Blood Ransom (2 page)

The boy was olive-skinned with short, dark hair and a square jaw. He looked older than I remembered him, but otherwise it was the same face I’d been remembering and seeing in my dreams for
the last nine months.

No way.

It
couldn’t
be him.

What was he doing here? What was he doing in a wheelchair?

I stared as the boy wheeled himself along the street. I knew that profile as well as I knew my own.

It was Theo.

2

Hot and humid, Philadelphia had been in the grip of a heatwave for nearly a fortnight now and I was more fed up than I could remember. School had ended for the summer and I
hadn’t got good grades and Mum was annoyed at me.

She was worried too, I guess. She had made loads of friends, mostly through her new job. Why hadn’t I?

Of course she wouldn’t listen when I told her I didn’t care. That I still hung out with the basketball mates I’d met in the first term – before I stopped playing
basketball – and that that was enough.

I was fed up with much more than Mum, though. Some days, like today, my whole existence got on top of me. I hated the lie I was living. Pretending to be someone I wasn’t in order to stay
safe from Elijah and RAGE.

More than anything, I missed Rachel.

I was on my way to contact her now. I hated the fact that I had to find a random computer instead of being able to use my own PC at home, but it would have been too risky. I was certain the FBI,
who’d rehoused Mum and me here, were monitoring all our phone calls and home computer use.

That annoyed me too.

This side of the street was in direct sunlight. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck.

Grumbling to myself, I went on.

At least I’d get to speak to Rachel soon.

That was something.

Actually, it was everything.

3

I stood, too shocked to move for a few seconds, watching the boy in the wheelchair roll slowly along the pavement.

Now that I could only see the back of his head I immediately doubted it was Theo. I
must
have been wrong. I mean, for a start, what would Theo be
doing
here? We’d agreed it
would be safer if we didn’t reveal online exactly where we lived, but it’s hard to write about your life without giving some information away. From various references he’d made,
I’d guessed a while back that Theo was somewhere on the east coast of America.

I must have given away certain details myself. But I was sure I’d never told him I lived in Roslinnon.

And how could Theo
possibly
be in a wheelchair? It didn’t make sense. I racked my brains, trying to remember if he’d dropped any kind of hint at all that he’d had some
kind of accident.

I was probably mistaken, but I had to be sure. I darted out of the charity shop.

And ran –
wham
– straight into Mhairi’s mum.

‘Och, hello, hen,’ she said, staggering backwards.

‘Sorry.’ I blinked, looking past her to where the boy in the wheelchair who
couldn’t
be Theo was turning the corner into Rosmore Row – the busiest shopping street
in Roslinnon.

Panic clutched at my throat. I
had
to catch up with him. Had to make sure.

‘As you’re here, Rachel, hen,’ Mhairi’s mum went on, ‘maybe you’ll help me talk some sense into my daughter now. I’ve left her trying on a pair of
trousers at least two sizes too small for her. Will you come and—’

‘I can’t.’ I stared at her pale, pasty face, barely able to focus. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t.’ And I tore past her, darting across the road between honking
cars, hardly registering the rain on my face.

I raced down the High Street and onto Rosmore Row.

It was
heaving.
I ran as hard as I could, dodging pedestrians laden with heavy shopping bags, glancing around me for any sign of the boy and his wheelchair.

There.
He was up ahead, trundling slowly past the benches where most of my year hung out after school. No one there I recognised today, thank goodness.

He reached the end of Rosmore Row and turned into a much quieter side road. I ran on, only slowing when I’d reached the side road too and was just behind him.

I stared at the back of his head, remembering the moment when Theo had stepped in front of me, protecting me from Elijah.

And then I ran forward, jogging past him and stopping a few metres up at a lamppost.

The rain was still drizzling down my neck as I turned round, my heart thumping.

Oh God, it
was
him. And yet he looked different. With shorter hair and a hangdog expression, he looked like he’d aged about three years in the past nine months.

He caught me staring and looked up. He frowned, but there was no trace of recognition in his eyes.

For a second all my old insecurities flooded back. Had
I
changed too? My hair was a bit longer, maybe, but I didn’t think I looked particularly different in any other way. Now I
wished I’d checked my appearance before I’d left the martial arts show. Maybe my make-up had run in the rain, not that I was wearing much.

None of this made sense.

And then the boy smiled and mouthed the word ‘hello’. I walked over, the bustle of Rosmore Row around us fading completely into the background.

The boy held my gaze. I was right next to him now.

‘Theo?’ I said, my voice trembling.

The boy frowned, looking confused. He shook his head. ‘My name’s Milo,’ he said.

An American accent – and the tone of his voice was different from Theo’s too. It was harsher, yet at the same time weaker.

‘Er . . . do we know each other?’ he said.

I stared at him. Close up I could see signs of stubble on his chin and a fullness to his face that Theo didn’t – couldn’t – have.

It wasn’t Theo. Just someone who looked extraordinarily like him. The disappointment was crushing.

‘I thought we knew each other,’ I said, trying to keep my voice steady. ‘I’m sorry.’

I took a step back.

‘Wait.’ Milo looked up at me. ‘You just called me Theo, didn’t you?’

‘Er, yes, Theo’s a friend of mine.’ I blushed. ‘You look a lot like him. An
awful
lot.’

A shocked smile crept over Milo’s face. ‘That wouldn’t be the Theo who was kidnapped and taken to Washington D.C. last year?’

I could feel my eyes widening.
How on earth did he know about that?
I nodded, speechless.

There was a long pause.

‘Well I guess I
do
look like him,’ Milo said at last, ‘seeing as we were cloned from the same person.’

4

My mood improved as soon as I walked inside the diner. Living in America does have
some
compensations, and the way every indoor space seems to be fully kitted out with
aircon is one of them.

Cheri, one of the waitresses who knew me quite well, bustled over.

‘Hi, hon.’ She smiled. ‘How’re you doin’?’ I smiled back. ‘Good, thanks. Can I use the computer?’

‘Sure, when Jack’s done.’ Cheri nodded towards the counter, where the diner’s only terminal stood between a stack of magazines and a shelf of salt and pepper pots. She
let me use the internet for free when her boss wasn’t around, which was most mornings.

The guy on the computer was middle-aged and huge. I’d seen him in the diner before, with his equally outsize wife and kids.

‘Jack’s having a bad time,’ Cheri said, lowering her voice to a whisper. ‘Wife’s left him and taken the kids. Taken
everything
. Jack’s emailing his
attorney, trying to get a handle on it all.’

‘Right.’ I glanced at the clock. Five minutes before Rachel would be expecting me online. ‘No worries,’ I said.

‘Strawberry Shake while you wait?’ Cheri asked.

‘Yeah, thanks.’ I settled into the leatherette booth closest to the computer terminal and waited.

5

The rain was coming down even harder now. Milo wheeled himself across the street to shelter under a deserted doorway. I followed him in a daze.

‘Cloned from the same person?’ I said, unsure I’d heard him correctly before. ‘You and Theo?’

‘Yes, we were both cloned from Elijah Lazio.’ Milo nodded, his face serious. ‘I’m guessing that if you know about Theo, then you know about Elijah too. Which means you
must be Rachel, right?’

My legs felt like they might give way. ‘How do you know about me?’ I gasped. I stared at Milo.
Another
clone of Elijah, this one older than Theo. How was that even
possible?

‘Elijah’s mentioned you,’ Milo said.

‘You’ve spoken to him?! Is he here . . .? Oh my God . . .’ I stopped, panic filling me. Was Elijah nearby? Did he know
I
was here?

‘Elijah cloned me three and a half years before he cloned Theo.’ Milo explained, seemingly unaware of the effect his words had had on me. His face clouded over – an expression
I knew well from Theo. In fact, the look he was giving me was such a powerful reminder of Theo that my heart actually skipped a beat.

Milo’s eyes flickered to his wheelchair. ‘As you can see, I didn’t work out so well. I was born with a degenerative disease. My body’s wearing out too fast. It’s a
genetic weakness caused by the cloning process. Elijah worked out how to stop it happening before he cloned Theo, but I can’t walk and my heart and kidneys don’t operate quite as well
as they should.’

He looked up at me – an expression of defiance and humiliation on his face.

Again I was so strongly reminded of Theo that, for a second, I couldn’t think straight.

‘I’m . . . er, I’m sorry,’ I stammered.

Milo shrugged. ‘At least my heart was never strong enough for Elijah to want to steal it,’ he said.

I huddled into the doorway. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and people were walking past again. No one gave us a second look.

‘But where is Elijah?’ I asked again, questions tumbling out now. ‘When did you last see him? Does he know that you’re here? That
I’m
here?’

‘I live with him,’ Milo said. ‘And no, he doesn’t know you’re here.’

‘But you weren’t in Washington D.C.’ I frowned, remembering how I’d gone to Elijah’s underground headquarters, hoping that while RAGE destroyed the building, Lewis
and I would be able to find Theo and escape.

‘Elijah sent me away to college,’ Milo said bitterly. ‘He sent me to school before that – and to camp in the holidays. He used to visit me occasionally but I don’t
think he could . . . that he can . . . stand the sight of me. It’s like he feels he has a duty towards me, but underneath I remind him of his failures.’

‘But you said you were with him now?’ That meant Elijah must be nearby, surely?

‘I
was
,’ Milo said. ‘He contacted me after the Washington compound was blown up. Said I’d have to leave college, that he was going on the run.’ Milo sighed.
‘I guess I could have gone off on my own, but I was pleased he wanted me with him . . . so I met him and came with him here . . . to Scotland.’

‘
Here?
’ I said, shocked. Elijah was in
Scotland?
‘Where exactly?
Why?
’

‘Elijah’s set up a private research base on a deserted island off the west coast,’ Milo explained. ‘It takes a few hours to reach it by boat. Roslinnon is the nearest
port.’

A shiver snaked down my spine.

‘And he really doesn’t know I’m here in Roslinnon?’ I said, hardly able to believe it.

Milo shook his head. ‘To be honest he’s stopped looking for you . . . for either of you . . . He’s got other things on his mind.’

I looked round. The rain had stopped now, though the air remained heavy with moisture. Rosmore Row was still buzzing with shoppers. A woman laden down with bags and a buggy marched past,
scowling, a little boy trailing in her wake.

‘What about Daniel?’ I said. ‘Is he OK? Does Elijah still have him?’

Daniel was the five-year-old clone of Elijah who Theo and I had met in Washington at Elijah’s complex last year. When Elijah had escaped from the police and the FBI, he’d taken
Daniel with him. No one knew what had happened to the little boy afterwards, but I could still picture his solemn little face and big brown eyes.

Milo looked away. ‘Daniel’s the reason why Elijah’s stopped looking for Theo. He’s the reason why I’ve run away too.’

I frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

Milo sighed – a deep, heavy sigh. ‘Elijah’s worked out a way of adapting Daniel’s heart so it will work inside him, even though it’s not adult-sized – which
means he doesn’t need Theo’s heart any more.’

I stared at him, unable to fully take in what he was saying. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, Elijah’s so arrogant he thinks killing Daniel is justified because he’s such a goddam genius.’

I nodded, feeling numb, remembering Elijah giving a similar reason to excuse his plan to take Theo’s heart back in Washington D.C.

‘Once I realised what Elijah was planning, I couldn’t stand to be around him any more,’ Milo went on. ‘I told Elijah I needed a break for the day. If I could have brought
Daniel with me I would have, but there was no way I could get him out. Elijah sent me off in the boat with one of his guards. We moored a way along the coast – there’s a car parked
there that they use when they come to town to buy food and supplies for Elijah’s research. I’m supposed to be hanging out here while the guard goes to the store, but I’m going to
take a bus . . . get away . . .’ Milo tailed off.

‘Get away to where?’ I said, my head reeling. I could still barely take in what Milo was saying. Elijah had Daniel – the sweet little boy that I’d thought about so often
since our escape. And Daniel’s life was now in terrible danger.

The urgency of the situation suddenly hit me. Never mind Milo’s plans. We had to get help.

‘Dunno where I’ll go.’ Milo shrugged. ‘Edinburgh or Glasgow first, I guess . . . It’s easier to get lost in the big cities . . . then a flight back to the States .
. .’

‘But what about Daniel?’ I said. ‘When’s Elijah planning to do this transplant?’