SPY by Arno Strobel
1 (ENTRANCE EXAM)
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It was on a Sunday a few days before his thirteenth birthday that Dominic’s life was
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turned upside down. He was on his way to the climbing wall, and as he wandered along
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Adamstrasse in Berlin’s Spandau district, he decided that today he’d have a go at the red
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route. He’d never tried it before: it was twelve metres long, the second-hardest route on
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the wall. For pros only.
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…
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He was just thinking about how he was going to deal with the overhang in the top third
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of the route when a boy came pushing past him. He was dark-haired, and looked to be
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about fourteen years old. He was walking briskly towards a girl with long blonde hair
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who was sitting at a bus stop typing something on her phone.
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Without realising, Dominic stopped in his tracks and watched the scene that was
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unfolding before him. It had a strange clarity, like in a film where the most dramatic bit
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happens in slow motion. The boy was already lifting his arm while he was still two steps
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away from the girl. Then he took another step. His fingers opened, and a moment later
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they closed around the smartphone and wrenched it out of the girl’s grasp. The girl’s
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eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth to yell, but the mugger had already
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turned and was sprinting away.
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Dominic was already some way along the road before he registered that he was chasing
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after the mugger, who had a head start of about twenty metres and soon disappeared
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around the corner into a side street. As Dominic willed his legs to work just a little bit
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faster, he wondered what the hell he was doing. What if he did manage to catch up with
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the mugger – what then? The guy was at least two years older than him and a lot bigger.
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Perhaps Dominic should just ask him nicely to give the phone back – at least then there
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was a chance he’d drop it from laughing so hard.
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Dominic banished these thoughts from his mind as he reached the corner. He caught at a
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traffic sign pole and swung himself into the side street. Then he scanned both
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pavements and spotted the mugger on the other side of the road. The guy was quick: he
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was even further ahead of Dominic now than before.
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Okay. There was no way Dominic was giving up now. His athletic pride was at stake.
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Without slowing his pace, he looked around for a short-cut. About two hundred metres
Translation by Romy Fursland