Bandits, Dirt Bikes & Trash, page 10
‘What did you imagine?’
Alan looked embarrassed as they exited the atrium into a broad hallway with a marble floor and chandeliers. ‘I thought you’d all be huddled up under animal skins, making protest banners, while snot-nosed kids ran around with no shoes. I definitely didn’t imagine a heated pool and fresh baked bread.’
Robin laughed. ‘There are a lot of desperate people in the forest. We had no heat or light here through the coldest part of winter, but it’s almost civilised now we’ve got a mains electricity hook-up. Even the elevators work, though I’ve got stuck twice so I stick to the stairs.’
The rebels’ brightly lit medical clinic also impressed as Alan entered. The space had originally been a small exhibition hall but, thanks to donations from the billionaire owner of online shopping site TwoTu, it bristled with modern hospital-white equipment, including an MRI scanner, a dental suite, a basic operating theatre and three private suites for forest women to give birth.
Apparently four on a Monday afternoon was a good time to get injured, because there was only one other person in the waiting area. Robin just had time to text Josie saying where he was and install a location-masking app on Alan’s phone.
‘Guess what?’ Alan said bitterly after checking his messages. ‘Not a squeak out of my mum. Me and Dakota could be dead for all that woman cares.’
‘Sorry to hear that, mate,’ Robin said, but before he could offer more sympathy, eighty-five-year-old Dr Gladys came charging towards them.
The clinic had nurses and assistants to deal with minor injuries, so Robin knew that the feisty little doctor had more than his cut head on her mind.
‘What are you keeping me busy with now, Robin Hood?’ Dr Gladys asked furiously as she put a battered leather medical bag down on the seat next to him. ‘I spent most of Saturday night extracting your arrow from a bandit’s ankle. And this morning that lovely Mr Khan needed stitches after you threw a hole punch at him.’
Alan didn’t know who Mr Khan was, so he looked baffled as the scowling doctor pulled a disposable glove over her tiny, wrinkled hand, then flicked the cut on Robin’s head.
‘Oww!’ Robin protested.
‘Stop being a wimp,’ Dr Gladys ordered, then took a little aerosol and blasted it around the cut.
‘Cold!’ Robin gasped as the icy spray congealed and one streak ran down his neck and inside his shirt.
‘Nothing worth stitching,’ the doctor said, as she gave Robin the little spray can. ‘The scalp is thin and has lots of blood vessels, so even a small cut on the head can bleed profusely. Give that hair a scrub to get all the mud out, then dry the wound gently and give it another good blast with this disinfectant spray.’
‘Thank you, doctor,’ Robin said politely, then whispered to Alan as she walked away. ‘Old ladies seem to have it in for me today.’
As the boys headed for the exit, Robin incurred Dr Gladys’ wrath once again.
‘And I suppose you’re going to leave those spaghetti trays under my waiting room chairs?’
As Robin sheepishly picked up his litter, Josie charged in. She had a huge grin as she slapped Robin on the back.
‘Way to get expelled from school, ya big idiot,’ Josie said, then turned to Alan. ‘You must be the bestest friend I’ve heard so much about.’
‘Hi,’ Alan said to Josie, then looked at Robin. ‘You got expelled? I didn’t even realise you had school here.’
‘Robin doesn’t,’ Josie said cheerfully.
‘They’ll let me back in,’ Robin dismissed her. ‘I’ll probably have to do a whole bunch of yes-sir no-sirs and write some stupid apology.’
‘If you say so,’ Josie answered. ‘You’ve got to invite me to dinner in the penthouse tonight. I need to be there when Karma and Indio yell at you.’
‘Already eaten,’ Robin said, acting annoyed but secretly loving the attention Josie was giving him. ‘I’ve got to wash out the cut on my head, then I’ve got to go to the Nest and see how Oluchi’s getting on with her investigations. Then I’ve got to go back across the forest later for some meeting with my dad’s lawyer in Locksley.’
‘Shame,’ Josie grunted as they walked out of the clinic and headed under a big CASINO sign and up a dead escalator towards the Nest. ‘But Alan, you’ve known Robin his whole life – what’s the number-one most embarrassing thing you can tell me about him?’
24. IT WAS MUD, DAMMIT
‘Robin was about nine,’ Alan told Josie as they walked across the thick casino carpet towards the Nest with Robin a few steps behind. ‘Parents signed us up for this mini-rugby week to get us off their backs during Easter hols. And you know how rugby has the big H-shaped post that you kick the ball through?’
‘Of course,’ Josie said. ‘Did Robin smash into it?’
‘Better than that,’ Alan said, smirking. ‘They’d taken one post away to be repaired. So, Robin was running with the ball and his front foot goes straight down the hole. The hole’s full of water. It all squirts up in his face and he’s all twisted up with his leg wedged in the hole.
‘The rugby coach came running over and lifted Robin out, but the best part was, falling down the hole gave Robin such a fright that he shat his shorts.’
‘Seriously?’ Josie said, howling with laughter.
‘It was running down his legs . . .’
‘You’re full of it,’ Robin said, tutting and sounding defensive. ‘My whole foot would never have fitted down that hole when I was nine. We were five years old and the stuff running down my legs was muddy water.’
‘I’m sticking to my version of the story,’ Alan said, as Josie kept laughing. ‘All the older kids were killing themselves laughing and calling Robin Crap Legs. I had to sit next to him on the bus home and he smelled so bad!’
Robin pretended to sulk as they got close to the Nest, but though the jokes were at his expense, he enjoyed hanging out with Alan for the first time in almost a year and seeing Josie laugh.
‘You’re both totally immature,’ Robin said, as he took a short run-up and gave Josie a gentle kick up the bum. She didn’t retaliate because they’d reached the door at the back of the casino.
‘You been here all day?’ Robin asked Oluchi as he reached the top of the stairs and entered the Nest.
The young journalist looked bleary-eyed, and had notebooks, Post-its and dead coffees littering her workstation. As Alan got his first look at the Nest and admired the rows of spinning fans at the back of the bright green supercomputer, Robin noticed his hacking guru D’Angela in a chat window on Oluchi’s screen and gave her a wave.
‘Good to see you!’ Robin told her brightly then, after introducing Josie and Alan, ‘Have we made progress?’
‘Oluchi’s doing a great job,’ D’Angela said.
‘The image search you’ve been running on the Super found a match for Heirani Stone,’ Oluchi began. ‘Her original name was Heirani Amo. She was twenty-two, from a boatload of refugees who arrived in Sherwood after the tsunami in French Polynesia. D’Angela’s crew has also hacked the account linked to the car charging receipt. It belonged to Heirani’s older brother, Max Amo.’
‘That’s definitely her,’ Alan said, a lump swelling in his throat as he looked at one of Oluchi’s printouts and saw the face from his nightmares. ‘She was burned and bloody, but it’s the girl I saw thrown into the car.’
‘Max probably died in the explosion too,’ Oluchi continued. ‘We found a social media account where Max was posting several times per day. He hasn’t logged in since the explosion and a couple of guys have posted comments, asking why he didn’t show at a party at Locksley University on Saturday night.’
‘Anything on the third victim?’ Robin asked. ‘Or the whereabouts of Max’s car?’
‘Still working on that,’ Oluchi said. ‘But Lyla brought Nick Adale’s laptop up here, so we’ve been concentrating on that for the past half hour.’
‘Anything good so far?’ Alan asked hopefully.
‘You gave us the right password,’ Oluchi told Alan. ‘There are hundreds of messages between Gisborne and your dad, which will take time to read through. But the standout thing is emails your dad sent to a woman named Katerina Kendall.’
‘I know that name,’ Alan said. ‘When Gisborne called on Saturday evening, my dad asked why he was being sent to deal with a waste management problem instead of Kendall.’
D’Angela spoke on screen. ‘Nick Adale sent some furious emails to Katerina Kendall on Sunday, accusing her of dropping him in it and saying that he’s sick of clearing up problems that her department created.
‘Katerina Kendall has an office in Locksley, but she looks after her elderly father and mostly works from home. If you really want to know about the dodgy stuff that Gisborne Waste Management gets up to, we need to hack Kendall. And since any sensible criminal doesn’t leave too many traces in emails and official documents, we need to know what she’s saying.’
Robin nodded. ‘You mean bug her house?’
‘I got rumbled because Gisborne had our house bugged,’ Alan pointed out. ‘Gisborne will have Kendall’s house bugged too, so they’ll hear if we try to break in.’
‘We’ll have to be careful,’ Oluchi agreed. ‘But D’Angela thinks we can bug the house without going inside.’
‘So, we’ve found Kendall’s address?’ Robin asked.
‘It’s a bungalow,’ Oluchi said. ‘It’s on a large plot of land in a near-deserted neighbourhood on the western side of Locksley.’
‘The easiest way to bug a house you don’t want to get close to is with laser microphones,’ D’Angela added. ‘The laser beam is invisible and can detect minute vibrations in glass when someone speaks. Point one at a window from up to a hundred metres away, and you can hear every word spoken inside.’
Robin scoffed. ‘Do we happen to have a couple of laser microphones lying around?’
‘No,’ D’Angela said. ‘But you’ve got loads of money from the Mindy Burger robbery and I know a company that can get them delivered by express courier in under two hours.’
Robin tutted. ‘Great, I’m paying for them . . . How much?’
‘A good pair of laser microphones costs about five thousand,’ D’Angela said. ‘Then all we need to do is find someone who can set them up. Laser microphones can be finicky, so it has to be someone who’s good with technology.’
‘Someone small and fast,’ Oluchi added, as she grinned at Robin. ‘Someone who would feel confident scouting a location, then shimmying up a telephone pole, or walking across the roof of an abandoned house in the dark—’
Josie looked at Alan and cracked a big grin before she interrupted. ‘Bring spare underwear in case he falls down any holes . . .’
25. SIGN HERE
Josie’s grumpy dad called, telling her to get home for dinner and homework. Robin took Alan up to the penthouse and introduced him to Karma, Indio and the rest of the Maid family.
This currently included baby Zack, wearing a jar of apple puree, and Finn and Otto, who were belting each other with sofa cushions, while Matt and two of his school mates were supposed to be doing homework, but were mostly just wrestling and throwing soggy balls of paper off the balcony.
‘You can stay with me for now,’ Robin told Alan, as he stepped into his spacious room. ‘There’s a mattress under my bed that Marion used to sleep on. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.’
‘Great view,’ Alan said, as he looked out of giant floor-to-ceiling windows as the sun set over Sherwood Forest.
‘I wish I could hang out with you tonight, but I can’t miss the meeting with my dad’s lawyer.’
‘Hopefully I’ll crash,’ Alan said, as he admired Robin’s huge bed and poked his nose into the fancy marble bathroom. ‘I’ve barely slept the past two nights.’
Robin sensed Alan’s unease as his friend slumped in a chair by the window.
‘You’ll be OK here,’ Robin said.
Alan sighed. ‘Everyone seems nice but I feel really anxious. I don’t know if Dakota’s safe, or what happened when my dad met Gisborne.’
‘Did you try to contact them?’
‘Dad hasn’t replied to the message I sent, which is no surprise since he thinks I betrayed him. Dakota got a phone when she started at Locksley High, but she smashed her first one and lost the second. Now Dad says she can’t have a phone until she learns to look after her stuff.’
‘Oluchi thinks they’ll both be OK, at least while Gisborne is running for sheriff,’ Robin said. ‘And because your mum has an important job down in Capital City.’
Alan thumped both arms of his chair and tried to explain his frustration. ‘It’s like I’ve lived my whole life one way. Then everything got ripped apart in three days.’
Robin smiled. ‘That sounds very familiar. When the rebels rescued me a year ago, my dad had been thrown in jail and I had no idea where Little John had disappeared to.’
‘Can I use your bath?’ Alan asked. ‘I’m grubby from the quad bike and a soak might help me to chill out.’
‘Makes sense,’ Robin said. ‘I’ll start your bath while I shower and clean my cut. I hate baths, but you can go ask Karma or Indio. They have bath salts and fancy oils. Or there’s Baby Shark bubble bath for your inner child.’
Ten minutes later, Alan was checking the temperature of his bath water while Robin stood in front of his mirror in shorts and a T-shirt, gently towelling his hair to avoid reopening his cut.
‘Play music if you like,’ Robin told his friend. ‘There’s a wireless speaker on the shelf. Press and hold the red button on top to pair it with your phone.’
‘For sure,’ Alan said, as the penthouse doorbell chimed.
Three-year-old Finn opened the giant door, yelled, ‘You can’t come in!’ then ran off squealing with laughter.
‘Finn, don’t be cheeky,’ Indio said, stepping into the hallway as Robin peeked out of his room and saw Emma Scarlock and Mr Khan with a giant dressing above one eye.
‘Oh balls!’ Robin gasped, as he frantically picked socks and trousers off the floor. ‘I don’t need this now . . .’
Alan leaned out of the bathroom with no shirt on. ‘What’s up?’
‘I’m gonna get a long lecture from four grown-ups if I stick around,’ Robin explained, as he pulled on the trousers and scooped up a backpack, coat and boots.
‘You’ll have to face them eventually,’ Alan pointed out.
‘But not tonight,’ Robin said, as he took another peek into the hallway. ‘I’m knackered.’
Robin was pleased to see Indio leading Mr Khan and Emma Scarlock out of the hallway and into the living room.
‘When Sheriff Marjorie built this place, she had an escape hatch put in,’ Robin explained, stuffing his laptop and some other gear down his backpack ‘There’s a hole behind the wardrobe in the middle bedroom. If anyone asks, I left five minutes ago.’
Alan wasn’t comfortable lying to adults he’d only just met. ‘I’m locking the door, turning up the music and getting in the bath.’
Robin decided it was safest to leave now and put his socks, jacket and boots on after he’d escaped into the service corridor. He hopped out into the hallway with his stuff bundled in his arms and shot towards the door of the middle bedroom, which was shared by Matt, Otto and Finn.
‘Good evening,’ Will Scarlock said loudly from behind.
Robin dropped half his stuff and spun around to see Will entering through the main door.
‘Hey,’ Robin said weakly.
‘Robin Hood couldn’t possibly be trying to sneak out,’ Will said sarcastically. ‘Because I know he’s a better person than that.’
‘I . . .’ Robin spluttered, picking up the balled socks that had rolled across the floor. ‘Just putting my dirty gear in the laundry room.’
This lie didn’t hold up because Robin wore boots and a backpack. Indio was even less impressed by Robin’s half-assed escape attempt as she came out of the living room to greet Will.
‘Dress fast and get in the living room,’ she growled.
‘I have to meet Tybalt in town.’ Robin squirmed.
‘We know you do,’ Will said. ‘I’ve arranged transport – for after this discussion about your education.’
Robin felt defeated. He moaned to Alan while he got dressed in his room, then scowled at the floor as he crossed the hallway. One living-room chair had been set in front of the huge fireplace for Robin. Mr Khan, Will, Emma and Karma sat on a pair of sofas facing him, and Indio joined the line-up after shooing away Finn and Matt, who were trying to listen at the door.
After an awkward silence, Robin spoke first. ‘Get it over with, then. Gang up and tell me what a terrible person I am.’
Mr Khan shot to his feet and gesticulated with both arms. ‘There, you see?’ he howled. ‘That’s Robin’s attitude. He thinks school is a joke and shows adults zero respect.’
To Robin’s surprise, Indio snapped back at Mr Khan. ‘In Robin’s defence, the call he tried to answer was from his friend. Alan would now be alone in the dark, wandering dangerous Capital City streets if Robin hadn’t helped.’
Karma looked at Mr Khan and backed up her partner. ‘Sometimes a little flexibility and common sense does no harm.’
Robin fought the urge to grin as Mr Khan pointed at the dressing over his eye. ‘I can’t have this!’ he roared. ‘My teaching staff work long hours for no money. Every pupil must stick to the same rules and show respect. The other kids can’t see special treatment for the famous Robin Hood.’
Emma Scarlock stood up, put herself between the two sofas and tried to sound diplomatic. ‘I thought we had an agreement to present a united front now that Robin is here,’ she began. ‘School Zone will implement a new policy where pupils can leave their phone on, but only if they notify staff that they are expecting an urgent call.’
‘Strictly in exceptional circumstances,’ Mr Khan added grudgingly. ‘Not every time Robin decides something is important.’
‘Of course.’ Karma nodded, then looked sternly at Robin. ‘This morning’s incident was regrettable, but I’m more concerned with Robin skipping lessons and not doing his homework.’
