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Chapters (88)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dear Reader …
  4. Also by Robert Muchamore
  5. PART ONE
  6. Walter J Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. PART TWO
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. PART THREE
  47. Walter J. Freeman Adolescent Mental Health Unit – East Grinstead, UK
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. FIFTY
  60. FIFTY-ONE
  61. FIFTY-TWO
  62. FIFTY-THREE
  63. FIFTY-FOUR
  64. PART FOUR
  65. FIFTY-FIVE
  66. FIFTY-SIX
  67. FIFTY-SEVEN
  68. FIFTY-EIGHT
  69. FIFTY-NINE
  70. SIXTY
  71. SIXTY-ONE
  72. SIXTY-TWO
  73. SIXTY-THREE
  74. SIXTY-FOUR
  75. SIXTY-FIVE
  76. SIXTY-SIX
  77. SIXTY-SEVEN
  78. SIXTY-EIGHT
  79. SIXTY-NINE
  80. SEVENTY
  81. SEVENTY-ONE
  82. SEVENTY-TWO
  83. SEVENTY-THREE
  84. EPILOGUE
  85. Discover more books and sign up to the Robert Muchamore mailing list at muchamore.com
  86. Have you read KILLER T?
  87. 1 SLASHED RUBBER
  88. 2 NOT HARRY POTTER

Duke trembled as one of the thugs crouched, feeling his pockets for a phone or wallet.

‘I was just taking the rubbish down,’ Duke said.

‘We lost because of scum like your uncle, writing lies,’ Collins growled.

‘Didn’t know you could read,’ Duke spat.

‘Comedian,’ Collins snorted, then grabbed a handful of Duke’s Afro and knocked his head against the post.

Duke flinched as Collins lined up his fist. But Collins pulled back.

‘Look at how scared he is,’ Collins boasted to his pals, then touched his nose. ‘This is what his boyfriend did to me.’

Duke felt piss trickle down his leg as Collins pulled a phone. He opened the camera app and switched to video before passing it to a pal.

‘Record this,’ Collins told him. ‘A special message for cousin Julius.’

The guy looked confused, and Collins leaned over and tutted.

‘It starts when you press the red circle.’

Duke glanced left and right. He wondered if he should scream or try to run.

‘Good afternoon, my cousin,’ Collins said cheerfully as the other guy filmed. ‘I hope that British weather isn’t getting you down. Perhaps you’ve got yourself a skinny white boyfriend for your sickening needs.’

Duke’s mouth gaped as Collins popped the leather strap over his holstered knife.

‘We should do this inside by the cages,’ one of the goons warned. ‘The blood’s gonna spray.’

‘Come on,’ Duke said, making a praying gesture as the huge blade caught the sunlight. ‘What have I ever done to you?’

Then Collins plunged the knife into his heart.

FIFTY-THREE

The low-slung building, with circular windows and silver-grey cladding, looked more like a leisure centre than Britain’s highest-security court. It was noon, but no case had begun in the twelve courtrooms, because lawyers, court staff and jurors were trapped on the wrong side of four thousand rowdy protestors.

Some banners referred to the Bank Seven: Zac, Elodie, Wendy, Georgia, Kamila, Gerard and his sister Pippa, who’d leaked the prime minister’s confidential schedule. But it was the fifteen-year-old drone pilot who’d captured the public’s imagination and the majority simply said FREE GEORGIA.

A beautiful girl setting the prime minister’s head on fire was a global story. Twenty satellite vans and support trucks clogged the car park of the prison across the street. Sky and BBC had brought truck-mounted mini studios. Their open backs overlooked the crowd blocking the court’s main gate, and teams of production assistants battled protestors, who kept running up and thumping fists and banners on the glass.

The newsreader in Sky’s mini studio was helping a sixteen-year-old clip a microphone to her school blazer, while a protester behind swayed a banner that read: Give Pack a Medal, Not a Prison Sentence.

The news director counted the seconds for the noon headlines to end, and silently mouthed Go, as the newsreader finished sorting the girl’s microphone and settled back into his seat.