Terror Kid (9 page)

Rico put his hands together in front of his chest as if praying. ‘I didn't know anything about a bomb,' said Rico. ‘Lola, you have to believe me. Honest, I just thought it was a game. You know, hack in, close down their site, and have a bit of a laugh. I didn't know anything about a bomb.'

Lola saw that his tears were real. She could see his hands shaking as he pleaded to her. She put her arm around him. ‘I believe you.'

‘What shall I do?' Rico asked, looking at the carpet.

‘First of all, take some time to think. Why don't you call this Speech guy and see what he has to say?'

‘He's gone,' said Rico. ‘And I haven't even got a phone number for him. He said he didn't have a phone.'

‘Any idea where he lives?'

‘No.'

‘Email?'

‘No,' said Rico. ‘I haven't got anything for him. He just used to meet me in the streets. It was like he just knew where I was all the time.'

Kim came home, hurried through the door, and went upstairs, shouting down as she ascended.

‘Lola. Can I have a word?'

Lola ran upstairs.

‘Lola,' Kim said anxiously. ‘I got something to tell you. It's about your brother.'

‘I know,' said Lola. ‘It's complicated.'

‘Complicated?' Kim was shouting now. ‘Complicated? Nine people are dead, twenty in hospital. And your brother did it!'

‘He didn't,' said Lola. ‘I know him. He wouldn't do something like that. He is my brother. Come downstairs. He'll talk to you. He's got nothing to hide.'

Lola persuaded Kim to calm down and go and listen to Rico. Downstairs, Rico retold the whole story again. It was tedious, but he wanted to make sure he got every detail right. Kim was convinced by Rico but she was also convinced that he should give himself up straight away.

‘It's the most honest thing to do,' said Kim.

‘But who's going to believe me?' said Rico. ‘I've been set up. I'll be on my own.'

Lola looked at Kim, then she looked at Rico.

‘You are not alone. You have us. Kim will be here tomorrow, and I'm going to take the day off, so let's all get some sleep and we'll decide what to do tomorrow.'

‘Good idea,' said Kim. ‘My head's hurting.'

 

Rico slept on the couch but got very little sleep that night and in the morning he had stiff shoulders, a stiff neck and a headache. Kim and Lola weren't feeling much better either. They had slept in their beds, but they had also spent many hours talking about the situation they had found themselves in. As they sat eating breakfast from plates on their laps they compared the strength of their headaches then, for the first time, Lola asked how her parents were.

‘They were OK the last time I saw them,' said Rico. Then he thought about how panicked his mother sounded the last time he heard her, and of how confused his father would be. His head flopped down and he continued to speak with his head bowed. ‘But I'm sure they're not OK now. Not after what I've done to them.'

‘Hey. Let's talk about something else. Have they been bad-mouthing me?' Lola asked, half-smiling.

‘No. They haven't really been talking about you at all.'

‘Good.'

‘Why is that good?' asked Rico.

‘Because I'd rather have them not talking about me than have them bad-mouthing me. I've had enough of them bad-mouthing me. Just because I wouldn't do what they wanted me to do.'

‘I thought you fell out with them because they didn't turn up to your graduation,' said Rico.

‘Yes. No,' replied Lola. ‘Well, kind of. There's more to it than that. I wanted to study Art at university, but they convinced me to do Law. I wasn't crazy about the idea but I thought, OK, that might be useful, you know, get a law degree, then go out into the world and help people. I really struggled to stay on top of my studies and had very little support from them and, yes, they didn't turn up to my graduation when I really wanted them to. But what really got me was, the day after I graduated they showed me a photo of some guy from Spain that they wanted me to marry.'

‘What, Mum and Dad did that? Who was the guy?' asked Rico.

‘I don't know. I'd never seen him before, and I never wanted to see him again, and never wanted to hear such rubbish again. Actually, it was more Dad than Mum, but when I told them I wasn't interested in this guy they said they had another one lined up. As if I'd done all that study just to be married off. So I've never forgiven them for not thinking about what
I
want from my life, and they've never forgiven me for calling them old-fashioned and backward.'

‘I didn't know any of that,' said Rico. ‘I thought they were modern and up-to-date and everything.'

‘Yes, but you're a boy. Don't get me wrong. I don't think they're bad people, I just think they treated me badly, and I guess I wanted to punish them for it. I don't hate them; if I really hated them I wouldn't make contact when I do.'

‘That's not very often, is it?' said Rico.

‘Well, I'm busy working in the art gallery and making a life for myself. I just like them to know sometimes that I'm still alive.'

Kim interrupted. ‘Hey, enough of going down memory lane. We have a lot to think about. Rico, I've thought about this all night and I still don't know what you should do. You could stay here for a while, but you are wanted: they are not going to stop until they find you, so I think I have to ask again: why don't you just give yourself up?'

Rico stood up abruptly. He walked around in a small circle in the middle of the room. ‘Because. Because – if I give myself up now I'm on my own, and who's going to believe me? I know you both said I'm not on my own and you'll support me and all that, but when they have me in the station I'll be all on my own, so I'm going to wait for a bit.'

‘Wait for what?' asked Kim.

‘I'm going to wait for a while to see if they get Speech. I'm sure they will, and once they get him the truth will be out.'

‘But,' said Lola, ‘it doesn't matter if they find him or not, you'll still be in trouble.'

‘Yes, I know,' said Rico loudly. ‘But I won't be in as much trouble. There's a big difference between doing a bit of computer hacking and mass murder.'

Lola responded quietly. ‘I might not have actually practised law, but I think they might be able to get you on conspiracy to mass murder. I don't know, I'm just saying.'

Rico sat back down. ‘How can they do me for conspiracy when I didn't know what was going on?'

‘It gets all technical; they can twist things using jargon. All I'm saying is that something that makes sense to you might not make sense to the law, or vice versa.'

‘Vice versa, vice versa!' Rico said angrily. ‘Who cares about vice versa; I'm telling the truth. That should be good enough.'

‘I'm just telling you what it's like,' said Lola, now raising her voice. ‘So don't get angry with me.'

‘Calm down, both of you,' said Kim. ‘Let's be constructive.'

The room went silent as they all began thinking. Soon the silence was broken by Rico.

‘I know. I can hack into the police computers again and send them a message, or I could just send them an email telling them everything that happened.'

‘That's mad,' said Lola.

‘What's the point of that?' asked Kim.

‘Well, they would know the real story,' replied Rico. ‘And once they knew the real story, they'd let me go.'

‘You know that's not going to work,' said Lola. ‘As soon as you contacted them they would find out where you were and then they'd raid us.'

‘OK, you're right,' said Rico. Then he had another idea. ‘Lola. Why don't you go home and see what‘s happening? See how Mum and Dad are, and see if they know I'm innocent.'

‘Rico, you're not exactly innocent,' replied Lola.

‘I am.'

‘You're not. You hacked into police systems. It doesn't matter how you did it and why you did it, it's illegal. You even told me before I left home that you'd hacked into other stuff, and I did warn you. But you didn't listen to me.'

‘I did listen to you,' said Rico. ‘I know it's illegal, but I thought it was a bit of fun. I've been hacking for ages and never hurt anyone. I just wanted to see things. I just wanted to test my skills. I wouldn't have hacked into the police if I knew what was really happening. I know that doesn't make it right.'

‘It doesn't make it right,' said Lola. ‘And it's no excuse. The point is, you're not innocent.'

‘So what are we going to do?' asked Kim impatiently.

‘What about my idea of you going home, Lola?' asked Rico.

‘No. That's not happening,' replied Lola. ‘Anyway, it would look strange if I suddenly turned up.'

‘Phone them then,' Rico said sharply.

‘No,' said Lola. ‘What are we going to talk about? I'd have to tell a pack of lies about not seeing you, and if the police are watching then they'd trace the phone call and …'

‘But,' Rico interrupted, ‘it probably looks strange that I'm all over the TV and you haven't made contact to ask what's going on.'

‘They'll just think I don't care.'

‘You don't, do you?' shouted Rico.

Lola lost her temper and really shouted.

‘If I didn't care I wouldn't have taken the day off to be with you. If I didn't care I wouldn't have been up all night worrying about you. If I didn't care …'

‘OK,' said Kim. ‘Let's all calm down.'

The sound of a cheap computerised version of Mozart's
Allegro
filled the room. It was Lola's phone. She answered.

‘Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot – we both forgot – can we go next week?'

She put her hand over the phone and whispered over to Kim, ‘It's Hutch – it's about tonight.'

She continued the call.

‘There's stuff I need to do so I just can't make it tonight. No, it's not really convenient for you to come over here – we're really busy. Look, let's talk in a couple of days – I'll call you – maybe we can see each other this weekend. OK, great, thanks, bye.'

‘Who was that?' asked Rico.

‘It was Hutch, my boyfriend; we were going out tonight. I forgot all about it.'

‘So did I,' said Kim. ‘What did he say?'

‘He sounded a bit let down but he's OK. I think he's blaming himself.'

Rico turned to Kim. ‘So do you have a boyfriend?'

‘I did but I soon got rid of him,' Kim replied.

Lola continued, ‘He was an absolute horror. She kicked him out, then I moved in.'

‘Never mind my life,' interrupted Kim. ‘Let's deal with this. I think these ideas are stupid, Rico. You have to give yourself up.'

‘I need more time,' said Rico.

‘He needs more time,' Lola said to Kim. ‘And you need some clothes,' she said to Rico.

‘He needs some what?' asked Kim. ‘What's clothes got to do with it?'

‘Well, look at him,' replied Lola. ‘Those are basically his school clothes. Too recognisable. Whatever happens, he's going to need a change of clothes.' She turned to Rico. ‘I'll get you some clothes. You can pay me back later.'

‘I still think we need to deal with the whole situation, not just the clothes,' said Kim, looking unhappy.

‘Of course we need to deal with the whole thing,' said Lola. ‘But we don't want to rush and make the wrong decision. So I suggest we leave Rico here, go for a drive into town, and get him some clothes.'

‘OK,' said Kim, turning to Rico. ‘What's your size?'

Lola and Kim went shopping. The house fell silent and Rico was left alone with his thoughts.

Lola drove to a budget clothing store and they bought the first things they saw that didn't look like school uniform. When they had finished shopping for clothes they went to a chemist and bought a toothbrush and a comb. They drove home, but halfway there the mood changed when Kim raised her concerns.

‘We have to be careful, Lola. The more we do to help him, the more we get ourselves involved in this, and this is so serious. We could be getting ourselves into real trouble. We could be part of a terrorist plot.'

‘This
is
serious,' said Lola. ‘But my little brother is no terrorist. He's just got himself into a situation and he needs our help.'

‘You mean he needs
your
help.'

‘What are you saying?' asked Lola. ‘You don't want to help him?'

Not wanting to upset Lola, Kim thought carefully before she spoke. ‘I'm saying he got himself into this mess, so he can get himself out of it. He might have to go to prison. You know that, don't you? And if he does, I don't want him to take me with him. That's all I'm saying.'