Hit Squad

by Sophie McKenzie

  ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘He got me to relax and focus on my breathing but that just helped bring what was already there to the surface. I mean, Bradley’s welcome to try doing the same thing, but I don’t see how it will work unless he’s already got the ability.’

  Foster looked at Bradley expectantly. Bradley chewed nervously on his lip. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing.

  A few seconds passed. Then he opened his eyes and shook his head. ‘What does it feel like?’

  ‘Like . . . like an energy coming from inside you, going out all around you,’ I said.

  ‘What about extending the protection to others?’ Foster snapped. ‘I know you learned to do that after the original ability developed.’

  ‘That’s true,’ I admitted. ‘But I couldn’t extend the force field until it existed in the first place.’

  Bradley closed his eyes. Another few moments passed. He shook his head.

  ‘I don’t have that skill at all,’ he said, looking embarrassed.

  Foster tutted. ‘Then Dylan will have to go on the job with you,’ he said.

  I exchanged an alarmed glance with Harry.

  ‘What job?’ I said.

  ‘What are you going to make her do?’ Harry spoke at the same time.

  Foster threw him a nasty smile. ‘Don’t worry, Harry, you’ll be with her. I’m sending you, Dylan and Bradley on the first hit squad mission.’

  Foster explained his plan. We were to travel by helicopter to a nearby city where one of the politicians who had blocked the release of Foster’s brother, Rick, from prison was attending an international conference.

  ‘I want you to get past the doors and guards, let yourself into the cloakroom where they leave coats and bags and laptops . . . and hack into his computer,’ Foster said. ‘Bradley will deal with the lock, but the security is down to you, Dylan. You’ll have to shield yourself and the others from the infra-red laser system that the conference building uses to secure its private meeting rooms.’

  ‘And I suppose you want me to hack into this politician’s laptop and steal information off his computer?’ Harry said angrily.

  ‘Not at all,’ Foster said. ‘I want you to plant information. False information that will make everyone think the man has taken bribes to reveal state secrets.’

  I opened my mouth but before I could speak, Foster had anticipated what I was going to say.

  ‘Ed and Nico stay here,’ he said. ‘So long as you do what you’re told, nothing will happen to them.’

  And that was that.

  We took off a couple of hours later. We were blindfolded for most of the journey – and it was impossible to talk properly over the sound of the helicopter engine, so I spent most of the ride wondering if there would be any chance to contact Fergus or Avery once we arrived . . . after all, a private room in a conference building would surely have a phone . . .

  We were bundled into a car straight after landing. About fifteen minutes later our car stopped and our blindfolds were removed. We were in a side road. There was some passing traffic, but it wasn’t busy. Foster was no longer with us, but Knife Man and another guard I hadn’t seen before were. Knife Man indicated the fire door to the building on our left.

  ‘In through there,’ he said. ‘Then you know what to do.’

  Harry nodded. He looked nervous. As for Bradley, he was shaking. I suddenly realised that of the three of us I was the only one with any kind of mission experience.

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ I snapped.

  We stood outside the door. I’m used to Nico unlocking stuff real fast now, but Bradley was taking ages. Harry drew me to one side. He glanced over at the men in the car. They were watching us intently, clearly under orders to make sure we got inside.

  Harry stood real close to me. ‘I was just thinking we should give Bradley a little space,’ he said softly.

  I gazed into his eyes. They’re a bright blue – like I said – and they really sparkle, which sounds like a crazy cliché but happens to be true.

  ‘I see you got a piercing since I saw you,’ Harry said, staring at the stud in my nose.

  My hand flew up to my face. Personally I think the tiny stud is gorgeous. I’ve had a few compliments on it – and a bit of teasing from Nico and Cal. Up until that moment I didn’t care what anyone thought. Suddenly I very much wanted Harry to like it.

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘It looks cool,’ he said.

  ‘Like I’m bothered what you think,’ I said. But I couldn’t help myself smiling.

  And I could tell Harry knew I was pleased because he smiled too.

  I glanced over at Bradley. He was still trying to open the fire door.

  ‘Any time this century, kiddo,’ I muttered.

  With a pop, the door opened. Bradley looked around at us triumphantly. ‘We’re in,’ he said.

  ‘Here goes.’ Harry blew out his breath.

  Suddenly I felt nervous too. Bradley’s telekinesis was not going to work under any kind of real pressure, I could see. And though Harry was an IT genius as far as I was concerned, he didn’t have any kind of special powers himself.

  Which meant the mission – and the fate of Nico and Ed back in Lovistov – was basically down to me.

  20: Mission Impossible

  The inside of the building was cool and dark and empty. We were standing at one end of a corridor. I glanced at Bradley. He was trying to look composed but his hands were still trembling.

  I shook my head. This was a freakin’ babysitting mission.

  Harry pointed towards the stairs at the other end of the corridor. ‘Up there,’ he whispered.

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘Stay behind me.’

  We crept along the corridor. I kept my arms extended and my force field engaged, protecting all three of us as we walked. We came to a red laser security beam.

  ‘Slowly, no sudden moves,’ I ordered.

  Harry and Bradley edged after me as I led them through the beam. My force field prevented the beam from sensing our presence. No problem. We reached the stairs. Voices and footsteps sounded from high above our heads. Bradley froze.

  ‘Shouldn’t we go back?’ he whispered. ‘Those people will see us.’

  ‘We’re only going up one storey, remember?’ I hissed. ‘Those voices are coming from further up the building.’

  ‘Okay,’ Bradley muttered.

  I glanced at Harry. He gave me a swift, determined nod. If he was scared, he wasn’t showing it.

  ‘Let’s go.’ Harry grinned. ‘This is cool.’

  I shook my head. Harry being overexcited was potentially as dangerous as Bradley being ultra-anxious.

  Up the stairs to the first-floor landing and through the second door on the left. So far so good. We hadn’t seen anyone and clearly no one suspected we were here.

  We were in another empty corridor. The door to the private set of rooms where we were headed was just a couple of metres away. It was marked Leindorf Suite. I took a deep breath. This was where Foster had directed us.

  ‘I don’t feel very well,’ Bradley said.

  I rolled my eyes. ‘Just stay close,’ I whispered.

  ‘Take a few deep breaths,’ Harry advised.

  I reached the door to the Leindorf Suite and tried the handle. It was locked.

  I stood back and gestured to Bradley. ‘Open it,’ I said. ‘Fast.’

  Bradley hesitated, then focused on the door. I watched him carefully. His forehead was pale and clammy-looking. It struck me that maybe the problem wasn’t nerves after all. Maybe he genuinely wasn’t well.

  Bradley twisted his hand to the side in a gesture that reminded me of those I’d seen Nico make so often. To my surprise the door clicked open at the first attempt. Bradley turned to face me and Harry, a huge smile on his face.

  ‘Good job,’ I whispered. ‘Now stay behind me.’

  I pushed the door open very slowly and peered round it, into the empty room beyond. A table laden with cups and saucers and pots of coffee stood
beside the wall. No sign of a phone. The room bent round at right angles. A man in a dark uniform was just visible walking into the other part of the room. His black shoes squeaked as he paced out of sight.

  ‘There’s a security guard,’ I whispered, turning to Bradley. ‘You’ll have to distract him while Harry and I go past.’

  ‘What?’ Bradley’s eyes filled with horror. ‘Wait, I’m not read—’

  But I was already through the door. I crept over to where the room angled round. The security guard was halfway to the door at the far end. There were two doors leading off on either side. It all looked exactly as Foster had outlined.

  I glanced over my shoulder. Harry and a very alarmed Bradley were right behind me. As we stood, waiting, the guard’s footsteps stopped. His shoes squeaked as he turned and then his slow pacing steps headed back towards us. He would come into view any second. A line of sweat trickled down my back.

  I nudged Bradley. ‘Ready?’ I mouthed.

  He shook his head. ‘I’m not—’

  ‘Go!’ I pushed him out in front of me.

  The security guard’s footsteps stopped again. ‘Who are you?’ he barked. ‘How did you get in here?’

  I held my breath. Bradley said nothing. I peered round the corner. Bradley was staring into the guard’s eyes, ‘holding’ his mind telepathically. The guard was staring back, a look of shock on his face. Knowing how uncertain Bradley had seemed, I was guessing we didn’t have all that much time.

  ‘Come on.’ I tugged at Harry’s arm.

  We raced up to the guard. I drew his hands behind his back and tied them and his ankles with the handcuffs Foster had given me. Harry wound some tape across the guard’s mouth. Sorted.

  ‘Okay, Bradley, you can release him,’ I said.

  Bradley turned to me, his eyes glittering with feverish excitement. The guard tried to yell out, but he couldn’t make a sound, thanks to his gag.

  ‘That was amazing,’ Bradley said. ‘I didn’t know I could do that.’

  ‘I’m real happy for you,’ I drawled, ‘but right now we need to find a laptop.’

  I quickly checked the first room on the left-hand side. As expected, it was a cloakroom containing a rail of coats and a few suitcases on the floor. I checked the picture of the laptop bag we were looking for, while Harry and Bradley bundled the guard inside the room. Harry took a third pair of handcuffs and chained him to the rail while I ran my eyes over the bags on the floor.

  ‘It’s not here,’ I said. ‘Let’s go next door.’

  We left the guard tied up and moved to the next room. It was some kind of meeting room – slightly larger than the cloakroom, with a central table around which about ten chairs had been arranged. No phones again, I noticed. A row of small bags stood against the far wall.

  ‘We’re looking for a dark green computer case with a star emblem on the side,’ I reminded the others.

  Bradley nodded. ‘I’m going to have to sit down,’ he said.

  I stared at him. His face looked really sweaty now . . . and he was as white as the walls of the meeting room.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Harry asked.

  ‘Sure,’ Bradley said, but he didn’t sound very convincing.

  ‘You were awesome,’ I said, thinking maybe I’d sounded a bit harsh earlier.

  See . . . who says I can’t be generous and encouraging?

  ‘Thanks,’ Bradley muttered. He sank to the floor and leaned against the wall.

  ‘There it is.’ Harry pointed to a dark green laptop bag at the end of the line of cases.

  I followed his gaze. Sure enough, the side of the bag contained the star emblem Foster had told us about.

  ‘Dylan, you better check no one’s coming, yeah?’ Harry said.

  ‘Okay.’ I rushed outside and peered up and down. According to Foster’s information, the politician on whose laptop we were supposed to plant information would be through the door to my far left – in some high-level meeting. Foster had reckoned we would have about fifteen minutes to get in and out of the building before anyone noticed us. We’d already used up five of those minutes.

  As I raced back inside, Harry was taking the laptop out of the bag.

  ‘No one in sight,’ I said.

  Harry laid the computer carefully on the table. He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. ‘So did you miss me, Red?’

  ‘Get on with it,’ I said.

  Harry grinned and opened up the laptop. He switched it on and peered at the screen.

  ‘Any time this century,’ I said.

  Harry threw me a sideways glance. ‘Skip it, Red.’

  I opened my mouth to retort, then thought better of it. Its not that I wanted to do what Harry told me. I was just aware of the hurry we were in.

  Harry bent closer to the screen. He was muttering something under his breath, then he reached forward and tapped at the laptop keys.

  ‘Yes!’ he said softly.

  ‘You found the right file already?’ I said, genuinely impressed.

  Harry nodded. He took the memory stick Foster had given him from his pocket and inserted it into the side of the laptop. He looked up at me. ‘Just two more minutes,’ he said.

  I checked my watch. We only had six minutes until the time Foster had predicted the meeting would break up. Bradley was still slumped against the wall by the door, his eyes glazed over and his face unnaturally pale. He looked almost out of it. Maybe giving him something to do would help.

  ‘Would you check on that guard in the cloakroom?’ I asked him.

  Bradley nodded and struggled to his feet. He didn’t seem that steady as he disappeared out of the room.

  Harry gave a low whistle. ‘Done,’ he said. ‘I added all the info we were given to the file. Anyone reading it will think the man who wrote it has committed fraud on a massive scale.’

  ‘Fast work,’ I said.

  Harry looked at me as he removed the memory stick and placed the laptop back in its bag. ‘I’m good at this, Red,’ he said. ‘Really good.’

  I could feel my cheeks flushing. ‘Let’s go,’ I said.

  Harry put the laptop bag back where we found it and we raced out of the room.

  Bradley was just emerging from the cloakroom next door. If anything, he looked even worse than before. I was about to ask if he was all right, when the door at the end of the room opened. A man in a suit strode in. He saw us straight away, his mouth falling open in shock.

  I grabbed Harry and Bradley. ‘Run!’ I shouted.

  As we raced to the door I extended my force field, making sure all three of us were protected. I didn’t look round. Back into the corridor. Along to the fire door. I burst outside. The car was waiting, the engine running. The two men Foster had sent with us were sitting where we’d left them in the front. Knife Man was in the driving seat. I dived into the back of the car. Harry scrambled in after me.

  ‘Where’s Bradley?’ I shouted.

  ‘He was right behind me,’ Harry said, wide-eyed.

  We both turned to the fire door. Men in suits were streaming outside. One of them had his phone clamped to his ear. Another spotted us and started running towards our car. He drew out a gun and pointed it at Knife Man. There was no sign of Bradley.

  Knife Man pressed on the gas as the man outside fired his gun. It glanced off the bonnet as we sped away. I stared out of the back window. The man who’d run towards us was standing in the street, still pointing his gun in our direction. We roared around a corner. The helipad was only streets away, but we couldn’t possibly go straight there.

  ‘We have to go back for Bradley,’ I said. ‘They must have caught him.’

  ‘Or he fainted,’ Harry said. ‘He looked really ill.’

  Knife Man shook his head. ‘We can’t get into a shooting match. Mr Foster’s top priority was to avoid armed conflict.’

  ‘But—’ I started.

  ‘Shut up!’ Knife Man snapped.

  I exchanged a glance with Harry. He looked as upset as I felt. I m
ean, Bradley was annoying and in league with Foster, of course. But on the other hand, he was just a kid who I was supposed to have been looking after.

  And now I’d left him all alone.

  21: Punishment

  Foster was waiting for us at the helipad. Knife Man had rung ahead to tell him what had happened. I couldn’t hear Foster’s response, but as soon as I saw him I knew he was beyond furious that Bradley had been left behind.

  After asking us to explain ‘how the hell’ we’d lost him, he ordered Harry and me into the helicopter that was waiting on the tarmac. Through the window we could see Foster yelling at the two men who’d driven us. I couldn’t catch much of what he said, but it was obvious he was sending them back for Bradley. As the two men roared away in their car, Foster boarded the helicopter. He neither looked at nor spoke to Harry and me, simply told the pilot to get us out of here as soon as possible.

  By the time we arrived back at the little apartment in Lovistov it was dark and I was exhausted. Nico and Ed were still in the living room where we’d left them. As Foster shoved us inside and locked the door behind us, the past few hours seemed like a dream.

  And then – five minutes later – the door burst open again and everything turned into a nightmare.

  The four of us had been sitting and talking about what had happened in low voices on the sofas. We still had no idea if Cal had managed to alert either the local police force or Fergus and Avery back in Australia. But even if he had, we knew none of them would have any idea we’d been taken to this apartment in Lovistov. Neither would Amy with whom Ed had managed, briefly, to make remote contact when we were still based at the castle.

  As Foster and Jack came in, we all stood up. A tense silence fell as Foster looked round at each one of us in turn. He cleared his throat.

  ‘We’ve heard that Bradley was taken, unconscious, to hospital,’ he said.

  ‘He said he wasn’t well,’ I said. ‘He—’

  ‘Leaving him behind was careless,’ Foster interrupted in a soft tone that was all the more menacing for being quiet. ‘I don’t understand how it happened. I thought you were using your Medusa ability to protect all three of you.’