The Deadly Dare Mysteries

by Malorie Blackman

  Angela nodded, relieved. Theo wriggled his ankle again. It didn’t feel too bad now. He could only hope that it would last out until Ricky was safe. Theo glanced at Angela. If it came down to a choice between saving her brother or saving Ricky, which one would she choose? Theo slowly shook his head. No contest …

  ‘Let’s go. We don’t have much time,’ Angela said.

  ‘Lead the way,’ Theo replied. ‘I’m right behind you.’

  Where you can’t stab me in the back! Theo kept that bit to himself.

  As they walked up the stairs, Theo wondered out loud, ‘I wonder what they intend to do at the museum?’

  He turned to Angela. The light of realization was on her face too.

  ‘The Greek and Roman jewellery collection … Of course.’

  There was meant to be a school trip to the Irving Museum on Friday but if Robbie and his friends got their way, there would be nothing left to see!

  ‘I don’t understand. That collection must be guarded night and day. How do they hope to get away with it?’ Theo asked.

  ‘They’ve got someone on the inside working for them,’ Angela admitted.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The security guard. My brother Tom is a security guard there …’

  Theo stared in amazement. Talk about setting a wolf to watch the sheep!

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t like this – not one little bit. This is getting more and more dangerous, Angela. We should phone the police.’

  ‘When we’ve got Ricky and my brother out of there. We can’t call them until then,’ Angela insisted.

  ‘We should phone them now. We might not get another chance,’ Theo replied.

  ‘What d’you mean?’

  ‘Robbie had a gun – I saw it. For all we know, your brother and that other guy Dylan could have guns as well. Someone could end up hurt – or killed.’

  ‘Tom won’t let that happen,’ Angela said firmly.

  There it was again – that total faith in her brother. She just couldn’t bear to hear anything said against Tom. It was as if Theo’s words entered her ears but couldn’t get to her brain. Theo gritted his teeth with frustration. It was decision time.

  ‘Sorry, Angela, but I think it’s best to call the police. Tom and the others are all in the one place now. The police can handle it from here.’

  ‘You can’t do that …’

  ‘I’ve got no choice.’ Theo turned to walk away.

  ‘If you go to the police, I’ll phone my brother on his mobile and warn him that the police are coming,’ Angela called after him. ‘Tom, Ricky and the others will be long gone by the time the police get there.’

  Stunned, Theo turned back to Angela. ‘You’d do that?’ he whispered.

  ‘If you don’t leave me any choice – yes,’ Angela said through thinned lips.

  ‘Well, now we both know where we stand, don’t we?’ Theo said quietly.

  ‘Yes, we do.’

  Silence.

  ‘All right, we’ll play it your way. But I’m warning you, Angela. I’ll go to the museum with you but that’s it. If anything goes wrong, if we don’t get Ricky out, I’m going to call the police and nothing you can say will stop me,’ Theo said.

  Angela frowned at him.

  ‘I mean it,’ Theo said, his voice quiet.

  ‘OK. OK.’ Angela nodded reluctantly. ‘What about Scott?’

  ‘What about him?’ Theo dismissed. ‘As soon as we get Ricky, we’ll phone the police and tell them where to find him.’

  They left the warehouse by the front gate and set off.

  ‘How do we get into the museum?’ Theo asked.

  His ankle was making him limp slightly but the pain was bearable.

  ‘The same way Tom and the others will – using the delivery entrance.’

  At Theo’s thoughtful look Angela added reluctantly, ‘I heard Scott talking about it when I climbed down from my bedroom.’

  ‘I see,’ said Theo. ‘And how’re you going to get your brother out of there without alerting the others?’

  ‘You leave that to me,’ Angela replied.

  ‘OK then. Tell me how we get Ricky out of there when we know that at least Robbie has a gun?’ said Theo.

  Angela frowned. ‘That’s a bit more tricky. But we’ll think of something!’

  ‘I’m glad you think so,’ sniffed Theo.

  Fifteen minutes later they both stood before the Irving Museum. The evening was still light and bright with hardly a cloud in the sky. Theo looked around. Unlike around the warehouse there were quite a few people milling about. He turned back to the museum. The Irving was the biggest museum in the town. Mrs Daltry always saw to it that her class visited the museum at least once a year. Theo didn’t think it was too bad. There were always plenty of experiments that you could do for yourself – always plenty of buttons to press, and levers to pull and plenty of gadgets to put together. And the exhibition of Greek and Roman jewellery was one of the biggest exhibitions the Irving had ever staged. What had Mrs Daltry called the collection? Priceless?

  How did Robbie and the rest plan to rob the museum? Theo would’ve thought there’d be more than just one security guard looking after all that priceless ancient jewellery. He’d leave it to the police to figure out how Robbie and the others planned to do it. Right now, all he was concerned about was Ricky.

  Angela glanced at her watch. ‘It’s past seven. The museum has been shut for over an hour.’

  ‘D’you think they’re in there?’

  ‘They must be. They’re probably wondering what happened to Scott,’ Angela replied.

  Theo looked up at the imposing building with its high colonnades and its huge double-doored entrance. It would’ve been so wonderful to have X-ray vision. Theo didn’t really fancy blundering into the museum and getting caught before he’d even taken two steps. What were Robbie and Dylan and Tom doing at that precise moment?

  ‘This way,’ Angela said, whispering even though they were several metres away from the museum.

  Without a word, Theo followed her. Angela veered off to the right and turned the corner to walk down the side of the building.

  ‘D’you know where you’re going?’ Theo asked.

  Angela looked back at him and sheepishly shook her head. ‘Not exactly.’

  ‘That’s what I thought!’ said Theo, ruefully.

  ‘The delivery entrance must be around here somewhere,’ Angela mused.

  They walked all the way around the building, which occupied the entire block. There were plenty of doors around the block which looked likely but there was only one problem – they were all locked.

  ‘You’re sure …’

  ‘Yes,’ Angela snapped before Theo could get any further. ‘Listen, I know you don’t trust me and I suppose in your shoes I wouldn’t trust me either! But I told you the truth. Tom was going to enter the museum as normal and then open the delivery door for them. That’s all I know.’

  ‘Why can’t the others go through the same entrance as Tom?’ asked Theo.

  ‘Because all the ways into the museum – except the delivery entrance – have close-circuit TV cameras monitoring them. Everyone who enters or leaves the building is taped,’ Angela explained.

  ‘So where is this delivery entrance?’

  Angela looked up and down the main street, perplexed. ‘Wait a minute … Across the street … I remember now. I overheard Dylan say something about a long corridor in the basement leading to the ground floor. He was complaining that he only had thirty seconds to run one hundred metres, deactivate some special alarm and knock out the close-circuit monitors before all the bells went off. Tom couldn’t do that bit for some reason. It needs an electronics expert.’

  ‘One hundred metres? But that’s well into the next block on every side,’ Theo pointed out.

  ‘The delivery door must be in one of the other blocks then,’ said Angela.

  ‘We’ll be here all night,’ Theo complained. ‘And suppose we still can’t
find the entrance?’

  ‘I’m all ears if you’ve got any better suggestions,’ Angela frowned.

  ‘All right. Let’s try that block first,’ said Theo, pointing to the next block across the street on the right.

  Theo and Angela crossed over the road and started looking.

  ‘I would’ve thought the delivery entrance would be quite big,’ Theo thought out loud.

  ‘Maybe. But don’t forget the front doors are huge as well.’

  ‘Even so.’

  They examined every door they passed, particularly those that weren’t attached to shops. Turning first one corner, then another, then the last one in the block, it looked like they were going to be unsuccessful until Theo spotted a huge set of doors with no number on them and no shops on either side.

  ‘Angela, look,’ Theo pointed.

  They both ran up to the doors and studied them. The doors were high and made of wood painted black, with a huge door knob on each. There was no bell or knocker on or beside them. Nothing which indicated how you got someone on the inside to open them.

  ‘What d’you think?’ Theo asked.

  Angela shrugged. ‘Could be …’

  They looked at each other.

  ‘Go on then,’ urged Angela.

  ‘Last chance to call the police?’ Theo tried.

  ‘No,’ Angela replied vehemently.

  Slowly, Theo stretched out his hand towards the doors. That hot, queasy, uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach was back.

  ‘Oh, let me,’ Angela said impatiently.

  She pushed at one of the double doors as hard as she could, then the other. Nothing happened. Angela tried harder, groaning at the effort. Still nothing.

  ‘It’s no good.’ She straightened up, panting. ‘The doors won’t budge. We’ll have to think of something else.’

  Theo frowned stubbornly. He wasn’t going to turn back now. No way. He looked up and down the huge double doors, then at the door knobs. Stretching out his hand, he grasped one door knob and pulled it towards him. The door opened easily and silently. Theo turned to look at Angela, his eyebrows raised.

  ‘OK! OK! Don’t rub it in!’ said Angela.

  Theo looked past the doors. The darkness inside spilled out onto the pavement. He took a tentative step forward. There was a lift and some stairs but that was it. No corridors, no rooms, nothing else.

  ‘This must be it,’ Theo said doubtfully.

  He stepped inside. It was immediately cooler and quieter. In the space of a couple of steps, the traffic noises outside all but disappeared, even though the door was still partially opened.

  ‘Well? Aren’t you coming?’ Theo asked Angela.

  With extreme reluctance, Angela followed Theo inside. As the door swung shut, Theo said quickly, ‘Don’t let it slam.’

  Angela caught the door just in time. A centimetre at a time, she let it close with a faint click. Theo and Angela walked over to the lift. Angela reached out to press the button when Theo caught her hand.

  ‘No,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I think we should take the stairs. Someone might hear the lift moving. We don’t want anyone to know we’re here.’

  As there was a staircase leading down to basement level and no other staircase leading up beyond the ground floor, Theo and Angela walked down the steps side by side. The stairs were grouped in sets of ten before they levelled off and started down again.

  ‘I can’t hear anything,’ Angela whispered.

  ‘Neither can I.’

  After Theo and Angela had walked down for at least a minute, the stairs finally stopped. They were in some kind of storage area. Mummy cases, display cases, odd bits of PCs, a cross section of a small plane leaning against a high wall, a strange looking engine, a two-metre-high model of an eye – as Theo looked around he felt like Ali Baba in a cave of bizarre treasures. Assorted items were scattered here, there and everywhere but with a definite gap leading through them, forming a corridor.

  ‘At least we know we’re in the right place,’ Theo whispered. ‘This is a lot more interesting than the museum itself.’

  ‘Come on,’ Angela beckoned. ‘The museum must be that way.’

  Weaving their way through the strange items, Theo and Angela made their way along the corridor. Theo looked around this way and that, keeping his eyes and ears as wide open as possible. He wanted to find Ricky, not any of the others. Angela’s brother Tom was robbing the museum along with the rest of his gang and as far as Theo was concerned, that made him just as dangerous.

  ‘We must be underneath the street,’ said Angela, looking up.

  Theo looked up and listened. He couldn’t hear a thing, even though there had to be traffic roaring over them. They carried on walking to the far end of the corridor. There was another lift and another set of stairs. The echo of a distant, rhythmic knocking filled the air. Theo put his fingers over his lips and pointed to the stairs. Angela nodded. They both crept up the concrete stairs on tiptoe, their steps slowing the further up the staircase they got. The knocking grew louder and louder.

  Theo was scared. He admitted it to himself and felt strangely better for it. He was close to Ricky – he could feel it, and he was scared.

  At the top of the staircase, there was another lift entrance and a set of double doors. They tiptoed over to the doors. Theo listened hard, then pushed one open very, very slowly. He peeked out, then carefully let it shut again.

  ‘We’re on the ground floor of the museum,’ he whispered. ‘Where’s the Astral Collection being held? Which floor?’

  ‘No idea. Ask me another,’ Angela whispered back.

  ‘Not including Scott back at the warehouse, there’s two of them, plus your brother, plus Ricky – so we’ll have to be very careful and fifteen-sixteenths,’ Theo said. ‘There might be other guards in the museum working with them for all we know.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Well, we can’t take any chances.’

  ‘Should we split up?’ Angela asked.

  Theo looked at her. ‘I don’t think so. I think it’d be safer if we stuck together.’

  Angela regarded him steadily. ‘You don’t trust me at all, do you? What d’you think I’m going to do? Run off and warn them.’

  ‘I never said that.’

  ‘But that’s what you meant …’

  ‘Can we discuss this once we’ve got Ricky out of here?’ Theo asked, exasperated.

  ‘Ricky and my brother,’ Angela reminded him.

  ‘Hhmm!’ was all Theo said.

  He listened at the door again, then pushed it open a fraction to peep outside again. Nodding to Angela, he crept out as if he was walking through a graveyard at night. Angela quickly followed him. They ducked down behind the nearest display case and listened. Theo tried to focus in on the knocking sound which echoed almost eerily all around them. It was definitely coming from somewhere on the ground floor but the museum was filled with ante-rooms and alcoves leading off the main hall which could disguise where the noise was really coming from.

  ‘Think!’ Theo muttered sternly.

  He’d been to the museum before on many occasions – so think! The Astral Collection … Where would they put a big, important display like that? Of course! The Irving Room. Where else? Whenever the museum put on an important exhibition like – what had it been last year? – The Chinese Terracotta Army – then they always put it in the Irving Room towards the back of the museum.

  ‘This way,’ Theo whispered.

  ‘Where’re we going?’ asked Angela, anxiously.

  ‘The Irving Room.’

  Theo didn’t give Angela a chance to ask any more. He didn’t want to stop or slow down for too long. That gave him too much opportunity to ask himself just what on earth he thought he was doing! Theo made his way towards the back of the museum. Behind him, Angela made scuffling noises as she followed him. Theo turned his head to glare at her.

  ‘Sorry!’ Angela mouthed.

  They carried on moving,
scurrying from display case to display case until, from round the side of a case, Theo could see the entrance of the Irving Room only a couple of metres away. And that’s not all he could see.

  Ricky was there. He was sitting down outside the entrance to the Irving Room. He was tied up like a supermarket chicken, with his hands tied behind his back, his feet bound and a big piece of sticky plaster covering his mouth. But it was definitely Ricky.

  Excited, Theo opened his mouth to call out to him, only remembering where he was when he heard the loud knocking sound again. Then Theo really saw Ricky, really took in his appearance for the first time.

  Ricky looked terrible.

  There were streaks running down his face from his eyes which were red and sore. Ricky had been crying – a lot. His eyes were cast down and he looked so miserable and lonely and frightened that Theo felt anger rising up in him – and it was far stronger than the fear he felt.

  Cautiously, he raised his head above the display case and looked around. The main display hall where he and Angela were hiding seemed to be all clear but there was some definite activity in the Irving Room. Theo ducked back down behind the display case.

  ‘Wait here.’ Without giving Angela time to argue, Theo crept out from behind the display case and raced for the wall adjacent to the Irving Room where there was no cover. If one of the thieves came out now, he’d be caught for sure. Squatting down, Theo took another look around. He had to find some way of untying Ricky and getting him out of the museum without the others seeing. The problem was, Theo was on one side of the entrance to the Irving Room and Ricky was on the other.

  ‘Psssst! Psssst!’ Theo couldn’t risk saying it any louder in case he was overheard. ‘Pssssst!’

  Ricky looked up. His eyes widened with shock and surprise.

  ‘Umm … The … Ge …’ Ricky struggled to sit up, nodding in the direction of the Irving Room.

  Frantically, Theo shook his head, putting his finger over his lips.

  ‘The … ru …’ Ricky struggled harder against the ropes that bound his hands and feet.

  ‘I thought you tied that boy up and gagged him?’ said an angry voice.

  ‘I did,’ another man protested.