Free Catwalk Criminal by Sarah Sky

perfectly honest, she couldn’t understand why Ossa was kicking up such a fuss. He was behaving like a small child. Hadn’t he noticed there were slightly more important things to worry about at the moment? MI6 had managed to keep the name of The Collective out of the news, but every bulletin carried stories about cashpoints ejecting money, planes being grounded due to technical faults and trains being derailed across the country after signal failures. Looting and even rioting were happening a few miles from here.
    A man helped her up the steps on to a giant glass runway that stretched across the warehouse. Water sloshed across the mat, doused by a rubber hosepipe. Bryn was shooting from beneath, enabling him to capture interesting water patterns.
    â€œI need you to run and dive gracefully,” the photographer shouted. “No crash landings, please.”
    â€œOK, here goes,” she called back.
    She took a deep breath, ran and dived head first. The icy cold water almost took her breath away as she whizzed along the mat. This took her mind off things. The last time she’d done anything remotely similar, she was five years old and playing with a friend on a water slide in her back garden.
    WHOOOOAAA! This was way faster and cooler.
    Â 
    â€œI’m back!” Jessica hollered as she let herself in the front door. She threw her handbag on the floor.
    â€œI’m in here,” her dad replied. “Good shoot?”
    She pushed open the study door and walked in. Her dad sat at his desk, squinting at the computer screen.
    â€œYeah. The water was freezing, but I’m just about defrosted now. Is everything OK?” She looked over his shoulder.
    â€œMy account’s working normally and no money’s missing. You should be able to use the credit card again.”
    â€œThat’s good news. The money’s miraculously appeared on my Oyster card too. I tested it at an Underground station. Pity the tubes still aren’t working.”
    â€œYou got a taxi back, right? I don’t want you walking around London when it’s so risky. There were reports of more rioting on the news.”
    â€œYeah, of course I got a taxi. Like any buses are running today.”
    â€œHave you told Nathan that we’ve probably been hacked?”
    Jessica shook her head. “I haven’t had a chance. Anyway, like you said, everything’s back to normal now. I doubt MI6 would have time to investigate something as minor as this, particularly since it happened before the launch of the midday hacking competition.”
    Her dad frowned. “I know it seems insignificant compared to everything else that’s going on, but you should definitely record it. We don’t know if anyone else at MI6 has been personally affected. You could be the only one.”
    â€œYou’re right. I’ll let Nathan know tomorrow. There’s no point trying to get hold of him now. He’s got his hands full.”
    â€œMake sure you tell him.” He stood up, using his walking stick, and limped to the door. “Are you hungry? Do you want a toasted sandwich?”
    â€œYes, please. Can I use your computer?” Her dad kept his main computer in a hidden underground bunker, accessed via the bookcase. But for day-to-day stuff, he logged on in his study.
    â€œSure.”
    She slid into his chair and checked her emails. They seemed OK. She hadn’t received any spam messages, which could be a sign that the hacker was attempting to take over her account. Twitter was still down, but Instagram and Facebook had started to work again a short time ago.
    What about MI6? Had Sam managed to protect the firewalls? She logged in via a remote account and her protected PIN. She only had very limited access, but she might be able to see if the missing agents had made it to safe houses.
    Blast.
    Her inbox was empty. Nathan clearly didn’t have time to give updates in the run-up to the release of the