Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

Miss Montague came hurrying back—with a really big grenade in her hand. She gestured for Daniel and Tina to get off the lid. They looked at her dubiously, but she was already pulling the pin, so they jumped down and backed quickly away. The lid started to rise, and Miss Montague popped the grenade through the opening, then forced the lid shut again and slipped the padlock back into place. There was a muffled explosion from inside the coffin, and then it all went very quiet.

“What was that?” said Tina.

“Rat poison,” said Miss Montague. “Well . . . mammoth poison, actually. But it’ll do the job.”

“You have a mammoth problem?” said Daniel.

“Not anymore,” said Miss Montague.

They all studied the coffin carefully, but there were no more sounds or signs of movement.

“At least now we know whether it’s alive or dead,” said Tina.

“Let’s hope so, dear,” said Miss Montague. She studied Daniel and Tina for a long moment, and then smiled suddenly. “You worked very well together, dears. Reminded me of when Edward and I were a team, back in the day.”

Tina looked at her sharply. “You worked missions together? Out in the field?”

“He wasn’t always such a recluse,” said Miss Montague. “Now come along, dears, and let’s get you kitted out for the fray.”

She bustled off down a new passageway, not even glancing back at the coffin. Daniel and Tina looked at the unmoving box and then at each other, shrugged pretty much in unison, and went after her. A few sharp turns later, Miss Montague started grabbing things off shelves and thrusting them into Daniel’s and Tina’s arms: wooden stakes, holy water ampules, garlic gas grenades . . . and a really big silver crucifix on a chain for each of them.

“I’m not religious,” said Daniel.

“Vampires are,” said Miss Montague, in the kind of tone that made Daniel wonder where his gym bag was.

She also presented them with two large bulbs of fresh garlic and made Daniel and Tina crush them in their hands, and then rub the juices all over their exposed necks and wrists.

“Just what you need to keep you from being bitten,” she said briskly. “No, don’t throw them away, dears! Put them in your pockets. If all else fails, you can eat the garlic and breathe in the vampires’ faces.”

“Does that repel vampires?” said Tina.

“More like melts their faces off, dear,” said Miss Montague.

“Why does garlic work?” said Daniel.

“Beats the hell out of me, dear,” said Miss Montague. “Presumably the vampires know, but they’re not telling.”

The new bomb turned out to be another flat metal box with just the one button. Only this time it came with a remote control, which Miss Montague handed to Daniel.

“Hit the button on the bomb to activate it, and then hit the remote to set it off. We can’t depend on a timer with this mission. If you’re going to lead the vampires into a trap, only you can decide on the right moment to trigger the explosion.”

“You know about the plan?” said Tina.

Miss Montague smiled sweetly, and fixed Tina with her worryingly bright eyes. “I helped Edward work out most of the details.”

“I didn’t know you and he worked so closely together,” said Tina.

“Oh, we used to be very close, a long time ago.” Miss Montague laughed softly at the look on their faces. “You young people, you think you invented sex.”

Daniel decided he was going to concentrate on the remote control. Just another box with a single button, presumably because you really didn’t want complications when the shit was clogging up the fan. He wanted to ask Miss Montague if she had one with a red button, but he didn’t feel like pushing his luck.

Miss Montague finished up by handing Tina a powerful flashlight, to help them find their way through the dark Underground tunnels, and presented Daniel with a small mirror, so he could quietly check who was and wasn’t human. And then she gave them both backpacks to carry everything in. She stepped back and looked them over critically.

“Allow me to wish you both the very best of luck,” she said. “Because you’re going to need it.”

“So,” said Daniel, after they’d left the armory. “Where now? Back to the tailors, for new outfits?”

“Hell with that,” said Tina, slinging her pack carelessly over one shoulder. “I’m keeping my nice evening dress. It’s lucky.”

Daniel thought about everything they’d been through. “Really?”

“We’re alive, and the Frankensteins aren’t.”

“Do Hydes do superstition?” said Daniel.

“This one does.”

“Then I’m hanging on to my tux,” said Daniel. “If only because it makes me look like James Bond.”

“I am very definitely not a Bond girl,” said Tina. “Modesty Blaise, maybe.”

“I thought she wore a catsuit?”

“Only because she was drawn by a man. I have better fashion sense.”

“All right,” said Daniel. “Where are we going now?”

“According to Edward’s file, to see a vicar about a river.”