Root speared him with a glare. 'You do that just to annoy me, don't you?'
Foaly shrugged his shoulders. 'I might do.'
'Yes, well, count yourself lucky my other fingers aren't loaded. Get my meaning?'
'Yessir.'
'Good. Now let's bring Captain Short home.'
Holly hovered beneath the portico. Orange shards of light striped the blue. The time-stop was
breaking up. There were only minutes left before Root blue-rinsed the whole place. Foaly's voice
buzzed in her earpiece.
'OK, Captain Short. The gold is on the way. Be ready to move.'
'We don't bargain with kidnappers,' said Holly, surprised. 'What's going on here?'
'Nothing,' replied Foaly casually. 'Straightforward exchange. The gold goes in, you come out. We
send in the missile. Big blue bang, and it's all over.'
'Does Fowl know about the bio-bomb?'
'Yep. Knows all about it. Claims he can escape the time-field.'
'That's impossible.'
'Correct.'
'But they'll all be killed!'
'Big deal,' retorted Foaly, and Holly could almost see him shrug. 'That's what you get when you
mess with the People.'
Holly was torn. There was no doubt that Fowl was a danger to the civilized underworld. Very few
tears would be shed over his body. But the girl, Juliet, she was an innocent. She deserved a chance.
Holly descended to an altitude of two metres. Head height for Butler. The humans had
congregated in the wreckage that used to be a hallway. There was disunity between them. The LEP
officer could sense it.
Holly glared accusingly at Artemis. 'Have you told them?'
Artemis returned her stare. 'Told them what?'
'Yes, Fairy, told us what?' echoed Juliet belligerently, still a bit miffed over the mesmerizing.
'Don't play dumb, Fowl. You know what I'm talking about.'
Artemis never could play dumb for very long. 'Yes, Captain Short. I do. The bio-bomb. Your
concern would be touching, if it extended to myself. Nevertheless, do not upset yourself.
Everything is proceeding according to plan.'
'According to plan!' gasped Holly, pointing to the devastation surrounding them. 'Was this part of
the plan? And Butler almost getting killed - all part of the plan?'
'No,' Artemis admitted. 'The troll was a slight blip. But irrelevant to the overall scheme.'
Holly resisted the urge to punch the pale human again, turning instead to Butler.
'Listen to reason, for heaven's sake. You cannot escape the time-field. It has never been done.'
Butler's features could have been etched in stone.
'If Artemis says it can be done, then it can.'
'But your sister. Are you willing to risk her life out of loyalty to a felon?'
'Artemis is no felon, miss, he is a genius. Now please remove yourself from my sightline. I am
monitoring the main entrance.'
Holly buzzed up to six metres.
'You're crazy. All of you! In five minutes you'll all be dust. Don't you realize?'
Artemis sighed. 'You've had your answer, Captain. Now, please. This is a delicate stage in the
proceedings.'
'Proceedings? It's a kidnapping! At least have the guts to call it what it is.'
Artemis's patience was beginning to fray.
'Butler, do we have any tranquillizer hypodermics left?'
The giant manservant nodded, but didn't speak. At that precise moment, if the order came to
sedate, he wasn't sure if he would, or could. Luckily Artemis's attention was diverted by activity in
the avenue.
'Ah, it would seem the LEP have capitulated. Butler supervise the delivery. But stay alert. Our
fairy friends are not above trickery.'
'You're a fine one to talk,' muttered Holly.
Butler hurried to the demolished doorway, checking the load and catch on his Sig Sauer
nine-millimetre. He was almost grateful for some military activity to distract him from his dilemma.
In situations like these, training took over. There was no room for sentiment.
A fine haze of dust still hung in the air. Butler squinted through it, into the avenue beyond. The
fairy filters rigged over his eyes revealed that there were no warm bodies approaching. There was,
however, a large trolley seemingly driving itself up to the front door. It was floating on a cushion of
shimmering air. Doubtless Master Artemis would have understood the physics of this machine, all
Butler cared about was whether or not he could disable it.
The trolley bumped into the first step.
'Automatic compensator, my foot,' snorted Root.
'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' replied Foaly. 'I'm working on it.'
'It's the ransom,' shouted Butler.
Artemis tried to quell the excitement rising in his chest. This was not the time to allow emotions
to enter the equation.
'Check for booby traps.'
Butler stepped cautiously on to the porch. Shards of disintegrated gargoyle lay scattered beneath
his feet.
'No hostiles. Seems to be self-propelled.'
The trolley lurched over the steps.
'I don't know who's driving this thing, but he could do with a few lessons.'
Butler bent low to the ground, scanning the trolley's underside.
'No explosive devices visible.'
He extracted a Sweeper from his pocket, extending the telescopic aerial.
'No bugs either. Nothing detectable at any rate. But what do we have here?'
'Uh oh,' said Foaly.
'It's a camera.'
Butler reached in, pulling the fish-eye lens out by the cable.
'Nighty-night, gentlemen.'
In spite of the load it carried, the trolley responded easily to Butler's touch, gliding across the
threshold into the lobby. It stood there humming softly, as though waiting to be unloaded.
Now that the moment had come, Artemis was almost afraid to seize it. It was hard to believe that
after all these months, his wicked scheme was minutes away from fruition. Of course these last few
minutes were the vital ones, and the most dangerous.
'Open it,' he said at last, surprised at the tremble in his own voice.
It was an irresistible instant. Juliet approached tentatively, spangled eyes wide. Even Holly closed
the throttle a notch, dropping until her feet brushed the marble tiling. Butler unzipped the black
tarpaulin, dragging it back across the cargo. Nobody said a thing. Artemis imagined that somewhere
the 1812 Overture was playing. The gold sat there, stacked in shining rows. It seemed to have an
aura, a warmth, but also an inherent danger. There were a lot of people willing to die or kill for the
unimaginable wealth this gold could bring.
Holly was mesmerized. Fairies have an affinity for minerals, they are of the earth. But gold was
their favourite. Its lustre. Its allure.
'They paid,' she breathed. 'I can't believe it.'
'Neither can I,' murmured Artemis. 'Butler, is it real?'
Butler hefted a bar from the stack. He dug the tip of a throwing knife into the ingot, gouging out
a small sliver.
'It's real all right,' he said, holding the scraping up to the light. 'This one, at any rate.'
'Good. Very good. Begin unloading it, would you? We'll send the trolley back out with Captain
Short.'
Hearing her name dispelled Holly's gold fever.
'Artemis, give it up. No human has ever succeeded in keeping fairy gold. And they've been trying
for centuries. The LEP will do anything to protect their property.'
Artemis shook his head. Amused.
'I've told you ...'
Holly took him by the shoulders. 'You cannot escape! Don't you understand?'
The boy returned her gaze coolly.
'I can escape, Holly. Look in my eyes and tell me that I can't.'
So she did. Captain Holly Short gazed into her captor's blue-black eyes and she saw the truth in
there. And for a moment she believed it.
'There's still time,' she said desperately. 'There must be something. I have magic.'
A crease of annoyance wrinkled the boy's brow.
'I hate to disappoint you, Captain, but there is absolutely nothing.'
Artemis paused, his gaze tugged momentarily upstairs to the converted loft. Perhaps, he thought.
Do I really need all this gold? And was his conscience not pricking him, leeching the sweetness
from his victory? He shook himself. Stick to the plan. Stick to the plan. No emotion.
Artemis felt a familiar hand on his shoulder.
'Everything all right?'
'Yes, Butler. Keep unloading. Get Juliet to help. I need to talk to Captain Short.'
'Are you sure there's nothing wrong?'
Artemis sighed. 'No, old friend, I'm not sure. But it's too late now.'
Butler nodded, returning to his task. Juliet toddled along behind him like a terrier.
'Now, Captain. About your magic.'
'What about it?' Holly's eyes were hooded with suspicion.
'What would I have to do to buy a wish?'
Holly glanced at the trolley. 'Well, that depends. What do you have to bargain with?'
Root was not what you'd call relaxed. Increasingly wide bands of yellow light were poking
through the blue. Minutes left. Minutes. His migraine was not helped by the pungent cigar feeding
toxins into his system.
'Have all non-essential personnel been evacuated?'
'Unless they've sneaked back in since the last time you asked me.'
'Not now, Foaly. Believe me, now is not the time. Anything from Captain Short?'
'Nope. We lost video after the troll thing. I'd guess the battery is ruptured. We'd better get that
helmet off her ASAP, or the radiation will fry her brain. That'd be a pity after all this work.'
Foaly returned to his console. A red light began pulsing gently.
'Wait, motion sensor. We've got activity by the main entrance.'
Root crossed to the screens. 'Can you enhance it?'
'No problem.' Foaly punched in the coordinates, blowing it up 400 per cent.
Root sat down on the nearest chair.
'Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?'
'You sure are.' Foaly chuckled. 'This is even better than the suit of armour.'
Holly was coming out. With the gold.
Retrieval were on her in half a second.
'Let's get you out of the danger zone, Captain,' urged a sprite, catching Holly by the elbow.
Another ran a rad-sensor over her helmet.
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