Free Fractured by Teri Terry Page A

first found Lucy on MIA. Can they find Ben?
    Amy starts babbling about all the gossip from the doctor’s surgery yesterday. I tune out, but then something grabs my attention.
    ‘Amy, what was that?’ I ask, not sure I heard right; not sure I want to.
    ‘You know that man I told you about, the one they found beaten up who was in a coma? He woke up in hospital.’
    My heart skips a beat, an actual fluttering feeling deep in my chest.
    Try to sound casual .
    ‘Has he said anything? About what happened to him?’
    ‘He was pretty out of it, according to the surgery nurse whose friend works at the hospital. Might have amnesia from his head injuries. Lorders came to talk to him, but gave up because he made no sense.’
    Tell Nico!
    But then what will happen? After he has finished being completely furious it is the first he has heard of it. After he gets over me not telling him about Wayne’s attack when he asked what triggered the return of my memories. Wayne is a risk: if he talks about what I did, Lorders will come for me. Nico will have him dealt with, one way or another. Dealt with means dead. And then he’ll deal with me.
    I’m not doing it.
    My instincts protest against taking such a risk. But wait, and see: maybe Wayne won’t remember anything.
    Maybe, he will .
    That afternoon we file into the hall for Year 11 Assembly. Everyone takes their seats without fuss, and it is pin-drop quiet. Up front stands the reason: Lorders.
    A cold shock of recognition travels down my spine when I glance their way.
    Don’t stare .
    I fight to pull my eyes away. These Lorders, I know: Agent Coulson, and his underling. Coulson’s cold eyes sweep the room and I struggle to avert mine, but they are locked. What is he doing here?
    Coulson is no run of the mill Lorder; he is something more. It was obvious when they came to question me after Ben disappeared. For a start, they’d be careful who they sent when Mum was involved. They’d want to be sure how they dealt with the daughter of the Lorder hero, Wam the Man, Prime Minister before Free UK blew up him and his wife. Mum might not be involved in politics now or exploit her connections in any way I’ve seen, but still: they couldn’t do or say anything that couldn’t be explained if it needed to be. She’d been the only reason, I’m sure, that I hadn’t got hauled off for a less gentle inquisition.
    But, more than that, Coulson exudes careful power. He isn’t just a nasty bully, though I’m sure he would be if an occasion called for it. Everything about him is cold calculation.
    His eyes rest on mine. Pinpricks of sweat break out on my forehead.
    Look away!
    I break the gaze, lower my eyes. Resist the impulse to check, to see if he still stares.
    He’s just a man. A nasty one .
    He would bleed red just like anybody else. He should!
    Assembly begins. The Head drones on about student accomplishment, then sprinkles his usual warnings. His injunction to live up to your potential…or else.
    But I am somewhere else.
    In my mind, it is Coulson who drags Ben’s pain-wracked body away from his mother.
    It is Coulson who holds a lit match. Tosses it to Ben’s house.
    Coulson who plucks Lucy from her family.
    Rage fills me inside: roiling, hot rage. Outside, my face is calm, attentive; inside is something else.
    If I had a gun in my hand, right now, I could raise it. Shoot him. He deserves it. They all do.
    The hard seat under me, the drone of the Head’s voice and the hall full of listening students all fade away. My hands grip cold metal, my eyes take sight, careful aim. Index finger pulls the trigger. A blast of noise, a recoil as the gun slams back in my hands. The bullet flies across the room too fast for normal eyes to follow, but mine watch its progress to target.
    It strikes his chest. His heart explodes: a red wave ripples out in all directions like a stone dropped in still water. He falls.
    I smile, then realise Assembly is over; everyone is filing out of the room. I’d