Free September by Gabrielle Lord Page A

they were after.
    From behind the filing cabinet wall I heard the chair scraping again. The cops had moved on, but something else was seriously wrong. Every instinct was warning me now. I needed to know my friend was OK.
    ‘Repro, what’s going on? Why won’t you let me in?’
    The sound of something being shifted from behind the wall came as a relief. I pressed against the back of the filing cabinet, and finally it gave way, letting me inside the lair.
    In a split second, I saw and understood the situation. I tried to back out, but it was too late! I’d walked into a trap!
    Straight ahead of me, Repro was struggling, gagged and tied to his bedhead.
    Three-O and another guy jumped out in front of me, grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I tried to fight them off, but Three-O easily wrenched my arm up behind my back, and the two of them hauled me over to a chair near the table.
    Repro wailed. I threw him a sideways glanceand saw that he’d just managed to spit the gag out of his mouth.
    ‘They forced their way in behind me, Cal,’ he said, panting. ‘I was coming back with supplies, and they came from nowhere. Nowhere! They said they’d tell the authorities about my home here! About my collection! They overpowered me—it was two against one. I’m sorry!’
    He looked so miserable, struggling in his green suit with the too-short sleeves, and his thin face drooping over his grubby yellow tie. He was sorry? I was the one who had brought danger into his life.
    ‘Shut up, you old scarecrow,’ hissed Three-O’s mate. It was Freddy, the guy I’d first encountered in the stormwater drain and then the carpark—the guy who looked like a pirate.
    ‘What do you want?’ I shouted at Three-O as he and Freddy started roping me to the chair.
    ‘What do I want?’ Three-O sneered. He got right in my face. ‘I want to do society a favour by aiding the police in the arrest of Callum Ormond.’
    Freddy cackled like a hyena.
    ‘There is also the case of this—’ Three-O paused and rubbed his fingers together, indicating money. ‘I want the reward money and this time I’m gonna get it! There’ll be no escaping!The next people you’ll see will be the cops. It’s the end of the line for you, buddy,’ he said, giving a savage tug to the strong nylon rope that he was tying onto my wrists and ankles.
    He stuck his head into my face again. ‘You’ll regret crossing me.’
    I tried to struggle but was completely immobilised .
    ‘Get a move on, Freddy,’ Three-O ordered his companion. ‘Let’s really nail this place up!’ Three-O had a hammer and a bag of nails, and Freddy had pieces of timber that he’d ripped up from Repro’s tabletop.
    That’s when I realised that they’d raided Repro’s collection. The place had been trashed. Massive guilt weighed down on me as I looked over at my friend, helpless and tied up, watching his home being destroyed.
    Freddy smirked at me and then pushed his way through the secret door, disappearing outside . Just before Three-O did the same, he turned to me with an evil grin.
    ‘Thanks for the food,’ he said, picking up the parcel of fish and chips from where I’d dropped it in my struggle. Then he turned to Repro. ‘Think you’re pretty tricky with your secret door, hey? Try getting yourself out of this, Freak Show!’

    Repro and I listened to Three-O and Freddy hammering outside, nailing the timber across the back of the filing cabinet, walling us in. I looked around. The lair was hollowed out of rock, without even a window for escape.
    I tussled with my bound wrists, but all the knots held tight. Immobilised like this, all we could do was wait until the cops arrived to arrest me. Repro would be booted out of his home.
    ‘They’ll take me away,’ said Repro. ‘I won’t be able to live here any more. They’ll lock me up with you. I’ve avoided them for years, and now …’
    I’d been feeling really guilty about dragging Repro into this situation so I let him talk.