Mind Blind (19 page)

Would I find anything inside at all, apart from Ivy Shaw’s remains? Had the last two days been worth it?

I could sense the hunter getting closer. I twisted the lid off the urn and, with Vivien’s gritty fingers scratching the inside of my mind, I put my hand in the ashes.

Yes! I felt it. The long smooth shape of that flash drive. My guess had been right all along. Vivien had led me to the right place.

Lucy kicked me in the ribs. “You bastard, leave my nana alone.”

I pulled my hand out of the ashes and twisted the lid back on. “Calm down, Lucy, and help me find two things: moving water and a camera.”

“Why would I help you, when you’re clearly not trying to save me?”

“It might still work out for both of us, if we hurry. Come on!”

Then I sensed the hunter again. Far too close. Far too fast. Far too much like Daniel.

Bain was running towards the water with my nana’s ashes. My sister had died because of what was hidden in there. I was not letting him destroy it.

So I ran after him.

We reached a concrete-banked river flowing into the deep water of the docks. Bain ran onto an old railway bridge. The rails were covered over with boards, and the sides of the bridge were a complex pattern of rusty blue girders, framing the dark oily water.

He stopped right in the middle of the bridge. He looked down at the water, then up and round at various lampposts on the bridge, and at the roofs of nearby buildings.

I crashed into him and grabbed the backpack. “No, you bloody don’t, not without a better explanation.”

“I thought she wanted to be scattered in the sea, Lucy.”

“The open sea, not this ditch.” I had a tight grip of one of the backpack straps.

“Let go, Lucy. I have to destroy the copy now or it will be too late.”

“But if you do, it will be too late for me.”

“I’m sorry, Lucy, but it was probably too late the minute you saw my face.”

I couldn’t believe it. I thought I could trust him. Not completely, not with my bank card details and stuff. But I thought I could trust him with my
life
. I had believed he was sorry for killing Viv. I had believed he didn’t want my death in his head.

I must have been wrong. I should have concentrated on
getting revenge and not tried to understand my sister’s killer.

But if he was going to betray me to his family, why hadn’t he just handed me and the flash drive over to Malcolm back at the colonies? And why was he so keen to find water and cameras?

“Lucy, let go!” He hauled on the backpack, but I held on. I saw panic in his eyes. I looked behind me.

In the dim industrial light of the docks, I saw the cousin who’d chased the taxi. He was wearing a black-and-white
Scream
mask, but I recognised the long hair underneath and the confident stride as he walked towards us.

I let go of the rucksack without warning Lucy, because it’s easy to forget how little the mindblind know, and she fell backwards.

I jumped over her and took three steps towards Daniel. Keeping myself between him and the urn, between him and Lucy.

We both kept our masks on. I’d counted at least 3 CCTV cameras aimed at or around the bridge, so it was safer to keep our faces hidden. Especially on the one night of the year when masks aren’t immediately suspicious.

I could sense his anticipation and he could definitely sense my fear.

But my plan could still work. I still had the witnesses I needed.

“Lucy, open the urn and tip the whole lot in the water.”

“No.”

“Please! I’ll explain later, if I’m still breathing later.”

“No, I’m not tipping Nana’s ashes into that filthy water.”

“Lucy, I don’t have time to argue. Please do as I say, before Daniel rips both of us apart…”

“Why? Can’t you kick him to death too?”

I didn’t answer.

“You can beat him, can’t you?” Lucy asked. “I’ve seen you knock down everyone else who’s stood in your way in the last couple of days.”

I sensed Daniel’s satisfaction at the way this conversation was going. There must have been a massive smirk under that mask.

“You can beat him, can’t you?” Lucy repeated.

“I suppose there’s a first time for everything.”

Lucy was confused. She no longer trusted me, she didn’t want to do what I asked with the ashes, but she didn’t want to see Daniel pulverise me either.

I had never managed to beat Daniel in a straight fight. But I could probably keep him busy for a few minutes. So if I could persuade Lucy to ditch the urn while I held Daniel off, we might both make it out of this. “Lucy. If you have any desire to keep us both alive, please pour the contents of the urn into the water. Now!”

Daniel interrupted, “I want that urn and whatever is in it. Don’t you dare pour it out, little girl…”

Oh good. If Daniel told her not to, she might do it simply to annoy him.

“No,” she said. “I’m not destroying anything of my nana’s, on the orders of either of you. Beat each other to death if you like, but this urn is staying on dry land.”

I sighed. If Lucy wouldn’t dump the ashes, I’d have to do it myself. I’d have to knock Daniel to the ground and keep him there while I poured the ashes out. I’d have to fight him and win. I took another step forward.

Daniel hadn’t told the rest of the family he’d found us. I could sense no desire to delay until an audience got here. I couldn’t sense any other family nearby either. He’d want the credit for getting the copy, once they finally found us. But in the meantime, he could have fun kicking people weaker than
himself, even without his gang of cousins cheering him on.

Daniel was loving my demands and her refusals, our matching fear and anxiety. But even though he was enjoying the ads and the trailers, he was keen to get to the main feature.

So he crouched.

And I braced myself.

Bain didn’t even look like he was going to defend himself.

I knew he could do this stuff. I’d felt the strength of his kick on my wrist. I’d seen him knock down his uncle on the run. I’d seen him kill an armed man.

But he wasn’t even squaring up to his cousin. He was just standing there. Was this a double-cross? Was this a bit of theatre before they grabbed the urn and got rid of me?

I stood up, slowly. Should I try to get away? Should I let them have their family tiff, and save myself and these ashes? Decide what to do with the secret once I was safe?

But I’d no idea how to get out of the docks. It was dark, there was deep water everywhere and Bain had the map.

Then I saw Daniel leap at Bain. Was this for real? I watched.

As Daniel leapt, Bain fell. Before Daniel could hit him, he just fell to the ground. Daniel stumbled, then turned round to find Bain.

Bain was up again. Still looking casual, not defending himself.

Daniel attacked again, with a high kick at Bain’s head. Bain fell away again, but this time Daniel was expecting it, so he pulled the kick short and landed hard on Bain. Stomping on him, two-footed, like a red card foul.

Bain rolled out from under, but I’d heard the smash as Daniel’s boots hit his chest. That must have hurt.

They were both up again.

Daniel leapt once more, but Bain didn’t fall this time, he whirled away, and got behind Daniel, his hand reaching out for the ponytail.

But Daniel was too fast, and he ducked and turned, got his arms round  Bain’s chest and started to squeeze. Bain’s elbows jabbed back, he stamped down at his cousin’s feet, but Daniel held on. He shifted one arm up to Bain’s bare throat.

Shit. Maybe Daniel really was better at this. Maybe he was going to kill Bain.

Daniel said quietly, “I can feel your fear, Bain. You know I’m going to kill you. And you know no one will care that you’re gone. Not even your mum.”

Bain was kicking at Daniel’s knees, pulling on Daniel’s sleeves. But pressed hard up against Daniel, reading his murderous thoughts, Bain must be losing his mind as well as his breath.

Daniel laughed. “Little Lucy knows you’re dying and she doesn’t care either.”

How dare he lie about how I felt?

Before I could think, before he could be warned, I stepped forward, swung the urn-filled backpack and crashed it into the side of Daniel’s head.

He dropped Bain and turned on me.

Bain just lay there, no help whatsoever, as the tall boy with the screaming face picked me up and flung me against the girders…

I sat up in time to see Lucy crash into the side of the bridge, fall hard and awkward on her left leg, then collapse. The rucksack landed on the wooden planks and the urn rolled out to bump against her feet.

I scrambled up, pulling my mask straight. To hide my face
from the cameras, and to keep my eyes hidden from Daniel. But I hoped the cameras were catching this: these masked teenagers fighting over an urn. Because those cameras were our witnesses.

Lucy didn’t move. I couldn’t sense anything from her. But it wasn’t the nothing of death, more the blur of sleep. He’d knocked her out.

I owed her a lot for that whack on the head. But she couldn’t help again and I wasn’t helping myself much either.

My first tactic had been to annoy him by refusing to engage, hoping he’d make a mistake. But Daniel didn’t make mistakes. My next tactic had been to go for that stupid ponytail to get control of his head, but he’d guessed what I was doing, let me get close, and nearly strangled me for it.

I needed to try something else. But I couldn’t use flashy high kicks. Not because I was wary of them since I’d killed William Borthwick, but because they’re positively dangerous against a better opponent. Daniel could get under a kick, grab my leg and use my own momentum to tip me off balance.

I had to aim low. And I had to get him on the ground. The first one to hit the ground and stay there for more than a heartbeat was going to lose this fight.

We were walking slowly round each other. Then he came at me with a punch to the head, a kick to the stomach, a spin and kick to the thigh. They didn’t connect, but they drove me back.

He was too fast. I could only keep backing away. Soon he’d have me up against the girders and he could take me apart. I wasn’t ducking out now to annoy him, I was retreating because I couldn’t get the space or time or angle to fight back.

And our emotions were exploding out at each other.

When mindreaders fight, it’s like fights in films where actors talk all the time. People don’t do that in real life. They’re thinking about defence and attack, not quick one-liners.

But my family communicate with each other even if
we don’t want to. Daniel’s pleasure and confidence were overwhelming me, my fear and frustration were giving him even more confidence.

If I wasn’t careful, we could read each other’s intentions too. In a fight no one could concentrate on covering their thoughts. He could read me if we made eye contact and I could read him if we touched. But if he read me, he got lots of information. If I read him, I got lots of information plus added overload and nausea.

So I didn’t want to read him and I didn’t want him to read me. Which meant I couldn’t look him in the face. I had to fight him looking down, like a submissive dog. But then, my eyes down, I saw an opportunity.

I acted before he could react to my spike of hope. I launched forward and stamped on the end of the loose board I’d noticed. It lifted his left foot suddenly into the air, and as he lost his perfect balance I kicked low and knocked his right foot away too.

For a split second neither of Daniel’s feet were on the bridge. He was in the air, unsupported, crashing to the ground on his back.

As he fell, I kicked at his head. I connected, but only with the side of the mask, because he’d turned away just far enough to protect himself. He was too fast for me.

I flung myself down, to pin him to the ground before he could recover. But he had his long left leg bent and his foot in the air already, and as I crashed towards him, he kicked me in the chest and pushed me up and away.

It wasn’t a strong kick. I landed on my feet. But it moved me far enough out of the way for him to leap up.

We were both on our feet again. I’d blown the best chance I was likely to have.

He laughed. “Good boy. Don’t make it too easy.”

I didn’t answer. No breath. Nothing to say.

I heard them thumping and gasping, and I was sitting up with my mask off and the urn in my arms before I remembered what was going on.

Bain and Daniel were still fighting.

Bain wasn’t dead yet. I wasn’t dead yet. That was good news.

But there wasn’t any other good news. Mostly I could see Bain backing away from Daniel.

I watched them kicking, jumping, punching and spinning, and I reckoned that half of Daniel’s shots were smacking against Bain, and only one in five of Bain’s were getting near Daniel.

They were slowing, their dancing circles getting looser. I could hear Bain’s creaking breaths and Daniel’s low laughs.

I tried to get up. I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t want to go near Daniel again. Maybe I would run away, maybe I would even chuck the ashes in the river, so I didn’t have to carry the urn.

But I couldn’t get up. My legs were too shaky and my left ankle was flaring up with pain.

I heard Daniel’s voice. “Hello Lucy. Are you back with us?” And he turned to face me…

I sensed Lucy wake up. I hoped Daniel was enjoying himself too much to care about her. But he guessed tormenting her would weaken me, so he started to chat to her, from behind that screaming mask.

“How disappointing for you, Lucy. I can sense your lack of confidence in this pathetic idiot. He’s not going to save you. He can’t even save himself.

“She knows you can’t win, Bain. She’s expecting to watch you die, then watch me walk towards her. What will I do then, Lucy? You’ll find out soon, but Bain won’t be alive to know, so I’ll tell you both.”

I found a tiny bit of energy and flung a spinning kick at his belly, but he stepped back so it missed by a hair and kept chatting to Lucy, as if my attacks weren’t worth noticing.

“I will look in your eyes, and enjoy your fear and pain as I twist and dislocate every joint in your body. Starting with your fingers and wrists, then your toes, ankles and knees. I might leave your neck until after my dad has questioned you. Then I’ll watch you die, just like I watched your big sister die. But first Bain…”

He smashed both hands together in a crashing blow that was meant to crack my temples. I fell back from it and made a weak attempt to kick his knee. I missed. Again.

I couldn’t just lie here waiting for that animal to savage me.

I tried to stand, but my left ankle was in agony, so I slid back down. I tried to think, past the bruises on my body and the growing terror in my head, what I could do to save myself. As I shifted position to take the weight off my ankle, I felt something in my pocket under the ripped cloak.

Phones. I had two phones in my pocket. Mine, with Roy’s number in it. And Borthwick’s, with lots of MI5 numbers on it.

I knew Lucy was coming up with a plan. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to save both of us, or just herself, but I was beyond caring.

Daniel knew she was up to something too. “Don’t even think about it, girl!” He took a step towards her.

But now I had a short-term plan of my own. Keep Daniel away from Lucy, while she tried to spoil his victory.

I used the last of my energy to stay between him and her. He landed even more punches, on ribs that were already cracked, but he didn’t get past me.

Bain was almost on top of me, and he didn’t look like he had much fight left in him. But he gave a yell of defiance, and drove Daniel back in a blur of punches and kicks.

As they circled in the centre of the bridge, I tried to stand again. My right leg was working now, but I still couldn’t put any weight on my left ankle.

If I couldn’t run, the phones were my only chance.

I could call Roy. He was as big as Daniel and could probably pull his cousin off Bain. But would he come alone
or with the rest of the family? That was a huge risk to take. For me, and for Bain too.

I could call MI5. Text my location to every number in this phone’s contacts. Then the spooks would drive up and save me. But would they save Bain? Would it be a kind of safety he’d accept? Probably not.

Neither of these were perfect solutions. So, I could just stay here, watch Daniel kill Bain in front of me, then watch Daniel walk towards me.

No, I wasn’t going to let it end like that. I had to make a decision.

I had always planned to discover what Ciaran Bain had done to my sister and why, then call for someone to help me and to punish him. So this was always how it was going to end.

I picked up the silver phone I’d stolen from Bain in the statue, after he’d stolen it from the man he murdered.

And I switched it on.

I saw her holding a phone. Not the cheap one she’d put Roy’s number in. It was the spook’s phone that I thought I’d dropped on the run through the park. Lucy must have lifted it from me when I was unconscious, and kept it as insurance against me betraying her or failing her. Fair enough.

But this was too soon. I didn’t want MI5 to know where we’d been and what we’d done until we were well away. If she brought them here now, they could get the flash drive, and could even grab me, grab Daniel, trace our family through us…

But if she left it much longer, Daniel would already have beaten me and be tearing her apart.

I wondered if I could still salvage something from this.

“Lucy, empty the urn!” I yelled. Daniel jabbed at my face but I swung out of the way. “The urn, Lucy. Look up…” but before I could explain, Daniel jabbed again, his stiff fingers caught me in the throat and destroyed the rest of the sentence.

I pointed up at the cameras, but Lucy ignored me, and I couldn’t get any more words out until I could breathe again.

He was waving at lampposts and demanding that I tip the urn into the water.

But the flash drive was too powerful and too useful to destroy.

So I whispered, “No, Bain, not my nana’s ashes.” But really I meant,
No Bain, not the flash drive that will save my life
. Not even if it would save him.

And I pressed ‘send’:

Lomond’s family at Leith docks now

She did something decisive with the phone.

So it was too late. It had probably been too late the minute she switched Borthwick’s phone on.

I gasped, “Daniel, MI5 might be here any minute. We have to get out of here…”

“Spooks? Really? They won’t get here first…” I knew what he meant. Suddenly I could sense it too.

My family had detected the fight. They had sensed our anger and aggression, my fear and pain.

My family were heading this way.

Now I was getting more witnesses than I could handle.
And I was trapped here. From the waves of pain every time she tried to stand, I knew Lucy was trapped here too.

Then I sensed Lucy’s spike of hope.

She believed her cavalry was on the way.

I opened the text which had just arrived on Borthwick’s phone:

Are you Lomond descendant? We can keep recent deaths out of court if you come and work with us

I choked back a few rude words. How dare they offer to cover up my sister’s death? But I hoped MI5 would protect me if I was still alive when they got here. I didn’t answer the text, because I thought a mystery would get them here faster.

Bain looked almost as wobbly on his feet as I was, and Daniel was now managing to land almost every kick and punch.

But I managed to stand up, at last, holding onto the bridge with one hand and the urn with the other.

If I was right about who Lucy had summoned, then my slowly approaching family were in danger.

I could sense the family getting closer, creeping up in the shadows on the east side of the bridge. Mum’s growing panic, Malcolm’s proud satisfaction, Roy’s depressed certainty of loss and the rest of the family’s nervousness. None of them could risk coming too close.

Then Daniel’s heel hit hard and sudden, against my hip. I
fell backwards, but managed to stay upright.

Now I could sense the spooks too, approaching cautiously from the west, still at a distance.

“Daniel, we need to leave. MI5 are on their way, and if they grab either of us or any of the family watching us right now, then they won’t need the codenames.”

Daniel laughed. “I don’t care about the spooks or the Shaw report. This is the best chance I’ve ever had to get rid of you. Dad’s not going to stop me this time.”

He was right. I could sense caution from both sides of the bridge. No one was going to move into clear sight. No one was going to step in and save me. Not even Lucy, who was finally on her feet again behind me.

I tried a kick to Daniel’s thigh, but I couldn’t raise my own leg high enough. I wasn’t going to be able to stay on my feet much longer, let alone fight.

Daniel took the risk I couldn’t take, because he was still strong and I was weak. He spun round, leapt up and kicked high, hitting me on the shoulder. I didn’t react fast enough to grab at his leg. I didn’t have the balance or strength to resist the power of the kick. I flew backwards and landed on the ground.

And he jumped on me, pinning me down.

I was on the ground. I couldn’t get up. I had lost the fight. But Daniel wasn’t finished.

He leant down and stared through the tiny eyeholes in his mask, looking into my eyes.

He knelt on my right hand so I couldn’t move it, then he pulled the glove off my left hand, flung it in the water and wrapped his fingers round my wrist.

“Let’s do this man to man, mind to mind. I want to enjoy this.”

He thought about what he was going to do. How he would strangle me. And how, before he choked me to death, he would break my nose, break my teeth and crush my chest.

I tried to be brave and defiant, but that’s pointless when your enemy can read how hard you’re trying to be brave and defiant.

I tried to block my thoughts. I dragged a dark fabric of privacy up behind my eyes, around my mind. But I was in too much pain to create a strong screen and the fabric ripped under Daniel’s sharp eyes.

It’s easier to control your words than your thoughts, so I started talking. “You’ve never killed before, have you?”

“Not yet. You’ll be my first. What a privilege. I’ll always remember you, Bain. Sniffling and struggling and begging.”

“I’ve not begged yet.”

“You will.”

He punched my chest. When he had hit me while I was standing, there was air behind me to fall into, to absorb some of the blow. But now I was lying on the bridge, my body took the full force. The pain was so overpowering, I was sure his fist had gone right through my ribcage.

I sensed his pleasure and knew his thoughts. Hit again in the same place or hit my face next?

I sensed Lucy, determined to move, to escape, despite the pain in her injured leg.

I sensed the spooks, still slightly confused, wondering if they had found the wrong kids, because a fight probably wasn’t what they’d expected.

I sensed Malcolm, calm and analytical, looking for an advantage from this situation. He could sense MI5 too, that’s why the family were staying in the shadows.

I sensed my mum’s panic and desperation, her frantic attempts to fight free of the uncles holding her back. I sensed Paul and Hugh’s determination to keep her quiet and out of sight.

I sensed Roy, frustrated and angry and already mourning me, and the circle of cousins stopping him running over to help me.

And I sensed my own death. Right above me.

“If you’ve never killed, how do you know you’ll like it?”

“You don’t like it, do you? You cry. You suck your thumb. You wet the bed. You run to Mummy. The family doesn’t have room for weaklings like you.”

He punched again. Same place, same thunderous crash, same unbelievable pain.

I sensed the spooks edging closer, clarifying their options, perhaps planning to surround the docks and arrest everyone, then work out what was going on later.

Malcolm sensed it too. He made decisions, gave orders, and some of the family moved away.

No one was paying any attention to us. No one was going to notice my death.

Daniel aimed his fist at me again.

I was steady on my feet now, so if I held onto the railing, I could probably hobble away. But Bain couldn’t get away. He was trapped under Daniel, who was landing hammerblow punches on his chest.

It was clear from Bain’s attempts to talk Daniel out of killing him that their family, and probably MI5 too, were close by. Why weren’t his family stopping Daniel?

Even if they didn’t care about Bain as a son, a cousin or a nephew, surely the family realised that he was far better at mindreading than them. That he had skills and talents they didn’t. That he was way beyond fairground freakery. Surely they must realise his value, his abilities, his power?

But perhaps they didn’t know. Perhaps Bain hadn’t quite realised himself.

Perhaps that could save him.

“Use Viv!” I yelled. “Take him to Viv. Use Viv as a weapon!”

Use Viv as a weapon? What did she mean? I didn’t have the strength to wield a weapon.

Daniel was staring into my eyes, he had his hand round my wrist, and we were reading each other more closely than we ever had.

I knew he planned to take as much time as the spooks and Malcolm would give him, to cause me as much pain as possible. And he would relish every jolt of agony, every pang of despair, every shiver of fear.

I really was crap, and I was dying in such a crap way…

“Hey Bain, this is how it feels to die. Are you enjoying it?”

“You have no idea what it’s like to die.”

Then I realised what Lucy meant. How I could use Vivien as a weapon.

All I had left was how crap I was, how weak I was, how sensitive I was.

I whispered to Daniel, “If you want to feel death, if you want to be a murderer, this is what it’s really like…”

I dived deep into Vivien’s death and felt her panic. I kicked Borthwick again and felt his sudden stop.

As I thought about their deaths, Daniel laughed, because he really didn’t care. He was pleased they were dead.

Then I thought about how I felt when they died. I embraced my guilt and my regret and my horror, and I stretched out to feel the absolute freezing black nothingness of death. I found Vivien’s terror, still there like a scar in my head, and Borthwick’s surprise.

Then before they overwhelmed me, I took the blackness of their deaths and the wretchedness of my feelings, my pathetic weakness, my shakes and sweats and screams and moans, and I forced them out. Out of my mind, along my arm, into my wrist, through my skin, into Daniel’s grasping hand, and into his mind.