Read Blind School for Free Online Page B

hell!’ He stood directly in their path, brandishing a heavy skillet.  ‘You can’t just –’
       As Ryan saw him floored with a gun butt to the side of his face by the second man, no doubt remained to Ryan that he was running for his life.
       He burst out through a back door and into a side alley, picking up stride as fast as he could.
       He ran past a delivery truck, one man by it’s tailgate checking off on a clipboard as another two unloaded cartons of shellfish.
       Already his breath falling short, he glanced back as he heard the back door open sixty yards behind him.
       The second man went to level his gun, but the first man stayed his arm – perhaps considering it too tight with the men unloading the truck in-between.
       The first man took out his cell-phone.
    In front of the hotel, the chauffeur sat in Coby’s limousine took the call from Coby.
       ‘Yeah... yeah. Teen kid, you say. Blue top... brown hair.’
       ‘Yeah. Unlikely he’ll run back your direction – unless we’re lucky. So you’ll probably see him along the road from you or in one of the side alleys. Shouldn’t be too hard to spot – because he’ll be the only kid running like crazy.’ 
    ‘Okay. Got yer.’
       The chauffeur swung the limousine out into the traffic, a couple of horns blaring sharply from behind.
    Ryan ran out into the main street, bustling with shoppers and office workers. He had to bob and weave as he sprinted furiously to avoid bumping into people.
       The two goons chasing him were less observant as they came on to the same street. People were barged or pushed aside, others side-stepped or kept a wide berth when they saw a gun.
       Ryan glanced back briefly before ducking into the next side street, then after twenty yards ran into another service alley on his right. Hopefully they’d be confused as to which way he’d gone.
    Coby and Rami came alongside the alley and paused, listening out.
       Another alley was ten yards down on the same side. Picking up the sound of running footsteps after a second, they turned and ran towards it.
       Ryan turned into another alley thirty yards along, and was only halfway down it when he heard the bang.
       His breath catching in his throat, he looked frantically behind: a cleaner emptying trash into a dumpster.
       He sprinted on, and had almost reached the end of the alley when he heard another bang. He would have looked back towards the dumpster, but the bullet zinging and lifting brick dust off the wall close by told him what had happened: his pursuers had entered the same alleyway.
       He ducked quickly round the corner as the gun was levelled for a second shot.
       Ryan became frantic. He ran out into a wider side street at the alley-end, then chose one of two alleys opposite and turned sharp right into another service alley.
       His breath was ragged, and he paused for a second to catch it back. He hoped his sudden dog-leg switch in direction had lost them, and looked keenly back: no sign of them. No sound of running footsteps either.
       He picked up stride again just in case – when something ahead suddenly stopped him in his tracks. A limousine drifting slowly past the alley end, its driver peering sharply down.
       Ryan ducked in quickly behind a van to one side, praying he hadn’t been seen. He could see the end of the limousine hood, hear its engine idling.
       The driver stayed there for all of ten seconds, though it felt like a lifetime, then continued on. Ryan pulled back fully out of sight as it drifted past.
       He’d unconsciously been holding his breath, and finally eased it out again when the limousine had gone fully from sight.
    But short-lived. He sucked his breath back in sharply again as he heard footsteps approaching the other end of the alley.
       Frozen, breath held, his attention was fixed so keenly towards the alley end – he didn't notice the van doors opening behind him and the man leaping out