The Hostage

by Sophie McKenzie

  I staggered down after Nico and Ed. The whole funfair seemed more crowded than before. I couldn’t work out where I was or where we should go. Dylan was racing ahead. My legs shook as I tried to follow her. I’d had jelly legs before, but only after pushing myself really hard in a long run. This was different, this was from the shock, my whole body trembling.

  Keeping Nico and Ed in my sights I stumbled on. The crowd was thinner now. My legs grew more used to carrying me. I ran faster. Past the boys. We emerged into a small field surrounded on three sides by trees.

  A roar in my ear. Foster came from nowhere. He leaped in front of me, hand outstretched. He grabbed at my hair but in the split second it took him to lunge forward, Dylan was there, thrusting her own arm between me and Foster. His hand punched into hers but lost its force as it made contact. Just a gentle tap.

  Dylan grinned. Foster stared at her, shocked.

  Nico gave an angry yell. He focused for a second . . . lifted his hand . . . Foster went flying backward, landing on his side in the mud.

  Nico stared at him, panting.

  I looked round. No one else was here. No one was watching us.

  Dylan hooked Ed’s limp arm over her shoulder. ‘I got you,’ she said.

  Foster struggled up.

  Nico raised his hand again. ‘You bastard,’ he hissed.

  Foster’s head fell back into the mud.

  ‘Come on.’ I found my voice at last. The others all looked at me. I pointed to the nearby line of trees.

  ‘In there,’ I said. ‘Run.’

  21: Mixed messages

  Several long seconds later we reached the cover of the trees. I looked back. Foster was struggling to his feet, wiping mud from his face. A family wandered past, the mother pulling her children out of his way.

  Foster looked round. But the light was almost gone now and we were well hidden by the trees.

  ‘He hasn’t seen us,’ Dylan said.

  ‘Ketty?’ Nico’s anxious voice made me turn.

  He was standing over Ed who was kneeling amid twigs and grass and fallen leaves, rocking to and fro.

  ‘What’s the matter with him?’ Nico asked.

  I ran over and knelt beside Ed. He was moaning, whitefaced and clutching his stomach. ‘Ed?’ I stroked his back. ‘Ed, what is it?’

  For answer, Ed leaned forward and vomited on the leaves.

  ‘Eeew.’ Dylan sounded disgusted.

  I glared at her. ‘It’s okay, Ed,’ I whispered. ‘It’s over.’

  He was shaking uncontrollably now, his breath coming out in ragged gasps.

  ‘We need to keep moving.’ Nico knelt on Ed’s other side. ‘Can you walk?’

  Ed nodded, then he sat back on his heels and blew out his breath, clearly trying to calm himself.

  ‘Sorry.’ He turned to me, his face burning with humiliation. ‘Sorry I was sick.’

  ‘Don’t be silly.’ I rubbed his back again.

  ‘We really need to go.’ Nico hauled Ed to his feet.

  Ed took a couple of deep breaths.

  ‘Foster is heading this way,’ Dylan announced from the trees at the edge of the wood.

  ‘Come on.’ Nico grabbed Ed’s arm and led him deeper into the wood. As we walked, Ed’s shaking subsided. Some colour returned to his face. We came out onto the main road. A bus was pulling up at a nearby stop.

  ‘We should get on that,’ Dylan said. ‘Just to get away from here.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Nico agreed. ‘Get away then work out what to do next.’

  I glanced at Ed. He was walking properly now. Almost back to normal, except for the dark rings under his eyes and the haunted look inside them.

  We leaped on board and made our way upstairs. The bus was fairly empty, just another group of teenagers playing music loudly at the back. I pushed Ed into the front seat and sat beside him. Nico and Dylan slid into the seat behind.

  No one spoke for a moment, then I leaned over and rubbed Ed’s arm.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I know this is difficult but can you tell us what happened? Did you find out where Lex is?’

  ‘What about the Rainbow bomb?’ Dylan added.

  ‘It was hard.’ Ed hesitated. ‘He fought me. Foster. Every step of the way . . .’

  I stared at him. ‘What d’you mean?’

  ‘Well, normally when I go into people’s heads they can’t . . . they don’t seem to be able to stop me. I mean, I can hold myself back . . . simply look at the thoughts they want me to see . . . but if I want to, I can get into any part of their mind that I like.’ He shivered.

  ‘So how was it different with Foster?’ I asked.

  Ed swallowed. ‘He tried to block me. I mean I got through some of it, but it was like . . . like . . . well, think of the hardest thing you can imagine doing, mentally, like maybe trying to remember some complicated sequence of numbers while someone’s shouting a load of other numbers in your ear . . . it was like that. I had to concentrate so hard to see anything it was making me feel ill and then . . . and then . . .’ his mouth wobbled, ‘I felt him remembering being beaten as a child, by his dad, I think, and this other boy, his brother, was screaming at the dad to stop but the dad was out of control and he was whacking Foster around the head with his fists and all I could feel was Foster being terrified . . .’ He stopped, clutching his stomach again.

  I glanced at Nico and Dylan. They both looked shocked. With a jolt I realised that their abilities were entirely on the outside, purely physical. They had no idea about what Ed and I went through when we saw something in our heads.

  ‘That sounds horrible,’ I said, gently. ‘What happened next?’

  ‘Once he knew I could feel that memory, he went berserk. I mean, inside his head he was screaming and yelling at me. The worst things I’ve ever heard in my life. How he was going to kill me . . . torture me . . .’ Ed let out a shaky breath. ‘And I tried pushing past it to find out what he knew about Lex and the Rainbow bomb, but all I could see was this one thought. He was trying to hide it but it was too strong. It’s Rick. He kept thinking it over and over. Rick. Rick.’

  ‘Who’s Rick?’ Dylan asked.

  ‘Foster’s brother – the one he wants released from jail,’ Ed said.

  ‘And the reason why Foster stole the bomb and is doing all this,’ I added.

  ‘So after a bit I managed to see a few more things and then Foster blocked everything again,’ Ed went on, ‘and all I could hear was what he would do to me once I wasn’t holding him inside his head any more. And that’s when I realised . . . it wasn’t just me holding him . . . He was holding me too . . . trapping me . . . stopping me from controlling the connection. And I panicked. That’s never happened to me before. I’ve always been able to break the connection whenever I wanted . . .’

  ‘And you did in the end,’ I reminded him. ‘You did break away.’

  Ed nodded.

  ‘So did you see where Ketty’s brother is being kept?’ Nico asked.

  Ed nodded again. My heart leaped.

  ‘An empty building in King’s Cross. Up from the station on the right side. Near the canal. I didn’t get an exact address but there’s a pub next door that Foster couldn’t hide the name of – the Dog and Duck.’

  ‘And what about the Rainbow bomb?’ Dylan insisted.

  ‘No.’ Ed shook his head. ‘Foster was blocking that really hard. I’ve got no idea.’

  Dylan sat back, clearly frustrated.

  I peered outside the bus window, my heart racing. We were approaching Hampstead tube. It was only a few stops from here down to King’s Cross. I stood up.

  ‘I’m going after Lex,’ I said.

  ‘No.’ Nico stood up too, his expression fierce. ‘We‘re going after Lex,’ he said. ‘All of us, right?’ He looked at Ed.

  ‘Of course.’ Ed struggled to his feet.

  ‘All for one . . .’ Dylan drawled sarcastically. But she stood up too.

  I gazed round at them. ‘You don’t have—’

&nb
sp; ‘Will you get off the freakin’ bus, Ketty.’ Nico rolled his eyes. ‘Move.’

  We walked out of King’s Cross station and headed up York Way, the road to the right of the main terminal. A million thoughts swirled inside my head. Once we found the building, how were we going to get Lex out? Would anyone else be there, like guards, or Foster himself? I was worried for Lex and for the other three, especially Ed. He was walking on ahead, hands shoved in his pockets. Foster’s memories must have been really bad to have made him actually vomit.

  We moved into single file as we passed under some scaffolding. I caught up with Dylan as we re-emerged. I’d completely lost track of time, but it was dark now . . . the street lamps casting gloomy shadows across our path.

  ‘D’you think Ed’s okay?’ I said.

  Dylan glanced at him. ‘No, but he will be.’ She sighed. ‘He’s tougher than you think.’

  I wasn’t sure that was true, but I let it slide.

  ‘Thanks for doing this,’ I said.

  Dylan shot me a sideways look. ‘He’s your brother,’ she said, as if that explained everything.

  It struck me how little I knew about her.

  ‘Do you have one?’ I asked, feeling slightly awkward. ‘A brother, I mean?’

  Dylan shook her head. ‘I’ve got two cousins in America. Paige is totally toxic, but Tod . . . we weren’t real close but I get on with him better than anyone else in my family . . . he’s five years older than me.’

  ‘Just like me and Lex.’

  Dylan nodded. ‘Not that I’d do all this for Tod.’ She paused. ‘There’s nobody I’d do this for.’

  We walked on. Ed was pointing at some buildings up ahead. I guessed we must be close. My stomach twisted over.

  I looked at Dylan again. Her perfectly oval face was lit by the street lamp we were passing. ‘But you are doing this – helping, I mean . . .’ I hesitated. ‘You’re doing this for us. For the four of us . . . aren’t you?’

  For a second a look of vulnerability flickered across Dylan’s face, then her expression grew hard and still.

  ‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ she snarled. ‘There just wasn’t anything good to watch on TV tonight.’

  ‘Dylan? Ketty?’ Nico beckoned us forward. He indicated the pub at the end of the row of houses ahead. ‘The Dog and Duck. Ed reckons the place Lex is being kept is two doors down – the one with the blue door.’

  Forgetting Dylan, I studied the house. It was a terrace on three storeys with a separate basement entrance. Ed pointed down to a hefty front door at the bottom of a short flight of iron steps. ‘He’s in there.’

  ‘Okay, here’s the plan,’ Nico said. ‘Dylan and I break in and find Lex. Ed and Ketty stay outside by the basement front door, ready to call us if anyone approaches.’

  ‘What? Why do I have to wait outside?’ I complained.

  ‘Because it could be dangerous . . . we don’t know who else is in there apart from Lex.’

  ‘But I can help. I can look after my—’

  ‘Not if you have a vision,’ Dylan said. ‘Who’s going to look after you if you go into one of those weird trances of yours.’

  I stared at her.

  ‘She’s right, Ketty.’ Nico touched my cheek. ‘We’ll all be safer if you wait outside.’

  I bit my lip. ‘Okay,’ I agreed.

  We crept down the iron stairs. The basement looked deserted. The only room visible from outside was dark and empty. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling. Nico examined the bars on the window.

  ‘No way of getting through them.’ He turned his attention to the door, running his hands down the side. ‘A Chubb and two Yales.’ He stood back, focusing on the locks. ‘We’ll be okay so long as there isn’t a London bar reinforcing the door frame.’

  I glanced back up to the street as Nico worked on each lock in turn. Ed paced up and down.

  The first lock clicked open. My heart thumped. The second and third followed. Nico grabbed the handle of the door and pushed. It swung open into silence.

  ‘Come on.’ He beckoned Dylan.

  They disappeared inside.

  I waited, my throat dry. Seconds later they were back.

  ‘He’s not there,’ Dylan said.

  ‘But we found some rope and a tray with old food on it,’ Nico added.

  ‘And we found this.’ Dylan held up a faded jacket. ‘Do you recognise it?’

  ‘Yes.’ It was the jacket Lex had been wearing at the Rufus Stone and in Highgate Cemetery. My throat tightened. ‘It’s his.’

  Nico shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Ketts.’ He put his arm round my shoulders. ‘Foster must have got here before we did. Taken him away.’ He hugged me. ‘It doesn’t mean anything. Lex could still be okay.’

  I shook my head as the full weight of the discovery pressed down on me. The plan hadn’t worked. We hadn’t been able to move fast enough. And, worst of all, Foster knew I’d tried to trick him. He was angry. Maybe angry enough to kill Lex in revenge. My heart pounded again, the fear overwhelming me

  I pressed my face into Lex’s jacket, sniffing in his smell of motorbike oil and woody aftershave. I need to see Lex, I said to myself. I need to see where he is. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. Please let me see.

  Without warning, in a single flash of light, the vision erupted in front of my eyes.

  I’m back in the dark corridor, panting for breath. There’s the door. I push it open. There he is. Lex. Gagged. Chained to a radiator. Terrified. I pull off the gag. Stare at his face. I know there’s something I have to ask him.’ What’s the day,’ I say. ‘What?’ Lex’s eyes are wild. ‘Listen, Ket—’

  ‘Tell me the day and time.’ I say. I look round. There’s a stool in the corner. A piano. I know this room. Lex frowns. ‘It’s Thursday, late evening . . . I’ve got no idea what time . . . Listen, there’s a bomb—’ ‘I know. Where’s Foster?’ I say. ‘He wasn’t here. Soames brought me here. Listen, Ketty. There’s a bomb.’

  I jerked out of the vision, but not into full consciousness. Like a drowning swimmer clawing for the surface, I gasped for breath.

  ‘Oh no, oh no, oh no.’ I could hear my voice moaning but it sounded like it was coming from far away. ‘Is it Thursday . . . Thursday?’

  Nico was holding me up, his voice muffled and frantic. ‘Ketty? Ketty?’

  ‘What’s happened to her?’ Ed in the distance.

  ‘Give her some air.’ Dylan’s voice sounded closer.

  I snapped out of it, taking my own weight, heaving myself up, out of Nico’s arms. ‘Is it Thursday?’ I demanded.

  ‘Yes, Ketty, Jesus,’ Nico shook my shoulders. I could feel his fear radiating through my whole body. ‘What the hell happened?’

  ‘I brought on a vision,’ I said, still panting. ‘I made myself see him . . . Lex . . . where he’ll be later tonight.’

  ‘Wow.’ Nico’s eyes widened.

  ‘He was chained up,’ I went on. ‘He couldn’t get away. He was trying to tell me about the Rainbow bomb.’

  Silence. The others stared at me.

  ‘So where’s he going to be tonight?’ Dylan asked.

  I blinked, pulling fully away from Nico. I looked round at them all, still hardly able to believe what I’d seen.

  ‘The music room in the basement at Fox Academy.’

  22: Finding Lex

  ‘Your brother is being taken to our school?’ Nico stared at me. ‘How’s Foster going to get him there?’

  ‘And why?’ Dylan put her hands on her hips.

  ‘Foster isn’t taking Lex himself,’ I said. ‘Soames is.’

  ‘Who?’ Ed asked.

  I swallowed, my heart still racing. Soames was the man Foster had telephoned while we were at Highgate Cemetery . . . the man Foster had ordered to find the others after they’d taken the flash drive from the office car park hut.

  Shoot the little bastards on sight . . . Foster’s order echoed in my ears.

  ‘Soames works for Foster.’ I looked at Nico. ‘He’
s dangerous. Violent. We have to get back to school before he arrives with Lex.’

  ‘But why would he take Lex to our school?’ Dylan persisted.

  Ignoring her, Ed’s eyes widened. ‘Suppose they’re already there? Someone at school might have been hurt.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘In the vision, Lex said it was late evening.’

  ‘But they could be on their way.’ Nico’s face blanched. I knew he was thinking about his stepdad. ‘Suppose Lex makes a noise and somebody at school sees them? Soames might lash out and—’

  ‘No.’ I shook my head. ‘I’ve seen Lex. He’s going to be chained up and, anyway, the music room’s soundproofed. You can get in by that fire door at the top of the stairs. No-one’s ever there in the evenings.’

  ‘Why don’t we phone Geri?’ Ed rubbed his forehead. ‘If Lex is there, she can go down and get him. If he hasn’t arrived yet, she can evacuate the school and keep a lookout for him and Soames.’

  ‘Yes.’ Nico nodded. ‘Maybe Soames will know where Foster and the Rainbow bomb are too.’

  I hesitated. Geri still thought Lex was hiding out in France. Telling her he was Foster’s prisoner would mean revealing I had lied to her. On the other hand, it sounded like Soames was going to leave Lex on his own – which meant he was safe. And Foster was still in possession of the Rainbow bomb. Maybe Soames really did know where it was going to go off.

  ‘I still don’t see why Foster would order Lex to be taken to our school and chained up in a music room,’ Dylan said.

  Nico pulled out his phone. He handed it to me.

  ‘Call Geri,’ he said. ‘That emergency number she gave us is programmed in under her name.’

  I looked at him. There wasn’t any choice.

  Geri answered after three rings. ‘What’s wrong, dear?’ She sounded distracted.

  ‘I’ve had another vision,’ I explained. ‘I know where my brother is.’

  ‘I thought he was with friends in France?’

  ‘Er . . . no . . . I’ve . . . er . . . Foster has kidnapped him,’ I said.

  ‘You saw this in a vision?’ Geri didn’t sound convinced. ‘Do you think this one is more reliable than your precognition over the hospitals?’