Lone Wolf - Robert Muchamore Page 0,12

from the machine nervously, then turned to Chloe and gave a relieved smile when it started gurgling.

‘Takes an hour,’ Chloe said. ‘I’ll come back and show you how to do the dryers when it’s done.’

‘Hello, hello!’ Fay Hoyt said.

Now fifteen, Fay wore battered jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched over muscular shoulders. Chloe backed up towards one of the machines and Izzy detected her angst and did the same.

‘Is this the new girl?’ Fay asked, looking down her nose as she took a step nearer to Izzy. ‘Got on the six o’clock news for trying to poison her whole family?’

Chloe narrowed her eyes. ‘Well, you tried to kill a cop.’

‘I tried to get away,’ Fay said. ‘If I’d tried to kill Constable Shitface, he’d be dead.’

‘You act so tough,’ Chloe spat. ‘But I’m not scared of you.’

Fay laughed, then threw a punch. It stopped well short of Chloe’s cheek, but she jumped backwards, making Fay howl with laughter.

‘Nah. You’re not scared of me at all, are you?’

As Fay moved in again, Chloe made a clumsy lunge. Fay snatched Chloe’s flying wrist and bent back her fingers, while using her other hand to slap her face. Chloe sprawled backwards over a washing machine before Fay pulled her up and shoved her head first towards the dryers.

‘Stay where you are or I’ll kick your head in,’ Fay warned, before turning towards Izzy.

The petite thirteen-year-old had backed into a corner stacked with powder boxes. Fay pointed at the floor tiles in front of her and growled.

‘Get here.’

Izzy was trembling.

‘Don’t make me come and get you.’

‘Leave her alone,’ Chloe shouted. ‘You’re twice her size.’

Izzy was still too scared to move forward, so Fay stepped up, grabbed Izzy around the back of the neck and pushed her head against the top of a washing machine. Then she wound Izzy’s long red hair around her wrist and pulled it painfully tight.

‘What have you got?’ Fay asked.

‘What?’

Fay smiled. ‘If I go to your room and you give me something nice, we’ll be best friends and I won’t have to hurt you.’

‘Clothes?’ Izzy suggested.

‘Bonehead,’ Fay spat. ‘I’m not going to fit in your stupid midget clothes, am I, you stupid midget?’

‘Don’t give her anything,’ Chloe shouted. ‘She’s a psycho! She won’t stop.’

‘Let’s go to your room and see,’ Fay said.

Fay moved towards the door, dragging Izzy by her hair. The hallway outside was painted custard yellow and had prison-style doors off either side. At least one girl saw what was going on, but kept her head down as Izzy was manhandled halfway down the corridor to the cell she shared with Chloe.

‘You’d better have something decent,’ Fay shouted.

Izzy looked desperately around her room and pointed at a novelty bedside clock, shaped like the dinosaur from Toy Story. Fay immediately knocked the clock off the bedside table and kicked it, while simultaneously keeping her grip on Izzy’s hair.

‘Just this once I’m gonna let you off,’ Fay announced. ‘But keep your trap shut and you’d better have something to give me next time I see you.’

As Fay unwound Izzy’s hair the cell door opened and two burly women charged in.

‘No, no, no!’ one of them shouted.

‘This isn’t on, young lady!’

Fay looked around and saw a couple of school books on the window ledge. ‘She went in my room and stole my books,’ Fay shouted.

As soon as Fay had been prised off, Izzy started sobbing. The two guards expertly grabbed Fay under the arms and put her in a restraining hold before marching her out of the cell. Chloe was right outside, wearing a smirk.

‘I know you grassed me up,’ Fay shouted. ‘You wait! You just wait.’

Chloe boldly gave Fay the finger before dashing into the cell to comfort little Izzy.

‘Hey, don’t cry,’ Chloe said soothingly. ‘Fay’s a nasty bitch, but the good news is they’re kicking her back out on the street in two weeks’ time.’

*

Thirty-five minutes into the exercise, Ryan and Theo had found guns and ammo, as well as an equipment pack containing binoculars, water bottles and a collapsible shovel. Theo stood in the fork of a tree using the binoculars, while Ryan covered from the ground.

‘It’s Grace,’ Theo whispered excitedly. ‘No weapon.’

Ryan smiled. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Less than fifty metres,’ Theo said, as he jumped down quietly.

‘You cover my back, I’ll try and take her out,’ Ryan said.

As Theo crouched down with his gun poised, Ryan set off at a steady pace, placing his boots carefully to avoid making any kind of noise. Paintball guns aren’t particularly