Anthony Horowitz - Nightrise

The secret-service men closest to the platform saw the gun.

Somebody screamed. The policeman had taken hold of Alicia but now he turned to see what had happened.

Jamie did the only thing he could do. He knew he was about to make the most terrible decision of his life but he could see no other option.

He gave the order.

Not Trelawny. The woman!

Warren Cornfield fired.

But at the very last moment, he swivelled round and shot directly into the bleachers. His bullet hit Susan Mortlake in the centre of her forehead. She was thrown backwards. And at once everything changed as the crowd went crazy, screaming and struggling to get away, and the entire parade exploded into chaos.

The secret-service people had acted too late but now they moved fast. Two of them threw themselves on top of Trelawny, dragging him to the ground. Two more dealt with Warren Cornfield. If there hadn’t been so many people around, he would have been shot and killed. Instead, they tackled him, knocking him down and disarming him. He didn’t even try to resist. All the life had gone out of his eyes. He didn’t seem to know where he was or what he had just done.

The policeman let go of Alicia. He suspected that she was part of what had just happened but he couldn’t be sure, and his job right now was to try to bring the crowd under control before anyone else was killed. There were people running everywhere, screaming, trying to protect their children. The barriers were being knocked over. The bands had abandoned their instruments and were trying to get out of sight, afraid that there might be more shots. As Jamie watched, Senator Trelawny was led away and thrown into a car as if it was his turn now to be kidnapped. But of course his safety was the first priority. His wife and children were also being bundled out of their seats. The whole family had to be removed from the scene before any more shots were fired.

And what about Scott? He was sitting in the same place and looked dazed, as if he couldn’t quite understand what had happened. Susan Mortlake was next to him, her head flung back, her legs apart. She was quite spectacularly dead. Jamie took advantage of all the confusion around him. The way ahead was clear. He ran forward, leapt over a barrier and crossed the road. A moment later, he was climbing up the bleachers. There was a doctor crouching next to the mayor’s wife, who was screaming, in hysterics. A few people were still in their seats, traumatized, blood-splattered. Jamie ignored them.

Finally he had reached his brother.

“Scott!”

Scott turned but didn’t recognize him and that was when Jamie knew how much had been done to him, how badly he had been hurt.

He didn’t know what to do. He felt a burning in his throat. He had dreamed of the moment when he would find his brother again but he had never expected it to be like this.

And then a woman he didn’t know came up to him. Jamie glanced at her only briefly, taking in her dark red hair and expensive clothes. But she seemed to know him. “Are you Jamie Tyler?” she asked.

He didn’t know what to say. He just wanted her to leave him alone.

“You don’t know me, but I’m a friend of John Trelawny.” She had to shout to make herself heard above all the confusion. “My name is Nathalie Johnson. I was here today as his guest but I’ve been looking for you. For both of you…”

“My brother…” Jamie could only think of Scott.

The woman nodded. “Please. Trust me. I can help you. We have to get you both away.”

On the other side of the street, the policeman who had been about to arrest Alicia was making connections. He had worked out that he knew the boy from the car. He was the boy who was wanted in Nevada – the one who had shot his uncle. And there he was on the bleachers, talking to someone, right next to the woman who had been shot.

The policeman didn’t understand what was going on. There was too much going on to understand. But one thing was certain. The boy was a wanted felon.

He picked up his radio and began to talk.

There was no time to think and there was so much they needed to do. Nearly everyone had left the bleachers by now, desperate to get away from the sprawled-out corpse of the woman who had been shot. At the same time, police and paramedics had arrived and taken charge. They had no interest in Scott, who was still sitting there, staring ahead of him. There were some spots of bright red blood on his white shirt.

“Was he with her?” one of the paramedics asked. The boy looked as though he was in shock. Maybe it was his mother who had been killed.

“No,” Nathalie replied. “He’s with me.” She turned to Jamie. “We have to get him out of here,” she said.

“Scott!” Jamie crouched beside his brother. Scott had blocked him out before but if he saw him, if he heard his voice, maybe it would be different. “It’s me… Jamie. It’s all right now. Nightrise is finished. They’ve closed Silent Creek. I’ve been looking all over the place for you but I’m here. Everything’s going to be OK.”

Something passed very briefly through Scott’s eyes – perhaps a flicker of recognition. He opened his mouth and tried to speak but no words came. Jamie turned to Nathalie Johnson and there were tears in his eyes. “What have they done to him?” he cried. “What have they done?”

Between them they helped Scott to his feet and carried him with them. He moved like a sleepwalker, not resisting but seemingly unaware of where he was going. Alicia was waiting for them at the bottom of the bleachers, with Daniel. She hadn’t been able to come any closer. She couldn’t expose her eleven-year-old son to the sight of the dead woman.

“Jamie! Scott!” She didn’t know what to say.

“Are you Alicia McGuire?” Nathalie asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s all right. I’m a friend. John told me about you.”

“Who are you?” Alicia asked.

Nathalie looked around her. The streets were emptying rapidly, people scattering in all directions. Soon there would only be policemen left. “We can’t talk here,” she said. “We have to get these boys on their way.”

“On their way where?”

“Alicia…!” It was already too late. Jamie pointed. The policeman with the moustache was striding purposefully towards them. He had unfastened his holster and his hand was on his gun.

“Tyler.” The single word was an accusation. The policeman stood with his legs slightly apart, like a cowboy in an old film.

“Jamie Tyler. Right?”

“No.” Jamie looked him straight in the eyes and pushed.

“Jamie Tyler was here but he’s gone. You’ve missed him. And now you’ve got to help all these people. You’re not interested in us.”

The policeman frowned as if he hadn’t quite heard what Jamie had said. Then he relaxed. “You’re right. I’ve got to help these people.” He turned round and walked away.

Nathalie Johnson stared, not sure what she had seen. But Alicia understood. Jamie had done the same thing when they were trapped in Don White’s house in Sparks. Even so, she shivered. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like for a fourteen-year-old to have so much power.

She turned to Nathalie. “Listen to me,” she said. “We’re not going anywhere until we know who you are.”

“I’m Nathalie Johnson.”

The name meant something. Alicia had seen it in the news.

“Computers?” she asked. “Are you that Nathalie Johnson?”

“Yes.”

“You helped the senator. You did a couple of fundraisers last year…”

“Yes. But that’s not why I’m here.” Nathalie stopped. The policeman with the moustache had disappeared but she had no doubt that others would soon arrive. They had been lucky that he had decided to make the arrest on his own – but he would surely have put out an alert before he moved in. “I have a car very near here,” she said. “Will you come with me at least that far? I’ll tell you the rest once we’re on the way.”