Authors: Robert Muchamore
In most wealthy countries, cramped apartment blocks like these would house the poor, but Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and this accommodation was mostly home to professional types. Rebecca’s family was typical: her father was a dentist and her mother part-owned a jeweller’s shop in an upscale mall.
The doors parted automatically as the girls passed into a muggy lobby. The security guard gave them a friendly nod from behind his desk.
‘Have you got much homework?’ Kerry asked, as they waited for the elevator up to the ninth floor, where they both lived.
‘A fair bit,’ Rebecca said. ‘We can do it together … Or surf the net, whatever.’
‘Cool,’ Kerry said. ‘But I’m gonna go in my place and lose the uniform first. I’ll see you round yours in ten minutes.’
*
The front door of the cramped apartment led directly into the kitchen. Kerry yawned as she stepped inside. She dumped her backpack on the floor and skidded her keys across the dining table. Assistant mission controller Chloe Blake leaned through the doorway leading into the living-room.
‘
Hiya
, Kerry. Where’s Bruce?’
‘Detention.’
‘Oh
great
,’ Chloe said, looking stressed.
‘What’s up?’
‘Are you doing homework with Rebecca tonight?’
Kerry nodded. ‘As soon as I’m changed. Why, what’s going on?’
‘You’d better look at this.’
Kerry moved through to the living-room. Sixteen-year-old Kyle
Blueman
– Kerry’s other stepbrother for the purposes of this mission – was sitting on the couch dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.
‘No school?’ Kerry asked.
‘Clyde
Xu
skipped out of our English class this morning,’ Kyle explained. ‘I followed him down to the harbour, but I had to keep my distance and lost him at a busy crossing. John picked up a couple of mobile calls in the surveillance suite back at the hotel, but they didn’t tell us much. All we know is that Clyde met with someone at an Arby’s in the business district around lunchtime.’
‘Any idea who?’ Kerry interrupted.
‘Not even a name,’ Kyle said. ‘But after the meeting, Clyde came back here to the
Xus
’ apartment. We’ve got it on video.’
Chloe flipped up the lid of her laptop, which was connected to a satellite antenna on the balcony. She double clicked, opening up a video file which Kerry leaned in to watch. The fisheye image was from an ultra wide angle camera that Bruce had sneaked into the light fitting above Clyde
Xu’s
bed four weeks earlier.
‘When was this recorded?’ Kerry asked.
‘A couple of hours ago,’ Chloe replied.
The screen showed Clyde
Xu
walking into his tiny bedroom. He sat on his bed, then pulled off his trainers and school shirt, revealing a muscular chest.
‘He’s
so
fit,’ Kerry said.
‘Totally,’ Kyle grinned. ‘Cutest little terrorist I’ve ever seen.’
Chloe tutted. ‘Can you two keep the raging hormones under control and concentrate on what you’re watching?’
Clyde
Xu
pulled a small, cellophane-wrapped package out of his school backpack, then leaned forwards. He opened a chest of drawers and tucked it under a pile of socks.
‘Any idea what that is?’ Kerry asked.
‘Impossible to tell,’ Chloe said. ‘But you don’t go to all that trouble to meet someone and come back with something you could have bought from the Seven Eleven, do you? Can you try and get a look at it, maybe take some photos?’
Kerry looked uncertain. ‘Couldn’t we wait until tomorrow and go in when the
Xus
are out at work and school?’
‘It would be easier,’ Chloe said. ‘But that’s fifteen or sixteen hours away. Who’s to say Clyde won’t have passed the package on to someone else by then? Knowing what’s in that package now might be the difference between foiling an attack and hundreds of innocent people losing their lives.’
‘Well,’ Kerry said, shaking her head, ‘it’s gonna be tricky without Bruce there keeping an eye out. He’s
such
a knob, getting himself in trouble on the one day we need him.’
Chloe clicked a few icons on the laptop screen, making the display switch to a live feed from the
Xus
’ apartment. Between them, Kerry and Bruce had managed to place a miniature camera and microphone in every room.
‘Well,’ Chloe said, as she flipped between the live pictures from six different cameras. ‘Rebecca is in her room, Clyde is on the computer in his parents’ room and we can rely on Mum and Dad not being home before seven o’clock.’
Kerry nodded. ‘You can’t get Clyde off that PC once he’s online. Rebecca always has to fight with him when she wants to go and play Sims Two.’
‘Do you think you’ll be safe going into the room without Bruce covering you from outside?’
Kerry shrugged. ‘I can probably talk my way out if they catch me in the room, but if I’m sitting there taking pictures of whatever he’s got hidden in that drawer, our cover’s totally blown.’
‘What do we do if the package turns out to be a bomb?’
Kyle asked. ‘If it is, Clyde could be planting it at any time. In just a few hours, or something.’
‘I doubt it’s tonight,’ Chloe said. ‘Don’t forget the second meeting.’
‘What meeting?’ Kerry asked.
‘Something John picked up in one of Clyde’s mobile calls,’ Chloe explained. ‘He’s got a meeting tonight at eight o’clock.’
‘Where?’
‘No idea where or who, Kerry. But groups like Help Earth keep information on potential attacks separate. One person deals with the device, another knows the target and the attacker is only given the whole picture at the last minute. That way, the plan isn’t compromised if anyone is caught.’
Kerry nodded. ‘So, all these meetings mean the attack has to be coming soon.’
‘Almost certainly within the next seventy-two hours,’ Chloe said.
‘What if Clyde isn’t the attacker?’ Kyle asked.
‘We’ve had this discussion,’ Chloe said, a touch wearily. ‘
Xu
is a sixteen-year-old with no specialist knowledge. His only use to Help Earth is as a lightning rod: an unlikely suspect who can take some of the risks that more senior people don’t fancy.’
‘Right,’ Kerry said. ‘I’ll hook a two-way radio up under my T-shirt. As soon as I get in Clyde’s room I’ll fix it in my ear. You guys watch on the video and speak to me if you see someone coming.’
Chloe gave Kerry a friendly rub on the back. ‘You’d better hurry up and get changed before Rebecca starts wondering where you’ve got to.’