Blood Ties

by Sophie McKenzie

  ‘But we know Theo won’t want that,’ I added. ‘We’re going to get him out.’

  ‘How?’ Max asked.

  Lewis glossed over the details of our rescue plan – he’d made it clear earlier that, for their own safety, the less Max and Jake knew the better. Then he outlined exactly how Max could help with the relocations. ‘I need you to find some old identities for us,’ he said. ‘People who died as children but who would be the same age as me and Rachel and Theo . . .’

  ‘And this friend of Lewis’s called Mel, and my mum and dad,’ I added.

  Lewis and I had called Mum and Dad from a payphone. We hadn’t told them about our proposed attempt to rescue Theo and Mel, though. It was too risky. Dad was bound to try and stop us. He might even tell Elijah what we were planning.

  ‘We need basic information – name, age, where and when they were born . . . that sort of thing,’ Lewis went on. ‘And you’ll have to use computers in internet cafés so nothing can be traced back.’ He fixed Max with his clear blue eyes. ‘Can you do it?’

  She stared from him to me, then back to him. ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘But what will you do with all the data?’

  ‘Well, I won’t be able to sort out jobs or schools or anything like that,’ Lewis said. ‘But I’ve got a contact who can get some basic I.D. done. New passports, driving licences. Stuff like that.’

  Jake whistled. ‘This is major.’

  Lewis turned to him. ‘It’s also a matter of life and death. Ours and Theo’s. You can never tell anyone. Ever.’ His eyes shone hard.

  Jake nodded. ‘Whatever you say.’

  The four of us left Starbucks for a nearby internet café where Max started searching for the information she needed. While she and Lewis were poring over the computer screen, Jake pulled me to one side.

  ‘That Lewis guy’s way too old for you, the big perv. Though I have to say –’ he grinned, ‘– you’re looking good, Rachel . . .’

  I blushed. I was sure I didn’t look any different than I had when Jake had last seen me.

  ‘Lewis isn’t like that,’ I said. ‘For a start he’s madly in love with the girl he mentioned earlier. He’s like . . . like my big brother or something . . .’

  ‘Oh?’ Jake raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh, well then . . .’

  ‘Hey.’ Lewis was back. ‘Max has made a start but she can’t do it all today. Rachel and I need to split now. We’ll meet you back here same time Tuesday. No contact in between, okay?’

  Jake looked a little disappointed, but he didn’t say anything. Two minutes later Lewis and I were outside the café, our hoodies pulled up, striding down the high street.

  ‘Where are we going?’ I said, tugging my jacket round me. It was nearly as cold here as it had been up at the cottage and I knew Lewis had very little cash – just enough for the petrol down here and a few days’ food.

  ‘To find a squat,’ Lewis said. ‘Some abandoned building where we can stay while we get all this stuff sorted out.’

  ‘How do we do that?’

  ‘Easy.’ Lewis grinned at me. ‘We head for somewhere rundown and look for boarded-up doors and windows. I spent the ages of six to nine living in squats. Though I don’t remember it being this cold where I grew up.’

  He was right. It was easy. By ten o’clock that night we had found an abandoned flat on a council estate and broken into it. Someone had obviously been living there before because they had left some blankets and a stained mattress behind on the floor.

  ‘You take that,’ he said, putting down the two torch lanterns we’d brought from the cottage. ‘I can sleep on the floor.’

  I looked around the largest room. There was no furniture, just a pile of broken bottles in one corner. I could see my breath in front of my face, it was so cold. Paint was peeling from the walls. And I already knew that the kitchen and bathroom were filthy, with no running water.

  In short, it was by far the most revolting place I’d ever anticipated spending the night in my life. And yet the prospect of staying here for a few days filled me with far less horror than I’d felt for months every morning before setting off for school.

  ‘I’m sorry it’s so dirty. We’ll get some stuff and clean up a bit tomorrow,’ Lewis said, clearly misinterpreting my silence for disgust.

  I smiled at him.

  ‘This is fine,’ I said.

  I meant it. Being without Mum and Dad was hard. And thinking about what we were planning to do in order to rescue Mel and Theo was terrifying. But for the first time in my life I felt truly alive. I knew I would be safe here with Lewis. I knew he could and would protect me.

  And, if everything went as we were planning, I knew that soon I would see Theo again.

  49

  Theo

  After a few days of being shut up in my room I was climbing the walls. Despite what Elijah had said about talking to me soon, he had hardly come near me since our encounter in the corridor. I didn’t see him the next day for the medical exam, though it felt like I met half the compound’s staff. An endless stream of doctors prodded and poked at me for most of the morning. I had blood taken, my height and weight measured and my blood pressure checked. Then I was hooked up to all sorts of machines including an ultrasound scanner which showed my liver, kidneys and bladder and an E.C.G. machine which checked out my heart. All perfectly healthy, apparently.

  I’d been in my room ever since.

  Mel brought me meals and stayed to talk to me too, as often and for as long as she could. But she had work to do on the compound – I discovered that as well as being part of the security detail, she ran body combat classes for all the staff. Elijah insists everyone attends. And then, of course, she had to spend time with Elijah – most of the evenings and all of the nights, I was guessing. The dark bruise around her eye had faded now, though a mark still remained.

  It was clear to me by now that Mel didn’t want to be with Elijah. And equally clear – as it must have been to anyone who knew him – that he wasn’t going to let her go until he no longer wanted her around.

  When I wasn’t focused on Elijah and Mel, I thought about Mum and Rachel. I asked Mel several times if I could call Mum, but she said I’d have to talk to Elijah about it – and, so far, I hadn’t had the chance. I spent a lot of time wondering about him and Mum, though. Things like how much they’d really cared about each other, and whether they still did, and whether he’d ever hurt her – like he hurt Mel.

  And I worried a lot about Rachel – if she was okay with whoever Elijah had sent to sort out her relocation.

  Apart from that, I browsed online, watched TV and slept.

  I was more bored and miserable than I’d ever been in my life.

  Mel could see how bad I felt, and on the fourth morning she appeared early with my breakfast: toast and bacon and grilled tomatoes.

  ‘I’ve persuaded Elijah to let you try out my body combat class,’ she said. ‘It’s like an exercise class, but we go through combat moves. There’s one every morning at ten a.m. Everyone who lives in the compound has to come at least once a week. Elijah says you can do it, provided you wear a cap and I’m with you the whole time and you don’t speak to anyone. You’ll just look like someone’s visiting older kid.’

  It was a sign of how desperate I felt that my spirits rose at the prospect of prancing about in some exercise class with a bunch of macho security guards and ancient scientists.

  ‘Okay.’ I grinned. ‘Thanks.’

  Mel beamed at me as she put down my tray.

  On the underside of her arm, where the skin was paler, were four oval bruises. They looked like fingermarks.

  Anger surged through me. ‘Has he hurt you again?’ I said.

  Mel’s cheeks flushed. ‘It’s since he found out about me and Lewis. He didn’t do it before.’ She looked up at me, her eyes dark and defiant. ‘Don’t worry about me, Theo. I’ll find a way to get out of here. Now remember, my class starts in an hour. I’ll be back just before then.’

  She left.
I sat at the table and ate my lonely breakfast. It hadn’t occurred to me before that Mel and Lewis might have been seeing each other, but now she’d said about Elijah ‘finding out’ about them, it made sense. It explained at least why she had been so upset at Lewis being shot and why Elijah had got so angry. Not that it justified him hitting her.

  Nothing justified that.

  The exercise class was far better than I’d expected. It was held in one of the big rooms near the Outdoor Room. There were about twenty or thirty other people there. A mix of ages. Out of their uniforms it was hard to tell which of the twelve or so younger men and women were professional security guards and which worked in the labs.

  Mel began by getting us all to jog round the room, then we did some shadow-boxing and kick-boxing to music. It was all fairly easy to be honest, though some of the older guys looked a bit out of breath at the end. Then she paired us up. I was with this smiley, fair-haired woman about Mel’s age. I felt a bit self-conscious then. I mean, it was one thing to ponce about to music when everyone else was looking in the mirrors that lined the side of the room, but I didn’t fancy doing it in front of a pretty blonde.

  Thankfully Mel turned the music right down and started talking us through the detail of what we were doing. Each pair took it in turns to attack. We ran through a series of moves in slow motion. Kick. Block. Punch. Block. Uppercut. Block.

  Then we practised in our pairs, with Mel coming round correcting our moves and yelling out encouragement.

  ‘Nice, Laura,’ she said as she passed my partner. ‘Get him in his six-pack.’

  The two women laughed. I blushed. I wasn’t sure whether Mel was teasing me or whether she thought I might really have incredibly toned abs. Which, of course, I absolutely didn’t.

  I redoubled my efforts, determined not to look stupid.

  Once Mel was convinced each partner of each pair was sure of the routine, she made us stand slightly further apart, so there was no danger of us actually hitting each other, then speed up.

  I really started to enjoy what we were doing then. Laura was good. No doubt about it. She was well co-ordinated and springy on her feet and managed to block all of my moves without breaking sweat.

  When it came to my turn to block her, she was too fast for me at first. Every time I raised my arm she’d whip her fist past it. It was frustrating but fun too. As we kicked and punched at each other, following through the routine, I could feel adrenalin starting to pump through my body. The release of tension was fantastic. By the time the class finished I was feeling better than I had for days.

  I waited while everyone left, then Mel walked me back to my room. We talked through the moves from the class. I asked for more information about the decoy gambit she’d shown us that I hadn’t really understood.

  As we got close to my room, Mel laughed. ‘So you enjoyed it, then?’

  I nodded eagerly, practising a punch, then a cross in quick succession.

  ‘Can I do it every morning?’

  ‘Sure thing, babe.’ Mel smiled. ‘Though I guess I’ll have to check with Elijah first. He’s off compound today.’

  ‘Oh?’ I raised my eyes. ‘In that case would you mind if I went down to the Outdoor Room? I could do with some fresh air, even if it isn’t real. And I promise I won’t talk to anyone.’

  Mel hesitated.

  My face fell. ‘There aren’t security cameras, are there?’

  She shook her head. ‘No. At least only on the front entrance. There’s no need for them inside, it’s so secure.’

  ‘What then?’

  She bit her lip. ‘There are always at least four guys by the front door, Theo. You’re not thinking of trying to get outside, are you? It’s just . . .’ She tailed off, looking embarrassed.

  I suddenly saw what she was worried about.

  ‘I won’t do anything that draws attention to myself.’ I touched the peak of my cap. ‘And I’ll keep this on, promise. The last thing I want is to get you into trouble. I’d just like some fake sunshine.’

  ‘Okay.’ Mel’s face softened. ‘Okay, but I can’t come with you,’ she said. ‘I’m on duty in half an hour and I’ve got to shower first.’

  ‘No worries,’ I said. ‘I know the way.’ I turned and walked away before she could change her mind.

  ‘Hey, Cinderella,’ Mel called after me. ‘Elijah’ll be back by one at the latest. Make sure you’re in your room well before then.’

  I waved my hand to show that I had heard her, and walked on.

  Ten minutes later I was hopelessly lost. All the corridors looked completely alike to me, and I’d been out of my room so little – and, then, mostly to the cafeteria at the end of my row – that I really had no idea where anywhere was in relation to anywhere else.

  I passed a few people but didn’t dare break my promise to Mel about not speaking to anyone and asking them the way to the Outdoor Room. I passed a wall clock. 11:33. Man. At this rate I’d still be wandering about when Elijah came back.

  I paced up and down a couple more corridors, feeling more and more frustrated. The lab-room doors were labelled with symbols that I didn’t understand, while the ones in the living area were named after flowers. I’d already passed my own – which was called Begonia – twice. There was no sequence of numbers anywhere to help me get my bearings.

  I walked on and on. Left down one corridor. Right down another. Past Tulip and Iris and Rose. I turned down another long, empty corridor. Only one door, halfway down. A door which had neither a flower name or a symbol. It was simply labelled: Private.

  I stopped, my heart thudding. This was where Elijah had gone on that first day. I was certain of it.

  I stared at the little iris-recognition screen on the wall beside the door. Nowhere else on the compound had that level of security.

  And that’s when it hit me. If I was genetically identical to Elijah, then surely my eye would open the door, just like his had.

  My heart hammered against my throat. He wasn’t here. And Mel had already told me there weren’t any security cameras.

  What did I have to lose? All I was doing was trying to open a door. If it didn’t work, I’d just carry on looking for the Outdoor Room. I took a step up to the little pad. Tall for my age though I was, Elijah was several centimetres taller. I stood on tiptoe, trying to remember whether the scanner had run down his left eye or his right.

  From the way he’d been standing I was pretty sure it was the right eye.

  I leaned closer towards the pad.

  It whirred into action, running a bar of light down my face. I held my breath.

  With a smooth swish, the door in front of me opened.

  50

  Rachel

  Several days passed. Lewis and I stayed mostly in the squat – going out for jogs and to buy food only after dark and with our hoods up.

  We washed in the public toilets at the end of the road. Lewis bought a bucket and told me to take it into the ladies with some soap and a handful of paper towels. The water was cold, but at least it meant we could stay clean. After we’d both washed, Lewis would fill the bucket with drinking water and we’d haul it home.

  Home. The squat was a bit less smelly now – we’d bleached the floors and walls – but no lighter or warmer.

  I lugged the thin, hard mattress into a corner of the room. That first night I hardly slept, it was so uncomfortable. But soon I got used to it, though I did start dreaming of luxurious four-poster beds and being able to soak for hours in a hot bath.

  Lewis lay on the floor. He chose a different part of the room every night, but always placed himself between me and the door. I asked him once why he didn’t pick a single spot and stick to it.

  ‘Habit’s a dangerous thing,’ he said. ‘When something becomes familiar, it’s much easier to let your guard down.’

  I guess he never did let his guard down. He slept lightly, waking at the slightest noise. And when he moved, it was always stealthily, like a big cat. The only time I ever saw hi
m remotely out of control was when he woke, screaming, from a nightmare on our second night in the flat.

  The noise woke me instantly, but I was so bundled up in my blanket that he didn’t see my eyes open. Across the room I saw him sitting, hunched over on the floor, panting. Then he got up and went over to the window. We had pulled one plank of wood away to let in daylight and right now a sliver of yellow street lamp was gleaming through, casting a thin line of light across the floor.

  Lewis leaned against the wood and peered out through the crack. Sweat glistened on his forehead.

  I heard him whisper her name. ‘Mel.’ It was almost a sob.

  I squeezed my eyes tight shut, not wanting him to know I’d seen and heard him.

  During the day Lewis trained me to fight – how to defend myself from attack and how to throw my bodyweight behind kicks and punches. I hated it at first, but I worked hard – partly because I knew being able to look after myself was important, but mostly to please Lewis. He made me feel special, like no one ever had. Like I was a little sister he wanted to look out for. He told me he had never known his dad, and his mum had died when he was eight years old. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to have no family.

  ‘So, d’you think of Elijah as your dad?’ I asked him one day.

  But he shook his head. ‘No. Elijah was always fair, but he never showed me any affection.’ He smiled at the look of horror on my face. ‘But I had carers. Kind people who cuddled me and listened to me when I was younger. So I didn’t do so bad.’

  We met up with Max every few days. Lewis insisted we used different internet cafés each time, to reduce the risk of RAGE discovering us. Max had found new identities for me and Theo and Lewis now. I was Alice Stewart – dead from meningitis as a toddler. It felt weird to be thinking about new names. I still hadn’t asked Lewis about us all relocating near each other. I knew him well enough now to be pretty sure he would say it was too risky. And I didn’t want to hear that. I didn’t want to hear that I might be separated from him – or from Theo.