Hit Squad

by Sophie McKenzie

  ‘Good, they’re full,’ he said.

  ‘Maximum impact,’ I said. ‘Roll a barrel into each corner.’

  I took one myself. Avery took another, while Cal, Ed and Amy rolled a third. Seconds later, everything was in place.

  ‘Okay, we’re done,’ Avery said.

  I hesitated. ‘What about Dylan and Harry?’ I said. ‘Because I’m guessing there’s a lot of flammable stuff in here. The fire could easily spread.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Cal said, catching on fast. ‘The whole building will probably go up.’

  ‘Exactly,’ I said. ‘We need to make sure Harry and Dylan are safe – and those children Foster conned into his hit squad too.’

  Avery’s face fell. ‘I heard the guards talking about them but I didn’t see where they were. The CCTV from wherever they’re being kept wasn’t playing on any of the screens I saw.’

  ‘Okay, this is what we should do,’ I said.

  The others looked at me expectantly.

  ‘Avery stays here, ready to blow up the lab,’ I said. ‘Ed, Amy and I will go and find the others.’

  ‘What about me?’ Cal asked.

  ‘You come with us as far as the communications centre in case there’s a problem,’ I said. ‘Then you get back to Avery in the lab and barricade yourselves in.’

  ‘I don’t get it,’ Cal protested. ‘Why do I need to come back? It doesn’t take two people to ignite the oil in the lab.’

  ‘If anyone should stay behind,’ Ed added, ‘I’d rather it was Amy.’

  ‘Listen,’ I said. ‘It has to be this way round. We need Amy with us to impersonate Foster. And Cal needs to get back here so he can get Avery out of the lab when they’ve ignited the oil.’

  ‘Explain this, Nico,’ Avery said with a frown.

  ‘Okay, once we’ve reached the comms room, Ed, Amy and I will head off to find the others. When we’re sure they’re safe, Ed will let Cal know telepathically. You two set light to the oil. Then Cal will fly you both out of the window before the whole place goes up.’

  ‘But the window is locked,’ Ed pointed out. ‘And the Medutox means you can’t unlock it, Cal can’t fly out of it – and I can’t communicate telepathically.’

  I thought back. How long was it since we’d last been sprayed? Surely the effects of the Medutox would have eased up by now?

  I raised my hand towards the window above the barrels of oil and gave my wrist a swift flick. The window sprang open.

  ‘It’s worn off,’ I said with a grin. ‘Go on, Ed, try contacting Dylan.’

  Ed screwed up his face, focusing on making the remote connection.

  ‘Okay, Nico.’ Avery sounded reluctant. ‘I don’t like it, but I can’t see another way.’

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ I said. ‘Amy, can you pretend to be Foster again?’

  ‘Sure.’ As she spoke, Amy began the transformation.

  Ed sighed as he turned to me. ‘I can’t reach Dylan,’ he said. ‘I think she must still be under the Medutox. But I can reach everyone else.’

  ‘Well, that’s what matters right now.’ I glanced at Amy. She now looked totally like Foster. My confidence surged. This was going to work.

  ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’

  29: Out of Time

  We took the torch. Avery insisted that if we were negotiating the complex we would need it more than he did. I led the way out of the lab and into the dark corridor. In the distance I could hear men shouting. It surely wouldn’t be long before someone either came to check on the lab – or reactivated the lights and alarm system.

  ‘Which way to the comms room?’ I whispered.

  ‘Down there,’ Amy said softly, pointing to the right.

  As we crept along the corridor, I took a proper look at her. Apart from the scared expression on her face she looked identical to Foster. Except . . . I looked down at her legs. She’d left the trousers of the man’s suit she was wearing rolled up from when she’d been her own height earlier.

  I gave her a nudge. ‘You might want to rethink the turnups,’ I whispered. ‘Not very “bossman”.’

  ‘Oh my goodness . . .’ Amy hissed. Even in the dark of the corridor I could tell she was blushing.

  ‘Oh no.’ Ed was pointing along the corridor. Torchlight flickered on the wall ahead. Someone was coming towards us.

  Amy was still busy unfurling her trouser legs. I looked around. We could make a dash back to the lab, but it was unlikely we’d get there before whoever had that torch saw us. I had no idea if there were other rooms we could hide in . . . we certainly hadn’t passed any doors or stairs so far.

  We couldn’t go down or sideways. Which left only one option.

  ‘Fly me and Ed up to the ceiling,’ I whispered at Cal.

  His mouth fell open. Then he grabbed our wrists. I just had time to shove the torch into Amy’s hands before Cal zoomed upwards. Still clutching my wrist, he spun us in the air until we reached the fluorescent light strip that ran along the centre of the ceiling. Stretched out along its length we clung to the light, hooking our ankles over the far end. I had to use all my stomach muscles to stop the middle portion of my body sagging down. Ahead of me, on Cal’s other side, Ed was clinging on for dear life too.

  Beneath us, Amy was still standing, the torch in her hand. My heart thundered in my ears. Suppose the light fitting we were clinging to suddenly got switched on? Suppose Amy – pretending to be Foster down there on her own – couldn’t handle the encounter she was about to have? Suppose whoever was coming happened to swing their torch upwards to where Cal, Ed and I were hiding on the ceiling?

  Amy shook herself, then walked forward. The gentle glow from her torch surrounded her. Another of Foster’s men was approaching. I could see him quite clearly now, thanks to the light from both his torch and Amy’s.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Amy barked.

  She sounded convincingly like Foster.

  ‘I was coming to check on the labs, sir,’ the other man said.

  I froze. Amy had to stop him from going there. Otherwise Avery would be discovered before we’d had a chance to find Harry and Dylan.

  ‘What?’ Amy spat out the word. I was pretty certain she was trying to think on her feet . . . buying herself a little time.

  There was an awkward pause below. I held my breath.

  ‘The labs, sir,’ the man stammered. ‘I . . . I thought someone should check there hadn’t been a breach of—’

  ‘I’ve just come from the labs,’ Amy as Foster barked. ‘Everything’s secure. You should be working on getting the lights and door locks working again. Not thinking for yourself coming down here.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ The man bowed his head. He took a few steps away from Amy. ‘Sorry, sir, I’ll get back to the others.’

  ‘Hurry!’ Amy-as-Foster snapped.

  The man turned and scurried off. As the light from his torch disappeared around the corner, Cal flew us carefully down to the ground.

  Amy still looked like Foster, but she was breathing in fast, shallow gasps as we reached her.

  ‘Oh my goodness,’ she whispered. ‘I’m shaking.’

  ‘You were awesome, Amy,’ I said with a grin. ‘Really, you saved us – and Avery back at the lab . . . you saved everything.’

  See, Ketty, I’m not so bad.

  Ed stepped forward and gave his sister a hug. Amy beamed at us both.

  A minute later and we reached the communications room. Cal left us, slipping silently back along the corridor towards Avery and the lab.

  Ed and Amy looked at me expectantly. My plan had been to somehow draw one of the men outside and have Ed mind-read him to find out Dylan and Harry’s location, but as I peered round the door, I realised this was going to be impossible. The room was brightly lit – thanks to a large lantern on one of the desks – and the three men it illuminated were all standing together, poring over a panel in the wall. One guy with a shock of red hair was applying a screwdriver to one of the circuit boards inside the
panel. A second stood over him. The third, just behind and to the left, was the man that Amy, as Foster, had just sent back here.

  ‘How much longer, Erik?’ this third man asked. ‘Foster’s on the warpath. I just saw him. You gotta hurry.’

  ‘I going fast as I can, Paul,’ said Erik in broken English. He was still crouched over the wall panel. ‘This sabotage for sure, not power cut.’

  I stepped backwards, out of sight. As I did so, the strip light above our head flickered and came on. The door beside us hummed. Along the corridor the sound of locks clicking back into place echoed towards us.

  ‘Done!’ Erik stood up. ‘I hope Foster seeing how fast that was.’

  I poked Amy, still looking like Foster, in the ribs. ‘You’re up,’ I said. ‘Go and get rid of them.’

  Amy nodded. I could see Ed was about to protest that we shouldn’t be putting her in harm’s way again, but before he could speak, I clutched his arm and dragged him away, down the corridor.

  Amy as Foster drew herself up.

  ‘What are you doing in here?’ she barked.

  I couldn’t see them from where I stood, but I could just imagine the three men in the room jumping to attention.

  ‘Was deliberate sabotage, sir,’ Erik said. ‘I mend main circuit. We have power, lights. All alarms back on.’

  ‘Good,’ said Amy-as-Foster. ‘Well done. All three of you need to get up to the first floor. Report of a disturbance in one of the . . . rooms. You need to investigate. Now.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Ed and I flattened ourselves against the wall as the three men rushed out of the room. They headed away from us, towards the stairs, without a glance in our direction.

  As soon as they’d disappeared, I followed Amy into the comms room.

  ‘You did really great,’ I said. ‘Again.’

  Amy grinned. ‘Thanks, Nico.’

  Ed rushed over to a bank of TV screens that stood against one wall. He pressed the ‘on’ buttons of each terminal.

  The screens flickered into life as I went over. They showed CCTV from a selection of rooms around the complex. One was trained on the lab interior where Avery and Cal were visible pacing up and down between the tables. I could just make out the edge of a table on its side – clearly part of the barricade they’d made to keep themselves secure inside the lab until we contacted them.

  Another screen revealed the three men Amy-as-Foster had just sent away – they were racing up the stairs to the first floor.

  My heart thudded. It wouldn’t take them long to work out there was no one up there. Then they would be back to speak to their boss again.

  The next two screens were empty. I glanced round the room. Surely there must be more CCTV than this? Another bank of screens across the room caught my eye. I rushed over and switched on the terminals.

  Yes. More rooms and corridors around the building were revealed.

  ‘Look,’ Ed said, coming up behind me. He pointed to the screen at the end. It showed Harry surrounded by four kids, about ten or eleven years old. He was trying to push open a fire door. Dylan stood behind him, looking anxiously around. She held a tablet computer in her hand. As we watched, Harry turned to the tablet and examined the screen.

  ‘It’s them,’ I said.

  Amy rushed over.

  It was obvious the fire door was locked. Harry was pushing at it again, but it wouldn’t budge.

  ‘Can’t you do something to help them, Nico?’ Ed asked.

  ‘I’m too far away,’ I said.

  As I spoke, Harry consulted the tablet once more. He pressed down on the screen, then turned to the door again. This time it swung open.

  We watched Harry usher the kids through. Dylan peered around her, then followed him.

  ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘We need to get out ourselves.’

  We raced out of the room and along the corridor. Footsteps sounded behind us. Clearly the men that Amy had sent upstairs were on their way back. We reached the fire door Harry and Dylan had just exited through. It was still unlocked. With a single twist of my hand, the door flew open ahead of us. We rushed out, into the cool night air. Across the hard, dark grass. Into the trees. I looked around. No sign of Harry, Dylan and the kids. They must have run into a different section of the trees.

  ‘Can you reach Dylan yet?’ I asked Ed as we stopped at last.

  ‘No,’ he said, panting for breath. ‘She must still be under the Medutox.’

  I peered out of the trees. There. Dylan and Harry were running towards us from another part of the woodland about twenty metres to the left. Dylan was in the lead, Harry, limping, was struggling to keep up. The four younger kids ran alongside him.

  ‘Okay, Ed,’ I said. ‘They’re safe. Give Avery and Cal the go-ahead.’

  Ed gave me a swift nod, then turned away, focusing on the middle distance.

  I stepped out of the trees and waved at Dylan. She waved back and shouted something.

  What was she thinking, yelling out like that? I darted back under cover. Man, Dylan was going to attract serious attention making such a noise.

  ‘Is it done, Ed?’ Amy asked.

  Ed nodded. ‘Cal and Avery are setting light to the oil now. The explosion’s going to happen any moment.’

  I looked again at Dylan. She was really gaining on Harry now. I peered more closely at him. He was limping quite badly. Was he injured?

  At last Dylan ran up. She was gasping for breath, holding up the tablet computer we’d seen earlier.

  ‘Issketisheesalie,’ she gabbled.

  ‘What?’ I said. ‘Are you guys okay?’

  Dylan nodded, her eyes glinting in the moonlight.

  ‘Look,’ she said. She pressed a button on the screen. It fizzled into life. A black and white image of a small room with a single bed came into view.

  ‘What’s that?’ I said, looking away and across the grass towards the complex. The explosion should happen any second now.

  ‘Look, Nico,’ Dylan gasped again.

  I looked at the tablet computer in time to see someone walk across the room, their back to the camera.

  I stared at the screen, unable to believe what I was watching.

  ‘It’s Ketty,’ Dylan said with a moan. ‘She’s alive.’

  As she spoke, Ketty turned round. Her face – her beautiful face – filled the screen. A terrible confusion of emotions flooded through me – disbelief and hope . . . and terror.

  ‘Where?’ I grabbed Dylan’s arm. ‘Where is she?’

  Dylan pointed back to the complex. ‘In there,’ she said. ‘A room – a cell, really – close to the lab.’

  I stared at Ed in horror. He’d just told Cal and Avery it was okay to blow up the lab.

  ‘Stop them!’ I ordered.

  ‘It’s too late.’ Ed’s words were drowned out by the explosion. It rocked the ground. I spun round, my focus on the complex. There, flying out of the lab window, were Avery and Cal.

  But all I could see was the fireball that rose from the side of the building they had just left.

  And all I knew was that Ketty was still inside.

  30: Walk Through Fire

  ‘NO!’ The yell erupted out of me. Without thinking . . . without even knowing what I was doing, my legs were carrying me towards the burning building.

  I raced through the trees, my breath searing my lungs. If Ketty was there, I had to find her. I had to get her out of the complex even though – and I could barely face the thought that pressed against the edges of my consciousness – she was unlikely to have survived that bomb blast.

  Dylan ran up beside me as I reached the edge of the trees. Her face was pale in the moonlight, her dark red hair streaming out behind her.

  ‘Wait, Nico,’ she panted, grabbing hold of my arm. ‘You can’t just barge into a burning building.’

  ‘I have to get Ketty,’ I said. ‘How did you know she was there? Why didn’t you rescue her along with the little kids?’

  ‘I’m trying to explai
n,’ Dylan said. ‘Ketty wasn’t in the same stretch of rooms that me and Harry and the hit squad children were put in. Foster had her off in some special cell. I saw her on the CCTV when they took us in, but we couldn’t work out exactly where she was until Harry found this.’ She held up the tablet computer.

  ‘So?’ I tried to pull my arm away from Dylan’s hand but she gripped me more tightly. ‘You said her cell was next to the lab. If you found her, why didn’t you get her out?’

  ‘I didn’t say “next” to, I said “close” to,’ Dylan said furiously. ‘Ketty’s cell is underneath the lab. It’s in the basement. There’s a row of tiny rooms where Foster keeps all his supplies. Ketty’s in one of those. They’re on a separate security loop to the rest of the building, so the power cut didn’t open her door.’

  ‘Did you actually go down there?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, but the room was still locked. All that happened was that Harry got hurt.’ She hesitated. ‘I think Ketty’s cell opens with that card Jack gave us.’

  I stared at her, taking in what she was saying at last. I felt in my pocket. The card was still there.

  ‘If she’s in a basement room she might have been protected from the blast,’ Ed said. He and Amy had appeared beside us. I’d been so intent on what Dylan was saying I hadn’t even noticed. I glanced up. Cal and Avery were clear of the building now. They were heading for the spot where Harry was waiting with the little kids. Neither of them had noticed us.

  ‘But she won’t be protected from the smoke,’ Dylan added. ‘They’re getting the Medutox into her through the air vents which means she doesn’t have long before the fumes get to her.’

  ‘So why are we waiting?’ I shook off Dylan’s arm at last. ‘I have to get inside.’

  ‘You won’t get past the fire,’ Dylan argued. ‘That’s why you have to wait.’ She checked her watch. ‘My Medutox should wear off in another couple of minutes . . . then I’ll get us both in . . .’

  ‘I’m coming too,’ Ed said. ‘If we meet someone on the way, I can hypnotise them.’

  I gazed at them. Part of me wanted to tell them to stay behind, but – if I was honest – I knew I might well need their help. ‘I don’t—’