The Demon Code by Adam Blake

Author:Adam Blake [Adam Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Suspense, Action & Adventure
ISBN: 9780748123780
Google: 1ybvETdbYyYC
Amazon: B0089YH36I
Publisher: Hachette Digital
Published: 2012-08-16T05:00:00+00:00

42

When Ben Rush thought about farmyards – which admittedly wasn’t all that much – he tended to think in terms of a big house with a whole lot of barns and stables all around it, chickens scratching at the dirt and a horse looking over a hedge.

Dovecote Farm was basically just a ruin. There must have been an actual farmhouse once, but it looked like it had burned down, leaving only a massive patch of scorched earth where nothing grew. The barns and stables were still standing, but there were holes in the walls where planks had been taken out or kicked in, and the spavined, sagging roofs seemed close to final surrender. Insects buzzed and chirped in the weeds and bullrushes between the outbuildings, but nothing was moving that was big enough for Rush to see.

From his vantage point on the upper level of one of the barns, with the hayloft doors thrown open in front of him, he could look out across the ruined ground towards the road – and be seen from it in his turn, which was probably the point. He was sitting in a wheelback chair, his ankles tied to the front legs and his arms handcuffed together around the back. The chair was rickety, so every time he shifted his weight it lurched either forward and to the left or back and to the right. He was afraid that if he tipped forward too suddenly, he’d fall right out of the hayloft and break his neck. Or maybe he wouldn’t break his neck, but the explosives or whatever it was in the package that the girl had strapped to his chest would detonate and blow him apart.

The girl was sitting a few feet away, behind him, with her back against one of the beams. She had her arms folded in her lap and she was looking out at the road. Whatever thoughts were going through her mind, they left no footprints: the girl’s face was completely inexpressive.

They’d been like this for a while now, and clearly the girl could keep the silence up for however long it took. So if anyone was going to speak, it was going to have to be him.

He screwed up his courage and went for it.

‘You like Courage, the Cowardly Dog?’ he asked her.

The girl didn’t move, but her gaze flicked round and her eyes focused on him. ‘No,’ was all she said. She said it with a warning emphasis, as though that was fighting talk where she came from.

‘You were watching it.’

No answer.

‘I prefer the golden oldies,’ Rush said. ‘The Flintstones. The Jetsons. Yogi Bear.’ Since the girl didn’t react, he went on listing old cartoon shows as a mental exercise. At least it passed the time. ‘Huckleberry Hound. Hector Heathcote. Funky Phantom. The Hair Bear Bunch. Josie and the Pussycats. Deputy Dawg. Top Cat. Foghorn Leghorn. Tom and Jerry.’

Still no reaction from the girl. Well, maybe a flicker of interest on Tom and Jerry, but nothing you could take to the bank.

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