Lone Wolf - Robert Muchamore Page 0,60

instruction so Ning pinched his nostrils shut. When he had to breathe, Fay moved in, forcing a rubber bouncy ball into his mouth. Then the girls worked together, pulling a nylon luggage strap over his mouth and buckling it tightly behind his head to hold the gag.

‘You’re doing great, pal,’ Ning said, getting a guilty thrill out of the successfully executed takedown as she stood up and locked another plastic tie around the rider’s ankles.

Now that mouth and limbs were all out of action, each girl grabbed the rider under a sweaty armpit. He moaned into his gag as they dragged him into the alleyway between houses.

‘Don’t panic,’ Ning told the rider. ‘We’ll let someone know where you are when we’re done with the bike.’

Back in the street, Ning scooped up the helmet and pulled it on.

‘Are you sure you know how to ride this thing?’ Fay asked.

Ning nodded. ‘Everyone has them in China. I’ve ridden them a million times.’

Fay put the pizzas back in the insulated box, then straddled the bike, pulled on a spare helmet they’d brought with them and shuffled up behind Ning.

‘Hold tight,’ Ning said, as she pressed the electric starter on the handlebar.

The anxious fingers dug into Ning’s abdomen made her suspect that Fay wasn’t confident in her riding skills. But after a wary start, Ning stopped wavering and built up speed as she rumbled off into darkness.

32. HARVEST

It was ten minutes to midnight as the moped stopped in the street outside the bowling club. Fay hopped off the back and flipped up her visor before taking a quick peek into the car park.

‘Van’s there,’ Fay said. ‘You got your patter clear in your head?’

Ning nodded. ‘Show a little faith. I did OK with the bike, didn’t I?’

Fay said good luck as Ning got off the scooter, grabbed a barely warm pizza out of the back and balanced it on one arm as she walked towards the wrought-iron gates. With the crash helmet on, Ning hoped that the guards inside wouldn’t make any connection with the girl who’d squatted and peed on the other side of the building a few days earlier.

The doors had blackout blinds fitted, but enough light leaked around the edges to read the intercom buttons on the door lock. Ning pressed the big button at the bottom, setting off a hearty buzz inside.

After twenty seconds, a gruff male voice came back through the intercom. ‘What you want?’

‘Pizza,’ Ning said brightly.

The voice came back, sounding puzzled. ‘Nobody here ordered pizza.’

Ning assumed they were watching her on camera, so she pretended to read the white address slip taped to the pizza box.

‘Marston Bowling Club,’ Ning said. ‘This is the right place, isn’t it?’

‘You’re at the right place, but we didn’t order no pizza.’

‘Is there anyone else inside who might have ordered pizza?’

Now the man sounded annoyed. ‘There’s nobody here ordered pizza. How many times I gotta tell you?’

‘Right,’ Ning said weakly. ‘Must be a mix-up. I’ll call my dispatcher.’

Ning stood at the doorway, flipped up her helmet visor and made a pretend phone call. She had no idea if they could hear from inside, but she went through the motions and made a fake call.

‘Hello . . . This order, they say they don’t want it . . . OK . . . OK . . . He sounded like he doesn’t want to be disturbed . . . OK. See you tomorrow. Bye.’

Ning acted nervous as she pressed the intercom again. ‘Hello?’

The voice sounded even more irritated. ‘For the love of god . . .’

‘Yeah,’ Ning said weakly. ‘I’m really sorry. We close at midnight. My boss says sorry for disturbing you. He got you mixed up with another regular customer. You’re good customers and all, and since the pizza will just go to waste, he says it’s on the house if you want it.’

‘Hang on,’ the man said. Then he turned away from the intercom and spoke to someone else. ‘You want pizza . . . ? OK. Hello?’

‘I’m still here,’ Ning said.

‘What kinda pizza is it?’

Ning tried to think what pizza most people liked best. After a second she had an idea that might raise her chances. ‘It’s a half and half. Ham and pineapple, and pepperoni melt.’

The man at the end of the intercom repeated this, and Ning caught a background voice saying, ‘I could go for some pepperoni.’

Then the man turned back to the intercom. ‘My friend can’t say no to food. His big butt is on its