Blood Ransom (21 page)

I blushed, looking down at my ripped shirt. At least I had a little vest top on underneath. ‘Very funny.’ I shot him a quick smile. ‘But if we need any more substitute rope I
think we’ll be using
your
shirt. Come on, let’s get going.’

I tiptoed up the stairs and glanced around the industrial estate. A small group of people were leaving another building, a hundred metres or so away. They stood in the road, chatting. They
clearly hadn’t heard us. The rest of the estate was empty.

Paul was still issuing muffled roars as I went back down the stairs.

I turned to the door of Lab Three. ‘Ready?’

Theo nodded and I pushed the door open.

We were in a dark corridor. Halfway down, two doors led off on either side. We crept closer to them, my heart pounding. The building looked and sounded deserted, but it couldn’t be, not if
Paul was guarding the outside. We reached the left-hand door and I pushed it open slowly. Inside was a research room, full of scientific equipment. I glanced round at the shelves, which were
covered in bottles and tubes and boxes.

Several microscopes were ranged across the countertop beneath them. There was no sign of any people.

I pointed to the door on the other side of the corridor and we crossed over to it.

Holding my breath, I pushed it open.

Another, similar, room.

Theo frowned. ‘No one’s here.’

I shook my head. It didn’t make sense.

‘I’m going to check no one’s found Paul,’Theo whispered. ‘If there’s nobody about we can have a good look around.’

He vanished and I tiptoed across the room. Halfway over and I noticed it – a tiny perspex cot at the end of the room. A yellow blanketed bundle moved inside.

I raced over.

Grace’s tiny face peered up at me
.

My heart gave a jolt. I reached into the cot and gently drew her out.

‘Grace,’ I whispered, holding the baby tight against my chest.

She made a nuzzling noise, then closed her eyes.

A clatter behind me. I spun round. Milo was wheeling himself through a door I hadn’t even noticed before.

We stared at each other.

Milo’s eyes filled with relief. ‘Rachel, I thought you were . . . How did you . . .?’

‘I got washed out onto the beach,’ I said, backing away. ‘But I’m back for Grace.’

‘No.’ Milo’s eyes filled with alarm. ‘You can’t take her.’

I glared at him. ‘She’s less than a day old, Milo and she’s been abandoned in a lab. Elijah’s doing
tests
on her, it’s obscene.’

‘No . . . I mean, yes, but the tests are over. Elijah’s furious. He’s tried it every which way and he’s not getting the results he wanted.’

‘What results?’ I said, still backing towards the door.

‘Grace doesn’t have the same protein in her blood that you do.’

I stared at him. ‘The same
protein
?’Was that what it was?

‘Yes, Elijah just found out. ‘

‘You mean it’s only in
me
?’

‘Yes. Rachel, you have to leave Grace and get out of here. If Elijah finds you . . . if he knows you’re here . . .’

‘What exactly
is
this protein?’ I said, still holding Grace close.

‘I don’t know exactly but Elijah says it’s amazing. That . . . that it could save peoples’ lives. Rachel . . . it’s not in
anyone
else. Elijah thinks
you’re dead but if you take Grace then he’ll know—’

‘He’ll know anyway,’ I said, thinking of Paul. ‘I have to take Grace. We both know what he does to clones he doesn’t have any use for.’

‘He’ll kill me if he knows you were here and I let you go,’ Milo said.

Arm trembling, he raised his hand from his lap and pointed a gun at me.

Oh God
.

‘You don’t know how to use that,’ I said.

‘Yes I do,’ Milo said. ‘Elijah taught me years ago.’

I took another step back.

‘Well, even if you
do
know, you won’t use it,’ I said. ‘I know you, Milo, you’re too much of a coward to pull the trigger.’

Damn.
That was a stupid thing to say.

Milo’s mouth set into a firm line. His eyes hardened.

‘You don’t know
what
I’m capable of,’ he said.

64

I raced outside, anxious that Paul had somehow managed to work his way free from his bindings. I needn’t have worried. Paul was still tied safely to the railing. He
kicked out when he saw me, his expression furious. I ignored him and ran up the steps. I could see quite a long way up and down the industrial estate from here.

The place was deserted.

I jogged back inside, feeling more confident. Now all we needed was a clue to Grace’s whereabouts.

As I ran down the corridor back towards Rachel I heard her voice. She was talking . . . No, arguing . . .

I froze. Someone was with her. Moving as slowly as I could, I reached the room she was inside and eased the door open.

Rachel had Grace in her arms. She was talking to a guy in a wheelchair. He was pointing a gun at her.

Oh, crap.

They both turned as I entered.

With a jolt, I realised that the guy in the wheelchair looked like me. This must be
Milo.
My mouth fell open. I mean, his hair was more off his forehead than mine and his face was a bit
fuller but, even from this distance, the similarity was obvious.

I stared at him for a second, shocked. So this was the other clone of Elijah. It was the weirdest thing, seeing his face, like looking at a mirror in reverse – or maybe into the face of
some long-lost brother.

That thought sent Daniel flashing through my head – with his big brown eyes and innocent smile. Fury filled me.

Milo was staring at me, open-mouthed. I guess my face was as much of a shock to him as his was to me.

‘
You?
’ he said.

‘You need to put down that gun,’ I said. ‘Because Rachel and the baby are coming with me.’

65

Milo stared at Theo, his mouth open in a totally shocked ‘o’ shape.

‘
Jesus
,’ he said.

‘Not quite,’Theo said, coming up behind me. ‘My name’s Theo.’

‘I see you’ve got his sense of humour . . .’ Milo said. ‘Elijah’s, I mean.’

‘Whatever.’Theo put his arm round me and leaned closer. His breath was hot on my neck as he whispered, ‘Will he shoot us?’

‘No.’As I said it, I knew it was true. It didn’t matter what Milo said, I could see in his eyes that he wouldn’t shoot. And it wasn’t because he was a coward,
either.

‘Come on, then,’ Theo whispered again.

‘Stop.’ Milo’s arm was still shaking. ‘Stop or I’ll shoot.’

‘No you won’t,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry I said you were a coward, Milo. You aren’t. You’re a good person. You’re just caught up with a bad person and
you don’t know how to get out of it.’

Clutching Grace, I took another step back. Theo’s arm was round my shoulders. Another step, then another.

We reached the door.

‘Rachel, please . . .’

I took a final look at Milo – at all the loss and longing in his face – and I knew there was another reason why he wouldn’t shoot me, or the people I cared about.

He liked me too much to risk hurting me.

And then we were through the door and running for all we were worth, along the corridor, out of the lab and past Paul who was still tied to the stair railing.

I raced up the steps and followed Theo down the street, clutching Grace tightly to my chest.

Now that I had her back, I was never going to let her go again.

66

Everyone agreed that without knowing more about Elijah’s backer and his government links, it was too risky to call the police.

Nobody agreed about anything else.

‘We can’t keep her, Rachel.’ Mr Smith’s gaze shifted from his daughter to the baby in her arms.

I looked away.

It was late afternoon and we were in a hotel room. As soon as we’d got clear of the lab, Rachel had called her parents and arranged for them to meet us.

The hotel had been Mr and Mrs Smith’s suggestion. They booked us into a room as soon as they heard that Elijah would almost certainly be on our tail again, so we could talk somewhere
privately.

It was kind of funny, being with Rachel in a hotel room while we waited for her parents to arrive. Not that there was any chance to take advantage of being on our own together. We couldn’t
even talk properly – Grace made sure of that.

I couldn’t believe how much noise one small baby could make. As soon as we got inside the room – a huge suite with two double beds – Grace started bawling and she didn’t
stop until Rachel took off her very smelly nappy.

Neither of us wanted to call down to reception to ask if they had any nappies, so Rachel cleaned her and wrapped her in one of the soft white towels in the hotel bathroom.

At that point her parents arrived. I stood back while they showered Rachel with hugs and kisses. I’d never been their favourite person and neither of them seemed inclined to pay me much
attention now.

I think they both completely forgot I was there when Rachel announced she wanted the three of them to take Grace home – as a family. It was clear to me from the start that Mr and Mrs Smith
thought this was a mad idea, but Rachel wouldn’t listen to their arguments.

‘But she’s my
sister.
Genetically, she’s
my
sister and
your
daughter.’ Rachel’s eyes filled with tears. She held Grace up towards her mum and
dad. They were both standing by the bed, arms folded. Mr Smith was wearing a dark suit. Mrs Smith was in a smart, fitted dress with a huge beaded necklace that reminded me of the one I’d seen
in Rachel’s room a few days earlier.

They looked like they’d just wandered out of a church coffee morning.

‘Sharing your genes with someone doesn’t make you a parent,’ Mr Smith said.

‘No,’ Mrs Smith added. ‘We didn’t plan her or try to conceive her. I didn’t carry her in my womb. There’s
nothing
that makes me her mother. I
don’t
want
her.’

At this, Rachel started weeping. She walked over to where I was standing by the window and I put my arm around her.

Still holding Grace, she buried her face against my chest. I stared over her head at her dad.

‘Theo, will you give Rachel and me a moment?’ Mr Smith’s voice was calm, but the tone was icy.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Rachel got there first. She was properly crying now.

‘I want Theo to stay here,’ she sobbed. ‘He’s the only person who cares about me. Are you going to take
him
away from me too?’

‘For God’s sake, Rachel,’ her mother shrieked. ‘Theo’s the reason we’re all in this state right now.’

What?
Was she serious?

‘How is
any
of this Theo’s fault?’ Rachel demanded, turning to face her mother again.

‘He found you last year – RAGE didn’t even know about you until then. If Theo hadn’t come looking for you back then, RAGE wouldn’t have known you existed and Elijah
would have left you in peace and—’

‘Well, if Dad had never taken a job working for Elijah, then none of this would have happened either,’ Rachel shouted. ‘In fact,
I
wouldn’t have happened. Is that
what you want? That I’d never been born?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Ro,’ Mr Smith cut in. ‘Anyway, we’re talking about Grace, not Theo and—’

‘You’re the ones being ridiculous,’ Rachel yelled.

I looked at the floor. The hotel had a greeny-brown carpet which matched the curtains in the room. I stared at the swirly pattern that ran across it. I badly wanted to leave the room, but Rachel
needed me, so I stood still, hoping neither she nor her parents would drag me any further into their argument.

My mind went back to the way Milo had looked at Rachel earlier in Lab Three.
Man
, he was
really
into her. Jealousy rippled through me. Rachel had spent several days in his company
on Calla. Had he tried anything on? Rachel hadn’t said, but then we hadn’t had much time to talk . . . about anything.

‘Look, Ro,’ Rachel’s dad said, more softly. ‘Please try to see things from our point of view. Mum and I are in our
sixties
. We don’t have the energy for a
baby. And even if we did, it’s not fair on Grace. We’ll be in our
eighties
before she’s grown up.’

‘I could look after her,’ Rachel said, sullenly.

I stared at her. Was she mad?

‘You’re too young,’ Mr Smith said. ‘And we’re too old and all of us are known both to RAGE and Elijah which means that even if we relocate again they might find us.
But if we do the
right
thing and hand Grace over to social services then she will be adopted into a good family – a vetted, solid family who want her – where she’ll be
safe.’ He paused. ‘You want her to be safe, don’t you, Rachel?’

Rachel bit her lip. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but it was obvious to me that her dad was right. I mean, don’t get me wrong. One day, when you’re older, kids and stuff
are fine, but if Rachel’s parents weren’t prepared to look after Grace, she was far too young to be dealing with a baby on her own.

‘What do you think, Theo?’ Mr Smith said. ‘Do you think us taking on a baby makes sense?’

I shrugged. ‘It’s what Rachel wants,’ I said. ‘Grace is her sister. Genetically, more like her twin. That’s family.’

Mr Smith’s face clouded with impatience. ‘Right, well, like I said, maybe you’d give us a moment, Theo?’

Rachel opened her mouth to protest again but I put my hand on her arm to stop her.

‘You should talk to your parents on your own,’ I said quietly. ‘I’m just annoying them.’

Rachel followed me into the corridor. She lifted her face up to mine.

‘Thanks for backing me up in there,’ she breathed.

I kissed her and she smiled. ‘See you soon.’

‘Definitely.’ I grinned. ‘In fact, there’s a juice bar downstairs . . . just along from the lobby. Why don’t you meet me there in, like, ten minutes?’

‘Sure.’ Rachel kissed me again and disappeared back into the room.