Randall had had similar conversations at two other tables, with results that he thought were encouraging, when Loach entered the room. The former mob boss stood in the entrance for a few moments until he was able to catch Randall's eye, then nodded his head towards an unoccupied table in a shadowy corner of the room. Randall nodded, made his excuses to the three masons he'd been talking to, and went to join him there.

"I see you've been busy," said Loach as he sat, moving the chair so that he had the solid stone wall to his back.

"Making contacts," replied Randall. "The necessary first step in a political campaign. Getting myself noticed."

"Yes," said Loach. "Getting yourself noticed. That's the part that makes me nervous."

"The priests will be expecting us to lie low. Find some out of the way little town and hide. They'll think that someone deliberately making himself visible can't possibly be one of the people they're looking for."

"Are you sure of that? We could have accepted the first priest's offer. Money in exchange for our head phones and the information on them. We declined because we wanted to overthrow VIX. They know we can't do that hiding in a small town. They know we'll need a powerful transmitter. Either an old one left behind from our time or one we built ourselves."

"They don't know the reason we declined their offer. Maybe they think we just wanted to keep our head phones."

"You think they're that stupid?"

"I'm hoping they'll think that taking control of the solar system is such a huge task that we won't dream of being able to do it."

"That's a risky assumption to make, and I don't like taking risks."

"I'm not going to sit back while you take all the power for yourself. What, you take control of a city wide crime syndicate while I get a menial job sweeping floors and washing dishes? I am a man of substance. I was then and I will be again."

"No matter the risk?" Loach leaned forward and glared at Randall, his eyes hard and cold. "If they find you, they'll find me. They'll probably guess we'll want to stay together. I won't have you putting my life at risk. I've killed people for less. A lot less."

"You won't kill me. Only I can operate the Gorsty Common facility. Only I have the access codes. If we don't take VIX down, it won't matter how careful we are. They'll find us sooner or later. You know that."

"So I just have to hope and pray that the priests don't see you prancing around like a trained gibbon and figure out who you are?"

"I care too much for my own skin to take any foolish risks. Don't worry, I won't give us away. Now, tell me what you've been up to since we last met. Have you made any progress infiltrating the local Mafia?"

Loach studied the other man intently for a few moments, trying to assess the risk he represented and weighing it against his value as an ally. Then he sat back in his chair and gave a deep sigh. "I've made contact with the local underworld," he said. "Gotten myself hired by them. Gaining their trust is going to be the hard part. Organisations like that take on new people all the time. Give them a couple of jobs, see how they handle themselves. Then they either accept them or kill them. They're still undecided about me. What about you? Got yourself a following yet?"

"The beginnings of one." Randall nodded his head towards the table at which Deeks, the rat catcher and the wool merchant were still sitting, each of them glancing accasionally at Randall and his new friend. "You'll probably hear some stories about me over the next few days. Stories about how I defeated an orc chieftain in single combat."

Loach's eyes narrowed. "And is that just a story? Something you made up?"

"No, I really did it, in front of a lot of witnesses. I used yama666. Told it to let me win."

Loach hissed between his teeth and his hand moved involuntarily toward his knife. "I thought we agreed not to use yama666. It's a dead giveaway, tells the priests exactly where we are."

"I told the chieftain to cover for us, to make its communications with other machines completely normal. Besides, I had no choice. The orcs would have killed me otherwise."

"So you put my life at risk to save yourself!"

"There is no risk! This happened yesterday. If the priests knew they'd have taken action already. Probably turned this whole city into a smoking hole in the ground. They did that just recently to a town a few miles away from here. A tannery village that accidentally found out how to make explosives from urine."

"Urine is a good source of nitrates," said Loach. "If they added charcoal for some reason and mixed it up in a rusty iron container, or just added powdered rust..."

"The leatherworker did say they were trying out different mixtures for tanning leather," said Randall. "So you know how to make gunpowder?"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"You need sulphur for proper gunpowder, but you can make up a pretty good explosive from all kinds of common household materials."

"And you just happen to know this? With industrial explosives so easy to come by back in our own time?"

"I'm a criminal. You never know when you might be caught in a tight spot by the law with ammunition running low."

"Well, don't mix anything up here in the city. If you cause an accidental explosion, even a small one..."

"I'm not the stupid one, remember." He broke off when he saw Jane standing in the doorway, searching the crowded room with her eyes. She saw Randall and Loach and began threading her way across the crowded room towards them. "Son of a bitch!" Loach swore. He jumped to his feet, almost knocking his chair over in the process, and almost ran towards her. Reaching her, he grabbed her by the elbow, turned her around and marched her back out of the room.

He took her all the way back through the reception room and out into the street, where a light rain was beginning to fall. She stared at him in surprise bordering on outrage. "What on Earth are you doing?"

"They're looking for two men and a woman," said Loach, releasing her. "The three of us should never be seen together." He looked up and down the street. It was almost empty, but there was always the chance that someone might suddenly appear. He would take her to the nearest alley, he decided. Cut her throat and leave her there. Just another random mugging, and he would sleep easier at night not worrying that she might do something stupid to give them away. "Come on, there's a place we can talk."

Jane nodded and followed meekly after him as he led her away. There was a gap between two buildings just a few metres further on and Loach gestured for her to precede him into it. She went, entirely without suspicion, and Loach followed after. He looked around one last time to make sure there was no-one to see them, and his hand went to the knife at his belt.

"I might have found it," said Jane excitedly, turning to face him. "I can't be sure, there's still a lot of maps I haven't looked at yet, but it might be the place."

"Found what?" asked Loach. He turned his body so she wouldn't see him drawing the knife from its sheath. A stab in through the stomach, then up under the rib cage into the heart. Instantly fatal, and no gush of blood to stain his clothes.

"Randall's secret facility. The helicopter landing pad with his secret radar dish under it. Or it might just be a car park. We won't be able to tell until we actually go out there. Dig down, see what's under the soil." She reached into an inside pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. "I drew a copy, as best as I was able." She unfolded it and showed it to him. "That's it there, in the Elmhardy farm. A square area about thirty yards across. There's something called devil stone just a few inches down. I reckon that's what they call plasteel, because they think we were all evil back in our time."

Loach took the paper and used his head phone to take a photo of it. "Interesting," he said, carefully replacing the knife in its sheath. "How long will it take you to photograph the rest of the maps?"

"Another day or so, I should think. But I haven't really been looking at them. Just photoing them as fast as I can. Then I've got to look through them all. Really look through them. This one just happened to catch my eye, there's no telling what I'll find when I take a proper look at the others."

Loach nodded. "Good work," he said. "Don't come back here, though. It's too dangerous. Where are you staying?" Jane told him. Both the place where she was working and the boarding house where she'd taken a room. Loach nodded. "I'll come to you, as often as I can," he told her. "You've done good work here. Well done." Jane beamed at him, then nodded and returned to the mouth of the alley.

Loach watcher her as she scurried off back to the road. Maybe Randall was right, he mused. Maybe she could be useful to them. He watched her for a moment longer until she turned a corner and passed out of sight, and then he went back to the tavern.

☆☆☆

"I hope you made it quick and painless," said Randall when Loach returned to their corner table. "I kinda liked her, after a fashion."

"She's still alive," replied Loach, taking his seat again. He took out Jane's hand drawn map and showed it to him. "She thinks she might have found your secret weapon. Either that or she'll find it soon. We may need her for a little longer."

Randall looked at the map. "Could be," he said. "It's about the right size. Elmhardy farm? What is it with elms around here?"

"I wouldn't know an elm tree if I was strung up from one," the former gang boss admitted, "which I probably will be one day. What do you say we pop out there and have a look around? Maybe dig down a little, see if it really is plasteel down there?"

"Not while the countryside's infested with orcs. We'll have to wait until they've moved on."

"You made it all the way to Duffield without seeing any, and you made it all the way back again. They travel in bands, right? There has to be a way of knowing where the nearest band is. How about asking your pet chieftain?" His eyes narrowed as he watched Randall carefully.

"Too risky. We'd have to send out a transmission and hope he's the only one who picks it up. No way are we taking that kind of a risk just for an idle jaunt."

Loach relaxed. "Glad you think so," he said. "So, we wait until the orcs move on, however long that is. By then, maybe Jane will have found a few more candidate sites, maybe even eliminated a few."

"Seems strange to hear you talking that way about her when you were ready to cut her throat just a few minutes ago."

"I have no problem with reliable allies. If she proves her worth no-one will be happier than me. In the meantime, we can think about what we're going to do when we've positively identified the site."

"The control room was thirty metres down. There'll be an elevator shaft leading down to it from the upper basement levels, but we have to assume that those levels will be completely blocked with earth. We're going to need men and equipment to dig."

"And a plausible excuse for doing the digging." An uncharacteristic smile creased his face. "You were going to be digging the foundations for a country estate."

Randall smiled back. "Back then, it hadn't really come home to me that we're living in a different world now. A world in which noblemen only build fancy estates inside the safety of strong city walls. Dammit, it's our world! It's intolerable that human beings have to travel in fear of other creatures on our own planet! We are men, and men hold their heads up with pride and travel wherever they wish without fear! Another reason why VIX must be destroyed!"

"You don't need to convince me. So, how about we get something to eat? I'm hungry."

"Me too. A nice slice of pie for me, I think." Randall raised a hand to beckon a waitress over.