Perfect Summer

by Karen King

  As soon as we stepped inside I realized our mistake. It was a storeroom. The walls were lined with shelves of boxes and bottles, some of them bearing the label Mylore Research Centre.

  So that’s where we were.

  I grimaced as I pointed out the labels to Jamie. I didn’t even want to think what research went on here.

  We went to step back out again. A terrifying chorus of barking and snarling cut through the air and three huge Rottweilers came into view, straining on a leash held by a burly dark-haired man. I gasped and froze but Jamie’s arm slid around my waist, pulling me back inside. He pulled the door almost shut, leaving a chink for us to peer out through. My pulse racing at how close we’d been to getting caught.

  I watched as the man called Marku and Crina came out of the outhouse, arguing furiously. I recoiled instinctively as Marku flung his hand back and slapped the woman across the cheek with such force, she fell back onto the ground

  Crina spat in his direction, then let out a stream of angry curse words.

  Marku sneered at her, then turned to the other man. “Let those dogs loose and get everyone searching for those brats. Now!” He ordered. “And check on the RADS too, Sergiu,” he ordered the man holding the dogs. “I don’t want anything going wrong tomorrow!”

  Jamie was right. Josh, Holly, the other children. They were there.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sergiu bent down, let the dogs loose and they were off. One bounded across the lawn, the other ran around the front of the building and the third hurtled to the side of it, where we were. I took one terrified look at the beast’s huge snarling jaws, and pulled the door shut.

  It was dark in the storeroom. There was no window and only a small grid at the top of the wall to let in air. I was already beginning to feel hot and sticky. And even worse, I was desperate to go to the loo.

  We waited silently. I strained my ears for any sound. Nothing. Had the dogs gone? Jamie opened the door a crack. Silence. He pushed it open a bit further and peered out. “All clear,” he whispered. “Now let’s get out and try the other door.”

  The few seconds it took us to reach the other door were petrifying. I heard the dogs barking again and was sure that they’d get a whiff of our scent and come hurtling around the building after us. Thankfully we made it to the door safely. Jamie pulled it open and peered inside to check that the coast was clear, then in we went. I noticed that he liked to act the role of ‘macho male’, which normally would have really annoyed me. Under the circumstances, I decided to let him.

  We were in a long, narrow corridor. The white walls and grey-tiled floor were spotless, almost clinically so. There was a tall metal cupboard just in front of us and, further along the corridor, several doors along the left wall. Suddenly one of the doors opened and we both dashed over to the cupboard, and knelt down behind it.

  “Stefan’s phoned. It’s on for tomorrow,” A woman said. “Can you tell Marku while I check the RADS? The sedation has probably worn off now.”

  “What does he need this time?” a man’s voice asked.

  I took a peek at them as they walked away down the corridor. They were both wearing white coats. The woman had short, black hair and was quite small and dumpy, the other was the tall, bald-headed man we’d seen with Marku earlier. I saw the woman pass the man something.

  “Here, I’ve written it down. Three kidneys, four lungs, two hearts, two livers, half a dozen corneas,” the woman replied reading out from a list. “And the usual supply of tissues, skin and hair. I’ve checked blood groups. They’re compatible. These are their names.” She handed the man the list. “Two o’clock, usual place for collection.”

  They both walked off along the corridor, their voices getting fainter and fainter. For a moment the significance of their remarks didn’t sink in. I stared after them repeating the words in my mind: a delivery for tomorrow, kidneys, hearts, lungs, corneas...check the RADS. Then I heard Jamie swear under his breath. As the enormity of what we’d overheard finally sunk in, I collapsed down onto my knees, silent tears pouring down my cheeks.

  I’d heard about the trade of organs on the black market, where poor people sold their kidneys for money. And of the illicit sale of organs from executed prisoners, or patients who’d died in hospital. I’d heard whispers of people in other countries, poor, war-torn, poverty stricken countries being killed--or even selling their own children--for their organs. But never in my darkest nightmares had I dreamt it went on in this country. That Josh, Holly, Emma, and all the other children had been kidnapped for their organs, simply because they were disabled in some way.

  Jamie grabbed my arm and turned me around towards him. “We’re going to find them, Morgan. We’re going to find them, and get them away from here. None of those kids are going to be chopped up for body parts. Do you hear me?”

  I wiped away my tears with my sleeve and met his eyes. “You bet we are.” I nodded.

  “Good. Now I reckon the children are all being kept here, and my bet is that woman is on her way to see them now. We need to follow her.”

  We waited behind the cupboard until the woman turned the corner at the end of the corridor, then ran swiftly after her, prepared to duck into the nearest room if anyone came along. No one did. For such a big place there didn’t seem to be many people around, unless they were all behind the closed doors working away. I was tempted to open one of the doors to see if anyone was there and ask for help, but I wasn’t sure that even if we found someone we could trust them. I knew that organs were sold for thousands of pounds on the black market and guessed that it was a big operation with a lot of money at stake. Probably everyone in the building was in on it. It was hard to believe that anyone could be oblivious to what was going on.

  At the end of the corridor were two doors—one with the female washroom sign on it, and the other with the male one. Between them was an elevator. The lift doors had just closed and a red number three button was flashing. There was no sign of the woman so she must be either in the loo or the elevator. My guess was the elevator. I hoped it was. I had been trying to ignore the fact that I urgently needed the loo for the past half-an-hour.

  “Well at least we know she’s going to the third floor,” Jamie said. “So do we wait for the elevator or find the stairs?”

  “Stairs would be safer. If someone else gets into the lift, we’ll be trapped. But I’ve got to go the loo. Sorry, but if I don’t I’ll pee myself.”

  “Me too,” he said. “Let’s hope they’re both empty.”

  We both dashed into our respective toilets, mine was empty I just hoped that Jamie’s was too. On the way out I grimaced at my bedraggled reflection in the mirror, then hurried to the door, poking my head around it to make sure the coast was clear. Jamie was pacing around outside.

  “What took you so long?” he grumbled. “Come on, let’s find the stairs.”

  I glared at him, but he was already running off down the corridor. At the end, he looked right then left and beckoned to me. “Here’s a fire escape.”

  He was out of the fire escape door by the time I joined him. I looked at the flight of stairs running up the side of the building, interrupted by two small platforms--one at the second floor, and one at the third. It seemed quite safe. And at least this way we could get to the top of the building without being noticed.

  I’d forgotten all about the dogs. We’d just passed the second floor when loud, fierce barking right below us jolted me, making me lose my footing. Jamie grabbed me just in time to prevent me from slipping. Nervous, I looked down and saw our kidnappers, Marku and Crina, talking in a huddle with Sergiu. The dogs ran around them, yelping and snarling savagely.

  “I’ve checked the grounds, they’re not there,” Sergiu said.

  “They can’t have escaped. There wasn’t time,” Marku replied. “They must have gone inside. We’ll have to split up and search it. Crina, you take the first floor, I’ll take the second and you, Sergiu, search the third floor.”

  Praying
they wouldn’t look up, I followed Jamie up the remaining steps onto the top platform, where another door led to the third floor. Jamie peered through the toughened glass at the top half of the fire door, then motioned with his hand for me to get down. “That woman’s coming,” he whispered.

  We both crouched low, then Jamie looked through the glass again and stood up. “Ok, she’s gone into a room. Let’s get inside quick before she comes out again.”

  As he opened the door I had a quick glance around to make sure no one had spotted us and noticed a silver car parked over by a wall at the side of the building. It probably belongs to someone who works there, I thought. There was no sign of the van but I was sure there would be a car park for the staff so it was probably parked there.

  “Morgan!”

  “Coming.” I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. There were two doors on each side of the wall.

  “She went in that one,” Jamie pointed to the first door on the opposite wall. I guessed that, like me, he was wondering whether Josh or Holly, or both of them, were in the room she’d just gone in. Were the children kept together or were they in separate rooms?

  We had to hide, and fast, before she came out again. I tried the handle of the nearest room, figuring she’d check that one last. It was locked.

  “Hang on. One of those keys I picked up from the woman might fit.” Jamie shoved his hand in his jacket pocket, pulled out the keys and tried one in the lock. It didn’t work. Cursing he tried another.

  I anxiously looked over at the room the woman had just gone in. She could have come out any minute and spot us. “Hurry up!” I muttered, although I knew that he was going as fast as he could.

  On the third attempt, the door opened. I hesitated for a moment, wondering what we would find inside. Then Jamie stepped in and I followed, pulling the door shut behind us.

  We heard a muffled scream and turned around to see a young girl--her short dark hair sticking up in uneven spikes--lying on her side on a bed placed against the left wall, her terror-stricken eyes watching us. Then I noticed the calliper and boot on her left leg.

  Emma?

  I remembered the girl with long flowing hair, flung over Marku’s back. I hadn’t seen her face or noticed her clothes, only her dark curtain of hair and the calliper. That had to be her. I looked at the short dark hair framing the young girl’s face and saw that it was sticking up because it had been hacked off with no regard as to whether it was cut evenly or not. It was as if the sole purpose of the cut was to take as much hair as possible.

  I swallowed back a lump in my throat as the little girl stared at me, then self-consciously reached up and touched her shorn head. I remembered reading in one of the glossies Summer and I were so fond of how celebrities were happy to pay hundreds of pounds for real hair extensions, usually bought from desperate people in poor countries.

  “The...scum. They’ve hacked off her hair to sell it,” Jamie cursed, echoing my thoughts. “They’re treating these kids like animals, using every part they can to make money. They’re evil, Morgan.”

  Evil wasn’t a strong enough word. As I stared at the frightened little girl with her ragged spikes of hair, I knew with a chilling certainty that the gang would stop at nothing. I fingered my own long, chestnut hair and imagined it being hacked off to make a hairpiece for some rich woman.

  “Who are you?” the little girl’s voice was little more than a whisper.

  “I’m Morgan, and this is Jamie. Are you Emma?” I walked over to her.

  She nodded, her eyes fixed fearfully on my face, her bottom lip quivered.

  “Don’t be afraid. We’ve come to help you.” I reassured her, keeping my pace slow so as not to alarm her.

  “Where am I?” she asked, easing herself up on her right elbow as she struggled to sit up. Her left arm was shorter than the right and the hand was misshapen. It seemed like she couldn’t do much with it. I leaned over and helped her sit upright.

  “Are you all right?” I asked, gently as I quickly checked her over for any sign of injury. “Are you hurt?”

  She was wearing a short-sleeved white top and red skirt. As far as I could see she had no cuts or bruises on her arms and legs. It seemed like the kidnappers had sedated her, chopped off her hair then locked her up until it was time to …I couldn’t even bear to think it.

  Tears welled in Emma’s eyes. “They’ve cut off my hair,” she lifted her right hand to touch her head. “My lovely long hair. Why?” she asked, her voice trembled. “What are they going to do to me?”

  I put my arm around her to comfort her. She was a brave kid, I thought. No hysterics. Yet. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to let them do anything to you. We’re going to take you home,” I promised. “My brother and Jamie’s sister have been kidnapped too but we’re going to find them and get you all out of here.”

  It was a rash promise but I meant every word. Somehow we were going to get those kids out of there. Or die with them. I blocked out the thought as soon as it crept into my mind. What was that saying I’d heard? Failure was not an option. For us it couldn’t be.

  Emma pointed to the calliper on her left leg. “I can’t walk fast,” she said. “I can’t run.”

  “We’ll help you,” Jamie had hung back, probably to let me approach Emma first, to calm her fears. He sat down at the foot of the bed. “My sister Holly has cerebral palsy too. She’s in here somewhere, Have you seen her?”

  Emma shook her head. “I haven’t seen anyone. When I woke up I was in this room. Did that horrible man and woman bring me here?”

  I guessed she meant Marku and Crina. I nodded. “Can you tell us what happened?”

  Her voice breaking, Emma explained how they’d both come to her garden when she was sitting out on the bench reading, pretending their puppy had escaped. They’d sounded so friendly that when the woman asked if they could come in and show Emma a photo of the puppy, she’d agreed. “I shouldn’t have let them in. I should have called Mum.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “She’s always telling me not to talk to strangers or let anyone in the garden.”

  “What happened then?” I asked her. “Did one of them pick you up?”

  Emma frowned. “All I can remember is the woman bending down to talk to me. Then she put something over my mouth that made my head feel dizzy. I can’t remember anything else until I woke up in here.”

  “Were both your parents in the house?” I asked.

  “Mum was. She was decorating the bathroom,” Emma replied. “Dad doesn’t live with us.”

  So her mum was decorating. That’s why she didn’t hear us shouting. I guessed that the bathroom was probably at the back of the house.

  “Why have they brought me here?” she asked haltingly, tears filling her eyes. “Why have they cut off all my hair?”

  Suddenly we heard footsteps outside the door and the jingle of keys. The woman was coming in.

  Jamie jumped to his feet. “Quick! Hide under the bed!”

  “Shh! Someone’s coming. Don’t let them know we’re here.” I put my finger to my lips. I dove under the bed to join Jamie, pulling the duvet down over the side in an attempt to conceal us. I heard the door open, then shut again and someone walk across the room.

  “So you’re awake.” It was the woman, obviously come to check on Emma. I heard her walk over to the bed then stop right in front of us. So close, that the toes of her heavy black boots peeped under the duvet just centimetres away from me. I longed to grab her foot, pull her to the ground and pound her senseless, but knew I had to bide my time. Too many lives were at stake for reckless moves.

  “Why have you brought me here?” Emma asked her.

  The woman seemed to ignore the question. “Here. I’ve got you a drink,” she said. “You must be thirsty.”

  “I don’t want it,” Emma replied.

  “Please yourself. I’ll leave it here in case you want it later.”

  There was a pause, probably while the woman put the drink down, then I heard her walk b
ack towards the door. A few minutes later I heard the key turn in the lock. It was safe to come out. We both scrambled out from under the bed. Emma was crouched back against the wall, tears spilling down her face. A carton of fruit juice lay on the bed beside her.

  “I suppose that’s so she doesn’t get dehydrated,” I muttered. “Kind of them.”

  “We’ve got to get going, Morgan. Someone else could come along any minute,” Jamie said.

  “Don’t leave me!” Emma begged.

  I looked at her petrified face, then at Jamie. “We’ve got to take her with us.”

  “We can’t. We need back up, Morgan. We can’t rescue these kids by ourselves. If the kidnappers don’t get us, the dogs will rip us apart. We’ve got to find a phone and get help.”

  He was right and I knew it. But it didn’t make it any easier.

  “Listen Emma, we have to go now for a bit. But we’ll be back soon with help, I promise.” I gave her a reassuring hug. “If anyone comes in don’t let them know you’ve seen us, will you?”

  She nodded and sniffed, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. “Okay. But please be quick.”

  “We’ll be as quick as we can.”

  Jamie unlocked the door, opened it a fraction and peered out, motioning with his hand for me to be quiet. Then he opened it wider. “She’s gone back downstairs,” he said. “We’ll check the other rooms then find a phone.”

  I could tell was desperate to find Holly, as I was to find Josh. We had to go.

  “We’ll be back soon,” I told Emma.

  As we ran out of the door, locking it behind us, I hoped with all my heart that we could keep our promise.

  We moved onto the next room. It was empty. The bed, along the left wall again, had only a bare mattress, as if it hadn’t been used for ages. We ran back out again to try the next room.

  That was empty too but, judging by the unmade bed, someone had recently been here. Then a muffled sob caught my ears. Someone was in there!

  “Morgan,” Jamie said softly. “Look!”