‘You wait till we arrive. Then I’ll show you who’s boss.’
‘What the hell happened?’ the driver said, as the car sped away. ‘It was supposed to be fast and clinical.’
‘This one came at me,’ his bloody-faced companion answered, as he stared Lauren down.
‘Abby will go nuts. Half a dozen people saw us. We’re gonna end up with the cops on our tail and you know what it’s like with kids: it’ll probably end up on the news.’
‘Don’t blame me, arsehole. You told me it was one skinny little girl. You didn’t mention that she had Bruce Lee’s kid sister for a bodyguard.’
The tyres squealed as they took a sharp right turn. Anna was sobbing hopelessly in the front passenger seat.
‘Do you think they got our number plate?’ the driver asked.
‘We were parked there for over a minute, you can bet somebody did.’
‘Call someone and get them to pick us up in another car. We’ve got to ditch this crate as soon as.’
As her captors argued, Lauren felt inside her jacket. She still had her mobile phone, which meant that John would be able to track her. The only trouble was, they’d probably search her and confiscate it as soon as they had time to think straight, so she slipped it out of her pocket and pushed it down the back of her knickers, between the cheeks of her bum. It made sitting uncomfortable and it wasn’t a nice way to treat a new phone, but they’d be unlikely to find it on a casual search of her pockets.
27. CURIOSITY
School had finished for the day and James was sitting on Kerry’s bed in his socks. Kerry pulled two mugs of hot chocolate out of her microwave, handed one to James and grabbed a bag of miniature marshmallows off her bedside cabinet. After dropping a few into each mug, she leaned over and kissed James on the cheek before running her finger over the scar above his left eye.
‘You look like Harry Potter,’ she grinned. ‘So how did your meeting with Mr Pike go?’
‘It was weird,’ James said, as he slid the blue card out of his pocket. ‘He gave me this.’
‘What’s that?’
As James sipped his cocoa, he told Kerry about the card giving access to the mission preparation building and the story of Ewart and Mr Pike being best friends.
‘So,’ he finished, ‘what do you reckon?’
Kerry shrugged. ‘I think that seventeen years is a long time for Mr Pike to hold a grudge.’
‘I meant, what do you think about the idea of me sneaking into the mission preparation building?’
‘Isn’t the security in there supposed to be mental?’ Kerry asked.
‘They never got that biometric system working. In the end, they decided that campus is pretty secure so they’ve replaced it with swipe cards.’
‘What was Ewart like when you spoke to him the other day?’
James shrugged. ‘He seemed OK to be honest. But I was thinking in class this afternoon—’
‘First time for everything,’ Kerry butted in.
‘I’m trying to be serious,’ James said irritably. ‘Remember two years back when we were on our drugs mission and Nicole got expelled for snorting cocaine? Ewart was charging around the house that day, giving us all drug tests and it was like he wanted more of us to get expelled. I’ve had a few other run-ins with him as well, and the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve come to agree with Mr Pike: Ewart wouldn’t lift a finger to help anyone.’
‘Ewart’s strict,’ Kerry said. ‘He doesn’t stand for any nonsense, that’s for sure. But it’s a big leap from that to saying that he’s actually dishonest.’
James slowly turned the blue card over in his hands. ‘I’d really like to know what’s going on with the investigation. I definitely don’t think that Ewart is telling me everything he knows.’
‘It’s the most sensitive area on campus, James. You’re already suspended from missions. If you get caught sneaking around mission preparation you might as well pack your bags and start saying your goodbyes.’
‘I know, but if what Mr Pike says about Ewart is right, I’m doomed anyway.’
‘Yeah, might be, based upon an ancient grudge. Taking a risk based upon solid information is one thing, but this doesn’t make any sense.’
‘But Mr Pike’s always fair. He was the one who stood up for us when Mr Large kept bullying Lauren.’
Kerry nodded. ‘Pike is a decent bloke, there’s no denying that.’
‘Which is why I think I need to go in there – and I’d really like you to come