Blood Ransom Read online

  Milo’s face burned red with humiliation.

  I wasn’t going to be intimidated by his rudeness.

  ‘Why am I here, Elijah?’ I asked. ‘What are these blood tests you want to do?’

  Elijah waved my questions away with a weary flick of his fingers, as Milo trundled towards him with a plate of stew in his hand.

  ‘Please, Rachel, I’ve been up since the night before last. I can’t answer your questions now.’

  Milo set the plate down in front of Elijah. His hand was trembling.

  Elijah ate a couple of mouthfuls of stew, then another man walked in.

  ‘I got the things you asked for, sir,’ he said, glancing briefly in my direction.

  This must be the other guard, John – he was as broad and beefy as Paul, only with longer, darker hair. Milo had said he’d taken the boat to the mainland to fetch supplies. My mind raced with fresh possibilities. If John was back, then so was Elijah’s motorboat – but where had John put the keys? And what supplies had he bought? Would these give me any clue as to what Elijah was planning to do with me?

  ‘Good, John,’ Elijah said. ‘Leave everything in the radio room.’

  ‘That’s where I’ve just come from, sir.’ John glanced from me to Milo, a cold, hard look in his eye, clearly gauging how much it was okay for him to say in front of us.

  Elijah looked up. ‘What is it?’

  ‘He’s on the radio, sir. He wants to speak to you,’ John said.

  ‘Already?’ Elijah gazed longingly at his stew, but pushed himself up from the table and strode off. John followed.

  I looked round. If I went too, I might learn something useful. At the very least I’d get to see where the radio was kept.

  Milo had picked up Elijah’s plate and was heading for the oven, presumably to put the food inside to keep it warm. His back was turned.

  I jumped up and raced down the corridor after John and Elijah. They disappeared round the corner into another, shorter corridor. Two doors, one on either side of the passageway, with a huge, locked fire door at the end. John and Elijah went into the room on the left.

  Heart thumping, I crept after them and peered in round the doorway.

  It was a fair-sized room, lit by an overhead bulb. The windows were shuttered and padlocked. A radio stood on the table at one end. Two black-and-white, grainy-screened TV monitors hung above it. One showed moving pictures of the beach and jetty where our boat had landed three days ago. The other showed the entrance to the barn I’d seen earlier . . . the place where Elijah had set up his lab.

  Elijah was bent over the radio, some sort of head set clamped to his ear. John stood beside him. Two large plastic bags – presumably containing the supplies John had brought from the mainland – were at his feet. Neither man noticed me.

  ‘Yes,’ Elijah was saying into the radio mic. ‘Yes, we lost another.’

  I held my breath. What was he talking about?

  ‘I don’t know.’ Elijah sounded impatient. ‘But the Aphrodite Experiment is . . . it just happens . . . I don’t know.’

  A tug on my arm. I turned. Milo had wheeled up behind me. He reached past me and pushed the open door shut.

  ‘They’ll be real mad if they see you,’ he whispered. ‘Probably lock you up again.’ He turned and wheeled himself back to the kitchen.

  I followed, my head spinning with what I’d heard. What had Elijah lost? What was the Aphrodite Experiment? Elijah used Greek names as codes for people. I was Artemis. Theo was Apollo. Elijah himself was Zeus. How did Aphrodite fit in?

  Milo and I reached the kitchen. ‘You can’t let them see you snooping around like that, Rachel,’ he said quietly.

  ‘I thought you said I was free to move about here,’ I snapped. ‘It’s not as if there’s any way off this bloody island.’

  ‘It is okay . . . I mean, within reason . . . so long as I can see you.’

  Like a stalker.

  I took a deep breath, biting back the impulse to say the words. I wanted to storm off . . . give myself time alone to think . . . but it was not in my interests to upset Milo.

  ‘Can we go back outside?’ I said. ‘I’d like some air.’

  ‘Sure.’ Milo wheeled his way to the front door.

  We went down to the beach and sat on the path, staring out to sea. After a while I left Milo and wandered across the sand, my thoughts caught up in Theo, wondering what he was doing right now . . . and how he would feel if he knew about Daniel.

  I came back along the opposite path, stopping off at the cave Milo had mentioned earlier. It was smaller than I’d expected – a dark, low-ceilinged shell cut into the stone. Empty, apart from a pile of rubble at the back.

  I peered into the dim recesses of the cave and shivered.

  I needed a plan . . . some way of getting off the island. But how? I still didn’t know how to drive the boat . . . or where the keys were kept. And I still had no idea what Elijah was doing here other than that it was something to do with me and this Aphrodite Experiment he’d mentioned.

  Sighing, I wandered back to Milo.

  He looked up at me, his hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun.

  ‘So, what’s Theo like?’ he said.

  He was trying to sound casual, but I could hear the hunger for information in his voice. I bit my lip, working out what to say. It wasn’t surprising Milo was interested. After all, Theo was a clone of Elijah just like him, though Theo’s body worked better. It was almost like they were brothers.

  ‘We-ll,’ I said slowly. ‘He’s nice.’

  ‘Nice?’ Milo sounded scornful. For a second he looked just like Elijah had earlier – that same expression of contempt.

  ‘He’s lovely,’ I said. My heart beat fast. I didn’t want to give away how much Theo meant to me. That was private. ‘A lovely guy. Kind. Loyal. Brave.’

  Milo shook his head. ‘Sounds a bit all-American action-hero.’

  ‘He’s not American,’ I said. ‘He’s British, like his mum. And . . . and—’

  ‘Is he smart?’ Milo asked.

  I frowned. ‘Smart enough,’ I said. ‘I don’t think he’s a scientific genius like Elijah.’

  ‘Who is?’ Milo said, bitterly. He paused. ‘Actually, I don’t think Elijah is such a genius, you know. The main reason he’s achieved so much scientifically is that he doesn’t know when to stop. I mean, the work he did before I was created . . .’ He shook his head. ‘Some of that was real horrific.’

  ‘What work?’ I asked, my curiosity piqued.

  ‘I’m not supposed to talk about it.’ Milo looked uncomfortable. ‘I’m not even supposed to know about it. Er . . .’ He paused, like he was plucking up courage to ask me something.

  ‘What is it?’ I said.

  ‘Tell me more about Theo.’ Milo looked out to sea, carefully avoiding my gaze. ‘Are you in love with him?’

  Yes.

  I looked away, knowing my face was blushing furiously. ‘Don’t be stupid.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Milo said gruffly.

  A few minutes later we went back to the house. I used the bathroom, then Milo said I could either stay with him in the kitchen or be locked into my room. I chose my room and lay, curled up on the bed, my fingers wrapped round the little ‘t’ at the end of my silver chain.

  Everything was so surreal. Being here . . . with Milo acting like I was his guest almost . . . with thoughts of Mum and Dad always at the back of my mind.

  And Theo . . . what was he going to do when I didn’t get in touch again this week? Part of me wanted to believe he would try and find me – though I couldn’t bear to think of him being captured and put in danger.

  Then I remembered the fake suicide. If Theo tried to trace me, that’s what he’d discover. How would he feel then? Would he believe it? If he did, how long would it be before he forgot all about me?

  I swallowed down the sob that rose inside me. I couldn’t give into this. I had to make a plan. At least I’d found out where the radio was kept.
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  Yeah, right. That’s a big help, Rachel.

  I sighed. Knowing the location of the radio was all very well, but how I was going to get past a locked door, work out how to use it and contact someone on the mainland was still way beyond me.

  30

  Theo

  ‘We can’t just drop everything and set off for this island!’ Lewis didn’t look up from his phone. ‘We don’t even have a boat yet.’

  ‘Then let’s hurry up and hire one,’ I said. ‘Come on, Rachel has to be on Calla. That’s the same name Dean McRae heard.’

  Lewis glanced up at last, irritation all over his face. It was late and we hadn’t eaten. But I’d lost my appetite. Why couldn’t Lewis see that every minute we waited put Rachel in more danger?

  ‘Your impatience will get us killed, Theo,’ he said. ‘This stuff I’m reading says that it’s virtually impossible to land on Calla because of the rocks. I’ll need to study the area . . . find the best way in . . .’ He turned back to his phone.

  Frustration surged through me. ‘Can’t we just get going and work out about the rocks on the way?’

  ‘No,’ Lewis snapped. ‘We’re only going to have one chance to get to Rachel and we need to make the most of it. That means being as prepared as possible. Whoever’s got her will almost certainly be armed.’

  ‘We don’t know anything about them!’ I protested. ‘How can we prepare for something we don’t know about?’

  ‘That’s exactly why we have to prepare.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘I want this as much as you, Theo, believe me.’ Lewis’s eyes filled with bitterness and I knew he was thinking about Mel again. ‘But we have to do it properly. Understand?’

  I turned away.

  Sleep came in fits and starts that night. At last it was morning – as grey as yesterday had been sunny. Lewis was already up.

  ‘I’ve worked out how to get to Calla,’ he said. ‘Now I just have to hire us a boat.’

  ‘So we’ll be able to leave in an hour or so?’ I said, leaping out of bed.

  ‘No.’ Lewis glared at me. ‘Obviously we can’t just pitch up in the middle of the day. We’ll go tonight.’

  My eyes widened. ‘But anything could be happening to Rachel,’ I said.

  ‘I know, but there’s no sense risking arriving while it’s light.’ Lewis rubbed his chin. He hadn’t shaved for several days and the stubble was dark against his skin. ‘Why don’t you get down to Rachel’s school, see if you can pick up any clues.’

  I stared at him. What was the point in that? Man, he was clearly just trying to get rid of me.

  On the other hand, it was certainly better than hanging around here.

  I set off for Roslinnon Academy. It was easy enough to slip in through the gates when a teacher came out at break-time. I wandered about the grounds, searching for people likely to be in Rachel’s year. Eventually I found a girl called Mhairi – the one whose mother had spoken to Rachel the day she disappeared.

  I was expecting more suspicion about who I was from Rachel’s friends, but Mhairi was eager to talk, especially when I told her that Rachel and I went way back.

  ‘Really?’ she said. ‘How do you know her? Rachel never talked about before she moved here. I wondered if something had happened to her before she came.’

  I fended off her questions as best I could and asked my own. I didn’t learn much. Just enough to know that Rachel had never mentioned my existence – not even as some kind of cover story.

  I knew this was probably a sensible move on her part, but I didn’t much like hearing it.

  ‘Did she ever mention other friends or people she saw apart from her family?’ I asked. ‘Anyone at all outside of school?’

  Mhairi gazed at me quizzically. ‘No . . . well, not to me. She was kind of secretive. Quite a few boys liked her, but she never showed any interest.’

  Well, that was something.

  Not that it mattered if we didn’t find her soon.

  I went back to the B&B, still deeply frustrated.

  Once in the room, I stared out of the window. It was a grim view, especially when the sky was so overcast: a small car park, some rubbish bins and the backs of a row of squat, brick houses.

  ‘I’ve found a boat,’ Lewis said. ‘Though the owner’s asking for more money than I want to spend. My savings are running low.’

  I stared at him. I hadn’t really thought about it much before, but Lewis must be spending a fortune on our efforts to find Rachel. There was the cost of all the travelling we’d done . . . plus my fake documents . . . petrol for the car . . . the B&Bs . . .

  ‘You’re spending your savings?’ I said. ‘I thought you had a job?’

  ‘It doesn’t pay that well,’ Lewis said. ‘I’m a security guard, not a professional soccer player.’

  ‘Sorry,’ I said, feeling irritated again.

  There was a pause, then Lewis sighed. ‘No, I’m sorry. It’s just since Mel, looking out for Rachel’s been all that mattered.’

  I looked away, remembering Lewis’s smart, beautiful girlfriend again . . . and how Elijah had shot her dead in front of us both.

  ‘Most days I just go to work and come home again,’ Lewis went on in a low voice. ‘And when I get home I tend to stay there, though I have been keeping an eye on Rachel’s dad’s work friends . . . making sure no one was in a position to harm her . . .’

  I felt another stab of jealousy. It should have been me looking out for Rachel, not him. ‘Did anyone ever see you checking up on her?’

  ‘No.’ Lewis ran his hands over his head. ‘I was careful.’

  ‘Are you sure? I mean, maybe whoever has got Rachel found her through you.’ The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  I felt mean inside for saying them . . . for thinking them . . . and yet . . .

  Lewis stared at me, horrified. ‘I hope not,’ he said. ‘Man, I hope not.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter now anyway,’ I said awkwardly. ‘All that matters is getting her out.’

  The time until we left passed slowly. Lewis went over the plan several times.

  ‘Apparently there’s only one place we can land on Calla, so whoever’s on the island will probably be guarding, or at least monitoring, what happens there. Once we’ve arrived we’re going to have to move as quietly as possible.’

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘I get it.’

  ‘Do you?’ Lewis fixed me with a stare. ‘If Rachel’s on this island there’ll be people there with guns. I don’t have one. D’you get that? All I have is a knife. We have to be quiet and we have to be quick. Get in. Get Rachel. Get out.’

  I swallowed. ‘I’m not afraid.’

  Lewis muttered something I didn’t quite catch.

  I didn’t ask him to repeat it.

  At last it was time. We drove well out of Roslinnon to a battered old marina, where Lewis took charge of the boat he’d hired.

  As Lewis went over the controls, I tugged my wool hat down round my ears. Lewis and I were both dressed in dark trousers and black jumpers, with dark jackets. We had to hope this would help keep us unseen when we reached Calla.

  I sat, as directed, in the bow of the boat as the motor revved. It was a small motorboat – just room for me at the front and Lewis at the back. I looked into the darkness. There were lights on one of the large islands nearby, but I knew Calla was much further away.

  I took deep breaths of the cold salty air as we set off.

  This was it.

  It felt like hours later when Lewis turned off the light in the boat and slowed the engine to a chug. The sea spray that had been spattering my face fell away and the moon came out from behind a dark cloud.

  I could just make out the coastline ahead – a dark beach under a jetty lit with a single lamp. Another boat – larger than ours – was already moored against the jetty.

  ‘Only one boat to disable,’ Lewis muttered.

  I peered at the lamp. It was fastened to the shelter at the end
of the jetty. Beneath it, a small security camera was swivelling away from us.

  ‘That camera is sweeping the jetty,’ I whispered. ‘We’ll have to moor up behind the big boat so it doesn’t see us.’

  Lewis followed my gaze. ‘Good thinking,’ he said.

  He cut the engine and paddled us up to the hull of the other boat. As the camera on the jetty shelter turned away from us, Lewis hauled himself up, clambering silently into the other boat. There was the swift ripping sound of a knife tearing through plastic. I watched the camera. It was still focused on the other end of the jetty. Lewis’s head appeared over the hull. He beckoned me towards him and I crawled into the other boat too.

  My heart was hammering away, the adrenalin coursing through me.

  ‘Okay, I’ve killed the engine,’ Lewis whispered. ‘Their boat’s out of action.’

  I nodded, pointing towards the camera, which was now moving slowly back in our direction. We lay face down, prostrate against the deck, as we waited for the camera to swing all the way towards us and begin its journey back again.

  Several long seconds passed. There was no sound from the shore, just the slap of the waves against the boats and the whistle of the wind above our heads.

  At last I risked a glance. The camera was pointing away from us again. I raised myself, ready to move.

  Damn.

  A tall, thick-set man was walking along the path towards the jetty. I dropped back down, my breath ragged and shallow. Had he seen us?

  31

  Rachel

  I lay awake for hours on Tuesday night. Another long day had passed. Elijah had appeared at lunchtime – looking exhausted again – and taken blood from me. He hadn’t explained any more about why I was here. I’d spent most of my time talking to Milo and walking on the beach when it wasn’t raining.

  I was still no closer to finding a way into the radio room, but at least I had a better sense of how life here at the house worked.

  Elijah’s word was law. Both bodyguards and Milo were clearly terrified of him – and he, in turn, expected absolute and immediate obedience from them.