After everything she had done, the jeopardy she’d placed both him and Evan in with her lies, Frank knew he ought to be glad that she was now suffering. But she was as much a victim in this as he and Evan were, so all he felt was guilt and concern, and he mentally renewed the vow he’d made to her before he’d realized her actual involvement in the take-over. If he ever got out of this – as increasingly unlikely as that was looking – he would do everything in his power to help her to escape from Karel and this life.

41

‘Oi, watch it!’ Jordan King yelped, struggling to keep his balance when his friend banged into him from behind. ‘I’m right on the fuckin’ edge here!’

‘Sorry,’ Keegan Brown sniffed, shoving his glasses further up his nose and peering over the edge. Squinting when the sunlight bounced off the murky water below, he said, ‘Shit, that’s a long way down, Jord. You sure about this?’

‘Yeah, it’ll be sick,’ Jordan grinned. ‘Zack and Leo are planning on doing it Saturday, and they’ll be gutted when we beat ’em to it.’

‘It’s a long drop,’ Keegan said again, stepping back when he experienced a sudden sensation of falling.

‘We ain’t doing it from up here, knobhead,’ Jordan laughed. ‘We’ll go round the side and climb down to that ledge.’ He pointed out a slab of rock jutting out over the water on the opposite side. ‘That’s still high enough to look boss in a vid.’

‘What if we fall?’ Keegan asked.

Jordan peered at him through narrowed eyes.

‘You scared?’

‘No!’

‘Yeah, you are. You’re shitting it.’

‘All right, so maybe I am,’ Keegan admitted. ‘It’s dead muddy, and no one ever comes up here, so we’ll never get found if we slip.’

‘You can swim, can’t you?’

‘Yeah, but that won’t save me if I smash my head on a rock, will it? Come on, man, let’s sack it off and go home.’

‘You can piss off if you want, but I’m doing it,’ said Jordan. ‘Chloe’ll be well impressed when it gets millions of hits.’

‘She’s Decca’s bird,’ Keegan reminded him. ‘And he’ll kick the fuck out of you if he thinks you’re after her.’

‘Whatever,’ Jordan said dismissively. ‘Come on.’

Keegan bit his lip when his friend started kicking a path through the brambles to get to the other side. His instincts were telling him to forget the stupid plan and go home, but Jordan was determined to go ahead with the dive with or without him. And if it went wrong and people found out Keegan had deserted him, he’d get the blame.

‘OK, wait up,’ he shouted. ‘I’ll film you, but I ain’t diving.’

‘Puss-ay!’ Jordan jeered. ‘Pussy, pussy, puss-ay!’