Ironheart Read online

  ‘The stories were right,’ said India in a hushed voice. ‘These really are the treasures of the old world, aren’t they?’

  ‘Looks like it,’ said Bulldog. He held up a painting of an angel in an ornate golden frame. ‘Do you think this would look good in The Beautiful Game?’

  ‘Bulldog!’ said India.

  ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right,’ he said, putting it back with the others. ‘It belongs here.’

  They were interrupted by the sound of whooping from the next aisle. They found Clench beside a crate from which all manner of jewels was spilling on to the floor. Emeralds, rubies and sapphires lay scattered like Christmas nuts, and splinters of diamond flashed ice-fire in the dim light. There were thousands upon thousands of gold coins and countless pieces of fine jewellery.

  ‘You go and find your own crate,’ growled Clench, stuffing handfuls of gemstones into his bag. ‘This one’s mine!’

  His eyes gleamed yellow like a dog’s and a small muscle had begun to twitch in the side of his face. India felt faintly disgusted by him. ‘We’re wasting time here,’ she said. ‘We’re supposed to be looking for my dad.’

  ‘Haven’t you got it yet?’ said Clench. ‘If John Bentley was ever here then he’s long dead, frozen to death or eaten by one of those shadow things, I shouldn’t wonder.’

  ‘Don’t say that!’ cried India. ‘You don’t know what happened, you don’t know anything about him!’

  She stamped away, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Bulldog followed. ‘Don’t pay Archie no mind,’ he said kindly. ‘He can’t see past his own greed.’

  ‘Oh, Bulldog, what if those Valleymen really did get my dad?’ she sniffed. ‘I’ve seen what they can do.’

  Bulldog placed an awkward arm around her shoulder. ‘Come on now,’ he said gruffly. ‘Let’s have none of that. If your dad’s here we’ll find him.’ Then he stiffened suddenly. ‘Holy moley!’ he said. ‘Would you look at that!’

  Ahead of them was a row of narrow caves, each filled with a deadly-looking arsenal of equipment. One was lined with racks of rifles and boxes of ammunition while another was stacked with sinister-looking black drums, each marked with a skull and crossbones.

  ‘Chemical weapons,’ said Bulldog. ‘Nasty things. They drift on the breeze and kill anyone that gets in their way.’

  India shivered.

  The last cavern was filled with what looked to India like dozens of gleaming white coffins in steel racks. There were angry warning signs in yellow and black on the surrounding walls. Bulldog seemed shocked by what he was seeing. He ran his hand over the glossy surface of one of the coffins. Now that India saw them up close, she thought they looked familiar. Each one had stubby fins and a tail with a painted red star. ‘I’ve seen pictures of these in some of my dad’s old books,’ she said. ‘They’re bombs!’

  ‘Not just bombs,’ said Bulldog in a hushed tone. ‘They’re warheads, more than a hundred of them.’

  ‘Warheads?’ she murmured. ‘That’s like what Nentu said about my dad: “He rests among the heads of warriors!” But what are they?’

  ‘Terrible old-world weapons,’ he said. ‘Just one of these missiles could destroy an entire city in a flash of heat and light. No one knows how to make them any more.’

  She reached out to touch one. It gleamed like bone and felt cold to the touch. Like death, she thought. ‘Bulldog,’ she said slowly. ‘Do you think these warheads might be the reason Lucifer Stone wants to find Ironheart so badly? I mean, think about what he could do if he had weapons like these.’

  Bulldog let out a low whistle. ‘You might be right, India,’ he said. ‘He could hold the world to ransom if he wanted to. No one could stop him.’

  They both fell into silence as they looked at the shiny, coffin-like missiles and thought about what horrors Lucifer Stone might be able to inflict with them.

  ‘Can’t we stop him?’ said India, eventually. ‘Couldn’t you do something to the warheads before he gets here so that he can’t use them?’

  Bulldog shook his head doubtfully. ‘You don’t want to go messing around with weapons of mass destruction, India,’ he said. ‘You could have somebody’s eye out.’

  ‘But we have to do something,’ she said, her voice cracking. ‘This must be the reason my dad tried to keep Ironheart a secret, because he knew how dangerous these things would be in the wrong hands.’

  Bulldog blew out his cheeks. ‘I dunno, India. This is too big for me. I say we grab whatever we can and get as far away from here as possible.’

  ‘We can’t just walk away from this, Bulldog,’ she said impatiently. ‘Stone’s a monster. If he ends up with weapons like these then thousands of people could die. And besides,’ she added, ‘we still need to find my dad. He could be anywhere in these caverns.’

  Bulldog sighed again and stroked his chin thoughtfully. Then he looked up and down the turbine hall. ‘You know,’ he said eventually, ‘there might be something we could do that would spoil Lucifer Stone’s plans.’ He pointed to the turbine at the centre of the chamber. ‘That geothermal plant might do the job. If we shut off the valves to the heat exchanger the whole lot will blow, taking half the mountain with it.’

  ‘What about my dad?’ said India.

  ‘We’ll search the whole place systematically,’ said Bulldog, ‘level by level. If he’s here we’ll find him. Then we’ll take our fill of the treasure and blow this place sky high. With luck we’ll be a hundred miles away by the time Stone gets here.’

  India licked her lips nervously and nodded. ‘OK, let’s do it. What should we do first?’

  Bulldog looked at Clench, who was sitting in a pile of gold coins, tossing them gleefully into the air like a child. ‘Well, I don’t think we’ll get Archie out of here in a hurry,’ he said, ‘and I wouldn’t mind picking up a few trinkets myself. I tell you what, give me an hour to take what I want from here, then we’ll spend the rest of the day searching for your dad. After that, we’ll blow this place off the map and run for the hills. Do we have a deal?’

  India spat on her hand and held it out. ‘Free-riggers contract?’

  They shook firmly. Then he grinned and his eyes began to shine. ‘Come on, Archie,’ he yelled to Clench. ‘We’ve got work to do.’ He hopped over to where Clench was still stuffing his pockets and whispered in his ear.

  Clench’s eyes widened. ‘Blow it up!’ he spluttered. ‘What do you mean, blow it up? We’ve only just arrived. Oi, Bulldog, come back here.’

  India stifled a smile as she watched them both disappear. She had her own plans now and her thoughts were set on the rich store of seeds in the rooms above. She would use the next hour to search the other chambers and collect as many seeds as she could. What a difference they could make to the barren shores of North London. But as she made her way along the turbine hall, a deep rumbling noise made her stop in her tracks. There was the sound of metal being dragged over stone and a thin white light split the iron doors from top to bottom as they began to grind apart. She could hear the sound of diesel engines now and she could see the unmistakable shape of a giant rig outside, silhouetted against the night sky, its full beams flooding the chamber with harsh electric light.

  Now men with guns were swarming through the gap in the doors and as she put her hands up to shield her eyes, an amplified voice boomed from the black rig.

  ‘Stay where you are!’ it said. ‘This facility is now the property of the Trans-Siberian Company!’

  CHAPTER 23

  THE HEADS OF WARRIORS

  They were rounded up roughly and made to stand on one side of the turbine hall while the guards quickly located the weapons. Earnest-looking men and women in white coats arrived and began to inspect the missiles, ticking off items on their clipboards as they went. The whole thing had the appearance of a carefully planned military operation.

  The hangar doors stood open and a bitter wind blew in off the lake. India gave an involuntary shiver as the troll-like figure of Lucifer Stone strode in
to the chamber, deep in conversation with Dr Cirenkov, with Sid behind them.

  ‘Excellent, Doctor!’ boomed Stone. ‘Your hunch about finding these blast doors down by the lake was spot on.’

  The guards had begun cutting the missiles from their steel racks, sending showers of sparks raining on to the wet chamber floor while others were setting up pulleys and chains to hoist them free. Cirenkov bared her teeth as one of the missiles swung dangerously on its chains. ‘Be careful, you cretins, those warheads are over a hundred years old! If you drop one we could all be vaporized.’

  Sid pointed at the treasure scattered across the floor and whispered something in his father’s ear.

  Stone knitted his eyebrow into a thick V-shape. ‘No!’ he barked. ‘There’s no room for anything except the weapons, and they’ll make us rich enough.’ Stone seemed to noticed his prisoners for the first time and walked over to inspect them. ‘Well, bless my dirty, rotten soul,’ he said. ‘Imagine finding such a bunch of misfits in a place like this.’ He stroked his chin with obvious glee. ‘Let me see now . . . Captain Aggrovius Bulldog, unlicensed privateer and scourge of the Urals. You’re a long way from your usual hunting ground, Captain. And who’s this? Archie Fenton! I thought you would have the sense to stay out of my sight, Archie. Never mind, Angel Town always enjoys a good hanging.’

  Clench groaned, and sagged at the knees.

  ‘And Miss Bentley, who was so concerned to see fair play for the citizens of Angel Town. I seem to remember giving orders to have you taken care of.’ He frowned at Sid. ‘It seems if I want someone killed around here I have to do it myself.’

  India wasn’t listening. She was looking, dumbstruck, at the tall figure that had walked in through the hangar doors. ‘Calc?’ she said uncertainly. ‘Is that you?’

  The big android walked stiffly to Stone’s side. She recognized his battered body, cracked visor and the steel plate in his chest, but somehow he looked different. He was more rigid and lacking his usual poise and grace. An awful empty feeling started to grow in her stomach.

  Stone laughed at her confusion. ‘It’s no use asking him for help,’ he said. ‘Your robot works for me now!’

  India felt as though she was falling and there was no one to catch her. ‘It isn’t true,’ she said. ‘Calculus would never betray his friends.

  Stone laughed a long, nasty laugh. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure, young lady,’ he said. ‘We could never have found this place without his help.’ He turned and whispered something to Calculus, who nodded and left. ‘But don’t worry, your robot didn’t betray his friends, it was his so-called friend that betrayed him.’

  Calculus returned through the hangar doors with a familiar figure by his side.

  ‘Verity!’ cried India.

  He pushed Verity forward roughly. She looked bruised and dishevelled and her expression was grim. ‘Hi, kid,’ she said with a small smile. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’

  Stone seemed to be enjoying himself. ‘It’s wonderful to see old friends reunited,’ he said, ‘but right now I’ve got things to do. Calculus, start loading the weapons. Dr Cirenkov!’ he shouted up at the control room. ‘Why is this taking so long?’

  ‘We’re doing our best, Director,’ she called down, ‘but the chemical drums are badly corroded and most of the systems in here are over a hundred years old. We must move carefully.’

  ‘Yes, but what about my missiles? Do they work?’

  ‘Yes, yes, we’ve bypassed their security systems, they’ll all function perfectly.’ She gave a cold smile. ‘They don’t make weapons of mass destruction like this any more.’

  ‘Good, get them loaded on to the rigs as soon as they are cut free. And do something about all this damned water, will you?’ The turbine floor was now ankle deep in freezing water. ‘Where’s it all coming from anyway?’

  Cirenkov shrugged. ‘The whole lake seems to be thawing out but I have no idea why. It’s playing hell with the systems in here. One of my team has already been electrocuted!’

  ‘Why do you need those missiles, Stone?’ said Bulldog. ‘You’ve got more money than you could ever use, isn’t that enough for you?’

  Stone smiled grimly. ‘My dear captain,’ he said. ‘Money and power are worth nothing unless people are afraid of you. Fear conquers all. Fear sweeps away all opposition. Fear is the destroyer of love and the killer of kindness. With these weapons I will create fear on an unprecedented scale.’ Some of the men nearby had stopped to listen to Stone. Sensing he had an audience, he projected his voice even more loudly. ‘Firstly, we’ll send a message to our Chinese neighbours by blasting one of their cities out of existence.’ Sid smiled grimly at this. ‘Then, our newly created android armies will take control of their rig yards and they will have no choice but to surrender to me. Nations will bow before the might of the Trans-Siberian Mining Company and they will be proud to call me their emperor!’ Stone’s eyes gleamed with a strange light and tiny flecks of spittle sprayed from his mouth.

  ‘Blimey. He’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic,’ muttered Bulldog under his breath.

  While Stone raved, India watched Calculus loading a missile on to a steel trolley. ‘Calc,’ she hissed. ‘It’s me, India! Are you all right? Can you help us to get away?’

  The big android turned slowly to face her. ‘Move back, prisoner,’ he said coldly. His words cut her to the bone.

  ‘It’s no good, kid,’ said Verity. ‘They’ve changed his base codes. He’s not the person you knew any more.’

  ‘How could you let that happen to him?’ said India, tears stinging her eyes. ‘You were supposed to be his friend!’

  ‘I had no choice, India,’ said Verity sadly. ‘I’m sorry I got you into this. You would have been better off staying in London and marrying that slimy little creep.’

  ‘Oi, steady on!’ said Clench, peering out from behind Bulldog, where he had been hiding from Stone’s gaze. ‘That’s charming, that is.’

  Verity’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. ‘Holy mother of all riggers!’ she said. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘That’s a long story,’ said Bulldog and India simultaneously.

  Bulldog glanced over at Stone, who was still droning on about world domination, then he dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘I have a suggestion.’ He pointed to the open hangar doors. ‘Those are six-inch, blast-proof doors. If we can jam them shut then Stone won’t be taking those missiles anywhere.’ He pointed to a steel box on the wall underneath the stairs. ‘Mrs Brown, do you think you can shut those doors from that junction box?’

  She looked at the box and the wires that ran from it. ‘Piece of cake.’ She grinned. ‘I can re-route the power line and then fuse the electrics so they won’t be able to open them again for a week.’

  ‘Oh, great idea, genius,’ said Clench. ‘Then we’ll be locked in here with Mr Call-Me-Emperor, and he’s not exactly going to be in the best of moods, is he? I think I’d rather take my chances in an all-out war, thank you.’

  Bulldog glanced at the guard and pulled the folded sheet from his pocket. ‘I’ve been looking at the map,’ he said in a whisper. ‘This whole place is built on top of a network of natural caverns. There’s a small door at the end of the hall that leads down to the caves. If we can escape down there while they’re worrying about the blast doors, we might get clean away.’

  ‘It sounds foolproof,’ said Clench, rolling his eyes. ‘I can’t think of anything that could possibly go wrong.’

  Two guards were standing nearby whom India recognized straight away as Silas and Cripps. While Verity slipped into the shadows to pull away the metal cover from the junction box, India gave them a disarming smile, hoping they wouldn’t notice Verity was missing. ‘Hello again!’ she said brightly. ‘This is a fascinating place, isn’t it?’

  Silas looked at her blankly, his tongue protruding slightly from his mouth while Cripps ignored her and probed the thick white sticking plaster that covered his broken nose.

  ‘Have you
seen the paintings in the other room?’ she persisted. ‘Are you both art lovers?’

  Silas gave a confused frown; Cripps looked up and sneered.

  An animal roar from the other end of the chamber made India jump. She turned to see Stone striding towards them wearing a furious scowl. ‘Where has she gone? Where is the Brown woman?’

  ‘Please, Mr Director,’ said Clench in his whiniest voice, pointing to Verity. ‘She’s over there trying to sabotage the doors. It wasn’t my idea, I told them I wanted nothing to do with it.’

  ‘Oh hell!’ said India under her breath.

  Before anyone could stop her, Verity threw a switch on the junction box. The current sputtered and crackled, and Stone turned aghast as the great iron doors began to grind closed.

  The first missile was already halfway out of the door and there was panic among the guards. A few of them tried to push the missile outside while others tried to push it back the way it had come; for a moment it looked like the doors would cut the missile in half. Then the doors shuddered to a halt in a half open position and the junction box exploded in a shower of sparks.

  Silas and Cripps stood gormlessly, looking first at the junction box and then at Verity Brown. They might have stood there for some time had another guard not pushed them aside and pointed his pistol at Verity.

  Reacting quickly, Bulldog pounced on the man and they wrestled for the gun. Without hesitating, Stone pulled out his own long-barrelled pistol and fired two shots in quick succession. The guard collapsed to the floor and lay still. Stone fired for a third time and Bulldog staggered and sat down abruptly. His breath escaped like steam from a pressure pipe and the colour drained from his face before he keeled over backwards.

  ‘Bulldog!’ cried India.

  She ran to his side. His face was twisted in pain and his breath came in short gasps. ‘I’m hit!’ he gasped. ‘It’s me shoulder!’

  Lucifer Stone dragged Verity from the shadows at gunpoint and bellowed at Silas and Cripps, who clung terrified to each other. ‘Can’t you imbeciles even guard four people? Cirenkov! What did she do?’