The Rescue Read Free Page B

clamped down on my shoulder and Senor Fernandez’s heavy, nasal voice sounded in my ear.
    ‘Only in camp five minutes,’ he said, ‘and you, Ed, are already in the deepest of deep shits.’
     
2: Punishment
    I was shaking as we walked inside. Fernadez took his hand off my shoulder only when we were back in the entrance area of the main building. Nico and the girls were standing round the long dining table at the back of the room. The girls were wide-eyed with shock. Nico’s expression was a mix of guilt and concern. Clearly he’d managed to make it inside without being spotted by Fernandez or any of his workers.
    ‘What were you doing outside?’ Fernandez demanded.
    ‘Where’s G— er, Ms Paterson?’ I said.
    ‘Gone.’ Fernandez glared at me. ‘I’ll ask you once more. What were you doing outside? How did you get outside?’
    I thought rapidly. ‘I needed to use the toilets in the courtyard,’ I said. ‘The door was open.’
    I stared at the floor. The tiles were set in an alternating pattern of creams and browns. Across the room I could see Ketty fidgeting from side to side. I looked up at her, hoping she wasn’t about to leap to my defence and get herself in trouble.
    ‘You disobeyed a direct order from me. At Camp Felicidad, that’s a punishable offence. Cause and effect. Simple.’
    ‘Ed must have really needed to pee,’ Ketty blurted out.
    I blushed.
    ‘You have to believe me,’ she went on. ‘Ed’s the last person who’d go off on his own for no good reason.’
    What was she saying? That I was easily led?
    ‘Actually he wasn’t on his own,’ Nico chipped in. ‘He was with me. We went outside together.’
    Oh God. In spite of the mess I was in with Fernandez I couldn’t help but feel annoyed with Nico. Couldn’t he see that admitting he’d been with me hardly backed up my story about needing the loo?
    Ketty flashed Nico an admiring glance. I supposed she was impressed by his loyalty. That made me feel even more annoyed.
    ‘Silence,’ Fernandez snapped. ‘So, there were two of you, equally desperate to use the facilities? I don’t think so. Now, tell me, what did you see?’
    I took a deep breath. Maybe the best thing was just to explain what we’d seen . . . ask Fernandez who the kids were. Nico was shaking his head at me. I avoided making eye contact with him. Aside from actually mind-reading the man – which would have given away the secret about our psychic abilities – putting Fernandez on the spot had to be the best way to get the truth.
    ‘We saw some kids out the back, getting into a bus. I spoke to one of the girls. She said this, er . . . it’s not a good place, that the people here aren’t treated well.’
    Across the room, Nico groaned.
    ‘Well, she’s wrong,’ Fernandez snapped. He hesitated, as if trying to decide something. Then he smiled. ‘What you saw was a group of extremely violent young offenders. They were sent here by mistake. Somebody in the San Juan police department got their paperwork muddled up. They’re supposed to be in a juvenile detention centre.’
    ‘They didn’t look violent . . . and that doesn’t excuse how they were being treated,’I stammered.‘I saw the man they were with – he hit one girl just for having her shoelace undone.’
    Fernandez sighed. ‘I am sure it seemed disproportionate to you, and I can assure you there is no corporal punishment here in camp. However, a slap or two is sometimes needed with these violent children. It may, in fact, prevent worse violence. Anyway, I am sure that the man who hit this girl was just frustrated at being sent all the way out here for nothing. It has nothing to do with the camp or me.’
    I shook my head. I didn’t believe Luz was a violent criminal. And if she had nothing to do with Fernandez, how did she know his name?
    ‘But—’
    ‘Enough. This discussion is over. Each of you boys will receive a demerit for your disobedience. Cindy will be here in a second to show you what to