A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor

together again. Time to think about other stuff afterwards. Concentrate on the now. I looked around.
    An empty bedpan lay to hand. I suspected it had been destined for the first person through the door. Bedpan versus blaster. No prizes for guessing how that would have ended. I began to feel a little better. I liked Katie Carr.
    ‘What’s happening out there?’ she hissed.
    ‘It’s OK,’ I said. ‘The cavalry has arrived. Both of them.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I didn’t come alone. Everyone thought I would and I was going to, but my Boss had a better idea and sent two colleagues with me. They slipped down to the basement while I was distracting the bad guys by playing big-headed heroine. They brought weapons and explosives and took out the guards who were crouched over their monitors laughing at me being slapped around. They released your people and stood well back while they got on with it. I came back here to make sure you were safe.’
    She said, ‘But your face – it’s all swollen.’
    ‘Well, to be fair, it was fairly swollen when I got here, so I’m not entitled to too much sympathy.’
    ‘So, we’re safe?’ she said, handing me an ice pack.
    ‘Probably. As you said, there weren’t that many of them.’
    ‘And there were only three of you?’
    ‘Yes, but each of us has the strength of ten. Except for me. I’ve just got the appetite of ten.’
    I switched off the light and eased the door open a crack. ‘Come here, Katie. I’m going to shoot anyone coming up those stairs that we don’t recognise.ʼ I crouched and sighted on the stairs. ‘Ronan gave orders the Chief was to be woken. Has anyone been up here?’
    ‘No, I’ve seen no one at all.’
    I sent thanks to the god of historians. Who was certainly on the ball today.
    She started pulling things out of cupboards. ‘Med kits for the wounded.’
    There was silence everywhere now. The shouting had stopped. So had the gunfire.
    The silence dragged on and on. The lift started up. Beside me, Katie stiffened. The doors slid open. I lifted my gun and shouted, ‘Identify yourself.’
    ‘Max, it’s Ian. Stand down. I’ve got wounded.’
    ‘Come on out, Ian. Go, Katie.’
    She trotted off and I could hear her giving directions. I closed the door and went to sit in the armchair, pulling the blanket over me. A few minutes later, Guthrie appeared. ‘It’s OK, Max. You can put the gun down.’
    I smiled, threw back the blanket, and replaced my weapon.
    ‘Stand up,’ he said. ‘Let’s have a look at you.’
    ‘I’m fine,’ I said, because that’s what we always say, but did it anyway. ‘See, nothing broken. Just a few bumps and bruises. No permanent damage.’ Nothing visible, anyway. ‘I told you it would work.’
    ‘What about …?’
    ‘I told you. It’s fine. Tim got there in plenty of time. She really was as thick as a brick, you know. If she’d just knocked me on the head and tied me to the table I’d have been in dead trouble, but she was so busy gloating and prolonging the agony that you were out of the basement long before anything terrible happened to me. Why do super-villains never learn? Don’t gloat – just shoot!’
    A wave of nausea swept over me. I sat down heavily.
    He didn’t notice. He was looking down at the bed. ‘The doctor will be here soon. There’s wounded out there and he’s treating them first.’
    I nodded. ‘What about Ronan’s lot?’
    ‘Mostly dead. They’ve not found Ronan yet. Number Nine has gone so it looks as if he’s escaped again. There weren’t actually that many of them – as you so helpfully pointed out in your running commentary along the way. Most seemed to have died, either back in Alexandria or the Cretaceous. You think they would have got the message, wouldn’t you?’
    He paused. ‘Barclay’s dead. We found her body in the lift. It looked as if she was trying to get away.’
    I nodded. There was nothing to say.
    He poured himself a glass of water. Combat makes you