Hunted

by Sophie McKenzie

‘I’ll take you to the docks,’ Laura said.

  ‘No,’ Nico said. ‘I mean, we’re all grateful for your help, but if anyone sees us together, you and Harry could become targets.’

  Laura opened her mouth to protest, but I spoke first.

  ‘We need you here, in the UK,’ I said. ‘Any taxi can take us to the docks, but you’re the only people here we can trust, which is much more important. Please.’

  Laura closed her mouth and let out a long, shaky breath. ‘Okay, I’ll call you a cab.’ She took out her phone.

  The rain fell more heavily. I could feel it on my hair and neck. I reached out and touched Laura’s arm, sending my protective force around us both.

  I couldn’t believe how simple it was, once I stopped trying so hard to control the energy.

  Laura smiled, suddenly aware that the rain was no longer falling on her head.

  After the call, she drew me to one side. ‘I can’t bear to lose you having only just found you,’ she said. ‘But I can see it’s for the best. Geri Paterson is too powerful to take chances with.’ She paused. ‘I want to thank you. When Harry told me how you saved him and Nico, I didn’t know whether to shout at him for coming after you or hug you for protecting him.’

  ‘Harry saved me, too,’ I said, glancing round to make sure he wasn’t in earshot. ‘He worked out about the gas. If we hadn’t known about that so early on, I might not have had enough time to get out of the room.’

  ‘When’s the cab coming?’ Nico wandered over. ‘Laura and Harry should go before it gets here. We don’t want anyone to connect us to them.’

  ‘It’ll be here in a few minutes,’ Laura said. ‘I want to stay, make sure you get off okay.’

  ‘No, please. Nico’s right,’ I said. ‘You should go.’

  ‘Okay.’ Laura gave me a hug, then went back to the others. ‘Come on, Harry. We can call later.’

  I watched her and Harry saying goodbye to Nico, Ketty and Ed. As Laura walked over to her car, I stared at the damp grass, bracing myself.

  Harry was about to leave.

  And then he walked right up to me. ‘Hey, Red,’ he said. ‘Come with me for a sec.’

  I could feel Nico, Ed and Ketty staring at us, but I kept my eyes on Harry, following him past the trees and into a clearing near some large bushes. As soon as we were out of sight, Harry grabbed my hand. My stomach flipped over.

  ‘I could come with you, Red,’ he said. ‘I can hack into IT systems . . . I can be useful . . .’

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘But you have to stay with your mom. She needs you. And you can be useful here, too.’

  Harry shook his head. He smiled. He dropped my hand and dug into his pocket. ‘Well, at least take this.’ Harry took the Clusterchaos program and pressed it into my palm. ‘I can get another copy . . . I’ve shown Ed how to use it. He can tell the rest of you.’

  I nodded. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Harry! We should go,’ Laura called.

  ‘Coming!’ Harry took a step away from me. ‘I’ll miss you, Red.’

  ‘Wait.’

  Harry stopped.

  I swallowed. ‘I’m sorry I was rude to you . . . before. I didn’t think . . . I mean, I thought Jack was amazing when I met him . . . and he’s your dad. I can understand why you got caught up in his—’

  ‘No, there’s no excuse,’ Harry said bitterly. ‘I can’t believe I thought Jack was so cool . . .’ He paused. ‘. . . I can’t believe I let him make me lie to someone I really like . . .’

  He stopped and a silence fell between us. The rain started to fall harder again. Instinctively, I summoned my force field to stop the rain from reaching me. In the background I could hear Laura’s car door slam shut and the others talking in a low murmur.

  I moved closer to Harry. ‘When you say . . . about the someone you really like . . . is that . . . do you mean . . .?’

  ‘You, Red.’ Harry took a step towards me. He grinned. ‘Obviously, I mean you.’

  We were standing right in front of each other now.

  ‘You think you’re real cute, don’t you?’ I raised my eyebrows.

  ‘I think you think I am.’ Harry’s grin split his face.

  He bent down so our faces were almost touching.

  And then I let the force field around me slide away and we kissed.

  It seemed to go on forever, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. We drew away from each other. Harry blew out his breath.

  ‘We are so doing that again,’ he said.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Real soon.’

  He squeezed my hand, then we walked through the trees and out to Laura’s car. She waved at me as Harry got in beside her. Seconds later they were gone.

  I stared after them, along the empty road. The rain was falling more heavily now, drops running down my face. I didn’t bother to engage my force field.

  Instead, I stood in the rain. Alone.

  After all my efforts to find out what really happened to my parents, what was I left with?

  I’d lost the only proof that Geri Paterson killed my parents – and both she and Jack were still at large and unpunished while I was forced to flee the country.

  The copy of the Medusa code my dad had left me was buried in a remote garden and – even if I was ever able to come back here to reclaim it – I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to do with it.

  And, just as Laura and Harry came into my life, they were gone.

  Nico and Ketty appeared on either side of me.

  I glanced at them. ‘What?’

  ‘I like the guy,’ Nico said with a grin. ‘What about you, Ketts?’

  ‘Harry?’ Ketty said. ‘Sure I like him. He’s cool. I wonder how Dylan feels?’

  ‘Don’t either of you even think about making fun of me,’ I snarled. ‘I’m not in the freakin’ mood.’

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing,’ Nico said archly.

  ‘Me neither,’ Ketty added. ‘I mean, it’s not every day you see people fall in love. It’s kind of a special thing.’

  ‘I’m not in—’ I stopped, knowing that getting defensive would just make me look like I was lying . . . knowing, in my heart, that denial was a lie . . .

  ‘Whatever . . .’ Nico chuckled. ‘Hey, maybe having a boyfriend will soften Dylan up a bit.’

  ‘If you don’t shut up, I’ll soften you up a bit,’ I growled.

  ‘She doesn’t sound softer, does she?’ Ketty giggled.

  ‘I like her lacking in softness,’ Ed said with a smile, wandering over. ‘It’s what I’m used to.’

  A car pulled round the corner and a tired-looking, grey-haired man leaned out of the window. ‘You kids call a cab?’ he shouted.

  We headed to the taxi.

  ‘I call shotgun,’ I grunted. ‘By which I mean I want to sit in the front seat . . . as far away from you guys as I can get.’

  ‘Fine with me,’ Nico said. ‘You can sit where you like. I owe you for saving my life.’

  ‘And me,’ Ketty said. ‘Feel the love, Dylan.’

  Ed grinned. ‘Looks like you’re stuck with it.’

  ‘Three friends and a boyfriend,’ Ketty laughed.

  ‘And all being nice to you in one day,’ Nico added.

  ‘Oh, bite me,’ I said.

  And, trying not to let them see me the smile that, in spite of everything, was creeping across my face, I got into the front seat of the cab and we drove away, into our new future.

  To be continued in . . . DOUBLE-CROSS

 

 

 
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