Hit Squad by Sophie McKenzie Page A

ride,’ I said.
    Nico looked up. ‘Where to?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said, looking along the deserted road. ‘We just need to get away from here. Then we’ll figure the rest out.’
    Nico nodded. ‘Thanks, Ed.’
    I stood, waiting for another car to pass. There was no sign of any traffic at all. I felt jittery. We had to get out of here as soon as possible.
    As I waited, my mind went back to Ketty. Why hadn’t I been able to reach her? I tried again, but her whole consciousness was still in darkness. Feeling troubled, I attempted to reach
Dylan. Never my first choice for remote telepathy, thanks to her being so prickly, but at least she might know what was going on.
    Dylan? I knew something was wrong as soon as I made contact. Whereas Ketty’s mind had been dark and still, Dylan’s was uncharacteristically chaotic. Normally her mind is
highly controlled. Dylan doesn’t like letting people in close . . . or showing that she’s vulnerable. But right now her thoughts and feelings were tumbling over each other, completely
hysterical.
    Dylan?
    Oh, Ed. Dylan’s thought-speech sounded almost tearful.
    I tensed. This was really unlike her. I was itching to dive in and try and work out what she was thinking. I could sense Ketty was a big part of it. But mind-reading without permission is
unethical. I try not to do it unless I have to.
    What’s happened? I thought-spoke
    Ed, I’m so sorry . . .
    Was she crying ? I’d never been inside someone’s head while they were weeping before. It was like waves of misery washing over all Dylan’s thoughts – drowning some
. . . bringing others to the surface . . .
    A thousand tiny hurts and losses, all bobbing about like debris from a shipwreck. And then the central thought – the heart of her misery – whirled up from the chaos and I saw exactly
what was making Dylan cry.
    Ketty didn’t make it.
    What do you mean? I thought-spoke. Panic rose inside me. Where is she?
    I could feel the sobs racking Dylan from the depths of her being.
    We tried to escape by swimming under a fence, into the lake. Cal and I made it out with Tania, but Ketty got trapped. Cal went back to try and rescue her but she was unconscious and he
couldn’t move her and the guards were swimming towards them so he . . . he had to swim away.
    I couldn’t take it in. What was she saying?
    We got to the shore , Dylan went on. We’re hiding out in this little farmhouse on the other side of the lake. But . . . but not Ketty . . . she’s . . . gone . . . in the
water . . .
    I was still too stunned to formulate a single coherent thought.
    Ed . . . where are you? Are you all right? What about Nico?
    Dylan’s questions brought me back to the present. I suddenly realised another car had almost reached us. Nico was still lolling against his tree trunk, eyes closed. I looked up, my head
still spinning with Dylan’s news.
    And then the car stopped. The door opened. In that instant I realised it was Jack’s car and the man leaping out was Knife Man. Too late, I turned away. But Knife Man was already lunging
after me, Medutox spray in his outstretched hand.
    I felt the fine mist clutch at the back of my throat. The connection with Dylan was gone.
    In that moment what she’d told me sank in.
    Ketty was dead. That was why I’d only felt darkness in her mind when I tried to contact her remotely. She had drowned in the lake. Alone.
    I fell to my knees, overcome with terrible, consuming loss. I was moaning, barely aware when Jack rushed up and grabbed my arms, pinning my wrists behind me. Who cared what happened now?
    My best friend in all the world was dead.
    Jack shouted at me for about two minutes solid. I didn’t take in a word of it. At last he stopped and let Knife Man drag Nico and me up to our feet. As we were bundled into the back of the
car, Nico turned to me.
    ‘What’s going on?’ he said, clearly forcing himself to speak through his drugged state.
    I stared at him.
    ‘It’s Ketty,’