Hit Squad Read online

  Foster stared at me. He let out a roar.

  ‘Come on.’ I stood a step towards the vent. ‘We can both get out.’

  ‘No,’ Foster said bitterly. He backed away from me. ‘No, I’m not—’

  I felt fingers grab my shoulder from behind. With a whoosh, my body was sucked into the air . . . I closed my eyes and sailed up, through a narrow space and into clear, fresh, beautiful air. I soared through space, eyes still tight shut, then landed with a thump on my back.

  What had happened? I lay still, my head spinning, winded. And then I opened my eyes, just as Ketty fell on her knees beside me.

  ‘Nico,’ she breathed, her tears falling onto my cheek.

  Was she real? I closed my eyes again, feeling hands under me . . . lifting me . . . carrying me away.

  A minute or so later I was carried inside something – a car – and laid across a seat.

  ‘Careful with his head,’ someone said. Was that Fergus?

  Voices were chattering around me. Doors slamming. An engine roared. Light danced across my closed eyelids.

  I looked up.

  My head was in Ketty’s lap. She was smiling down at me.

  ‘Am I alive?’ I said.

  ‘Yes.’ That was Fergus.

  I moved my head. Just a fraction. He was peering over his shoulder from the driver’s seat at the front of one of the big cars we’d arrived in. Cal sat beside him.

  ‘You did it,’ Fergus said. ‘You got Ketty and all the hit squad children are free. They’re in the other car with Harry and Amy and Avery.’

  ‘What happened to Foster?’ Cal asked.

  I gulped. The past few minutes already felt like a dream.

  ‘I told him we could both get out,’ I stammered, ‘but he was too angry . . .’

  I closed my eyes. Foster must be dead by now.

  ‘He got what he deserved,’ Cal said angrily.

  I looked up at Ketty. ‘I tried to save him.’

  She nodded. ‘I know.

  ‘What about Ed and Dylan?’ I said, struggling to sit up.

  ‘We’re right behind you,’ came Dylan’s familiar drawl.

  I looked over my shoulder. Ed and Dylan were sitting side by side. Dylan was holding the side of her head, but otherwise she looked fine.

  ‘I hear you saved my life,’ Dylan said.

  I grinned. ‘You can thank me later.’ I stopped. ‘But who saved mine?’

  ‘That was Cal,’ Ketty explained. ‘When Ed saw Foster drag you back, he reached Cal remotely and Cal flew back and got you out.’

  I gazed over at Cal. He smiled modestly.

  ‘You see, Nico?’ Ketty said, leaning over me again so that her dark curls brushed my face. ‘We all did it . . . together.’

  32: StopMed

  Avery and Fergus drove us to a hotel where we were able, at last, to rest. They called in a doctor to check us over as well. I know they would rather have taken us to hospital, but they were worried that if the UK government became aware of where we were, we would be taken away.

  ‘They’ll work it out eventually anyway,’ Fergus had said with a sigh. He was right, of course. Less than a week ago, the government had planned to take us all back to Britain and put us under the protection of another agent to replace Geri Paterson. Their plans hadn’t changed. The government still wanted us to continue as the Medusa Project, sending us on missions of their choosing to act out their agenda.

  ‘Maybe we should just do what they want,’ Ketty said. ‘At least that means we stay as a group.’

  The six of us – Ketty, me, Dylan, Ed, Cal and Amy – were in one of the hotel suites. Ed and Amy sat side by side on the edge of one of the beds. Dylan was sprawled across the other. Cal and Ketty were perched opposite them, on a large sofa. I paced up and down, past the window overlooking whatever rainy grey town we were in. The curtain material matched the cover on the bed and the cushions on the couch. The whole place was kind of depressing.

  ‘Working for the UK government isn’t much better than being in Foster’s hit squad,’ Dylan protested.

  ‘I know,’ Ed agreed. ‘Even if we push the agent in charge of us to let us choose our own missions, they’re still defining us by what we can do rather than by who we are.’

  ‘Sorry, mate?’ Cal said with a frown. ‘You lost me there.’

  I stopped pacing and turned around.

  ‘What Ed means is that if we turn ourselves over to the government, or if they find us, then we’ll be under their thumb forever,’ I said.

  ‘But what’s the alternative?’ Ketty sat up straighter on the sofa. She’d tied her hair back but two curls had escaped down either side of her face. They gave her features a soft, innocent appearance – but when I looked in her eyes I could see the pain and anxiety there. It was there in all of us now . . . a legacy of who we had become, thanks to the Medusa gene and the way our lives had been twisted because of it.

  ‘The alternative is going into hiding, like Avery and Fergus planned for us back in Australia,’ Dylan said glumly.

  I nodded. Avery had already mentioned this option to me earlier. Basically, the plan was to split us up and send us to new locations around the world. This would mean us – and, in some cases, our families – taking on new identities and moving to different countries.

  ‘But that’s running away,’ Cal protested.

  ‘What do you think, Amy?’ Ketty asked.

  Amy looked up at her shyly. Since Ketty and I had been reunited, I’d noticed Ketty making a huge effort to be friendly to Amy . . . almost as if she were trying to show me that she’d meant what she’d said. That all the upset over Amy pretending to be her was in the past. That too much was already stacked against us for anything to come between us.

  ‘I wish we could just go back to England and go home and then go to Mr Fox’s new school together when it opens in September,’ Amy said.

  Ketty and I exchanged looks. We’d already talked about how great it would be if this could happen. After our actions caused the destruction of Fergus’s original school, Fox Academy, we’d been travelling around, living out of suitcases, for what felt like an eternity.

  It was funny. There’d been many times when I was growing up in my stepfather’s school, before I knew I had the Medusa gene, when I’d wished for a more exciting life. Now the idea of school and friends and living with Fergus again – with regular visits to Avery too – seemed like an impossible dream.

  ‘If we go to Fergus’s school then the government will find us in minutes,’ Dylan said.

  ‘Or else a bunch more criminals will try and use us like Foster did,’ Cal added.

  ‘So it’s either let the government control us as the Medusa Project,’ Ketty said sadly, ‘or live in hiding, apart from each other, always looking over our shoulders in case some bad guy tracks us down.’

  Silence fell over the room. I turned and paced up and down again.

  ‘Our options suck,’ Dylan said, to no one in particular.

  The others nodded.

  ‘It’s all because of our powers,’ I said, sitting down on the sofa next to Ketty. I slid my arm across her shoulder. I couldn’t bear the thought of being away from her. But I also didn’t want to go on any more missions . . . I didn’t want to be used by anyone because I could move things with my mind. I didn’t want to have to make spur of the moment decisions that ended with people dying. ‘If we didn’t have our Medusa abilities, we wouldn’t be in this situation.’

  ‘At least we destroyed the lab with the formula for Medusix.’ Ketty reached across, leaning into me. ‘At least nobody else is going to suffer.’

  I knew she was thinking of Bradley, Foster’s nephew. We’d had word – via Avery who’d made anonymous calls to both the politician on whom Foster had planted false information and the hospital where Bradley was being held – that the boy was conscious now, but that all his Medusa gifts had disappeared. Bradley would soon be on his way home to his mother. Without the powers he had temporarily pos
sessed, he was just an ordinary kid.

  ‘I wish we could be ordinary again.’ I hadn’t meant to speak out loud. For a moment I tensed, expecting the others to protest. Well, maybe not Ed or Ketty – they’d never been wild about their abilities – and I wasn’t sure about Amy, but I knew Cal loved his flying and Dylan had always enjoyed her Medusa gift too.

  But to my surprise, all five of them just nodded.

  And then Ed cleared his throat.

  ‘There’s a way we could be ordinary again,’ he said. ‘There’s even a way we could go to Mr Fox’s new school, all of us if we wanted. We could stay together. Live normal lives.’

  ‘What are you talking about, Chino Boy?’ Dylan raised her eyebrows. ‘What about all the people trying to use us because of our powers?’

  ‘I’m saying there’s a way not to have our powers,’ Ed said.

  ‘StopMed,’ I said, suddenly realising what Ed was referring to.

  ‘What?’ Cal asked.

  ‘It came to me earlier when I was asking Avery to return that wallet and the lighter I stole after I stopped the train crash,’ Ed said eagerly. ‘It belonged to a student. He had a student card. ID. It meant I knew who he was . . . it made it easy to find him.’

  ‘How is that relevant to us?’ Dylan said impatiently.

  ‘I knew that I wanted his life. An open, ordinary life.’ Ed hesitated. ‘And Foster has . . . had a drug that could give that life to us.’

  The others all stared at him. I stood up.

  ‘Ed’s right,’ I said. ‘The drug is called StopMed.’

  ‘Yes, Foster told us about it . . .’ Ketty added. ‘He said it was a by-product of developing Medusix and . . . and that it would counteract the effects of our Medusa gene.’

  ‘But we blew up the lab,’ Cal said. ‘Even if the drug really exists, it would have been destroyed in the explosion.’

  This was true. I shook my head. For a second, I’d thought there was a way out for us, but we were as trapped as ever.

  ‘Er . . . actually not all the StopMed was destroyed.’ Ed drew a slim sachet of pink powder from his pocket. He held it up. ‘I found this back in the castle lab, before they moved everything to the complex.’

  I stared at the powder. It was clearly labelled: StopMed. The dosage instructions were written underneath.

  Ed looked around the room. ‘I have to point out that Foster never tested the drug on humans with Medusa powers. He and his scientists only knew what it would do in theory, not practice.’

  ‘It’s worth the risk,’ I said. ‘We’ve got instructions on how to take it here. Does anyone else want this?’

  ‘Yes.’ All five voices spoke at once.

  ‘Are you all sure?’ I asked. ‘According to Foster, if we take StopMed, the effects will be permanent.’

  ‘Good,’ Ketty said. ‘I don’t want to know what’s going to happen to me.’

  ‘And I can live without prying into people’s minds,’ Ed added.

  ‘What about you?’ I asked Cal.

  He shook his head. ‘A week ago I’d have said no way. But now . . . now I’ve seen people die, or thought I did . . .’ He looked over at Ketty. I hadn’t witnessed their reunion, but I could only imagine how happy Cal must feel that the girl he hadn’t been able to save had lived after all. To my surprise I wasn’t jealous at all. Okay, so Cal thought Ketty was cool. Who wouldn’t?

  But Ketty had chosen me. That was all that mattered.

  ‘I agree with Cal,’ Amy added.

  Everyone looked at Dylan. ‘Who needs a Medusa ability?’ She grinned. ‘I can look after myself without a force field. Anyway, Harry doesn’t have one and he’s pretty cool.’

  ‘We’ve all got lots of abilities,’ Ed said thoughtfully. ‘We’re smart.’

  ‘And strong,’ Cal added.

  ‘And resourceful,’ Ketty said.

  ‘Let’s do it, then,’ I said.

  Cal and Ketty fetched some glasses from the sideboard in the suite and Ed spooned a teaspoon of powder into each one.

  ‘It’s three parts water to one part powder,’ he said.

  Amy fetched a jug of water. Ed added the required amount and I handed round the glasses.

  ‘Everyone ready?’ I said.

  The others nodded. Six hands rose to six mouths.

  I gulped. Who would I be if I gave up my telekinesis? And then I looked at Ketty and my friends and smiled. There was only one way to find out.

  ‘Cheers!’ I said.

  The glasses were drained in seconds. I could feel the liquid slipping down my throat. It had a cool, strangely chalky quality.

  ‘How long does it take to work?’ Amy asked nervously.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ed admitted. ‘Anyone feel anything?’

  ‘Give it a moment,’ I said.

  A long, silent minute ticked past. Nothing happened. We waited.

  And waited.

  And then, quite suddenly, I felt a cool wave of energy wash through my body. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, it threaded gently through me and, like a ghost, it left, taking some intangible part of me with it.

  I raised my hand slightly and focused on the cushion on the sofa beside Ketty. I willed it to rise into the air, but the power to make it happen wasn’t inside me any more. The cushion stayed firmly on the couch.

  ‘It’s gone,’ I said flatly.

  ‘My force field’s disappeared too,’ Dylan said.

  ‘And I can’t fly.’ That was Cal.

  I looked at Ketty. ‘I can’t see into the future,’ she said.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Dylan drawled. ‘That ability of yours is real flaky.’

  ‘Don’t start, Dylan,’ I said.

  But Ketty just smiled. ‘I’m sure,’ she said.

  ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t change my face or my body,’ Amy gabbled.

  ‘Ed?’ I said.

  He nodded. ‘I can’t reach any of you remotely.’ He looked me in the eyes. Instinctively I braced myself, ready for him to leap inside my mind. But nothing happened. ‘Nope,’ he said. ‘It’s all gone.’

  We waited two hours, to make sure the effects of the StopMed weren’t going to wear off, then we told Fergus and Avery what we’d done.

  The relief on their faces was unmistakable, though they scolded us for taking the StopMed without letting them get it tested properly first. Still, as Ed pointed out, tests on a substance that conventional science doesn’t understand wouldn’t have helped much.

  And that was how the Medusa Project ended.

  All the stuff I’ve just told you about happened months ago. Fergus told the government we’d taken the StopMed. They interviewed us individually, realised we weren’t bluffing, and let us go. By now we’re sure the word will have got round to anyone who, like Foster, might be thinking of making use of us.

  As far as we can be, we’re safe. Right now we’re at Fergus’s new school – Foxrise Academy – waiting for tomorrow and the start of a new term and a new year.

  Cal isn’t here. He went back to Australia with Avery two days ago. I’m going out to visit them in the holidays. Every -one else took a vacation with their families but they’re back now, ready for class. Fergus has done well, enrolling additional students as well as keeping most of the former ones, and we’re expecting a lot of new faces tomorrow, plus all our old friends.

  Amy’s here too – she begged her parents to let her follow Ed to the school and, after much discussion, they agreed. I’m pleased. I like Amy – and Ed seems to come out of himself more when she’s around too. Dylan still keeps herself to herself as much as possible. When everyone else went to stay with their families, she visited Harry and his mum, Laura. Harry got hurt during our escape, but he’s okay now and the two of them are totally loved-up. Harry’s smart – and tough. I don’t think there are many people who could handle someone as difficult as Dylan, but he deals with her really well. It’s fun teasing Dylan about it but, seriously, I’m glad she’s got someone.

  Kett
y and I spend a lot of time together – she’s back to her running. She’s out in the grounds every morning – the fields and wood here aren’t as big as at the old school, but Ketty says she prefers it.

  If she’s happy, I’m happy. It’s funny thinking how I was just one year ago, when I first found out I had the Medusa gene. So much has happened since. Sometimes I feel like a different person from the one I was then. I’m certainly more thoughtful. More careful.

  Every now and then I go out into the wood to meet Ketty after her run. I stand in a spot that reminds me of that moment twelve months ago when I tried to show her my telekinesis by making a stick on the ground travel telekinetically. I usually try and move a twig or two. Old habits die hard, as they say.

  But, just like back then, nothing ever happens.

  If I’m honest, I kind of miss how special having the power of telekinesis made me feel. Then I remember how hard life was before.

  I mean, I like things the way they are. I don’t want the stick on the ground to twitch. And yet, part of me can’t help wondering.

  What would happen if it did?