Double-Cross (13 page)

I stumbled downstairs, careful to make no noise. I could hear Avery pacing about his study as I reached the Snug and sank, head in hands, into a sofa.

He had no idea I’d overheard him.

And I had no idea exactly what I’d overheard.

One thing was certain, though. There was no way now that I could talk to Avery about McMurdo recognising me earlier. In fact, that terrifying moment had been virtually pushed out of my head by Avery’s conversation on the phone.

The more I thought about it, the clearer it became . . . Avery had done a DNA test to find out about a father and a son. And he’d referred to me directly, immediately afterwards. I knew about DNA tests – you didn’t need much of a person to do the test . . . a strand of hair, a swipe of saliva. With a jolt, I remembered Avery’s gaze fixed on my lemonade glass yesterday.

It seemed only logical that I was the son in Avery’s test.

But who was the father?

Outside the girls and Cal were still shrieking and splashing away.

‘What’s up?’

I looked up to see Ed standing over me. He held an open laptop in his arms and had a worried frown on his face.

I shook my head, emotion overwhelming me. There was a huge lump in my throat. I couldn’t speak. I looked down at my lap.

Ed sat beside me. ‘I’ve downloaded the floor plans of the bank. It’s not going to be easy breaking in – but I’ve found the best route, I think.’ He hesitated. ‘Nico, what’s the matter?’

I bit hard on my lip. Given the choice, I’d rather have told Ketty first. She always makes me feel better when anything heavy comes up . . . sort of calming and understanding . . . But Ketty was outside with some other boy. And Ed had trusted me earlier. Plus, I knew that, irritating though he could be, Ed was actually the kind of guy who wouldn’t take the mickey if you told him something emotional.

I quickly explained what I’d overheard Avery say. As I spoke, I couldn’t help but tell Ed that I’d only been going to speak to Avery because of McMurdo recognising me earlier. I felt slightly better to have offloaded the information and, having finished, sat back with a sigh.

Ed thought for a second. ‘I didn’t see anything about a DNA test when I mind-read Avery, though I wasn’t looking for it.’

‘Maybe he was hiding it,’ I said. ‘You said you thought he was capable of creating “mental walls”.’

Ed nodded. ‘That’s true.’ He paused. ‘Er . . . do you think maybe
McMurdo’s
your dad?’

I stared at him. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Well, for a start, it’s really odd that McMurdo – who supposedly only knows you by your Medusa name – was able to recognise you, isn’t it?’

‘Of course it’s odd, but still . . .’ A shiver slithered down my spine.

Ed shrugged. ‘It makes sense for other reasons, too. We know McMurdo worked in London until he came over here. He’s a scientist who knew Geri Paterson . . . he certainly knew of William Fox, even if they’d never met . . .’

‘But my mum was pregnant before she met the Foxes,’ I insisted. ‘Fergus introduced her to William.’

‘Are you sure?’ Ed said. ‘Is that what Fergus said? Or just what you assumed? And didn’t you tell me once that your mum always refused to talk about who your dad was?’

I nodded. Ed was right. From the little I knew of my mum’s life before she had me, it fitted. McMurdo could be my father.

‘But why would Avery do a DNA test on me and McMurdo and not tell me about it unless . . .’

‘Unless he’s somehow double-crossing us over McMurdo?’ Ed said. ‘Maybe even in league with McMurdo? If I didn’t see that he was planning on doing a DNA test on you, he could have hidden anything from me.’

Another shiver snaked down my spine. What was the phrase Avery had used?
Nico doesn’t suspect a thing.

Avery’s feet sounded above our heads, walking along the landing towards the stairs. As he descended, he saw us sitting on the sofa.

‘Ah, good, there you are,’ he said. ‘I wanted to tell you that I’ve just spoken to your stepdad, Nico.’

‘Right.’ I looked at him suspiciously. If Fergus had really been on the phone, he’d surely have insisted on speaking to me. ‘Didn’t Fergus want to talk to us?’

‘Of course he did, but it wasn’t a good line and I thought you were out by the pool.’ Avery’s face was guarded as usual. I couldn’t tell what he was really thinking. ‘To be honest, Fergus was a bit shocked to hear from me. We’ve never spoken before and . . . anyway, he’s going to call back later, in an hour or so. We’ll be able to contact the other parents then as well.’

‘Great,’ I said, attempting a smile.

Avery threw me a curious glance. ‘Everything okay?’

‘Fine,’ I said.

‘By the way, McMurdo’s art gallery has found the painting you teleported behind the radiator. There are a lot of red faces, but the whole thing’s being dealt with as a massive mistake. So that’s worked out well.’ Avery chuckled. ‘Right, I’ll tell the girls that they should be able to speak to their folks later tonight.’ Avery turned to Ed. ‘Any luck hacking into the bank floor plans?’

‘Yes,’ Ed said.

I nudged his leg, trying to shut him up.

‘Er . . . that is, I’m getting there,’ Ed went on, his face colouring. ‘I just need a bit more time.’

Avery nodded. ‘Well, we’ll need a couple of days to plan the attack on the bank. Going in on a Sunday is probably the best bet. Obviously, I’ll come with you as far as I can.’ He went outside.

As he disappeared from view, heading for the pool area, I turned to Ed.

‘No way was he talking to Fergus just now,’ I said.

Ed gulped. ‘I know. He was
definitely
hiding something.’

‘Well, whatever he’s really doing it’s about a lot more than getting the evidence on Geri from McMurdo’s safety deposit box.’

‘So what do we do now?’ Ed asked anxiously.

I met his gaze, my own thoughts firming as I spoke them.

‘We get the girls, break into the bank and take the safety deposit box right now,’ I said.

Ed’s eyes widened. ‘But it’s not even night-time.’

‘We can’t afford to wait,’ I said. ‘We have to find some way of fooling Avery and getting to that bank before he knows what we’re doing. Otherwise, we could be walking into a trap.’

‘But
how?’

‘We use Cal,’ I said. ‘We say we want to try flying as a group . . . test it out . . . and we get him to fly us as close to Sydney as he can. Then we dump him and head for the bank.’

‘Why not tell him what we’re planning?’ asked Ed.

‘Because if Avery’s working against us, then you can bet Cal is, too. Have you seen the way he looks at me?’

Ed nodded. ‘He is a bit hostile to you, but then you’re a bit hostile to h—’

‘You need to contact Ketty and Dylan telepathically,’ I interrupted. ‘Get them out of that pool and ready to leave while I work out how we’re going to break into this bank in broad daylight.’

‘I’m sure we can tell Cal what we’re planning,’ Ketty said. ‘We don’t have to say we suspect Avery, just that we want to get on with finding the evidence against Geri.’

‘No,’ I said.

‘But I don’t like lying, especially to Cal.’

Great.

‘We can’t risk it,’ I snapped. ‘Can’t you see that?’

Ketty shook her head.

We were waiting for Cal at the gates of the ranch. Dylan and Ketty had accepted that Avery was working behind our backs though, I suspected, more because Ed was saying so than because I was. They’d also both agreed we needed to set off to retrieve the evidence on Geri straight away.

However, neither of them wanted to leave Cal out of the expedition. Dylan’s argument was that he’d be useful at the bank. Ketty, on the other hand, seemed more concerned that he’d be upset if we deceived him. Why did she care so much about his feelings?

I looked out at the dusty landscape beyond the ranch. The sun was bright in the sky and the distant outline of the city shimmered in the distance. The blue hills rose up beyond. I still couldn’t take in how big everything was.

‘We’ll be fine without Cal,’ I said. ‘I mean, we haven’t got Amy who’d probably be more useful in terms of getting into the bank and nobody’s complaining about that.’

Ketty set her mouth in that grim line I knew so well and turned her face away.

Man, now what had I said?

A minute later Cal joined us.

‘So you just want to try flying together?’ he said with a frown.

‘Yes,’ I lied.

‘Cool,’ Cal said. ‘Though I’ve never taken four people up at once.’

‘If it’s too many, I’m happy to find another way,’ Ed said quickly.

I glared at him.

‘Nah, should be fine,’ Cal said. ‘Especially if we’re just gonna have a look round the area.’ He hesitated. ‘You know we’ll have to stay real low in the trees when we get nearer the city. Dad’ll kill me if anyone sees us.’

‘Well, we wouldn’t want you getting in trouble with
Daddy
,’ I said. ‘Can we get going?’

Cal threw me a contemptuous glance. ‘If we rush, we’ll make mistakes.’

It was the kind of thing Ed would say and sounded as pompous as he often did.

‘Fine,’ I said sarcastically. ‘Please take your time.’

The atmosphere tensed. Cal looked at Ketty.

‘What should we do first?’ she said.

‘Join hands.’ Cal organised us so that the two girls were standing on either side of him with me next to Ketty and Ed on Dylan’s other side.

‘Now I’m not gonna do any acrobatics in the air, so just hold on tight and keep your body as still as you can.’

‘Oh,’ Ed said, the colour draining from his face. ‘Do I really have to do this?’

‘Oh yeah, Chino Boy,’ Dylan said with a grin. ‘You’ll be awesome.’

‘Everyone needs to follow my lead and do what I say, okay?’ Cal said.

He was quite clearly directing those words at me.

‘Whatever,’ I replied grudgingly.

‘Everybody holding on?’ asked Cal.

We all nodded our assent. I gripped Ketty’s hand tightly. I suddenly realised that I was about to fly. Adrenalin surged through me. But before I had time to think about how exciting it was, my feet had left the ground.

14: Flight

My stomach seemed to fall away as we soared up . . . up . . . into the air. For a few seconds, I was filled with terror, gripping Ketty’s hand as hard as I could. My mouth was open, but I was too traumatised to scream. And then I felt it . . . the flow of energy through Ketty’s arm . . . coming from Cal. It was holding us in the air, like we were on a surfboard riding the crest of a wave, or in a roller-coaster just before the deepest plunge.

I kept my feet together. Wind whistled past. I looked down. Already, the ranch looked like a toy building.

This was, without doubt, the most exhilarating thing I’d ever done – the total definition of freedom. The ground raced by beneath me, the wind whooshing in my ears. We rose and fell a fraction.

‘Isn’t it amazing!’ Ketty yelled over the noise of the rushing wind.

I stared at her. No wonder she loved this. I gazed past her at Cal. He was clearly working hard to steer us. All his movements were precise and controlled, yet he moved with effortless grace . . . his face utterly focused.

A stab of envy pierced me. I’d always thought I had the best Medusa gift – telekinesis – but, at that moment, I would have given anything to be able to do what Cal could do . . . to be the one making Ketty’s eyes shine.

But it was him.

On his other side, Dylan looked like she was whooping with pleasure, though I couldn’t hear anything over the noise of the wind rushing past my ears. Beside her, Ed’s mouth was open in a scream – though whether one of terror or delight I couldn’t tell.

Cal dropped lower and I had that delicious, theme-park-ride experience of leaving my stomach several metres above me as I fell. I grinned. It was impossible not to, as we rose and dipped again. Cal steered us to the left, away from a long stretch of road and into a huge wood. He flew us through the trees until they became too densely packed for us to pass safely, then he landed.

We came in slowly, but even so I stumbled as I touched the ground again. Ketty, landing gracefully beside me, tugged at my hand to stop me from falling over completely.

I turned to her. ‘Wow,’ I said.

Ketty flung her arms round me. ‘I knew you’d love it,’ she said breathlessly, drawing back to look me in the eyes. Her face was lit up, her natural prettiness heightened by the pink flush in her cheeks. ‘Isn’t it the coolest thing?’

For a second, all I could see was her excited expression, then I got a sense of the others around us in the cool shade of the trees. Ed was sitting on a tree stump, his face a nasty shade of green. Dylan was bent over, talking to him. But Cal was watching me and Ketty. He’d heard her question and was waiting for my answer.

I raised my voice slightly to make sure he heard.

‘Flying was okay,’ I said, ‘but I’ve been on cooler rides at millions of theme parks.’

Ketty flinched as if I’d hit her. She jumped back, away from me, a hurt look in her eyes.

I looked again at Cal. He was breathing heavily, his face glistening with sweat. He shrugged.

‘That was hard work,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry you didn’t like it.’