The Iron in Blood

I took one last look at the other students milling about, and then I started running.

Angus

I'd been awake since three in the morning. I woke up feeling refreshed, but there was something bothering me, though I couldn't quite pinpoint it. I had breakfast and fed the cat, and then settled down to read. I read a lot of books. It helped to pass the time. Reading books had also taught the three us how to behave more or less normally. About as normally as we could behave, I suppose.

It had just gone nine when somebody started hammering on my door. When I opened the door and saw Mark's white face and touched the fear in his mind, I was stunned.

"You'd better come in," I said.

Mark

It was almost as if he knew what I was about to tell him before I actually told him. His jaw was clenched, his mouth drawn in an angry line, and his eyes burned black.

"Rebecca's been kidnapped. Three guys in balaclavas jumped out of a white van just outside the school gates and grabbed her. They stuck her in the van, and off they went. No number plate. Generic looking white van, no markings. I called the police and they said they'd send someone to investigate, but I didn't wait for them. They'd take too long. And then I thought of telling you." I was babbling, my voice rising in alarm. I looked up at Angus'expression, at the rage that had settled there as if it belonged, and wondered if I'd done the right thing. He stood frozen for a few more seconds and then suddenly he was moving, snatching his mobile off a cabinet and punching numbers like the phone itself annoyed him.

"Fergus," he barked into the phone. "Somebody's taken Rebecca. White unmarked van, three guys in balaclavas, really smooth pick up, they've probably done it before. I'm going after them. I'll contact you if I need anything." He smiled grimly at whatever his brother said to him, and then he hung up.

"Let's go," he said to me. "You need to show me where she was when they took her." He shoved his arms into the sleeves of an expensive looking leather jacket, and dropped his phone into one of the pockets. Then he unlocked the top drawer of the wooden cabinet and started filling his pockets with objects that I couldn't quite identify, but which mostly looked dangerous and highly illegal. He locked the cabinet drawer again, pocketed the key, and took a small tub of tablets from the second drawer, which he opened, revealing brown tablets. He counted fifteen out into his hand and swallowed them all in one go. He put the tub in one of his pockets too. I stood motionless, watching this frenetic activity, and then suddenly he was stalking towards the door, car keys in hand.