Hunted by Sophie McKenzie Read Free Book Online

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    As I thought this, there was a sound in the corridor. A tiny creak.
    A footstep.
    I froze, ducking back behind the nearest cabinet.
    A bead of sweat trickled down the back of my neck. Holding my breath, I summoned my energy force field. I switched off the flashlight and the room was plunged into darkness.
    Another footstep outside. Who was it? The police? Surely they’d have come in mob-handed with lights and noise?
    Another footstep. I looked round. The edge of the cabinet wasn’t big enough to hide me fully. But, short of moving the furniture, there was nowhere else to hide.
    Suddenly a light was shining in my eyes. I dropped to the ground, but the light followed me.
    Heart pounding, I rolled away from it, snaking across the floor. I reached the only table and rose to a crouch.
    The light moved away, illuminating the filing cabinet I’d prised open and the files on the floor. Someone was standing by the door, holding a flashlight. A boy in a hoodie. Tall, slim . . . From the little I could see of him, he didn’t look much older than I was.
    ‘You’ve made a right mess in here, Dylan,’ he said.
    I gasped. How did he know my name?
    ‘You might as well stop pretending that table is hiding you,’ the boy went on. ‘Oh, and the police are on their way here – so you might want to think about leaving as well.’
    I straightened up. ‘Who are you?’ I said.
    ‘Cool accent.’ I could hear the grin in the boy’s voice, though his face was in shadow. ‘I’m Harry. And I’ve got all the answers you need. But shall we leave full explanations for later? As I just told you, the police are on their way.’
    As if to underline his point, the squeal of a police siren sounded in the distance.
    Panic filled me. I raced to the door and turned left, intending to run along the corridor and climb back out the window I’d broken through earlier. Harry caught my arm.
    ‘Not that way,’ he hissed. ‘The police will see you. Follow me.’
    He set off in the opposite direction. I hesitated for a moment. Outside I could hear a police radio crackle into life. Two voices spoke in low murmurs.
    What choice did I have?
    I turned and followed Harry.

 
7: Harry
    Harry led me to the end of the corridor, then up some stairs to the ground floor. The building was empty and dark. We could hear the police officers in the basement below, stomping around. One of them was speaking into his radio mic, though I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying.
    ‘Shouldn’t we be trying to leave?’ I whispered. ‘Those guys are gonna call for back-up.’
    ‘Don’t talk. Move,’ Harry ordered.
    Torn between anxiety about getting caught and irritation at being ordered about, I bit my lip and kept walking. Harry led me up another flight of stairs to the first floor.
    ‘Where are we going?’ I hissed.
    Harry stopped at the fire door at the end of the first-floor corridor. He stood for a second, listening for sounds downstairs. The policemen sounded more distant now, which presumably meant they were still in the basement. Harry pressed the fire-door bar down, then stood back.
    ‘Ladies first,’ he said. ‘But hurry.’
    ‘You are seriously winding me up,’ I muttered, scurrying through the door.
    Harry chuckled as he followed me out onto the landing of a fire escape. The stairs led down to the ground floor. Harry pointed to a fence just below us on the left, with a dark alley on the other side.
    ‘Can you make that jump?’ he said, a slight mocking note to his voice.
    ‘Can you?’ I was over the fire escape and into the alley in an instant, landing lightly on the balls of my feet.
    Harry thudded to the ground beside me a moment later.
    ‘Cool jumping,’ he said.
    ‘Thanks.’
    ‘I meant me, Red,’ Harry said, with another chuckle.
    Red? Was that a reference to my hair?
    Before I could say anything, he’d sped off again, only slowing as we reached the main road. I peered past him, round the wall. The police car, lights