She hovered above the tip of the tent pole. The stolen helmet was inside, no doubt about it. To investigate further, she would have to enter the structure. The fairy bible, or Book, prevented fairies from entering human dwellings uninvited, but recently the high court had ruled that tents were temporary structures and as such were not included in the Book's edict. Holly burnt the stitches on the tent's seam with a laser burst from her Neutrino 2000, and slipped inside.
On the earthen surface below were two dwarfs. One had the stolen helmet strapped across his back, the second was jammed down a hole in the ground. Both wore upper face masks and matching red leotards. Very fetching.
This was a surprising development. Dwarfs generally stuck together, yet these two seemed to be playing for different teams. The first appeared to have incapacitated the second, and perhaps was about to go even further. There was a glittering flint dagger in his hand. And dwarfs did not generally draw their weapons unless they intended to use them.
Holly toggled the mike switch on her glove. 'Foaly? Come in, Foaly? I have a possible emergency here.'
Nothing. White noise. Not even ghost voices. Typical. The most advanced communications system in this galaxy, and possibly a few others, all rendered useless by a few magma flares.
'I need to make contact, Foaly. If you can record this, I have a crime in process, possibly murder. Two fairies are involved, there is no time to wait for Retrieval. I'm going in. Send Retrieval immediately.'
Holly's good sense groaned. She was already technically off active duty, making contact would bury her Recon career for certain. But ultimately that didn't matter. She had joined the LEP to protect the People, and that was exactly what she intended to do.
She set her wings to descend, floating down from the tent shadows.
The dwarf was talking, in that curious gravelly voice common to all male dwarfs.
'Sorry about this, brother,' he said, perhaps making excuses for the impending violence. 'I hate to do it, but the Mud Boy has me over a barrel.'
Enough, thought Holly. There will be no murder here today. She unshielded, speckling into view in a fairy shaped starburst. 'First I want you to tell me about the Mud Boy,' she said. 'And then I want you to tell me about the barrel.'
Mulch Diggums recognized Holly immediately. They had met only months previously in Fowl Manor. Funny how some people were fated to meet over and over. To be part of one another's lives.
He dropped both the dagger and Sergei, raising empty palms. Sergei slid back down the hole.
'I know what this looks like, Ho ... Officer. I was just going to tie him up, for his own good. He had a tunnel convulsion, that's all. He could hurt himself.'
Mulch congratulated himself silently. It was a good lie and he had bitten his tongue before it could utter Holly's name. The LEP thought he had died in a cave, and she would not recognize him with the mask. All Holly could see was silk and beard.
'A tunnel convulsion? Dwarf kids get those, not experienced diggers.'
Mulch shrugged. 'I'm always telling him. Chew your food. But will he listen? He's a grown dwarf, what can I do? I shouldn't leave him down there, by the way.'The dwarf put one foot into the tunnel.
Holly touched down. 'One more step, dwarf,' she warned. 'For now, tell me about the Mud Boy.'
Mulch attempted an innocent smile. There was more chance of a great white shark pulling it off. 'What Mud Boy, Officer?'
'Artemis Fowl,' snapped Holly. 'Start talking. You're going to jail, dwarf. For how long depends on you.'
Mulch chewed it over for a moment. He could feel the Fei Fei Tiara pricking his skin beneath the leotard. It had slipped around the side, below the armpit, most uncomfortable. He had a choice to make. Try to complete the job, or look after number one. Fowl or a reduced sentence. It took less than a second to decide.
'Artemis wants me to steal the Fei Fei Tiara for him. My ... ah ... circus mates had already taken it, and he bribed me to pass it on to him.'
'Where is this tiara?'
Mulch reached inside his leotard.
'Slowly, dwarf.'
'OK.Two fingers.'
Mulch drew the tiara from under his armpit.
'You don't take bribes I suppose?'
'Correct. This tiara goes back near enough to wherever it came from. Police will get an anonymous tip and find it in a skip.'
Mulch sighed. 'The old skip routine. Don't the LEP ever get tired of that?'
Holly did not want to be drawn into conversation.
'Toss it on the ground,' she instructed. 'Then get down there yourself. Lie on your back.'
One did not order a dwarf to lie on the ground on his belly. One click of the jaws, and the perpetrator would be gone in a cloud of dust.
'On my back? That's really uncomfortable with this helmet.'
'On your back!'
Mulch obeyed, dropping the tiara and shifting the helmet to the front. The dwarf was thinking furiously. How much time had gone by? Surely the Significants would be back any second. They would come running to relieve Sergei.
'Officer, you really should get out of here.'
Holly searched him for weapons. She unstrapped the LEP helmet, rolling it across the floor.
'And why is that?'
'My teammates will be here any second. We're on a tight schedule.'
Holly smiled grimly. 'Don't worry about it. I can handle dwarfs. My gun has a nuclear battery.'
Mulch swallowed, glancing through Holly's legs towards the tent flaps. The Significants had arrived right on time, and three were sneaking through the tent flap making less noise
than ants in slippers. Each dwarf held a flint dagger in his stubby fingers. Mulch heard a rustling overhead, and looked up to see another Significant peering through a fresh rip in the tent seam. Still one unaccounted for.
'The battery isn't important,' said Mulch. 'It's not how many bullets you have, it's how fast you can shoot.'
Artemis was not enjoying the circus. Butler should have contacted him over a minute ago to confirm that Mulch had arrived at the rendezvous point. Something must be wrong. His instinct told him to take a look, but he ignored it. Stick to the plan. Give Mulch every possible second.
The last few seconds ran out moments later when the five dwarfs in the ring took their bows. They exited the ring with a series of elaborate tumbles, and headed for their own tent.
Artemis raised his right fist to his mouth. Strapped across his palm was a tiny microphone, of the type used by the US secret service. A skin-tone earpiece was lodged in his right ear.
'Butler,' he said softly, the mike was whisper sensitive. 'The Significants have left the building. We must execute plan B.'
'Roger,' said Butler's voice in his ear.
Of course there was a plan B. Plan A may have been perfect, but the dwarf executing it certainly wasn't. Plan B involved chaos and escape, hopefully with the Fei Fei Tiara. Artemis hurried along his row while the second box was lowered into the centre of the ring. All around him, children and their parents cooed at the melodrama unfolding before them, unaware of the very real drama that was being played out not twenty metres away.
Artemis approached the dwarfs' tent, sticking to the shadows.
The Significants trotted ahead of him in a group. In seconds thev would enter the tent and find that things were not as they should be. There would be delays and confusion, in which time the jewel merchants in the big top would probably come running, along with their armed security. This mission would have to be either completed or aborted in the next few seconds.
Artemis heard voices from inside the tent. The Significants heard them too and froze. There shouldn't be voices. Sergei was alone, and if he was not, something was wrong. One dwarf crawled on his belly to the flap, peeking inside. Whatever he saw obviously upset him, because he crawled rapidly back to the group, and began issuing frantic instructions. Three dwarfs went in the front flap, one scaled the tent wall, and the other popped his bum flap and went subterranean.
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Artemis waited a couple of heartbeats, then crept to the tent flap. If Mulch was still in there, something would have to be done to get him out, even if it meant sacrificing the diamond. He flattened his body against the tightly drawn canvas and peered inside. He was surprised by what he saw. Surprised but not amazed, he should have expected it really. Holly Short was standing over a fallen dwarf who may or may not have been Mulch Diggums. The Significants were closing in on her, daggers drawn.
Artemis raised the radio to his mouth.
'Butler, how far away are you, exactly?'
Butler answered immediately. 'I'm on the circus perimeter. Forty seconds, no more.'
In forty seconds, Holly and Mulch would be dead. He could not allow that.
'I have to go in,' he said tersely. 'When you get here, moderate plan B as necessary.'
Butler did not waste time arguing. 'Roger. Keep them talking, Artemis. Promise them the world, and everything under it. Greed will keep you alive.'
'Understood,' said Artemis, stepping into the tent.
'Well well well,' said Derph, Sergei's second in command. 'Looks like the law finally tracked us down.'
Holly planted a foot on Mulch's chest, pinning him to the earth. She trained her weapon on Derph.
'That's right, I'm with Recon, Retrieval are seconds away. So just accept it and lie on your backs.'