The Mortal Knife (7 page)

The following day Adam spent a nervous morning in school. Melissa had been absent at the start of registration, only to slip in towards the end. Adam's heart did its usual flip-flop at the sight of her but once again she played it cool, giving him the merest hint of a smile. It seemed she didn't want to make a big thing of meeting up with him later.

The first two periods dragged by. When the breaktime bell rang Adam could have wept with relief. His concentration was shot to hell that morning. As he headed towards the library he ran into Dan, who was mooching along looking pensive. At the sight of Adam he jerked his head in greeting. ‘All right?'

Adam nodded. ‘Yeah. You all right?'

Dan shrugged. ‘Yeah.' He hesitated and looked around to make sure no one was listening. ‘I had to go and see that counsellor last night.'

‘Oh right.' Adam paused, not sure what to say. To his shame he really wanted to know what they had talked about. It wasn't any of his business but he
did
have a vested interest in knowing what Dan had said.

Luckily Dan was only too happy to tell him. ‘Yeah, it was all right. She was OK. There weren't any dolls though.'

Adam grinned. ‘Don't tell Archie. He'll be really disappointed.'

Dan was looking thoughtful. ‘I didn't tell her about the photo. Spike said not to tell anyone about it yet until he tries to clean it up and gets a look at the faces.' He paused for a moment. ‘Do you think he got away? Not the bomber, the other guy?'

Adam groaned inwardly. He picked his words with care. ‘Well, he must have done, if they didn't find any bits of him.'

Dan nodded. ‘I hope he did. Only – I just don't see how he could have. He was really close.'

Adam shrugged, trying to sound bored. ‘Maybe he ran past the bomber. And then when the bomb went off you couldn't see him because he was behind it.'

‘Maybe.' Dan didn't sound convinced. ‘He must have been a really fast runner. The bomb went off about five seconds after I took that photo.'

‘Look, just forget about it, will you? Stop going on about it! It's over and done with. It's like Spike said – some nutter blew himself up. Just be happy
you're
alive.' Adam's tone was sharper than he had intended.

Dan looked wounded for a second. ‘I'm just saying.'

Adam felt a pang of guilt. Just because he was used to death and dismemberment didn't mean everyone else was. ‘Yeah, I know mate. Sorry. It's pretty crap seeing that on your holiday.'

Dan shrugged. ‘Yeah, it was.' He paused. ‘Although it would be kind of cool if the other guy got away. Because he'd
have
to be a ninja then. Or have some kind of weird power. That would be amazing – if we found proof that ninjas existed.'

‘I guess.'

‘I like thinking about it. That there's more to the world than what you can see here.' Dan waved a hand around the bustling corridor. ‘If we found ninjas were real there could be loads of other stuff real as well. Vampires and werewolves and the Loch Ness Monster. At least it wouldn't be boring.'

‘There's nothing wrong with this world. Boring is good,' Adam said quietly. Sometimes he envied Dan and his friends, living safely in the ‘real' world. Not knowing that the Mortal Knife was hovering over their lives like an eagle over a mouse, way up high, out of sight.

Dan didn't seem convinced but he grinned suddenly. ‘So you're seeing Melissa later?'

‘Yeah, probably.' It was a relief to change the subject.

Dan winked. ‘Don't worry. We'll help you come up with a plan.'

Adam almost rolled his eyes but managed not to. ‘Great. Can't wait.'

They had reached the library. Dan sank into his usual seat. ‘Operation hook, line and sinker. That's what we'll call it.'

‘Call what?' Archie mumbled from behind a graphic novel. There was no sign of Spike.

Dan pulled out a packet of dry roasted peanuts and tipped them into a pile on the table. ‘Adam's plan to catch the fish and keep her.'

‘
Stop calling her a fish!
' Adam hissed. He had a sudden uncomfortable image of Melissa swimming round in a fishbowl, mermaid style. He was glad no one else could see inside his head.

‘Well, not throwing up on her would be a good start,' Archie sniggered. ‘Sharing is caring and all that but I'm pretty sure that's a step too far.'

‘What are you going to do at lunchtime?' Dan asked, his face intent.

Adam shrugged. ‘Dunno. Probably just walk about a bit.' He stared at their riveted faces and scowled. ‘Stop going on about it, will you? We're just going to hang out. It's fine.'

‘I suppose,' Dan said, looking doubtful. ‘Just try to play it cool.'

‘Not possible,' Spike said from behind them. ‘Better to
be
cool than to play it cool. Cool like me, for example.' He sat down, opened his laptop and turned it towards them. ‘Victory is mine!'

Adam felt his jaw drop as he took in the image on the screen – followed by the bottom of his stomach. Spike hadn't been exaggerating about what he could achieve with his modified software.

They were looking at Dan's photo of the bomber and the mystery figure with him – only this time everything was magically clearer. Spike zoomed in on the figures. ‘Took a while to clean it up. Had to play about with the contrast and sharpen it a good bit but it was worth it.'

Adam stared at the screen, speechless. It was like looking at a ghost – literally. He could see the bomber's face, still a little blurred on screen but burned into Adam's memory – the short brown hair and wispy goatee, thin frame and of course the huge rucksack like a turtle shell on his back. And far worse he could see
himself
. The one thing saving him from immediate discovery was his ‘disguise', the baseball cap and sunglasses he had worn. His face was turned slightly away from the camera but the profile of his nose and chin was clear enough, at least to him. He instinctively put his hand up to his cheek, trying to hide anything recognisable.

‘There's some sort of logo on the hat. There.' Dan pointed at the screen. ‘Right there.'

Spike zoomed in a little more and Adam almost choked. How the hell was he getting it so clear?! Dan had been miles away but whatever technical wizardry Spike had worked was bringing the picture way too close for comfort. ‘He's probably just a tourist. It'll be some kind of I love London hat.'

Archie shook his head. ‘Move your finger Dan!' He squinted at the screen. ‘I think I've seen that somewhere before.' He frowned, trying to remember.

Adam felt sick. He could tell them exactly what it was. It was a dolphin wearing sunglasses. Dan had brought them all the same hat back from a holiday in America, a souvenir from some kind of water park. Adam cursed his own stupidity. He'd worn the baseball cap because it was black, ignoring the cheesy little logo. After all, what were the odds that he would be snapped wearing it by one of the few people who might recognise it – and him?

‘Can you zoom in any more?' His voice was scratchy with anxiety.

Luckily Spike was too absorbed in his masterwork to notice. ‘Nah. Seriously, I did well getting that much. You can see a lot more of the bomber, but this guy's facing the wrong way.' Just as Adam might have started breathing more easily Spike traced his finger along the figure's chin. ‘Still, you can see his nose and his jawline. I have a couple of ideas for what I can do with that.'

Archie looked sceptical. ‘I don't see how that's going to help. I mean it could be anyone.'

Spike looked smug. ‘Yeah but you don't have the contacts I have.' He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. ‘There's this guy I know from a hacking forum. He used to work for the CIA but they kicked him out for something. Anyway, he's one of those survivalist types, really paranoid – but he nicked a lot of their software when he was going. He reckons he has something that can analyse facial profiles and run a web search for matching photos.
Everyone
has a photo on the web somewhere. You just have to be patient. So if we're lucky it might throw something up. We might just track down our ninja.'

‘A ninja's hardly going to have a photo album online, is he?' Adam was trying to sound dismissive but his voice was coming out all wrong.

Spike shrugged. ‘Even ninjas make mistakes.'

Adam stood up. He could feel his heart beating at the back of his throat. ‘Why are you making such a big thing about this?'

Spike scowled. ‘What's your problem?'

Adam's mouth was moving and he knew it was out of control but somehow he couldn't make it stop. ‘You!
You're
the problem! Snooping around on your computer all the time! Haven't you anything better to do? Why don't you give it a rest? Play football! Get a hobby or a girlfriend or something, like normal people do, instead of poking through other people's lives!'

Colour flared in Spike's cheeks but his face stayed deadly calm. ‘Oh right. So
you've
got a girlfriend now and we're all supposed to be like
you
. It was
me
“poking about” on the computer that got rid of all the videos of you throwing up on her. She wouldn't be seeing you again if the whole school was still laughing at her and the sick on her shoes.'

Archie was colouring in something in his sketchbook. His face was hidden but he was moving his pencil just a little bit too hard. ‘Yeah, and she's not your
girlfriend
, is she? She just wants to hang out at lunchtime. You'll probably do something stupid today anyway.'

‘Or maybe the Beast will get hold of you,' Dan added helpfully. At least he didn't seem to be taking the ‘get a girlfriend' comment as personally as the other two. ‘Anyway, what's wrong with knowing who the guy in the picture is? Maybe he's a ninja and he's OK – but maybe he's just normal and he's dead. He might have loads of people looking for him. His mum and all.'

Adam's mouth moved soundlessly. He had totally overreacted and now he couldn't see any way back from it. ‘Yeah, well  …  Just because you
can
do something doesn't mean you should.'

‘Right, unless it helps you, is that what you mean?' Spike was sneering but he was angry beneath the sneer. ‘I can hack away if it helps you get a girlfriend and be Mr Normal.'

There was nothing Adam could say. Somehow he had managed to offend all his friends in one go. He knew he should probably apologise but the words just wouldn't come out. ‘Whatever,' he muttered and grabbed his schoolbag just as the bell rang. He headed for the door with a sinking heart.

He basically couldn't have done anything more to encourage Spike if he'd tried.

***

The next two periods passed in a misery of anxiety. Adam tried and failed to concentrate on the history of the Weimar Republic but all he could think about was how the hell he was going to explain it if his identity was revealed. He chewed on the end of his pen, wondering if Spike was exaggerating. Could there really be such a thing as facial recognition software? And how many photos would Adam have on the internet? He hadn't done anything noteworthy enough to end up on the school website and the Mortsons had a strict ban on social media. It was possible that there wasn't a single photo of him on the internet – unless of course his friends had uploaded his photo to their pages. There was no way of asking at the minute without being even more suspicious so he would have to leave it and hope Spike was blagging it.

The one bittersweet side effect of Adam's terror was that he didn't have time to worry about meeting Melissa. The minutes seemed to drag by – but suddenly it was lunchtime. It was only as Adam made his way towards the canteen that he realised they hadn't actually arranged a meeting point. He stood in the foyer outside, shovelling his sandwich in and shifting from foot to foot. He wished he'd thought to bring some mints but at least his sandwich was ham, not tuna.

Someone tapped his left shoulder, sending a bolt of agony down his bruised arm. He turned and saw Melissa. It was hard not to just stare and stare. How did she always look so nice? She was just wearing the same uniform everyone else was but there was a kind of glow about her. He studied her face. She was wearing make-up but only a little bit. Her eyes weren't quite as disturbingly laser-like without the black stuff round them. Today he could look into them without feeling as if she knew all his secrets.

She was smiling. ‘You all right?'

Adam shrugged. ‘Yeah. I didn't know where to meet you but I thought you'd come here.'

She nodded and pulled a slightly squashed roll out of her blazer pocket. ‘Yeah, it seemed the right place to find you.'

They looked at each other for a long, awkward moment. With a start Adam realised that she was waiting for him to do something. But what? Kiss her? Produce a bunch of flowers? Sweep her off her feet and carry her off into some overly colourful sunset? After a moment of terrible mental blankness his brain revved up a notch and managed to produce one semi-coherent sentence. ‘You want to go a walk?'

‘OK.' She seemed relieved that he'd finally said something. ‘I can eat while we're walking.'

It got easier once they left the stifling, crowded foyer and headed out into the fresh air. It was a cold, clear day, with a hint of warmth from the lunchtime sun. Spring was coming. Adam could feel it. It lifted his spirits; made him feel more optimistic.

‘So what did you do over the holidays?' Melissa was walking beside Adam, close enough that her arm brushed against his as they walked.

‘Not much,' Adam said truthfully. ‘I couldn't go out so I mostly just sat in my room.' That much was true. Nobody had really wanted to hang out with him at home, as if his disgrace might prove infectious. Of course if
anyone
found out the true extent of what he'd done it might well contaminate the whole family.