Hit Squad

by Sophie McKenzie

  The thought of this was reassuring. I steadied my gaze into the darkness. It really was completely black inside the cupboard. No light at all shone in from outside, which meant the doors out of the basement must all be shut. Probably locked. It didn’t matter. Nico would be able to handle the locks.

  Focus, I told myself sternly. Stop rushing ahead in your mind and let it take you properly into the future. Just the next few minutes. Just a little way.

  I stood as still as I could, keeping my breathing steady. My heart was still racing. I tried to switch my panicking brain off . . . to let go. But it was impossible.

  A sob rose up inside me.

  Now I felt like a failure too.

  I gulped back the tears. There was no point feeling sorry for myself. I had to find some way out of here. I cast around the cupboard, feeling the contents carefully. All I’d seen in the split second when the door had opened was the ladder and the mop and bucket. But maybe there were other items too. Maybe even something I could use to break the door’s lock. I felt along the floor behind me. It was made of stone, like the passageway outside, and cold to the touch.

  And then,without warning, Ed’s voice appeared in my head.

  Ketty, are you all right?

  A huge smile broke out on my face. In my terrible state of panic, I’d forgotten that Ed had recently developed the ability to communicate remotely with the rest of us with the Medusa gene. Suddenly I knew I wasn’t alone. They were all behind me. And Ed . . . my dearest friend, who is like a brother to me, was right here, right now.

  Knowing Ed could read all those thoughts, I quickly formed something more coherent and less gushing to ‘speak’ directly to him.

  I can’t tell you how good it is to hear you, I thought-spoke. Did Nico and Cal find you?

  Yes, they got away from the man with the knife. I’m with Nico now. We’re coming to get you. I’m—

  I’m not in the room any more, I thought-spoke quickly. They locked me in a cupboard next door. I’m still in the basement, though. It’s pitch black.

  Oh, Ketty. The sympathy in Ed’s voice brought more tears bubbling into my eyes.

  Please stay in my head, I thought-spoke, wiping my eyes.

  I’m not going anywhere.

  The strength in Ed’s voice – and the concern – made me feel calmer. Ed had always had that effect on me. Solid and dependable, he was, truly, my best friend. We’d dated briefly, before Nico and I got together. And I sometimes wondered if Ed still liked me. But he never said anything about that directly.

  I blushed, realising Ed would have been able to see those thoughts of mine, running along the surface of my mind. He always says that mind-reading is like swimming in the sea. You can stay on the surface or you can dive to the depths. Unless he’s looking for something specific, Ed thinks it’s unethical to go diving. But I wasn’t even trying to hide the thoughts I’d just had.

  Don’t worry about it. Ed’s voice in my head sounded emotional. I’ll just stay here in the background to let you know what’s going on.

  Where are you now?

  Just a few streets away. Hang on, we’ll be there soon.

  Reassured, I resumed my search for something to help me break down the door or – if the two men who’d captured me came back – something I could use to defend myself. I made sure I thought clearly about what I was doing, so Ed would be able to see it on the surface of my thoughts.

  Good idea, he thought-spoke.

  I moved my hand slowly across the cold, dusty floor. I came to a small metal box. Feeling gingerly inside, I touched curved metal. Something small. I picked it up. It was a spanner. I couldn’t see it properly, of course, but the shape was unmistakable. My trembling fingers felt beside it and found a screwdriver with a slim wooden handle and a long metal shaft. The metal felt rough. Rusty. It didn’t matter. The slim shaft gave me an idea. I picked up the screwdriver and felt for the door. I found the handle and the lock and shoved the screwdriver inside. With a clang, the key inside the lock fell to the floor outside. Heart racing, I crouched down. There was a tiny gap under the door. I squeezed my fingertips underneath, all my focus on reaching the key.

  Flashing lights. A sweet scent in my nostrils. Unbidden, I was falling into a vision.

  The pain in my leg is worse. It sears right through me. My arms are flailing. I can’t breathe. Beside myself. A blinding light explodes in my head. It shoots away from me, along a dark tunnel.

  Ketty? Ed’s voice in my head pierced through everything else. I came to with a rush. My hand was still under the door, outstretched, feeling for the key. As usual after a vision, my heart was racing and I was panting for breath. But how had that vision happened? I hadn’t seen into the future without intending to for weeks.

  Are you okay, Ketty? Ed thought-spoke.

  Yes. I tried to steady my breath. I had a vision. I didn’t mean to . . . it just happened.

  Was that what happened? It was weird . . . it felt like when people are asleep. Everything buried under the surface.

  So you couldn’t see what . . . what I saw?

  No. Well, I might have done if I’d pushed harder, but no. Was it useful?

  Not really, I admitted. I resumed my search for the key outside the door. I was just starting to think it had fallen too far away from the lock for me to reach, when my fingertips felt the rough, serrated indentations on its side. I clawed it towards me. There was still no sound from the men outside, but surely Broken Nose was still here somewhere. I held my breath, listening hard.

  Nico and I are almost with you, Ketty, Ed thought-spoke. Cal and Dylan are here too. They’re keeping watch at the end of the road.

  I’m going to let myself out, I thought-spoke back.

  Okay. Be careful.

  Ed’s presence in my head withdrew. I knew he was sitting back again, letting me focus on what I was doing.

  My hand shook as I fitted the key in the lock. It was stiff to turn, but I managed it. I opened the door slowly. It gave a single squeak which sounded loud to my ears.

  I held my breath, listening for sounds from above. But the basement and the café upstairs were silent. I crept out into the gloomy corridor. I headed for the stairs. At least there was a little light out here, creeping in under the closed doors of the basement. Up the stairs, my eyes adjusted further. I stood at the top step, my hand on the door knob. There was still no sound from the café on the other side.

  Where are you, Ed? I thought-spoke.

  A few doors along. Less than thirty seconds away.

  I hesitated. The others would be here any moment. Maybe I should just stay safe behind this door until they got here.

  Yes, stay put, Ed urged.

  No. If the two men were on the other side of this door, I would distract them by opening it. That would give Nico a better chance of disarming and defeating them.

  I pushed the door softly open. It was stuck. I pushed harder. Something heavy was on the other side. Had they left it there on purpose in case I got out? No, surely not. Whatever it was shifted as I shoved at the door. With a final wrench, I opened it enough to see what was lying there. I gasped.

  It was Broken Nose. He was on his back, blood seeping from a wound in his chest. I looked into his face. His eyes were open but blank. I’d seen it before . . . too many times to doubt what I was looking at.

  This man was surely dead.

  5: The Green Door

  I looked up from Broken Nose’s lifeless body as Nico and Ed rushed into the café. Nico had his arms outstretched, ready to perform telekinesis. He glanced from left to right, taking in Broken Nose on the floor by the basement door, then looking over to the bar. I followed his gaze. Knife Man was slumped against the counter. His head lolled to one side. Ed scuttled over and pressed his fingers against Knife Man’s neck. He shook his head.

  ‘I can’t feel a pulse,’ he said.

  I stood up. None of us had yet spoken, but it struck me that we were all taking the situation in our stride. A few months
ago coming across two dead bodies would have freaked all of us out. I wondered uneasily what it said about me that my main feeling right now was confusion.

  Who had killed these men? And why?

  ‘I see you didn’t need us, Ketty,’ Nico said drily. He grinned at me.

  I gazed at the two bodies. Part of me wanted to smile back but, again, I felt uneasy. Two people had died – and, okay, so they were bad guys who had tried to lock us up for reasons we didn’t understand, but it seemed wrong to be making a joke that I could have done this.

  Ed was searching Knife Man’s pockets, over by the bar. I crouched down again and felt inside Broken Nose’s jacket.

  ‘What are you looking for?’ Nico asked impatiently.

  ‘Something that will explain who these men are, why they took us and why they’ve been killed.’ Ed glanced over at me. ‘Are you all right, Ketty?’

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Nico insisted. ‘Whoever killed these men could come back any moment.’

  Ed nodded. ‘Okay, just a sec.’ He’d retrieved Knife Man’s wallet and was looking through the various sections inside.

  ‘Come on, Ed, we should go,’ I said. ‘Will you make remote contact with Cal and Dylan and tell them to meet us outside the green door on the far side of the church?’

  ‘Why?’ Ed got to his feet. ‘What’s so important about that door?’

  ‘Ketty recognised it from her vision . . .’ Nico explained, ‘. . . eventually.’

  I ignored this dig and we set off. Another time Ed might have asked more about my vision – and why Nico was being so mean – but, right now, he was preoccupied with the two men we were leaving behind.

  ‘I wish we understood what those guys were after,’ Ed said. ‘Something about this whole set-up doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘We shouldn’t get distracted,’ Nico said. ‘Whatever those men wanted with us, it doesn’t matter now.’

  ‘How do we work out what does or doesn’t matter, Nico?’ I said quietly.

  Nico shook his head. He said nothing.

  I bit my lip. Why was it so hard for me and Nico to communicate at the moment?

  The road curved around slightly and Dylan and Cal came into view. They were already outside the green door of the church. Even from this distance I could see the massive look of relief on Cal’s face as he caught sight of me. It struck me that Nico, despite supposedly being my actual boyfriend, hadn’t yet bothered to check if I was properly okay. I mean, I know I’d only been separated from him for a few minutes in the end, but still . . .

  As we reached the green door, Cal pulled me into a big hug.

  ‘Are you all right, Ketts?’ he said, his voice full of emotion.

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said, hugging him back.

  ‘Have you had any more visions about what’s behind this door?’ Dylan asked.

  I hesitated, thinking about the cold passageway, the pain in my leg and the bright light. ‘Yes, but nothing that really makes sense,’ I said.

  ‘I think Ketty should rest before we do anything else,’ Ed said firmly. ‘Cal needs to sleep too. He flew for hours and hours and—’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said quickly.

  ‘Me too,’ Cal added.

  Ed looked at Nico, appealing for support, but Nico shook his head.

  ‘We need to keep going.’ He held out his hands in front of the door. It was large and wooden, with brass rivets. Close to, it was obvious that not only was the green paint chipped and peeling, but the wood underneath was rotting as well. ‘Before I open this door,’ Nico went on, ‘everyone needs to be prepared. We don’t exactly know what’s on the other side, but we have to assume it’s something to do with the Medusix drug. This church looks run-down. It could be a meeting place, or even a production area where people come to work. We can’t be too careful.’

  ‘So what’s your plan for when we’re inside?’ Cal asked.

  Nico turned to me. ‘Any chance of you seeing into the next few minutes for us?’

  I stared at him. He knew how hard it was for me to have a vision when I felt tense and anxious. I’d just been shoved in a cupboard by two angry men who, in turn, had been brutally killed. These were not good conditions for me to foresee anything.

  ‘No,’ I muttered, my face burning. ‘I’m too stressed to have a vision right now.’

  Dylan rolled her eyes. It felt like the last straw.

  ‘What’s your problem, Dylan?’ I snapped.

  The atmosphere tensed. Nico looked at me, his face expressionless.

  ‘Calm down, Ketty,’ he said. ‘It’s fine that you can’t have a vision. It just means we have to prepare for the worst . . . Medusix is a secret, illegal drug. If there are people in here making it, there could easily be people in here guarding the operation.’

  ‘Which means guns,’ Ed said anxiously.

  ‘Could we get on with this?’ Dylan snapped.

  ‘Fine, you should stand in front, Dylan,’ Nico said. ‘Protect us if we come under fire. Cal and I can deal with whoever attacks us. Then we’ll let Ed through to mind-read whoever’s there.’ He turned to me. ‘Maybe you could just concentrate on seeing into the future and not getting hurt.’ He smiled, but it didn’t seem amusing to me. What Nico was basically saying was that everyone else had a role to play using their Medusa ability, while I was going to be about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

  That wasn’t fair. I wasn’t looking for special treatment but, if Nico was going to talk about everyone’s skills, how come he didn’t acknowledge that without my vision of the green door we wouldn’t be here in the first place?

  We all took our positions, Nico and Dylan in front. Nico twisted his hand. The large door groaned as the lock released. Dylan stepped forward and pushed it gently open. We all huddled behind her, making it easier for her to reach out with her arms and extend her protective force around us all.

  Dylan walked through the doorway. Peering over her shoulder, I could make out a high-ceilinged church interior, with rows of wooden pews leading to a simple wooden altar at the far end. Dawn light shone in through the grubby windows, lighting the dust that floated in the air.

  My heart pounded as we followed Dylan further inside. Where was the cold, damp passageway I’d seen after the door in my vision? I’d been skipping through time when I saw it . . . did the passageway belong to a different place? This church interior certainly didn’t feel the same as anything in any of my visions.

  ‘Maybe there’s nothing relevant to Medusix in here,’ Ed whispered.

  I shook my head. That was the one reliable thing about the ability to see into the future. I rarely saw things that didn’t turn out to be significant. And my vision had showed me the church door. Surely the church itself must be important?

  ‘Let’s take a look round,’ Nico whispered.

  ‘AAAGH!’ A loud, high-pitched scream.

  I jumped. The sound had come from a door at the far end of the church, beyond the altar.

  Who on earth was there?

  6: The Recruit

  ‘Come on,’ Nico ordered.

  ‘Shouldn’t we split up . . . some of us hold back?’ Cal asked. ‘It could be a trap.’

  ‘No.’ Nico frowned. ‘We have to stay together. We’re stronger as a unit.’ He strode off across the church. Ed and Dylan followed. Cal and I exchanged a glance. I knew, without either of us saying anything, that we were both slightly irritated by Nico’s high-handed manner. I mean, staying together made sense to me as well, but he could at least have waited for us to agree before walking away.

  The atmosphere was tense as we reached the door.

  Dylan pushed past Nico. She tried the handle. The door wasn’t locked. It opened slowly, creaking into the echoing silence of the church. A bead of sweat trickled down the back of my neck.

  Beyond the door was a small, windowless room with a table, several chairs and a row of cassocks hanging from pegs along the wall. The only light came from a lantern perched on the table. As my e
yes adjusted to the light, I caught sight of a shadowy figure huddled against the wall opposite.

  ‘Hello?’ I said.

  ‘Hello.’ The voice was a girl’s. Young and nervous and with a strong accent.

  She stepped into the light of the lantern. She was younger than us – about eleven or twelve I was guessing – with long dark hair and a grubby smudge on her button nose. I was guessing she was quite pretty under the dirt.

  ‘I, Tania,’ she said. She gulped.

  I looked around. Ranged in a row as we were we must look really intimidating.

  I stepped forward, smiling to put the girl at her ease.

  ‘We heard you scream,’ I said. ‘Are you okay?’

  Tania nodded.

  ‘What on earth is going on?’ Ed muttered.

  ‘You’ll have to mind-read her, Ed,’ Dylan said, her voice full of suspicion.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘We can’t just assume everyone we meet is untrustworthy.’

  Dylan snorted.

  ‘Anyway I don’t think mind-reading would work with her, beyond general emotions,’ Ed said. ‘She doesn’t sound like she thinks in English.’

  ‘Mind-read?’ Tania said.

  She said it too casually. I was suddenly certain this was a trap.

  ‘She knows what we can do,’ I said, my anxieties mounting.

  Behind us, the door slammed shut. A key turned in the lock. Nico immediately raised his hand.

  ‘My telekinesis isn’t working,’ he said.

  I looked at Tania. ‘What’s going on?’

  Tania shook her head.

  ‘Look!’ Cal pointed to an air vent in the base of the wall beside the table. A thin tube poked out through its bars. As I saw it, I felt a fine mist clutch at my throat.

  ‘It’s Medutox,’ I said.

  Medutox. The drug we’d encountered for the first time just a couple of weeks ago, which had rendered all our psychic abilities useless.

  Nico was twisting his hand – a classic telekinetic move. Except . . . He turned to meet my eyes. His shocked expression said it all.