The Medusa Project: Double-Cross

  Meet you there, I thought-spoke to Ed.

  Okay. Ed hesitated. Avery says to wait outside for us when you get there.

  Sure.

  Cal flew with amazing speed, far faster than when he’d brought the four of us to Sydney earlier. He explained it was easier to move with just one other person, rather than having to extend his energy to four others. That made sense to me – it was kind of like being able to lift lighter items using my telekinesis, but struggling to move something really heavy. He kept high above the buildings for most of the journey. It wasn’t a highly populated area – we just had to hope that anyone who did catch sight of us wouldn’t be able to work out exactly what they were seeing. At least it was dark.

  I didn’t want to think about what Diamond and his men would make of my telekinesis. Keeping our powers secret had always been a priority and now I’d used my ability in front of an entire roomful of people. As had Cal.

  We reached McMurdo’s house within a few minutes. From high in the sky, using the street lamps to see by, I scanned the area for signs that he was there.

  ‘His van’s not here,’ Cal said. ‘He’s probably still outside Diamond’s bar, waiting for us.’

  I nodded, my heart pounding. A moment later we’d landed a few metres from the house in the shelter of a copse of trees.

  I took a second to study the door we’d left the house through earlier. It looked like a fairly straightforward lock to open.

  ‘Suppose McMurdo’s releasing the Medutox into the whole house?’ Cal said. ‘We won’t be able to use our powers.’

  ‘It won’t matter if I can open the door from here,’ I said. ‘We’ll move as soon as Avery arr—’

  ‘Help!’ A high-pitched shout sounded faintly from inside the house. ‘Help!’

  I froze. Dylan. Cal and I exchanged looks.

  ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Cal said slowly.

  I nodded. ‘We can’t wait,’ I said. ‘Let’s get inside now.’

  And, side by side, we rushed towards the house.

  22: The Proof

  I reached out my hands as we ran, then jerked my wrist to the side, focusing on the lock inside the door.

  I felt the lock release. Yes. I sped up, Cal at my heels.

  ‘Wait out here,’ I panted as we reached the door. ‘That way you won’t lose your Medusa ability. I’ll go in and get Dylan. You can fly us both out of here in a minute.’

  Cal hesitated a moment, then nodded. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Yell if you need me.’

  I darted inside, then stopped to get my bearings. I remembered this shadowy hallway from earlier. The room where Dylan was, presumably, still being held was two doors down on the right. As I crept towards it, I listened out for noise from the rest of the house. The place was silent.

  I hurried towards Dylan’s door, unlocking it with another twist of my hand. At least my telekinesis was intact. I reached the door and pushed it open as Dylan must have pulled it from the inside. I stumbled towards her.

  ‘Nico!’ she gasped.

  ‘Are you okay?’ I whispered, peering into the corridor again to check no one else was here. ‘We heard you yelling.’

  ‘Yeah, I was trying to break the door down.’ Dylan grimaced, rubbing her shoulder. ‘It was too heavy, especially without my Medusa power.’ She stepped outside the room and shut the door. ‘McMurdo’s got that Medutox stuff on slow release into the room, but it’s not in the rest of the house.’ She paused. ‘Where is McMurdo anyway?’

  ‘We gave him the slip. Cal’s outside. Let’s go.’

  ‘Wait.’ Dylan grabbed my arm. ‘What about McMurdo’s evidence on Geri? He said it was here, remember? It’s probably in his safe upstairs. You could open it, like you opened the vault in the bank.’

  I stared at her. ‘How d’you even know he’s got a safe upstairs?’

  ‘McMurdo mentioned it.’ She gripped my arm more tightly. ‘Come on, Nico. McMurdo’s not here and—’

  ‘He could be back any minute,’ I said.

  ‘But the film of Geri’s confession is proof that she killed my mom and dad,’ Dylan insisted, her eyes wide. ‘If we have that, we can discredit her claim that we killed Bookman.’

  She was right. The evidence on Geri was the only thing that was going to get us home to England.

  ‘Where exactly is this safe?’ I said.

  Dylan flashed me a grin and raced towards the stairs in the corner of the hallway. I followed her up, two steps at a time.

  ‘How long after you’d been sprayed with Medutox did it take for your Medusa power to come back?’ Dylan asked.

  ‘About half an hour.’

  Dylan groaned. ‘That’s ages. I hate being without it.’ She pointed to the door opposite the head of the stairs. ‘The safe is through there.’

  We ran into the room ahead and switched on the light. It was large and neat and ordered – cupboards down one side, a table and work lamp with a laptop surrounded by piles of paper on the other. The overall effect was smart, though not particularly expensive. Nowhere near in the same league as Avery’s ranch. A large painting hung on the wall beside the desk. A quick glance around suggested the area it concealed was the most likely place for the safe.

  ‘Help me with this,’ I said.

  Seconds later the painting was off the wall and Dylan and I were staring at the built-in safe.

  ‘I don’t think we’ll be able to pull this one out,’ she murmured.

  I made a face, remembering how the two of us had ripped out the safe in Fergus’s Edinburgh house. Back there, the plaster wall had been crumbling away and the safe was old. Here, the steel shone like someone had recently polished it and the whole thing was set firmly into its surroundings with rivets.

  ‘Like you said, opening this can’t be any harder than feeling my way round the bolts in that bank vault; it’s just a case of not rushing it.’

  Dylan rolled her eyes. ‘Awesome,’ she snarled. ‘Because we have all the time in the world.’

  Ignoring her, I held my hands over the safe and moved the knob telekinetically round. I closed my eyes, all my energy focused on waiting for the ridge that the internal workings would hit when I’d reached the first number in the combination.

  There.

  I opened my eyes. Dylan had wandered across the room to the window and was peering out at the street below.

  I squeezed my eyes tight shut again and felt for the next number. It came up quickly, but the third number took ages to find. I had to rotate the external knob several times before I felt the ridge and stopped.

  As I searched for the fourth number, I could sense Dylan pacing the room, her impatience filling the air. I tried to block her presence out, concentrating on the work in front of me.

  At last the safe clicked open. Dylan was beside me in seconds, pulling open the door. She reached in, foraging through a pile of notebooks and papers.

  ‘Here!’ She held up an old-style CD in a plastic case that was at the bottom of the pile. It was unmarked.

  ‘Let’s try it.’ I took the CD and turned on the MacBook at the desk across the room. It hummed speedily into life. I found the disk drive and inserted the CD.

  We stood in front of the screen, watching as the DVD player program flashed up.

  ‘Come on, come on,’ Dylan muttered.

  I held my breath as the screen fizzled into a grainy recording of what looked like another room in McMurdo’s house. A print very similar to the one concealing the safe hung on the wall. Geri stood beside it, visible from the waist up. She was speaking as the film started, her voice full of emotion. It took me a couple of sentences to catch on to what she was saying.

  ‘I had to kill William,’ she said. ‘It was the only way to protect the Medusa Project. Now you’ve got to keep your end of the bargain.’

  ‘That’s it,’ Dylan said, clasping her hands together. As she spoke, a door slammed downstairs.

  ‘McMurdo!’ Dylan reached for the keyboard, holding her finger
over the eject button.

  As she clicked down, footsteps echoed up from downstairs. It sounded like more than one person. I crept to the door, my heart beating fast. As I did so, Ed chose that moment to contact me telepathically.

  Nico, any sign of McMur—?

  Ed, listen, he’s in the house and he’s not alone. I need to focus.

  Ed vanished without another word.

  I stood in the doorway. The low murmur of voices drifted up the stairs.

  I crept back to Dylan. She was still standing over the Mac, prodding frantically at the keys.

  ‘They don’t know we’re up here yet,’ I whispered. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘I can’t get the freakin’ disk out,’ she hissed. ‘It’s really old and this is a modern computer.’

  ‘What?’ I pressed the eject button myself. The computer didn’t even register the motion. I swore under my breath.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Dylan said desperately.

  ‘Take the whole laptop.’ I slapped the lid shut.

  ‘She’s gone!’ McMurdo’s cry roared up the stairs towards us.

  ‘Hurry!’ Dylan grabbed the Mac off the desk.

  We raced to the window as the sound of footsteps echoed up the stairs.

  I opened the window, my heart in my mouth. I looked out. Where was Cal? He must have been hiding close by because he seemed to zoom out of nowhere.

  He hovered outside the window. ‘What are you guys doing?’ he hissed. ‘McMurdo’s just gone into the house. He’s—’

  ‘Help us through.’ Dylan passed him the computer and clambered onto the ledge.

  ‘Be careful.’ Cal held the Mac precariously under one arm and reached for Dylan’s wrist with his free hand.

  Outside, on the landing, the footsteps pounded closer.

  Holding her steady, Cal helped Dylan to slide off the ledge until she was hovering beside him in mid-air, gripping his shoulder. Cal held out his hand to me. ‘Come on.’

  Behind me the door opened. A shot fired, whizzing past my ear.

  Cal vanished. I spun round, raising the desk beside me off the floor. I hurled it at the figure in the doorway. It crashed in front of her: Geri Paterson.

  We stared at each other. Geri’s eyes were round with shock. My first thought – more of a desperate hope, really – was that maybe this wasn’t Geri at all, but Amy. I searched for the giveaway signs Amy had displayed when she’d taken on Geri’s appearance. But the woman in front of me in her smart red suit and sleek blonde bob had all the poise and confidence I knew from the real Geri and none of the round-shouldered meekness of Amy’s imitation version.

  ‘What the hell are you doing, Nico?’ Geri snapped. ‘What have you done with Dylan?’

  I forced myself not to look through the window to where I hoped Cal and Dylan were now safe. Instead, I focused on the picture, still propped up by the wall. If I could slam that against Geri, I could maybe run past her and get out through the front door downstairs.

  As I raised the painting telekinetically into the air, McMurdo rushed into the room. He stood, panting, beside Geri, his spray can in his hand.

  ‘For goodness’ sake, use the Medutox!’ Geri shrieked.

  As I hurled the painting towards them, McMurdo dodged sideways. The Medutox spray hit me in the face. I tried not to breathe in, but it was no good. I could feel it burning the back of my throat. Desperate now, I turned round, hands outstretched, searching for another object to throw at them.

  My eyes lit on the floor lamp in the corner. I tried to lift it up, but the Medutox had already taken effect. My telekinesis was gone.

  Heart racing, I glanced at the window. I could see Cal out of the corner of my eye. He was alone – presumably having deposited Dylan safely on the ground – where Geri and McMurdo couldn’t see him. Man, if I could just reach the window, Cal would help me get away.

  But McMurdo must have followed my gaze. As I took my first step towards Cal, McMurdo rushed over to the window himself. He pointed his Medutox can at Cal and pressed the nozzle.

  ‘No!’ I yelled, as the fine mist sprayed out.

  Cal somersaulted backwards through the air and out of my range of vision. I ran to the window. Had the Medutox reached him? No.

  Overwhelmed with relief, I watched Cal landing in the trees beside a waiting Dylan. They disappeared from view.

  I turned back to Geri. She was looking at me, a gun in her elegantly manicured hand. She narrowed her eyes as she took in the open safe and the upturned desk.

  ‘They’ve got the proof,’ she said furiously, turning her gun from me to McMurdo. ‘They’ve got the evidence against me.’

  McMurdo stared at the gun. I suddenly registered that he was as much Geri’s prisoner as I was. And, from the way he was looking at her revolver, I guessed that, like me, he was working out his chances of getting it away from her.

  ‘Cal will take the evidence to his father,’ McMurdo said. ‘And Avery Jones will know how to get it to Interpol.’ He shot Geri a wry smile. ‘Even you can’t control Interpol, Geri.’

  My heart thudded. At the mention of Avery’s name, I remembered that he and the others were on their way here. When Ed had made contact before, he’d said they would only be a few minutes. Maybe I didn’t have to hold on much longer.

  ‘Then we’ll get to Avery Jones before he has a chance to contact the police,’ Geri said. ‘Between the three of us we should be able to get the evidence back before Avery can show it to anyone.’

  ‘Okay,’ McMurdo said, eyeing Geri’s gun again.

  ‘I’m not helping you,’ I said defiantly. ‘There’s nothing you can do to me that will make me go after that evidence for you.’

  ‘Really?’ Geri said with a cold smile. ‘Maybe not to you . . . but perhaps you’ll help me if someone else’s life is at stake.’

  ‘Who?’ I said. What was she talking about? None of the others were here.

  Geri took a step sideways, then dragged a girl into view. She was bound and gagged, her head bowed.

  As she looked up, I realised with a jolt that it was Ketty.

  23: Protecting Ketty

  My head spun. What was Ketty doing here? How had Geri managed to find her?

  She stood looking towards the floor, the ropes round her wrists digging into her skin. Her eyes above the gag were wild with fear. I’d never seen Ketty look so completely terrified.

  I clenched my fists, then released them, instinctively trying to engage my telekinesis to undo her bindings. It was a moment before I remembered the Medutox I’d just been sprayed with.

  I was helpless.

  ‘Why’ve you taken Ketty?’ I yelled.

  Geri shook her head. She beckoned McMurdo over. Holding the gun primed in front of her, Geri spoke to him under her breath. I couldn’t hear what she said. I turned back to Ketty who was still standing in the doorway, her body shaking, her eyes fixed on me.

  I couldn’t work it out. I’d only been communicating with Ed a few minutes ago. Why hadn’t he mentioned Ketty was missing? My mind raced on, desperate to work it out. Either Geri had somehow captured them all, which wasn’t conceivable in the time that had elapsed, or Ketty hadn’t been with Ed and Avery when Ed made contact with me. Which meant they didn’t know Geri had her.

  It suddenly hit me that there was no way I could warn Ed about any of this. Even if he tried to make contact, I wouldn’t be able to hear him because of the Medutox.

  ‘Come on!’ Geri’s sharp voice brought me back to the present.

  As she bound my wrists, McMurdo led Ketty downstairs.

  Keeping one eye on Geri’s gun, I followed them to the ground floor.

  As we left the house, I looked around for Cal and Dylan. No sign. Surely they were watching us, though? And surely Avery and Ed couldn’t be far away?

  McMurdo led Ketty down the yard and bundled her into the back seat of a large station wagon parked outside the house.

  Geri indicated I should get in next to Ketty. She herself sat in t
he passenger seat at the front, while McMurdo slid into the driver’s position and switched on the engine. I gave a last look around. There was no sign of any of the others.

  ‘Get in,’ Geri snapped. ‘Hurry.’

  As I got in, she slid shut the partition that separated the front from the back of the car.

  She turned to McMurdo, presumably giving him an order about where to drive. As we set off, Geri took out her BlackBerry and started prodding at the keys. I was too far away to see what exactly she was doing.

  Again, I tried to use my telekinesis. The rope round my wrists, which would have been so simple to untie under normal circumstances, was completely impossible for me to undo.

  It was unbelievably frustrating. I sat back with a sigh and turned to Ketty. She was still looking at me, her golden-brown eyes wide with alarm.

  Keeping an eye on Geri up front, I shuffled across the back seat so I was closer to Ketty. There was no way I could undo the ropes on our wrists or the gag in Ketty’s mouth, but I could talk and she could listen.

  I leaned my head close in to Ketty’s ear. She stiffened.

  ‘We’re going to be all right,’ I whispered. ‘Cal and Dylan were outside the house. They must have seen us come out – they’ll be able to follow us. How did you get separated from Ed and Avery?’

  Ketty shook her head, presumably to indicate the impossibility of answering.

  ‘Sorry.’ I swallowed. ‘Listen,’ I said. ‘I just found out Avery’s my dad and Cal’s my brother. That’s why Cal was kind of weird with me earlier. I . . . I . . . know I overreacted when you went off with him.’ I hesitated. ‘But he’s cool.’

  Ketty drew her head back, gazing at me with soft, curious eyes.

  As she looked at me, I suddenly imagined just how awful it would be if she decided she preferred being with Cal to me.

  My heart skipped a beat and I realised I had no idea what to say to make her stay. Girls liked to hear about your feelings . . . that much I knew . . .

  I took a deep breath and leaned closer to her ear again.

  ‘I haven’t said this for ages, but . . .’

  I stammered to a halt and glanced to the front of the car. Geri was still bent over her BlackBerry while McMurdo was concentrating on the fast, empty road ahead of us. It was almost dawn. There were fields all around. Mountains in the distance. My heart hammered. Ketty raised her eyebrows, waiting for me to finish my sentence.