The Medusa Project: The Set-Up

  He had used me. He had used Dylan and Ed too. He didn’t care about us. All he cared about was finding the formula that – at a terrible cost – had given us our special abilities. And now, even though he knew that this formula would kill any pregnant mothers whose babies were implanted with it, he was trying to sell it.

  He had lied and cheated and betrayed my trust.

  Bastard.

  I felt like I’d been chucked out of a plane and was freefalling through a storm.

  A red haze coloured the park. Rage boiled inside me . . . anger twisting and roaring . . . I held out my hands, pointing at the trees and the benches and the flower beds around me, my only thought to tear and destroy.

  Branches swayed violently . . . a bench flew several metres across the ground . . . flowers ripped themselves out of the earth . . . Out of the corner of my eye I could see people in the park gathering . . . staring . . . and Jack and the other man, Carson, looking round, eyes wide.

  A dead branch, hanging from a tree just above my head, tore off. In a second I’d transported it across the bushes to the path where the two men stood. Without thinking about it, I flung the branch as hard as I could against Jack. He stumbled sideways to the ground. The computer disk that I’d brought him fell out of his pocket and onto the grass. I summoned it straight into the stream and heard its dull plop into the water. I knew my priority should be getting hold of the tiny memory card which Jack had placed in his wallet, but all I really wanted to do right now was get even with him. As Jack struggled to stand up, I raised the branch again and hurled it towards him.

  I missed Jack. The branch whacked Carson round the stomach. He fell to the ground, then looked up. Gasping, he saw me . . . pointed at me. Crap. Jack turned. I ducked back behind my bushes, then peered out. Furious I tried to lift the branch again, but now I was consciously trying it wouldn’t move. Damn.

  Jack’s face filled with alarm. He said something I couldn’t hear to Carson, who was still doubled over on the ground, then ran towards me.

  ‘Nico.’

  I turned and fled, racing past the bushes, up over the low fence, along the path. I glanced at an overflowing litter bin ahead of me. I held out my hand and made a twisting motion to pull the rubbish out. Crisp packets, ice cream wrappers, plastic bags, bottles all flew up, into the air. I directed them behind me into what I hoped was Jack’s path.

  I heard him yell and gritted my teeth as I ran. I pounded on, swerving past a rollerblader coming up the path. Just ahead was a woman with a pram. As I noticed it, the front wheels of the pram rose a fraction into the air.

  Baby. There’s a baby in there!

  As suddenly as it had started, the rage inside me vanished. I froze with terror. In a few more seconds my out-of-control telekinesis would have tipped that pram over, spilling the baby onto the ground.

  The pram settled back onto the ground. The woman pushing it stopped for a second, clearly bemused by what had just happened. She frowned, then started walking again.

  I stopped running and forced myself to focus on the stream that drifted alongside me. I was terrified that if I looked at on the pram it would start to rise up again. My heart drummed against my chest. I stood, waiting for the woman to pass. Don’t look. Don’t look.

  Seconds later, Jack grabbed me. He swung me round to face him. I looked up. He was panting, his forehead shining with sweat.

  ‘You little idiot,’ he spat. ‘What the hell were you thinking?’

  ‘You were selling the Medusa gene formula.’ The accusation ripped out of me. ‘Even though it kills people.’

  Jack tugged me onto the path. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Carson’s only winded, he’ll be right behind us. And believe me, you don’t want him to find us until he’s calmed down.’

  We ran up the path to The Mall. Buckingham Palace was on the left, but Jack swerved to the right, then took a series of twists and turns until he was satisfied Carson was not following us. He hailed a black cab, pushed me inside, then slumped against the back seat.

  ‘What got into you, Nico?’ he panted. ‘Why did you do all that . . . the park, chucking the original computer disk into the water?’

  I stared at him. I couldn’t believe he couldn’t see it.

  ‘You used me.’ I tried to keep my voice steady. ‘You told me a bunch of lies about helping me develop my abilities but all along what you really wanted was for me to steal that formula off Fergus so you could sell it.’

  ‘No.’ Jack ran his hand through his hair. ‘I did . . . I do want to help you make the most of the telekinesis. And when I met you I had no idea Fergus even had the formula. Both he and William told me that William destroyed it just before he died.’

  ‘You’re lying.’ I hesitated. ‘Anyway, even if it’s true, you were still prepared to sell the secret of the Medusa gene when you know that it killed my mum. And you met her . . . you said you liked her . . . you . . .’

  My voice cracked as a huge sob built up in my chest. I’d trusted Jack. I thought he cared about me.

  ‘There are things you don’t understand,’ Jack said wearily.

  ‘Really?’ I turned away.

  ‘Yes, and one thing you don’t understand is just how dangerous Carson – that man I was meeting – is.’

  I shook my head. ‘I don’t care. Let me out of this cab.’

  ‘No.’

  I looked out of the window. We were almost back at Jack’s mews house. My panic levels suddenly ratcheted up. I wanted to get home. To see Fergus. Call Ketty.

  The doors of the cab were locked. I felt for my phone.

  ‘I’ll take that,’ Jack said.

  ‘I—’

  ‘You’ll do what you’re told.’ Jack opened his jacket just enough to reveal a revolver in a small holster.

  The atmosphere immediately tightened. I stared at the gun.

  Jack glanced at the cab driver, presumably to check he was unable to see the revolver from where he was sitting, up front.

  ‘This gun is real.’ Jack’s voice was low and tense. ‘And I know how to use it.’

  I stared at him. Surely this was a bluff. Jack might be a liar and a conman, but he wasn’t capable of hurting anyone. Was he?

  ‘You wouldn’t . . .’ I stammered.

  ‘Don’t try me.’ Jack smiled – a mean, thin smile. I realised, with a jolt, that I wasn’t sure whether he would use the gun or not. Feeling sick, I handed Jack my mobile.

  ‘You don’t understand what you’ve interfered with here, Nico. Carson is a dangerous man. Capable of anything. He makes Geri look like a pussycat.’

  I stared at him. ‘I thought you worked for Geri?’

  ‘Not now.’ Jack’s smile broadened. ‘Carson pays more.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘It’s simple. Geri was paying me to round up the four teens affected by the Medusa gene – you, Dylan, Ed and Viper, whoever she is. But when you and Dylan discovered William’s research hadn’t been destroyed after all, I knew that I could make twice as much money from selling the Medusa gene formula itself.’

  ‘Why not sell it to Geri? Surely she’d be interested.’

  ‘She would, but I’d have a massive job getting any extra money out of her for something I just stumbled across. Anyway, when it comes down to it, the formula’s only of limited value to Geri. She would never invest in something that kills innocent people. Carson, on the other hand . . . ‘

  ‘So you’re going behind her back?’ I said. ‘And not looking for Viper any more?’

  Jack shrugged. ‘It has to be done.’

  ‘But why sell to Carson?’ My mouth felt dry.

  ‘I’ve known him for years – no details of his actual deals, of course, but the rumours about him are legendary. He buys and sells biological weapons. I knew he’d love Medusa. Imagine the power that psychic abilities would give an army.’

  ‘But it doesn’t work like that – we didn’t get our powers until we were fourteen or fifteen years old . . .’

&n
bsp; Jack laughed. ‘Only because William and Geri refused to experiment on adult humans. They said it was too risky. But Carson won’t care – he’ll have a team of scientists trying to make the formula work on all ages. And if he can’t, he’ll still be able to breed kids like you. Some third world dictator’ll be up for that, I’m sure. Fifteen years isn’t as long as you think it is, if you’re going to own an army of brainwashed child soldiers with psychic powers at the end of it.’

  My breath caught in my throat. ‘But don’t you care about all those people getting hurt?’

  Jack shrugged. ‘I’m not doing any of the hurting, am I? If it wasn’t me, Carson’d be paying someone else . . .’

  ‘But you’re hurting me,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you just let me go?’

  Jack shook his head. ‘Not until my deal’s gone through with Carson. I can’t risk you telling anyone. Anyway, Carson saw you in the park. He knows you’ve seen his face and he’s furious with me for being followed. If I’m going to convince him to go ahead with the deal he’ll want to know I’ve got you under control. At least I still have the formula.’ He patted his pocket where he’d put the memory card.

  The cab braked. We were at the mews house.

  I was still fixed on the gun. My heart pounded.

  ‘Out.’

  My legs shook as we got out of the cab. Jack paid the driver quickly, then dragged me inside the house. Dylan obviously wasn’t back from her shopping trip yet. Jack walked me through to the kitchen and opened the utility room door.

  ‘Inside.’

  I stumbled into the tiny utility area. There was nothing in here except a washing machine and a freezer on either side of the door. Barely room even to sit down. Jack shoved me inside and slammed the door.

  Before I could believe what was happening, the key had been double-clicked in the lock, then removed.

  I was a prisoner.

  Dylan came in from her shopping trip about an hour later. As soon as I heard her footsteps tap across the hall floor I yelled her name.

  The footsteps stopped. ‘Nico, where are you?’

  As I shouted back, Jack came thundering down the stairs. He was talking fast, his voice too low for me to make out what he was saying. I caught snatches of Dylan’s reply.

  ‘But why . . .? When did . . .?’

  Then Jack must have dragged her upstairs, because the house fell silent. I sank back against the washing machine. There wasn’t even enough room in the utility area to sit on the floor and stretch out my legs. I’d already checked the window. Like all the downstairs windows in the mews house, it had bars over the glass. No hope of me getting past them, with or without telekinesis.

  How was I going to get out of here?

  The day stretched on and the light started to fade. If Dylan didn’t manage either to get me out or to get help, my only option seemed to be to tackle Jack whenever he next appeared.

  A chill snaked down my back as it occurred to me he might, simply, just leave me here to die of starvation. But, no, that didn’t make sense. Hadn’t Jack said he needed me alive? That he had to prove to Carson that I was under control in order to reassure him it was still safe to buy the formula? Jack was still planning to use me.

  One way or another, his plan had always been to use me.

  I was lost in thoughts of how I was going to hurt him when I got the chance, when there was a light tap on the door.

  ‘Nico?’

  ‘Dylan?’ I pressed my hand against the door. ‘Listen, I don’t know what Jack’s told you but he’s selling the formula, the one for the Medusa gene that killed my mum . . . and yours. That was what was on that disk . . .’

  ‘I know, Jack just told me, sssh,’ Dylan hissed. ‘Listen, Nico, you’re in big trouble. That man you saw Jack with in the park. His name is Cars—’

  ‘I know. Look, can’t you find the key to this door and get me out of—’

  ‘You don’t know.’ Dylan’s voice was insistent. ‘Carson is ruthless. He saw your telekinesis in action and now he wants you as well as the formula.’

  My breath caught in my throat. ‘He wants me? But that doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Yes it does. Think about it. The formula alone is valuable, sure. But you’re the proof that it works. The living proof.’

  There was a short pause while this sank in. Once Carson had me, I reckoned, he’d never let me go.

  ‘Listen,’ Dylan hissed urgently. ‘You’ve got some time to get out of here. Jack’s no killer. I mean I wouldn’t put it past him to shoot you in the leg to stop you running away, but he won’t kill you in cold blood.’

  ‘Then . . .?’

  ‘Will you listen. Carson’s insisting if they’re going to rescue the deal, Jack has to hand you over as well as the formula. There’s a heliport round the corner. He’s getting a helicopter from there first thing tomorrow morning. And you’re going with him.’

  My mind reeled.

  ‘I have to go,’ Dylan whispered. ‘If he hears me, he’ll think I’m helping you.’

  ‘You have to help me.’ Panic clutched at my guts. ‘Dylan you have to find some way—’

  ‘I’ll do what I can, but it’s dangerous. If Jack thinks I’m helping you then he’ll tell Carson about me too.’ She hesitated. ‘You shouldn’t have let on that you were against him going behind Geri’s back and selling the formula.’

  ‘I had to,’ I hissed. ‘That formula kills people. Dylan, please . . .’

  But all that came back was the sound of Dylan’s footsteps, softly padding into the distance.

  I slumped, defeated, to the floor. Dylan was too scared to defy Jack. Which meant escaping from here and getting help to stop Jack was down to me alone.

  Fear and misery welled up inside me. How stupid was I, not to have listened to Fergus’s warnings? He had told me Jack was untrustworthy.

  But I’d refused to listen.

  I sank to the floor, my head in my hands, trying to work out what to do.

  Hours later, when it was pitch black outside, the key turned in the lock and Jack opened the door.

  I scrambled to my feet, ready to fight.

  Jack set a tray of food on top of the washing machine. I resisted the impulse to hurl it into his face. I needed to get closer to the front door before I caused any kind of distraction.

  ‘I need to go to the bathroom,’ I said.

  ‘Find a bucket.’ Jack scowled.

  ‘Please.’

  He hesitated, then conceded. ‘Okay, but no telekinesis.’

  ‘Fine.’

  I walked through the kitchen, Jack right behind me. There was no sign of Dylan. The ground floor of the mews house just consisted of the kitchen, hallway and a small bathroom by the front door.

  I glanced at the front door.

  ‘It’s double locked and bolted,’ Jack said. ‘Now go and pee.’

  I nodded. With a jolt I noticed Dylan’s phone, sitting on the hall table.

  With all the locked doors and barred windows, a call for help was going to be my only chance of getting away.

  Playing for time I turned to face Jack, leaving my back to the mobile.

  ‘So what’s Geri going to do when she finds out you’ve double-crossed her?’ I asked.

  ‘When I get my hands on all the money Carson promised me, hiding from Geri’ll be a cinch. I’ll be able to go anywhere in the world,’ Jack boasted.

  I held my hands behind my back at what I hoped was the same level as the tabletop. Focus. Breathe.

  ‘And what if Carson doesn’t pay up? He didn’t sound like he would back in the park.’

  ‘He will.’ Jack shook his head. ‘No more questions, Nico. Get in the bathroom, if you’re going.’

  Move.

  A second later the phone zoomed into my hands. I clutched it tight and slid it into my pocket.

  ‘Keep your hair on.’ I walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

  ‘Don’t lock it,’ Jack instructed. ‘You’ve got two minutes.’

&n
bsp; The bathroom was tiny – just a loo and a sink and a shower. I stood in the shower cubicle, hoping the additional wall would reduce the sound of my voice when I started talking.

  I got out the phone. Who to call? Geri Paterson was the obvious choice – she’d want to know Jack was double-crossing her – but neither her name nor the codename ‘Medusa’ were listed on Dylan’s phone. I could just dial 999, but everyone, from Fergus to Jack, had told me that Geri was ‘above the law’, and – as long as she still thought Jack was working for her – she’d still be protecting him. Anyway, I didn’t have enough time to start explaining about the Medusa gene over the phone – even if anyone would believe me.

  I could have called Fergus, but I didn’t know his mobile off by heart. And by the time I’d got the number for school and tracked him down, Jack would be breaking the bathroom door down to get me out.

  I stood for a second, riven with indecision. Come on. Dylan could come downstairs at any moment and see her phone was missing. Hurry.

  And then it struck me. The obvious person to call.

  Ketty. I’d memorised her phone number almost without trying, weeks ago.

  Hands trembling, I dialled.

  Ketty answered on the third ring. ‘Hello?’ Her voice sounded strained.

  Something squeezed tight in my chest. God, it was good to hear her voice.

  ‘It’s me.’ I stopped. All the emotion of the past day welled up again. For a second I was on the verge of tears.

  ‘Nico?’ Ketty’s voice rose. ‘Are you okay? I—’

  ‘Sssh. You have to listen to me,’ I hissed. ‘I’m trapped. Jack Linden’s holding me prisoner. I nicked this phone but I’ll have to put it back before they see it’s missing.’

  ‘They?’ Ketty said anxiously. ‘I don’t under—’

  ‘It’s too complicated to explain but you have to tell Fergus. He knows Jack . . . he’ll be able to—’

  ‘But what’s happened? Where are you?’

  Outside the door Jack shouted, ‘Thirty seconds.’

  ‘Who was . . . was that Jack Linden?’ Ketty sounded frantic.

  ‘Listen.’ I whispered the mews address. ‘Just get to Fergus. He’ll know what to do.’