‘Just… promise me you’re not looking for trouble,’ said Lorraine.
‘I promise I’m doing the right thing. That’s enough.’
‘No, it’s not. If I do this, you have a duty to keep yourself alive and uncaptured!’
McCormick gave a warm smile. Their two principled minds had done nothing but clash ever since his collapse, but beneath their differences they were the closest of friends.
‘I’ll do everything I can to stay out of trouble,’ he said. ‘And believe me, I won’t just be doing it for you. I’ve got my own vested interest in staying alive!’
Lorraine took a deep breath, and in the seconds it took to find a vein and insert the needle, McCormick tried to forget the enormity of the operation. His friend was using expired anaesthetics to send him to sleep, and then she was going to carve him open with a sharpened kitchen knife. All this without any surgical training, and a selection of memories that remained from her nursing years. And at the end of it all, there was the soldering iron that lay at the back of the room. The very sight of it made him shudder. When the time came…
A prick in his arm caught his attention, and he turned his head just in time to see the last of the colourless fluid vanishing into him. McCormick’s nervous system began to numb itself, and his last conscious sight was of Lorraine’s eyes as she began to cry.
Chapter 5
A year and a half ago, during one of his worse meltdowns, Ewan had found a way to escape Oakenfold. It had been a ridiculous strategy: in his unthinking rage he had run outside, lumbered up to the gate and just pressed the buzzer – an idea which the rational Ewan would never have considered. The receptionist assumed it was a class heading out for a PE lesson, and had buzzed him out without checking the CCTV screen.
It had taken the rest of the day for anyone to find him. Maybe they had assumed he had run into Harpenden to take a bus somewhere, but Ewan hadn’t been stupid enough to surround himself with the general public. All he needed to do – all he had the mental strength to do – was find a hiding spot on a nearby hill that overlooked the school, and stay there until transport home arrived at the end of the day. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
Once he had calmed down and realised how much trouble he had got himself into, he had spent the afternoon searching for the perfect vantage point: one where he could watch the panicked staff running in and out of the gates, the entertained students looking on from the windows, the police cars coming and going, and his mother’s arrival when the school finally called and admitted they’d lost her son.
It had taken long enough, but that day’s troubles were finally worth it. Ewan and his team knew exactly where to hide outside Grant’s AME test centre.
He hadn’t liked the prospect of walking the whole way around Harpenden rather than through it, as it added miles to his team’s journey. But it wasn’t like they were short on time. They had about ten minutes’ walking left to do, and several hours of waiting would follow.
Ewan turned around to look at his friends, expecting them to be weary and exhausted. It was nearly midnight, after all. Instead, he found them just as determined as they had been at Spitfire’s Rise, but without the additional layer of worry that McCormick had given them. Out of sight really was out of mind.
Raj and Kate were at the back of the group, whispering to each other. Ewan decided to keep away from them when he noticed their hands were joined. Mark was towards the front, overtaking Ewan whenever he got the chance. Whether he was hurrying the group or trying some kind of power play, Ewan neither knew nor cared.
In the middle was the trio Ewan almost didn’t notice: Silent Simon being straight-faced and apprehensive – a world apart from the smiling humorous boy he had been at Oakenfold. Lazy Gracie, who did and said as little as possible, allowing herself to be led by people she considered superior to herself. And Jack, who was stimming his fingers and most likely daydreaming again. Or planning for all possible outcomes. Sometimes the line between the two was blurry for him.
‘Ewan,’ came a whisper from Raj, audible from a distance in the silent countryside.
Ewan turned around to find Raj holding up his mobile phone and battery. He nodded, and Raj prepared to phone comms.
‘Mark,’ he said, ‘time Raj. Three minutes.’
It got rid of the icy giant breathing down his neck. Mark huffed, but did as he was told. Once the phone was switched on, Grant’s technology would take a minimum of three minutes to detect its location. Calls to the comms unit were never long.
With Mark at the back of the group timing her boyfriend, Kate ran up to Ewan.
‘How are you doing?’ Ewan asked.
‘Me? I’m an expert at conquering my demons. I’m fine. I was wondering how you were.’
There was a clear waviness in her voice. Kate was nervous, but rushing in headlong. Life experience had taught her that the only way of destroying her fears was to do the things she was scared of, so the mission was right up her street. She’d be fine.
‘Ewan?’ she said. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Kind of conflicted, to be honest,’ he answered. ‘Back at home, it was obvious why Grant took Oakenfold. He wanted to make us feel pressured into taking the school back, but also scared of doing it. Logically we just need to tell ourselves to not be sentimental, and use our knowledge of the school to our advantage. But… it’s different now we’re this close.’
‘Oakenfold meant something to us,’ said Kate. ‘There’s no shame in feeling emotional about going back.’
‘Yes there is. Emotional distractions could mean death.’
Ewan looked behind him. Raj was deep in conversation with either Alex or Shannon, and Mark held up two fingers to represent two minutes left.
‘I’ll be fine once we’ve stopped hiding,’ he said. ‘It’s just this particular hiding place. It—’
‘Was this where you hid the day you escaped school?’
‘…Yeah. And wow, that backfired. Still can’t shake Mum’s reaction from my head. When we got home…’
He shook his head, unwilling to continue. Kate seemed surprised.
‘You lived with your mum?’
‘Um, yeah. Don’t most people?’
‘I just assumed it was you and your dad. I mean, you talk about your dad all the time, but… I’ve never heard you mention her.’
Ewan shuddered. Bloody hell, that hurt! As if the pressure of approaching an occupied Oakenfold wasn’t enough, a girl he had lived with for almost a year had opened his eyes to something awful: one of the worst results of his avoidance habit.
Please tell me I haven’t gone a whole year without mentioning my mother . I must have at least thought of her.
‘Dad got us our weapons. That’s the main reason I’ve talked about him, I guess.’
‘What were they like?’
Kate, you’re my friend and everything , but please just shut up.
‘Complete opposites of each other. You couldn’t imagine two people being so different. They say opposites attract, but maybe their opposite genes mixed so badly they gave birth to the ultimate screw-up.’
Kate opened her mouth, but Raj cut in before she could protest.