Devil You Know by Cathy MacPhail Read Free Book Online

we had been clever and smart and I didn’t want the feeling to end.
    That night, for the first time, I really felt like one of the gang. Claude slapping me on the back, thanking me. Gary grinning at me. A grin that said I’d done good. I had a feeling of belonging I had never had before.

Fourteen
    We kept running through alleys and underpasses, leaping from walls, seeing how high we could jump, still talking about the chase. We were all totally hyper.
    We stumbled across a long line of cars parked outside some houses. All expensive-looking Mercs and BMWs and even a red Porsche. “Look at all these cars,” Baz said. “Bet some of them are unlocked.”
    Gary agreed. “My dad says people always leave cars unlocked. You wouldn’t believe how many.”
    Baz turned to him and laughed. “That how he gets all his cheap stuff, Gary, eh? Nicks it out of unlocked cars, does he?”
    Gary’s smile disappeared in an instant. He would have flown at Baz, but Mickey held him back. “Hey, that’s a bit much, pal,” he said to Baz.
    Baz knew he had said the wrong thing. He held up his hands. “Sorry, sorry, I open my big mouth and my foot flies right in.”
    He grinned at Gary, and finally Gary grinned back. I was so glad that, for once, Baz had apologised. This wonderful mood we had was too good to lose.
    Mickey took a step closer to the Porsche. “Hey look at the trim in this one. It’s real class.” Claude came up beside him, and leaned against the car. All hell broke loose: the alarm began to sound, ricocheting around the street. Suddenly, a window was flung open, someone shouted, “What do you think you’re playing at!”
    And then a front door was pulled wide. A man came running out. Then another, then three. Hard men, and they were angry.
    Gary held up his hands. “We were just looking!” he yelled.
    “I’m not waiting to explain,” Claude said.
    Baz was off first. “Let’s go!” he shouted. And we were right behind him.
    And yet we were still laughing as we ran. It only added to our mood. We almost flew round corners, up flights of stairs, raced across streets, threw ourselves over walls, as if they were still on our tail, though they had given up the chase long ago.
     
    So many areas here were just waste ground, with weeds springing up through cracks in the old pavements. Buildings demolished, waiting for new houses to be built in their place. There was not a soul to be seen. We were maybe only fifteen minutes from home, yet it was so deserted and silent, it felt like a million miles. It felt like another world. We were heading towards blocks that were still standing, but they all looked derelict and empty. The night was growing darker, heavy clouds covered the setting sun, the wind whipped up litter and leaves.
    “Let’s get out of here,” Claude said. “This place is creepy. You could make a great horror movie here.” He screwed his face up, trying to look scary. “You know – something coming out of these empty buildings, or something inside them… watching us…”
    “Is that your horror face, Claude?” Baz shouted. “Wouldn’t have known the difference.”
    Claude began running backwards, arms outstretched, face in horror mode, roaring at us.
    He was so busy pretending to be some kind of monster that he back-stepped round a corner and fell over someone crouched on the ground. The guy fell back, so did Claude, and we were all running so fast behind him that we tumbled on top of both of them.
    Claude jumped to his feet. “Sorry Mr—”
    The guy lay back on the ground, looked up at us and grinned. One of his front teeth was missing and he had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. “Just come at the right time, boys. Need a hand here.” He scrambled to hisfeet. “I’m trying to lift this.” It was a roller-shutter door into what looked like an empty warehouse. “I think it’s stuck.”
    Baz was the first one to step forward to help. He crouched beside the guy and tried to lift the door. It was