Blame by Simon Mayo

Author:Simon Mayo
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448173044
Publisher: RHCP
Published: 2016-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

Head pounding, heart hammering in her ribcage, Ant looked at her tormentors. Treves, Clarke and Chang had surrounded them, knives at the ready. Campbell faced the crowd, gun poised, daring anyone to challenge him. With Mattie clasped in her arms, Ant started to turn, trying to keep her eyes on the knives. She needed to act fast.

‘OK!’ she shouted. ‘You were right! I’ll lose the boy!’ She eased Mattie to the floor, whispered swift instructions in his ear, and he ran towards the crowd. None of the cons noticed or cared; it was Ant they wanted.

‘You should have stayed in Spike,’ said Chang.

‘You should have minded your own business,’ said Campbell.

‘You should never have broken into our room,’ added Clarke, and she lunged forward, slashing at Ant.

The blade cut through her shirt, slicing a three-centimetre gash in her stomach. She pressed her hand hard against the wound, felt the blood seep through her fingers. If this was how they wanted to play it, she wouldn’t last long.

Then the shouting began. From all over level eight voices were raised: support for Ant, abuse for the cons. Then one voice, higher and clearer than the others. It was Mattie. And only one other person understood him,

‘De triyang limyè, de flache!’

Mattie, you’re a genius. Two triangles of light were solid, two flashing. Not long. Maybe seconds.

As her attackers jabbed at her, Ant feinted and dodged. But when she avoided one attack, another found her. Most of the cuts weren’t deep, but Ant reckoned they were just warming up. They certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Mattie’s voice again, high and shrill: ‘Twa triyang limyè!’

Three triangles lit. When all four were on, would they fire immediately? Who was the operator? Why had they waited this long anyway?

‘Kat! Kat! Kat! Now, now, now!’

As Ant spun round again, her eyes flashed to the roof. Four lit triangles; four primed skyrockets.

Time to go.

Tess Clarke lunged forward once more. Ant leaned left, then grabbed her knife arm in both hands, twisted and pushed up hard. Clarke howled as her shoulder dislocated, and dropped the knife. Ant had picked it up before any of the others could react. She wanted to stay and fight but knew she had to run.

She heard a whine start in the pipes above her – loud enough for the others to glance up – and that was her cue. Ducking behind Treves and Chang, she headed for the crowd. Campbell, tracking her, was lining up his shot when the ceiling exploded.

Night coach between Bristol and Bath

Only one passenger on the night coach was awake, his face lit by a small screen. Max’s new phone was better than his old one; the images were sharper and the wifi pickup was instant. He had been staring in horror at the live stream from Spike; the picture was shaky, the camera lurching all over the place, but he had spotted Ant and Mattie as soon as they stepped out of the crowd. Max had cried out when Ant was attacked, then again as he watched her run.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.