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
Georgia didn’t get many messages and didn’t check her phone till she was at the kitchen table with a bowl of Crunchy Nut and News 24 showing scenes from budget demonstrations all over south-east England. There was one missed call and a voicemail. Georgia turned the TV down, so she could hear as the news ticker rolled at the bottom of the screen: Government ministers condemn trouble – Mayor of Haringey has minor burns after being caught by exploding petrol bomb – Thirty-two arrested after shops looted in Barnet – Woolwich budget meeting disbanded after distress flare fills meeting chamber with blue smoke – Tonbridge police officer hospitalised after being hit by missiles …
‘Georgia this is your mother,’ the phone crowed furiously. ‘Auntie Michelle called and told me what happened. Call me back immediately …’
Georgia swore under her breath. Auntie Michelle calling Mum felt like a betrayal. Though, since she was fourteen and her dad was barely conscious, Georgia knew most adults would have done the same.
Then there were written messages. The oldest was a WhatsApp from Maya, Just saw you bundled into police van. BAD GIRL! Hope you OK.
Zac had written, Kamila said you were arrested. SAG has good legal people. Call me when you get home.
Then there was a short, baffling message from Rolf, who wasn’t in Georgia’s contacts. It’s Rolf! Will you still talk to me now you’re famous?
This message had a link at the end and Georgia’s finger hesitated before she dabbed. It took her to the website for the London Met, a morning paper given out in London and at transport hubs in the commuter towns around it.
The headline was: BUDGET BATTLE – Town Halls Erupt in Night of Mayhem. Georgia was stunned to see herself in the photograph that took up the bottom two-thirds of the page. It had been taken as she jumped over the gallery rail in the wrecked council chamber, with two riot cops storming through a door behind.
She remembered feeling terrified of the drop, but the photographer had captured Georgia looking like a crazed revolutionary. She had one fist in the air, and a long lens had compressed perspective, making the riot cops look far closer than they were.
The newest message was sent by Maya minutes before school started. It said Call me when you get out of prison! and came with another photo.
Maya stood in the middle of the picture, holding London Met with the photo of Georgia’s leap on the front cover. Loads of kids grabbed free newspapers at the station before school. A couple of Maya’s girlfriends held copies on either side, as did Rolf’s year-twelve mates behind. Rolf must have taken the photo, and Maya’s little brother Kieran had got in, squatting by the girls’ feet with a copy in each hand.
Georgia’s appetite had been replaced by a gaping mouth and a cannonball in her gut.