Storm and Stone Read Online Free PDF Page A

she wasn’t as tough as she tried to appear; he found the combination of hard shell, soft centre fascinating. ‘And that’s all you’re doing?’
    ‘Do you doubt me? I was the one tasked to find out why the parents of some of these students have suddenly fallen so spectacularly off the straight and narrow path.’
    C stream, the Cats, as the agents with skills like Joe’s were nicknamed, were selected for their ability to blend; one result was that they were never short of girlfriends or boyfriends, thanks to their charming ways. Kieran’s own A stream, tagged the Owls, were teased for their high IQs and low sweet-talking scores. The charm and the brains: that was how they were seen at the YDA.
    Kieran stabbed his apple pie. Personally he preferred five minutes of straight talk with a girl he fancied than Joe’s hour of clever manoeuvring and flattery—anyone with any sense would.
    But was Raven sensible?
    Put it aside: this was about the mission, not about an irrational instinct that had flared up inside him. He distrusted emotions. The last thing he wanted at Westron was a girlfriend, as serious relationships were forbidden while on a job. What was needed now was for him to focus on his mission.
    ‘OK, how we going to go about this? Do we need to adjust any of our strategies now we are on site?’
    ‘I don’t think so. We’ll proceed as Isaac told us. I’ll check out those who have parents mixed up in this scheme, see if they spill anything about what connects them, other than them all having kids at the same school; you get into the database and find any hint of Westron being knowingly involved.’
    ‘That red-haired girl who has it in for Raven—Hedda Lindberg?’
    ‘Already memorized the roll?’
    ‘Naturally. First thing I did on arrival.’
    Joe gave him an exasperated look. ‘’Course it was. What about her?’
    ‘She might be a good place to start. Her father went from legitimate gem merchant to smuggler of blood diamonds overnight.’
    ‘Interesting. OK, I’ll check if she knows anything.’
    ‘Good luck with that. She looks pretty toxic to me.’
    ‘I’ll be careful.’ Joe stood up. ‘Will you be OK on your own?’
    Kieran folded his napkin in a precise square. ‘You have to ask?’
    ‘Oh yeah, Mr I-am-an-island is fine with his own company. I forgot. See you in our room then.’
    ‘I’ll have my preliminary results on the email traffic by then.’
    ‘Great. Don’t forget we’re gonna have to attend lessons tomorrow and check in with Isaac at midday.’
    Kieran was already running some tests on Westron’s wireless network on his tablet computer. ‘Like that will be hard for me.’
    ‘I know you have Science qualifications up to your ears, so that’s why I enrolled you for the Drama, Art, English, and Dance AS level courses.’
    ‘You did what? I’m not prancing about in a leotard!’
    ‘Shouldn’t have handed over the form-filling to me, should you?’ Joe intercepted Kieran’s thump with his forearm. ‘Come on, Key, it’ll be fun.’
    ‘For whom?’ Kieran imagined squashing his dessert bowl on to Joe’s face—so tempting. Then again, how hard could all that arty stuff be? Nothing surely to the extreme difficulty of pure mathematics, and he’d mastered that without breaking a sweat. He rose to his feet. ‘You will die for this, Joe, and no one will find the body. I have several completely undetectable means of disposing of a corpse.’
    Joe looked worried for a second, knowing Kieran probably did. ‘You could see it as a challenge. You complained about not being tested earlier.’
    ‘You imagine that this is going to test me?’ Kieran raised a brow. ‘Think again, my friend, think again.’
     
    From her vantage point on the visitors’ sofa by the office, Raven watched the students file out of the dining hall while she pretended to read a newspaper. She had meant to return to her room but curiosity about the new guys kept her hanging around in the