The Ring of Five Read Online Free PDF Page A

your first night here?"
    Les had pushed Danny down into the seat beside the door. The closest boy to him was dark-haired, with heavy eyebrows and red-rimmed eyes. He was wringing his strong-looking hands, and muttering to himself.
    "Cherbs ... damn them ... wring every one of their
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    filthy necks ... blood and terror ..." He turned to look at Danny. His eyes narrowed. He peered hard at Danny's face as if he was trying to remember something. He's going to think I'm a Cherb, Danny thought nervously. But before the boy realized what he was looking at, a girl was suddenly in the empty space between them. Danny looked at her, astonished. He had no idea how she had come to be there. She had curly brown hair and freckles, and a vague manner, as if she wasn't really sure how she had got there either.
    "Oh. Hi," she said. "I'm Dixie Cole. I ... er ... I ... oh yes ... thought it would be a good idea if I got between you and Toxique.... He's okay, really ... comes from a family of assassins, and they want him to learn.... Not really up to the job if you ask me...."
    "This is Danny, the new boy," Les said with a grin. "Dixie's a good friend of mine. Danny just dug me out of a spot of bother with Brunholm. Cherbs attacked the Messengers' dance...."
    Before Les could say any more, the lights went down. High on one wall an old-fashioned black-and-white television set flickered to life. Danny saw Brunholm sitting behind a newsreader's desk. NEWS AS TRUE AS THE DAY IS LONG, a sign on the wall behind him read.
    "It's a short day, then," someone murmured, in what sounded to Danny like an old joke.
    "Attention," Brunholm said, facing the camera with what he probably imagined to be a sincere expression. "A few notices." He cleared his throat and read swiftly from a piece of paper in front of him.
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    "A Cherb raid on the ballroom tonight was unsuccessful." Danny and Les exchanged looks. "Tonight's Stealth and Surprise exercise was a resounding success." This time the others exchanged looks. They obviously didn't agree. "And we have a new pupil, Danny Caulfield, who is not a Cherb."
    Brunholm put down the piece of paper, stood up, beamed at his audience, then walked off camera and was gone.
    "Not a word of truth in the whole thing. Everything that man says is a lie," the tall boy with the beret said.
    "You might be right, Smyck," a small boy with large, blinking eyes said. "Except that this boy has all the anatomical characteristics of a Cherb."
    "Well," Dixie said slowly, "if everything Brunholm says is a lie ... and he says that Danny isn't a Cherb"--she appeared to be thinking very hard--"then it means that Danny can't be a Cherb!" And she smiled brilliantly at the others.
    "No, Dixie," Les said in exasperation, "what you mean to say is ..." He looked at Dixie and sighed. She already appeared to have forgotten what they had been talking about. "He ain't a Cherb," Les finished lamely.
    "Good argument, Knutt," Smyck said sarcastically.
    The others started talking among themselves about the exercise that night. Without warning, a hatch beside Danny slid open and a plate of chicken and potatoes and gravy slid across the table, coming to a stop right in front of him.
    "Tuck in," Les said. Danny did as he was told.
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    It was the middle of the night, or felt like it, but he was starving.
    As he ate, he noticed that there were framed photographs of men and women above the bench seats. Some of the subjects were distinguished. Others were wild-eyed, or haunted-looking. There was a particularly beautiful young woman with a long neck and almond-shaped eyes.
    "That's old Bob Spetznaz," Les said admiringly. "Seduced kings and all in that getup."
    "What about this one?" Danny pointed to an empty frame.
    "That's Steff Pilkington. Near as anything invisible. Never managed to get a photograph of him. Every time they tried the film come back blank. One of the greats."
    "Where are they all now?"
    "Let me see." Les looked at them and frowned a little, then