Every Second Counts (21 page)

And if I got a chance to push Riley and Latimer overboard, so much the better.

I raced along the boards, swerving on to the next jetty.

‘Parveen?’ I gasped into my mike, hoping against hope that this time she might answer. ‘Sean?’

Silence. They were definitely gone, probably captured. I was on my own.

I reached the end point of the jetty as the
Kimberley Jack
began to turn away from the marina. It was still only a few metres away and moving slowly. But it was bound to pick up speed
soon.

I tore off my shoes and jacket, shoved my phone, the earpiece and the mike underneath them and dived into the water. The cold made me gasp. I swam hard, pulling against the clammy drag of my
clothes. My taser was in my trouser pocket but it would be no use to me once it was wet.

Never mind. I would just have to do this without a weapon.

I kept my eyes on the security guard watching the group in the bow. I couldn’t let him spot me. I glanced towards the back of the boat. There was a set of iron rungs attached to hull near
the stern. If I didn’t let my pace slacken, I had a good chance of reaching those. I took a deep breath and dived under the water. It was hard to see but I forced myself on. Stroke after
stroke after stroke. The pressure on my chest was huge but I kept going. Another pull of the arms. Another. My lungs were desperate for breath. I dragged myself on, knowing in a few more moments I
would have to surface for air.

One more pull.

One more.

One.

Below deck the boat was a lot less festive than up in the main cabin. The walls were painted a greyish white and the floor laid with grubby-looking plastic. Taylor led Spider
and me along a corridor to where a thickset security guard stood beside a door marked
PRIVATE.
Taylor made the sign of the EFA – an open hand, followed by a fist.

‘Evening, sir,’ the guard said quietly. He opened the door beside him and stood back to let us pass.

The door opened on to a small cabin with two sleeping berths on either side of the door and a sink. As soon as we were all inside, Spider bent down, brought a screwdriver out of his backpack and
began unscrewing the large metal grille at the bottom of the wall.

‘Okay, remember the package is all ready. You just have to set the timer, like you’ve been shown,’ Taylor said calmly. I stood beside him, my heart thudding. Clearly he was
planning on keeping me where he could see me the entire time.

‘Yes, sir.’ Spider carefully removed the grille and laid it on the floor.

‘Through there.’ Taylor ordered. ‘I’ll replace the grille when you’re in.’

Spider crouched down and eased his way into the tunnel behind in the wall.

It was some kind of air duct and it looked tiny. No way would Taylor himself have fitted inside. Spider disappeared from view.

‘Now you, Charlie,’ Taylor commanded.

I stared at him. ‘
Me?
’

Taylor nodded. I bent down and peering into the tunnel. I could just make out Spider’s feet a metre or so along the vent. Was Taylor seriously going to let me go with him to set the timer
on the bomb? That didn’t make any sense. Taylor and Riley
knew
that I had passed information to the resistance. Why on earth would they trust me to help carry out this mission?

‘Go on,’ Taylor urged. ‘You have to use the air duct or else you’ll be caught on the boat’s CCTV. Don’t let Spider get too far ahead.’

I crawled into the tunnel, my heart beating fast. I had no idea what was going on, but maybe – just maybe – this turn of events would give me a chance to overpower Spider and take
the bomb off him – or, at the very least, sound a warning to everyone else on the boat.

My clothes weighed me down as I pulled myself through the cold water. It was Charlie who’d been training for an underwater swim, not me. I’d never been the
strongest of swimmers.

Faster.
Faster.
The pressure on my chest grew heavier and heavier.

At last my fingertips felt the side of the
Kimberley Jack
. I slid up the hull, my head breaking the water, my lungs bursting.

I gasped for air, trying to make as little sound as possible. Above me chatter and clinking glass from the main cabin filled the air. The iron rungs I’d spotted before were just a metre
away. Half a metre. About to pass. As they reached me, I caught hold and swung myself up, out of the water. I crawled to the top, suddenly cold in the brisk air. I peered over the side of the deck.
There were still five or six people – plus the security guard – at the front of the boat. Any one of them could have seen me if they’d looked up, but no one did.

Water poured off me as I swung myself over on to the deck then, crouching low so I couldn’t be seen through the portholes of the main cabin, I raced to the back of the boat. I straightened
up under the awning that hung over the end of the main cabin. I shook the worst of the wet out of my hair and wiped my face. Shivering, I crept back around the deck and peered into the first
porthole I came to. Inside the cabin people were talking and drinking. The room was decorated with bunches of lilac and white balloons, matching the streamers that fluttered over the portholes.

I heard footsteps behind me and spun around.

‘Nat?’

It was Aaron, his mouth gaping. For a split second I reeled back, shocked. I’d completely forgotten Latimer had said Aaron would be at the party, watching out for me. And then all my fury
gathered in my fist. If Latimer knew this was a trap, his son must have known as well.

I lunged forward, gripping Aaron around the throat, pushing him to the back of the cabin and pinning him against the wall, out of sight of everyone else.

‘How could you?’ I demanded. ‘After everything you said to Jas, after all the help we gave you!’

Aaron’s eyes widened. ‘Wh – what are you talking about?’ he gasped.

‘Your dad told Riley the resistance were coming to stop the bomb going off, so he changed venue on to this boat and . . . and neither of you even tried to warn us.’ I tightened my
grip. ‘Your dad set us up. He’s sold us out to Riley and now Riley’s got Par and—’

‘No.’ Aaron’s voice was a hoarse whisper, his face reddening above my hand around his neck. ‘
No.
Dad had no idea Riley changed the venue till we got here a few
minutes ago. We’ve been trying to get a message to you, but Riley’s kept us talking the whole time. I only managed to slip away because he’s making a speech.’

I stared at him. There was no guile in his eyes. I thought back to the eager way he had followed me to the ops base and the adoration in his eyes when he looked at Jas.

Whatever Latimer had done, I was certain Aaron hadn’t been any part of it. I released my grip around his throat.

‘I need to find Charlie,’ I said. ‘If someone from the resistance has told Riley we’re trying to stop the bomb, then they’ll also have told him that Charlie
isn’t really on his side. She’s in danger.’

‘At least there
isn’t
a bomb,’ Aaron said, feeling his neck where I had held him. ‘I mean, Riley can’t set one off on board, he’d be killed
himself.’

‘That doesn’t help Charlie.’ I shivered as a gust of wind whipped my cold, wet clothes against my skin. ‘So have you seen her?’

Aaron nodded. ‘Yeah, in the main cabin a few minutes ago, just before I came on deck to try and call you. She was with Riley’s son and that guy who works for him – Tyson, is
it?’

‘Taylor.’ I spat out his name, then turned towards the main cabin. Never mind that I was dripping with water and unarmed. I would just rush inside and grab Charlie before anyone
could stop us. The marina was still well within swimming distance. We could dive overboard. Get away.

‘Wait, Nat.’ Aaron pulled me back to face him, his expressive face contorted in a frown. ‘Let me fetch Dad, tell him you’re here. He’ll be—’

‘No,’ I said, glaring at him. ‘Even if
you
didn’t know about it, your dad must have told Riley we were coming after him.’

‘That’s not true, I—’

‘Well
someone
did.’ I shivered. ‘Your dad knew what we were planning. He—’

‘So did everyone else in the resistance,’ Aaron insisted. ‘It’s not fair to blame my dad. It could have been
anyone
. Or . . . or maybe Riley just overheard Charlie
when she called you to warn you about the bomb?’

I stared at him in horror. It hadn’t occurred to me until he said it, but it was indeed entirely – and terrifyingly – possible that Charlie’s phone call to me had been
bugged or eavesdropped. All of which left her in more danger than ever.

‘I
promise
you my dad wants rid of Riley as much as you do,’ Aaron went on.

‘I don’t care,’ I said, unsure now what to think. ‘It doesn’t matter right now anyway. All that matters is that I
have
to find Charlie.’

‘Okay, okay, I hear you.’ Aaron pointed along the side wall of the cabin, past a row of portholes. ‘There’s a door just around the corner.’

‘Thanks.’ I took a step away from him. I would search the entire boat if I had to, though how I was going to get Charlie away from Taylor and Riley’s son without a weapon I had
no idea.

‘Er, wait.’

I turned back, impatiently, to see Aaron peeling off the jumper he wore over his white shirt. He handed it to me. ‘Wear this.’ He glanced down at my lower half. ‘Man you are
soaked, but I’m not giving you my trousers.’

In spite of the tension, I grinned. ‘I wouldn’t wear your trousers if you paid me.’ I tugged off my own top and slipped on the jumper. Immediately I felt better.

‘Let’s go,’ Aaron said.

I frowned. I knew I could creep through the main cabin without drawing attention to myself. But Aaron had no such skill. I’d be seen by the security guards immediately if he was with
me.

‘Maybe you could
find
me something better to wear?’ I suggested.

‘Sure.’ Aaron nodded eagerly. ‘There’s probably stuff below deck.’

‘Thank you.’ With a grin, Aaron disappeared and I sped away, to find the door that would take me into the main cabin and to Charlie.

I followed Spider through the air duct. It was hot and narrow. My elbows and knees were soon sore from rubbing against the metal. Agonised thoughts crowded my head. Riley was
planning a despicable attack on this boat in order to kill one set of politicians – and many of their families – and frame a bunch of others for the explosion. His aim was to shine
through the chaos and win the general election in just four days’ time. And I was the only thing standing in his way. Somehow, I had to find a way to stop the bomb going off.

But why were Riley and Taylor letting me anywhere near it in the first place?

‘Will I have to do anything when you set the timer on the bomb?’ I asked as we crawled on.

‘No.’ Spider’s voice echoed down the air duct towards me.

‘Then what am I doing here?’

‘Ask my dad,’ Spider said, dismissively. ‘Ask
yours.
They’re the ones who told me you had to be here.’

I fell silent. Was it possible that this entire mission was – at least partly – an elaborate trap designed to kill me? I shivered, suddenly terrified. Would Riley really go that far?
No, it didn’t make sense – there were surely easier ways of getting rid of me.

My mind raced over what I’d learned in the past half-hour. The truth was that there were lots of things about this mission that didn’t make sense: Why, for instance, was Riley
putting his own son in danger by having him set the timer? In fact, why use an inexperienced teenager at all? The EFA was an extremely powerful organisation containing scores of highly trained
soldiers. Even if Spider had been shown how to operate the bomb, there must be other people who could do it more efficiently.

Even more bizarre was the fact that only a maniac would set a bomb off on a boat and expect to survive it. And Riley was no maniac. Taylor had said it was sorted. But how on earth were they
planning to get themselves and all the people working for them off the boat without either being hurt in the blast or looking, at the very least, suspiciously well-informed if they left just before
the explosion? It was Riley’s party, for goodness’ sake.

Another minute passed, then I heard Spider pushing at the air duct grille up ahead. It clattered to the ground. We clambered out into what looked like a boiler room. It was completely empty, but
the sound of an engine nearby filled the space with a low hum, making everything around us vibrate slightly.

I stared at the backpack over Spider’s shoulder. Should I make a move to grab it now? I inched forward as Spider crouched down to replace the grille. As he turned, I caught the metallic
glint of a gun inside his jacket.

I froze. ‘Where did you get that?’ I gasped.

Spider ignored me; he headed past a bank of machines towards the far end of the room. I mentally assessed my chances of overpowering him. Spider was taller than me and wiry. Even if I could
catch him off guard, it wouldn’t be easy to wrest the gun off him.

Maybe my best chance was to try
persuading
him not to set off the bomb.

‘Spider . . .’ I hurried after him.

‘What?’ Spider turned to me. His hand rested on the gun. Did he really know how to use it? Taylor had trained him personally, which meant he almost certainly did.

‘Please, Spider,’ I said, wringing my hands together. ‘What we’re doing is wrong. Killing all these people.’

Spider hesitated. For a moment I thought maybe he would listen. His expression softened a fraction.

‘Please,’ I went on, ‘we don’t have to do this. We can choose
not
to.’

‘Shut up.’ Spider’s eyes grew cold. ‘I’m not listening to this. I have to set the timer. There’s only twenty minutes left.’

‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m not letting you kill everyone.’

Spider hesitated. His hand hovered over his gun. I sensed his reluctance: he didn’t want to threaten me, let alone shoot me. That gave me a chance. Maybe I couldn’t overpower him and
stop him setting the timer, but I could still run and yell a warning to get everyone off the boat.