Free Blood Sun by David Gilman Page A

It would take at least six hours of hard slog to get to the nearest railway station, which could be either Exeter or Plymouth. Could any of these boys hack that in these conditions ? Morgan wondered.
    She scanned the files on Max Gordon. Definitely, was the answer she came up with. In two hours she had looked at everything to do with Max Gordon. There was no direct relationship or even friendship noted between him and Danny Maguire, and that was confirmed by Jackson. She sweet-talked half the boys who would have told her anything had they known, but the boy who had fought with Max, Baskins, was worth interviewing.
    Charlotte watched as Baskins straddled her bike. Its bodycontour demanded a low-profile riding position. Baskins could see himself screaming along at 150. Wait till he told Hoggart about the babe on the bike.
    He’d realized he’d dropped Max in it when he mentioned the khipu. She had smiled and turned away. She’d lured him in and trapped him. The bike didn’t feel that great anymore.
    Charlotte Morgan declined to speak to Gordon’s best friend, Sayid, until she had more information about him. She needed a lever. Now the information had been downloaded. No more Miss Cool Nice Person.
    Sayid and his mother sat in Mr. Jackson’s office.
    “Why has he run, Sayid?” Charlie asked.
    “I don’t know,” he answered.
    “Mr. Jackson told me he might have been expecting a letter or a package. Did he get anything?”
    “I checked the postal deliveries myself. Nothing came for Max,” Jackson told her.
    “Sayid, I’m here to help Max. There are some dangerous people out there who might want to hurt him.”
    Sayid shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know anything. Max keeps things to himself.”
    “Then where did he get the khipu?”
    Baskins! Sayid couldn’t believe the oaf had blabbed. Well, actually he could.
    “I don’t know. He just had it.”
    She looked at the laptop screen. “You and your mother were rescued by your late father’s friend, Max’s dad.”
    Sayid’s mother looked worried, and Mr. Jackson placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” he said.
    “Sayid’s father was a vital link for work that was being done in the Middle East. It was his good standing that allowed Tom Gordon to get Sayid and his mother into this country.” She paused and made a quiet but pointed comment. “I don’t know just how secure that status is or whether there is a case for deportation.”
    Sayid’s mother pushed her hand against her lips. Sayid looked panicked. Exactly what Charlie wanted.
    “That’s a terrible threat to make to this family. How dare you. I’ll speak to Ridgeway about your behavior. He offered help, not intimidation!” Jackson said.
    The girl was unperturbed. “You can do whatever you want, Mr. Jackson, but since you contacted my boss, he’s had a lot of heat put on him from people in our own government. He’s been told not to get involved in this matter. A boy’s death on the London Underground has now triggered something entirely different, and we don’t know what it is. Mr. Ridgeway does not like being squeezed by faceless bureaucrats. We’re the ones who are supposed to know everything. We’re the spooks. So I want information and I want it quickly. This now has as much to do with Max Gordon as it does with Danny Maguire’s death. He knew something important, and we want to know what.”
    She looked at Sayid.
    “You can save your mother a lot of heartache if you tell me.”
    Keep them guessing for a few hours, yeah ? Then give it to them . Max’s voice in his head calmed Sayid’s anxiety.
    “I’ve got his laptop,” Sayid said.
    Robert Ridgeway listened to his field agent. Max Gordon had broken into Jackson’s safe—and how did the kid ever do that?—and taken his passport from a place called the vault. He had also made a dozen online inquiries about flights to Peru, which was where khipus came from. Trouble