Chapters (88)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dear Reader …
- Also by Robert Muchamore
- PART ONE
- Walter J Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- PART TWO
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART THREE
- Walter J. Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- PART FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- EPILOGUE
- Discover more books and sign up to the Robert Muchamore mailing list at muchamore.com
- Have you read KILLER T?
- 1 SLASHED RUBBER
- 2 NOT HARRY POTTER
‘Nobody has outsmarted her yet,’ Julius observed.
‘Agreed,’ SJ said, laughing proudly. ‘Right now our family must pull together and focus on the tasks we have been given. Yes?’
‘I’ll get right on it,’ Julius said.
He resented this sudden call on his loyalty. He’d been exiled to a lonely existence thousands of miles from home. He was only being involved in family business out of desperation and a big part of him would have delighted in telling Uncle Simon to go screw himself. But Julius depended on his family for everything from school fees to pocket money, and getting on his uncle’s good side might significantly increase his chances of being allowed a visit home.
Julius called Eddie, who said the West African Development Bank’s London branch didn’t open on Saturdays, but that he’d meet him there in an hour.
Julius was gobbled by curiosity as he ran down to the basement safe, opened the heavy walk-in door, then followed SJ’s explanation, lifting out three metal shelves that braced a panel concealing the second keypad. After a whirr of bolts, a hook fitted into a porthole to raise a heavy panel in the safe floor. The area below was the size of a child’s mattress.
Document wallets were difficult to fish through the small opening, even with Julius’s gangly arms. He carefully ticked off his checklist of bank documents, bond certificates and an opaque plastic folder labelled Emergency Instructions.
After closing the floor compartment, Julius counted out Eddie’s £1,000 bundles, and decided he deserved five for himself.
SJ’s in-laws had arrived back from lunch. They glowered at Julius as he jogged outside with twenty thousand and a stack of documents in a backpack. He decided an Uber straight to the bank was safest, but then spent forty awkward minutes seeing muggers everywhere as he waited outside the shuttered bank.
‘So sorry,’ Eddie said, in a polite Ivorian accent as he stepped off a hire bike and shook Julius’s hand. ‘It was difficult finding a sitter to look after my daughters.’
After pushing up the bank’s metal shutter and unlocking a door, Eddie led Julius into a musty space with burst foam sofas, peeling carpet and missing ceiling tiles.
‘This branch does little business,’ Eddie explained. ‘It is mostly here so WADB can have a UK banking licence.’
Eddie switched on a dusty Dell and offered a hot drink as Julius settled into an office chair. While the antique PC booted up, Eddie fetched two coffees and a filing trolley.
‘How long will this take?’ Julius asked.
‘Two to three hours,’ Eddie guessed as he unzipped the emergency instructions wallet and licked his finger before flipping a page.
After a moment’s browsing and a few marks with a highlighter, Eddie handed Julius a letter signed by his uncle, then a chewed biro and sheets of blank paper.