Blade 6: Mixing It

Tim Bowler talks about Blade   If you are having problems viewing this video, this is due to a technical problem which we are working to resolve.

'This is where we find out - who's the hunter, who's the prey?'

'I got my enemy. Got him fixed in my head. He was there before, course he was, but now I've seen him again, he's clearer than ever. And I know this for certain. I can't run any more. You know why? Cos he'll never rest till he's found me. Till I'm dust trickling through his hands. So I got one choice left. Bring him down. That's right, Bigeyes. I got to mix it.'


Blade is under more pressure than ever. Jaz is still missing and the spectre of Becky is haunting him once again. Danger stalks him wherever he goes and, to make matters worse, his greatest enemy from the past is now back in his life.

But all is not lost. Blade has his courage, his will, his sharp intelligence – and he has a hostage, someone who will give him real bargaining power. Blade is not finished yet, not by a long way. His blood is up and he's ready to mix it.


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Down the street, round the back of the industrial estate, over the main road, down the alleyway, out the other side. OK, see where we are? Look straight ahead. Recognise that?

The park where I tried to use the mobiles.

Only last time we came at it from the other side. Through the cemetery, remember? There's the monument where I dropped the phones. Wonder if someone's picked 'em up. But never mind that. We won't be checking. I got something else to show you.

Only we got to play stealth now.

And that's hard to do in daylight.

Round the edge of the park. Still quite a few nebs about. Muffins, far as I can tell. Woman walking a poodle, kid on a bike, elderly couple sitting on the bench. Walk on, hood up, face low. Seem to have lost that beanie I had.

Never mind.

We're not far now.

Edge of the park, move slow. Round to the side gate, past it, on to where the kiosk used to be, over the path, into the knot of trees. Check again. Main part of the park's over to the right now. You can still see the monument from here. Just the back. Got it?

Now look to the left.

Kind of a dip, then a few old slabs of stone.

Come with me. And keep low. Cos this is a funny place. Druggies hang around here. It's a shithole for a den but it does keep out the wind. And there's a secret even the needles don't know about.

I got shown it by a duff when I was nine. And he died a year later. So maybe no one else knows about it now. Or hardly anyone. Let's hope so anyway.

Down into the dip, stop, check round. Nobody here. Walk on, slow. Got to pick your way carefully. The slabs are all lumpy, see? And with the trees overhead, you're kind of hidden in a little nook.

Stop again.

Look around you, Bigeyes. This is where the druggies sit. You can see some of their wreckage on the stones. Now look again. Forget the crap. Tell me what else you see.

Yeah, yeah. I know what you're thinking. It's just slabs of stone on top of each other. Well, it's not. Far corner, check it out. There's a gap, see? You can squeeze through that. If you're small enough.

The druggies don't bother with it. Nor do the duffs. Too narrow. And nothing much in there – they think. But this other duff – the one I told you about – he was a skinny bastard. And he showed me what's really inside, if you know how to look.

It's not cute, Bigeyes. But I'll tell you what.

It's useful.

Come on.

Drop the supermarket bag in, squeeze through the gap, ease down, feel for the ledge. This is tough. I'm bigger than I was last time I wriggled in here, and I got pockets bulging too. But here's the ledge under my feet.

I'm in.

Sit down on the hard rock, breathe, wait.

Darkness, darkness.

Wait, keep waiting, let it settle. It does, slow. And now I'm seeing it again. The little closed space. Tiny gap above where we slipped in, chilly chamber below, where we are now. Dead rat in the corner. Cans and bottles and syringes that nebs have dropped through the gap over the years.

And that's it.

Only it's not. Cos there's more.

And this is what the old duff really wanted to show me. But to show you, Bigeyes, we got to crawl. Over there, far end, where the top of the rock pushes down. Going to be a scrape. So you better close your eyes if you freak out in confined spaces.

Slow, slow, nice and slow. Worth it to be safe. And right now there's few places we can call safe. Specially in the Beast with grinks and porkers spilling close. And they will be, Bigeyes. Trust me.

They'll be buzzing this area by now.

Only risk here is if they send dogs.

Let's just hope they don't.

End of the chamber, stop where the rock comes down. Now check it cute, Bigeyes. I know it's hard in the dark, but look it over good. It's not the wall, see? It's an overhang. It looks like it's the end of the wall but it's not. Cos the darkness distorts it.

The rock comes down almost to the level of the floor but there another gap at the bottom. And you can squeeze under that too. If you do it right.

Push the supermarket bag ahead of me, breathe in, flat on the floor, pull myself under. Never liked this bit. And it was easier when I was smaller. But it's not just about size. It's about how you do it. Half-way through now, bit further, bit further, done. Pull myself out the other side.

And now look.

Another chamber. And a tunnel heading down.

Into the dark.

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