Breaking East Read Online Free Page B

picked up a stick and reached to touch the barbs. No buzz, whine or flash. The camera on top of a post whirred. I dropped the stick and turned away.
    Crossing through the checkpoint at the bridge took me almost twenty minutes because I queued quietly and waited my turn. I saw no bluebottle-eyed Red and no journalist, and nobody asked where I was going or why. Perhaps Joe had been right and all that chat about new laws would amount to nothing. The address I needed lay deep on the east side, so far east it was almost outside Basley towards the edge of the county border. I didn’t mind the run, it helped me think. I’d been given my chance to shine and I was determined to focus and do a good job.
    The house turned out to be easy to find, nestled at the end of one of the poshest streets. It might as well have been called Stinky-rich Avenue off Tax-exempt Close. The majority of residents were old and carried tell-tale signs of loyalty to the Law - posters in windows, little badges on their lapels. They must have been right peeved to have two left-alone kids in their midst. Talk about lowering the tone. Not to mention the house prices.
    I watched Stuart drop his kid sister Gemma at the small local school near where they lived. It had that nice cosy east-side community feel to it, what with the mumsies and kiddy-winks all in pretty flouncy dresses and bows in their hair. Stuart and Gemma looked a little out of place, mainly because of Gemma. If I’d been asked to guess, I’d have said she’d ran out of clean clothes and resorted to dragging out the dressing-up box to make up the shortfall.
    As for Stuart, well, the photo didn’t do him justice. He stood at least six-two in his bare feet and had massive shoulders, square and solid. The sun-bleached hair ruffed into a precise tousle and his clothes hung a trend-setting sleek. He must have spent time and serious money to get that look. If he hadn’t been a soft easty I might have even called him hot.
    But it didn’t take me long to suspect Stuart felt edgy. He walked quickly, scanning the streets the whole while, and spent a great deal of time ducking behind cars and darting around corners dodging the Reds. The Law were having a massive recruitment drive and loved to approach guys like Stuart. They liked nothing more than coaxing a good, rich, easty kid onto the dark side. Perhaps M Gee thought he might need a little help fending them off. If so, and that’s all the job entailed, then I was in for a very easy ride.
    The first couple of days passed as smooth and cushy as Joe would have hoped. I fell into a neat routine where I watched the kids go to school, slept for a few hours and followed them home again. Only the privileged got to go to school and take exams. Qualifications had little to do with brains and more to do with bank balances. Naturally, one led to the other, and so the cycle continued.
    Each night I reported to Joe and each night he warned me against getting complacent, but the truth was, I wanted something to happen. I wanted to prove I could do more than hang about watching others live their lives.
    On day three I turned up outside their house for the school-run as usual. Stuart and Gemma bundled their way out through their front door, Stuart dressed in a tee with I’ll show you mine … across the front and looking ball-dropping knackered, Gemma in some sort of pink, frilly fairy dress and purple wellies. I’ve never been one for kids, but she was pretty in a quirky kind of way, and funny. She chatted constantly and looked up at Stuart like he was her very own superman. He answered her as if she was a mini adult with long, complex sentences which would bore the pants off a professor. ‘I have a Mandarin exam this morning, Gemma, three hours long. It’s crucial for international relations as well as business …’ Yawn, yawn. But Gemma listened and nodded. ‘Yes, Stuart. Absolutely, Stuart.’ Sweet.
    As they crossed the road, Gemma dragging her bag and