“I took a turn and when I looked behind me, he was gone.” Kano’s voice portrayed his guilt.
“I need to go and find him,” Saskia cried.
“No,” Faye replied from her position at the end of the alley. “Not with the police still about. It’s too dangerous.”
No one said a word, Saskia was nervously fiddling with her zip, her eyes darting to the alley’s entrance every few seconds.
Minutes went by and still, Miles wasn’t there. Anja couldn’t stop moving, adrenaline shooting through her body. The only sound in the small space was their heavy breathing.
A limping figure hobbled into the alley and collapsed against the brick wall.
“Miles!” Saskia croaked. She was shaking, tears beginning to spill from her eyes.
They all rushed towards him.
In the few seconds, he’d been on the floor blood was already starting to pool around his leg. He was clutching it with both hands, his face etched in agony. He was pale, sweat coating his forehead.
“First-aid kit!” Kano instructed, his voice making the importance of the command unmissable. Rufus grabbed the medical kit in his bag and handed it over, hands shaking, to Kano, who then positioned himself next to Miles’s outstretched leg.
“I’ve been… hit!” he stammered, tears of pain sliding down his face.
“Yes, we can see that.” Faye smiled at her joke. Anja sent a look Faye’s way.
Kano cut in, “Rufus, can you use your powers?”
Rufus looked as if he wanted to throw up, “I don’t know. But we would need someone to take the wound for him.”
Miles whimpered. His gaze returning to his leg, blood gushing over the street.
“I will.” Saskia volunteered, clutching his hand.
Miles frowned. “No… you will not.” He tightened his grip on her hand. “Kano can patch me up. Can’t you, bud?”
Kano crouched down next to him. His knees, hands and feet were soaked with the warm, sticky blood. He was applying pressure to the wound, but the blood was still flowing.
Anja gagged as the metallic smell filled the alley.
“Just hang in there.” Kano turned to the group. “It’s a clean shot but we need to stop the bleeding. I need a belt.”
Rufus rushed forward, removing his belt and throwing it to Kano, who tightened it around Miles’s leg.
Miles cried out.
Saskia’s voice was soothing. “You need to try to stay quiet. Please.”
Kano began applying white bandages to his leg.
“It’s bleeding too much,” he croaked, looking up at his friend’s face.
Miles swore, his eyes filled with fear. His skin was tacky and his lips had turned the same colour as his face.
“He needs to get up. We need to get to the safe house.” Faye stood staring down at the scene with no emotion on her face or in her voice. She had shut down, allowing herself to think clearly.
Kano looked up at her. “He’ll lose too much blood.”
“We have to move him,” she snapped back. “It’s the only option.”
Miles’s eyes were scrunched up from the pain. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he fought the pain piercing his body.
“We need to leave now,” Faye hissed.
Kano and Rufus grunted as they lifted Miles to his feet, his arms wrapped around the two boy’s shoulders, his injured leg lifted from the ground.
They half dragged, half carried Miles to the safe house a street away. He kept drifting in and out of consciousness.
The safe house was dark and slightly damp. It was a tiny apartment in a small building, so they hadn’t bumped into anyone on their way there.
The boys helped Miles onto the sofa. Kano poured the contents of the first aid bag onto the floor and rummaged through the medical supplies. Miles groaned through clenched teeth as Kano applied gauze to the wound.
Saskia wrapped a blanket around Miles’s shoulders to keep him warm, while Anja lifted his leg and placed a pillow underneath it.
Miles shouted, “Bloody hell, Anja! If you’re going to move my leg, warn me first.”
Rufus let out a strained chuckle, “Bloody.” He indicated to the blood that had seeped into the sofa cushion.
Miles tried to hide a smile, but he was quickly distracted by Kano tightening a bandage around his leg. He stuffed his fist into his mouth to stop from crying out.
“That’s not funny.” Anja rolled her eyes at her brother and her best friend.
Rufus shrugged. “I can’t be funny one hundred per cent of the time.”
Faye kept her distance from the rest of the group. She’d found her fire back, but Anja still saw the loss that coated her every expression. She was standing by the window, peering out at the police running down the street looking for them.
After Kano patched him up, Miles fell asleep on the sofa. Kano leant against the wall beside him, looking exhausted. Anja caught his eye from the kitchen and he smiled at her. Saskia appeared over her shoulder and lightly nudged her elbow into Anja’s side.
“So…” Saskia’s face broke into a sly smile. “Tell me about you and Kano. I need a good distraction right now.”
Anja coughed loudly, trying to block out Saskia’s words as her mind worked frantically.
“What?” It was the only word she could seem to get out of her mouth.
Saskia was looking smug at Anja’s reaction. “You know.” She winked.
Anja just stared.
“Your secret looks towards each other are not-so-secret. You’re pretty awful at hiding your feelings for him.”
This time Anja was better prepared. “Nothing is going on between us.”
Saskia just laughed.
Well, maybe not nothing…
Saskia grinned wider than ever at her silence. “Knew it.”
Anja began spilling out words defending herself, she wasn’t sure what she was saying exactly but maybe there would be a coherent sentence in there somewhere. All the while her friend just smiled and nodded, pretending to believe her.
Saskia eventually shut her up with one sentence. “The way he looks at you is the way Miles looked at me when we first met.”
To that, Anja had no response. Saskia grinned, flicking her curls over her shoulder as she returned to Miles’s side.
Anja stayed clear of Saskia after that conversation, scared that she would be able to get secrets out of her that she didn’t even know she had. Now that Saskia had pointed it out she couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes automatically found Kano across the room. He stood in the corner going over a few newspapers that had been left by the guard who owned the apartment. His eyes flicked from one line to another, his mouth etching the words he was reading.
Her heart stopped as he looked up and caught her eye. She jerked her head away and busied herself with the phone. She couldn’t understand why her heart was beating so fast. Her hands were unsteady as she held the phone. It was like her body and mind were separate, both with very different opinions on the subject. But as her heart rate slowed, her mind took back control. She sat there telling herself every reason why she shouldn’t feel this way.
We’re just friends. I don’t have time to get distracted by him. As she was trying to convince herself her own self-doubt swept in to help. He doesn’t like you. The only reason he looks at you is because you keep staring at him like a creep.
She pulled herself away from her thoughts. Rufus was explaining how sea turtles could fly to Faye who was adamantly ignoring him. Anja was just happy to see him back to his old self.
“You see, it’s all about perspective. From our view, they don’t fly, but from a crab’s viewpoint they do…”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The first thing Anja did when she woke up was to call Jabez to tell him that they had to alter the plan because Miles had been shot.
Halfway through explaining, she began to regret not having caffeine in her system before she called him. Jabez spoke over her, irritated with the al
teration. She was too tired to keep the annoyance from her voice. “Well, Jabez. It really wasn’t his intention to be shot, so I’m sorry that this interrupts the plan, but you’re just going to have to deal with it.”
Anja ended the phone call soon after that. She dropped the phone on the edge of the sofa and muttered, “Entitled…”
Kano finished her sentence, “Prick.”
Anja grinned, “Yeah, exactly.” She glanced at Miles, who was sprawled on the sofa. He was definitely in no shape to go, but that didn’t stop him from arguing with them about it. Saskia was adamant that he wasn’t going with them and Faye said she wouldn’t have him on the mission because he’d slow her down. Finally, they agreed that Saskia would stay with him, to make sure he wasn’t left alone with his injury.
Anja spent a long time trying to tie her hair up. It was cut above her shoulders so when she tried to tie it up the front section would fall. She was becoming increasingly frustrated with it when Faye strode over,
“For goodness sake!” she huffed, “You have to make everything so dramatic.” Faye stood behind her, grabbed the clips and hair ties on Anja’s lap and began winding pieces of hair up and to the back of her head, pinning them in place. She created a beautiful spiral of hair, leaving a few strands of Anja’s hair hanging from the front so that they framed her face.
After that, they all gathered together by the door before they set off and Faye gave them her best ‘inspirational’ speech.
“If you mess up, I will use my lockpicks to pull your brain out through your nose.”
Rufus raised his hand. “Good to know, but what if we don’t have a brain?”
Faye didn’t bother replying.
Kano grinned. “I was going to say something encouraging but I think Faye covered it all. Let’s get going.” He walked out of the apartment, and the others followed.
“I miss you already!” Miles yelled, and Anja heard Saskia laugh as she pulled the door closed, locking them in.
* * *
The safe house was a few blocks away from the Husington Tower. It was the tallest building around, and from its base it stretched up, seemingly never-ending.
They were across the street from the building when they all stopped. Kano patted each of his pockets, “Um, guys,” he said, “I think I’ve lost the ID card!”
They all snapped to attention. Anja’s heart dropped. After everything we risked to get it… Then a grin spread across his face, as he pulled the card from his back pocket, “Sorry, Miles asked me to do it.”
Faye slapped his arm, “Jerk,” she spat, “now get inside that building before I get my lockpicks out.”
Kano took a few steps towards the Husington Tower before Anja ran up to him. “Don’t die, okay?” She said it as a joke, but the crack in her voice betrayed her.
He gave her a small smile, his eyes lighting up. “Okay.” He turned back around and crossed the road.
They waited and watched as Kano entered the building. The huge glass windows made it easy for them to see what was going on inside. Kano approached reception, he held up the ID card. Anja held her breath as the receptionist scanned it into the computer. She nodded, passing it back to him. She indicated with her hand towards the security check-in. He entered security, disposing of his phone and belt into a bucket, before heading through a scanner. Of course, they’d made sure he had nothing on him that would trigger an alarm. When he was through, he disappeared from view.
Faye piped up, “It’s time.”
Rufus winced. “Could you at least try to make it sound less ominous?”
“Shut up and move,” she replied, already heading towards the gap between the Husington Tower and the next building along.
During Anja’s extensive research of the building, she’d discovered a fire exit, leading from the back of the building to a small alley. All they needed was someone inside to bridge the contact to stop the alarm going off and then allow the others access. That was Kano’s job.
They waited by the metal door for Kano to appear.
After a few minutes, the rusty one-way fire exit door opened and Kano beckoned them inside.
“Ready to do some stealing?”
Faye pushed past him, “Always.”
The girls took a different route, taking the stairs to a higher floor, leaving the boys to head down the corridor towards the room where the government files were kept.
They were following the floor plans Anja had studied until not even eyedrops could save her dry eyes. Faye glanced around the corner to peer down the empty corridor. They ran down it until they reached a white door. She carefully pulled the handle towards her, creating a small gap so they could peer inside.
The room was filled with computers, displaying live footage from the tower’s security cameras. There was a security guard sat at the desk sipping from a mug as he stared blankly at the monitors, his back to the door.
Anja pushed the door open a fraction more, and Faye slipped inside. She snuck up behind the chair before suddenly wrapping her arm around his neck and tightened her hold. His legs and arms flared out and the chair moved back on its wheels. Faye toppled over, bringing the chair with her. Anja watched as Faye kept a firm grip around the man’s neck. Then, at last, the guard fell still, she let go and moved around to look at the man’s face. His eyes were shut but his chest rose and fell slowly.
“Help me put him in the cupboard before he wakes up,” Faye said.
They knelt down beside the unconscious man and began pushing him, but he didn’t budge.
“We need to roll him.” Faye grabbed his shoulder, shoving it away from her. “Push.” Together they rolled him towards the door.
“How is he going to fit in there if he’s lying on the floor?”
“Grab his shoulders and we’ll drag him.”
Anja hooked her arm underneath one of his shoulders and Faye mirrored her action. They had almost reached the cupboard when Anja lost her grip. He fell to the side, his face smacking against the floor.
Faye laughed. Actually laughed.
“Are my failures funny to you?”
“Yes,” she replied, a wicked grin on her face, “Now go start on the computers, I’ll tie him up.” Faye pulled zip ties from her back pocket.
Anja swiftly got to work corrupting all of the security footage the computers contained. It took a while because she needed to delete the backups as well.
She was about to switch everything off when Faye smacked her shoulder.
“Owwww!” Anja spun towards her. Faye’s attention was fixed onto the screens.
“Look.”
Anja stared at the screen. A security camera was pointed directed at the door to the room the boys were in and two figures were opening it.
“The boys are in there! What are we going to do? They’ll be seen!”
Faye was already running out the door. Anja shut off the footage and ran after her. They rushed into the room, the door slamming against the wall. The employees turned around at the noise. That was a mistake on their part because Faye swung her fist and it collided with the man’s face. She shoved him against the wall. His head flopped as he lost consciousness. Anja rushed forward and slammed into the other, falling on top of her as they both landed on the floor, the woman’s head slammed into the ground. The fall hurt more than she expected,
Humans, she noted, do not make good crash mats.
She quickly got up and stared down at the woman sprawled out on the floor, her nose bleeding all over her suit.
As she rubbed her knees Anja was pleased, she found no sense of accomplishment when hurting another person. Relief, yes, but no pride.
Faye looked down at them with a vicious scowl on her face. “I’m impressed.”
“Who knew someone so little had so much strength.” Kano stepped out from behind the shelves of boxes.
Rufus rose from where he’d been hiding. “If you’re impressed by this you should see her when she’s hormonal.”
Anja smacked his
arm, then smiled. “By the way, that was an awful hiding place.”
“Well,” Rufus nudged Kano, “I did suggest we make out, so they’d feel awkward and leave, but Kano didn’t seem to like that idea.”
Faye crossed her arms. “Seems like he’s only into one of the Scraver siblings.”
Kano broke into a coughing fit, it took him a second to recover before he spoke, “The documents aren’t in here, so we need to try somewhere else. Any ideas?”
At that moment the woman that Anja had knocked to the floor stirred. Faye pulled a knife from her boot and crouched by her, holding it close to her throat.
“Tell us where Atgas’s documents are,” she hissed, “or I’ll cut your throat right here.”
The woman gulped and stared, terrified, around at the group. Faye pressed the blade to her skin.
The woman whispered, “Down the corridor, to the left. Black door.”
Faye nodded, spinning the blade around, she pulled it back preparing to knock the lady out with the end, but Anja grabbed her arm, tightly.
“No. We’ve hurt enough people today.”
“Get your pale hands off me!” she spat.
“We don’t need to knock her out, there’s a cupboard next to this room, we’ll put her in there.”
“What if she gets out?”
“We’ll be gone by then. Please, no more unnecessary violence,” Anja pleaded.
Rufus leant forward and whispered to Anja, “You know who you’re talking to right?”
But to everyone’s shock Faye lowered her arm and backed away after handing Kano a handful of zip ties. Kano and Rufus hauled both the employees to the cupboard. Faye used her lockpicks to open the door before they shut them in.
Kano clapped his hands together. “Time to find these documents.”
They followed the directions they’d been given to another storage room. They rushed around the packed space, emptying filing cabinets. Documents littered the floor as the group ransacked everything they came across. They continued to search for Atgas’s orders from around the time Rufus was taken and the document Jabez had requested.
Time sped by until they’d been searching for almost half an hour. Rufus used his height to reach boxes stacked at the top of the shelves. Kano was in the far corner, sitting on the floor with files surrounding him. He went through them all. Anja couldn’t help her eyes drifting to him every few minutes. Her gaze was on him when he shot to his feet.
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