The Set Up

by Sophie McKenzie

  ‘You know, Ed had a point back there,’ he whispered. ‘Why use us for such a simple mission?’

  I stared at him. ‘Well, for one thing, you just got us in here without anyone noticing. I’m not sure the police could have done that.’

  ‘Okay, so my telekinesis is helpful,’ Nico said, ‘and I suppose Dylan and Ed offer different kinds of protection . . .’

  ‘. . . but there’s no point me being here?’ I asked, stung.

  ‘No.’ Nico rolled his eyes. ‘No, I didn’t mean that . . . I just meant none of our abilities are crucial.’

  ‘Right.’ I bit my lip. Whether he meant to or not, Nico had touched a nerve. The other three all had practical, useful abilities that they were in control of. My visions seemed vague and a bit useless by comparison.

  Nico opened his mouth to say more, but we were at the top of the stairs. The men’s changing rooms were straight ahead. As we watched, a middle-aged man came through the door and jogged past us down the stairs.

  ‘Ready?’ Dylan’s green eyes glinted with excitement. She gave a quick look round to make sure no-one was watching, then took the NOT IN USE sign Geri had given us from her bag and hung it over the men’s changing room door.

  Nico disappeared inside the changing room. The plan was for him to wait until everyone inside the room had left, then fetch me to help search the locker, while Dylan kept watch outside. Of course Ed was supposed to be helping too. I wondered if he was okay, waiting for us on the street.

  Dylan and I stood silently outside the changing room, waiting for Nico to reappear. Dylan examined her nails. They were perfectly manicured – and painted a pale shade of grey to match her soft wool jumper.

  ‘I tried going to a gym once,’ I said, to break the silence. ‘But I prefer running outdoors.’ I didn’t really expect Dylan to understand. Most people our age don’t, but running’s my thing. It keeps me going when life gets tough.

  Dylan glanced at me, swishing her long, dark red hair over her shoulder.

  ‘How interesting,’ she said, in a voice that sounded anything but interested.

  Cow.

  Dylan yawned, as two youngish guys came out of the changing room, sports bags slung over their shoulders, and trotted towards the stairs.

  ‘Bored, Dylan?’ I said, unable to keep a note of irritation out of my voice. I could handle the fact that Dylan was beautiful, with legs that went up to her elbows, but why did she have to act so superior?

  ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘It’s kind of a lame mission, isn’t it? I mean, Geri’s seen us handle a lot more pressure than this.’

  ‘That’s what Ed was saying when you got cross with him outside.’

  ‘That was an excuse,’ Dylan sneered. ‘Ed’s just scared of getting caught.’

  ‘Maybe Geri wants to break us in gently with an easy-ish mission,’ I said, ignoring this dig at Ed. ‘Maybe she’s trying to win our trust. Show us she cares.’

  Dylan snorted softly under her breath as another man left the changing room.

  Irritated, I went on. ‘She got my brother a job, for God’s sake. She can’t . . .’

  ‘Come on.’ It was Nico, peering round the changing room door. ‘Everyone’s gone.’ He disappeared back inside.

  ‘Go,’ Dylan said, urgently. ‘I’ll make sure no one comes in.’

  I slipped inside the changing room and followed Nico across the tiled floor.

  ‘I’ve found 333.’ Nico pointed to a locker a few doors along from the end of the nearest row.

  ‘Can you open it?’ My heart beat faster. So far the mission had just seemed like a bit of a laugh. But now we were about to search someone’s private property . . .

  ‘Already did, babe.’ Nico grinned. ‘It was easy.’

  ‘Good.’ I rubbed my sweaty palms down my jeans. I knew Nico had been working hard at opening locks using his telekinesis for the past week or so and, though he’d never admit it, I’d sensed he’d been nervous about opening this one today. ‘Let’s look inside.’

  Nico pulled open the locker door. A suit hung neatly inside, a small backpack underneath. He dragged out the bag, then stood up. ‘This shouldn’t take long,’ he said. ‘Maybe afterwards we’ll get a few moments alone.’ He raised his eyebrows, his eyes all dark and laughing.

  I blushed, my heart racing. ‘Just get on with it,’ I said, not wanting him to see how badly I wanted those few moments alone too. Nico pulled the contents of the bag out and laid them on the ground between us. A dog-eared car magazine, a pair of clean boxer shorts, a handful of loose change, a bound report that looked official and a wallet.

  At that moment voices rose up from the changing room door.

  ‘But why is it out of order?’ a man was insisting. ‘All my stuff’s inside.’

  ‘They said the shower had flooded – they’re just clearing up now.’ Dylan was giving the excuse we’d all been primed with.

  Nico and I glanced at each other.

  ‘Hurry,’ I said, my heart thudding against my ribs.

  Nico grabbed the report. I opened the wallet. It was crammed with paper – mostly receipts, plus a few twenty pound notes. I struggled to remember what Geri had told us at yesterday’s briefing.

  ‘A few days ago the Ministry of Defence’s computer firewall was breached – the hacker had access to top secret and highly valuable information, but, as yet, we don’t know either what he managed to download or what he’s planning to do with it. Our only lead on the hacker is a digital recording device which we believe he is storing in a private locker. We have to retrieve that recorded evidence before we can move against the hacker.’

  That was what we were looking for now – the recorded evidence.

  ‘There’s nothing here.’ Nico threw down the report. ‘And you know what else has just occurred to me? Why would a Ministry of Defence hacker with a secret recording leave it in a gym locker? Wouldn’t he hide it somewhere safer?’

  I shrugged, and pulled a couple of bank cards out of the wallet. ‘Nothing here either.’ I stopped, as the name on the bank card caught my eye. A. Wilshere.

  Wilshere was my surname. And ‘A’ was my brother’s initial. ‘A’ for Alexander, though everyone called him Lex.

  That was a bit of a coincidence, wasn’t it?

  ‘Come on, Ketty, let’s go.’

  Hands trembling, I fished out another card from the wallet. This one was a gym membership card, with a picture of the card holder on the front. I stared at the face on the card, hardly able to take in what I was seeing. It wasn’t possible. But there it was. There he was. Lex – Alexander – my brother.

  This was his card. His bag. His locker.

  ‘Give me that.’ Nico was busily stuffing the report and other items back into the backpack. He picked up the wallet and held out his hand for the gym membership card. Hardly able to focus, I handed it over.

  ‘You okay, Ketts?’ Nico gazed anxiously at me as he shoved the card into the wallet.

  ‘Sure.’ My voice cracked as I spoke. How could this be Lex’s locker? Did that mean he was the Ministry of Defence hacker? I stood up, feeling sick, my legs shaking.

  ‘Ketty?’ Nico’s voice sounded muffled and distant.

  I took a step forwards, but I could barely see. Lights flashed in front of my eyes and a sweet, sickly perfumed smell filled the air. It was happening again. A vision. I froze, powerless to stop it.

  Rain. Stone. Leaves and ivy. Rain on my face. I peer out from behind stone. My brother, Lex, is holding a small digital recorder. A splash of rain on metal. He hands it to another man with angry grey eyes. The man says: ‘This the only copy?’ Lex says: ‘Yes.’ I shiver, watching . . . hiding . . . rain on my face . . .

  ‘Ketty.’ Nico’s anxious face zoomed into focus. ‘Man, what happened? You’re white as . . . Come on, we have to get out of here.’

  I stared at him, blankly, unable to take anything in. In the near distance I could hear Dylan arguing with another man outside the changing room door. Nico grabbed
my hand and pulled me, stumbling, to the door.

  My head spun with what I’d just seen – a vision of Lex handing over the recording device we’d been sent here to find. Which meant my brother – my wonderful older brother – must be the hacker Geri had briefed us about!

  And I was part of the crime-fighting force supposed to catch and stop him.