And so it was that this morning Ryan had arrived with the Chrysler. The weather was fine and the hunters were still there, lounging around on the steps that led up to the front of the museum, sampling some of the drink that Ed had got for them. They were all dressed in leathers and furs and looked like a heavy metal band posing for their latest album cover.

Ed was loading supplies into the boot when Ryan came over.

‘You heading out already?’ he said, raising a can of beer in a salute.

Ed was glad that Ryan had taken his mask off – it gave him the creeps – although Ryan’s real face wasn’t exactly a pretty sight. It was covered in acne and battered from a thousand fights.

‘I have to find someone,’ Ed explained.

‘No rest, eh, dude?’ said Ryan with a lopsided grin. ‘Not for us soldiers. No Sleep ’til Hammersmith.’

‘Hammersmith?’

‘Is an album. Motörhead. No, brother, you and me, we don’t get to sit down and sip cups of tea, do our knitting. We’re workers. We’re soldiers. We’re hunters. No rest for the wicked, yeah? We never sleep. Not till we’re in our graves.’

‘You die if you want, Ryan.’ Ed smiled at him, knowing his own face would be pulled into a Halloween mask. ‘I intend to live till I’m a hundred.’

‘Good luck with that, my man. You want a drink?’

‘Nope.’

‘Is good stuff. So tell me, where’d you get it all? Who’s your supply?’

‘That’s confidential.’

‘Thought it might be.’

‘Where you want these, boss?’ Kyle had come over, carrying a box of fifty crossbow bolts.

‘Sling them on the roof.’ The bolts were part of the deal. Ryan had got them for Ed and Ed was going to use them to pay for the drink. That’s how the world worked now. Barter.

The drink had come from a boy called Dylan, although no one but Ed knew his real name – to everyone else he was Shadowman. Ed had saved Shadowman at Piccadilly Circus a few nights ago, and Shadowman owed him. He had a hideout in an abandoned drinking club not far away. And there was more alcohol stashed away in its cellars than he could ever drink.

So they’d done a deal. Ed had taken a load of beer and vodka and cider and promised to come back with crossbow bolts. They’d have to drop them off for Shadowman on the way.

It had only taken Ryan a few days to find a car. Ed had got more and more frustrated waiting around for him, but knew that when it did arrive the car would save them a lot of time and hassle. Now that it was here he just wanted to be off and get this whole thing over and done with. Everyone was telling him it was crazy, stupid, pointless, dangerous …