Grey Wolves by Robert Muchamore Read Free Book Online

gate, you homosexual!’ he demanded in German. ‘Hear you got back to barracks late last night. Hear you’re getting busted on a charge, super-brain.’
    ‘Who says?’ the guard shouted bitterly.
    ‘You’ll get cesspit duty,’ the driver teased. ‘Elbow deep in shit, and a smell that doesn’t wash off.’
    ‘I’ll probably meet your mother down there,’ the guard yelled, as he raised the striped wooden gate.
    ‘Happy shovelling!’ the driver shouted, as he gunned the engine, leaving guard and queue choking in exhaust fumes.
    The guard was steaming. Henderson feared his wrath, but the young face told a different story. This German wanted to be home eating his mum’s cooking and hanging out with his mates. He shoved the papers back in Henderson’s face and waved him off, hardly able to speak. Henderson sighed with relief, but his paperwork wasn’t up to scratch and the Germans might stop him again.
    *
    It was tough to breathe, tough to see through the coal dust. Marc’s ankle hurt as he charged behind Edith. A German had blocked the easy exit through the hole, but Edith knew another way. They raced over the base of coal heaps with the huge dockside wall skimming past. Fat Adolf was in his fifties, heavy and slow, but the other officer was younger and gaining fast.
    Edith was aiming for a chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire to make Marc’s life even more perfect. He was older, stronger, and could have outrun Edith, but only she knew the way to their rendezvous with Henderson and the fishermen at Kerneval.
    ‘Gotcha!’ a big German shouted.
    Coal crunched noisily underfoot, so they hadn’t heard the third German running on the other side of the coal heaps near the water’s edge. Edith was skin and bone beneath her baggy trousers and the German plucked her up one-handed, then slammed her brutally into the wall.
    Marc spun and gave the German an almighty boot in the balls. Edith’s eyes rolled about in her head as the German crumpled in agony. The German who’d been chasing was now right behind. Marc launched a roundhouse kick, but his injured ankle was weak and his foot twisted in the shifting coal. The German grabbed Marc’s flying leg and twisted it painfully as the boy crashed down on his back.
    Edith soon had a sleeve clamped around her neck. The man Marc had kicked in the balls took pleasure in wrenching his arm painfully behind his back. Breathless and limping, Fat Adolf stumbled through the black dust clutching his chest. It wasn’t his real name, just what the kids called him because of his bulk and Hitleresque moustache.
    ‘How many times?’ Adolf shouted, getting right in Edith’s face, but sounding more frustrated than angry.
    Edith was dazed from being slammed into the wall, but she managed to turn on the charm for an old adversary. ‘Got any chocolate for me today, boss?’ she asked.
    ‘You don’t understand the grief I’m getting over you kids,’ Fat Adolf shouted. ‘Important men go over the other side and inspect the new bunkers. They see kids running around over here and I get it in the neck. How many times have I caught you here now? Eight, nine?’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Edith said, as she rubbed the back of her head and felt blood. ‘If you let me go, I swear it’ll be the last time.’
    ‘I’ve got new orders,’ Fat Adolf said. ‘Hands against the wall, legs wide apart.’
    Edith did what she was told, but one of the younger Germans kicked her legs further to put her in a stress position. Then he pulled a long, wooden nightstick, swung hard and smashed her in the ribs.
    Edith squeezed up her face, and tried hard not to moan. A second blow hit her across the back of her legs, knocking her down on her knees.
    ‘You like that, little boy?’ the big German said, grinning sadistically at Marc. ‘Plenty more coming.’
    The next blow hit Edith across the shoulder and knocked her flat. The German planted his boot on her back and hit her across the thigh. She’d been