Dire Straits by Helen Harper Page A

many Families are there?’ he asked. ‘I’ve got the Medicis, Montserrat, Stuart and Bancroft.’
    For a moment, I was so taken aback I couldn’t think. ‘Er…’ I stuttered. ‘There are five.’
    He snapped his fingers. ‘Gully!’ His hands flew over the keys and he started to mutter to himself. ‘Damn. The Montserrat system is well defended.’
    I blinked rapidly. ‘Are you hacking into the Families’ computers?’
    ‘Yeah. Cool, huh? Those bloodguzzlers should learn a bit more about the modern age and protect themselves. The Stuart firewall is a piece of shit.’
    ‘ Don’t swear,’ I said automatically, realising I still didn’t know his name, ‘I’m not sure this a good idea. If they find out…’
    ‘Relax, lady. I’ve covered my tracks.’
    I bristled slightly at being called ‘lady’ by a kid. ‘You shouldn’t mess with the vampires,’ I said sternly. ‘Even though you’re young, they’ll still be pissed off when they find you.’
    He spun on his heel and faced me, then reached behind without looking and pressed a single key, all the while grinning and sticking out his tongue. ‘Too late!’ he sang out.
    ‘What? What do you mean too late?’
    ‘The Families have each just emailed the police in order to help them with their enquiries. They’ve never recruited anyone under the age of twenty-one. They have nothing to do with the abduction of Alice Goldman. Anyone who suggests otherwise, even by implication, will meet their wrath.’
    My jaw dropped.
    His grin widened. ‘I like that word wrath . I used it in a story in school last week. The teacher almost wet her knickers in delight.’
    ‘The vampires don’t involve themselves in human matters. They’d never contact the police.’
    ‘Except they just did.’
    In a corner of the garage, a small red light began to flash and an alarm sounded. I leapt up out of my chair, half expecting a crew of vampires to burst in. The kid just scowled. ‘Mum and Dad are home. You’d better go.’
    ‘Um…’
    He threw me a tiny piece of card. It was shiny and gold with ROGU3 embossed on it. ‘These are my details. Like I said, Alice was my friend so this is a freebie. If you need me again, though, and you’re willing to pay, then I can help you out in the future.’ He looked wistfully at the now-darkened computer screens. ‘There’s a lot of more up-to-date equipment I’d like to get.’
    I stared down at the card then back at him.
    ‘Rogu3?’
    He looked at me as if as I had about three brain cells to rub together. ‘It’s not Rogu-three. It’s Rogue. Now, I really have to go. They don’t like it when I spend too much time in here.’
    Feeling as if I’d just been sneered at by a teacher, I watched as he pulled up the garage door. He shoved me out, leaving me on his driveway, blinking against the sunshine and wondering whether I’d imagined the whole thing. Had I just entered some strange eleven-year-old’s twilight zone? But Rogu3 was true to his word. Less than two hours later, I received a call from my boss telling me to stand down. They had, he informed me, received an unprecedented warning from all the Families and decided it would be safer to pay the Goldmans rather than risk angering the vampires.
    I quit the firm a couple of days later, but continued to keep in touch with Rogu3. It would probably be easy to find out his real name – after all I know exactly where he lives – but somehow I feel that would be a betrayal. He’s proven to be more than his weight in gold over the last few years, although he has a good enough grasp of just how much his services are worth. In fact, he’s become one of the top-grade hackers in the country. I think it helps that he has very little ego. He’s not interested in leaving his virtual calling card to let people know he’s been in and out of their private lives. He just takes what he needs. And no, the vampires never did catch up with him.
    That’s why I contacted him about a safe