Hunted Read Free Page B

Ed, is on the second floor.’
    ‘Awesome,’ I drawled. ‘I feel sooo reassured.’
    Nico shot an angry look at me. ‘Dylan, there’s—’
    ‘Leave it,’ Ketty said. ‘She’s not worth it.’
    Charming.
    Nico squared up to the fire door. With a swift flick of his hand, the thick metal bar lifted and the door opened.
    I glanced around. Nobody was passing, or looking at us from any of the nearby windows.
    I took a deep breath. I knew I had to move fast once we were inside.
    I slipped through the doorway and looked around for the laser ray that Ed’s research had suggested would be here. There it was, just one step ahead of where I was standing, its broad red ray monitoring the corridor.
    I took a second to focus, making sure my whole body was shielded with my force field. Fully protected, I stepped into the laser’s path, stopping it from reaching my body and picking up my presence. The others crept past, behind me.
    Once I was sure they were safely through, I stepped out of the laser’s path myself. We were in a dark, concrete corridor at the back of the records office. Voices sounded a short way ahead of us – the bored chatter of people leaving work for the day.
    Ed pointed to a set of concrete stairs. They looked deserted.
    ‘Two flights up,’ he whispered.
    We set off.
    ‘No need to say thank you,’ I muttered.
    Ketty stopped us as we reached the first-floor landing, hissing a warning that she’d just had a vision of someone heading towards us from the third floor. We froze, but no one came.
    I turned to Ketty, irritated. ‘Are you trying to be annoying on purpose?’
    ‘Shut up, Dylan,’ she snapped. ‘It’s not that easy. I might be out by just a few minutes . . . It’s impossible to know for sure.’
    Rolling my eyes, I set off up the stairs again. A moment later I found Ed beside me.
    ‘Maybe it would help if you thought of your’s and Nico’s abilities as like doing maths or chemistry and our gifts – mine and Ketty’s – as more like English or history. What we do isn’t scientific or always precise. Just like in English there sometimes aren’t right or wrong answers. D’you see?’
    What a geek.
    ‘Gee, thanks, Professor,’ I said.
    Ed shook his head and walked on ahead. He caught up with Ketty on the second-floor landing. They stood, discussing something for a second. Then Ketty beckoned me over.
    ‘The guy Ed needs to mind-read is through there.’ She pointed to a door marked Level A Staff Only. ‘I saw him – he’s working in a small office. Glasses. Dark hair.’
    ‘Will I need to help out with my gift again?’ I said, letting a seam of sarcasm run through my voice.
    ‘No,’ Ketty snapped. ‘You’re no use to us now until we leave.’
    And again with the charm.
    Nico beckoned us over to the Level A Staff door. He held up his hand, gesturing us to wait a second, then pushed the door open. Another corridor. Carpeted this time. We scurried past a closed door then, a few seconds later, burst into the office Ketty had seen in her vision.
    It was tiny – furnished only with a desk and two chairs. The dark-haired, bespectacled man at the desk jumped up as we swept inside but before he could speak Ed made eye contact.
    As Ed started to mind read the man, Nico turned to Ketty. ‘Okay babe? Just keep your mind focused on near-future visions; I’ll keep watch.’
    Ed was frowning as he stared into the office worker’s eyes.
    ‘Something wrong, Ed?’ I said drily.
    ‘Yeah.’ Ed sounded worried. ‘I’ve got the password, but hypnotising this guy so he’ll forget we’ve been here isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.’
    I rolled my eyes. ‘What’s the password?’ I asked, scooting around to the computer. ‘I’ll log onto the database that we need to look at.’
    ‘Okay. The password’s monitor636. ’ Ed hesitated a second, gathering more information, then directed me onto the site we needed. I found the report on the ‘accidental’ death at the care home