Under a Watchful Eye(96)

‘I’m sorry, Wendy.’

Wendy turned again to me. ‘This money . . . The advance, when will it be payable?’

‘The signature and delivery portion within four weeks.’

That made Wendy grin, though spitefully.

Natalie closed her eyes and clenched her hands together as if she were thanking whoever had answered her prayers. ‘Wendy,’ she muttered in a pathetic voice, ‘we can get the roof done . . . Some clothes—’

‘It belongs to the API, Natalie, you know that.’ Wendy then raised her chin so that she could peer down her nose at me. ‘You will make the transfer without any delays.’

I nodded. It had taken a good long while for me to accept that the advance for the new book was gone, and all future proceeds too, if there were any. All would be paid to these creatures that stood before me. They were stealing from me. But by giving them the money, I knew that I was prolonging my life, and any quality of life that I could ever hope to enjoy.

I wanted to sleep again. And by this time in our association I would have done anything, paid anything at all, to have rid myself of Wendy, Natalie, and whatever it was that came and went on the top floor of Hunter’s Tor Hall, this Master that had imprisoned us and directed the killing of Ewan.

I had just enough money saved to support myself for another eighteen months, by which time I would need to secure another book deal, for the book that would follow Yellow Teeth.

I stood up. ‘And that concludes our collaboration. I have your bank details and you will receive the monies agreed in due course. I’ll even send you the royalty statements every six months so that you can see if the book has sold, and if the work has accrued any future income. You can even file the statements in the basement of the Hall, along with all of your other records.’

I showed them the palms of my hands. ‘I have done what you asked, so I’ll have to ask you two ladies to leave now. As we also agreed, you will never contact me again. Now, I have work to do. A lot of publicity to prepare for, in order to promote our new book. You see, it’s a requirement for authors these days.’

Natalie sat forward on her chair. ‘Leave? But we can’t. Wendy, the other thing, are you going to mention it?’

Wendy nodded. ‘Indeed. I was waiting for a suitable pause in our associate’s version of events before I made a start.’

‘Start?’

‘If you please,’ Wendy added, and even raised one calloused hand to silence me. ‘And would you sit down. I think it is better if you hear this sitting down.’

‘I’ll stand.’

‘As you wish. But we have been in receipt of a new directive, Sebastian.’ She and Natalie both chortled at that. ‘And this has come right from the top. The very top of our organization. And you know all about the top, don’t you, Seb? The top floor and the highest executive level of our organization, which you were fortunate enough to have visited some six months ago. But it has come to our attention, and this is of the utmost urgency and importance, and one that will be treated with the strictest discretion by you, that a new opportunity has been put upon the table.’

‘Forget it. We’re done. We had an agreement. I wrote the book and that’s all—’

‘Alas, it is not for you, nor for me and my colleague, to make nor change the rules.’

‘You agreed—’

‘Circumstances can change. Agreements alter accordingly.’

‘No!’

‘Our leader’s keen interest in returning to public life continues.’

It was time for me to shake my hands in the air. ‘He’s dead. Gone. You know that. No matter what you believe, Hazzard is no more. No one is interested in him, or his ideas.’ I dropped my voice. ‘I mean . . . look where it leads. Any attempt to revive the API is futile, and you know it.’

‘Oh, really!’ said Natalie.

Wendy grinned with the satisfaction of being back in the ascendant. ‘He will never retire. He can’t, for one thing. But he is very keenly aware of your connections and your ability to act as a broker on our behalf. He is also keen to begin a more direct collaboration with a writer, who will—’

‘Forget it!’

‘Who will take on certain editorial duties organizing narrated material. But the final words will be his and his alone.’

‘No!’

‘Be seated!’ Wendy roared. Natalie jumped. ‘Do you not know to whom it is that you speak? Do you still doubt the reach of the organization that we represent?’

When Wendy had finished shouting at me, her body continued to tremble and she made several gasping noises from the back of her throat. Natalie even placed her hand upon her colleague’s shoulder, but Wendy shrugged it away with irritation. ‘I think it’s time for a story. I think a story is the best medium with which to express our new intent, and with which to seal an agreement for a new work.’

At that point, I remember holding onto the cabinet below the window, as I had begun to unconsciously back away, towards the balcony door.

This moving of the goalposts was not completely unexpected, despite every assurance that I had extracted from them during the previous six months. I had done all that I could to make them swear that their interest in me would never continue beyond one book, providing the book produced a sum commensurate with their expectations. They were broke and I had already exceeded their expectations.