Free Blind School by John Matthews

seen on screen. The technician tapped his keyboard and sat back. The pupils all looked expectantly towards the holo-pod to one side as an image burst to life.
    The pupils walked round the fresh hologram with hesitant awe. A tousled-haired boy of fifteen nodded at the technician.
    ‘Yeah. That's what we saw last night.’
    The other reason Ellis liked doing it this way was that it condensed the process – tracking, initial viewing, sketching, final identification – leant more urgency to their activity. The sense that they were actually getting somewhere rather than the cold, hard truth: a rag-tag bunch of kids up against an army of thousand-year-old battle-hardened demons who outnumbered them fifty to one.
    Ellis was about to switch back to his continuing summary when he was disturbed by some movement from behind. He looked round to see Josh Eskovitz approaching.
    ‘Sorry to trouble you, Ellis. But we got a local boy gone missing now too: three days with no contact back to his family.’
    Ellis swivelled round fully from the bank of screens. ‘What age?
    ‘Thirteen, and dark-haired.’ Josh shrugged. ‘I know it doesn't fit the M.O of the blonde girls gone missing – but I thought you should know nevertheless.’
    Ellis was lost in thought for a moment. ‘Yeah, you're right. Probably unconnected. But thanks anyway, and if you–’
    But Ellis suddenly jolted as he was hit with something else: a flashback image of the man staring towards his son in front of his school the other day. He got up, took out his cell phone.
    ‘What is it?’ Josh pressed.
    ‘I should have trusted my initial instinct.’ Ellis hit memory dial. ‘I just hope I’m not too late.’
     
    Carla had just grabbed her car keys and was halfway out the door as she took the call.
    ‘Yeah. I'm heading there just now.’ She shut the door behind her and pressed her key-button to open her car. ‘Why? What's wrong?’
    ‘Just make sure you get there on time, and don't let Santos out of your sight. Wait there for me to show – and when I do, don't acknowledge me or get involved in what might happen.’
    ‘Oh... okay.’ She got in the car, fired up. ‘But tell me a bit more, Ellis. What’s–’
    She was talking to a dead line. Ellis had hung up.
    Ellis looked sharply at Josh Eskovitz. ‘Which unit we got closest to Thomas Edison school?’
    ‘Uh... probably Unit Two. They were covering the south side today.’
    ‘Okay. Raise them and tell them to meet me in front of the school. Pronto .’
    The agent in Unit Two was in the middle of a lesson when he took the call from Josh Eskovitz. He consulted his sat-nav as they sped through city traffic. 
    ‘Yeah... yeah. We'll take the next turn-off and cut across. Should be there in under ten.’ He signed off and nodded at his driver. ‘Yeah. This one.’
    The driver swung into the turn and, the second he straightened out, he put his foot down.
    Within a hundred yards, they were touching sixty, the pupils in the back of the van looking concerned at the sudden turn of events, amongst them Ryan and Jessica.
     
    Brian Lee Marston observed the kids as they exited the school.
    A noisy, confusing throng, his gaze was at first loose, aimless. But as he spotted Santos Kendell and Timmy amongst the crowd flooding out the school gates, his gaze fixed on them.
    They headed towards Carla Kendell’s Chevy Impala. He was watching them so intently that the black van with tinted windows pulling in across the street hardly caused a blip in his concentration amongst the hectic activity of other parents picking up their kids.
    Only as Ellis Kendell's car swept in and Ellis headed with purpose towards the black van did a tick of consternation cross Marston's face.
    Ellis slid open the side door of the van and nodded towards Marston.
    ‘That guy forty yards along... in a grey wind-breaker looking our way.’ Ellis waited for the pupils to pick out Marston. ‘Any of you see a demon apparition in him?’
    They looked