Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

“Don’t,” Tina said immediately. “If the systems stop working, that will sound an alarm.”

Daniel nodded, and checked the screens carefully.

“I’m not seeing the gathering anywhere.”

“No cameras allowed at the big beanfeast,” said Tina. “What happens at the Frankenstein gathering stays at the gathering.”

“How do you know all these things?” said Daniel.

“I told you, Edward has been planning this for ages. And he’s had me rehearsing this raid for months. Apparently, we were waiting for you. Or someone like you.”

“All right,” said Daniel. “What do we do?”

“Kill the two guards, and leave the system to run itself. It can watch what it likes so long as there’s no one here to react to what it sees.”

Daniel looked at the unconscious guards. “Kill them?”

“You’re the one who wanted to beat the whole Frankenstein Clan to death with your bare hands,” said Tina.

“I didn’t mean in cold blood.”

“Then think of what they did, to you and your friends,” said Tina. “And all the other people the Frankensteins have preyed on. See if your blood is still cold.”

Daniel remembered the cellar under the bookstore. The blood and the bodies, and the horror of it all. His hands closed into fists, but he still couldn’t move. Tina sighed impatiently, and stamped on the guards’ necks. The sound of vertebrae breaking was very loud in the quiet.

“You’d better toughen up, Daniel; because if you don’t the monster Clans will eat you alive.”

Daniel looked at the two dead guards. He wanted to think that because they were Frankensteins, they must have done something to deserve this. But that was still a step too far. He looked steadily at Tina.

“Is this what it means, to be a Hyde? To kill without caring?”

“No. It means you care enough about the victims to kill the people who need killing.”

“Where do we have to go, to set the bomb?” said Daniel.

“The Clan will be whooping it up in the main banquet hall. We have to locate the room directly underneath it.”

“And you know where that is?”

“Of course.” She lightly tapped her head. “It’s on the map.”

Tina made her way confidently through the maze of corridors, only to stop abruptly when they rounded a corner and came face-to-face with two large gentlemen in hotel uniforms who moved quickly to block their way.

“Sorry, Sir and Madam,” said the larger of the two, though he didn’t sound particularly regretful. “This floor has been reserved for a private function. Unless you have invitations . . . ”

“Of course we do,” said Tina, smiling brightly. “I’ve got mine right here.”

She stepped forward and kicked him in the balls so hard his whole body lifted up off the floor. While the other guard was gaping at that, Tina punched him out. Both men were unconscious by the time they hit the floor, and probably grateful for it.

“Are they Frankensteins?” said Daniel.

“No, just hotel flunkies moonlighting for cash in hand.”

“What do we do with them?”

“Leave them,” said Tina. “We don’t kill innocent bystanders unless we have to. This is a private war.”

She set off down the corridor. Daniel looked at the unconscious bodies, and told himself he didn’t give a damn. He was a Hyde. But he still stepped carefully around them as he hurried after Tina and moved quickly in beside her.

“I thought we’d be a little more subtle,” he said. “Given that we’re taking on an entire Clan and its security people.”

“Hydes aren’t built for subtle,” said Tina.

“I noticed that,” said Daniel.

A brisk walk and several sharp turns later, Daniel and Tina had to stop again because the way ahead was completely blocked by even more very large men in hotel uniforms. Given the sheer size of them, Daniel had no doubt they were Frankenstein creations. They stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking the corridor from wall to wall. There was something inhuman, unnatural, about the way they held themselves; as though they weren’t properly put together. Or perhaps because they no longer remembered how to stand like people. Their faces were blank, and Daniel only had to look at their eyes to know there was nobody home. They were just machines made out of meat, waiting to be told to do something awful.

“Do we kill them?” Daniel said quietly.

“I like the way you’re thinking, but no,” said Tina. “We don’t want to give away our presence this early. All we have to do is tell them to go be somewhere else in a loud and confident voice, and they’ll do it. They’re conditioned to obey authority figures.”

She strode right up to the hulking creatures and snapped out her order—and they immediately turned and stomped off down the corridor. Apart from one, who stood his ground and started to say something. Tina punched him so hard his entire face collapsed, and her fist buried itself so deep in his head it took her two hard jerks to get it out again. The dead man collapsed, while Tina shook blood and gore from her hand.