Chapter One

The 18-year-old sucked in his breath nervously, “Klein…may have… escaped from the rehab clinic he was in.” When Matt’s jaw dropped drastically he carried on, “We can hope he’s just gone on vacation.”

“Which is unlikely…” Matt finished.

“Uh-huh. And also, Kenz said that when she took you to visit him a couple months back, he swore to her that he was going to escape and kill you. So that’s hardly good new. And we-”

“Are you Raymond Dowe?!”

Matt could see the pain and the annoyance that flitted across Dowe’s face. He took a breath before turning round to look at the fan girl looking at him eagerly. “Yes,” he said in a monotone.

“Can I have your autograph?”

“I don’t have a pen,” he said in the same tone, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that this clearly wasn’t a good time for him.

“I do!” God, this girl couldn’t take a hint. Raymond snatched the paper from her and scrawled on it quickly. Matt pulled his cap down over his face, praying to God that she would go away now and not recognise him as well. He could sense her peering at him, “Is that Matt Willis?”

“Who?” Raymond said in a convincing tone. There was movement. “She’s gone,” he said a moment later. “Well, she was annoying. That’s one bad thing about Brits. They’re so much harder to shake off.” He sighed, “Anyway, the police say that you and Simpson have to come back to live with us. I know that didn’t exactly work out well last time… But maybe it will this time.” He looked over my shoulder with a snort, “I’m suddenly feeling great pity for the fan girl.” I twisted to look in the same direction. The girl was being verbally accosted by another girl, who was wearing a black woolly beanie hat over her long light brown hair. It was sunny out, so the girl’s natural highlights were shining. Her dark blue eyes were heavily lined in black.

Matt laughed, “Is that Stacey or Cali?”

“You really think I’d bring Stacey to do this for me? The girl’s head would explode!”

“And Cali’s much better?”

*          *          *          *          *

“Add one more person to the equation, and this could be a serious case of déjà vu,” Charlie Simpson commented, heaving his suitcase out the back of the black taxi.

Matt climbed out after him. “Would we want him here right now? If he might want to kill both of us now he failed in killing me?” he asked.

“Well… Maybe not.” He began to heave his suitcase up the steps to the front door of Rediunyn Jr.’s headquarters. Matt paid the taxi driver and followed with his holdall. The house, situated atop a haunted house, was incredibly high tech, as Matt could see straight away by the fact that the front door was metal and sliding rather than wooden and plain. He pressed the button he assumed was the bell and they waited.

“You nervous to be back?”

“You mean with the maniacs who can’t seem to stay on one side? Yes! How d’we know they’re not going to turn on us? James did.”

“Because we’re not smart enough to do what Phogolini did,” a voice said behind them, they both spun round to see Phillip Young standing there. They could tell the Youngs apart by sight, but with Cali and Stacey they had to start talking first. “Too much effort too. We’re really lazy,” he commented in his Londoner drawl. “Oh, my God! It’s been ages! How are you?” He moved past them, and keyed something into the keypad next to the door. It slid open and he grinned at him, his dark eyes shining. He was a brunette, with spiked hair and an athletic build.

“We’re good enough,” Charlie replied. “No-one answered the door.”

“They wouldn’t. No-one’s in except Deryck, and he’s kind of been unconscious for the last month and a half.” He motioned them in.

“Deryck’s unconscious?” Matt asked.

“Mission. Someone drugged him so badly that all we can is wait for him to wake up and hope he hasn’t got brain damage.” Phillip sighed and moved off to the living room. The door slid shut behind them.

“As normal as ever…” Charlie muttered to Matt.