Carlos was sitting behind the desk, one hand resting on his gun which was lying flat on the table and the other setting down a shot glass. We all strolled in, past the tank one, frozen now mid-leer, and stood in front of the other two who had been caught by Demos mid-step, confused expressions slapped on their faces. He looked back at me, uncertain whether I was insane or if he’d misunderstood my English, but then he grinned a leering kind of grin and called out over his shoulder, something in Spanish I couldn’t understand. ’ I said before he could notice the car and the van parked there. He cast his eyes up the street behind me. The man squinted at me, then he recognised me and his face contorted in disbelief. The one I’d thought we’d need a battering ram to get through.

The man who answered was the tank-shaped one.

But the door opened before I could unglue my feet and obey my survival instinct. A part of me, the inner voice which had been quiet over the last few days, started screaming at me to run – to run very fast in the opposite direction. I heard my footsteps getting louder, my heartbeat pounding like a drum in my ears.ĭemos took up a position on the left of the door and nodded at me. ‘Good luck,’ Alex whispered, before disappearing into the shadows at my side. The others fell back as we approached the door.

Like having our very own silent walkie-talkies. ‘Are they going to be OK out here?’ I asked, looking around at the eerily dark streets. He looked like a little puppy, waiting for his owners to return. ‘Lock your door,’ I mouthed to Nate as we walked past his van.

Demos, Harvey and Alicia fell in behind us. And if he did, he sho wouldn’t bring his mama into it.’Īlex slammed the door on them and we walked to the corner of the road, hoping Key didn’t turn the gun on his mother before she’d done her sifting business. ‘Mary mother of Jesus, what you doing with guns? Joe Junior, what kind of trouble you getting yourself mixed up in? And why you dragging your poor old mama into it? Mrs Williams’ boy never goes getting himself into trouble. ‘Here,’ Alex said, handing a gun to Key, ‘just in case.’ Lock the doors,’ he said to Suki who looked like she was about to argue with him. I clambered out and Alex leaned in past me. Alex got out of the car and opened the back door, releasing me from its crush.

Losing Lila by Sarah Alderson