‘I don’t mind getting into trouble,’ I said. ‘Maybe the other three will come through. We should give them the chance.’
Trix took the ash catapult from my hand and studied it carefully. ‘It would be us against the adults.’
‘We’ve done all right so far.’
‘Luck,’ she said. ‘This is where it gets tough.’
I stood up. Something in our conversation had helped me make up my mind.
‘The way I see it, we should just explain the situation to the others. I reckon if you and me are strong, we’ve got a chance of persuading them.’
A tense half-smile appeared on Trix’s face when she was excited by something but was trying hard to be cool and grown up. ‘You and me,’ she said. ‘You mean it?’
I nodded. ‘I’m in. What do we do next?’
So, sitting there in the sun, we started to plan our next move.
JADE
Oh, great. I had blown my summer holiday. I was stuck in the wild Welsh mountains and now Holly was going to have to go home, leaving me with Nerdy Boy, Saint Trixie, Mark Bliss and his weirdo godfather.
Could things possibly get worse? Don’t ask.
MARK
The atmosphere went into a major slump that day. Holly had been given one last day in the countryside and was due to return to London the next day. Jade spent most of the day sulkily leafing through the celebrity gossip in the papers, sighing now and then. Trix and Wiki had disappeared somewhere.
Me? I was getting bored. ‘The Vanish’ was becoming a serious drag. I thought about what my dad would do in this situation. He believes in doing stuff, keeping moving. ‘Action, that’s the thing, Mark,’ he once told me. It’s probably why he has to be abroad so much.
My father was out of contact, but I thought maybe a little chat with his former best friend might help. I went to see Gideon in his workshop. He sat at his bench, studying a bit of carved wood through his glasses as if it contained all the secrets of the universe.
‘How’s it going, Gideon?’
He shook his head, an irritated little frown on his face. Maybe it was the wood, maybe it was me. Either way, he was not in the mood for a chat with his godson.
I looked out of the window and saw Trix and Wiki striding across the field towards the house, scattering hens as they went. They seemed to be in a hurry.
I made my way out to see what was up. As they approached, Wiki said, ‘We’re having a meeting. After supper.’
I shook my head. ‘Enough for the moment, guys. Let’s do it tomorrow.’
They just kept walking. ‘In the attic,’ Trix said. ‘We need to talk to the whole gang today.’
I watched them as they entered the house.
Gang? I thought. We?
CHARLES ‘THE SMILER’ PRENDERGAST
Between you and me, I was overdue some luck. Eight years inside, a wife and kids who won’t speak to me, a job (robbing post offices) that has very little security or long-term prospects.
All in all, the Smiler had very little to smile about.
Until . . . a rumour. A little birdie. Suddenly I was back in the big time with more job satisfaction than anyone could dream of.
And why? Because at last, after all these years, my luck turned.
If there’s someone up there who looks after thieves, bank robbers and murderers and others who have strayed from the old straight and narrow, then I have two words for Him.
Thank you.
WIKI
In her citizenship classes at Cathcart College, Miss Fothergill now and then used to bring in a CD called Great Speeches of the Twentieth Century. Sometimes, she told us, it was not enough merely to be a good citizen. You had to persuade others to be good too.
She would put the CD in the classroom sound system and play us a few minutes of a speech from some twentieth-century guy who she said was one of our great role models. Sometimes it would be Sir Winston Churchill talking about the darkest hour and fighting on the beaches in the Second World War. Sometimes it was John F. Kennedy standing in front of the Berlin Wall. A particular favourite was Martin Luther King and his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech.
That evening after supper, as the light faded in the attic and we lit candles so that we could see what we were doing, Trix had her Churchill/Kennedy/King moment. She talked to us for maybe ten minutes and, with those few words, she changed everything.
HOLLY
There was a whiff of rebellion in the ranks that night. I was nervous about what I was going to say to the police the next day. Jade had had quite enough of the countryside. Mark had been moody ever since we had arrived.
Talking later, we discovered that each of us had pretty much the same idea in our head. It’s over. The only question to decide was how exactly we were going to get Trix back home and keep ourselves out of trouble.
MARK
Don’t get me wrong, but the little mini-gang of Wiki and the Trixter was beginning to get to me. Holly and Jade I didn’t care about – they were girls and girls can do friendship as if it is natural. But I had been pretty much the main mover in this little plan. Where would we have been hiding out, for instance, it is were not for my godfather Gideon Burrowes?
But when things started getting tough, it was not me she turned to but one of the biggest dweebs, dorks and all-round speccy losers to go to Cathcart College – Wiki Church.
I didn’t get it.
JADE
The attic: that night there was a semicircle of candles where we normally sat.
‘Whoa, spooky,’ I said as I reached the top of the ladder and poked my head through the trapdoor. ‘Is this some kind of witches’ coven?’
‘Yeah.’ Mark was sprawled on a huge cushion that he had found. He was wearing dark glasses for his own Markish reasons (I think he thought he looked cool. No, seriously). ‘Maybe we’re going to sacrifice a chicken or something.’
‘Leave it out, Mark.’ To my surprise, it was Wiki who spoke.
Mark turned to me. ‘Hey, now I know who old Wik reminds me of,’ he said. ‘He’s Harry Potter, only he’s black and he’s got a bit of a skin problem. That’s it – he’s Harry Spotter.’
I laughed. ‘You’re not a total zit-free zone yourself, frat boy.’
He winked at me as if he and I shared some kind of secret. I hate it when boys do that.
Holly’s head appeared through the trapdoor.
‘Boy, I’m going to miss all this when I get back to civilization,’ she said, hauling herself up. ‘Not!’
She sat down opposite Mark and me. ‘I hope this isn’t going to take long. I’ve got to lie to the police tomorrow. I need a good night’s sleep.’
Sheesh. I’m not exactly the most observant person in the world but even I could tell that the atmosphere that night was not the greatest.
WIKI
When Mark made his Harry Spotter joke, it was like a kick in the stomach. I had thought we were becoming friends. I was about to say something when Trix darted me a look.
I kept quiet. I gripped the catapult in my pocket and concentrated on the meeting. It wasn’t easy.
Trix stood up. There was something about her, a sort of stillness, that wiped the smile off Mark’s face, and made Holly and Jade pay attention. She picked up one of the newspapers that lay on the floor and looked at it, then around at each of us.
‘They’re setting up a fund – the Show Us You Care fund.’ She spoke so quietly she might have been talking to herself. ‘We’ve done OK. If we can get hold of the money it raises, we will already have saved hundreds, maybe thousands of lives.’
‘Yeah. Big if,’ muttered Jade.
‘Not bad for five kids,’ Trix continued, ignoring her. ‘The question now is whether we go on. It’s started well, our little plan, but from here it gets tougher. Let me tell you how I see it.’
She talked about The Vanish, the escape out of London, Gideon, Hill Farm, the arrival of Holly and Jade, the gang. The rest of us had become used to talking about what
had happened as an adventure, almost a private joke, but the way Trix talked now, it was deadly serious.
This was our chance to do something, she said – to use the privilege we had enjoyed throughout our lives for something good in the world.
‘If we stop now,’ said Trix, ‘this will be just one of those crazy rich-kid pranks. But if we go on—’
‘It’ll matter.’ Holly was the one who spoke.
‘Yes,’ said Trix. ‘It will really matter. We can change things.’
No one was smiling now. Something else, a strange and powerful new spirit, had suddenly kicked in. My mouth was dry. My heart thumped. I willed Trix to keep talking, to tell us what we should do.
But it was at that moment, when she had won us over, that she turned the decision over to us.
‘Kids,’ she said quietly. ‘That’s what they call us. You remember one of the newspaper reports said, “Kids get up to all sorts of things that their parents know nothing about.” As if adults have made such a great job of the world. I thought, just maybe, we are in a position to show them what kids can do – even when the whole grown-up world is against them.’
‘Kids against adults,’ murmured Mark.
‘The choice is yours.’ Trix was almost whispering now, her dark eyes glittering, her pale face lit by the candlelight. ‘I know where I stand. But I can’t do it alone. So we leave it here or we go on together. What do you think?’
I was about to speak up, but swallowed my words and kept quiet. I realized, just in time, that my support was not exactly going to encourage Mark, and maybe even the others, to join in.
‘I’m in,’ said Holly. ‘I haven’t done much so far.’
Mark shrugged, trying to seem cool. ‘You’ve convinced me, Trixter, ’ he said. ‘I’m up for anything.’
We looked at Jade, who sat wide-eyed and pale. If she had been anyone else, I would have thought she was lost in thought.
‘Heavee,’ she said eventually.
No one laughed. Jade cleared her throat like someone about to make a very important announcement. ‘Straight from the shoulder, right?’ she said. ‘This was all majorly Holly’s idea. I kind of came along for the ride. If you want the honest truth as to whether I’d rather be hanging out with Mark’s hobo godfather in Wales or by a pool in Italy, well, I guess you know the answer.’
‘Jade, if you go back home, the whole thing’s over,’ said Holly.
‘I know that, you dork!’ Jade snapped. ‘And that’s not why I’m staying – as if I cared what you guys really think. I so do not.’ She paused for a moment. ‘There’s family stuff. I’ve been thinking about it since I’ve been up here in this hellhole. What Trix said just then kind of spoke to me.’ She nodded, almost like a little kid. ‘Yup, yup, yup. I’m in. Jade’s in.’
Again I thought it was my moment, but Trix spoke next.
‘Wiki’s in,’ she said in a matter-of-fact voice. ‘He’ll be doing the planning with me.’
Three pairs of eyes turned in my direction. None of them friendly.
‘Anyone got a problem with that?’ Trix asked. Silence. ‘Great,’ she said. ‘So the first thing we need to know is what we’re each good at.’
‘How do you mean?’ asked Holly.
‘We want to get a million pounds to Africa,’ said Trix. ‘It’s not strictly legal what we’re doing. Some people would say it’s a major crime. So we need to see what skills we have.’
THE SMILER
You’ll be wondering about my name. People do. The world calls me Charles (or maybe Charlie) Prendergast. My friends, people in my line of business (crime), know me as ‘The Smiler’.
If you could see me now, you would know the reason. Down the right side of my face is this scar, five and a half inches from the top of my ear to the side of my mouth. Some people might find it unsightly, although they never say so to my face. Personally, I think it gives me a character, a bit of warmth, on account of it making me look at first glance as if I’m smiling.
How did it happen? A bit of silliness a long time ago when I was seventeen. Saturday night. Pub. Drink. Someone said something I wasn’t too happy with. We stepped outside to sort it out. I ended up with a bit of damage to my face – the sort of damage that lasts a lifetime. He didn’t look too clever either, after I had finished with him.
At least I got a name out of it. I like being one of life’s smilers. You know what they say – smile and the world smiles with you. Hasn’t happened to me yet – nobody smiles when I’m around, for some reason – but hope springs eternal. I never saw myself as a Charles, as it happens.
But then I never saw myself at the age of fifty-five, in my prime, living in Wales, robbing the odd village post office to keep body and soul together.
I’m quite bitter about that, to tell the truth. It all goes back to a job I did sixteen years ago. There was this bank. It got itself done over. By me, as it happens. Some idiot had seen too many films and tried to be a hero. Bad idea. He ended up in hospital with a rather nasty bump on the head. He’ll never be quite the same again, they say.
Apart from that little detail, the story would have ended happily. The gang got away with the cash. The police were safely paid off. It all would have been fine if a journalist hadn’t allowed his curiosity to get the better of him.
Quite the little Sherlock Holmes he was. Thanks to him, I spent eight years inside. When I came out, no one in the business (crime) wanted to know me. Not even my own flesh and blood.
‘Lay low for a while,’ I was told. Low? I went high into the Welsh mountains, where a man can buy a house for cash, no questions asked.
For a year, I waited for my luck to change. Then one day it did.
The moment had come. The moment when the Smiler could get his revenge at last.
That Sherlock Holmes journalist. Maybe you’ve heard his name mentioned.
Mr Peter Bell.
WIKI
It’s not a question you get asked every day: you are about to commit the crime of the century. What skill will you be able to offer?
‘You don’t have to be great at things,’ Trix said, filling in the silence. ‘We’re not talking genius here.’
I looked at Holly, Jade and Mark. Their faces were blank. It was not a great start.
‘Mark.’ I stepped forward and stood beside Trix. ‘You’re good with cars, aren’t you?’
He shrugged. ‘I know my way round an engine.’
‘Can you drive?’ Jade asked.
‘Of course I can drive. My dad says I’m a better driver than most adults. I’ve got an uncle who used to work in Grand Prix racing. I’ve driven at eighty miles per hour round a racetrack.’
‘Ooooh.’ Jade made a little mocking noise. No one laughed.
Trix smiled. ‘That could be useful for a start. Anyone else?’
‘I can speak French and Italian,’ said Holly. ‘But I’m not going to be with you guys, am I?’
‘You can do voices too,’ said Jade.
Holly smiled. ‘Oh terrific, yeah, I so majorly can.’ The voice was Jade’s to perfection.
‘That’s amazing,’ said Mark. ‘Can you do me?’
‘Hey, babester –’ Holly dropped her voice and spoke huskily – ‘I’m Mark Bliss, hanging out with the guys, right? The Trixter? The Wikster? The Jadester? You can call me the Blisster.’
We all laughed.
‘Wiki? What can you do?’ Trix turned to me.
I winced. ‘I’m good at computers.’
‘Nerdy Boy,’ muttered Mark.
‘I’m OK generally with technical stuff. I can hack into most programmes.’
‘And you’re a pretty good shot with a gun,’ said Mark. ‘I hate to admit it but you have a good eye.’
I took the catapult out of my back pocket. That morning Gideon had helped me fix a heavy elastic sling to the ash fork I had been whittling. It was a great weapon. ‘I prefer this,’ I said.
‘I don’t know if it will help but I have loads of celebrity contact
s,’ said Trix. ‘And I know how the charity business works. Oh, and I know newspaper people through my dad.’
‘We’re getting somewhere,’ said Holly. ‘Cars, computers, friends in high places, silly voices.’
‘We’ve pulled off a fake kidnap,’ said Trix. ‘Now we’ve got to stay in hiding until there’s enough money in the rescue fund to make a difference in Africa. Then get our hands on the cash.’
There was a small, actressy sniff from the direction of Jade.
‘What about you, Jade?’ Trix asked quietly. ‘Do you have any skills that might be useful?’
‘Maybe I should just go home now.’ When she spoke, Jade sounded tearful. ‘You’re all such geniuses, aren’t you? Face it, I’ve got nothing to offer.’
There was an awkward silence as each of us racked our brains to think of a talent – any talent – that Jade might have.
Nada, as she might say.
‘See?’ said Jade. ‘It’s embarrassing. I’m useless.’
A thought occurred to me. ‘You’re good at being the centre of attention,’ I said.
‘Gee, thanks, Wiki,’ said Jade sourly. ‘You really know how to help a girl deal with her self-esteem issues.’
‘I’m not joking,’ I said. ‘When you’re around, everyone looks at you. Hasn’t anyone noticed that?’
‘Suppose so,’ Holly muttered. ‘It’s what I hate about her most. When I take her home, I’m suddenly invisible. It’s all, “What does Jade want?” and “What do you think, Jade?” They never ask me that. And they’re meant to be my parents.’
‘They’re just being polite, you goof.’ Suddenly Jade’s spirits seemed to have revived. ‘Nobody’s that interested in me.’ She looked around, all wide-eyed. ‘Are they?’
Missing, Believed Crazy Page 10