The Rescue (14 page)

‘Okay.’ Ketty relented, and reached for the jeans in her locker, neatly folded as per camp rules, then dragged them on over her pyjamas. She grabbed a pair of trainers, then picked up a little troll doll I’d seen her with before – presumably something Nico had given her – and shoved it in her pocket.

She faced me, her mouth set in that determined line I knew so well. ‘I’m ready, what about Nico?’

We left the dorm without a backward glance. All the other girls were either asleep or pretending to be. Part of me felt bad leaving them, but – I now realised – compared to Escondite, the camp wasn’t so terrible. You might have to work hard and the discipline was harsh, but at least there was plenty of food and hot water and you knew, in the end, you’d get to go home.

I led Ketty outside the dorm to where Stanley was waiting. He nodded a greeting, then spoke soft and fast.

‘I can hear noises from the end of the corridor. Ed, get your Lockdown at the ready.’

I could feel Ketty’s astonished eyes on me as we crept along the corridor. I wondered what she thought of this new version of me . . .

Ed O’Brien. Man of action. Despite my sweaty palms and thumping heart, I liked how it made me feel. My dad would too. He was always saying I wasn’t tough enough. I almost laughed, imagining his face if he could see me now: all stealth and focus, weaponed-up and primed for action.

Ahead of us, round a bend in the corridor, a door creaked open. We could hear anxious, whispered voices.

‘The window’s broken. Someone’s inside.’ That was Don.

‘Not Nico
again
,’ Cindy said.

‘I don’t think so, he’s never broken a window before.’

Their footsteps along the corridor were getting nearer. I stopped just before the bend in the corridor. If we waited here we could catch them as they rounded the corner.

I looked round at Stanley to check I had his approval. He nodded and stepped back against the wall. Ketty stopped too. She looked at me anxiously, but I didn’t have time to reassure her. All my attention was on the footsteps coming towards us along the corridor round the bend.

Don was speaking again. ‘We need to phone Fernandez.’

Stanley, Ketty and I flattened ourselves against the wall

‘Awesome,’ Cindy drawled sarcastically. ‘Fernandez’ll be ecstatic when he hears that—’

Wham.

As Don and Cindy rounded the corner, Stanley and I leaped forward, Lockdowns outstretched. I thrust mine at Cindy.

Ratchet. Sparks. Thud.

She fell to the floor. Ketty shrieked. Don lay beside her, similarly dispatched by Stanley.

‘Come on.’ Stanley raced off to the main door and slid the bolts. As we followed him through, Ketty whispered anxiously: ‘Who
is
he? Why’s he helping us?’

‘I’ll explain later,’ I said.

Stanley looked over at the building where Nico and the other boys were sleeping.

‘I’ll get Nico,’ he said. ‘You take Ketty to the helicopter. Tell Goldie to get the engine running.’

13: Revelation

I raced off, Ketty at my side. She was still asking questions about Stanley. I answered as best I could, but I was all pumped up with the adrenalin of the situation and it was hard to formulate proper explanations of everything that had happened during the night.

We reached the helicopter. Dylan was awake now and leaning against the body of the machine. She raised her eyebrows as we raced up.

‘Nice work, Chino Boy,’ she said. ‘Where’s Nico?’

‘Stanley’s bringing him.’

‘How did you meet this man?’ Ketty asked Dylan, clearly hoping for a more coherent reply from her than she’d been getting from me.

Dylan shrugged. ‘He’s not my find,’ she said. ‘I got chloroformed and taken to some hellhole earlier. Ed turned up with Stanley. They got me out, though they didn’t manage it without
knocking
me out.’ She looked at me suspiciously. ‘Did
you
attack me with that stun gun? Your girlfriend over there wouldn’t say.’

I shrugged, as Luz appeared from the other side of the helicopter. Her eyes widened with relief as she saw me.

‘Eds,’ she ran towards me, ‘estais okay?’ She flung her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

I glanced at Dylan and Ketty. Dylan’s eyebrows were raised so high they were practically in her hairline. Ketty was frowning.

‘Who the hell’s this?’ she said.

I met her eyes, unable to resist. Was that
jealousy
I was hearing?

This is Luz
, I thought-spoke.
She was being held prisoner with Dylan. I had to help her.

Right.
Inside Ketty’s mind I sensed confusion and concern and a slight sense of invaded territory.

But nothing you could seriously call jealousy.

I sighed, distracted for a second by how Ketty’s mind felt. Everyone’s heads are different, you see. I mean, obviously people’s moods change all the time, but most people have their own signature ‘feel’ as well. With Nico it was the intensity that underpinned everything, with the man in the Madelina, that overlay of rage. Ketty’s mind had a base of steely determination – like a rock over which a series of fluctuating moods flowed like tides.

I tried to focus. I could sense Ketty trying to control her own thoughts – to conceal some of the anxiety she was feeling.

It’s going to be OK, Ketts
, I thought-spoke.
We’re safe now.

‘Eds, quien es ella?’ Luz’s anxious voice beside me brought me back to the present.

I broke the connection with Ketty and looked down at Luz, making eye contact immediately.

Quien es ella? Who is she?
Inside Luz’s head, the question was even more vehement. The baseline of calm was still there, but another emotion – definitely jealousy this time, I thought – pricked at its edges.

Mi amiga
, I thought-spoke back, quickly.
Solamente mi amiga. Just my friend.

Okay.
I could feel the smile in Luz’s mind spreading out, easing her thoughts.

‘Hey, lover boy.’ This time it was Dylan’s voice that jerked me back to reality. ‘Don’t you think we should get inside the helicopter? This Stanley guy’s running towards us with Nico – and Nico doesn’t look conscious – we could be in trouble.’

I jerked away from Luz and turned to Goldie, remembering Stanley’s instruction.

‘Stanley wanted you to start the engine,’ I said. Goldie leaped into the pilot’s seat. Seconds later, the engine roared into life.

Stanley was only a few metres away now, Nico slung over his shoulder. He ran up, panting, and deposited Nico in the back of the helicopter.

‘He thought I was attacking him . . . threw a damn locker at me.’ He frowned. ‘Though I don’t know how he managed to reach the locker – or lift it – that fast.’

I glanced at the others. Nico had obviously used his telekinesis as self-defence.

‘Is he all right?’ Ketty asked.

‘He’ll be fine,’ Stanley said. ‘I had to knock him out otherwise we’d have been there too long. Sorry, Ed, I should have taken you with me to explain.’

I couldn’t help but feel a little puffed up by pride at this apology. The three girls were all looking at me like I was some kind of hero.

We all got into the helicopter. I noticed that Luz pushed her way past Ketty to the seat beside me. Ketty gave an annoyed sniff.

‘Everyone on board?’ Stanley grinned, yelling above the noise of the engine and the whirr of the blades.

I couldn’t help but grin back. Everyone was safe. We were escaping from the Camp and, best of all, I had girls practically fighting over me. And Luz was definitely interested. Beautiful, special Luz.

I couldn’t believe my luck. As Stanley slammed the door shut and got in up front, I glanced over my shoulder at Nico. He was moaning softly, his eyes still shut.

Eat your heart out, Nico
, I thought to myself.
I’m the one seeing all the action now.

Feeling ridiculously cheerful, I put my arm round Luz and we took off.

Of course, once we were airborne, I felt sick again. But even that couldn’t stop me feeling pretty pleased with myself. Stanley turned round and shouted over the noise of the helicopter that we’d be travelling direct to a heliport just outside Madrid.

‘You’ll be able to contact whoever you want there,’ he yelled.

Ketty turned to pass the news on to Dylan, who immediately leaned forward and grabbed my shoulder through the seats.

‘Who
is
this guy?’ she asked, pointing at Stanley.

‘Yeah,’ Ketty echoed. ‘You haven’t explained why he’s helping us or how you met him or anything.’

‘He’s an ex-soldier passing through on business. He saw me at the Madelina – the bar in San Juan. It’s just coincidence he found me.’ I swallowed, fighting back the nausea that swelled in my guts now we were airborne. ‘He’s sound. Honest.’

I sat back, too sick to speak any more. Clearly neither Ketty nor Dylan were really satisfied with my answer, but they were just going to have to wait till we landed for a more detailed explanation of how Stanley had found and helped me.

The sun was high in the sky by the time we landed. I stumbled out of the helicopter with relief. We were in what looked like a private heliport. Just a few other machines on the ground and a handful of men wandering around – some in overalls, others looking more like office workers in suits and smart shirts. Stanley seemed to know everyone. In fact, I got the impression that the people at the heliport were a little bit afraid of him. They were certainly very deferential, swarming round as we landed, offering help with anything and everything.

I figured maybe Stanley’s company – and his position within it – was more important than he’d let on.

Stanley certainly seemed quite used to the attention. He ordered us to be taken into a nearby prefab office building. It wasn’t quite so blisteringly hot here as it had been in the desert, but the sun still beat down on our heads with a fierce glare. I was glad to get inside.

‘Can we make a call from here?’ I asked.

‘Soon.’ Stanley sounded distracted. ‘I just have some stuff to deal with.’ He led us into a small, windowless room in the prefab hut. A sofa stood in one corner, a table and chairs in another. An air-con unit blasted away noisily, and rather ineffectually, high on the walls above our heads.

One of the men in overalls deposited Nico on the sofa, then left. Immediately Nico groaned and raised his hand to his head. He’d drifted into a sound sleep on the flight, like Dylan had done earlier.

Stanley glanced over as Nico’s eyelids flickered.

‘Back in a moment,’ he said.

As the door shut behind him, everyone started talking at me.

‘Que pasa, Eds?’ Luz asking, clutching my arm.

‘Yeah, Chino Boy, what’s he doing leaving us in here?’ Dylan said.

‘Why hasn’t he given us a phone?’ Ketty said.

‘It’s fine,’ I said, trying to speak to everyone at once. ‘He’s just busy. He’ll sort us out in—’

‘No . . . no . . .’ Nico was staggering to his feet, leaning heavily on the sofa behind him.

Everyone turned and stared at him. His brown eyes had a glassy, unwell look to them, but there was no mistaking the fear in his expression.

‘Where are we? Where is he?’ Nico lurched forwards, stumbling against Ketty.

She held his arm, her face terrified.

‘Nico, what’s the matter?’

She glanced at me. I shook my head.

‘We have to get out of here. Door . . . Ed . . . door . . .’ Nico gasped.

I turned to the door behind me.

‘Open it . . .’ Nico looked completely panic-stricken.

‘Calm down,’ I said, talking almost as much to myself as to him. ‘There’s nothing wrong.’

Dylan let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Just open it, Ed.’ She darted behind me and rattled the door handle. It didn’t open.

We all stared at it. A cold, sick feeling lodged itself in my stomach.

‘We’re locked in,’ Ketty said in disbelief.

‘Eds?’ Luz gripped my arm. Her fingers were trembling.

My head spun. The cold, sick feeling had reached my throat now. I looked over at Nico, trying to meet his eyes, but he was still staring, horrified at the locked door. He turned and focused on one of the chairs at the table. It rose into the air, teetered for a moment, then fell back to the ground.

Beside me, Luz gasped.

‘I just need a few minutes . . .’ Nico flopped onto the sofa, his head in his hands.

Dylan and Ketty exchanged anxious glances. Ketty sat down beside Nico and put her hand on his back.

‘Nico?’ she said uncertainly. ‘What’s going on?’

For a few moments, there was a terrible silence. And then Nico looked up.

‘Where’s the man who knocked me out at the camp?’ he said. ‘He got me with a stun gun . . . must have got Tommy and Mat and Mig too . . .’

I relaxed.
Of course.
This was all just a misunderstanding. Nico had thought Stanley was attacking him earlier, no wonder he was urging us to get away now.

‘Outside,’ I said. ‘But you’ve got this wrong. His name’s Andrew Stanley. He’s been brilliant, helping us escape from Fernandez. He even used his helicopter to help rescue you from the camp.’

‘Then why’s the door locked?’ Nico said.