The Set Up (28 page)

‘And Dylan,’ Ed added

‘Did Fergus say anything about what we were going to have to do?’ I asked, jumping down from the wall.

‘Only that the people we’ll be dealing with make Carson look like Snow White.’

I turned to Ed. Despite the sunshine, his face was pale. ‘So what d’you think about all this?’ I asked.

Ed shuffled from one foot to the other. ‘I don’t like it,’ he said. ‘It’s wrong and it sounds really dangerous. But if Ketty’s up for it, then I am too.’

I nodded. As we set off, Ed started talking to Ketty in a low voice, clearly not wanting me to hear. I hung back a little, watching his sandy head next to her dark curls. Ed was right. Whatever lay ahead of us was going to be dangerous. But on the other hand . . .

This was my chance to spend more time with Ketty. And maybe if the mission went well, Ed would get more confident and she’d stop feeling she had to look after him quite so much. In fact, maybe I could use the mission like a deadline.

As Ed walked through the door into the school building, I grabbed Ketty’s hand, pulling her back. ‘Listen,’ I whispered. ‘I can see Ed’s a bit freaked by having to do this mission, but once it’s over – whatever happens – we tell him and everyone we’re going out together. Deal?’

Ketty smiled at me. A big, beautiful, loving smile.

‘Deal,’ she said.

I let go of her hand and we walked on. That was good enough for me. As we stood, knocking, outside Fergus’s office door, my confidence surged. So long as Ketty was by my side, I could handle anything.

Grinning, I followed the others into the room.

TO BE CONTINUED
. . .
in
The Hostage

If you enjoyed
The Set-up
,
look out for the next exciting book
in THE MEDUSA PROJECT series,
The Hostage
, coming soon!

Like I didn’t have enough problems?

Right now the four of us were on our first mission as The Medusa Project. Our brief was to get inside a gym in Central London, break into locker 333 in the men’s changing room and look for a digital recording device.

Simple enough with our range of psychic abilities – and yet we’d been standing outside the gym, arguing, for ten minutes already.

‘But, Ed, suppose we need you to mind-read someone?’ Nico insisted.

‘I don’t care,’ Ed said, looking at me for support. ‘I’m not going inside. What we’re doing is wrong.’

‘But you
have
to come.’ Nico’s eyes widened with exasperation. He turned to me too. ‘Ketty,
tell
him.’

I shrugged, not wanting to take sides. It was a dreary, cloudy day that made everything – from street to sky – look grey.

‘For God’s sake, let’s just leave the loser behind.’ Dylan threw Ed a sneering glance and turned to Nico. ‘It doesn’t make any difference. You can still distract the receptionist – and we don’t need Ed to sneak past and find the changing rooms.’

I folded my arms, annoyance burning in my chest. I hated the way Dylan looked down on Ed . . . well, the way she looked down on almost everyone. But particularly Ed. I felt bad enough about him as it was. I guess I should explain . . .

A few weeks ago Ed and I had sort of started going out. But then I found out that Nico, who I’d really liked all along, liked me back – so I ended things with Ed and started going out with Nico. But Ed didn’t know just yet. We’re keeping it secret for a bit so as not to hurt his feelings.

I know, it’s complicated. But my life
is
complicated right now.

‘Okay, that’ll work.’ Nico’s voice drew me back to the present. He was speaking to Dylan.

She nodded. ‘It’ll be easier with just the two of us,’ she said.

‘What about me?’ I said.

Dylan raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t see what use
your
abilities would be.’

I stared at her. Rude cow. The worst thing was she was right.
I
couldn’t see what use I could be, either. My gift is precognition – that means I can see into the future. But I can’t control
when
I see into the future or
what
I’m seeing or whether I’ll be able to change any of it.

‘I’m helping Nico check inside the locker,’ I snapped. ‘Anyway, Geri said we should stay together.’

Geri Paterson was head of the Medusa Project, and had briefed us on this first mission, stressing the importance of the four of us working as a team. She wasn’t exactly my favourite person, but she’d gone up in my estimation recently by getting my brother, Lex, a job he loved in a really cool company.

Dylan tossed back her hair. ‘Well, Ed’s already blown the staying together idea out the water, so I don’t see why—’

‘Ketty’s
in
,’ Nico said firmly.

There was a short pause, then Dylan pursed her lips. ‘Whatever.’ She peered sulkily into the gym.

I caught Nico’s eye. He grinned at me and suddenly everything seemed lighter . . . easier . . . I knew he thought Dylan was a bossy, arrogant pain in the arse too. Just looking at him made me feel better. He’s
so
gorgeous – not just his dark eyes and high cheekbones – but this way he has of looking at you from under his fringe that makes you think he’s laughing, and wanting to kiss you, all at the same time. I suddenly remembered us doing both those things – laughing and kissing – behind the huge oak tree in the school playing field last night. Oh, God . . . it hit me that I was
really
falling for him. More than I’d ever fallen for anyone
ever.

The realisation made me blush, then another thought drained all the heat from my face. I knew Nico liked me – he’d saved my life, for God’s sake – but was he falling as hard as I was?

How could I know for sure?

‘Come on, Ed,’ I said, hoping no-one would notice my confusion. ‘You won’t have to do anything, just come with us.’

Ed rubbed his sandy hair roughly so the fringe stood up in a tuft. ‘It’s not just that.’ He said. ‘The assignment doesn’t make sense. All we’re doing is breaking into a locker. Geri could have sent the police for that.’

There was a short pause, then Dylan rolled her eyes. ‘Fine. Stay here.’

Ed turned away. I sighed. I didn’t like leaving him out, but what could I do?

‘Okay, let’s go.’ Nico glanced from Dylan to me. ‘Wait for my signal.’

As he opened the gym door I stared into the lobby. It was smart, with a lush red carpet and a smooth pale wood reception desk in the corner. The blonde receptionist was bent over an open folder next to a tall glass vase of flowers.

I watched Nico closely. I’d only seen him use his telekinesis properly once before – and as I’d been falling down a cliff at the time, I hadn’t been able to see exactly what he did.

Nico lifted one hand and made a slight twisting motion in the direction of the vase. Seconds later it tipped over. Water splashed down the desk. Glass smashed onto the carpet. The receptionist squealed, then started mopping frantically at the drenched folder in front of her. She didn’t notice Nico.

He beckoned Dylan and me through the door. We scurried silently past the reception desk and were through the swing doors, into the café, in seconds. As expected, it was virtually empty – just one guy reading a paper in the corner. The end of the afternoon was apparently the quietest time – before the after-work rush.

Nico grinned. ‘Well, that was easy.’

‘Awesome,’ Dylan said briskly. She pointed to a set of stairs on our left. ‘According to the building plan Geri showed us, the men’s changing area’s up there.’

As we climbed the stairs, Nico moved closer and gave my hand a quick squeeze. ‘You okay?’

‘Sure,’ I nodded. The truth was I felt bad for Ed, but I didn’t want to say that to Nico. My feeling sorry for Ed was a bit of a sore point between us. In fact, it was usually better not to mention Ed at all.

Which was why I was so surprised by what Nico said next.

‘You know, Ed had a point back there,’ he whispered. ‘Why use
us
for such a simple mission?’

I stared at him. ‘Well, for one thing, you just got us in here without anyone noticing. I’m not sure the police could have done that.’

‘Okay, so my telekinesis is helpful,’ Nico said, ‘and I suppose Dylan and Ed offer different kinds of protection . . .’

‘. . . but there’s no point
me
being here?’ I asked, stung.

‘No.’ Nico rolled his eyes. ‘No, I didn’t mean that . . . I just meant none of our abilities are
crucial
.’

‘Right.’ I bit my lip. Whether he meant to or not, Nico had touched a nerve. The other three all had practical, useful abilities that they were in control of. My visions seemed vague and a bit useless by comparison.

Nico opened his mouth to say more, but we were at the top of the stairs. The men’s changing rooms were straight ahead. As we watched, a middle-aged man came through the door and jogged past us down the stairs.

‘Ready?’ Dylan’s green eyes glinted with excitement. She gave a quick look round to make sure no-one was watching, then took the NOT IN USE sign Geri had given us from her bag and hung it over the men’s changing room door.

Nico disappeared inside the changing room. The plan was for him to wait until everyone inside the room had left, then fetch me to help search the locker, while Dylan kept watch outside. Of course Ed was supposed to be helping too. I wondered if he was okay, waiting for us on the street.

Dylan and I stood silently outside the changing room, waiting for Nico to reappear. Dylan examined her nails. They were perfectly manicured – and painted a pale shade of grey to match her soft wool jumper.

‘I tried going to a gym once,’ I said, to break the silence. ‘But I prefer running outdoors.’ I didn’t really expect Dylan to understand. Most people our age don’t, but running’s my thing. It keeps me going when life gets tough.

Dylan glanced at me, swishing her long, dark red hair over her shoulder.

‘How interesting,’ she said, in a voice that sounded anything but interested.

Cow.

Dylan yawned, as two youngish guys came out of the changing room, sports bags slung over their shoulders, and trotted towards the stairs.

‘Bored, Dylan?’ I said, unable to keep a note of irritation out of my voice. I could handle the fact that Dylan was beautiful, with legs that went up to her elbows, but why did she have to act so superior?

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘It’s kind of a lame mission, isn’t it? I mean, Geri’s seen us handle a lot more pressure than this.’

‘That’s what Ed was saying when you got cross with him outside.’

‘That was an excuse,’ Dylan sneered. ‘Ed’s just scared of getting caught.’

‘Maybe Geri wants to break us in gently with an easy-ish mission,’ I said, ignoring this dig at Ed. ‘Maybe she’s trying to win our trust. Show us she cares.’

Dylan snorted softly under her breath as another man left the changing room.

Irritated, I went on. ‘She got my brother a job, for God’s sake. She can’t . . .’

‘Come on.’ It was Nico, peering round the changing room door. ‘Everyone’s gone.’ He disappeared back inside.

‘Go,’ Dylan said, urgently. ‘I’ll make sure no one comes in.’

I slipped inside the changing room and followed Nico across the tiled floor.

‘I’ve found 333.’ Nico pointed to a locker a few doors along from the end of the nearest row.

‘Can you open it?’ My heart beat faster. So far the mission had just seemed like a bit of a laugh. But now we were about to search someone’s private property . . .

‘Already did, babe.’ Nico grinned. ‘It was easy.’

‘Good.’ I rubbed my sweaty palms down my jeans. I knew Nico had been working hard at opening locks using his telekinesis for the past week or so and, though he’d never admit it, I’d sensed he’d been nervous about opening this one today. ‘Let’s look inside.’

Nico pulled open the locker door. A suit hung neatly inside, a small backpack underneath. He dragged out the bag, then stood up. ‘This shouldn’t take long,’ he said. ‘Maybe afterwards we’ll get a few moments alone.’ He raised his eyebrows, his eyes all dark and laughing.

I blushed, my heart racing. ‘Just get on with it,’ I said, not wanting him to see how badly I wanted those few moments alone too. Nico pulled the contents of the bag out and laid them on the ground between us. A dog-eared car magazine, a pair of clean boxer shorts, a handful of loose change, a bound report that looked official and a wallet.

At that moment voices rose up from the changing room door.

‘But why is it out of order?’ a man was insisting. ‘All my stuff’s inside.’

‘They said the shower had flooded – they’re just clearing up now.’ Dylan was giving the excuse we’d all been primed with.

Nico and I glanced at each other.

‘Hurry,’ I said, my heart thudding against my ribs.

Nico grabbed the report. I opened the wallet. It was crammed with paper – mostly receipts, plus a few twenty pound notes. I struggled to remember what Geri had told us at yesterday’s briefing.

‘
A few days ago the Ministry of Defence’s computer firewall was breached – the hacker had access to top secret and highly valuable information, but, as yet, we don’t know either what he managed to download or what he’s planning to do with it. Our only lead on the hacker is a digital recording device which we believe he is storing in a private locker. We have to retrieve that recorded evidence before we can move against the hacker
.’

That was what we were looking for now – the recorded evidence.

‘There’s nothing here.’ Nico threw down the report. ‘And you know what else has just occurred to me? Why would a Ministry of Defence hacker with a secret recording leave it in a gym locker? Wouldn’t he hide it somewhere safer?’

I shrugged, and pulled a couple of bank cards out of the wallet. ‘Nothing here either.’ I stopped, as the name on the bank card caught my eye.
A. Wilshere.

Wilshere was
my
surname. And ‘A’ was my brother’s initial. ‘A’ for Alexander, though everyone called him Lex.

That was a bit of a coincidence, wasn’t it?

‘Come on, Ketty, let’s go.’

Hands trembling, I fished out another card from the wallet. This one was a gym membership card, with a picture of the card holder on the front. I stared at the face on the card, hardly able to take in what I was seeing. It wasn’t possible. But there it was. There
he
was. Lex – Alexander – my brother.