Nightrise Read Online Free PDF Page B

much. He was usually the last to leave.

    "Good night, kids," he rasped.
    They heard him make his way down the corridor. The stage door groaned open and then clanged shut.
    Don White would be in his office, having a last drink, talking on the phone to Marcie. Otherwise they were on their own.
    Jamie leaned down and tied up his laces. There was a hole in his sneaker. He could see through to his bare foot inside. "What happened?" he asked. "What did you see…out on the stage?"
    "I don't know." Scott bit his lip.
    'You said you saw someone called Daniel. You said he'd been taken."
    "Jamie, I don't want to talk about it. Okay?"
    "Sure…"Jamie looked at his brother in dismay.
    Scott let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you." He shook his head. "Something's happening. I don't know what it is. But something's wrong…"
    "What do you mean?"
    "Tonight. That woman. Everything…" Scott ran a hand through his hair. It was thick with sweat.
    "Listen, Jamie. I've got a-bad feeling. Maybe you're going to have to look out for yourself…"
    "Why? Scott? What is it?"
    It was the dog that warned them.
    The theatre should have been empty. The theatre was empty in that all the other performers had gone, leaving only the twins behind. But what Don White had forgotten was that Frank Kirby was staying in a boardinghouse that didn't allow dogs, so every night he left Jagger in his dressing room. The German shepherd slept on a mat and normally no one would notice that it was there.
    But something had disturbed it. Scott heard a low growling that suddenly rose, loud and threatening. It was coming from the corridor. Jamie looked up. He had never heard Jagger like that before. Scott raised a hand, signaling his brother to stay where he was, then stepped out of the door. And that was when he saw them.
    Two men. One bald, one dark. Both in brown suits. Scott hadn't seen them in the audience but Jamie had. He recognized them at once, knew where they had come from. At the same time, he registered with a shock of disbelief that the bald man was holding a strange-looking gun.
    Scott stared at them. They had seen him the moment he had appeared in the corridor but they couldn't reach him. The dog was between them, its hackles raised and its teeth bared. Jagger was ten years old. It slept most of the time. But now, suddenly, it had changed. It was as if the dog had discovered the savage animal it might once have been. It was about to attack. There could be no doubt of it.
    Scott realized instantly that he and his brother were in danger. He didn't know who the men were or why they were here, but he knew he had to get away and had only seconds in which to do it.
    "Jamie! Come here!"
    He didn't shout the words. He thought them. But it had the same effect. Jamie burst out of the room and saw the two men just as Jagger let out a final snarl and leaped into the air. Banes fired the gun — not a bullet but some sort of dart. It hit Jagger in the neck. The dog screamed. Scott pushed Jamie ahead of him and the two of them began to run. Behind them, Jagger was still arcing toward the two attackers.
    The end of the dart — tufts of black feather — stuck out of the fur below its ear, but it was still conscious, snapping at the two men, snarling and barking. Kyle Hovey cried out as the dog sank its teeth into his arm and began to tear at his flesh. But then Banes got hold of it. His hands clamped down on the animal's head, holding it down against the floor. Jagger tried to reach him, tried to get back onto its feet.
    But then the drug, whatever it was inside the dart, took effect. Its eyes glazed and it lay still.
    The boys still hadn't reached the corner of the corridor. Banes had dropped the gun when he had dealt with the dog but now he snatched it up, aimed, and fired. The dart missed Scott by an inch and bounced off the wall. Banes didn't have time to fire again. The boys had disappeared. White-faced, furious, he turned to Hovey, who was