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room.
    ‘Hello?’ I said.
    ‘Theo?’
    There was something familiar about the male voice on the other end. The accent was American, but he sounded older than any of my friends at school.
    ‘Who is this?’ I said.
    ‘We can’t talk on this line,’ the man said. ‘I need you to go outside . . . there’s a diner a few blocks away. The Chili Popper. D’you know it?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said, shutting my bedroom door. ‘But what’s this about?’
    ‘Just get to the diner. Order something. I’m going to call the number there. We can speak properly then.’
    He rang off and I suddenly realised who it was.
    Lewis Michael. He’d helped Rachel rescue me from Elijah’s Washington compound . . . and nearly died trying to protect us.
    Man , Lewis must have heard the news about Rachel too. I was sure he wouldn’t believe she’d killed herself either.
    Maybe he knew something about what had happened to her.
    Completely forgetting that Mum wanted to speak to me, I raced out of the house, letting the front door slam shut behind me.
     
    15
Rachel
    The rain fell steadily. I stood under the shelter at the end of the jetty as Milo went over the plan.
    ‘The place where Daniel is being kept is just up ahead,’ he explained.
    I nodded. ‘Will it be guarded?’ I said.
    ‘Not right now,’ Milo said. ‘The guy on duty is out patrolling the island. I know his route. We can avoid him.’
    I nodded, feeling the rain dripping off my hair and running down the back of my neck. ‘What research is Elijah doing?’
    ‘I don’t know, I’m not allowed into the lab he’s set up here.’ Milo shuffled uneasily in his wheelchair. ‘Hey, I brought you some food . . . figured
you’d be hungry by now.’
    He took a plastic bag from beside him in his wheelchair and handed it to me.
    Inside was a pack of roughly-made cheese sandwiches, a bag of crisps and a carton of milk.
    I fell on the food. Milo watched me eat, an expression I couldn’t read on his face. ‘Rachel?’ he said.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘I’m . . . er, I’m sorry . . .’
    ‘What for?’ I suddenly felt uneasy.
    ‘Nothing . . . just that this is so dangerous.’ Milo hesitated. ‘Are you ready?’
    My whole body was stiff and sore but, already, I could feel the adrenalin pumping through me.
    ‘I’m ready,’ I said.
    ‘Come on, then. Let’s go.’
     
    16
Theo
    I ran hard all the way to the Chili Popper. I’d never been inside it before. It wasn’t as nice as Cheri’s diner – a bit rundown with rips in the
cushions on the booths and stains on the tables. I looked round for a phone but couldn’t see one. I took a seat near the main counter. A middle-aged woman with dark roots and bleached blonde
hair glanced over at me with a scowl.
    ‘What d’you want?’ she said. ‘You have to order food.’ I raised my eyebrows, then glanced at the menu scrawled on the plastic board beside the waitress’s
head. ‘A Coke, please,’ I said, ‘and some chilli fries.’ The waitress grunted in acknowledgement and disappeared into the kitchen. I glanced round. The diner was pretty
deserted – just a couple in the corner and a group of girls in the largest booth.
    A few minutes later my food and drink arrived. The chilli fries weren’t bad and I was hungry. I’d nearly finished wolfing them down when I heard a phone ring in the kitchen.
    ‘Who?’ The scowling waitress didn’t exactly sound thrilled to be taking the call.
    I looked up. She came into the restaurant area, holding a phone.
    ‘Some guy wants to talk to you, says he’s your brother,’ the waitress said. ‘Something about meetin’ up.’
    ‘Thanks.’ I took the handset. ‘Hello?’
    ‘Theo, you’re here. Good. Sorry I couldn’t talk before. Listen, it’s Lewis. I’ve got some bad news about Rachel . . .’ He spoke in a rush, his voice strained,
then stopped abruptly.
    ‘She didn’t kill herself.’ I spoke more loudly than I meant to and the waitress, who was hanging around by the