Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
The most beautiful woman he has ever seen dances by dressed just in her underwear with a plume of thick black feathers glued to her backside. Huge boobs, wide hips and swaying to the music. She goes past as Harry turns to see the most beautiful woman he has ever seen dressed just in her underwear with a plume of thick white feathers glued to her backside. On it goes. He shakes his head. He grins and laughs. Warfare is dirty. Warfare is nasty. This is what living should be. Just this.
Ben looks round. Seeing the same as Harry, but Ben’s life was saturated with such things, and although the energy and pulse still get to him, the sights have less impact. Is this nineteen ninety-nine? How can he tell? He glances back down the alley to see the reflection of the blue light, which looks weak and paltry in comparison to the lights up here. He says something to Safa. She looks at him, grinning widely but shaking her head. Can’t hear you, she mouths, pointing to her ear.
‘NEWSPAPER,’ Ben shouts into her ear.
She nods at him and looks round. She would just stand here watching if it were up to her, but she’s already seen how smart Ben is and everything he said earlier made sense. All of that stuff before could have been faked, but this? This isn’t fake. Not a chance. Still, he wants a newspaper to be completely convinced. She tugs at his arm, motions for Harry and Roland to follow her, and sets off, pushing through the crowd down the side of the street. Roland flinches in panic at straying from the portal but also knows there isn’t a thing he can do to stop them. The noise is awful. The lights are so bright. A fish out of water, but unlike Harry, he hangs back and keeps his head down.
Safa looks back, checking the others are staying close. Ben right behind her. Sweat shining on his face, his dark blond hair starting to slick down in the humidity and heat. He smiles at her, nodding for her to keep going. This is incredible. Half of her switches on to the job at hand and looks round for threat perception, assessing everyone in view and automatically scanning people for weapons, a habit now ingrained. The other half of her wants to sway to the music and laugh out loud for the mind-blowing thing she is doing.