August (14 page)

Head down, I scrambled away, my feet
sliding
on the footpath in the light drizzle that had just started. I had walked straight into a trap! I didn’t know who had betrayed me and I didn’t
have time to work it out. Griff had disappeared, and that’s what I needed to do too.

I pounded back down the road, heading towards the city lights, away from Dr Leporello’s street and the riot police.

I could hear them on their radios behind me, giving instructions, shouting orders. I knew that within seconds they could have more police at the other end of the lane–that I was in danger of being hemmed in, with cops behind me and cops ahead.

Shockingly, a loud noise above me filled my ears and the road ahead lit up. Just beyond the approaching intersection hovered a police
helicopter
, its spotlight shining as brilliant as the sun.

A narrow lane, blocked to traffic with a couple of concrete barriers, offered only a little
protection
, but I flung myself over.

Crouched behind some garbage bins in the lane, I peered around and watched the road. The sound of the helicopter was deafening. Its light swept over the road that I’d just left, moving over the footpath and parked cars. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. Police cars whizzed past, followed by riot cops on foot.

‘Search that lane!’ someone yelled, so I jumped up, sending rubbish flying, racing away, and praying I wouldn’t meet a dead end.

‘There he is!’

I finally reached the end of the lane and made a right-hand turn, almost falling as I did. The roar of the chopper came closer and I flattened myself against the walls of terrace houses, hoping to stay out of sight. It seemed as if the
helicopter
had overshot me, but I couldn’t be sure. The ground forces knew my position, so I ran again.

My legs were shaking and I was starting to feel aches and pains all over.

Desperate for somewhere to hide, I realised there was nowhere to go. In this part of town, the terraced houses were built straight onto the footpath–there weren’t any yards or gardens or side passages to run down.

I could hear the sirens wailing towards me and the search seemed to be coming closer. The helicopter had turned and was swinging back in my direction!

A truck that had been parked on the street just ahead of me, facing the city, suddenly gunned into life. The passenger door opened, flapping as the vehicle moved along the street.

More riot police?

There was nothing I could do. Nowhere to go.

I was totally trapped.

Then I heard a voice from the truck yelling: ‘Get in, dude! Hurry up!’

‘Boges?’

‘Just get in! Now!’ he screamed. A pair of hands stretched out from behind the open door. ‘Run!’

I didn’t wait a moment longer. I ran for the truck, and in seconds had caught up to it,
running
alongside the opening where my friend was anxiously prepared to help pull me in.

Riot cops pounded along the footpath in a side lane not far from me now.

‘Jump in!’ Boges shouted. ‘Quick, before
anyone
sees you!’

With a final burst of energy, I launched myself sideways, getting a foot into the truck and
grabbing
onto Boges. He wrenched me in with awesome strength and the wildly swinging door slammed shut behind me. This was unbelievable!

‘Let’s go!’ he shouted to the driver. The truck accelerated and sped away from my pursuers. Boges shuffled along the seat to make room for me. I twisted around to see what was happening behind us, and saw a group of riot cops appear from an adjoining lane. They all stopped in the intersection, looking up and down the street, not knowing where I’d gone.

I had been saved in the nick of time by my best buddy.

‘Boges,’ I gasped, panting for breath. ‘You are the best!’

‘I know,’ chuckled my modest friend. ‘But we’re not out of trouble just yet!’

I leaned forward and looked across at the determined dark-haired driver hunched over the wheel.

‘Sharkey!’

‘I had word you were meeting Leporello,’ he explained, ‘and I just came along to make sure everything went smoothly.’

‘Good move!’ I said. ‘So I guess you’ve met my friend Boges,’ I said, wondering when they’d been in contact.

Sharkey madly wrenched the steering wheel, turning a corner, sending us reeling in the
cabin
. I reached for my seatbelt.

‘Where should I take you two?’ he said,
veering
again to the left, this time to avoid a couple of squad cars screeching up the lane. They took no notice of the truck or its occupants–they were looking for a fugitive on foot!

‘Can you take us to the southern end of the city near Central Station?’ I asked. Only a few streets away from that spot were the disused railway yards and the big culvert where I had once taken refuge.

‘Sure thing. So did you get anything from Dr Leporello?’

‘A number I’m supposed to call.’

Sharkey nodded.

‘Should he call it?’ asked Boges.

‘Someone’s alerted the police to your position, but I feel confident the number you’ve been given will be legit. Ma Little’s not known for playing games, at least not ones that involve riot police and helicopters. I suggest you keep out of sight for a couple of hours, and in that time call the number. Let me know how you go, and then we should get together and come up with a plan of attack.’

I looked at Boges to see if he wanted to join us.

‘Perfect,’ he said.

Sharkey pulled over where I indicated, and both Boges and I scrambled down from the truck.

‘Thanks,’ I said again. ‘I thought I was done for back there. Let’s hope you don’t have to do this for me a third time.’

We flashed the light from our mobile phones ahead of us, carefully walking into the darkness of the drainage system, down a steep slope.

‘Boges to the rescue,’ I commented to my faithful friend.

I could see his grin through the shadows.

‘I wasn’t happy about you going anywhere with
Griff Kirby,’ he explained, ‘so I followed you. I let you out of my sight once at your meeting with Rathbone, and look what happened there. I didn’t want to let that happen again. When I was hiding outside that Dr Leporello’s place I started
noticing
a few things that troubled me. Like a squad car slowly cruising up and down the street. Like three cops having a deep and meaningful and looking around, as if they were planning
something
. Another thing I noticed was a guy, like me, hiding and scoping the place out. He matched your description of Sharkey, so I approached him. We teamed up and the rest is history.’

The slope we were walking on levelled out. It was a cold, humid place, with condensation on the walls and the smell of rubbish and rotten leaves.

‘I ran in here once some time back,’ I said to Boges, ‘when I needed a place to hide. I stopped at this spot here.’ I swung my light around the tunnel. Above us on the roof was the ‘No Psycho’ tag. ‘There’s a small landing space up there,’ I said, shining my light towards it. ‘I used it as my bedroom last time I stayed here.’

‘Nice,’ he said sarcastically, before squealing and skipping away from a rat that suddenly ran past our feet.

I looked at my mobile and checked for a signal. I had some reception, so I pulled out the piece
of paper Leporello had given me, and dialled the number written on it.

It went straight through to an automated voicemail. I hesitated for a moment, after a
digitised
voice prompted me to leave a message after the tone.

‘This is Callum Ormond,’ I finally said. ‘I have a number of items in my possession that you will find are essential to you. The information I carry is priceless, and not only that–alone I am worth one hundred thousand dollars. I’m
offering
myself to you and all the information I have in exchange for the safe return of my sister, Gabbi Ormond. Call me to arrange a meeting.’ I left my number and hung up.

Boges was looking at me nervously. ‘Big move, dude,’ he said, ‘offering yourself like that.’

‘Nothing matters if something happens to Gabbi. Dad wouldn’t have wanted that, and
neither
do I. I’d take prison any day so my sister can be free. Although I’m hoping to come up with a plan that means we’ll both walk free. Anyway, the ball is in their court now.’

I squatted and pulled my backpack off me. I felt totally wrecked.

Boges slid down the wall to sit beside me. ‘Cheer up, dude. You need a good night’s sleep and so do I.’

The wall and ground we were sitting on started vibrating and thundering noise reverberated throughout the tunnels. I jumped up, alarmed, thinking for a second about floodwaters.

‘What the heck is that?’ asked Boges, flashing his light around. Almost as quickly as it started, the sound faded.

‘It’s just the trains,’ I said. For a moment I thought of Repro.

‘We should get going,’ said Boges.

Boges and I went our separate ways into the night. I was walking along, thinking I’d call Winter and see if she was at home, when I saw someone on the other side of the road at a wall with a spray can. It was the guy I’d sprung the other day!

Roughly my size, his hair was long and light blond like mine used to be, sticking out from underneath the hoodie he was wearing over dark denim jeans and black sneakers. He was tagging the building with a bright yellow ‘No Psycho’.

He turned around completely to check that no-one had spotted him, and that’s when I saw who it actually was.

I was frozen in shock, and he froze in shock himself!

It was
him
!

My double!

‘Hey! You! I want to talk to you!’ I yelled out, starting to run towards him. This time, I was going to catch him. This time, I was determined to corner him and find out who he was, why he looked exactly like me and where he fitted into my story.

He took off, chucking the spray can away as he ran. We were almost evenly matched, but he did have quite a few metres’ head start and that gave him an advantage.

I kept after him, taking the same tight
corners
, skidding around, my footsteps thudding along, echoing his. On and on we ran, with him occasionally looking back to see where I was. And I was right on him.

He took evasive action, running up a fence and jumping over it. I copied and did exactly the same, landing heavily on the other side, straightening and running hard again after his vanishing figure.

Soon we were crossing a wide football oval. He jumped a low fence on the other side of the oval and kept running, past rows of houses and apartment buildings. I could see he was tiring. So was I, but I’d had more training in the last six months, and had been well fed and looked after at Winter’s.

I chased him around a corner and pounded along to keep up with him. I didn’t want him disappearing into one of the houses or buildings before I made the next corner. He almost did, but not quite. I caught a glimpse of his figure running into a tall apartment block and within moments, I was at the heavy glass security door, grabbing it just in time to stop it from locking behind him.