my grandmother had wanted you to know about it I’m sure she would have told you.”
“You must know you can’t be allowed to keep it,” he said. “It’s an open threat to the family! What if someone else got their hands on it?”
“Who’s going to take it from me?” I said.
“You can go now, Serjeant,” said the Matriarch in her most commanding voice. “I need to speak privately with Eddie. And Molly. You need to go calm the family down and check out the security situation. Make sure no one tries to take advantage and sneak in while we’re all . . . distracted. And for God’s sake shut those bloody alarms off! Can’t hear myself think!”
The Serjeant made a quick gesture with one hand, and all the alarms and bells and sirens shut down. The sudden peace and quiet was an almost physical relief. The Serjeant scowled at me, and then at the Matriarch.
“He broke into the Hall! Threw the whole family into confusion, did all kinds of property damage, and made a joke of our defences! Are you really going to let him get away with that?”
The Matriarch stood her ground and stared him down. “Yes. I am. Because if you hadn’t let internal security become so slack, this would never have happened. He should never have been able to get this far! I’d say we owe him our thanks, for demonstrating so clearly all the shortcomings in our current defences. It’s high time we ran more practise drills.”
“I thought that!” I said.
“I know,” said Ethel. “I heard you.”
The Serjeant-at-Arms stared at the Matriarch with a look of betrayal, then abruptly turned around and stomped out of the Sanctity. Not quite slamming the door behind him.
“That man desperately needs more fibre in his diet,” said Ethel. Just a bit unexpectedly.
“Can we please now return to the subject at hand?” said the Matriarch. “Because the case I was talking about is just the tiniest bit urgent.”
“All right,” I said. “What is this new mission that I’m so perfectly suited for?”
“And if it’s so straightforward,” said Molly, “why does it have to be Eddie?”
“Because there are . . . complications,” said the Matriarch.
“Of course,” I said. “Aren’t there always? What kind of complications are we talking about? Things or people?”
“Let’s just say I could use a Drood who isn’t really a Drood,” said the Matriarch.
“Ah,” I said. “Are we talking plausible deniability?”
“Possibly,” said the Matriarch. “If this should go wrong, suddenly and horribly and embarrassingly wrong, I don’t want the repercussions coming anywhere near this family. It doesn’t matter if you do something to upset the Government, they already hate and loathe you, with good reason. But I have to work with these people. The days when we could just tell Governments what to do are, unfortunately, behind us. Thanks to you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said.
“You took away our authority! You neutered the family!”
“I saved our soul!” I said, not backing down an inch. “We were only ever meant to be Humanity’s shepherds, not their owners! I did what was necessary to prevent us from becoming worse than the things we fight. Now, what kind of case are we talking about, exactly? Bearing in mind I still haven’t committed myself to anything yet.”
“Just a simple infiltration and information-gathering assignment,” said the Matriarch. A little too smoothly for my liking.
“Good,” I said. “Because there’s something important I need to tell you first.”
The Matriarch looked quickly from me to Molly, and back again. “This isn’t going to be anything good, is it?”
“I have decided,” I said, “that from now on . . . I’m not going to kill anyone. I have had to do that too many times. I am a field agent, not an assassin.”
The Matriarch looked at me searchingly, not sure where this had come from or where it was going. “Has something happened, Eddie? You’ve killed your fair share in the service of this family and never said anything before.”
“More than my fair share,” I said. “More than enough.”
The Matriarch looked at Molly.
“Don’t look at me,” said Molly. “I haven’t changed my mind. He’s the moral one here.”
“This case calls for an agent’s skills,” the Matriarch said carefully. “Nothing more.”
“All right,” I said. “Give me the details.”
“Then you’ll do it?”
“Give me the details.”
“The Prime Minister made contact with the family, earlier this morning,” said the Matriarch. “Begging for our help. World leaders might like to boast to each other that they’re free from Drood influence these days, but they still