20
‘Where’s James?’ I said. ‘Anybody seen him?’
Pat, who looked as stunned as I was by the recent turn of events, shook his head. The others made it clear they didn’t know where James was. I ran to the end of the alley and looked around the corner into the street. No James. I ran the other way. Nothing. My palms were sweaty.
‘You’re going to have to forget him,’ said Maya.
The horrible truth dawned on me that she was right. It was the eleventh hour. Going after James could – probably would – stop us from achieving our objectives. I had to focus on saving Tom and Bob, even though abandoning James to his fate didn’t sit well with me, to put it mildly. How I’d explain his loss to Bob didn’t bear thinking about. But explain it I would, when the time came. If it came. Chances were I’d never
