Terror Kid Read online

  ‘I believe you. So come home then, son. The police are …’

  Another voice came on the phone. It was a man’s voice, but it wasn’t his dad’s.

  ‘Rico. Just give yourself up and we can sort this all out. We just need to talk to you.’

  Rico ended the call. It rang again. Rico looked at the caller ID; this time it was Karima. He answered but she spoke so quickly he struggled to keep up with her.

  ‘Brov. The cops are after you. Some people are saying you blew up the cop shop. I said, no, not my Rico. They’re saying you did some computer stuff and bombed up the place like you are some big terrorist or something. As if. Where are you, brov?’

  Rico ended the call without speaking. He took a while to breathe, and then he turned his phone off. A bus drew up at a stop nearby. He didn’t know where it was going, but he ran and got on it.

  Chapter 15

  The Deliberate Accident?

  The bus arrived at a bus station and the few passengers who were left began to get off, but Rico waited until he was the last. He had no idea where he was until he saw a sign above the ticket office. West Bromwich Bus Station. It was busy, mainly with local schoolchildren making their way home. Rico was hungry. He didn’t understand what was happening – he was wanted, he was desperate, but the people around him were carrying on as normal. He had very little money. He thought of buying something to eat, but that would leave him with even less money, and unless he gave himself up he was going to need a bus fare. Then Rico had an idea. There was a trip he had wanted to make for a long time. Maybe this was the time to make it. He tried to avoid eye contact with anyone as he walked around the bus station. He found a map, identified the bus he needed and got on it. When he got off the bus he had to make his way from memory. He was too scared to ask anyone for directions but after a few wrong turns he found the road he was looking for. He hesitated in front of the house. It was such a long shot, but he realised he would soon look suspicious if he continued to just stand outside looking at the house. So he walked up and rang the bell. A woman in her early twenties answered. Rico recognised her, and to his relief, she recognised him straight away.

  ‘Rico. What a surprise. What are you doing here?’

  ‘Hi Kim. I need to find Lola,’ he said.

  ‘Why don’t you just call her?’ she said. ‘Haven’t you got her number, or is she still not on speaking terms with the family?’

  ‘I’ve got no problem with her, but I don’t have her number, and I just need to find her fast.’

  Kim was a friend of Rico’s sister, Lola. She invited Rico in, but Rico wanted to know that he wasn’t wasting his time.

  ‘Do you know where she is, or not?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ said Kim. ‘Come in.’

  ‘I can’t stay long,’ said Rico.

  ‘You can stay for as short or as long as you like,’ she said, guiding Rico into the living room. Rico walked in and to his surprise, there was his sister Lola, sitting on the floor eating a pizza out of a box. She jumped up and hugged him.

  ‘Rico! What’s up, little brother?’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Rico couldn’t believe his eyes.

  ‘I live here now. Decided to move in with my friend, didn’t I? She needed some company, and we were spending most of our time together anyway. But the real question is, what are you doing here?’

  Rico looked at Kim, unsure if he should say anything, so he just said, ‘I’ve got problems.’

  ‘And I’ve got to go out,’ said Kim, sensing that Rico might appreciate some time to talk to his sister alone.

  When Kim left the house Lola offered Rico a piece of her pizza, then watched as he ate the rest of it at speed. Rico told Lola everything, and when she asked questions he answered them as honestly as he could. Until Rico’s arrival she had not heard of the bombing. She told Rico that she and Kim had a television set but very rarely used it. She turned it on, and almost every station was covering the incident. They both sat down and watched in horror as they viewed the scene of the bombing. News reporters from all over the world were standing in front of cameras. In the background the destroyed police headquarters could be seen, with the whole of the reception area blown out. Firefighters had just put out what remained of the fire, rubble was spread all over the road, and staff that had been trapped in the building were being led out. Many of them were injured.

  Lola’s jaw dropped, she shook her head, and tears ran down Rico’s face.

  The police had no doubts. They told the media that they were looking for Rico Federico, the young mastermind behind the bomb plot. He was reported as being a computer fanatic and very anti-police. It was also said that he had links to an Islamic group and could have been working on their behalf. The police were desperate to find Rico and so they released a narrative of what they believed had happened.

  “From the activities recorded in his computer we can see that Rico Federico had been spying on the police, and so he knew the exact time, each week, when sterile equipment would be delivered by courier to the headquarters for use by scenes of crime officers. For security reasons this equipment is X-rayed and scanned in by bar code, but when the equipment arrived this afternoon it could not be processed because our computers were down. We can see from his computer records that it was Rico Federico who compromised our computer systems. After placing the delivery on the counter, the courier told the officer that he had to go back to his vehicle to call his office and notify them of a possible delay. We now know that this courier was an imposter, the real courier having been delayed by a deliberate accident. The imposter went back to his vehicle, but drove off, and exactly one minute later the bomb went off. Neither the imposter nor the vehicle can be traced. This was a well-planned, professionally executed operation. Rico Federico is a dangerous person. We believe he is still in the Birmingham area. The public are warned not to approach him if they see him, but to report any sighting of him to the police.”

  Rico put his hands together in front of his chest as if praying. ‘I didn’t know anything about a bomb,’ said Rico. ‘Lola, you have to believe me. Honest, I just thought it was a game. You know, hack in, close down their site, and have a bit of a laugh. I didn’t know anything about a bomb.’

  Lola saw that his tears were real. She could see his hands shaking as he pleaded to her. She put her arm around him. ‘I believe you.’

  ‘What shall I do?’ Rico asked, looking at the carpet.

  ‘First of all, take some time to think. Why don’t you call this Speech guy and see what he has to say?’

  ‘He’s gone,’ said Rico. ‘And I haven’t even got a phone number for him. He said he didn’t have a phone.’

  ‘Any idea where he lives?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Email?’

  ‘No,’ said Rico. ‘I haven’t got anything for him. He just used to meet me in the streets. It was like he just knew where I was all the time.’

  Kim came home, hurried through the door, and went upstairs, shouting down as she ascended.

  ‘Lola. Can I have a word?’

  Lola ran upstairs.

  ‘Lola,’ Kim said anxiously. ‘I got something to tell you. It’s about your brother.’

  ‘I know,’ said Lola. ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘Complicated?’ Kim was shouting now. ‘Complicated? Nine people are dead, twenty in hospital. And your brother did it!’

  ‘He didn’t,’ said Lola. ‘I know him. He wouldn’t do something like that. He is my brother. Come downstairs. He’ll talk to you. He’s got nothing to hide.’

  Lola persuaded Kim to calm down and go and listen to Rico. Downstairs, Rico retold the whole story again. It was tedious, but he wanted to make sure he got every detail right. Kim was convinced by Rico but she was also convinced that he should give himself up straight away.

  ‘It’s the most honest thing to do,’ said Kim.

  ‘But who’s going to believe me?’ said Rico. ‘I’ve been set up. I’ll be on my own.�
��

  Lola looked at Kim, then she looked at Rico.

  ‘You are not alone. You have us. Kim will be here tomorrow, and I’m going to take the day off, so let’s all get some sleep and we’ll decide what to do tomorrow.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Kim. ‘My head’s hurting.’

  Chapter 16

  Blood is Thicker Than Water

  Rico slept on the couch but got very little sleep that night and in the morning he had stiff shoulders, a stiff neck and a headache. Kim and Lola weren’t feeling much better either. They had slept in their beds, but they had also spent many hours talking about the situation they had found themselves in. As they sat eating breakfast from plates on their laps they compared the strength of their headaches then, for the first time, Lola asked how her parents were.

  ‘They were OK the last time I saw them,’ said Rico. Then he thought about how panicked his mother sounded the last time he heard her, and of how confused his father would be. His head flopped down and he continued to speak with his head bowed. ‘But I’m sure they’re not OK now. Not after what I’ve done to them.’

  ‘Hey. Let’s talk about something else. Have they been bad-mouthing me?’ Lola asked, half-smiling.

  ‘No. They haven’t really been talking about you at all.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘Why is that good?’ asked Rico.

  ‘Because I’d rather have them not talking about me than have them bad-mouthing me. I’ve had enough of them bad-mouthing me. Just because I wouldn’t do what they wanted me to do.’

  ‘I thought you fell out with them because they didn’t turn up to your graduation,’ said Rico.

  ‘Yes. No,’ replied Lola. ‘Well, kind of. There’s more to it than that. I wanted to study Art at university, but they convinced me to do Law. I wasn’t crazy about the idea but I thought, OK, that might be useful, you know, get a law degree, then go out into the world and help people. I really struggled to stay on top of my studies and had very little support from them and, yes, they didn’t turn up to my graduation when I really wanted them to. But what really got me was, the day after I graduated they showed me a photo of some guy from Spain that they wanted me to marry.’

  ‘What, Mum and Dad did that? Who was the guy?’ asked Rico.

  ‘I don’t know. I’d never seen him before, and I never wanted to see him again, and never wanted to hear such rubbish again. Actually, it was more Dad than Mum, but when I told them I wasn’t interested in this guy they said they had another one lined up. As if I’d done all that study just to be married off. So I’ve never forgiven them for not thinking about what I want from my life, and they’ve never forgiven me for calling them old-fashioned and backward.’

  ‘I didn’t know any of that,’ said Rico. ‘I thought they were modern and up-to-date and everything.’

  ‘Yes, but you’re a boy. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think they’re bad people, I just think they treated me badly, and I guess I wanted to punish them for it. I don’t hate them; if I really hated them I wouldn’t make contact when I do.’

  ‘That’s not very often, is it?’ said Rico.

  ‘Well, I’m busy working in the art gallery and making a life for myself. I just like them to know sometimes that I’m still alive.’

  Kim interrupted. ‘Hey, enough of going down memory lane. We have a lot to think about. Rico, I’ve thought about this all night and I still don’t know what you should do. You could stay here for a while, but you are wanted: they are not going to stop until they find you, so I think I have to ask again: why don’t you just give yourself up?’

  Rico stood up abruptly. He walked around in a small circle in the middle of the room. ‘Because. Because – if I give myself up now I’m on my own, and who’s going to believe me? I know you both said I’m not on my own and you’ll support me and all that, but when they have me in the station I’ll be all on my own, so I’m going to wait for a bit.’

  ‘Wait for what?’ asked Kim.

  ‘I’m going to wait for a while to see if they get Speech. I’m sure they will, and once they get him the truth will be out.’

  ‘But,’ said Lola, ‘it doesn’t matter if they find him or not, you’ll still be in trouble.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ said Rico loudly. ‘But I won’t be in as much trouble. There’s a big difference between doing a bit of computer hacking and mass murder.’

  Lola responded quietly. ‘I might not have actually practised law, but I think they might be able to get you on conspiracy to mass murder. I don’t know, I’m just saying.’

  Rico sat back down. ‘How can they do me for conspiracy when I didn’t know what was going on?’

  ‘It gets all technical; they can twist things using jargon. All I’m saying is that something that makes sense to you might not make sense to the law, or vice versa.’

  ‘Vice versa, vice versa!’ Rico said angrily. ‘Who cares about vice versa; I’m telling the truth. That should be good enough.’

  ‘I’m just telling you what it’s like,’ said Lola, now raising her voice. ‘So don’t get angry with me.’

  ‘Calm down, both of you,’ said Kim. ‘Let’s be constructive.’

  The room went silent as they all began thinking. Soon the silence was broken by Rico.

  ‘I know. I can hack into the police computers again and send them a message, or I could just send them an email telling them everything that happened.’

  ‘That’s mad,’ said Lola.

  ‘What’s the point of that?’ asked Kim.

  ‘Well, they would know the real story,’ replied Rico. ‘And once they knew the real story, they’d let me go.’

  ‘You know that’s not going to work,’ said Lola. ‘As soon as you contacted them they would find out where you were and then they’d raid us.’

  ‘OK, you’re right,’ said Rico. Then he had another idea. ‘Lola. Why don’t you go home and see what‘s happening? See how Mum and Dad are, and see if they know I’m innocent.’

  ‘Rico, you’re not exactly innocent,’ replied Lola.

  ‘I am.’

  ‘You’re not. You hacked into police systems. It doesn’t matter how you did it and why you did it, it’s illegal. You even told me before I left home that you’d hacked into other stuff, and I did warn you. But you didn’t listen to me.’

  ‘I did listen to you,’ said Rico. ‘I know it’s illegal, but I thought it was a bit of fun. I’ve been hacking for ages and never hurt anyone. I just wanted to see things. I just wanted to test my skills. I wouldn’t have hacked into the police if I knew what was really happening. I know that doesn’t make it right.’

  ‘It doesn’t make it right,’ said Lola. ‘And it’s no excuse. The point is, you’re not innocent.’

  ‘So what are we going to do?’ asked Kim impatiently.

  ‘What about my idea of you going home, Lola?’ asked Rico.

  ‘No. That’s not happening,’ replied Lola. ‘Anyway, it would look strange if I suddenly turned up.’

  ‘Phone them then,’ Rico said sharply.

  ‘No,’ said Lola. ‘What are we going to talk about? I’d have to tell a pack of lies about not seeing you, and if the police are watching then they’d trace the phone call and …’

  ‘But,’ Rico interrupted, ‘it probably looks strange that I’m all over the TV and you haven’t made contact to ask what’s going on.’

  ‘They’ll just think I don’t care.’

  ‘You don’t, do you?’ shouted Rico.

  Lola lost her temper and really shouted.

  ‘If I didn’t care I wouldn’t have taken the day off to be with you. If I didn’t care I wouldn’t have been up all night worrying about you. If I didn’t care …’

  ‘OK,’ said Kim. ‘Let’s all calm down.’

  The sound of a cheap computerised version of Mozart’s Allegro filled the room. It was Lola’s phone. She answered.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot – we both forgot – can we go next week?’

  She
put her hand over the phone and whispered over to Kim, ‘It’s Hutch – it’s about tonight.’

  She continued the call.

  ‘There’s stuff I need to do so I just can’t make it tonight. No, it’s not really convenient for you to come over here – we’re really busy. Look, let’s talk in a couple of days – I’ll call you – maybe we can see each other this weekend. OK, great, thanks, bye.’

  ‘Who was that?’ asked Rico.

  ‘It was Hutch, my boyfriend; we were going out tonight. I forgot all about it.’

  ‘So did I,’ said Kim. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘He sounded a bit let down but he’s OK. I think he’s blaming himself.’

  Rico turned to Kim. ‘So do you have a boyfriend?’

  ‘I did but I soon got rid of him,’ Kim replied.

  Lola continued, ‘He was an absolute horror. She kicked him out, then I moved in.’

  ‘Never mind my life,’ interrupted Kim. ‘Let’s deal with this. I think these ideas are stupid, Rico. You have to give yourself up.’

  ‘I need more time,’ said Rico.

  ‘He needs more time,’ Lola said to Kim. ‘And you need some clothes,’ she said to Rico.

  ‘He needs some what?’ asked Kim. ‘What’s clothes got to do with it?’

  ‘Well, look at him,’ replied Lola. ‘Those are basically his school clothes. Too recognisable. Whatever happens, he’s going to need a change of clothes.’ She turned to Rico. ‘I’ll get you some clothes. You can pay me back later.’

  ‘I still think we need to deal with the whole situation, not just the clothes,’ said Kim, looking unhappy.

  ‘Of course we need to deal with the whole thing,’ said Lola. ‘But we don’t want to rush and make the wrong decision. So I suggest we leave Rico here, go for a drive into town, and get him some clothes.’

  ‘OK,’ said Kim, turning to Rico. ‘What’s your size?’

  Lola and Kim went shopping. The house fell silent and Rico was left alone with his thoughts.

  Lola drove to a budget clothing store and they bought the first things they saw that didn’t look like school uniform. When they had finished shopping for clothes they went to a chemist and bought a toothbrush and a comb. They drove home, but halfway there the mood changed when Kim raised her concerns.