Hacked (19 page)

‘Let’s go for a walk,’ said Mum. ‘It’ll help clear your head.’

The sleeping tablet had knocked me out. Good idea of Charlie’s. He was a bit of an oddball lawyer but you couldn’t fault his supplies of food, drink and drugs.

‘OK,’ I said.

I wasn’t sure when Ruby was coming over so I texted her:

going round the downs with mum – text you when back xxxxxx

My battery was on three per cent so I left my phone charging in my room, grabbed some trainers and braced myself for the heart to heart that was coming.

We’d rushed out of the court to be met by a thousand camera flashes, spent ages with Charlie going through the appeals process and zoomed back to Bristol pretty late. All Mum and Dad said before I went to bed was, ‘We’ll fight and fight.’

I knew
they
would, but wasn’t sure how much fight I had left in me.

We dawdled up St Albans Road to North View. The man in the café waved at us with a sad face. I did one of
those robot waves back, like the queen does.

‘I’m proud of you, Dan. Truly, I am. You’ve done everything you can to put things right. It’s not your fault.’

I was welling up
again
, luckily she stopped the soppy stuff just in time.

‘We’ve got to get on with living,’ she said, an upbeat voice. ‘We can’t let them rob us of now.’

‘“Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’”,’
I said. (
The Shawshank Redemption
– Mum’s favourite film.)

‘Exactly.’

She put her arm through mine, and we walked in step, despite my six-inch height advantage. It’s three miles to the Sea Walls and back. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, with odd streaks of white webbing. It was too early to be hot but it might be later. As usual there were joggers, dog-walkers (and dog poo), pushchairs and cyclists. It was so utterly normal, and yet not.

‘If I’d had any idea, when I was messing about … if I’d known it would cause all this … all this … worry … upsetting everyone, I’d never —’

‘Dan, you don’t need to say anything. We understand, really … we do. The hack was stupid … teenagers are allowed to be stupid, it says so in the instructions.’ She smiled. ‘Remember, the police
here
agreed you have no charges to answer.
You’re
not the villain, the American government is.’ She paused. ‘Charlie says you’re a pawn in a game of chess you never agreed to play.’

‘He likes to talk the talk,’ I said.

Mum grinned.

‘Fancy a flapjack?’

I nodded. I’d missed at least three meals.

We were by the café on the Downs. She went inside to order and I sat down at one of the round tables outside, near two men in Lycra shorts. I moved two chairs so we wouldn’t have to stare at the sun – saw them look at me. They knew who I was. Mum came back out, said, ‘Hello’ to three women who were tying up their dogs – Bristol’s like a village – and plonked the Guardian on the table. The front page was all about me.

The dark side of the “special relationship”

There was a massive photo – it was taken as I came out of the glass doors of Westminster Magistrate’s Court onto the street. Ruby had her arms round my neck. You could see the side of her face, hair tucked behind her ear as usual – one way of letting her mum know! My head was on her shoulder, and my arms were wrapped round so far I looked like an orangutan. What the photo didn’t show was her whispering, ‘I love you, Fella.’

‘Read it, then,’ said Mum. ‘Let’s see what Amanda has to say about it all.’

I started to read aloud.

‘Yesterday’s decision to allow the extradition of sixteen-year-old Dan …’

The sound of brakes made me stop reading and turn my head. Mum did the same. Two cars beeped angrily as a silver Mercedes swung across the main road and
jerked to a halt. Charlie got out, waving as he walked round to the pavement side. Goosebumps, an over-fast heart rate and a dry mouth happened all at the same time. My confidence in justice had been obliterated by the court experience, leaving me convinced that if the Home Secretary clicked her fingers I’d be straight on an Airbus. Maybe today …

‘Mum?’ No other words came out …

‘Don’t worry.’ She put her hand on my arm. ‘I think he’s got Gran in the front.’

The back door opened and Ruby stepped out with a massive smile. She opened the passenger door and waited for Gran. El scrambled out of the back. The four of them walked in a line across the strip of grass, the path, more grass, and the cycle path. It took a century.

‘Hello,’ said Mum, ‘what’s all this?’ Her voice was jolly, but fake.

‘Do either of you ever think of taking a phone?’ said Charlie. ‘I’ve been to every “known whereabouts” and found everyone
but
Dan.’

‘Well … you’ve found him now,’ said Mum, still fake.

Spit it out, someone.

I looked at Ruby, too terrified to ask. She was still smiling. Pleased to see me, or being brave …?

‘Dan!’ said Charlie. His gut, which was spilling over his waistband as usual, was level with my face. I stood up. It made me feel less like a victim. It also drew everyone’s attention to us – the hacking boy from yesterday’s breaking news and his dishevelled lawyer.

‘What is it?’ I said.

Despite the traffic, Charlie’s voice was the only sound. ‘I have received instructions this morning from the Office of the US Attorney General, via the Home Secretary …’ He paused to get his breath. ‘… To the effect that the extradition request has been
withdrawn
.’

He bear-hugged me.

‘It’s all over, Dan.’

There were silent gasps and then whooping and clapping, lots and lots of clapping. Mum put her arms round me and Charlie. I saw Gran wipe her eyes. People came out of the café to see what was going on. Hands reached over to congratulate me.

‘What happened?’ said Mum.

The crowd fell silent again as Charlie did what he did best.

‘A few good people shamed the mighty US Government, that’s what happened. A boy called Dan, who dared to admit a wrongdoing to save his fellow countrymen, a brave American called Anna, who followed his lead, her father, who took a stand against the misuse of legislation, and two other individuals, managed between them to whip up a level of support both here
and
across the pond that the powers that be were reluctant to face in the ring. Extraditing Dan would have caused a human rights
scandal
.’

‘Is that what they said?’ I asked, the shock making me stupid.

‘Not exactly,’ said Charlie, suppressing a grin. ‘They
said, “The request has been revoked because of new information”.’

General laughter.

The waiter came out, and had to weave between everyone to get to our table with the tray intact.

‘Is it a birthday?’ he asked.

El said, ‘My brother can stay with us.’ Her voice went high and weird and she started to cry.

‘Come here,’ said Gran, reaching over to give her a cuddle.

Ruby saw her chance, grabbed
me
round the neck and gave me an entirely-inappropriate-in-front-
of-family
kiss.

The waiter, understandably, kept his eyes down. ‘Here’s your hot chocolate, cappuccino, and two flapjacks …’

He clocked the paper, looked up.

‘You’re the lovebirds.’

‘Tweet,’ said Ruby.

He stuck his hand out to shake mine, his face as pleased as if he’d freed me himself.

‘Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Can I get anyone else anything? Whatever anyone wants, it’s on the house.’

Tracy Alexander lives in Bristol with three teenagers, no pets, one husband, one jukebox, three bicycles and one unicycle she can’t ride.

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