Every Second Counts (20 page)

‘One step at a time,’ Taylor said, his face impassive. ‘Let’s go.’ He opened the door that led to the street.

‘Good luck, Charlie,’ Uchi said.

I glared at him, then followed Taylor, Spider at my side.

We walked along the street, past one of the huge political murals that littered the capital – this one showed a pair of crossed-over machine guns. Taylor handed Spider a small leather
backpack, which Spider arranged carefully over his shoulder.

‘What’s in that?’ I demanded. ‘Is it the bomb?’

Taylor said nothing.

I tugged at Spider’s arm. ‘Tell me what’s going on. Why are we dressed up?’

Spider ignored me. We turned on to the dock. A marina was spread out in front of us, hotels on either side. Was one of these the Almeida? Yes. Except for some reason instead of going
into
it, people were coming
outside,
then walking over to the boat opposite. My heart pounded. All this time I’d been seeking to expose Riley I’d assumed that, once I was actually on
the mission with Spider, I’d be able to do something about the bomb. But now, as we headed along the dock, I had to face the fact that time was seriously running out and I had absolutely no
idea what was really planned, only that it was due to take place in just over thirty minutes – and that it would cause ‘extreme casualties’.

I pushed past Taylor and stopped, blocking his way. ‘I’m not going any further until you tell me what’s going on,’ I said.

‘It’s a mission, Charlie,’ Taylor said impatiently. ‘That’s all you need to know.’

‘But what about the swimming? I can’t do that in this dress. How are we taking the bomb in? And why are all those people leaving the hotel?’

‘No more questions.’ Taylor seized my arm. ‘And just so you know, Nat and Parveen can’t help you.’

I stared at him. How did Taylor know that Nat and Parveen were even aware of the mission? ‘What do you mean?’

Taylor narrowed his eyes. ‘We know you’ve been in touch with them, Charlie.’

My breath caught in my throat. I opened my mouth to deny what Taylor said, but he was already speaking again.

‘We know Nat and Parveen and probably others from the resistance are coming here today to try and stop the bomb. And we have a team in place to prevent that from happening.’ Taylor
glanced at the thick black watch which he had synchronised with mine and Spider’s earlier. ‘In fact, I’m expecting confirmation they have both been captured.’

I stared at him, horrified. Was he saying that Nat and Parveen were being watched? That they were in danger?

Taylor sighed. ‘You didn’t really think we were just going to let you back into the EFA that easily, did you? I told you before: Uchi might trust you, but Riley and I were never
going to buy a miraculous conversion. Come on, Charlie, whatever you think of me, you know how smart Riley is.’

Panic filled me. All my efforts to pretend to be open-minded about Riley and his ambitions had been utterly pointless. Riley had seen through me, right from the start.

‘We need to get going.’ Taylor’s eyes glinted. ‘And I strongly suggest that if you want to see Nat ever again, you’ll keep on with the mission. Don’t try and
run off. And no attempts to raise an alarm.’

I stumbled numbly on as the horrific truth settled inside me. Far from helping the resistance to undermine an EFA bomb plot and expose Roman Riley, all I had done was lead them into a trap.

I glanced at the time as 18:55 ticked on to 18:56. There was still no sign of anyone in a room which, according to everything we’d been told, was supposed to be hosting a
large drinks reception. Something had gone terribly wrong.

‘Parveen? Simon?’ I hissed into my mouthpiece.

Still no reply.

‘Sean?’

Silence.

My guts twisted. Now Sean had vanished too. What was happening?

The security guard I’d seen Riley laughing and joking with just a minute or two before was walking over. ‘Hello there,’ he said.

I glanced over my shoulder, looking towards the stairs that led down to the basement where I’d last seen Sean. There was definitely no sign of him.

‘Hello?’ The guard frowned as he reached me. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘The, er, the party, the drinks reception. Where are all the people, the politicians, everyone who came in here?’

The guard stared at me, as if considering whether or not to tell me. His eyes flickered over the dark chinos and thin cotton top I was wearing under my jacket, deliberately chosen by the
resistance as simultaneously smart enough for the party but also loose enough to move in easily.

‘Please,’ I said, thinking fast, ‘I’m looking for my dad, we got separated.’

The guard nodded. ‘Party venue shifted to a boat. Last-minute security change.’

I stared at him. Had Riley somehow known we were coming? And then it hit me. Latimer must have told him.

A coruscating fury filled me from head to toe. The man had seemed so sincere, I could barely believe it. But there was no other logical explanation.

‘What boat?’ I demanded, clenching my fists. ‘Where is it?’

The guard pointed to the fire door. ‘It’s called the
Kimberley Jack
, moored out the back of the hotel. But you’re probably too late, and I’ll need to check your
bag if—’

I raced across the room and through the fire door and on to the marina. A boat with a blue hull was chugging away from its mooring. The name
Kimberley Jack
was written along the side.

I stared at the boat in horror. It was still close enough for me to make out Latimer and Riley at one end of the deck, deep in conversation. I scanned along the railings.
No,
there was
Charlie. She was facing away from me, but it was unmistakably her. She was wearing a green dress, the skirt flapping around her legs. The dark-haired boy from the video and Taylor stood on either
side of her. I watched them, bewildered. Charlie had said she and Riley’s son, Spider, were swimming into the venue underwater. Had she been conned? Had the whole thing been some elaborate
trap?

‘Parveen? Simon? Sean?’ I listened intently but there was still no reply. They were gone. And so the truth dawned: Latimer had betrayed us to Riley, Riley had decided to abandon his
bomb plot and – instead – use the occasion to entrap the resistance. Parveen and the others were either captured or killed.

I could barely take it in. Terror gripped me. I ducked behind the nearest boat and glanced around. Was anyone after me? It didn’t look like it, the marina was virtually empty.

I told myself to run, to hide. I could take stock, then attempt to contact the resistance later. Except – if Latimer had told Riley about our plan to foil the bomb plot, then Riley must
also know that Charlie was secretly working for us.

I had to warn her, to save her, but the boat was already a couple of metres away from the dock, chugging steadily past the other boats, heading towards the open river.

No, no, no.

A sick feeling settled in my stomach. I was, surely, too late.

Latimer had betrayed us.

Riley had won.

And Charlie was going to die.

Taylor led Spider and me off the open deck and into the main cabin. It was a large, square, brightly lit room with striped streamers over the portholes. I stared at the
streamers as they fluttered in the light. They were lilac and white — the Future Party’s signature colours. Uchi had told me the other day the colours stood for hope and peace.

What a con.

We stood in silence, surrounded by politicians chatting, kids squealing and waiters offering coloured drinks from silver trays. Lilac and white balloons hung from the walls.

My head spun. I still couldn’t believe that Riley knew I was working with the resistance and that Nat and the others were here, right now, trying to stop the bomb plot. Taylor had said he
was waiting for confirmation they’d been taken. He’d meant Nat specifically. And Parveen. Were they okay?

And what about the bomb? Were we still going ahead with Operation Neptune? Taylor had certainly given the security guard who checked Spider’s backpack a very meaningful glance. The guard
had nodded at him, given the backpack a cursory look, then waved us on. The bomb was still, obviously, in the bag and the guard was, equally obviously, in on the whole thing. I looked around as two
children in orange lifejackets ran past and clocked two other security guards in their navy uniforms. Did they know about the bomb as well? It was Riley’s party, so presumably everyone who
worked for him was in some way involved.

I gazed past the guards, searching desperately for someone who
wasn’t
on Riley’s side. Someone I could warn. Someone who might be able to help Nat and the others. Across the
room, Mayor Latimer was talking with Riley. Nat had said that, for all his professed support for Riley, Latimer was secretly in league with the resistance. Was that really true? If it was, how come
Latimer hadn’t warned anyone that the venue for the bomb plot had been changed? Or had he been kept in the dark until the last minute, just like I had?

I spotted a politician I recognised from TV. I’d seen him arguing once with Riley. He definitely wasn’t on the same side, politically. And as far as I could remember, he was quite a
senior figure in his own party. I took a step away from Taylor and Spider.

Taylor caught my arm. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ he hissed, steering me into an alcove. He eyed me warily. ‘I’ve got confirmation that some of the resistance has
already been captured. Look.’ Leaning over me, so that no one else could see, he shoved his phone under my nose. The screen showed Parveen, bound and gagged, her eyes wild with fury. Two men
I didn’t recognise sat beside her, similarly trussed up.

‘They are prisoners and Nat soon will be,’ Taylor went on. ‘We have eyes on him right now. Remember, Charlie, if you attempt to draw attention to our mission in any way, Nat
and the others will die – and we’ll set the bomb off anyway.’

I looked up. Taylor mouth was set in a grim line. Spider hovered beside him, his dark eyes darting everywhere but my face. Despair filled me. ‘But . . . but . . .’ I stammered. The
inside of my mouth felt like ashes.

‘Get a hold of yourself,’ Taylor snapped.

‘When did you find out?’ I whispered.

‘I suspected you knew about Operation Neptune back in Cornwall,’ Taylor said. ‘And, unlike your father, neither Riley nor I believed in your sudden conversion to our cause. So
we set a trap to see if you would “borrow” Spider’s phone and reveal our plans to Nat, which of course you did.’ Taylor narrowed his eyes. ‘You know as well as I do,
Charlie. Riley has ears
everywhere.
And you also know that trained EFA agents do not leave their mobile phones lying around unguarded.’

He shot a look at Spider, who was still refusing to meet my eyes.

I gulped. So it was
my
fault that the resistance plan had been exposed.

‘Did you hear the whole conversation?’ I asked.

‘Just your side of it,’ Taylor said. ‘Enough to tell you were speaking with Nat.’ He shook his head. ‘Never let your emotions cloud your judgement, Charlie. You
stayed on that call far too long.’

A terrible chill settled around my heart. ‘So you’re going ahead with the bomb?’

‘Of course,’ Taylor said. ‘It’s going to happen at seven-thirty, just as we planned.’

I closed my eyes, the full horror of the situation settling inside me. I leaned back against the cabin wall, feeling the chug-chug of the boat’s engine throb through my dress. And then a
new thought occurred. I snapped my eyes open. ‘Wait a sec,’ I blurted out. ‘We’re on a boat on the river. How will Riley get away from the bomb? What about the guards?
Spider’s his son, how is Riley going to save him? Or you? Or—?’

‘It’s all sorted, Charlie,’ Taylor said. ‘You and I and the rest of the EFA will be quite safe.’

I felt sick. Taylor steered me out of the alcove. We seemed to be waiting for something. Across the room, Riley and Martina were still deep in conversation with Latimer and Aaron. I stared past
them, unseeing, at a lilac rosette pinned to a large vase of white roses on the sideboard. Hot fury raged inside me. I had let Riley – and Taylor – trick me
again.
I gritted my
teeth. I would stop this bomb and get my revenge on them both, if it was the last thing I did.

A man dressed as a clown, with oversized red shoes and a big smile painted on his face, was ushering a group of small children towards the door at the end of the cabin. The children were
laughing and chattering at the tops of their voices. As I watched them leave the cabin, I remembered what I’d overheard Riley say about the ‘extreme’ effect of the bomb. Had he
meant ‘extreme’ in the sense of many innocent lives being lost? All those kids?

Beside me, Spider straightened up. I followed his gaze. Riley had left Martina and the Latimers and was walking across the room to the makeshift stage, where a microphone stood ready for him. A
young woman I didn’t recognise was calling for quiet. As she started to introduce Riley, the room fell silent.

Taylor touched my arm. This was obviously our cue.

‘This way,’ he said curtly.

Gripping my arm, he ushered me out of the cabin and down a set of stairs. Spider followed right behind. The boat felt deserted. Clearly almost everyone was in the main cabin, listening to Riley.
I checked the time on my synchronised plastic watch: 19:03. Taylor had said the bomb was still planned for 19.30.

Which meant that I had less than thirty minutes to try and stop it.

I stared after the
Kimberley Jack
as it chugged past the other boats along the marina. It was about fifteen metres long, the deck running on either side of a central
cabin festooned with lilac and white balloons and streamers.

Latimer, Riley and Charlie and most of the people on deck had disappeared into the main cabin, leaving just a small group near the front and a couple of security guards watching them. No one was
looking in my direction.

How
dare
Riley and Latimer play games like this with people’s lives? Blood thundered in my ears as the boat moved slowly past the jetty. It was still only halfway along the marina,
still close to the other boats. Maybe there was a chance I could catch it before it reached deeper water. If I could just get on board, I could find Charlie, warn her that Riley knew she was a spy
and somehow save her.