The Set Up (21 page)

‘Nice work, Nico,’ Ed said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Irritation snaked into my throat. ‘Well, what’s
your
plan?’ I hissed.

Ed glanced over his shoulder. Jack and Dylan were still deep in conversation.

‘See that scaffolding up ahead on the corner?’ Ed whispered. ‘First level up?’

I looked up. Several buildings away, at the corner of a narrow alleyway, a network of scaffolding poles crisscrossed half the way up the front of a shop. A long line of bricks sat in piles across the planks laid along the first level up. More planks were laid against the side of the building, clearly waiting to be used further up the scaffolding.

‘I see it,’ I said, tersely.

‘Well, I can hardly believe I’m asking after what just happened,’ Ed went on, ‘but d’you think you could manage to bring the bricks and planks down? If you caused a distraction I could probably get Ketty away. I’m sure I could carry her for a few streets.’

I looked back at the scaffolding. There was a lot of material up there, but nothing I couldn’t teleport easily.

Ketty squeezed my arm. ‘It’s a good plan.’

I nodded. ‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘but I’ve got a better one.’

‘Oh, God,’ Ed groaned. He glanced over his shoulder at Jack again. ‘What d’you mean?’

‘Well, if you just take Ketty and run, Jack’ll follow you – I mean, even if I distract him for a few seconds, he’ll notice you running off. But if you, me and Ketty run into the alley together and I bring those bricks and stuff down between us and Jack he won’t be able to follow us and we’ll
all
get away,’ I whispered. ‘There’s a lot of stuff piled up on the scaffolding and it’s a narrow alley. I’m sure I can do it.’

‘But you might hit me or Ketty,’ Ed said.

‘Or yourself,’ Ketty added.

‘I’ll aim carefully,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’

Ed opened his mouth, as if to say something else, then shut it again. We shuffled on for a few more metres. I looked up at the bricks, getting ready to move as many as possible, as fast as I could.

‘Hurry up,’ Jack called from behind us. I looked over my shoulder. He was frowning, his eyes fixed on the three of us ahead of him. ‘We need to get a move on,’ he went on. ‘I have to catch that chopper. If I miss my slot at the heliport I won’t get to the meet with Carson in time.’

We were almost at the alleyway. I focused on the nearest pile of bricks. We reached the entrance. And then everything happened at once.

‘Now,’ I said.

Supporting Ketty round the waist, Ed darted sideways, into the alley. I followed, teleporting a brick down behind me. It landed at Jack’s feet. He jumped. Swore. I turned and hurled another brick. But this one missed Jack. It swerved out of control and skimmed across the ground – into Ed’s shin.

‘Ow.’ With a yelp he stumbled, letting go of Ketty.

No.
As Ed fell towards me, I turned back to the bricks and plates, desperately trying to bring them down between me and Jack. But they were out of control, raining down in all directions as the others ran – or, in Ketty’s case, hobbled – away as fast as they could.

I cast my eyes down, praying it would stop, but the bricks had a momentum of their own now . . . one pile tipping into the next, cascading down.

Finally it ended. I looked up.

Shit.
I had indeed formed a wall of rubble and Ed and I were certainly on the alley side of it. Unfortunately, Ketty was still on the other side – with Jack and Dylan. All three were hidden from view.

‘
Nico? Ed?
’ she called, as the sound of Jack, swearing, rose up above the wall.

‘We’re okay,’ I yelled back, tugging Ed away from the mess.

He turned on me, furious. ‘Can’t you do anything right?’ he hissed. ‘I
warned
you that you might hit me.’

‘It’s not that easy to control,’ I snapped, pulling him further away. Jack’s voice echoed from the other side of the wall of rubble.

‘We don’t have time to chase them,’ he said.

Ed and I glanced at each other.

‘But . . . but what about Carson?’ That was Dylan.

‘I’ll tell him Nico’s locked up at home – that he’ll get the boy when my money’s safe.’

‘What about me?’ Ketty’s voice shook.

There was a short pause. I held my breath.

‘You’ll have to come with us to the meet,’ Jack said.

‘No,’ Ketty sobbed. ‘Please,
no
.’

‘Come on.’

Their footsteps echoed away.

Ed stood, head bowed. ‘Oh, God,’ he said.

I grabbed his arm. ‘Come on, if we run we can reach them. Get to the heliport first.’

‘How?’ Ed looked wildly up at me. ‘We don’t even know where the heliport is.’

‘Have you got a phone . . . any money?’

‘No. Jack took it all.’

I thought fast. ‘We need to see an A-Z.’

‘What? How will that . . .?’

‘Come on.’ I grabbed his arm and dragged him through the alley. More shops were opening up now. We passed a corner store. I darted in and rifled the shelves. There was a stack of A-Zs to the left. I took one and thumbed through the index, my hands shaking.

‘There.’

Ed peered over my shoulder as I pointed to the page. The only heliport in the area was clearly marked. Raven Street Pier, just north of the river. It looked like a fifteen-minute walk or so.

‘We’ll have to go the long way round to get there, but if we run we might beat them,’ I said. ‘They’ll have to go slower because of Ketty.’

Ed nodded.

I stared again at the map, making sure I had the route firmly fixed in my head. I put the A-Z back and we raced off, the shopkeeper muttering crossly as we left. We ran hard, swerving round bends and down turnings.

Ten minutes later we reached the heliport. It was a modern building with glass-fronted doors and a large outside tarmac area on which two huge helicopters stood idle. The sun emerged from behind a cloud, warming the cold morning with an orange glow.

I peered inside. A reception area with sofas and a desk. No sign of anyone except a security guard, leafing through a magazine at the desk.

For a second I thought we’d got here first. And then a door to the outside area opened and Jack, Dylan and a limping Ketty appeared, walking towards one of the helicopters with another man.

We ducked back, into the shadow of the wall. I watched, uncertain, as the other man, presumably the helicopter pilot, opened up the doors. Jack stood back to allow Dylan and Ketty to get in first.

‘No,’ I breathed.

‘We have to do something,’ Ed moaned.

But the helicopter’s engines were already whirring. I focused on the blades, trying to calm my breathing. Maybe I could stop them using my telekinesis.

But the force of their spinning was too fast and hard for me to control. There was nothing I could do. A black misery filled my head as I watched the helicopter rise up into the sky, bank, then whirr off into the distance – taking Ketty far away from me.

Ed looked across at me. The fury in his eyes was unmistakable.

‘She’s gone,’ he said. ‘Jack’s going to take her to Carson and Carson’s going to use her like he was going to use you.’

‘What d’you mean?’ I stammered.

‘Did you really think I wouldn’t work it out?’ Ed gritted his teeth. ‘Carson wants you because you’ve got the Medusa gene – he can use you to demonstrate that it works. That’s what Jack meant when he said Carson would get
you
when Jack got his money. But now you’ve gone, so Jack will have to give him Ketty instead.’

‘You’re being ridiculous,’ I snapped, suddenly filled with panic. ‘Jack and Carson don’t even know Ketty has the Medusa gene. They’ll just let her go.’

‘You don’t know that,’ Ed said coldly. ‘For all you know Jack or Dylan could have overheard us talking about Ketty being Viper. Or they might force the information out of Ketty herself.’

‘They wouldn’t—’

‘You don’t
know
what they’d do,’ Ed insisted. ‘But you should know this . . .’ He paused. ‘. . . If anything happens to Ketty, it’s all down to you. You’re the only reason Ketty’s mixed up in this – the only reason she’s here.’

I stared at him. ‘I didn’t think—’

‘You never
do
think, do you?’ Ed clenched his fists. His normally eager, open face screwed up into an angry frown. ‘Ketty was so right about you.’

‘What?’ My chest tightened. ‘What did she say?’

‘That you only care about yourself,’ Ed snarled. ‘That you’re selfish.’

I reeled back like he’d punched me. Had Ketty
really
said that?

‘That’s not true,’ I said. ‘I
do
care about her . . . I . . .’

‘Well, she’s going out with me now, and I’m telling you to stay away from her.’

He stood glaring at me for a second. I could feel he was itching to make proper eye contact and punish me somehow. I looked away, wanting to complain this wasn’t fair. But in my heart I knew he was right.

I
had
been selfish. It made sense that Ketty wouldn’t like me any more.

Unable to bear these thoughts, I focused on the phone box at the end of the street. Where could we get help?

‘Maybe we should try Fergus again?’ I said.

Ed shrugged. ‘There’s no point. He was adamant we should stay at school. He said there was no point calling the police . . . that
he
would find you and rescue you, but Ketty didn’t want to wait.’

‘But he doesn’t know where Ketty’s gone.’ My voice rose. ‘We should tell—’

‘Nico,
we
don’t know where Ketty’s gone.’ Ed’s voice was heavy with contempt.

Ignoring him, I walked to the phone box and reversed the charges to Fox Academy. The switchboard put me through to the flat. Fergus’s answerphone kicked in.

Sorry we can’t get to the phone. If you have a message for Fergus Fox or Nico Rafael, please speak after the tone
. . .

A lump rose in my throat. I hadn’t realised Fergus still kept my name on the answerphone.

‘Hi, it’s me. Er . . . Ed and Ketty came to get me out,’ I stammered into the phone. ‘Don’t be cross with them, they were trying to help. But Jack’s taken Ketty—’

‘Nico?’ The phone picked up and Fergus’ anxious voice cut across me. ‘Where are you?’

‘Ed and I got away, but Jack took Ketty somewhere in a helicopter. They set off five minutes ago from Raven Street Pier heliport.’ My voice cracked. ‘I’m going to try and find—’

‘No.’ Fergus’s voice cut me off again. ‘No. You and Ed must come back to school. I’m going to call the police. Let them handle things. I should have done it when you took the papers from my safe, but—’

‘You
can’t
call the police. Geri Paterson is too powerful.
You
told me that. So did Jack.’

‘I know, that’s why I didn’t go to them before,’ Fergus sighed. ‘But this is too big for me to handle anymore. I have to trust the authorities will know what to do, it’s—’

‘The police won’t know where Ketty is,’ I said.

‘They can track the helicopter,’ Fergus said. ‘That’ll be a start. Now promise me that you and Ed will come straight back to school?’

‘We don’t have any money . . .’

‘Go to the police yourselves, then. Say you’ve been . . . mugged or something. Just get off the streets. Get to safety. I’ll find you.’

I agreed, half-heartedly. I didn’t want to go back to school and leave Ketty. But what else could we do? As I walked back down the road to where Ed was leaning against the wall by the heliport, my mind went over what he’d said before.

If anything happens to Ketty it’s all down to you
.

I gritted my teeth. That was true. And it meant I couldn’t leave Ketty. Whatever I did, I had to at least
try
to save her.

I told Ed what Fergus had said. ‘But it’s a big risk,’ I added. ‘Remember, Geri doesn’t know Jack’s double-crossing her by selling the formula to Carson. She still thinks Jack’s working for her – which presumably means she’ll be keeping the police off his trail.’

‘You’re right.’ Ed looked at me, not quite meeting my gaze as usual. His dark blue eyes were far older than the rest of his face. ‘But what can we do?’

As I stared at him, a plan formed in my head.
God
, it was dangerous – beyond dangerous in fact.

I took a deep breath. ‘The first thing we have to do is find out where that helicopter went,’ I said, looking in through the heliport entrance, where the security guard was still reading his magazine, feet up on the reception desk. The clock on the wall above the desk said it was 7.08 a.m.

‘How?’ Ed asked. ‘We can’t just go in and demand they tell us.’

We peered in at the security guard.

‘We could read his mind, find out where the flight info is kept,’ I suggested.

‘We?’ Ed raised his eyes. ‘
We ?’

‘Okay, would you rather I teleported that chair and hit him over the head with it?’ I said.

‘I told you, I don’t—’

‘Sssh, he’s seen us.’

The security guard was crossing the foyer. He was a hefty, balding man with a slow, easy swagger.

I stood, waiting, my heart pounding.

‘All right, lads?’ The security guard opened the door. ‘You with that school party we’ve got this morning? Bit early, aren’t you? They’re not due in for another twenty minutes.’