Hunted (2 page)

Crash.
With a thump, a man in a ski mask dropped out of the tree immediately ahead. He fired as he fell.

Bang.

I looked down, shocked, at the red stain on my front.

As I looked up, the man pointed his weapon at Ed and fired again.

‘Bang,’ he said. ‘You’re dead.’

2: Accusations

The man grinned, then raised his radio to his lips. ‘Mamba and Sidewinder are down, ma’am.’

Ed glared at me. I groaned, running my finger across the red paint that now splattered my chest. From the hut up ahead, Geri Paterson emerged.

Her thin lips were pursed tightly together.

The training mission had failed. Big-style.

And they were all going to blame me.

I turned on my heel and walked away.

‘Dylan!’ Geri shouted. ‘Come back!’

I kept walking.

Next second the guy with the ski mask and the paint gun thundered up behind me and grabbed my arm, pulling me round. I considered resisting – using my force field to repel him – but what was the point?

‘Come on, Dylan, I got you fair and square.’ The guy tugged off his ski mask. It was Jez, our muscle-bound trainer, his face flushed with triumph. ‘The least you can do is face the music.’

Whatever
.

I let Jez lead me over to the hut. Ed was standing outside with Geri Paterson.

Neither of them were smiling.

‘This is simply not good enough, is it, Dylan?’ Geri said. Despite the fact that we were outside in a forest, Geri was still dressed like she was about to speak at a conference – in a dark blue Prada suit and heels. At least the woman had style, albeit a middle-aged version. She frowned, eyebrows raised, waiting for me to reply. ‘Well? What do you have to say for yourself?’

‘Everyone wanted to wait to approach the hut,’ I said. ‘But that was all based on one of Ketty’s visions and we all know how unreliable
they
are.’

‘So you thought you’d take matters into your own hands?’ Geri shook her head and the pointy ends of her blonde bob jabbed at her chin.

I shrugged.

‘I don’t know why you’re surprised.’ Nico appeared through a gap in the trees, Ketty at his side. ‘Dylan
always
thinks she knows best.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘And you don’t, I suppose?’

‘But I
saw
Jez leaping out of that tree in my vision,’ Ketty blurted out. ‘Ed knew I had. I wanted you to wait until Nico and I got there. Nico could have dealt with him while we got Ed to the hut.’

I turned to Ed. ‘Why didn’t you say any of that? You made Ketty’s vision sound real vague.’

‘You need to trust us,’ Ed said simply.

There was a pause. A soft rain began pattering gently on the ground.

I looked down. Truth is I have a bit of an issue with trust. Only idiots trust each other.

Why didn’t anyone else understand that?

Geri cleared her throat. ‘Ed, I don’t think withholding information from a team member is the best way to build trust.’

I shot a grateful look at her. I’ve always got along better with Geri than the others have. She’s hard-edged, for sure – and hugely ambitious. But at least she understands how the real world works.

‘Don’t blame Ed for this,’ Nico snapped. ‘It’s not his fault if Dylan’s a complete princess.’

I squared up to him. Nico’s tall – and extremely good-looking, with dark hair and eyes and smooth, olive skin. But none of that intimidates me.

‘What did you call me?’

‘A princess,’ Nico said, ‘with a selfish psychic ability and an arrogant attitude that stops you from trusting anyone el—’

‘I do trust you,’ I snapped back. ‘I trust you and your girlfriend to make stupid decisions and give stupid advice.’

‘Dylan,’ Ed said plaintively. ‘That’s not fair.’

‘How
dare
you speak to us like that?’ Nico said through gritted teeth. He seethed with fury. ‘You’ve got no right to diss what we do. You’re supposed to be in this team
with us.’

Ketty put a restraining hand on his arm.

For some reason that gesture made me angrier than everything else put together.

‘In this team
with
you? Don’t make me laugh!’ I shouted. ‘I
own
this team. It was
my
dad who
created
the Medusa gene . . . remember? Who put it inside you . . . and he died a hero protecting—’

‘He died in an
accident
!’ Nico shouted back. ‘You’re just the same as the rest of us.’

I glared at him, a terrible wave of misery rising inside me at this angry reference to my dad’s death.

I forced the tears back. No way was I showing Nico he’d upset me.

‘That’s enough, both of you,’ Geri said firmly. ‘At least I hope this experience has proved to you all you’re in no way ready to be choosing your own missions. I mean, it’s obvious you’re not yet able to work as a team.’

‘Why don’t we just leave Dylan out of our next mission?’ Ketty said.

‘Fine with me,’ Nico added.

They looked at Ed.

‘My point is that you shouldn’t be acting independently at all,’ Geri went on. ‘Surely you can all see that?’

Ed coughed. ‘Actually, I don’t,’ he said. ‘And while I agree that Dylan’s a bit of a loose cannon . . .’ He turned to Nico and Ketty. ‘We’ll need her for the mission I’ve found.’

I sniffed. ‘Do I get a say in this?’

Ed looked at me.

Whoosh.

In an instant he was inside my head.

He’s done that a couple of times before, but I’ll never get used to it. You can feel his presence, even when he’s not pushing to find anything out.

Right now he was darting in and out of my thoughts, preventing me from moving. Panicking, my thoughts shrieked out:
What the hell are you doing? Get out!

Ed carried out zooming around my head. I couldn’t tell what he was seeing . . . somehow he was blocking me from knowing what he was looking at.

Stop!

With another
whoosh
he was gone.

I turned on him, furious. ‘What was that for?’

‘I just wanted to know something,’ Ed said.

‘What?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Ed looked around at the others. ‘So you’re definitely up for the mission?’

Nico and Ketty nodded.

Something shrank inside me. He’d already talked to them about it. They already knew what the mission involved.

And nobody had said anything to me.

‘I’ve told you several times already, Ed,’ Geri insisted. ‘The mission isn’t safe. And your performance today confirms that you can’t be relied on to work independently. I don’t want the four of you to do it.’

Great.
Even Geri knew about the mission.

‘What about
her
?’ Ketty said, ignoring Geri and pointing at me.

‘Yeah, do we
really
have to bring her along?’ Nico snarled.

‘I’m afraid we can’t do the mission without her,’ Ed said. ‘If she’ll come, that is?’ He smiled. ‘You will come, won’t you, Dylan?’

All three of them looked at me expectantly.

I gazed at each of them in turn.

I guess if I was a different person I would have found it easy to smile and say I’d be glad to join them . . . that I was pleased to be needed and included . . .

But that’s not my way.

‘Sure I’ll come,’ I said, narrowing my eyes. ‘The three of you wouldn’t last five minutes without me.’

3: The revelation

It took the three of them most of the next two days to do it, but Nico, Ketty and Ed finally persuaded Geri we should go on this mission Ed had found.

In the end I think she realised that, if she didn’t agree, the others would do it anyway. And, if Geri was involved, she could at least provide advice and back-up.

I only knew they’d all been talking because Geri sought me out immediately after the decision was made.

Geri had always confided in me more than in the others. She knew my dad quite well and, though I’d never admit it, I liked it when she told me about their meetings all those years ago.

She found me in the backyard of the stone cottage we were staying in, staring out at the woodland beyond. We were somewhere in the North of England. Coming from America, I’m a bit vague on all the geography, but I think we might have been near a place called the Lake District. Not that I’d seen any lakes.

The cottage was quite cute in an olde English sort of way with draughty windows, flowery furnishings and cold stone floors everywhere.

I went out into the yard most evenings after dinner. It was easier than being in the living room with Nico, Ed and Ketty playing stupid computer games or listening to that dumb indie music they’re all into.

It was a chilly night, but I was sitting on the swing seat in my retro pea coat and vintage Gucci gloves, enjoying the fresh, earthy night air and thinking about a pair of slingbacks I had my eye on.

In case you’re wondering, I get a big allowance from my aunt and uncle in America. It doesn’t make up for the way they’ve treated me but, hey, a lot of money’s better than none, right?

‘So what’s this mission about?’ I said, after Geri had made a few barbed comments about the others’ pig-headedness.

Geri gave me that birdlike stare of hers. ‘They still haven’t said anything to you?’

I shook my head.

‘Ed wants to investigate the death of a boy in a children’s care home.’

‘Why?’

‘The death is logged as “accidental”, but Ed’s got it into his head that it was murder.’

‘How come?’

‘The official police report says a boy died after “an accident with a knife”. Ed’s got some hunch that the boy was killed deliberately and that someone’s covering up . . .’ Geri paused. ‘I think after that girl he met in Spain, Ed has a special interest in children in care.’

I nodded. Luz, the girl Geri was referring to, had been in care. She’d been kidnapped by the people running the camp we’d been sent to in Spain. Ed had really liked her . . . had helped her escape, only to have to watch her die later.

I’d been there when it had happened. It wasn’t something I wanted to think about if I could possibly help it.

‘So Ed’s on a moral mission to save kids in care, is he?’ I said.

‘Mmm . . .’ Geri sighed. ‘Well, I won’t pre-empt the situation any further, dear. There’ll be a proper briefing tomorrow morning.’

‘Fine.’ I shrugged.

‘You remind me more and more of your father, Dylan,’ Geri said in that clipped accent of hers. ‘He’d get that closed-off look in his eye, too. A man of few words and
very
untrusting but, my goodness, when it came to his principles, he stood up for what he believed in.’ She paused. ‘He didn’t have many friends . . . I mean there were a few scientists he worked closely with, and Jack Linden, of course . . .’ She paused.

Jack Linden was my godfather. I’d liked him, but he’d ended up betraying us all earlier in the year. I reckoned Dad was right to be untrusting. Jack Linden had been his best friend, but he’d still risked our lives to sell the formula for the Medusa gene my dad had developed.

‘Of course,’ Geri went on, ‘your dad only really had himself to blame about the lack of friends . . . He wasn’t an easy man.’

‘He had my mom, too.’ I turned to her, irritated. What was she saying? Some clumsy hint about how I should try to get on better with the others?

‘Of course.’ Geri shivered.

A minute later she made some excuse and went back inside.

I stayed out for ages thinking about my dad. After he’d realised the Medusa gene was going to kill the mothers of the babies he’d injected – including my mom, his wife – he kind of withdrew from the world. I guess he must have felt real guilty. I often wondered about the traffic accident he died in . . . Was he just careless crossing the road that night . . . or so preoccupied with his work that he didn’t notice the car until it was too late? He was basically a genius and everyone says people like that often find real life harder than ordinary people.

And what about my mom? Was she cool with his being obsessed with his work? I’d never really talked about her to anyone. My stupid aunt and uncle only ever sneered about her. The most they’d said was that I looked like her . . . except for my hair and my colouring, of course. I have my dad’s pale skin and wild red hair. Well, it would be wild if I didn’t straighten it.