Free Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie Page A

here.
    ‘Hey, Jake,’ I said fiercely. ‘Why don’t you—?’
    ‘Theo.’ I looked round. Max was standing in the doorway, grinning. ‘I’ve done it. Come and see.’
    We followed Max upstairs to her room.
    ‘Richard Smith had deleted the email but I found it on the hard drive,’ Max explained. ‘He used a standard one hundred and twenty-eight-bit symmetric encryption.’
    I stared blankly at her.
    ‘High end for a domestic user, but fairly straightforward.’ She ran over to the computer and jiggled the mouse. ‘Look.’
    Rachel, Jake and I lined up next to each other, peering over her shoulder at the email on the screen.
    Apollo was here. In my house. I’m sure it was him. He came in with Artemis. She said they’d met by chance. But there’s no way this is a coincidence. He was asking about that time. About James Lawson.
    You know how dangerous this is. We have to stop anyone finding out about Artemis.
    What should I do?
    The email ended by giving the false name and school I’d told to Rachel’s parents.
    My heart thudded. Apollo? Was that me? Why was Mr Smith referring to me by some weird code name? And what did ‘that time’ refer to?
    ‘Well, that makes sense.’ Jake snorted.
    I glanced at Rachel. ‘D’you understand any of it?’
    Rachel shrugged. She was staring intently at the email. ‘Well Apollo is obviously you. And Artemis must be me. But why? And what is there to find out about me?’ She paused. ‘It would help if we knew what the names meant. I mean, Apollo and Artemis are two of the Greek gods, obviously, but . . .’ She bit her lip.
    Max twisted round. ‘Obviously,’ she mouthed up at me, sarcastically.
    ‘Gods of what?’ I said, ignoring Max.
    Rachel shook her head. ‘I don’t know.’ She hesitated, like there was something on her mind she wasn’t saying.
    ‘Okay.’ I took a deep breath. ‘Well, we can look up about the gods on the internet. But maybe the whole thing will make sense if we know who your dad was sending the email to. Who this Lewis is.’
    ‘I already checked that out,’ Max said. ‘The recipient’s email address is masked but I’ve got the header. Lewis Michael. He’s working out of an ordinary domestic account. But I ran a check on the name and I’m almost sure he’s connected to this organisation called RAGE. Quite a high-ranking member, I reckon. Does that help?’
    My mind flickered back to the newspaper report I’d found on the internet at the library. RAGE. The Righteous Army against Genetic Engineering. The same group who’d blown up the clinic where Dad worked. Who’d killed nine people and sent Dad into hiding.
    ‘What is it, Theo?’ Rachel said.
    I caught Jake’s eye. I could see he was remembering the newspaper article too.
    ‘RAGE is this extreme group that’s against genetic research,’ I said. ‘This extremely violent group. They blew up that clinic your dad and mine both worked in.’
    ‘But why’s my dad emailing them?’ Rachel frowned at me. I saw this awful look of realisation dawn in her eyes. ‘You don’t think he’s . . .? He couldn’t be.’
    Long pause.
    ‘He wasn’t there that day. At the clinic.’ My voice sounded strained.
    The whole world seemed to shrink to Rachel’s horrified eyes. Like we both knew the truth and neither of us wanted to face it.
    But we had to.
    ‘Your dad was the only person who worked at the clinic who survived the firebomb without becoming a RAGE target,’ I said flatly.
    ‘That doesn’t mean . . .’ Rachel’s eyes widened. ‘You can’t be saying my dad was involved in killing all those people?’
    I looked at a spot on the wall next to her face.
    ‘But your dad was there,’ she whispered. ‘You’re saying my dad killed your dad.’
    There was a horrible silence. I knew Rachel was staring at me. I couldn’t meet her eyes.
    Then Jake put his arm round her shoulders.
    ‘No way, babe,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Didn’t Theo tell you? His dad’s still