Page 41 of Runner 13

Stella

Henry steps outside the trailer and gets straight on the radio. I ask him to release Pete and Mac, and moments later they come rushing over.

‘Did you find what you were looking for?’ Pete asks, as he climbs the stairs.

‘See for yourself.’ I gesture around at the walls, only the remnants of pins and tape left. I’ve opened some of the drawers and cupboards but they’re empty too. I’ve only found one thing of substance – a pen. If there’s a note to go with it, I can’t see it.

‘Shit. What do we do now?’ Mac asks.

I sigh, leaning against one of the chairs in the trailer. I rub at my eyes. They sting like needles line my eyelids. Too little sleep. Too little water. ‘Hang on, the thing I’m looking for – I took a picture of it. On my phone. Henry can give it back to me. Let’s go …’

‘Stella, wait,’ says Pete. ‘We need to take a beat. The race is due to start again in an hour. Where’s Boones?’

The question hadn’t even entered my brain. But of course Pete is still focused on the race. He has a point, though.

It seems like we’re not the only one with that question. It’s already much lighter, making it easier to see the look of concern on Henry’s face.

‘Find anything?’ Henry asks.

‘Nope,’ I say. ‘Cleared out. Except for this.’ I show him the pen.

‘Crap.’ He mutters something into his radio, then listens intently. ‘I can’t believe this. The elites are gone too.’

‘I’m sorry, what?’ Pete snaps.

‘We’re still trying to figure it out. We heard people moving around in the night but we were a little busy dealing with some intruders.

’ He looks pointedly at us. ‘I assumed they were checking the tents in case of another storm. But I guess they must have been collecting the elite runners. They’re not here now. ’

‘So where are they?’

‘Hang on. Show me that pen?’ Henry asks. I pass it over. ‘This is a voice recorder. I’ve seen Boones use them.’

‘Well, play it then!’ Pete shouts.

I touch his arm. Being aggressive is not going to get Henry to press the button any faster.

We strain to listen to Boones’s soft voice.

It’s a message for me. He meant for me to find it.

Asshole. ‘ By now, you will see that I have taken the elites for the real Hot I’ve bitten them down to the quick.

That sick feeling in my stomach is not going away.

Dammit, Dad. Why do you always have to be such an enigma?

We go through at least three crates before I find it.

‘Here!’ Thanks to not being touched for over forty-eight hours, the phone still has some residual charge – hopefully just enough for me to find what I’m looking for. I pull up the photograph, feeling Pete’s hot breath on my neck.

‘Look.’ In the top corner the sword logo that had caught my eye jumps out once again. I zoom in on the words underneath the picture. KNIGHT ACADEMY , it reads. There are labels naming each of the people in the photograph. GLENN KNIGHT is on the far left. Then, on the bottom right, MATTHEW KNIGHT .

‘Bottom right, bottom right,’ says Pete impatiently.

I pinch across and zoom in on the face. The colour on the image is faded, so it’s hard to make out eye colour. One thing is clear: it’s very definitely not Emilio. They share a dark mop of hair. But the jaw, the nose – it’s all wrong.

‘So that clears the doctor.’ Pete’s shoulders slump. ‘Unless they’re working together.’

I bite down, hard, on the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out. I recognize that face.

Pete notices the tension in my grip. Probably because the phone is shaking in my hands. Shit. ‘You know him?’

‘That’s runner 501.’

‘You mean, the fun runner who was with Adri yesterday, the one who has been promoted to the elites – he’s Glenn’s son?’

‘Looks like. Matteo Poddighe, he said his name was. I didn’t make the connection …’

‘Oh my God. That’s the surname of Glenn’s ex-wife. What’s he going to do to Adri? He’s got the perfect opportunity now. She’s all alone out there. And we have no way to track them.’

Bile rises in my throat. Poor Adrienne. Runner 501 had been one of the people I’d interviewed for the Runners for Hope charity. Hadn’t he talked about running for his dad even then?

Matthew is a violent ex-con, who’s come out here despite knowing he’ll be sent back to prison if he returns to the UK.

He’s a man with nothing to lose.