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
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- Have you read KILLER T?
- 1 SLASHED RUBBER
- 2 NOT HARRY POTTER
‘It’s the mass Adebisi exodus,’ Ken explained. ‘Rotimi Rotimi wants a big pay-off from the Adebisi family now he is governor, but SJ is being pig-headed and stubborn. And SJ is immune from prosecution, so it is everyone but him who suffers.
‘Your mother fixed me an excellent job as head of vehicle licensing. After the election, I was replaced by one of Rotimi’s men, as expected. Then I was tipped off by a friend in the police that I was about to be arrested and charged with accepting bribes and negligence in a government post. With two babies just born, we crossed the border to Cameroon. My neighbour says we missed a police raid by less than two hours.’
‘How many others are here?’ Julius asked.
‘Eighteen? Maybe twenty in the house. Others have passed through after a night or two. The ones who made enough money to look after themselves …’
Julius nodded. ‘I was using this room. I had things in the wardrobe …’
Ken ignored this. ‘SJ is so bloody inflexible, I have heard that Rotimi regrets putting your mother in prison. The transition of power would have been mature and amicable with her in control.’
‘That’s interesting,’ Julius said as he looked down at the dried mud stiffening the bottom of his jeans. ‘It’s good to catch up, but I need clean clothes and a shower.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ken said, making a praying gesture. ‘This was the biggest room, and with twins it was ideal for us. My wife, Gladys, put your clothes in plastic bags, but I don’t know where she put them. She is with her gang of friends, in the kitchen.’
Julius passed more kids running on the stairs. Gladys sat in the kitchen, sharing a huge cappuccino cheesecake with five other women. He only knew them vaguely, but three offered hugs and they all wanted to know how his mother was doing.
Julius limply answered, ‘OK, I think,’ before Gladys confirmed that his clothes were in the basement, outside the wine cellar.
The lock on the basement door had been crowbarred off, then wedged with a broom for the sake of kids who slept on foam mattresses spread at the bottom of the stairs. The gym looked pristine, but fancy AV amplifiers had been stripped from racks in the cinema room and bare wires hung in a hole where there had once been a £20,000 video projector.
Julius was relieved to find his clothes in giant white bin liners outside the wine cellar. Helpfully, each had been marked, Clothes. Do NOT trash.
Two skateboards and a Bose speaker stuck out of one bag. There was nothing obviously missing, but it bugged Julius how his stuff had just been thrown in. Ironed shirts wrapped around their hangers. Clean underwear mixed with dirty shoes. It would have taken two minutes extra to bag it up neatly.