Free Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz Page B

escaped from the factory. But now I was trapped. The moment they looked at my passport, they would know I had lied to them. I should have been watching out for them from the start. Now that I looked around me, I realized that there were policemen everywhere. The entrance to the station was crawling with them. Obviously. The police would know what had happened at Estrov. They would have been told that two boys had escaped. They had been warned to look out for us at every station in the area . . . and I had simply walked into their arms.
    “I don’t have them,” I stammered. I put a stupid look on my face, as if I didn’t realize how serious it was to be out without ID. “They’re at home.”
    It might have worked. I was only fourteen and looked young for my age. But maybe the policemen had been given my description. Maybe one of the helicopter pilots had managed to take my photograph as he flew overhead. Either way, they knew. I could see it in their eyes, the way they glanced at each other. They were only in their twenties, at the start of their careers, and this was a huge moment for them. It could lead to a promotion, a pay raise, their names in the newspaper. They had just scored big-time. They had me.
    “You will come with us,” the first policeman said.
    “But I’ve done nothing wrong. My mother will be worried.” Why was I even bothering? Neither of them believed me.
    “No arguments,” the second man snapped.
    I had no choice. If I argued, if I tried to run, they would grab me and call for backup. I would be bundled into a police van before I could blink. It was better, for the moment, to stick with them. At least they weren’t armed. And if they were determined to bring me into the police station themselves, there might still be an opportunity for me to get away. The building could be on the other side of town. By going with them, I would at least buy myself a little time to think of a way out of this.
    We walked slowly and all the time I was thinking, my eyes darting about, adding up the possibilities. There were plenty of people around. The working day was coming to an end and they were on their way home. But they wouldn’t help me. They wouldn’t want to get involved. I glanced back at the two policemen, who were walking about two steps behind me. What was it that I had noticed about them? They had clearly been pleased they had caught me, no question of that—but at the same time they were nervous. Well, that was understandable. This was a big deal for them.
    But there was something else. They were nervous for another reason. I saw it now. They were walking very carefully, close enough to grab me if I tried to escape but not so close that that could actually touch me. Why the distance between me and them? Why hadn’t they put handcuffs on me? Why were they giving me even the smallest chance to run away? It made no sense.
    Unless they knew.
    That was it. It had to be.
    I had supposedly been infected with a virus so deadly that it had forced the authorities to wipe out my village. It had killed Leo in less than twenty-four hours. The soldiers in the forest had all been dressed in biochemical protective gear. The police in Kirsk—and in Rosna, for that matter—must have been told that I was dangerous, infected. None of them could have guessed that my parents had risked everything to inoculate me. They probably hadn’t been told that an antidote existed at all. There was nothing to protect the young officers who had arrested me. As far as they were concerned, I was a walking time bomb. They wanted to bring me in. But they weren’t going to come too close.
    We continued walking, away from the station. A few people passed us but said nothing and looked the other way. The policemen were still hanging back and now I knew why. Although it didn’t look like it, I had the upper hand. They were afraid of me! And I could use that.
    Casually, I slipped my hand into my pocket. Because the two men were