Deadlock by Mark Walden Page A

on us, Nero, my father, Otto and the others, so we mustn’t give up on them.’ He paused, glancing at the guard who was wandering across the room towards them. ‘That witch Furan wants nothing more than to break us and so we mustn’t lose faith, because if we do, she wins.’

    ‘This is an . . . unexpected development,’ Nero said with a slight frown. Across from him, on the opposite side of H.I.V.E.’s main conference room table, sat the semi-transparent holographic projections of Raven and Otto. ‘I was pleased to hear that Senator Ronson had met with such an unfortunate accident , but assuming that what he told us was true, and we have no reason to suspect otherwise, we may now only have one remaining clue as to the whereabouts of Furan and our students.’
    ‘The Architect,’ Otto said.
    ‘Exactly,’ Nero replied.
    ‘Is he even real?’ Raven asked. ‘I mean, I’ve heard the stories, just like everyone else, but I always thought they were just that . . . stories.’
    ‘Oh, I can assure you he is quite real,’ Nero said with a sigh. ‘Indeed, we have a certain amount of, shall we say, history .’
    ‘So just who is he?’ Otto asked. ‘And why is he so important?’
    ‘As you are well aware, Mr Malpense, there are times when members of our fraternity find themselves in need of elaborate but well-hidden facilities.’
    ‘Every good villain should have a secret base,’ Otto replied, with a slight smile.
    ‘Precisely,’ Nero said with a nod, ‘but it is phenomenally difficult to construct that kind of project in total secrecy. Quite aside from discreetly obtaining extremely large quantities of construction materials, one must also recruit a skilled workforce who can work quickly and efficiently in often extremely hostile environments and can also be relied upon to keep the nature of that work absolutely secret.’
    ‘So say, for example, you wanted a school built inside an active volcano and didn’t want anyone finding out about it, he’s the man to call.’
    ‘Yes, though he was actually only partially responsible for the design of this facility,’ Nero replied. ‘Which is also part of the reason I’ve not had any contact with him in recent years.’
    ‘And now he’s working for the Disciples,’ Raven said.
    ‘Oh, he doesn’t work for anyone,’ Nero replied, ‘he works for whoever has the most interesting project to offer him. He is not the sort of man who would trouble himself worrying about which side he was working for. That neutrality is part of the reason that he has managed to survive in our murderous little world for as long as he has.’
    ‘So he’s not a Disciple, but he’s not part of G.L.O.V.E. either,’ Otto said. ‘So why would he help us?’
    ‘I’m not sure he will,’ Nero said with a sigh. ‘In fact, I rather suspect that he won’t. Especially if you mention my involvement.’
    ‘So where do we go from here?’ Otto asked.
    ‘If I had his location, perhaps I could persuade him to tell us where to find Furan,’ Raven said.
    ‘Thank you, Natalya,’ Nero said, shaking his head, ‘but I’d rather it didn’t come to that. He may not want to meet me, but there is someone that he would talk to. Get ready to move. I’ll contact you later.’
    He cut off the connection and Otto and Raven’s holographic projections flickered and vanished. Nero stared into space for a moment, lost in thought, before tapping a command into the touch screen embedded in the surface of the table in front of him. A few seconds later, another glowing figure coalesced out of thin air on the other side of the table.
    ‘Hello, Max,’ the tall, bald man said, ‘what can I do for you?’
    ‘Hello, Diabolus,’ Nero said with a smile. ‘I have a favour to ask. I need you to talk to an old friend.’

    Anastasia Furan felt a cold fury building inside her as she read the report on the mysterious aviation accident that had claimed the life of Senator Matt Ronson. She had been