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  Jack rolled his eyes. ‘Thanks, Noble.’

  ‘Being exposed as an honourable person is better than being stabbed, surely?’ Noble replied.

  Talya’s eyes narrowed and her expression hardened further. ‘All right then,’ she said, looking directly at Jack. ‘Let’s see if I can grasp what goes on in that nutty head of yours.’ She sat back, rested her elbows on the arms of her chair and interlaced her fingers. ‘First of all, what d’ya mean, “in the name of justice”? Why did ya plant the extra code in the cashpoint so my army gets caught?’

  Jack thought carefully for a moment before giving his answer. ‘I just think stealing from innocent people is, you know . . . wrong.’

  Talya balled her fists, seeming to fight back her rage. ‘Wrong?’

  ‘I couldn’t live with myself if –’

  ‘We weren’t stealing from innocent people,’ Talya shouted, her anger boiling over. ‘The bank covers those losses, Jack. We were stealing from the bank, you complete –’ She bit her knuckle and looked up at the ceiling.

  A few seconds passed as Talya took slow breaths. She seemed to be trying to compose herself before refocusing on Jack.

  ‘You’re a fine one to talk,’ she said. ‘You steal from people all the time. You break into places and everything. We’re not so different, now, are we?’

  ‘We only take from bad people,’ Wren said.

  Talya’s eyebrows rose at that. ‘Bad, good – it’s just perspective, little girl. You’re not the cops or nothin’.’ She waved a finger at them. ‘It’s not for you lot to decide who’s good and bad, who should be stolen from or not. We do what we ’ave to.’ She gestured at Skin and the six kids stood behind him. ‘Just like you do to look after your family.’

  ‘We don’t keep all the money,’ Slink said. ‘We give most of it away.’

  Talya laughed. ‘How very decent of you. Most. You’ve done some right dodgy stuff in your time, the lot of ya. So don’t go lecturing me with your holier-than-thou attitude.’ She shook her head and looked at Jack. ‘I think it’s time you decided what side of the fence you’re on.’ Her eyes roamed over Charlie, Slink and Wren before coming to rest on Jack with an intensity he’d never seen in her before. ‘You need to make up your mind whether you’re a bad guy or a good one. No more playing both sides.’ She waggled a finger at him. ‘That’s why you keep getting into all this trouble.’

  Jack stared at Talya as her words sank in – in a twisted way, she was right. And he hated that fact.

  Being an Urban Outlaw did mean they had to do some bad things to make sure good then prevailed, but Jack always knew their intentions were right. Weren’t they?

  But, for now, they had a job to do.

  Talya considered Jack a long while, before finally speaking again. ‘Planting that program in the cashpoint – I can’t make up my mind whether it was very brave or very stupid of ya.’

  ‘Probably a bit of both,’ Slink said.

  Jack couldn’t help but snicker at that.

  Talya ground her teeth. ‘Now,’ she said slowly, ‘before we get down to the meat of what this big piece of action you can offer me is, I wanna know something else. You see, what puzzles me is what exactly you’re up to.’ She leant forward. ‘I can see it in them eyes of yours, Jack. I’m not your biggest problem right now, am I?’

  Jack shrugged and tried to sound casual. ‘We have a situation to sort out. That’s all.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Trouble I’ve got us into.’

  ‘Oh dear. Well, that’s sad, ain’t it?’

  Skin laughed.

  ‘Shut it,’ Talya snarled. ‘No offence, Jack, but you’re always in trouble. And it would appear that you owe me again. Your debts just keep mounting up, don’t they?’

  ‘Yeah, I suppose they do.’

  ‘Now, I’ll ask you one more time. What’s goin’ on?’

  Skin’s hand twitched towards the knife in his belt.

  Jack glanced at the others and sighed. ‘Fine. I’ll tell you.’

  ‘Jack,’ Charlie hissed.

  Slink crossed his arms. ‘That’s it, mate, get us into more mess.’

  Wren shook her head, which promptly set her off coughing.

  Charlie rubbed her back.

  ‘Go on, Jack,’ Talya said. ‘I’m dying to know.’

  ‘We have nothing left,’ Jack said. ‘The bunker is gone.’

  Talya’s eyebrows lifted. ‘What? Your secret hideout? What happened?’

  ‘It was raided.’

  Slink sneezed. ‘We’ve lost everything.’

  ‘That. Is. Precious.’ Talya looked between the four Outlaws and laughed.

  ‘It’s not funny,’ Wren said, bringing her coughing under control and scowling at her.

  Talya’s expression hardened again. ‘What did you just say?’

  ‘None of us is thinking straight,’ Jack said. ‘This flu . . .’

  ‘That’s your trouble?’ Talya said. ‘You lost your hideout? No wonder you didn’t want to tell me – you’re nothing without your little computers and gadgets, are ya? So, who did it? Who raided your precious bunker?’

  ‘Hector’s men,’ Jack said.

  Talya’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘Am I supposed to know who that is?’

  ‘Have you ever heard of the Del Sartos?’ Jack said. ‘Benito Del Sarto and his son?’

  Talya shook her head. ‘Should I ’ave?’

  ‘They’re rich,’ Charlie said.

  ‘Good for them.’

  ‘No,’ Jack said, ‘it’s good for you.’

  Talya considered him. ‘How d’ya figure that?’

  ‘We did a mission a while back. Broke into their hotel suite and took a very valuable painting.’

  ‘How valuable?’

  ‘Millions,’ Jack said, with a straight face.

  Talya snorted. ‘Sure.’

  ‘Check the news if you don’t believe me. We sent the painting back to the museum in Boston.’

  Jack saw Talya hesitate and knew that she believed him. After all, it was the truth this time. Undoubtedly she’d still check his story out, just in case he was lying. She wasn’t stupid.

  ‘Go on,’ she said.

  ‘Well, the painting wasn’t the only valuable item in that suite. There’s loads of stuff up there. Antiques, more paintings – several rooms filled with it all.’

  Talya frowned. ‘Do I look like an antiques dealer?’

  Jack let out a breath and kept his eyes locked on hers. ‘Let’s go there now. I’ll tell you where it is and how to get in. There’s a lot of money sitting up there. More than your gang would ever get picking tourists’ pockets.’

  ‘A lot more,’ Charlie said.

  Talya stared, and Jack could see the mental cogs whirring.

  She licked her lips. ‘I do know one guy who might be able to shift this stuff for us.’

  Jack nodded.

  There was a long, tense silence as Talya considered the proposed deal.

  Jack tried not to make eye contact with Talya or to show her the slightest sign of weakness. He gazed at Skin and the other gang members by the door and his stomach knotted.

  Charlie went to stand up. ‘Can we go?’

  ‘Not so fast, princess,’ Talya said.

  Charlie sat down again with a huff.

  Here it comes, Jack thought.

  Talya looked straight at Jack, her expression unreadable. ‘All right.’

  Jack stared. ‘Pardon?’

  ‘I said, all right. I’ll send my army over to check the place out.’ She leant forward in her wheelchair. ‘No second chances though, Jacky. If you’ve tricked me again, I’ll –’

  ‘No tricks,’ Jack said. ‘I promise the stuff is there.’ He held out his hand and they shook. ‘You won’t be disappointed.’

  ‘I’d better not be.’ Talya nodded at Skin.

  Skin thrust a notepad and pen at Jack and he scribbled down the location of the hotel and the details of how to break in. When
he was done, Jack handed it to Talya then, together with Charlie, Slink, Wren and Noble, he stood to leave.

  ‘Wait a minute.’ Talya tapped the notepad. ‘How do I know what you’ve written here is right? Could be a trap.’

  ‘You have my word,’ Jack said.

  ‘Your word?’ Talya looked unimpressed. ‘No offence, Jack, but your word means nothing to me any more. Not after what you’ve done and all your little tricks.’ She nodded at Skin.

  Skin stepped forward and pressed a knife to Noble’s stomach.

  ‘Get that thing away from me,’ Noble said.

  ‘Keep resisting, Grandad,’ Skin snarled in his ear, ‘and I’ll gut ya.’

  ‘We’ll keep Noble until I’m satisfied you haven’t tricked me again,’ Talya said to Jack. ‘I know how much he means to you. Once we have all that loot safely in our mitts, we’ll let him go.’

  ‘I can’t agree to that,’ Jack said.

  ‘You don’t have a choice.’ Talya pointed a finger at the steps. ‘Get out of ’ere before I change my mind.’

  ‘I told you I can’t do that,’ Jack repeated, defiant. ‘Noble’s coming with us.’

  ‘Oh, Jack.’ Talya gave a heavy sigh. ‘Why do you always have to make things harder than they need to be?’

  ‘You’re not keeping him here,’ Charlie said. ‘The deal’s off.’

  ‘Sorry, princess,’ Talya said, waving her gang members over. ‘But Jack already shook on it.’

  Two of the tallest goons grabbed Jack, while the others shoved Charlie, Slink and Wren towards the door.

  ‘You can’t do this,’ Charlie shouted.

  ‘I can,’ Talya said. ‘And I have.’

  ‘Get off me,’ Wren screamed as one kid manhandled her down the stairs.

  A tall kid dragged Jack to the door by the scruff of his neck.

  Jack looked back at Noble. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘It’s fine, dear boy. Everything will work out.’

  But Jack felt terrible.

  He wanted to fight. He wanted to kick and punch his way out of there, taking Noble with him. But he knew Talya would never let any of them out of that warehouse alive.

  No, the only way to keep Noble safe now was to find something else to trade – because Jack knew that even when Talya had all of the antiques from the hotel suite, there was no chance she’d let Noble go free that easily.

  Jack could see the anger and hatred in her eyes, and he felt the same towards her.

  Talya had to pay for Scarlett.

  Somehow, in some way, he’d get his revenge.

  The gang members bustled Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren outside and slammed the warehouse door shut.

  ‘We can’t leave him,’ Slink said, wheeling round on Jack.

  Jack raised his hands. ‘I’ll sort this mess out, I promise,’ he said with what he hoped sounded like confidence, although he felt exactly the opposite inside.

  Slink huffed. ‘It’s your fault we’re in all this mess in the first place.’

  Charlie rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘Calm down. It’s not helping.’

  Slink shrugged her off and crossed his arms.

  ‘I know you’ll work something out, Jack,’ Charlie said.

  ‘You always have done,’ Wren added.

  Charlie pulled a phone from her pocket. ‘Figured we’d need this.’

  Jack’s eyes widened. ‘Where did you get that?’

  ‘From one of those boxes by the door.’ Charlie smiled. ‘Pinched it on our way out.’

  ‘You are brilliant,’ Jack said.

  As they walked away from Talya’s warehouse, Charlie connected to the internet and checked the Cerberus forum.

  ‘Well?’ Jack asked her.

  ‘No messages.’

  Jack groaned. That meant no more news about Obi.

  ‘He’ll be fine,’ Charlie said, noticing everyone’s crestfallen expressions. She didn’t sound convincing though. ‘So,’ she said to Jack, ‘what now?’

  ‘Now?’ Jack said, picking up the pace. ‘Now we have to start work on finding that antidote.’

  ‘But the Facility is gone,’ Slink said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Jack said. ‘But I’ve had a thought.’

  ‘What?’ Wren asked.

  ‘I’m betting the antidote was stolen way before we got to the Facility.’

  ‘Hector,’ Charlie said. ‘Of course. He would’ve taken the antidote. That way he can use it on himself, his dad and his men.’

  Jack glanced between them. ‘Exactly. We find Hector, we get the antidote.’

  A while later, Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren were standing outside the main entrance to a block of flats. Raze lived on the eighth floor with his mum and dad.

  ‘Are we going to tell him?’ Wren asked.

  Jack shrugged. ‘I’m not sure.’

  They’d seen Raze, Wilf and Domino after the Facility mission, which meant they were infected with the virus too.

  Slink turned to Jack, anger in his eyes. ‘Don’t you think Raze has a right to know what we’ve done to him?’

  Jack nodded. ‘Yes. Absolutely. But I want us to find a cure first. I don’t want anyone to panic.’

  Slink shook his head. ‘You’re wrong. He needs to know.’

  Charlie frowned. ‘You think he’d tell people?’

  Jack offered her a weak smile. ‘Wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Probably,’ Charlie said, turning back to the door. ‘I’d go to a hospital. I’d beg people to help me.’ She coughed. ‘It wouldn’t be any use though, would it? No doctor can cure this.’

  ‘No. And London would go into meltdown,’ Jack said. ‘If word got out that there was a deadly virus, people would panic and try to leave.’

  ‘Spreading it about even more,’ Wren said.

  ‘Let’s just go,’ Slink said. ‘If we’re not going to tell him the truth we should leave him alone.’

  ‘We need a laptop,’ Charlie said. ‘Jack can’t do his hacking on just this, can he?’ She held up the mobile phone.

  ‘I thought he was supposed to be some kind of genius,’ Slink muttered.

  Jack adjusted his makeshift bandana and opened the door. ‘Come on.’

  Up on the eighth floor, Slink rang the bell and they waited.

  After a minute, Slink said, ‘Well, he’s not in. Let’s go.’ He turned to walk away, but the door opened.

  Raze blinked in the light. His hair was jutting out at all angles, his eyes were bloodshot and puffy, his skin was an almost translucent white and he was wrapped in a thick duvet.

  He sniffed. ‘All right?’ He sounded terrible.

  ‘Hey, mate,’ Jack said, feeling awful about what they’d done to him.

  The virus had obviously affected Raze far worse than the Outlaws – so far.

  Raze sneezed, making them jump. He then wiped his nose on the duvet. ‘Sorry.’

  Charlie winced. ‘It’s OK.’

  ‘My cold turned into the flu. Anyway, what can I do for ya?’

  Jack took a deep breath and glanced at the others. It was then that he changed his mind. ‘Can we come in for a minute?’ he said.

  ‘Sure.’ Raze stepped aside. ‘Mum and Dad are at work.’

  Jack cringed at that – they would also be infected. Then their colleagues and their families too . . . How far had the virus spread already?

  Raze’s flat was neat and clean, with magnolia walls, wooden floors and dark furniture.

  Raze dropped on to the sofa in front of a large-screen TV.

  Jack, Charlie and Wren sat in chairs opposite, while Slink stayed standing by the door.

  ‘So,’ Raze said, looking between them all after a heavy sniff. ‘What’s the deal?’

  Jack cleared his throat – it felt like sandpaper. ‘You remember that Facility mission you helped us with?’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘We were after a secret weapon,’ Jack said. ‘We, er . . .’ He swallowed hard. ‘Well, we found it.’

  Raze looked curious. ‘You d
id? I thought you said there wasn’t anything in that place.’

  ‘It was a virus,’ Jack said in a low voice. ‘And we passed it on to you.’ He glanced at Slink.

  ‘No you didn’t,’ Raze said. ‘This cold started a day or two before the mission. I was sneezing and stuff, remember?’

  Jack looked back at Raze. ‘Yeah, we remember your cold. We thought we’d caught it off you at first, but it turns out that we have a virus. And you do too.’ Jack sighed. ‘You might have started with a cold, but you definitely have it.’

  Raze blinked at them and looked dubious. ‘I do? Are you sure about that?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Charlie said.

  ‘We got tricked,’ Wren said.

  ‘I got tricked,’ Jack corrected. ‘I was tricked into carrying a virus out of the Facility, and now we’re all infected.’

  ‘OK,’ Raze said slowly, now frowning. ‘Let’s just say I do have this virus – though I still think it’s a stinking cold or the flu – is there a cure for it then?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jack said, with complete conviction. ‘And we’re working hard to get hold of it.’

  Raze nodded and stared into space.

  ‘We’re really, really sorry,’ Jack said after a moment, hoping Raze believed him because it was exactly how he felt.

  Raze pulled the duvet tightly around himself. ‘I assume it’s that Hector’s fault – he’s the one, right?’

  Charlie nodded. ‘Right.’

  ‘So what do you want me to do?’ Raze said. ‘How can I help?’ He coughed. ‘I might not be much use, but I’ll try.’

  ‘We just need to borrow a laptop,’ Jack said.

  Raze gestured down the hall. ‘My room’s the second door. There’s a grey laptop by my desk and a bag on the floor.’

  ‘I’ll get it.’ Slink strode off.

  Raze went into a full-on coughing fit, before finally managing to compose himself again. ‘What do I do?’ he asked Jack.

  ‘There’s nothing you can do. We’re working on it.’

  ‘No,’ Raze said. ‘I mean about my mum and dad, my sister. Wilf and Domino too.’

  ‘Oh.’ Jack let out a slow breath. ‘I can’t ask you not to tell them, but it would be better if you didn’t. Not until we’ve got the cure.’

  ‘I still don’t think I have a virus,’ Raze said slowly. ‘But I’ll keep my mouth shut.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Raze nodded. ‘I trust you, Jack. You know that, yeah? You’ve never let anyone down.’