The Crucible

The Crucible

Part six of Changels Genesis

Copyright Peter King 2013-2016

All Rights Reserved. This work may not be copied or adapted in any way, for any purpose, without the express permission of the author. Peter King asserts the moral right to be known as the author of this work

Cover Image: Double Sides by Flickr user Darkday, with minor photoshopping. Creative Commons licence. Cover design by Peter King. Adapted by Peter King. Cover arch photograph is from the International Space Station and is copyright free courtesy of NASA. Cover design by Peter King. Interior design by Peter King

Interior maps are derived from Google Maps and are under Google copyright.

Edition 3

First Published 2013

Fiction

Changels Genesis and its constituent parts was produced by Peter King and is published by Peter King Publishing, in Wellington, New Zealand

For more information visit http://www.changels.info

Table Of Contents

SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS

THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Chapter Seventy Four: Discovered

Chapter Seventy Five: Emma's Surprise

Chapter Seventy Six: A Surprising Prisoner

Chapter Seventy Seven: Easter 2008

 Chapter Seventy Eight: Extracting Nathan

Chapter Seventy Nine: Interrogation

Chapter Eighty: Intervention in Elan

Chapter Eighty One: Murder

Chapter Eighty Two: Escalation

Chapter Eighty Three: Trapped

Chapter Eighty Four: The Cavalry

Chapter Eighty Five: Anticipation

Chapter Eighty Six: Petard

Chapter Eighty Seven: Under The Mountain

Chapter Eighty Eight: The Sun Shines

Chapter Eighty Nine: War Stories And Tears

Chapter Ninety: The Old Fox

FACT OR FICTION?

NOTES ON LANGUAGE

SNEAK PEAK AT CHANGELS NEMESIS (7)

SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS

The Crucible is the final part of Changels Genesis

Dialogue that originates telepathically is rendered in italics.

The transition between the narrator’s present (in the present tense) and past (in the past or perfect tense) is marked by an elipsis …centered on an empty line

When the location changes through teleportation (bending) there is a new line and a ‘[+]’ symbol.

Non-English words have been hyphenated on their first use to expose the syllabic structure and ease pronunciation. The exception is Karearea (falcon) which is always hyphentaed e.g.Ka-rea-rea. Maori words ending in the ‘e’ have been given a non-standard accent acute (e.g. Tané) for the same reason.

Translations Sam (the narrator) understands are parenthesised e.g kara-kia (prayer). Non-English words are hyphenated to aid pronuncuation.

Changels Genesis is fact based fiction. Facts have been indicated with a superscripted dagger symbol† There is a three page fact and fiction section at the end of this part of the story.

THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the advice and support of the Wellington chapter of the Romance Writers of New Zealand, in particular Kris Pearson.

Finally I must acknowledge my father, John, who assisted with some early proofing; my mother, Dell, for teaching me long ago the art of dispassionate editing; my sons (Lars, Torsten, Joshua and Oliver) who inspired me to write; and finally, my wife, Jenny, for her patience and support.

Quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Chapter Seventy Four: Discovered

"So Sam, you were right. That stuff with Khadiyeh it’s ... it’s ... Are you saying God’s on your side," Sue blurts out, disbelievingly.

We were still in her kitchen. Sue has been listening intently throughout. I think now that she had finally met Dr P and decided to join, she just wanted to get to the bottom of all the possible weirdness that might come her way with us.

Noooo way, I laugh.

She visibly relaxes with that. I can tell she finds it all a bit spooky. Not that we didn’t, but it makes her think we’re some kind of cult and that makes her nervous. She smiles because I laugh. I go on.

I mean, I don’t know what we … saw or whatever it was, I shake my head.  Hekator said the smaller your idea of the Universe, the quicker you are to call everything bigger than you’re used to ‘God’. I mean our galaxy has hundreds of billions of planets and it’s one of hundreds of billions of galaxies so the Universe is bigger than big. Whatever Khadiyeh’s friends are ... they’re millions of years old and their command of nature is way beyond anything we can even imagine. They really are just beyond our understanding. We call them Ophanim because that is the old Hebrew word for the most powerful angels like Ezekiel saw. We prefer that word because ‘archangel’ just sounds too weird, even to us, because we have no idea what they are really.

Sue nods, so I went on.

But, you know ... Khadiyeh ... she’s ... Well, I mean strange stuff happens around her. And sometimes she helps us and sometimes we help her. And sometimes we don’t agree. Why her? I have no idea and it’s not worth us worrying about. Tarik got really into it but in the end he couldn’t make sense of it either.

But what you thought you saw wasn’t God?

No. That was Jibreel, or Gabriel in English, or his spaceship or whatever the hell it was.

Sue thinks for a moment, So ... Nah ... You’re right. It’s too ... she shakes her head.

Exactly. Even for us it’s too... We just park it and deal with whatever Khadiyeh does when we have to.

OK, but who were the other guys? The ones from Tarim who could read you?

Yeah, they were a bit more interesting. Shall I go on? I ask.

Yeah, do.

…

The shock of surviving the cosmic weirdness of Jibreel only to find ourselves caught by the mysterious psychic Yemenis we had first met in Tarim was too much for me. I was ready to jump out of the truck back into the desert storm.

"It’s those guys from Tarim!" I called to Tahira who was in another truck. Scott, next to me, was looking from me to the man’s head not sure whether we should bale.

"Relax Sam! Calm Tahira! Khadiyeh said in our minds. She was in the same truck as Tahira. Jibreel has summoned them. They will do as he asked."

As if that meant something to me.

Why don’t you uncover your faces. You look like bandits, the mysterious young man in the mirror said to us in Arabic. His words were echoed by his powerful thoughts.

Too small for bandits Abu Qassim, the driver replied smiling, looking at me in the mirror for a second.

I wondered how he could drive at all in these conditions. All you could see was the red tail lights of the Land Cruiser a few meters in front as we wound among the dunes. It was the blind leading the blind.

"So do we lower our facescreens or not?" I asked wondering if it would be a security breach.

"Lower them," said Khadiyeh and the guy with the dark eyes and trimmed beard in front at exactly the same time.

Only a thief needs hide his face, the young man said. He really did have some kind of eye makeup on.

I thought your women hide their faces all the time, but we lowered our face screens anyway.

An American! the old bearded driver exclaimed looking around over his shoulder at Scott. I wished he would look where he was going.

He’s not an American, Abu Wahid, he’s British. They look different, the bored younger man said without even glancing at us.

How can you find your way in this storm? I asked via the suit in Arabic, astonished.

Ha ha. Old Bedu magic, said the driver laughing at my astonishment.

The lead truck has a GPS. It’s American magic, the younger man sniffed.

Now you spoil my story Abu Qassim, the driver said laughing and putting on a show of being disappointed.

"I have heard all your stories Abu Wahid. All the way from Dubai. What I would like to hear is these boys’ stories. Why are they on top of a dune in the Rub al Khali in the middle of a storm?"

The madeup eyes were back in the mirror. The intensity made me nervous.

Scott and I looked at each other. What could we say.

We came to protect Khadiyeh, I said.

Ah yes, the girl. But you are not of her tribe. Where did you come from? he asked.

Far away, Scott said quickly.

Yes … far ... far away ... but to the east, I think, not the west, he was reading us.

From Oman? the driver asked. Are you from Oman?

He had been to Oman many times. He was the kind of man who liked to talk and needed to bring the conversation back to himself. The younger man just stared again in the mirror.

Australia, said Scotty suddenly. Perth.

The older man had nothing to say to that. The younger man glanced up into the mirror again looking like he didn’t believe him.

You are very young to be in the desert, the old man reasoned. He seemed to be very slow or something. We were wildly out of place but he didn’t seem to get it at all Where is your family here? You should go to them, he told us seriously.

We stay with Khadiyeh, I said.

Where does she live? asked the young man.

Uh ... I was not sure.

"I must return to my parents house in Thaubah," Khadiyeh told us happily.

She lives in...

Thaubah. Yes. It is on our way, the young man told the driver.

Where are you going? I asked.

Tarim, said the driver.

I said nothing. Then because the driver hated silence he said with practised bluster. We drive to Tarim. We bring machinery parts. For motorcycles and pumps. They throw away old ones in the Emirates and we take them to sell.

It was a lie. He was practicing it on us because he wasn’t used to telling it yet.

Actually they smuggled Qat, the favourite drug of Yemenis working in the north. And they smuggled back guns and ammunition.

Our business is our business, said the young man, grimly looking at us in the mirror. I wondered if they were El Qaeda. The young man’s eyes were in the mirror again.

Our problem is Saleh, not Americans, he said.

Saleh! spat the old driver angrily.

The Yemeni president was obviously not their favourite person.

But that is not a business for children, he added.

Our guests only look like children Abu Wahid, said the young man. There is much more to them than they let on.

The driver laughed.

Spykids three, he said looking back at us and laughing. He obviously found this very funny. You seen that? I got it for my niece in Oman.

This driver was bothering me more than the serious dude sitting next to him. He seemed crazy and loose. He wasn’t dangerous but I just wondered how he could drive.

Guys I don’t know exactly what you are doing there and how you found the Yemeni girl. But we need to wrap this up and you need to come home. You’ve got school, Grandpop interrupted.

There was a brief pause.

"I am safe now. Thank you all my friends. Go to your school. These friends will see me home safely for they know Jibreel watches over me tonight," Khadiyeh said.

I looked at Scott. He looked at me and shrugged. We started to seal our facescreens. The eyes in the mirror looked away.

So tell me Abu Wahid where does your son work again in Dubai? the younger man said to the driver, I think I was asleep with my eyes open.

He was clearly distracting the old, loose dude.

Ah Abu Qassim it happens. The desert drives you crazy. He is working on the Burj Khalifa. It will be the tallest building in the world.

No! How could he be so fortunate as to get such a job? said Abu Qassim with just the smallest hint he was winding the older man up again.

I caught a glance from him. He nodded and then looked back at Abu Wahid who was explaining at length his great cunning in getting his son a job.

"Let’s go," I said to Scotty, and we folded away to nothing.

The jumpstation tank flared a couple of times as I made my way out.

De-brief guys ... de-brief, Grandpop was calling.

We noticed that Dr Prosperov, Dr Gursoy and Mrs Jones had come down to the briefing room too. I found myself a seat. I was just starting to realise I was starving. The others came in and sat down.

Please to explain process of finding Khadiyeh bint Sulimen al-Hadrânî ? Dr P began impatiently, still sitting in a chair. He seemed to be annoyed we’d beaten him to it.

Hekator and Hekati appeared in hologram form. They were curled up in what looked like a huge squishy ball of tiny green leaves and pink flowers. I got the impression they were in bed but it was hard to know with them.

Slowly we explained what had happened. It was Ashley who interrupted to say we were very hungry. It wasn’t long after that Mr Trân came down with Aunty Liz, Mitra and Zoe with a whole heap of food. It slowed things down while we ate but it felt sooo good.

When it came to the bit with Jibreel we discovered something strange. For a start our Control had recorded nothing. We couldn’t believe it. We could all describe what happened and all our descriptions matched but the suits and Control just recorded us sitting on a dune getting frightened and excited.

There is an explanation, Hekator said when we’d finished. We all looked at him.

Khadiyeh has her own friends and they are more powerful than any of us, he shrugged.

It is something we have seen on your planet before. It is also one of the reasons for the treaty against intervention. Humans have, for some reason from time-to-time, attracted the interest of the Ophanim.

"We don’t know very much about them. They are even more developed than us, as we are than you. All we know about them is they span the galaxies. This is something well beyond us. Dealing with one galaxy with 325 billion star systems, 120,000 light years across is big enough. How they cross the universe is something we are only beginning to understand.

Do they not visit you? Tahira asked Hekator.

Not for thousands of years. But there is one of us, you know who has met them. Raman met them when he was your age. He’s asleep at the moment but I will tell him of your experience when he wakes up.

But what about the guys who picked us up afterwards. Who are they? I asked.

Hekator looked confused.

They seemed like you from the recording, Hekator said.

Khadiyeh said Jibreel had called them, I added.

Hekator looked at Hekati who shrugged.

Tahira had a theory.

We saw zees people in Tarim. I zink I know what zhey are, She said looking a bit nervous. I zink zhey are Al Djinn.

Hekator glanced at Hekati. They didn’t look surprised.

Who’s Al Gin? Ashley asked like it was some bartender’s name.

Dr Gursoy started to laugh. Tarik grinned too.

The Djinn ... genies you call them, he said.

Genies? I asked you mean like the guys in the magic lamps who give wishes.

It sounded ridiculous.

No … Al Djinn, people of smokeless fire, Tahira said seriously. Zhey are real. Zhey are even in the Koran.

"Djinn are real, Mrs Jones said. I have met one or two before in London. They don’t like the cold though. They have many powers similar to the Fae."

Aren’t they Fae? I asked, looking at Hekator.

No ... the Djinn are not one of the races of Fae, he said. Nor are they allied with the Aesir. They are refugees of a destroyed world. They are the last survivors of a world the Aesir called Jotaheim and we called Genaheim. They were as advanced as we are but were dispersed by war. Their home world is wrecked now. Some came to your world and settled among you after Fae or Aesir withdrew. They have never considered themselves parties to the non-intervention treaty but they have largely lived by it anyway. They are a very proud race who keep apart from Fae, Aesir and humans.

We know they have small settlements on other worlds as well. They travel as we do among them. Unlike us they are immune to strong radiation and prefer hot climates to draw energy directly from the sun. But we do not really know much about them except that they are drawn to the Ophanim. They are fascinated by them but, of course, have no power over them.

Should we regard them as hostile? Grandpop asked, getting down to business.

No. They are not hostile, but they aren’t helpful either. They are neutral. They are very proud and disdain us all – Fae, human and Aesir. They live among the poorest humans. But they want to be left alone and as they are dangerous enemies and live in places full of solar radiation where we cannot go, we do leave them alone. I believe the Aesir and their synthetic descendants generally do the same.

Are we going to tag Khadiyeh? Ashley asked.

"Can we tag Khadiyeh?" I asked.

Is prudent to try, Dr Prosperov said.

"I zink we should ask ’er." Tahira replied.

I liked that idea.

It’s not like we could hide it from her anyway, Tarik agreed.

Is most unusual case, Dr Prosperov mused. Is obvious is woman in foresight but ... I have nothing to link her, he shrugged.

I think Gennady we should take heart from the fact that she approached us, said Dr Gursoy said quietly. After all she was not without alternatives. Several alternatives in fact. In some ways I think you could take this as a rather significant endorsement of your entire programme.

Is good thought Ali, Dr P smiled. Then he looked thoughtful again.

Yet, as you know, I am always seeing alternatives, he said quietly to himself.

The meeting broke up and we got changed to go to school. But because of us being tired and stuffing around it was morning break when we finally got there. Grandpop went in to talk to the teachers. He said he would tell them a story about the bus breaking down on the drive. It can’t have gone down so well because we saw him leave looking a bit chewed out by Mrs MacLean. But luckily we didn’t get in trouble for that.

What we did get in trouble for was daydreaming. None of us could concentrate on anything Mr Wakefield said. And whenever we closed our eyes we’d get a flashback to Jibreel. I noticed we were all doodling wheels with eyes. Mr Wakefield even threatened to call our parents and demand we got enough sleep in front of the whole class. It was another ugly us-and-them moment.

And it was true. We did need sleep. By the end of the day we were wrecks. In the bus Asal and Rewa were playing some clapping game but the rest of us were dozing. Homework and chores disappeared in a blur. I was too stuffed to even notice some ghost flicking the switch on my vacuum cleaner all the time. At dinner Grandpop decided we should forget missions and go to bed. So we did. I climbed into bed and had the most amazing sleep I ever had.

I woke in the morning feeling totally righteous. It was a strange feeling. Like everything had fallen into place and I knew who I was, what I was doing and what had to happen next. And strangely enough one thing I knew had to happen was I had to help Emma find those dak plantations.

It was a sunny day but with a cool wind. Summer was starting to slowly give way to autumn and the storms would start soon. School was school. Our daily routine was pretty much normal. We had dinner and then it was into our suits and down to the briefing theatre.

We agreed that Tahira and me should visit Khadiyeh to see if she would agree to being tagged. We would take Shaheen to provide an eye over the area. Tahira thought he’d like a morning flight in Yemen. Control had tracked the convoy we had been picked up by and seen Khadiyeh dropped at her parent’s house at two in the morning. The reunion had started badly until Khadiyeh’s mother saw the burn on her hand. I couldn’t believe she had been able to cope with the pain but maybe she could somehow stop it, or something, because she hadn’t complained once during that strange and alarming night.

While me and Tahira talked to Khadiyeh, Ashley and Cam would take Hooty, and Scott and Tarik would take Buffy, into the park on Aotea to look for Ax’s weed plantations. They would mark them for Emma with sea shells on the path so she could find them, and report them to the cops. We were also considering tagging Emma herself so we could find her quicker in the park. We were still a bit uncertain about that because it was a bit close to home. For tonight’s tasks we didn’t see any particular problems when Grandpop asked, so we trooped off to the jumpstation and bent space.

[+]

Me and Tahira arrived on the top of the big red canyon above Khadiyeh’s parents’ house which was below in the valley. It was a big place, and the morning sun was still casting long shadows. Even so there were plenty of vehicles on the road and, of course, dawn prayers had been an hour ago.

Tahira released Shaheen who was a bit impatient and keen to fly. He’d been fed before we left, but he took one look at the place from Tahira’s pouch and just wanted to get into that huge blue sky.

From where we stood the drop to the valley floor was quite a way. We were on the edge of a cliff about thirty or so meters high, but below that was a steep bank covered in loose rock that was about another hundred meters. That sloped down to a few houses, the one on the right being Khadiyeh’s parents’ home.

The easy way down was to fly. But on a bright morning that would attract attention. There were certainly a number of people around, including a couple of boys from next door playing in the wide dry river bed.

We talked about it and finally agreed the easiest way was to bend into the house. That meant getting Shaheen to stop riding his thermals and check in the windows. At first he wasn’t so keen. Then, after Tahira had scolded him once or twice, he flew over and dropped like a brick, pulling up just at the last minute. The boys looked up and noticed as the falcon flew to the top window of the house.

Tahira told me that Khadiyeh was inside and had looked over at the falcon as it landed on the window ledge. She had been folding clothes.

She’s talking to Shaheen, Tahira said.

We were standing, looking down at the house. I saw the bird suddenly rising, flapping for height.

C’mon, she’s inviting us down, Tahira said, passing me the LZ.

We flashed into a small clean room. It was about five meters by four. There were four divans on the floor and some curtains, now open. Around, and under beds, stuff was stored. The room had two windows and stairs down to the next level.

Khadiyeh surprised me because she was wearing trousers and a knee-length long sleeve top. She wore her brown hair up with ringlets hanging past her ears. She was pretty but not stunning and looked almost like any other kid our age, although she was still very small. I noticed she had a new dressing on her burn.

Sam! Tahira! Uncover your faces, she said in Arabic, smiling.

We did, and she came up to us to look more closely. I realised then her eyesight was not that great.

You are prettier that I expected, she said to Tahira

And Sam is very handsome, she smiled turning away. She went and sat down on one of the divans.

Why have you come to see me? she asked.

It was funny talking to her because her powerful mind echoed her thoughts.

"To see how you are, of course," Tahira smiled coming closer and kneeling down in front of her.

I am getting better. My hand is very burned but Jibreel, praise God, has reduced my pain. My mother has put honey on it to repair the skin.

"Were there any problems when you came back?"

My mother was a bit scared of visitors at first because my father is away, but when she saw that I was hurt, and they were keen to leave me, she was relieved. She was angry when she saw what my husband, Ali, had done to me. But she is fearful of what my father will say when he comes back from his trip. He was paid a bride price, and he can’t pay it back.

"Has Ali tried to come and take you back?"

"No, I don’t even know if he knows I am gone yet."

A young face appeared on the stairs. It was a girl with bright brown eyes.

Mummy … mummy there are people talking to Khadiyeh in the bedroom, she shouted running out again.

Khadiyeh smiled.

That’s Alia, my sister. She’s four.

There were voices below. Alia’s excited high-pitched little voice and other kids voices followed by a mother’s voice telling them to quieten down. A lot of clomping feet on the stairs and three faces looked at us. Khadiyeh laughed.

Alia, Fatima, Nasreen. These are my friends Tahira and Samuel.

The kids goggled at us. It was quite cute really. Their mother called up to them and they confirmed that Alia had spoken the truth. We heard their mother climbing the stairs.

"You may have to look special for my mother," Khadiyeh thought in our heads.

A woman’s brown face appeared. She looked old. Her black hair had touches of gray in it. Her face was lined and thin but her brown dark eyes, though tired, were warm.

Khadiyeh? Who are these people?

Mother, these are angel children. They have come to see how I am. They helped me escape from Ali.

The woman’s smile froze on her face. She looked at us. I don’t think she thought we were angels.

I am ‘Pure’. This is God-has-heard, Tahira told the woman gently in Arabic. The original meanings of our names suddenly seemed perfect. Your daughter is very special in the eyes of God, she added.

The woman stood still, looking at Tahira. She wasn’t sure whether she was being tricked or not.

"Can you really fly?" blurted out Nasreen, who was about nine.

Yes, Tahira smiled.

She looked at me. It was no use saying. They had to see. We cranked down the gravity to ten percent and glowed brightly as we let out our wings. The family’s eyes were popping out and their mouths fell open. Tahira changed her suit to rippling gold, I changed mine to silver. Then with a few strong strokes of our wings we lifted up into the air and hovered in their bedroom about half a meter off the ground.

The mother sank to her knees with a small moan, mostly of fear. The kids’ faces told a different story. They were overjoyed.

Mum! Mum! It’s true! Khadiyeh wasn’t making it up! Nasreen was yelling excitedly.

But the older woman had started crying. She seemed to be very frightened. She was whimpering and begging for mercy. I looked at Tahira and we stopped. The glow died and we switched back to hoodies and jeans as we dropped to the floor letting our wings fold away behind us.

Mother don’t be frightened, Khadiyeh said, going over to her. She was still trembling and shaking, not daring to look at us. We backed out of the way as she led her mother to her bed.

They are children. They are children and our friends. They aren’t here to punish anyone, she said.

No … certainly not, Tahira agreed warmly also coming closer and approaching Khadiyeh’s mother, gently stroking her. Slowly she stopped shaking and crying and started wiping her eyes and laughing a little. It was strange looking at the two girls. While Kadiyeh’s mother was looking in awe at Tahira, I couldn’t help noticing how ... well the only word I could think of was serene ... Khadiyeh looked. Tahira might be a fake angel, but Khadiyeh looked like an honest to God saint.

The kids were a lot less frightened by us than their mother, although little Alia had run to Khadiyeh when her mum had suddenly become frightened. Fatimah and Nasreen were more curious than afraid. I think it was because they could see we weren’t adults so no matter what we did they thought they understood us.

Nasreen came up to me and asked if he could touch my clothes. I didn’t mind. He ran his hand over the soft carbon fibre surface. Fatimah did the same thing to Tahira.

Why have you come? Khadiyeh asked us.

Um … Tahira had forgotten.

We want to give you some medicine, I told her.

Medicine? she asked.

Yes for your burn and to help you … help you … call us when you need help, I said feeling like an egg.

Khadiyeh smiled. She saw straight through me.

I don’t need ‘medicine’, Samuel. I have all I need, she said.

Uh … um … OK, I found myself saying.

Khadiyeh’s mother was looking at us in confusion. You could tell we weren’t being angelic enough. But ... well ... it wasn’t us who claimed we were angels.

But thank you for coming, she said.

And she meant thank you for coming to show my mother you exist.

I looked at Tahira. She looked at the window.

"Back to the hilltop?" I asked her silently.

She nodded. We got up and backed away.

It’s good that you are well. Call us again if you need help. We will always try to come, Tahira said.

Thank you Tahira. Thank you Sam. And please thank the others for their kind thoughts. God willing I will not need rescuing again.

God willing, Tahira agreed.

We sealed our facescreens and bent back to the hill above the house. Shaheen was miles away and didn’t really want to come down.

Well, that didn’t go too well, I said.

She got what she wanted, Tahira disagreed. She could show her mother she hadn’t been lying.

But what about her father and this creep Ali, her so-called husband.

She knows how to call us. She’s been doing it for a month, Tahira shrugged.

As we waited for Shaheen we watched the day heating up. You could see the haze forming. I don’t know if it was me after that sleep, or if Jibreel had changed something, but there seemed to be something wonderful about Yemen. Something powerfully alive. It almost seemed to breathe.

Shaheen was a pest to get back into his pouch but finally we got him in. Then we went home.

[+]

The others had been more successful. They had competed to find marijuana plots and had both found four. They were well hidden off the main track which was incredibly dark at night because of the over-hanging bush. Without a good torch, or night vision like we had, you could get seriously lost. And if that wasn’t bad enough there were cliffs and holes off the main tracks. Emma would have to be very careful.

Dr P was disappointed that Khadiyeh had not wanted to be tagged but accepted Tahira’s argument that unlike all the others Khadiyeh knew we existed and also could call us, so there was less need to tag her anyway. I think he just wanted some control but Khadiyeh didn’t want to give us any.

We felt pretty good that night but the next day we were in for a shock. School that morning was the same as ever. It was a slightly windy day but otherwise sunny, We were outside at lunchtime when a car pulled up at the beach opposite. My father’s henchmen Ray and John got out first followed by two skinny, mean-looking, brown dudes covered in evil-looking tats. Ashley took one look and freaked.

Holy f___! It’s them! They’ve found us! Hide me! Jesus H f___ Christ! What do I do? Oh shit! oh shit! oh shit!

It was MS13.

They won’t come in here, I said as we went around back into the library.

Don’t you bet on it, she said. Back home dey come into schools and shoot people.

She was really scared.

We need to call Renwick, Tarik said. But Mrs Thomas won’t let us.

It’s easier than that, Scott said taking charge in that calm way he had. Ash, stick your finger down your throat and spew. Report sick and they’ll call your mum anyway.

Good one Scott! agreed Tarik.

"Not with us all here. Boys go," Cam said.

She was right. It looked too sus if we were all crowded around.

We’ll distract them, Tarik said.

We trooped out and went back outside.

Split up, Tarik said.

So we split up. We were in a line of Tarik, Scott and me. The men had crossed the road to the fence. John was pointing out Tarik and me to the skinny dudes. They smiled in a way I didn’t like. They were going to use us to get Ash. Unfortunately for them they missed Scott who just blended in with all the other white kids.

But these dudes worried me. For a start they were seriously mean-looking. Drug addict thin, and hard, like some fighting dogs I’d seen gang guys with. Their tats over their faces showed they didn’t care about anything but their gang, and they weren’t scared of anything. Certainly not Sergeant Smith and a bunch of soft white teachers.

The two tat-faces swung easily over the low fence, and started across the field like dogs hunting. We went to intercept them. They were halfway across the field as Tarik and me circled around to them on opposite sides. But Scott walked into the soccer game in the middle of the field.

Visitors have to report to the office, Tarik yelled out at the men.

Huh? the man nearest replied, putting his hand to his ear pretending he couldn’t hear to get Tarik to come closer.

Suddenly Scotty intercepted the soccer ball, flicked it up into has hands and ran toward the men. Marshall and his friends had been ignoring us and the men but now an excuse to chase and beat up Scott started yelling Givusitback!.

Both of them were distracted by about twelve kids suddenly rushing towards them led by this blond kid.

Now, yelled Tarik and rushed at the guy nearest him. I rushed my guy. Scott drop kicked the ball in his groin from about two meters. While he was distracted to his front Tarik ran forward from the side and rugby tackled this guys knees bringing him down. Distracted by his mate going down I tackled my guy’s legs and brought him down from behind too.

All the kids were confused. Me and Tarik were rolling out and jumping away from the gang guys we’d floored. Scott had already started running back through Marshall’s mob who stood unsure what to make of the men on the ground. They, of course, were furious and as they got up pulled out their long knives. Marshall and his mates took one look at these and ran. We led the way.

He’s got a knife, someone yelled.

Mr Wakefield was on duty and came around the corner of the building to see two men in the field and all the kids running away and yelling about a knife. It was kind of funny. His eyes went wide and he ran, actually turned and ran. Tarik, me and Scott regrouped by the corner Mr Wakefield had fled around.

The gangsters hesitated. This was not going to plan at all. They weren’t meant to have the whole school in uproar until after they had grabbed Ashley. Now everyone was hiding from them, the authorities were alerted, and they still hadn’t got Ash. Mrs Maclean and Miss Green came up behind us.

What’s going on? Mr Wakefield’s calling the police. Who are those men? Mrs Maclean asked.

The arrival of teachers had sealed it for the gangsters. They wouldn’t think twice about killing Mrs Maclean in a second if she was between them and Ashley. But she was between them and finding Ashley, and that was going to be hard with the whole school in an uproar. They knew they were better to cut their losses and pretend