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
Julius felt sick as Simeon banged down the stairs. For half a second, he planned to storm his mother’s office and yell at her. But that would need suicidal bravery, so he bolted for his room, sick with angst as he leapt into clean shorts and tugged a Ralph Lauren polo over his head.
‘Julius, where have you run to?’ he heard his mother shout. ‘When I ask to see you, I mean right now!’
‘Coming, Ma,’ Julius yelled back.
I am so screwed …
Julius drained his Coke, then skidded as he charged down the hall to his mother’s office. Gabe watched the unfolding drama through stair rails and the ten-year-old made a noose gesture as Julius aimed a knock.
‘Come,’ his mother blasted. ‘Get here, be still in this chair!’
Julius felt chilled air from a ceiling-mounted unit. Apparently, the solar panels were generating enough energy to keep the most important person in the house cool … After settling in the chair, Julius’s eyes were drawn towards the centre of his mother’s elaborately carved desk: house keys, a Mercedes plipper and Simeon’s ID badges for the governor’s mansion and state parliament.
Bunmi Adebisi shared her middle son’s height and looming posture. A pink-and-gold gele and floor-length dress of the same fabric gave her the air of a vast flamingo as she settled into a throne-like chair, then took big gulps from a glass of Guinness.
Julius’s mother wore similar traditional clothes in photographs on the wall behind. They showed her posing alongside Nollywood actors, footballers and army chiefs. Pride of place went to a photo taken at the Nigerian Embassy in London, in which Bunmi wore a patriotic green and yellow headdress and towered over then-Presidents, Jonathan of Nigeria and Obama of the United States. The photos were full of smiles but reminded anyone who came that they were dealing with a serious and well-connected person.
‘My son,’ Bunmi began as she topped up her Guinness from a large bottle. ‘What is this nonsense with the school today? Giving Simeon the slip when I pay him to protect you.’
She knew something if she’d fired Simeon. But Julius still began with a vague lie. ‘I had an after-school meeting, in the library. My friend’s father drove me home.’
‘Really, really?’ she said, leaning forward and locking chunky-ringed fingers together. ‘Then why am I hearing other things, from your brother?’
Gabe, you little …
‘A boy who knows Kehinde and Taiwo saw you by the girls’ college. He says you rode away on a scooter with a notorious homosexual.’
‘That’s craziness,’ Julius insisted, sensing big trouble but pleased it wasn’t Gabe that had snitched.
‘Taiwo said you’re spending all your breaks with this boy, Damola Balogun.’
Duke’s real name sounded peculiar from his mother’s mouth.