Hunted

  I was working hard to keep my mind off Harry, but it was difficult – trying not to be aware of something kind of means it’s already in your head.

  There’s no alarm, I thought-spoke.

  Good.

  I could feel Ed vanish from my mind. A second later they were all through the door. I followed Nico up the stairs. Ketty crept along beside me, her whole body tensed. I knew she was trying to stay focused on the near future, to sense any danger we might be about to run into, and that she was worried she might miss something.

  I kept my force field fully primed in case of attack.

  We were used to climbing stairs without making a sound. As we reached the dark landing, I turned to Ketty. So did Nico. There were three doors and it was down to Ketty to show us which one contained the box with the knife. She hesitated, then pointed to the door on the left.

  Ed appeared in my head again.

  You ready, Dylan?

  Sure. I just hope Ketty’s got all this right.

  She’s as certain as she can be. She just had another vision of Henson asleep in the same room as the box.

  Awesome. I knew Ed would pick up on the sarcasm in my thought-speech, but I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, my life was in Ketty’s hands right now.

  And that wasn’t a very comfortable feeling.

  She’s doing her best, Ed protested.

  Get lost.

  Ed broke the connection. The house was silent as I tiptoed to the bedroom door. Nico used his telekinesis to open it. Holding my breath, I peered inside. There was enough light from the outside of the house for me to make out Roger Henson asleep in the bed. His mouth moved as he snored softly. The duvet that covered him rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Beyond the bed stood a wardrobe and – just below the window – a chest of drawers. My eyes darted round the room again. Where was the explosives box?

  I lit on an open metal container, standing on the floor a couple of metres away from the bed. From where I was standing I couldn’t see inside.

  Is he there, Dylan? Ed thought-spoke. Is the box there?

  Yes. He’s in bed like Ketty said. I stared at the metal box beside the bed. And I think the explosives box is right here, too. Can’t Nico just teleport the whole thing outside?

  No, it’s wired up, remember? It’ll blow as soon as anyone tries to move it. You have to untie the knife without disturbing anything else . . . It’s easy to spot . . . six inches long with a serrated blade.

  I took a step closer to the box. It was made of steel, glinting in the dim light that crept in under the curtains. Now I was nearer I could see a row of knives laid out just inside. A mass of wires lay in a jumble around each blade. My heart thudded. The box was going to blow as soon as I touched any of the knives. There was no way it wouldn’t.

  I took another step towards the box. Then another.

  My legs shook as the full impact of my situation hammered home. What if Henson woke up before I reached the box? What if he had a gun? And if I did get to the knife we needed, would I really be able to handle the blast? A tiny splinter would be enough to blind me if my force field wasn’t totally in place.

  You can do it, Dylan, Ed murmured inside my head.

  Go away.

  I took the final step to the box. I bent down. There was the knife with the serrated edge, right in the centre. Wires were bunched around it. I reached out my hand, checking my force field was fully engaged.

  My phone beeped. A text.

  I froze, the force field draining away from me with the shock. I must have forgotten to turn my cell phone off.

  I spun round. Henson was moving . . . waking . . . ‘Who’s there?’

  Ed was inside my head screaming at me. Run, Dylan, run!

  I stood, rooted to the spot, unable to move. Nico appeared at the doorway. I could feel him tugging at me, panicking, trying to teleport me towards him.

  I glanced over at Henson. He’d seen me and I hadn’t even touched the knife. He reached for a switch beside the bed. The box. He was going to blow up the box before I got the knife.

  I darted forward, forgetting everything except that I had to reach the weapon we’d come here for. I thrust my hand inside the box. Reached for the long, serrated knife.

  Force field, Ed yelled inside my mind. Protect your—

  As the explosion erupted in front of me, Harry’s face flashed into my head.

  Then darkness.

  10: Mistake

  I was lying on something hard. My right side ached. Male voices were yelling in the distance. I opened my eyes. I could see carpet and the bottom of a door just a metre away.

  Someone shook my shoulder. ‘Dylan!’ It was Ketty.

  ‘What?’ I forced my eyes open, completely disoriented.

  Ketty’s face, unnaturally pale, loomed over mine.

  ‘Dylan? Are you okay?’

  In a rush I remembered being in Henson’s bedroom and the metal box exploding.

  ‘What happened?’ I said. ‘Where am I?’

  ‘Nico teleported you downstairs after the explosion. You’re in the hall of Henson’s house. He and Ed are holding off Henson while I get you to the car. Can you walk?’

  I struggled onto my elbows, identifying the distant yells – Nico and a man whose voice I didn’t recognise. That must be Roger Henson.

  ‘I should go and help,’ I said.

  ‘No,’ Ketty insisted. ‘Nico and Ed can manage.’

  ‘Have you seen that, or are you just guessing?’ I gasped.

  ‘Nico can handle it,’ Ketty said stubbornly.

  I sat up, rubbing my head.

  A loud crash came from the landing upstairs.

  ‘Come here!’ Henson was yelling.

  I suddenly remembered why I’d been trying to reach inside the box.

  ‘Did Nico get the knife?’ I asked.

  ‘You got it,’ Ketty said. ‘It was in your hand when Nico teleported you out of the room. Ed’s got it now.’ She shook my shoulder again. ‘We have to get out of here.’

  I nodded, rolling up onto my knees. I winced. ‘My side hurts.’

  ‘That’s where you landed. The force of the explosion threw you onto the floor. Why didn’t you keep your force field around you?’

  I tried to think back. ‘It was around me until my phone beeped. I guess I was just refocusing on it when the explosion happened, so it only partly protected me.’

  Ketty bent down beside me. She pressed her fingers gently across my scalp. ‘Is your head sore?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good. It didn’t look like you hit your head. I think you just fainted.’ She stood up, pulling me to my feet. ‘Come on.’

  As I steadied myself, Ketty’s eyes glazed over for a second. Then she focused on me again.

  ‘Ed says Nico is barricading Henson in his room. We should make a run for it. The boys’ll be right behind us.’

  More loud thuds from upstairs.

  I tested my legs. I was fine. Just bruised along my side. My head was clearing, too.

  ‘How come Henson wasn’t knocked out by the blast?’ I said. ‘He was inside the room as well.’

  ‘He must have ducked behind the bed,’ Ketty explained, taking my arm. ‘The rest of us were outside on the landing.’

  I took a few careful steps. As we reached the front door, there was another thud from Henson’s bedroom. We both turned towards the sound. Nico and Ed appeared with their backs towards us at the top of the stairs.

  Nico had both arms stretched in front of him, as if he were trying to push something away.

  Beside him stood Ed, the huge, serrated-edged knife I’d seen in the weapons box in his hand.

  ‘Run!’ Ketty cried.

  I opened the front door and hurtled outside. Ketty raced ahead of me, glancing over her shoulder to make sure I was okay. I stumbled on the wet grass. She stopped.

  ‘Go,’ I said. ‘I’m fine.’

  We raced onto the road and along, to where our car was parked. I could just
make out the back of Jez and Alex’s heads in the front seats. As they saw us, the car revved up, reversing onto the road. Behind, in the distance, a door slammed. I looked round. Nico and Ed were pelting out of the house, just fifty metres or so behind.

  The car stopped. Ketty flung herself at the back door. She opened it and I hurled myself in. I crawled across the seat, making room for her. As Ketty followed me inside, the car door shut and the locks clicked down.

  Before I knew what was happening, the car was screeching off at top speed. I stared out the back window, where Nico and Ed were in plain sight, running flat out towards us.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I yelled. ‘What about the others?’

  Beside me Ketty gasped.

  I looked round, my mouth open to yell again at Jez and Alex.

  Except Jez and Alex weren’t in the car.

  Now I was up close I could see that the male driver was older than Jez, with shorter hair. His female passenger had turned and was facing me. She was older, too, with a jowly face and sallow skin.

  Fear surged through me.

  Ketty reached for the locked door, grappling hopelessly to try and open it.

  ‘Let us out,’ she yelled.

  The sallow-skinned woman kept her gaze on me. ‘Hello, Dylan, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’

  ‘Who are you?’ I said.

  ‘Can’t you guess?’ she said. ‘We’re old colleagues of your father . . . William Fox.’

  My eyes widened. ‘Milton and McKenna?’ I breathed.

  The woman nodded. ‘I’m Dr McKenna,’ she said.

  My mind went instantly back to my conversation with Harry. Milton and McKenna were the scientists after the Medusa code. The people who, Harry claimed, must have killed my dad.

  My blood iced up. I stared at Dr McKenna, my heart pumping furiously as the car shot down the road at top speed.

  ‘What do you want?’ Ketty’s voice rose frantically.

  Dr McKenna threw her a dismissive look. ‘Please don’t be alarmed, Keturah, we don’t want to hurt any of you. It’s Dylan we’re interested in.’

  Beside me, Ketty’s eyes glazed slightly. I guessed that Ed was contacting her through remote telepathy. Hoping Dr McKenna wouldn’t notice, I took a deep breath.

  ‘I don’t know where the Medusa code is,’ I said.

  ‘That’s right.’ Dr Milton spoke for the first time. His voice was harsh and hoarse. ‘You don’t know,’ he said. ‘But we do.’

  11: Milton and McKenna

  ‘You’re wrong,’ I said to Dr Milton. ‘You can’t know where the code is, because I don’t have it. Seriously, I have no freakin’ idea where it is.’

  ‘Where are you taking us?’ Ketty interrupted. ‘What did you do with Jez and Alex?’

  ‘Jez and Alex are fine. We left them tied up on the side of the road.’ Dr McKenna smoothed a strand of her long, dark hair off her face. ‘Dylan, you have the code with you right now.’

  I shook my head. ‘I sooo don’t have it.’

  ‘What makes you think that she does?’ Ketty insisted.

  Dr Milton leaned across and muttered something in McKenna’s ear. McKenna nodded.

  ‘We’ll stop in a minute,’ McKenna said to us, as if that was an answer.

  I pushed against the door, but it was locked. I sat back, trying frantically to work out how Ketty and I could escape. We were driving through open, deserted countryside. Even if we could get away from the car, I couldn’t see how we could hope to outrun it.

  Still, we had to try.

  Ketty’s eyes had glazed over again. She was either trying for a vision or communicating telepathically with Ed.

  I slipped my hand into my pocket and reached for my mobile. I wasn’t sure who I could call or how it would help, but I had to do something.

  I’d programmed Harry’s number in earlier. Maybe I could contact him? After all, Ed and Nico would undoubtedly have let Geri know what was happening, which would put the police on our tail. But Harry – and his scientist dad – might have specific advice for dealing with Milton and McKenna.

  The car sped along. McKenna was still watching me. Ketty folded her arms.

  ‘Where are you taking us?’ she said. ‘Geri will find us, you know.’

  McKenna shifted her gaze from me to Ketty.

  ‘We won’t need you for long,’ she said.

  What did that mean?

  Unnerved, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, hiding it in my hand. The text that had arrived while I was in Henson’s bedroom was registering on the screen.

  I warned u, bitch. Stop looking or die.

  Another message with the sender’s name blocked.

  Before I could scroll to Harry’s number, McKenna caught me.

  ‘I’ll take that,’ she snarled. She held out her hand for my phone.

  Reluctantly, I handed it over.

  ‘I know you killed my dad,’ I said. ‘Whatever happens now I won’t forget that.’

  McKenna frowned as she reached for Ketty’s cell phone, too.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ she said. ‘Of course we didn’t kill your father.’

  ‘Yeah, you did. And you sent me the texts, too,’ I said. ‘Warning me off looking into his death and tracking down the Medusa code. They didn’t work . . . as you can see.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ McKenna glanced down, reading the text. ‘We didn’t send this or any other texts.’

  ‘You’re denying it?’ I said.

  Dr McKenna rolled her eyes. ‘Why would we send you any texts like this? It doesn’t make sense for us to warn you. For a start, we didn’t know you were even aware of the Medusa code . . . Plus, why put you on your guard when we’re waiting outside to capture you as you left the house?’

  This was true. It didn’t make sense, but before I could think about it any more, Dr Milton turned off the main road and drove the car slowly down a rough dirt track.

  We bumped our way over earth and stones. The only light was coming from the car’s headlamps. I had no idea where we were. Milton drove us into a large wooden shed that loomed out of the darkness. He stopped the car.

  We were inside some kind of workshop, with building tools lined up on the shelves and a long workbench against the wall. Beside me, Ketty glazed over again. Hoping she was communicating our position to Ed, I tried to keep the two doctors’ focus on me.

  ‘Okay, so where the hell do you think this Medusa code is?’ I said.

  ‘It’s inside something you wear all the time,’ Milton said. ‘Show me your hands.’

  ‘For Pete’s sake!’ I held my arms out towards the front seat.

  ‘There.’ McKenna grasped my right hand. Her skin was cold and rough. She clutched at Mom’s white-gold wedding ring on my middle finger.

  ‘Don’t touch th—’

  I was too late. In a single, swift movement she’d tugged the ring off my finger.

  I stared at it, desperate to get it back. ‘How can the Medusa code be on that?’ I said.

  Ignoring me, Milton took the ring, then unlocked the car and got out. McKenna produced a gun and motioned Ketty and me outside, too.

  Milton had gone straight to the workbench. It was a trestle table, strewn with tools – everything from hammers and screwdrivers to more drill bits. Milton laid my ring on the table and switched on a powerful table lamp.

  Aware of McKenna’s gun, still trained on our heads, I took a deep breath. I couldn’t hope to reach the ring without leaving Ketty exposed, but somehow I had to get it back off Milton.

  ‘Why do you think that ring contains the code?’ I said. ‘It doesn’t even have any special engraving on it, just my parents’ initials and the date of their marriage. I’ve looked.’

  ‘Your father said it was there,’ Dr Milton said. ‘We recently found a note, scribbled to your mother, about the code being “inside the most precious expression of our love”.’

  Ketty breathed out slowly. ‘Their wedding ring,’ she
said.

  ‘Exactly,’ McKenna said.

  I shot a look at Ketty, hoping that she’d been communicating with Ed . . . that help was on its way . . .

  Milton had picked up a tiny drill. He switched it on and a low hum filled the garage.

  I watched, open-mouthed, as he positioned the drill over the ring.

  ‘You’re not cutting it open!’ My voice sounded as hollow as I felt. My mother’s wedding ring . . . not just the most precious expression of my parents’ love for each other, but the most precious memento from either of them that was still in my possession.

  ‘Has to be done, Dylan,’ Dr McKenna said briskly. ‘By the way, I understand your Medusa gift allows you to withstand physical pain, is that correct?’

  I nodded blankly, only barely noticing what she was saying.

  Across the room, Dr Milton switched on the drill. It filled the workshop with a loud hum. In a single, swift motion, Milton sliced the ring into two pieces.

  My hand flew to my mouth. My eyes could hardly take in what I was seeing.

  Milton held one of the pieces of ring under the light.

  ‘Dylan?’ McKenna said sharply. ‘I want to know more about your Medusa gift.’

  ‘Leave her alone.’ Ketty stepped in.

  McKenna raised her eyebrows. ‘Perhaps we’ll start with you, Ketty. Tell me about your precognition.’

  I was dimly aware of Ketty refusing to explain the limits of her own psychic ability, but I kept my focus on Milton and the ring.

  After a couple of minutes, he turned towards McKenna, an expression of bewilderment on his face.

  ‘It’s not here,’ Milton said. He held out the ring in his hand. It was now cut up into several tiny segments.

  I stared at it, feeling sick.

  ‘It must be,’ McKenna said.

  As she took a step closer, the huge garage doors behind us sprang open.

  I spun round. Nico, Ed, Alex and Jez were in the doorway. With a roar, Nico teleported a ladder propped up by the door into the air. Seconds later the ladder was hurtling over our car, straight at Milton and McKenna. The ladder slammed into them, forcing them both against the wall behind.

  Pieces of ring fell from Milton’s hand. With another yell, Nico forced the ladder harder against the two scientists. As they stumbled backwards, he twisted his hand in the air and all hell broke loose.