Free The Ring of Five by Eoin McNamee Page A

his shoes. Outside, rain drummed on the roofs of the Roosts and the wind howled.
    "Are you sure about this?" Danny whispered.
    Les grinned. "Let's go." On tiptoe they crossed to the door, eased it open and slipped out into the night. Rain whipped across Danny's face, and below them the tops of the trees tossed like a stormy sea.
    "Come on!" Les shouted, his voice almost drowned by the wind. Danny moved round to the front of the Roosts, and felt the full force of the storm. His clothes were soaked in seconds. Les bent to the gate that protected the gangway to the main building. Within seconds it sprang open. He handed Danny a torch.
    "You'll need this," he yelled. "It won't be seen. There'll be nobody about in this weather anyway."
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    Les stepped onto the gangway. Danny followed, grabbing the handrails as he felt the bridge flex and sway in the howling wind, which was doing its best to snatch him and propel him into the darkness below.
    It got worse as they crossed. The gangway dipped in the middle and the two boys' weight set up a pendulum effect in the wind, so that all they could do was cling desperately to the rails, moving neither forward nor back. The torch beams swung wildly in the dark. Danny could feel his arms start to ache from holding on. The wind rose to a crescendo, then momentarily fell away.
    "Now!" Danny shouted. "Run!"
    Pushing Les hard in the back, he ran after the winged boy, who slipped and slid on the wet planks. As the wind lashed at the gangway, they reached the door at the end. Les fumbled for the key and with numbed fingers put it in the lock. Although the lock looked old and rusted, the key turned with ease, the door opened and the two boys fell into the gloom on the other side. The door slammed shut behind them. They were in.
    But they had not been unobserved. Down below, a pair of shrewd eyes had followed them, and had watched the torch beams in the darkness. Now McGuinness stepped back into the partial shelter of the wall behind him. The two boys might find more than they bargained for in the upper floors of Wilsons, but that wasn't his concern. His job was to stop crime, nothing more.
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    THE MAID OF THE NORTH SHORE
    Danny shone his torch around the room. It had bare walls and a high vaulted ceiling.
    "Turn off the big torch," Les said, taking a smaller flashlight from his pocket.
    "So what now?" Danny asked.
    "All we got to do," Les said, "is to get to the floor above this one. That's where the statue was."
    Danny looked around him doubtfully. Who knew what secrets the upper floors held?
    "All right," he said, "let's get this over with."
    Danny went to the door in the wall opposite and eased it open. Beyond it was nothing more sinister than a corridor lined with doors, dimly lit by a single bulb in the middle. Each door had a nameplate on it. There was MR. M. BRUNHOLM, and MASTER DEVOY, MISS R. DUDDY, and
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    on a shabby disused door, MR. S. PILKINGTON. Danny remembered the photograph of the legendary spy in Ravensdale, and realized with a pang that he had thrown the spy's coat aside without a further thought.
    They crept past Brunholm's door carefully. Les paused at Duddy's door. From within there came the sound of loud snoring. Stifling a laugh, they crept on.
    The corridor opened into a dining room that was obviously used by the instructors, and continued into another room with comfortable leather armchairs. There were piles of exercise books sitting around, and report cards on the polished wooden table. The room looked just like the staff room at school, Danny thought, apart, that is, from the display of blowpipes on the wall, over a case full of brightly colored darts with a notice saying POISON! DO NOT TOUCH!
    At the far end of the room Danny spotted a staircase leading up.
    "That looks like the one we need," he whispered. His nervousness was now replaced with a growing sense of dread. "Les, come on!" he said. Les had stopped in front of a small silver-colored door with a barred