The Midnight Mercenary Read Online Free Page A

behind his ears. ‘I was so worried. Well, come on. We’re going to get in huge trouble with Charlie’s mum because of you.’
    But Grawk had other ideas. Standing on his back legs, he delicately nipped her fingers and pulled her forward – away from the hotel.
    â€˜What’s going on?’ Charlie hissed.
    â€˜I think … he wants us to follow him.’
    Charlie grunted. ‘He’d better be on our side. I’ll feel pretty stupid if he just invited us to go and meet his old pal, Krskn.’
    But Amelia trusted Grawk fully. She bent over to hold his tail, and took Charlie’s hand. They followed the alien dog in an awkward line through the dark. He took them around the edge of the rose gardens, down a side path to the back of the hotel, and through some very closely grown, scratchy bushes. Just as Amelia started to wonder if he was chasing random smells in the grass, he stopped. The moon had come out enough now for her to see they were standing in front of a small brick building with a wooden door.
    â€˜Go on,’ Charlie whispered.
    She pulled the door open, wincing as the hinges squealed, shockingly loud in the night. To her surprise, Dad’s torch was lying on the floor in front of her, its electric beam starting to fade and pointing uselessly at the wall.
    Coming from inside the room, she heard a scuffle – feet scraping on dusty concrete and kicking at bricks. Without thinking, she snatched the torch and shone it into the room. If they were about to be attacked by Krskn, at least they would see him coming.
    The beam flashed over a wall of different dials and meters, as well as a ruined fuse box, but what grabbed Amelia’s attention were the legs in the far corner of the room. Dad’s legs. His feet were tapping the ground to make sure she found him – but where was Dad’s body? Above his waist was nothing but blackness and shadows.
    For one horrifying second, Amelia thought her father had been sliced in half, and Krskn had left only the legs behind, somehow still nightmarishly alive. But then she realised that Dad’s body had been glued to the wall by an enormous band of what looked like tar. It bound his arms to his sides and pressed him hard into the corner, holding him flat against the bricks, and covering him right up to his nose. He could still breathe, hear and see, but apart from tapping his feet he was helpless.
    â€˜Dad!’ Amelia cried, and started toward him, but before she could touch him, he kicked the wall violently and glared.
    Amelia stopped short and stared at him, confused. He started tapping on the floor again. ‘Dad?’
    He kept tapping.
    â€˜He’s doing morse code!’ said Charlie. ‘The tapping!’

    Now Amelia listened properly, she could hear the repeating rhythm too. ‘What’s he saying?’
    â€˜GO,’ said Charlie. ‘Just: GO, GO, GO.’
    â€˜No.’ Amelia looked at Dad. ‘Grawk brought us here to save you. We’re not leaving you.’
    Her dad tapped again, slowly and clearly so Charlie could follow. ‘GO … NOW… KRSKN … HERE … DANGER … no, wait, DANGER OUS … FOR … YOU.’
    â€˜I don’t care,’ said Amelia.
    Dad tapped.
    â€˜What?’ said Amelia, as Charlie paused and grimaced.
    â€˜PLEASE, COOKIE.’
    Amelia couldn’t move. She had found her dad – how could she just walk away and leave him to Krskn? It wasn’t possible.
    She was still standing there, wondering what to do, when she heard branches snapping outside and the heavy thud of boots. She lurched around, the torch flashing over Charlie’s horrified face before dazzling the burly figure pushing through the bushes to reach them.
    â€˜Put that down,’ the figure said gruffly. ‘Want to blind me?’
    â€˜Tom?’ Amelia dropped the light from Tom’s face and waited for her heart to restart in her chest. Grawk,