Dan and the Dead Read Online Free Page B

should be, and it’s so quiet that I’m starting to get a bad feeling.
    â€˜Any luck?’ I whisper to Si.
    â€˜Not a bean,’ he replies.
    I’m just thinking it’s time to jack it in for the night, when something happens that gives me the fright of my life. And for a kid who sees dead people, that’s saying a lot.
    The lid of this wheelie bin I’m next to bursts up, and someone grabs my arm! I yell out and twist my arm in a karate move. It’s a good move too, something I picked up from a client, and I break the man’s grip easily, but another bin explodes open. Two great bear arms pick me up. I see Simon swoop over and hear him shout ‘Daniel!’ but before he can get there, I’m being stuffed into a bin like a sack of potato peelings, and the lid slams shut.
    Next thing I know, I’m being trundled about and then I’m tipped out on the ground. I try to run, but the same enormous pair of hands grabs me and I’m pushed into the back of a car. The doors slam and the car starts to drive. I sit up, remove a rotten cabbage leaf from my specs and stare back at the sneering face of Carl Bagport.
    â€˜Looking for this, were we?’
    He’s holding a gun in one hand, and the USB stick in the other.
    â€˜Zounds!’ gasps Simon, who’s slipped in beside me.
    â€˜Nah, you can keep that,’ I say. ‘I’ve got others.’
    I’m trying to sound cool about things, even though I’m really, really not. Bagsy grins as he pops the stick into the top pocket of his suit. Then he reaches outto a little tray and picks up a martini glass full of something gloopy and pink.
    The car’s some naff stretched job with back seats facing each other, and next to Bagport there’s a bloke with a camera round his neck, a bloke who looks like the Incredible Hulk’s mean uncle. He’s holding a gun too. Simon can’t do his trick on both men at once, but then I guess that’s the point.
    â€˜Do you know who this is, Ringpull?’ says Bagport to the huge bloke. The huge bloke grunts. ‘It’s only the kid who sees dead people.’
    Ringpull glances over at his boss, and for a moment it almost looks like he has the brains to not believe what he’s hearing. But he just grunts again and goes on pointing his pistol. I look back at Bagport and it’s a surprise to see the man’s looking at me with genuine interest.
    â€˜What, you believe me?’ I say. I’m not used to this.
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know yet.’ Bagport takes a little sip from his glitzy cocktail, but one of the umbrellas falls out and leaves a sticky trail on his shiny suit. I’m thinking he’s trying to give me the Mr Big act with the flash car and everything, but all I can see are some serious style issues. Oh, and guns. I can see those too.
    â€˜But what you did to me yesterday – knocking me out, and the swinging chandelier… There’s something about you I don’t get,’ he says. ‘But I will, kid, I will. I didn’t get to where I am today by turning my back on opportunities, and if you
can
see dead people… well, there’s an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day.’ And he gives me a sick leer. His teeth are even whiter than Simon’s.
    The car drives for a bit longer, and then pulls up. Outside it’s really dark, too dark for London, but in the light that spills from the car doors as they open I spot a crumbly brick wall, a mass of ivy and an ancient iron gate. The gate is open, and there’s someone there. I catch a glimpse of the terrified face of a girl, but she runs off when Ringpull cuffs her round the head. There are keys in the gate, and I just know they’ve been nicked from somewhere, on Bagsy’s orders.
    I’m pulled out of the car, and then Bagport’s next to me, his gun in my back. I can tell he’s carrying something else, but I can’t