RAFFERTY STATIONED himself at the gates of St Vincent’s School. Little more than a minute after the nearest church bell had chimed, he was engulfed in the middle of a swarm of bumblebee dark brown and yellow uniforms of the youths and girls that rushed past him in their eagerness to escape the halls of learning.
Rafferty almost missed Hakim in the crush. It was only the boy's height, his proud carriage, and the desert-night darkness of his hair that enabled him to spot him amongst the drab brown sparrow colouring of most of his schoolmates.
Jeered and heckled, promised a ‘duffing-up’ by one of the many overgrown youths as he pushed his way through the noisy throng in pursuit of Hakim, Rafferty just smiled and exchanged banter instead of wielding the authority of his warrant card. Besides
