Toxic Treacle by Echo Freer Read Free Book Online Page B

impatiently, lifting the trays and stacking them on top of one another at one side. Monkey picked up one of the boxes of burgers and shook it. It was empty; a shell. So was the box of chicken pieces - and the fish fillets.
    â€˜Dummies,’ Angel said quietly. ‘Now get in.’
    â€˜We can’t hide in here.’ He was alarmed. ‘We’ll suffocate.’
    Angel shrugged. ‘Well, someone’s been hiding in here.’ She pointed to the interior of the freezer. Three of the sides were the metallic casing that Monkey would have expected. The fourth, the one that was up against the wall, had a large rectangle cut out so that the brickwork was showing through.
    They could hear footsteps above them, marching purposefully round the house instilling a sense of urgency in them. Carefully, without making a sound, Angel stepped into the huge freezer. She pulled the cord from the hood of her brother’s jacket and tied it round the lock of the lid, then crouched down and began pulling the trays of empty boxes back over her head. ‘Get in,’ she told him.
    Monkey followed. He slid two more trays of dummy food into place, leaving a space in the centre so that he could reach up and grab the cord that Angel had attached to the lid. It was a tricky manoeuvre. He had to pull the lid to the point where gravity would finish the job, then remove the cord from the lock, slip his arm down, push the final tray into place and wait for the lid to close itself - all in a matter of seconds; all in the pitch-dark of the cellar. As he pulled the last tray over his head and sank down next to Angel, he had a fleeting moment of satisfaction at how he had acquitted himself, before the freezer top crashed down so loudly, the whole road must have heard it!
    Monkey froze. He could feel his heart thumping against his rib cage and throbbing in his ears. His breathing seemed as loud as a loco in the silence of the freezer. He closed his eyes, waiting for the repercussions and swallowed hard, trying to steady the fear that was threatening to overwhelm him. He could feel Angel next to him, smell her. She smelt clean; of soap and shampoo. Wonderful! But what if Security had brought dogs with them? Crap! He hadn’t thought of that. He couldn’t bear it if they’d gone through all this just to be sniffed out. Angel’s hair was so close to his face, it brushed against his skin and her breath was warm against his cheek. God, he fancied her! If she didn’t choose him for breeding, he didn’t know what he’d do.
    He could hear the footsteps descend the stairs into the cellar through the hole that had been cut in the back of the freezer. He sensed Angel tense; holding her breath. Monkey did the same. In the all-encompassing blackness of the freezer, there was a shadow of grey at the back where the hole was. What if Security had thermal imaging? What if their body heat escaped through the hole and cast a bloom against the wall? What if it picked up their footprints on the cellar floor? What if one of them moved? Or sneezed? All these terrors ran through Monkey’s mind as the footsteps came to a halt at the bottom of the steps.
    He heard some shuffling and banging; obviously whoever was down there was going through the paintings.
    â€˜Nothing here,’ he heard one voice say; a male voice. ‘Must have been next door.’
    â€˜Maybe,’ a female replied. Then, ‘Wait! What’s that over there?’
    Monkey felt a looseness in his abdomen; a churning. He was going to crap himself. He squeezed his eyes even tighter, as though that could shut out his fear. He’d never felt so scared; not even when he was being chased by the hood. But it wasn’t fear for himself, it was for Angel. He’d got her into this. If he stuffed up now, he’d ruin her life forever.
    A diffused yellow light flashed across the brickwork at the back of the freezer. Monkey felt easier; they’d got