Free Blue Dome (The Blue Dome Series) by J.G. Gill Page B

were outside, the man seemed to be
sweating profusely.
    Bede studied him
carefully. He certainly doesn’t look fit enough to be a cop . Besides,
wouldn’t he have arrested me by now if he was? The fact that he seems to know
who Dad is, and that I’m his son, and that we can’t really speak properly on a
crowded street might mean that he’s worth taking a chance on . Bede took a
deep breath.
    “The truth is Dad’s kind
of gone missing. I’m actually looking for him myself.”
    The man nodded as if he’d
just been told something as ordinary as the weather. Bede wasn’t sure if that
was a good sign or not.
    “That’s no good, kid, no
good at all.” The man scratched his chin, thoughtfully. “Your dad’s a good guy.
More to the point, he’s one of us, if you know what I mean?” He winked
knowingly. “If it was my kid standing here on the street, Philip’d do the right
thing. I mean, that’s what are friends for, isn’t it? And your dad’s a friend
of mine. Why don’t you come with me? Can’t promise I can find your dad but I
know someone who might be able to.”
    “Really?” Bede smiled,
relieved that the risk had paid off. “That’d be great.” He was about to start
following the man up the street when he suddenly remembered something.
    “Before I come, I just
need to find my sister. We got separated in the market somewhere.”
    “Oh, yeah, fair enough,”
said the man, “completely understand.” He began to walk away.
    “Hey, wait up,” said Bede.
“Can I come and find you again once I’ve found Clare?”
    The man’s lips buckled
uncertainly. “Actually, that might be a bit difficult. I need to be somewhere
in an hour, so this is the only time I’ll be calling into the office. If it’s
any reassurance, the office isn’t far – just five minutes up the road from
here. You can always come back in a few minutes and look for you sister then. Who
knows, she may have just got distracted in a shoe shop or something.” He
laughed and began to walk away.
    Bede was faced with a
dilemma. If he let the man walk away now, he might lose the only opportunity he
had to find his Dad. At the same time, his sister was out there somewhere,
possibly hurt if Mick had got hold of her. The man with the squinty eyes was
now a few metres away and about to cross the road. Bede made a split-second
decision.
    “Hang on,” he said.
    The man paused, waiting
for Bede to catch up. They crossed the road and took the second street off the
intersection, making their way past a line of rusty grey warehouses that had
their windows boarded up. They reminded Bede of someone who’d been beaten
around the head in a bad fight.
    “Not sure I think much of
Dad’s office,” he said.
    The man shrugged. “Certainly
keeps any nosey gits away.”
    They came to a door that
had been bolted with a large padlock. The man fiddled with something in his
pocket, before pulling out a key and quickly unlocking the door.
    “This way,” he said, motioning
Bede to follow him inside. “Just hope the boss is in. He’s the one you really
need to speak to.”
    Bede stepped onto the
solid, cement floor and glanced around at the cavernous space. The inside of
the building seemed just as a rundown as the outside. Huge swathes of plaster
had flaked away from the walls, leaving exposed raw, red bricks. A nest of
frayed, grimy ropes hung limply from the pulleys bolted to the ceiling. The musty
air smelt of oil and machinery. Bede followed the man to a metal staircase. He
glanced at the rickety banister, made of badly-welded iron piping, and quickly
decided against using it. After following the man up several flights of narrow
steps, Bede eventually arrived at a small landing. The man knocked on the black
door directly in front of them.
    “Come in,” a low, clear voice
replied.
    The door opened to reveal
a candlelit room and a man dressed entirely in black, sitting at a desk. His dark
mahogany chair looked like an antique – it was covered in