5
Luke couldn’t settle at school on Monday.
His mother had been reluctant to let him go. He’d been off since his father had died, and he’d be off again tomorrow for the funeral. There didn’t seem much point turning up for just one day.
“Going to school’s normal,” he’d said to her eventually. “I want normal.”
Everyone seemed to have their own way of handling his return. Jude and Harry and a few others wanted to know how he was, some carefully avoided the subject of what had happened, some even seemed to pretend he wasn’t there.
He hadn’t said anything to Alfie about looking at more of their father’s files. He’d wanted to tell him that there was some kind of danger, but couldn’t work out how to do so. Alfie had a kind of authority about him sometimes. When he got like that it wasn’t easy to go against him...
So Luke had bottled everything up, tried to lose himself by returning to his life, returning to normal.
He lasted until lunchtime, drifting through Maths and History revision classes on autopilot. But then normal just upped and left and he was back in a now that was becoming ever more strange.
~
Heading out of the History class, tagging along with Beth and Harry, trying to remember how to join in with the chat and joking, he was stopped by Mr Jenkins.
“Luke. A minute?”
Luke waited until the rest of the class had dispersed.
“Good to see you back, Luke. How are you doing?”
“Fine.” He looked longingly at the door. He didn’t need this kind of attention.
“Just had a message through for you. Mrs Piotrowski would like to see you. Room 5N7.”
Luke shrugged, turned, left the room. He really could do without any of this. He only wanted a normal day. Was that too much to ask for?
Mrs Piotrowski was one of the deputy heads and Room 5N7 was her office in the Admin block. She was a big, motherly woman, heavily involved in student support and community programmes. Luke really didn’t want a friendly, supportive chat with her. Not at all.
He almost didn’t go, but he knew that if Mrs Piotrowski had decided he needed her attention then she would relentlessly track him down like a rather large and slow predator.
He paused before the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.
“Come in,” said a man’s voice, which Luke half-recognised from somewhere.
He went in and saw Mr Mahmood sitting at Mrs Piotrowski’s desk. There was no sign of the deputy head. Luke eyed the door. What was going on? What did they want of him?
“Luke. Please come in. Sit, sit. There. There’s nothing to be concerned about. I just wanted to take this opportunity for a little chat. That’s all. How are you?”
Luke ignored the question. He considered remaining standing too, but then lowered himself into one of the two chairs across the desk from Mr Mahmood. All he wanted was a quiet life. He would do whatever he needed to do to get rid of this rather intrusive man who was something to do with his father’s old job.
Then he pulled himself up. He thought of what he had seen in his father’s files, the inside knowledge of atrocities.
This was no game. He could not close his eyes and hope it would go away.
He studied Mr Mahmood’s features, waiting for him to speak. He must have called Luke here for a reason, after all.
The man had dark brown skin, with a golden warmth to it. His moustache was neat and thick, flecked with silver, and the sheen of stubble on his jaw gave that part of his face a blueish hue. His dark eyes were fixed on Luke, and again Luke thought of predators and prey, and that made him wonder how he could be in this position when his father had just died and he really shouldn’t have people giving him a hard time like this.
“I brought this back for you,” said Mr Mahmood, spreading a hand to gesture at the folded laptop on Mrs Piotrowski’s desk. Luke hadn’t noticed the computer, but now he realised it was his father’s old laptop. “I pulled a few strings. The Ministry has no use for a previously-owned computer, after all. I had to get one of the technicians to wipe it and reinstall things for you, but I thought you might like it back.”
Luke looked from the laptop to Mr Mahmood. “Thanks,” he said. “I hadn’t expected... to get it back.”
The man from the Ministry smiled. “I got our tech guy to put a better graphics card in it for you too. Better for games, eh?”
Luke smiled back. He couldn’t work out what was going on. This man had been a colleague of his father’s. He was probably just being nice. But everything about Mr Mahmood’s manner suggested that being nice wasn’t something he was used to. That was probably just a reflection of the kind of business his father had been involved in, though...
Which reminded him again that he needed to tread carefully here. He didn’t want to get dragged into anything.
He wanted normal again.
“Your father...” said Mr Mahmood, and Luke knew immediately that he wasn’t going to get his wish. “His work exposed him to risk.”
Luke raised his eyebrows. It would have been rude to say, Well, duuh, but... well, duh.
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry,” said Mr Mahmood, clearly realising that he had just stated the particularly obvious. “But that is a truth for those of us who do what we do in the War Against Terror. Your father: we think they were targeting him. We think that may be why they planted the bomb at the dinner.”
Luke stared. “All those people...? To get Dad?”
Mr Mahmood dipped his head. “I know,” he said.
“But why?”
“The motivations of the group that targeted your father are not clear,” said Mr Mahmood. “But they seem to believe that he would have had a pivotal role to play in some future event. And they have demonstrated that they will stop at nothing to get what they want.”
Luke nodded, and Mr Mahmood fell silent. “So, erm, is that it?” said Luke after a time. Then he added, “Thanks for the laptop.”
Mr Mahmood nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I think that is it for now. I just wanted to reassure you that we are doing all we can to track these people down, and until we do we will make sure that you and your family are protected. Do you understand?”
Luke nodded, then stopped. “But why would we need protecting?” he asked, remembering his father’s note saying that he had “to keep the boys safe”.
“Normal procedure,” said Mr Mahmood. “Please do not be concerned by our precautions.”
Luke shrugged. “Have you told Alfie and Mum all this?” he asked.
That seemed to throw Mr Mahmood for a moment. “No... not yet. But we will. I told you because I happened to be here to give you the laptop.”
Luke stared out of the window. Groups of students were milling about in the sunshine, making the most of their lunch break.
Why him? Why give him special treatment?
He was getting paranoid. Mistrusting everything.
Mr Mahmood was just one of his father’s old colleagues, rather clumsily trying to help the family. That was all.
“Thank you,” said Luke. “Can I go now?”
“Just one more thing,” said Mr Mahmood. “Here is my card. It has all of my contact details. They are in the laptop’s address book, too. If there is anything you think I should know, if anything out of the ordinary occurs... anything... I want you to contact me. I am available at any time, night or day. Do you understand?”
Luke took the card and nodded.
“Good,” said Mr Mahmood. “Then yes, that is all for now. Take care, Luke. And remember that we are your friends.”
Luke stood, took the laptop and left the office.
Luke went.
He went right away from school.
He’d had enough for today.
He slid the laptop into his school bag, slung it over his shoulder and walked out of the Admin block and along the path to the top gates. He passed a bunch of kids he knew by the burger van, but ignored them and kept going.
Soon he was on the bridleway that led to the common. It was a 40 minute walk to get home from here, but it was a lovely day and he preferred the thought of the fresh air and sunshine and birdsong to a ride on a stuffy bus.
After a time he stopped, and went to sit on a grassy bank by the stream. He had the afternoon to kill, no hurry to get home. He found a Crunchie in his bag. It was lunchtime, after all.
Was he being paranoid?
He had seen some secret files and now he was reading the worst into every situation. That was all.
He took his phone out and texted Alice:
Hey A. Guess what? Just walked out of school. Get me!! Mamood was there. Gives me creeps. Said dad was killed. They murdered all those people just to get him. What dyou think?
She answered almost immediately:
U ok? wnt me 2 cm an find u? hugz
She’d do that, he knew.
No. Thanks. You’d get in trouble. I won’t. I’ll just get sympathy and understanding right now ;-)
He took his bottle of water out of his bag and drank. A few seconds later, Alice replied:
U bothered by him? Daddy said lst nite thr ws some1 askin qs bout yr family. Snded lik M. Snooping. Y all this going on? wot they hopin 2 find?
Luke started to key an answer: he didn’t know what they were looking for, but he half-suspected that even they didn’t really know. Then his phone buzzed again with a new message.
It wasn’t from Alice this time, though. The message had been sent from an unknown number. For a moment Luke wondered if it was the school. Did they have his number? He opened the message and read:
Luke. Please don’t be alarmed. We are your friends. We wish to protect you. Your safety is important, but you are at risk. Don’t trust Mahmood.
Luke glanced around. He couldn’t help himself. The bridleway was deserted. The only sign of human activity was the distant buzz of the main road and a small aeroplane in the distance. He returned to the message:
You are special, Luke. History shows us that you will be special. History turns upon your safety. Take very special care. We will make contact again, but even sending this message is risky right now.
Luke stared at the message.
He remembered setting off for the school bus this morning, just wanting normal.
And he wondered if he would ever have normal again.