The Mortal Knife Read Online Free Page A

at him, confused. Whatever the meaning was it was lost on him. ‘Did you have a good holiday?’
    Archie groaned. ‘Don’t ask him that. Seriously. You don’t want to know.’
    Dan gave him a withering look, then turned to Adam with the kind of expression normally reserved for orphans in black and white films. ‘I wouldn’t say it was good but it was certainly  …  eventful.’
    â€˜Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ Archie muttered.
    â€˜What happened?’
    Dan drew in a long, shuddering breath. ‘Nothing much. Except I pretty much nearly died.’
    Adam blinked. Whatever he’d been expecting Dan to say it hadn’t been that. ‘Oh, right. Well, you know, glad you’re still here.’
    Dan seemed disappointed at his reaction. ‘Yeah, I am! But only just!’ He gave a knowing nod at Adam. ‘Another thirty seconds and it would have been a whole different story!’
    Archie sighed and closed his sketchpad. ‘Just tell him what happened and get it over with.’
    Dan scowled. ‘You should be more sympathetic! I’m having an existential crisis. My mum said I’m having to come to terms with my own mortality. I have to go to counselling and act stuff out with dolls.’
    Archie gave a dirty snigger. ‘Yeah I’ll bet you do, perv.’
    Adam eyed Dan curiously. ‘Your mum’s some kind of therapist, isn’t she?’ At Dan’s nod he shuddered. It would be bad enough to have your mum psychoanalysing you all the time, but Dan’s dad was a dentist. His nickname was the Dark Lord, not least because of his unhealthy interest in spy cameras. Dentist and psychotherapist. It was like the worst parental job combination in history – agony on every level.
    â€˜Just tell him what happened.’ Spike spoke for the first time since Adam had sat down. He didn’t even look up, frowning in concentration as he stared at his laptop screen.
    â€˜I’ll tell you all right!’ Dan said. ‘I went to Trafalgar Square for the Septic Kisses concert the day that bomber blew himself up – and I got a photo of him just before it happened!’

Chapter 3
    It was fair to say that Dan now had Adam’s full attention, although probably not for the reasons he thought. ‘You
what
?’
    Dan nodded triumphantly. ‘You heard me. I was there when that nutter blew himself up in Trafalgar Square.’ He shovelled another handful of Brazil nuts into his mouth.
    Adam took a slow breath in and fought to remain calm. ‘Yeah, I know. But you said something about a photo? You got a photo?’
    Dan swallowed hard. ‘Yep. I was at the front of that gallery heading down into the square and it looked really cool with the stage and stuff, so I took a couple of photos on my phone. And then –
wham
! Massive explosion! And there was all this black smoke in the air. People were screaming and stuff.’ His excitement at telling the story faded as the memories overtook him. ‘It was pretty terrible really.’
    â€˜Yeah, it was,’ Adam said softly. He started when the other three looked at him sharply. ‘I mean, you know, the pictures. On the news. Really bad.’
    â€˜They didn’t have too many pictures on the news.’ It was Spike who had finally looked up from the laptop. ‘Most people were videoing the concert, so they were looking the wrong way. So they’ve only got the CCTV footage and most of it’s coming from the wrong direction. But by the time I’ve finished with this they’ll have Dan’s picture too.’ He turned the laptop round towards them. ‘Check this out.’
    The other three leaned closer and stared at the image on the screen. Adam sucked in a breath between his teeth. The familiarity of the scene was what really jolted him. The whole square was bathed in sunlight. He could still remember how unseasonably warm