Free Hacker by Malorie Blackman Page B

as for the family’s opinion? Well, Mum and Dad
had
adopted me. No one had forced them to do that.
    So there was just Gib.
    ‘Think of something else, Victoria,’ I told myself.
    What was it Dad always said? Every problem has a logical solution? Well, I couldn’t see the solution to this one to save my life. When one or two things went wrong it was so easy to think that nothing would go right. I’d have to have it out with Gib, once this business at the bank was sorted out. But my luck was nonexistent even as far as that was concerned. I needed a PC with an Internet connection. It was that simple. Only Dad’s PC had been taken away and Chaucy couldn’t get onto the Web. So where could I find what I needed? There were plenty of PCs at school that would allow me to go online, of course. But short of breaking into the school, how could I get to them?
    Short of breaking into the school
…
    I sat up abruptly. I couldn’t …
could I
? I didn’t see that I had much choice. It was that or nothing. I knew Dad said Aunt Beth and Eric and others were helping him at the bank, but what if they couldn’t? They all knew more about computing than I did, but I couldn’t just sit by and watch Dad end up in prison. Not without doing something to help. The way I saw it, I couldn’t
hurt
anything by trying to prove Dad was innocent.
    But breaking into school?
    ‘Does that mean you’re not going to help Dad any more?’ Gib was standing at the living-room door.
    Wishing he’d leave me alone, I snapped, ‘It doesn’t mean anything of the kind.’
    ‘How are you going to get the information you need from the live system at Universal Bank?’ Gib asked.
    ‘I’ve thought of a way – a possible way,’ I said slowly.
    Silence.
    ‘Aren’t you going to tell me?’ Gib frowned.
    ‘I’m not sure. It’s dangerous. It’d be better if you didn’t know. There’s no point in both of us getting into trouble.’
    ‘I’m part of this too,’ Gib said angrily.
    ‘Shush!’ I said, pointing to the ceiling. I didn’t want to disturb Dad.
    ‘So what’s your plan?’
    I looked at Gib, wondering if I dared tell him.
    ‘We use a school PC,’ I replied.
    Gib stared at me.
    ‘When?’
    ‘No time like the present,’ I said.
    Gib glanced down at his watch and frowned.
    ‘But it’s almost eight o’clock. School’s locked up!’
    ‘Like I said, you don’t have to help me with this.’ I stood up, picked up the storage case with Dad’s CDs and memory keys in it and pushed past Gib into the hall. I put on my jacket.
    ‘I’m coming with you,’ Gib whispered. ‘You don’t think I’d let you do this by yourself, do you?’
    ‘Scribble a quick note to Mum and Dad telling them we’ve gone to see a film or something and let’s go,’ I ordered.
    Gib opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again. It was just as well. I was really in the mood for an argument at that moment!
    It was only when we were actually on the way to our school that I began to believe what we were about to do.
    ‘When there’s no traffic around, I’ll help you climb over the school railings,’ Gib told me as we approached the road where our school was.
    ‘Help me? It’s more likely that I’ll be the one helping you,’ I scoffed. ‘Besides, we might not have to climb over anything.’
    ‘Of course we will. The gates will be locked on a Saturday,’ Gib replied.
    ‘Supposing we’re seen …’ I began.
    ‘We just have to make sure we’re not seen,’ Gib interrupted.
    ‘I was just going to say, we’d better have our story straight,’ I continued impatiently.
    ‘All right then,’ Gib said. ‘You’ve left something in your locker and we want it,
need
it before Monday.’
    ‘Like what?’ I asked.
    ‘I dunno. A present for Mum.’
    ‘Why have I got her a present? It’s not her birthday.’
    ‘You’re not helping much, Vicky,’ Gib complained, his arms folded.
    ‘All right! All right! We’ll say that then,’ I conceded. ‘But Mum’s