"Alright, young miss?" the thief asked.
Linua swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.
"Looks like you're having a bit o' car trouble, right?"
Linua said nothing.
He nodded, as if she had replied, and looked around.
"Bit of a deserted place this, right? Radio dead zone, innit?" He grinned again. "I'm sure your driver'll be back soon." He swung his leg over the seat of the moped. "How about we have a little chat in the meantime, eh?"
Linua licked her lips.
"I don't want to talk to you."
The thief laughed.
"Don't wanna talk to me she says? Well, missy, it so happens I wanna talk to you. How about you open that door?"
Linua shook her head.
"What, a mitani girl like you is afraid o' little old me?"
"I'm not a mitani," Linua said, annoyed.
"Come on, sweetie, I'm not gonna hurt you. Just wanna talk."
"You can talk through the car door." The window was still open a crack, enough for her to hear him clearly.
"Alright, alright, have it your way." The thief leant forward to peer at her. "So, when did you last talk to your friend? Whatisname, now? Emet? Evet? Summat like that?"
"Eret," Linua whispered. Her heart thumped uncomfortably. The thief slapped his thigh.
"Eret! That's the one! Lives in a nice little semi-detached on Morton Row, don't he? With a nice green door and a front garden and a dog. Right?"
Linua didn't know any of those details. The fact the thief did was ominous.
"I've never been to his house," she said.
Her voice wasn't working properly, and the thief leaned forward even further, saying mockingly: "What was that, I didn't hear you, miss?"
She cleared her throat and repeated it.
"Alright," the thief said. He eyed her, sitting there in the car, and nodded to himself. "Well, it's like this. The man I work for ain't a nice man. He ain't a patient man neither. In fact, you might say he's a ruthless son of a bitch. Pardon my language, missy. The point being is that he's killed people before, and he ain't gonna stop at doing in a school kid."
Linua was breathing quick, shallow breaths. Was the thief's boss threatening to kill Eret?
"Now, me," the thief continued. "I ain't a violent man. I don't hold with no kidnapping or nothing like that. Problem is, right, I ain't in charge. Boss man is."
The thief scratched his chin.
"And the boss man, sweetie, he got your friend. Took him this morning when the lad was walking the dog." He looked carefully at Linua to see what effect his words were having and nodded sharply. "And if you want to see your friend again alive, you'll turn the storage stick over to me. You found it didn't you?"
The world, so rosy and optimistic twelve hours previously, had suddenly turned into a nightmare.
"I don't have it," Linua said breathlessly.
Eret had had it last, she knew. If he had really been kidnapped why hadn't he told his kidnappers where the stick was? Maybe he hadn't been kidnapped and this was all a trick. Could she go to Eret's house and find out? But she didn't know where he lived. She needed to log into the bulletin board and find out. Pickle always seemed to have a way to answer it immediately. He would know how to find out if Eret had been kidnapped. He might even know where the storage stick was.
But then a new problem presented itself—how could she even log into the bulletin board? If she went back to the house, Grandmother would wonder what she was doing, and how could Linua explain? No, Linua realised—she shouldn't waste time trying to log into the bulletin board. This was serious. She would need to tell Grandmother everything.
The moment she had that realisation, it followed immediately by overwhelming relief. Grandmother would know what to do. She would know how to find out whether Eret had really been kidnapped or not. She would be able to call the police, and the police would rescue Eret. Then everything would be okay.
"You might be thinking you should call the police," the thief said pleasantly, watching her face. "I don't recommend that. You call the police, an' your friend…" he ran a thumb across his throat, and Linua felt herself break out in cold shivers. "The man I work for don't like police. Your only option now is to tell me where that stick is."
Hope dimmed and receded. She couldn't tell Grandmother. No-one could call the police. The police wouldn't be able to rescue Emet.
Linua licked her lips again.
"But I don't know where it is," she said. It came out in a hoarse whisper.
"Eh?" The thief cupped his hand around his ear.
"I said, I don't know where the storage stick is," Linua said again, more loudly.
"Well, missy, I'm afraid I don't believe you. Work with me here, okay? I'm trying to help you and your little friends."
Linua was back to her original idea—get onto the bulletin board and message Pickle to see who had the storage stick. But if she wasn't allowed to tell Grandmother or call the police, then she couldn't think of any excuse for going back home instead of going to the Castle, or for suddenly wanting to use Grandmother's computer. Grandmother would probably be in the library at home herself about now. Library … Linua suddenly remembered seeing the row of computers at the city library.
If she went to the city library maybe she could contact the others.
To the thief, she said: "I need to speak to the others in the Astronomy Club."
"And where might they be?"
"They'll be at school. But," she realised, "I don't know which school they go to."
The thief raised his eyebrows.
"They go to Varena Field Comprehensive."
It was scary to think that the thief knew that when Linua didn't.
"I'll tell the driver to go there and I'll speak to them."
The thief shook his head.
"Well, if that's all you're gonna do, I don't need you, do I? I can do that myself."
With that he swung his leg over his moped, but then sat there, hesitating. After a moment he leaned over to Linua.
"Look, you forget about all this now, sweetie. You don't got the storage stick, not your concern any more. You leave this to me, I'll get that storage stick from the school, I'll do what I can to get your friend back safe, okay?"
He gave her a decisive nod, then sped off, leaving Linua sitting in the car, sick and afraid.
By the time the driver returned, lugging the newly recharged secondary battery, Linua was a shivering mess of nerves. It took everything she had to ask him, in a reasonably steady voice, if he could take her to the Herkow Central Library for the day. She had her excuse prepared—she would pretend she had forgotten she needed to return a library book. You got fines if you didn't return library books, didn't you?
But to her amazement the driver just accepted the change in destination with a nod, and they set off. The secondary battery was only big enough to get them to the service station, after which there was another delay while they charged the main battery. Linua sat with her hands clenched into fists the whole time, and it was only when they set off again that she realised she had dug little half-moon circles into her palms with her nails.
The moment the car slowed next to the library, she was out and running up the steps, forgetting even to say thank you to the driver.
She wasn't the only student in the library, she realised. It made her feel safer and more anonymous. She went straight to the row of computers and switched one on, feeling light-headed and breathless and sick. When she came to type in the address for the bulletin board, she realised her hands were shaking.
The computer clock said that it was nearly 8.30am. She was supposed to have arrived at Castle Yi half an hour ago.
The bulletin board loaded. Linua logged in and posted a message.
The thief from the Observatory stopped my car this morning he said Eret has been kidnapped he wants the storage stick.
No reply.
Is anyone there
Still no reply.
Who has it I thought Eret had it
There was a ping as a reply came from Pickle.
ive got it
Linua slumped in relief. Now she and Pickle needed to work out how to get the storage stick to the thief. Wait, no. She should check to see if Eret really had been kidnapped. Maybe this was all just some big trick, and Eret was sitting in a classroom, perfectly safe.
Is Eret at school? Does anyone know where he is?
not seen him today . i'm at school in the computer room . i'll call his house.
After a few minutes, Pickle posted again.
anith says he took the dog out for a walk and she thought he went to school after that she was annoyed with him because he left dog in garden with lead still on and didn't feed her anith had to do it and shes late for school now shes on her way but i didn't tell her yet
Linua read through the garbled message. Eret hadn't returned from his dog walk. He hadn't taken the lead off the dog, or fed her. He must have been snatched right outside the garden gate or something, leaving the dog in the garden.
Pickle posted again.
who kidnapped him ???
It was the man the thief is working for. The thief said he's really dangerous and he might kill Eret if we don't hand the storage stick over!!! The thief is going to your school now.
we need to have astroclub meeting can you come here will you be missed ?
Someone at the Castle would call her Grandmother if she didn't turn up. But that didn't seem important any more.
Yes, they're expecting me at the castle but is that a priority?
can you email them from your gran's email and tell them you are sick
Yes, she could do that. Wait, no, she didn't know who to email at the Castle, or what email address to use. Or even if they used email at all.
I don't know the email address for the castle.
The reply came back within seconds, with an email address.
How did you do that?
i looked it up , there is a directory of public contacts for the city that was for the castle . when you've done that come to the school
Where is the school?
it's on varena street , next to the downtown bus station . if you come in the east gate and go across the green by the big oak tree and the picnic tables there is a side door come in there and go down the stairs , then left , then along the corridor and there is a computer room we ll have our meeting there
Pickle sounded so calm and on top of things. He was a year younger than Linua, but he seemed to be taking this situation in his stride. He'd thought of things Linua hadn't, like making sure she wasn't missed. She imagined him crouching over the computer, calmly retrieving the castle email and giving Linua instructions with one hand while summoning the rest of the Astronomy Club with the other.
If Pickle could do this, so could she.
I'll email the castle now, I'm on my way.