The intelligence, if bona fide, is significant. Whilst I have no cause to query the source, I wanted to cross-check in case we have other information that could verify or falsify it. And, while you were out of sorts when I returned from the meet,” he refrained from glancing at the silver pillbox that sat half-hidden by a sheaf of paper, “I thought it best to let you rest and deliver the news, verified, this morning.”

Involuntarily, Blix smoothed her hair where it was scraped back into a bun. Not a single strand was out of place. “Judgement approved.” She sipped from a glass of water. “This gives us an unexpected and valuable lead. However, we need more. I want details. Specifics. This man, Chase. He must have pressure points.”

“They’ve not been required for some time. Initial cooperation was reluctant. Following a period of re-education and with the influence of his implant, he’s been consistently compliant. In recent years, we’ve not had to apply any pressure at all. He uncovers intelligence, triggers a Code S and comes straight to us.”

“Still, everyone has a weakness.”

“That’s if he knows more than he’s told us already.”

“Find out. And meanwhile, the Exchange. We’ve used incentives before.”

“We have. But the quality of intelligence has deteriorated of late. I’ve taken steps to address this.”

Blix raised her eyebrows. “Elaborate.”

“In the past, we’ve traded with low-grade intel to stimulate business. The fact that citizens autonomously elect to betray each other in order to obtain something in return holds an intrinsic value that we’ve sought to manipulate. Everything comes at a price. However, as a result of enticement, we’ve become too generous with the needy scum who come begging. Citizens are daring to proposition with hearsay and expect something in return. They’re taking advantage and we’ve been rewarding them, undermining the purpose of the whole enterprise.

“Therefore, I’ve ordered the withdrawal of trade for anything that isn’t grade A. This way, the scum will work that bit harder to find us information that’s worth us giving a damn. I’m confident the addicted among them will establish ways of obtaining information, even if it means crossing some sanctimonious personal boundary by betraying friends and family. A little push in the right direction. I trust you approve.”

“Good work. Forget incentives. Your intervention sounds effective. I look forward to hearing results.”

Wulfwin sneered. The cultivation of a society webbed with betrayal; its potential for debasement appealed to him.

“In the meantime,” added Blix, “put pressure on your sleeper. If he doesn’t know more, I want him to proactively learn more. If what he has told us so far is true, this could be the beginning of the end. And, if that’s the case, I demand we know everything there is to know in order to succeed.” She rose from her chair, steel-rigid. “The beginning of the end. A hard-fought victory you want as much as I. You are my Chief of Command. Deliver me the Music Makers and destroy the Scene. No matter the cost.”

–

“The crow flies low over Glade Park.” Evan struggled to get the words out, despite the countless times he had uttered them over the years. It had been an emotional journey over to Old Wydeye Town, to the familiar squat building hiding in its cobbled alleys.

Evan didn’t wait for the old man to say anything; he couldn’t see the point. Instead, he stepped past him with a nod of fond acknowledgement and approached the wooden cupboard that concealed the basement’s hatch. The old man clutched his crooked cane and slowly retreated to his armchair beside the front door and resumed his watch.

Kneeling beside the trap door, Evan was struck by a wave of nauseating doubt. He was about to do something he had considered so many times before but had never dared to follow through. To do so would have been to risk destroying a bridge that led to the only route home. He imagined the bridge stretching before him now, embodying