Devil You Know by Cathy MacPhail Read Free Book Online Page B

floor behind him.
    Gary pulled at my arm. “We should just go,” he said again. “I’ve heard of this guy. He’s real trouble.”
    Why didn’t we listen to him?
    “Hey, we’ve had a really good night,” Baz said. “We tricked the Young Bow, Gary. I might have come up with the idea, but you were the brains behind the rest. Don’t tell me you’re scared to go inside an old derelict warehouse. You’re not, I know you’re not, Gary.” He pointed right at him. “You’re scared of nothing.”
    He threw his words at him. It was a compliment, and it was a challenge too. I thought that was clever of Baz. It wouldn’t have worked if he’d called Gary a coward, if he’d said he was too afraid to go inside. But to praise him, tell him he was scared of nothing – that was smart. And it worked.
    Gary stood tall. “That’s me. Your actual hero!” And with a whoop, he leapt inside, punching the air.
    Me and Baz were the last ones in. Baz was usually first and I suppose I held back to go in beside him.
    The warehouse was like a Tardis, it seemed so much bigger on the inside. It certainly wasn’t empty. There were rolls of carpets and rugs piled up on the floor, and aisles of carpets all around, standing upright, like soldiers at attention.
    “It’s a carpet warehouse,” Mickey said, disappointed.
    Baz whipped out a rug lying in a pile. He flung it open. “You could pick up a nice wee something for your mammy,” he said.
    “Who does this place belong to?” I asked.
    “Who cares?” Al Butler’s voice came from somewhere between the carpets. I could hear him, but I couldn’t see him.
    “What do you mean?”
    We must have all looked foolish then. His head popped up above a pile of rugs.
    “Do you own this place?” Claude asked.
    Al Butler didn’t answer him. Instead he went again to the front door. “Here, help me get the shutters doon again. Don’t want anybody spying on us.”
    Now was our chance to go. Why didn’t we? But we didn’t. Baz even helped him pull the shutters down.
    I expected us to be plunged into darkness, but instead some kind of emergency lighting came on, and we were all bathed in an eerie red glow. It gave everything a surreal feel, as if we were caught up in some kind of weird dream. That’s exactly how I felt. As if I was caught up in something unreal.
    Mickey began walking around like a zombie, and in the dim red light he managed to look pretty scary. Claude immediately joined in. It was hard not to laugh at them. “No make-up required!” Gary said. And then it seemed we were all laughing, that nervous way, you know, when you’re in a situation you’ve never been in before, and you don’t know whether it’s funny or serious. We all began walking about like zombies then.
    We hardly noticed Al Butler, though I was vaguely aware he had gone into a room at the back. It sounded as if he was pulling out drawers, throwing things on the floor, not caring if anyone heard him – and how would they? There was no one anywhere nearby.
    A few moments later he came swaggering down the aisle of carpet witha smug smile on his face. “Not bad, not bad,” he was saying. He patted his pockets: they were bulging now. “Nice wee stash here,” and he held up a wad of notes. “I always know where to look.” He had a box in his other hand. “You can’t leave empty-handed, boys. One good turn deserves another.” He threw the box at Baz. “Here!”
    Baz caught it deftly. “Hey, thanks.” He actually said thanks! It was filled with Xbox games and Baz took them out and shoved them into my hands. “Stuff them in your pockets, we can sell them – come on. Who’s going to miss them?”
    I looked at Gary. He was shaking his head. And I knew he was right. We should just get out of here. I wanted to drop the games from my hand, but I felt as if they were glued there.
    Everything seemed to be moving out of control. I began to be really afraid, and I couldn’t think why.
Let’s get out of