The Rescue Read Online Free PDF Page A

giving the girls’ cover stories. Ketty was supposedly in trouble for petty thieving; Dylan for constant disobedience.
    ‘Let’s go and find them.’ Nico sat up.
    I sat down on the edge of my bed. It was hard as rock, but at that moment I didn’t care. The weariness from the long, punishing run I’d just done was creeping up my legs now. I wasn’t at all sure I could have stood up again.
    ‘I wouldn’t,’ Tommy said. ‘If Cindy or Fernandez catch you – and they will – you’ll get a demerit.’
    ‘What are demerits?’ Nico demanded.
    ‘Black marks against your name,’ Tommy explained. ‘Everytime you do something wrong – break a rule . . . answer back . . . you get a demerit. That run they made you do earlier – that was because of a demerit, wasn’t it?’
    I nodded. ‘So a demerit means a punishment?’
    ‘Yup.’ Tommy sighed. ‘Five demerits in a week and you go into solitary. No one’s allowed to speak to you for a whole day and you’re not allowed to speak to them.’
    The door opened. Cindy appeared with a tray covered with a cloth. She set it on the floor.
    ‘Bread and cheese for Nico and Ed,’ she said.
    ‘Permission to speak.’ Tommy sprang off his bed.
    ‘Yes?’ Cindy turned her mean little eyes on the boy.
    ‘Instead of chores tomorrow morning, could I show Ed and Nico around?’ he said. ‘Explain how everything works?’
    ‘No,’ Cindy snapped. ‘They’ll learn fast enough without any special treatment.’ She glanced from me to Nico. ‘Lights out in forty-five minutes. Make the most of them. They’ll be all the free time you get for twenty-four hours.’ She left, shutting the door.
    ‘Lights out at nine ?’ Nico sounded disgusted. ‘I can’t go to sleep that early, even after that frigging run.’
    I let myself sink into the bed. I was starving hungry but it was suddenly too much effort to even make it from the bed to the tray. I closed my eyes. A few seconds later sleep took over – a hot, troubled sleep in which visions of Ketty and Luz swirled in my mind.
    I woke, disorientated, to the sound of Spanish chatter. The sun was creeping brightly round the edges of the blind. Mat and Mig were already up and dressed. I got a change of clothes from my bag and went into the bathroom. It was basic. Just a sink, a toilet and a shower set into the wall behind a grubby shower curtain. I crossed the chipped white tiles and took a lukewarm shower, then dressed in fresh clothes.
    Nico emerged, bleary-eyed, from the dorm as I left the bathroom.
    ‘It’s almost 6 a.m.’ He yawned. ‘Which means “chores”, remember?’
    I nodded. ‘What d’you think we’ll have to do?’
    I found out a few minutes later, when Cindy arrived, with Ketty, Dylan and four other girls in tow. Outside, the sun was already beating down, baking the earth. I glanced at Ketty, catching her eye.
    You okay? I thought-spoke, keeping my tone light.
    I guess. Ketty’s thought-speech felt anxious. The other girls seem all right, though Dylan’s managed to piss them off already. But that Cindy’s a bitch and this place is unbelievable. You know we only get one hour of free time all day?
    I know.
    I broke the connection as Cindy started explaining our early-morning chores.
    ‘Tommy, take Nico and Ed to the barn and fetch spades and forks for everyone.’ Cindy pointed to the field. ‘Outdoor chores this morning are either digging soil for potatoes or working on the irrigation ditch. You three . . .’ she indicated Ketty, Mig and one of the other girls, ‘you’re on kitchen duty. Follow me.’
    With a despairing look at Nico, Ketty followed Cindy indoors.
    The barn was the building on the other side of the main house from the one the boys’ dorm was in. Large and ramshackle, it was a lot less well kept than the rest of the camp, with peeling paint on the walls and windows, and piles of machinery and equipment heaped haphazardly inside.
    ‘Watch out for rats,’ Tommy muttered, as we crossed the