Every Second Counts

  Anyway, what did it matter? We were all going to die within the next day or two. All going to die. I said the words in my head, but they didn’t feel real. And yet now I thought about it, knowing I had been deliberately infected with Qilota made sense of everything that happened the day I went to rescue Jas. Riley had lured me to the ops base, exposed me to the virus during those first few hours, when I’d been unconscious, then let me escape. It had all seemed too easy at the time. And now I knew why. The whole thing had been a trap. A set-up.

  And Jas and I were the fall guys.

  A new fury rose inside me. I was going to defeat Riley now, whatever it took. Not just to save my life and Jas’s, but in order to show the world what an evil man he really was. I thought back to how I’d told Charlie that not killing him was the right thing to do. Maybe it was. But in that moment, for the first time in my life, I was certain that if I’d had a gun in my hand, I would have used it.

  ‘I reckon we’ve got about a minute, then the soldier will do his next sweep,’ Charlie whispered. She was standing next to me in the trees, peering through the gate towards Riley’s house. ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘Yes.’ I wrote Aaron a quick text telling him his father was Riley’s prisoner and to be on his guard. I didn’t say anything about the virus. There would be time enough for that later. Maybe – if we were lucky – we wouldn’t have to explain until we’d got hold of the antidote.

  I sent the text then switched off the phone. As I put it in my pocket, the soldier at the front of the house set off along the side passage. As soon as he disappeared from view, Charlie beckoned me to the gate. Together we put our feet on the first rung and clawed up for a hand hold. I reached the top first, being taller, then swung my legs over and jumped. I landed with the lightest of thuds on the gravel and held out my arms to help Charlie down. As we hurried along the side passage, it struck me that we had climbed the gate far more quickly and quietly than we could have done when we’d broken into this house all those months ago. And yet back then I’d felt like a superhero. Now, after being betrayed by those I trusted and spending many weeks on the run, I was far more aware of how vulnerable I was. A few months ago I’d belonged at home and at school; I’d wanted to be part of the EFA and stop all the extremist violence that was taking over the country. Now I belonged nowhere – and to no one, except the girl beside me.

  We stopped at the door into the back garden.

  ‘Let me check it out,’ I whispered. I reached up to the top of the door with my hands, then hauled myself up until I could peek over. There was no sign of the soldier in the back garden. ‘Clear,’ I whispered.

  Seconds later I was over the door. I landed silently on the path on the other side, then waited as Charlie sprang down beside me. Together we inched along the brick wall and peered around the back of the house.

  Riley’s office window was on the first floor, but which room?

  ‘That one,’ Charlie whispered, pointing up at the window on the far right.

  Moonlight glinted off the glass. I had, vaguely, hoped that there might be a drainpipe we could use to get a purchase. There wasn’t. On the other hand, part of the wall was covered in ivy. It didn’t look strong enough to hold both of us, but it was all there was.

  ‘Let me go first,’ I said. ‘Follow once you see I’m in.’ I set off across the garden path, ducking under the ground-floor windows until I reached the ivy on the other side. I tugged at the leaves above my head. A few tore, but the plant was well rooted against the wall. I hauled myself up. Hand over hand, I clambered up the wall like a monkey. I would never have been able to climb like this last year. In spite of the situation, it felt good to really push my muscles to work hard and to have to keep balance as I did so. Charlie had said an early symptom of the virus would be physical weakness. How much more time before that kicked in?

  I reached the window ledge, took the knife from my pocket and levered up the sill until I’d made a gap wide enough to hook my arm over. It gave way with a groan. I froze. How loud had that sounded? I knew how far noise carried in the night air. I needed to hurry, in case the guard came back early to investigate. More ivy tore away from the wall as I scrabbled to get my knee over the ledge. I slid into the room as quietly as I could, then tiptoed to the door. I could hear two men arguing downstairs. One of them was Riley. I curled my lip at the sound of his voice. I didn’t recognise the other man speaking, but he was clearly angry about something.

  I hurried across the room to the desk, experiencing a strong sense of déjà vu. Last time we’d been here, Charlie had been given instructions in her earpiece from Taylor about how to break through the computer’s password and encryption codes. It had been a complicated process and I was certain Charlie wouldn’t be able to remember half of the data needed.

  I stared down at the computer, my heart sinking.

  How on earth were we going to get into Riley’s computer and find out about Operation Silvercross?

  Charlie

  I clambered into the room and sped over to Nat. He was standing in front of Riley’s computer.

  ‘I have no idea how to get past the encryption on this,’ he whispered.

  ‘It’s not a problem,’ I whispered back.

  Nat’s face lit up. ‘You mean you can remember how to get through it?’

  ‘No,’ I whispered. ‘There’s no need. There’ll be info in paper files too. Uchi keeps notebooks – I’ve seen them before.’

  Nat shook his head. ‘I don’t see any notebooks in here.’

  I hurried over to the desk and turned over the keyboard. I had expected to find a key, just as there had been in Uchi’s office. But nothing was there.

  I looked up, feeling the blood drain from my face. I glanced around the room. Nat was watching me, a puzzled expression on his face.

  I stood in the silence. Riley’s voice rose from downstairs. He was shouting.

  ‘I don’t know, Uchi,’ he said.

  ‘And why wasn’t she properly locked in a cell?’ Uchi yelled.

  ‘She was.’

  I’d never heard either of them raise their voices before.

  ‘They’re talking about you,’ Nat said. ‘Any chance we can hurry this along?’

  ‘The files must be here somewhere. Let’s look through as much as we can. Any locked drawers or cupboards, that’s the best place to start.’

  ‘Right.’ Nat sped across the room to the bookshelves and started examining the cupboards below. I turned my attention to the desk drawers. I’d imagined these would be locked, but they all opened easily, revealing nothing but clean pads of paper, pens and other stationery.

  My heart thumped painfully against my ribs. We had to find something about Operation Silvercross. And we had to do it in the next few minutes.

  Nat

  It looked hopeless. Despite Charlie’s insistence that there would be a file on Operation Silvercross, as far as I could see there was very little paper-based information in Riley’s office at all.

  I looked up from the cupboards under the bookcase I’d been examining. Apart from a box of ancient phones and two old-style cameras, all I’d found were some slim folders marked Tax and Accounts. I pulled out another, smaller, file and flipped it open. It was full of photos of Riley when he was younger. I glanced through a few pages. In the dim light I couldn’t see the finer detail but one photo caught my eye, of Riley beside an older man with a serious expression. There was something in the shape and glare of his eyes that reminded me of Charlie.

  ‘Is this your dad?’ I asked.

  Charlie scooted over. ‘Yeah,’ she said.

  A door slammed shut downstairs. We both started.

  ‘Hurry,’ she hissed, going back to the desk.

  I shoved the photo album back and pulled out the next file. Maybe Operation Silvercross was just too secret for anything to be written down about it at all. The next file contained invoices. So did the one after. I scanned them, my heart sinking. There was nothing here that looked like a t
op secret file. I flicked through the pages. There wasn’t even anything remotely incriminating, mostly invoices for one of Riley’s companies involving car rentals, business supplies and research services. They were all dated at least three or four months ago. I had just put the file back, when a floorboard creaked outside. I spun around. Charlie looked up.

  Across the room, the office door started to open.

  Charlie

  I froze, paralysed with fear as the door opened. A split second later Spider walked in. His jaw dropped as he saw us. In a flash Nat was across the room, his hand over Spider’s mouth. I ran over as Nat spun Spider around, hoiking his arm up behind his back.

  Spider winced with pain but he kept struggling, his eyes glinting dark and furious.

  ‘Shh,’ I hissed, shutting the door softly. ‘Spider, please. Calm down.’

  He met my gaze and stood still. Nat lessened his hold on Spider’s arm, though kept his hand over Spider’s mouth.

  ‘Spider,’ I whispered, ‘do you promise you won’t yell if Nat lets go?’

  His eyes flared above Nat’s hand, but he gave a quick, sharp nod.

  ‘Let him go,’ I said.

  ‘Are you crazy?’ Nat whispered. ‘One shout and the whole house will come running.’

  ‘Spider’s not going to shout.’ I fixed my gaze on Spider’s hard, dark eyes. ‘Let him go,’ I repeated.

  With an angry grunt, Nat released him.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Spider demanded in a low voice, his eyes flickering over the rainbow on the front of my pink sweatshirt.

  ‘Trying to find out where the antidote to the Qilota virus is,’ I whispered. ‘Nat and his sister have been infected. Riley’s going to let them die unless—’

  ‘Whoa, what are you talking about?’

  I stared at him. ‘You don’t know about Operation Silvercross?’ I said.

  ‘Sure,’ Spider said. ‘But no one’s going to die, Dad’s going to bring out the antidote and save the day. It’s like a shortcut to help people vote for him. I’ve already had it, it’s just a teaspoon of liquid. Really easy to drink. And there are loads of stocks of it, I heard Dad say.’

  I exchanged a glance with Nat. He rolled his eyes as he turned back to Spider.

  ‘Man, Riley’s totally brainwashed you, hasn’t he?’ he spat.

  ‘Nat,’ I hissed. ‘Not helpful.’

  ‘You’re Nat?’ Spider looked him up and down scornfully.

  ‘Yeah, I am.’ Nat squared up to him. He was broader than Spider, though Spider was slightly taller. ‘Why?’

  ‘I thought you’d look tougher,’ Spider said with a sneer.

  ‘I’m tougher than you are.’ Nat shoved him in the chest.

  ‘Nat!’ I gasped. What was he playing at? ‘Nat didn’t mean to do that,’ I said.

  ‘Oh yes I did,’ Nat said. He clenched his fists.

  Spider raised his hands, ready to punch him.

  I stared at them, bewildered by how aggressive they were being. ‘Stop it, both of you,’ I hissed. I turned to Spider. ‘Listen to me. You need to help us find some antidote.’ I quickly explained how Nat and Jas were to be sacrificed.

  Spider’s face remained impassive as I spoke. Only a momentary flicker of emotion in his eyes gave any indication that he was shocked by what I was telling him.

  ‘So do you know where the antidote is?’ I pleaded. ‘Or any idea where it might be stored? Please?’

  Spider curved his lips into a sneer, but I sensed that underneath his bravado he was upset. ‘Help save him?’ He glanced at Nat, then back at me.

  ‘And my friend Jas,’ I said pointedly. ‘And probably me, if your dad catches me. Whatever Uchi says, your dad’s not going to want me around now.’

  A voice shouted up from the hall. ‘Spider? Where are you?’ It was Martina.

  Nat darted close to Spider, hands raised again in case Spider tried to shout out, but Spider was still looking at me. I got the impression he wasn’t wildly keen on Martina. Hadn’t she said she didn’t get on with Gracie, Spider’s mum?

  ‘Please, Spider.’ I moved closer, fixing him with what I hoped was a beseeching gaze. ‘We can’t do this without your help.’

  I could feel Nat staring at me, but I kept my gaze on Spider. Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs.

  ‘That’ll be Taylor.’ Spider hesitated. ‘You two should go.’

  ‘Thank you.’ I raced to the window, Nat at my side.

  ‘Will you—?’

  ‘Yes,’ Spider hissed. ‘I’ll find out what I can. Meet me later. St James’ Park, by the Artillery Memorial.’

  The footsteps were crossing the landing.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said.

  ‘Come on.’ Nat tugged me towards the window. ‘Hurry.’

  I hooked my leg over the ledge and climbed. I glanced down, into the garden. No sign of the patrolling soldier, thank goodness.

  Above me Nat was clambering down the ivy too. A few moments later Taylor’s voice drifted out over our heads.

  ‘What are you doing, Spider?’ he was demanding. ‘Martina told you to come straight back down.’

  I landed on the earth, flattening myself against the wall. Nat leaped down beside me. Seconds later we were racing across the garden again, over the door, then the gate and away.

  Nat

  I leaned against the cool stone of the memorial. I was exhausted, but I couldn’t relax. I had barely slept even in the early hours, when Charlie had insisted we took turns to rest under some bushes in the park, and I was far too wound up to do so now. It was late morning and the sun was high in the sky. St James’ Park was scattered with office workers on benches enjoying early lunch breaks and groups of tourists making their way across the grass towards the Mall and Buckingham Palace.

  Hours had passed since Spider had vowed to help us. I had told Charlie repeatedly that we shouldn’t trust him, that coming here and waiting for him was at best a waste of time and at worst a trap, but Charlie had insisted it was our only chance to get our hands on the antidote in time to save me and Jas.

  She was taking a turn to rest while I watched out for him. I squinted across the park. The grass grew suddenly blurry. Charlie had said the virus could affect your vision – but maybe I was just tired. I blinked and my vision cleared.

  I walked around the memorial again. At least this part of the park was relatively empty. We had taken back streets the whole way here and I’d made sure I kept as far away as possible from everyone we passed. I’d wound a scarf around my nose and mouth too, for extra protection. I’d got some funny looks over that, but I didn’t care. The days when I was remotely bothered about what anyone thought of me were long past.

  Anyone other than Charlie, that is. I gazed down at her, outstretched on the nearby grass. My blurry vision cleared as jealous thoughts crowded my head. I’d seen the way Spider had looked at Charlie. If he was going to help us, it was because he liked her. Really liked her. And I’d seen the soft, pleading way she’d looked at him. Did she like him back?

  Anger like acid swirled in my guts. Soon, I knew, I would become weak and ill, too frail to help get the antidote. Was that what Spider was planning? Make out like he wanted to help, but really leave things so late that I died anyway? I wondered how Jas was. The last time I’d switched my phone on – several hours ago – there’d been another text saying that she and Mum and Dad had arrived at Aaron’s house and been reunited with Lucas. She’d sounded so happy, making no mention of any symptoms, that I hadn’t had the heart to tell her about the virus and the death sentence that hung over her and all of them.

  I knew I should; after all, though everyone she was with right now was either infected already – or, in Aaron’s case, immune – once Jas left the house she would infect everyone she met.

  My vision suddenly blurred again. I blinked and, again, it cleared. A woman pushing a buggy walked past as Charlie got up and came over. Her pale pink sweatshirt was grubby and earth-stained but her eyes sparkled with
determination.

  ‘Are you feeling okay?’ she asked.

  I nodded. I was sure the blurred vision was just exhaustion. ‘No symptoms yet,’ I said.

  ‘Good.’ Charlie paused.

  A soft, warm breeze rustled the leaves in the trees across the grass. Chatter and laughter filled the air. Under other circumstances this would have been a great place to have pulled Charlie into my arms, to have kissed her, to . . .

  ‘No sign of Spider?’

  Charlie’s question shook me out of my reverie.

  ‘No,’ I said, curtly.

  ‘Wait.’ Charlie peered across the park. ‘Is that him?’

  It was. He was pelting towards us, his long limbs at full stretch. A few moments later he ran up, panting.

  ‘Hi.’ He looked at Charlie as he spoke.

  ‘Hi.’ She smiled. Man, she looked so pretty when she smiled.

  Spider gazed at her, transfixed.

  ‘What did you find out?’ I asked.

  Spider turned to me as if he was only just registering I was present.

  ‘The antidote is being stored in a few secret locations around London,’ he said. ‘I’ve got the address of the main place, the Silvercross Institute. It’s what the operation was named after. It’s a scientific research outfit, not far from here. I think it’s where they developed the virus.’

  ‘That’s brilliant.’ Charlie flung her arms around him. Hugged him hard.

  Spider’s face coloured a deep red as he hugged her back. I looked away. It was great news that we had this lead – but could we really trust it?

  ‘Did anyone see you snooping about?’ I demanded.

  Charlie disentangled herself from Spider’s arms. ‘You were careful, weren’t you?’