What Song the Sirens Sang, page 1
Table of Contents
Cover
Also by Simon R. Green
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter
Chapter One: Seller Beware
Chapter Two: Would You Like to Buy a Rock?
Chapter Three: One Man’s Rage
Chapter Four: Answers and Questions
Chapter Five: Not Fighting, Only Playing
Chapter Six: From the Afterlife to the Undercity
Chapter Seven: Time See What’s Become of Me
Chapter Eight: Time For One Last Song.
Chapter Nine: The Song Is Over
Also by Simon R. Green
The Ishmael Jones mysteries
THE DARK SIDE OF THE ROAD *
DEAD MAN WALKING *
VERY IMPORTANT CORPSES *
DEATH SHALL COME *
INTO THE THINNEST OF AIR *
MURDER IN THE DARK *
TILL SUDDEN DEATH DO US PART *
NIGHT TRAIN TO MURDER *
THE HOUSE ON WIDOWS HILL *
BURIED MEMORIES *
The Gideon Sable series
THE BEST THING YOU CAN STEAL *
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH *
The Secret History series
PROPERTY OF A LADY FAIRE
FROM A DROOD TO A KILL
DR DOA
MOONBREAKER
NIGHT FALL
The Nightside series
JUST ANOTHER JUDGEMENT DAY
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNCANNY
A HARD DAY’S KNIGHT
THE BRIDE WORE BLACK LEATHER
* available from Severn House
WHAT SONG THE SIRENS SANG
Simon R. Green
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
First world edition published in Great Britain and the USA in 2022
by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd,
14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE.
Trade paperback edition first published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
This eBook edition first published in 2022 by Severn House Digital
an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited
severnhouse.com
Copyright © Simon R. Green, 2022
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The right of Simon R. Green to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0575-9 (cased)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0576-6 (trade paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0577-3 (e-book)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is purely coincidental.
This ebook produced by
Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk,
Stirlingshire, Scotland.
Gideon Sable isn’t my name. I stole it.
The original Gideon Sable was a legendary master thief, who specialized in stealing the kind of things that others couldn’t. Like a ghost’s clothes, a photo of the true love you never found and jewels from the crown of the man who would be king. But the original Gideon Sable took on one commission too many and never came back, so I stole his name and identity, and made them my own.
There is a world beneath the world, the underworld of crime. Where all kinds of deals can be made in the shadows, where even the best-guarded treasures can feel just a bit insecure, and everyone has a chance to make their dreams come true. Out on the edges of civilization, the rules run out and everything is up for grabs. There are fortunes to be made, if your nerve holds. And if the monsters don’t get you first.
Of course, if you’re going to take on the big jobs and the big villains, you’re going to need a crew. Special people, with special skills. There’s Lex Talon, the Damned, because every crew needs its muscle. He killed two angels, from Above and Below, and made armour out of their halos. During our last heist, to steal the infamous Masque of Ra from a Vegas casino, Lex fell in love with Switch It Sally, who can swap one object for another, from a distance, and never be noticed. They got married in Vegas, because everyone does, and now they’re off on their honeymoon. Finally, there’s Annie Anybody, the woman who can be anyone at all, and is currently my love and my partner in crime.
Together we can do anything. And we do.
Every crime has a victim, and someone always gets hurt. So the trick lies in choosing the right crime, to hurt the right kind of people and get some payback for the victims. I steal from the rich and keep it, to teach them a lesson. And to make it clear that no one messes with me and mine.
ONE
Seller Beware
It was just another hot neon night in old London town as those two well-known faces Mad Mental Mickey and Miss Ophelia Knightly went walking through Soho. Except this was a journey into the world beneath the world, where nothing and no one could be expected to be what they seemed.
On this particular evening, I was the man inside the loud and vulgar display that was Mickey, because there are times when even a legendary master thief wants to be sure his target won’t see him coming. The tall blonde vision at my side, bestowing her dazzling smile on anyone who even glanced in her direction, was actually Annie Anybody. We drifted through the over-lit streets like a pair of basking sharks who’d sneaked into shallow waters, hiding our teeth behind a pleasing glamour.
We were on our way to Honest John’s Magical Emporium and World of Wonders, and while Gideon Sable and Annie Anybody weren’t exactly banned from that infamous establishment, if Honest John’s security people did recognize us, the odds were that what was left of our bodies would end up helping to support a flyover. Honest John descended, in every sense of the word, from a long line of career criminals and was something of a traditionalist in such matters.
I’d chosen to be Mad Mental Mickey that evening because he was such a well-known rogue about town, a confirmed dabbler in this and that, and a picker-up of unconsidered trifles when no one was looking. Mickey was the kind of cheerful chancer who could turn up anywhere and nobody would be surprised. He always wore the same Union Jack suit, along with crocodile-skin boots, kid gloves and a gold silk cravat. All of it topped off with a crimson wig and huge star-shaped sunglasses. Mickey had a large and all-enveloping personality, so whoever was being him could be sure people only ever saw the look and the attitude, and not the man inside.
Annie was being Ophelia Knightly because that particular young lady was Honest John’s current squeeze. Tall, striking and blonde in every sense of the word, Ophelia was wearing designer black slacks and a white blouse with half the buttons undone, to show off a cleavage that could stun at forty paces. All of it under an ankle-length leopard-skin coat that all but shrieked money. Not to mention stiletto shoes with heels so tall and sharp she could use them to stab someone. Ex-model, ex-actress, ex-pretty much anything that required even a modicum of talent, Ophelia was drop-dead gorgeous and not so much a celebrity as a personality: someone famous because everyone else thought she was famous.
Annie normally preferred to create her other characters out of various aspects of her own personality, using wigs, makeup and her extensive wardrobe. But for this job, I needed her to be an actual person. Fortunately, the real Ophelia was never happy unless her exquisite features were gracing the pages of all the best glossy magazines, so all Annie had to do was duplicate the look. After that, it was all about attitude.
And so we made our way through a series of shadowy side streets that didn’t so much have names as reputations, glancing disdainfully at shops that specialized in the kind of goods and services that people aren’t supposed to want, but always have and always will. Sin and temptation hove into view on every side, readily available at knock-down prices and only slightly shop-soiled. Candy-coloured neon blazed against the night, hot and inviting as a succubus’s smile. Most of the people we passed barely acknowledged us, preoccupied as they were with their own imminent damnation, but Ophelia and I stepped it out as if we owned the whole area and were thinking of renting it out as an abattoir for endangered species. Just for the fun of it. Downmarket gods, slumming it among the mortals.
I had intended to work this job on my own, but Annie returned home unexpectedly early and caught me in mid-transformation to Mad Mental Mickey. One hurried and somewhat embarrassed explanation later, Annie insisted on dealing herself in. And since she had just as much reason to hate Honest John as I did, I didn’t have the heart to refuse her.
I’d put off taking my revenge on Hones
Some said Harry was a demon let out of Hell on day release, to tempt the weak-willed with his marvellous merchandise. Others claimed he was the advance guard of a subtle alien invasion, undermining our economy one bad deal at a time. And some said he was the Spirit of Capitalism personified, gone feral. There were a great many stories about Harry, and most of us thought they probably originated with Harry himself, to distract us from getting at the truth.
Harry had recently retired and returned to wherever it was he came from, after emotionally blackmailing Annie and me into taking over his business. Which might have been a kindly deed on his part – or might not. It was hard to tell about things like that, where Harry was concerned. Our problem was that when he disappeared, he took his stock with him, leaving nothing behind but an empty shop. Annie and I were in urgent need of some seriously impressive wares, if we were to continue the business in the style its reputation demanded.
And the best way to acquire such marvellous merchandise in a hurry was to steal it. The best target had to be a similar magical shop, belonging to someone Annie and I had good reason to loathe. Honest John’s Magical Emporium and World of Wonders ticked all the right boxes.
It was the kind of place where the prices were affordable, the goods were dubious, and buyers shouldn’t so much beware as take out insurance before they entered his establishment. Honest John dealt in the kind of items where curses came as standard, and the batteries could always be expected to run out at the worse possible moment … but Annie and I weren’t interested in such bread-and-butter merchandise. We wanted Honest John’s Secret Stash: a private collection of the really good stuff that he kept locked away in a separate and very well-guarded location somewhere out the back. And since I always made it a point to keep up with all the latest gossip and bestow generous bribes on all the right people, I knew not only where to look for this particular treasure trove but how to get past its very dangerous guardians.
Mad Mental Mickey and Ophelia Knightly were on their way to Honest John’s sleazy discount warehouse, to rob him blind. Because he was a complete and unrepentant scumbag, who had cheated and ruined a great many people, including Annie and me. It was finally time to make him pay for his many sins and make ourselves rich in the process. Which was, after all, what we did.
Honest John didn’t set out to destroy Annie and me, but he did give both of us a good kicking when we were down and at our most vulnerable. After we had to go on the run from Fredric Hammer, the worst man in the world, because a heist had gone horribly wrong, Honest John sold me a cloak that was supposed to make me psychically invisible so Hammer’s people couldn’t find me, but it turned out to have psychic holes in it. He also sold Annie a new face to hide behind, but it fell off after only a week. Left exposed to our enemies, we’d had no choice but to disappear into very deep holes and pull them in after us, and it took us a long time to put our lives back together again.
The location of Honest John’s magical shop was always shifting. Either because he was dodging his creditors or because he thought it helped enhance his establishment’s reputation. (If it’s that hard to find, it must be worth tracking down.) You could only gain access through a dimensional door, a shortcut between places that was usually hidden away inside someone else’s shop. Like a cuckoo’s egg in another bird’s nest, or a werewolf in sheep’s clothing.
I had already stolen this evening’s password. Annie asked me how, and I told her she didn’t want to know. She just nodded. Annie was always ready to take my word in such matters.
‘Are you sure the real Ophelia isn’t going to suddenly show up and ruin everything?’ she said abruptly.
‘Not a chance,’ I said. ‘The real deal is currently swanning around Paris, showing herself off at fashion shows.’
‘Then won’t people be surprised to see her here?’
‘Ophelia is a law unto herself,’ I said. ‘Just like Mickey.’
Annie nodded slowly. ‘I didn’t know Mad Mental Mickey was one of your disguises.’
I had to smile. ‘He’s sort of a house name for supernatural criminal types. A useful false face to show the world when you don’t want people to know who’s really involved.’
‘So Honest John will know you’re a front …’
‘But not whose front. I could be anybody.’
‘No,’ said Annie. ‘That’s me.’
I consulted my very special compass, which always points to what I need, and it showed me the way to an unimpressive little storefront whose fly-specked window offered untrackable phones, an interesting collection of professional ID cards and a holistic massage service. All of which might have been perfectly legitimate businesses, but no one would bet on it. Most Soho businesses prefer to hide their true nature behind a misleading face. It makes it easier for them to pack up and move on at a moment’s notice.
Annie and I breezed into the somewhat undersized lobby as though we had personal invitations, and I smiled and nodded briskly to the cold-eyed receptionist behind the no-nonsense desk.
‘Can I help you?’ she asked, in a tone that suggested she seriously doubted it.
‘Mad Mental Mickey, big and loud and seriously proud,’ I said grandly. ‘Here with Miss Ophelia Knightly to take in the marvels and wonders of Honest John’s business experience and dispense serious amounts of cash in all directions. Today’s password is Swordfish!’
The receptionist must have hit a concealed buzzer because two large and muscular gentlemen, in ill-fitting suits that looked embarrassed to be seen in public with their owners, made a sudden appearance through a side door. They could have come straight from central casting or Thugs R Us, ready for trouble and more than happy to start some if there wasn’t any. They relaxed a little as they recognized Mickey, because he was a known quantity and something they thought they could handle. But then they took in Annie as Ophelia, and all the confidence went out of them. The larger of the two addressed her uncertainly.
‘Miss Ophelia? We were given to understand that you were off gallivanting in foreign parts?’
‘I was,’ Annie said regally. ‘I got bored.’
She hit the security guards with her dazzling smile, and they both nodded quickly. They weren’t about to get themselves in trouble by arguing with the boss’s girlfriend. But I could see that Mickey’s presence still troubled them, given his reputation for being a bit of a bad boy.
‘Relax, breathe easy and unclench, my oversized brethren,’ I said. ‘I am currently bodyguarding Miss Knightly, while she diverts and indulges herself in a little retail therapy. An outing entirely approved by Honest John himself, as I’m sure he’ll be only too happy to confirm. If you feel like bothering him.’
The muscle boys still didn’t seem too certain, so Annie hit them with the full pout and narrowed eyes.
‘Mickey is with me,’ she said loudly. ‘Now let us in. Or I’ll tell my sweetie you were mean to me.’
The guards looked to the receptionist, who inclined her head briefly. They all knew when someone had just slapped down a trump card. The receptionist hit another concealed button, and a dimensional door slipped into existence with professional ease. Tall and upright and perfectly ordinary-looking, it stood alone and unsupported at the back of the lobby. Like an actor who’d just cleared his throat so the audience would look in his direction. Annie and I bore down on it with easy smiles, and the door swung open on its own. We strode through with an air of calm superiority and our noses stuck firmly in the air.
