But Sylvie had heard him. ‘I love you too, Soren,’ she mouthed back.
No one was more surprised to have slept through the night than Max. He hadn’t wanted to close his eyes lest the nightmares return, but after their antics on the slopes, followed by the worrying revelations about Fitz and the Beacon, not to mention the trauma of seeing the firefighter again, he was absolutely shattered. His mother had curled up beside him until he’d nodded off and she’d returned to his room several times during the night to make sure that he was still sleeping.
The boy rolled over and glimpsed the clock, surprised to see that it was after eight.
‘Morning,’ Kensy said as she sidled into her brother’s room still in her pyjamas. ‘You were out to it last night.’
He pushed himself up against the pillow. ‘And you know that because?’
‘I got up five times to check on you,’ the girl said. ‘I tell you what, I’m never having a baby – at least not without a night nanny. All this up and down, sleeping, not sleeping, it’s exhausting.’ She yawned and rubbed her eyes.
‘Sorry,’ Max apologised. He genuinely meant it.
‘It’s fine.’ Kensy waved away his concern. ‘I didn’t want you waking up the whole house again. Anyway, it wasn’t only you I was worried about. I might have checked to see if Fitz was back as well. And he’s not – well at least he wasn’t when I last looked at twelve minutes past five. Mum and I had hot chocolate at three o’clock when we bumped into each other.’
Max frowned. ‘He’ll be okay, Kensy. He’s Fitz. The fittest guy we know – and probably the smartest too.’
‘I keep telling myself that, Max, I really do, and I know I said all that yesterday too, but then I thought about it properly. He’s out there in the snow trapped somewhere. He could die from hypothermia before anyone finds him.’ Kensy bit her lip and steeled herself, willing the tears that were building to stay away. ‘I know. I have to keep it together. This is what we do. He’s trained. We’re trained and the spy business isn’t for wimps.’
Max grinned. ‘Come on, Kens. We’re also human.’
‘I guess so, though I’ve sort of been hoping that as part of this gig we find out that maybe we have spare robot parts or something.’ She smirked.
‘Speaking of robots, or actually technology, what if we could somehow get one of your mind-readers onto that guy we saw last night? Then we’d know for sure who he was and what he was thinking,’ Max said.
Kensy shook her head. ‘No way. I want to use them on Fox and Heike or Axel. I’m not wasting them on him.’
Max was about to say something when Kensy held up her hand to shush him. ‘Did you hear that?’ she asked. There was a faint growling noise. At first she couldn’t work out where it was coming from then she realised what it was. Max’s laptop was sitting on the desk under the window, the lid half-closed.
She hurried over and opened it to find that Autumn was phoning through on a video link. Kensy turned to her brother.
‘It’s your girlfriend,’ she teased, then wondered why her best friend was dialling her brother and not her.
Kensy sat down and accepted the call while in the background Max smoothed his bed hair and quickly threw his navy blue dressing gown over his Batman pyjamas.
‘Good morning,’ Kensy said.
‘Thank goodness one of you answered,’ Autumn said, pushing her red glasses onto the bridge of her nose. ‘I tried you last night, Kensy, but you didn’t pick up.’
Kensy thought for a moment and realised that she hadn’t unpacked her computer. It was still in the bag on her desk.
‘Are you okay?’ Kensy asked. Autumn wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t something important – technically they weren’t really supposed to be communicating although the line was secure.
The girl nodded. ‘I’m fine, but you need to know there’s this guy who’s been sniffing around outside of school. Yesterday afternoon he approached me as I was leaving and asked if I knew anyone called Max. He followed Curtis home and he’s been talking to Carlos too.’
Max flinched. ‘What?’
‘We didn’t tell him anything of course, but he’s bound to ask someone who’ll happily talk about you sooner or later,’ the girl said.
‘Did he say what he wanted?’ Kensy asked.
‘He told Curtis that he worked for Scotland Yard and he needed to ask someone called Max a few questions, but that seemed a bit odd. Why wouldn’t he just come to school and make arrangements with Mr MacGregor to meet you?’ Autumn said. ‘Curtis asked to see his ID and the guy changed the subject then rushed off.’
Kensy was about to ask her if she’d managed to snap a picture of the fellow, but her friend was one step ahead. ‘I’ve just sent you a couple of photographs.’
Max picked up his phone when he heard the ping. He opened the message, the colour instantly draining from his face.
Kensy looked at him. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘See for yourself,’ he said, holding the screen towards her.
Kensy’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘That’s him, Max, the guy from the supermarket last night.’
‘What are you two talking about?’ Autumn asked, peering into the camera.
‘Autumn, when did you take these?’ Max asked, leaning in close so that she could see him.
‘Yesterday at about half past three,’ the girl replied.
‘Which is half past four here. What time did we see him?’ Max looked at his sister.
‘Around quarter to six,’ she replied.
‘It’s physically impossible,’ Max said, biting his lip.
‘What do you mean you saw him too?’ Autumn asked.
‘He’s the firefighter from the Houses of Parliament,’ Max said. ‘And he’s here, where we are.’
‘Given I don’t know where that is, although going on the decor of that house it’s somewhere alpine and you said you were an hour ahead of us so you’re on the continent and now . . . I’ll keep quiet and stop speculating,’ the girl said, catching Max’s shaking head. ‘How could it be the same person?’
‘If you see him again, I need you to film him,’ Max said. ‘It’s important.’
Autumn nodded. ‘Are you okay?’
Kensy bumped her brother out of the way. ‘I think Max is hallucinating. Now we know that it can’t be the same guy, unless he has some weird ability to split himself in two. But take footage if you can and don’t let him catch you because Max thinks he’s some kind of weird devil man who can see inside your soul.’
‘Okay,’ Autumn said. ‘You look tired.’
Kensy yawned. ‘You don’t know the half of it,’ the girl began.
‘Actually, I meant Max,’ Autumn said. She had spotted the bags under his eyes and was worried that he might not be feeling well.’
Kensy rolled her eyes. ‘Max, Max, Max, anyone would think he was your boyfriend or something.’
Autumn’s jaw flapped, but the words wouldn’t come.
‘It’s all right, Autumn. I think Kensy might have a little crush of her own – and I don’t mean Curtis, though they’re going to make a seriously cute couple one of these days,’ Max teased.
Kensy elbowed her brother. ‘Be quiet!’ she snapped.
‘Did you find out anything on your tour of the Houses of Parliament on Sunday?’ Max asked, quickly changing the subject.
‘Yes,’ Autumn replied. ‘Curtis managed to get himself “lost” while Carlos and I created a distraction – he said that he found this room directly below the House of Commons that had all of these official stamps and seals and important-looking documents along with a bank of computers. But a guard caught him and he only had a few minutes down there – he even had to pick the lock, which he was pretty thrilled about.’
They didn’t realise that their mother was standing in the doorway.
‘Right, you two. Showers and dressed now!’ the woman ordered. ‘Briefing upstairs in fifteen minutes.’
The twins turned around, shielding
the screen from their mother’s sight.
‘What’s going on?’ Max asked.
‘Your father and Song have been out half the night searching for Fitz – and no, they didn’t find him. We need to make plans for what’s happening today.’
She noticed the twins standing jammed against one another. ‘What are you doing?’
Kensy spun around to face Autumn.
‘Gotta go,’ she whispered and terminated the call before her mother could see.
‘Who were you talking to?’ Anna demanded.
Max thought there was no point lying. Their mother would find out sooner or later. Anyway, Autumn had provided some important info.
‘Autumn phoned us,’ Max confessed. ‘She said that there’s someone at home asking about me. She showed us his picture and, Mum, it’s the guy we saw last night in the village. The firefighter.’
Anna frowned. ‘Really?’
‘Except that it can’t be the same person, Mum,’ said Kensy. ‘Because the timing just wouldn’t work at all. Max is wrong. It’s not the firefighter – it can’t be him.’
‘Firstly, your grandmother wouldn’t be very happy that you’re taking calls from your friends and secondly, bring the picture – we’ll check to see whether it matches with the firefighter, then at least you’ll know for sure, Max,’ Anna said.
‘Listen to you, Mum. All spy mode, MI6,’ Kensy said. ‘And why weren’t we allowed to go with Dad and Song last night? We could have helped.’
‘Don’t push me, darling,’ the woman said. She looked exhausted. ‘Showers and upstairs in fifteen minutes. I have a feeling today is going to be a very long one.’
Ed was already halfway through his second cup of black coffee when the twins arrived upstairs. He’d only managed a couple of hours sleep last night, having been out with Song until after two. The men had taken a taxi to the other side of the village and investigated the farmhouse where Fitz had sent his first message. From there they’d trekked up the mountain for some distance. Given it had been snowing steadily though, any tracks or footprints were long gone and it was too dangerous to continue in the dark, snowy conditions.
Kensy walked over and hugged her father from behind. He turned his head and kissed her cheek.
‘Do you think Fitz is okay, Dad?’ she asked. ‘I dreamt about him last night – don’t worry, it wasn’t a nightmare. He was trying to find his way home.’
‘If anyone can survive out there, it’s him, but your priority today has to be the search,’ Ed said. ‘Unfortunately, I have to go to Bern to meet Rupert, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
‘Did Mum tell you about the guy who’s been asking about me at home?’ Max said.
Ed nodded. ‘Send me Autumn’s pictures and I’ll run them through the database.’
Max did as he was asked, while Song placed two mugs of hot chocolate down in front of the children.
Kensy looked at the butler who was sporting puffy bags under his eyes. ‘You need to go back to bed.’
‘Sadly I am not as young as I once was, Miss Kensington, and your father is a hard man to keep up with,’ Song replied. ‘But I will get my second wind. We have work to do.’
Ed scoffed. ‘Song’s joking about keeping up with me. It was totally the other way around. I have a feeling that old man is going to put all of us to shame out there on the slopes sometime this week.’
Song grinned. ‘Enough with the old, please, and we will see.’ The butler returned to the sizzling pan of bacon on the stovetop and stirred the pot of scrambled eggs beside it with a wooden spoon. ‘Breakfast will not be long.’
Kensy jumped up to butter the toast that had just finished cooking.
Ed ran Autumn’s photograph through their extensive databases. Thousands of pictures flicked across the television screen on the wall beside them until the words NO MATCH indicated the result.
‘Clearly that guy doesn’t work for Scotland Yard, does he?’ Max said. ‘Try a comparison with the firefighter.’
Ed brought both photos up on the screen and the software set to work. This time MATCH appeared across the pair in large letters.
Kensy set two plates laden with scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled tomato and hash browns down in front of her parents. ‘I just don’t see how it would be possible for that fake firefighter to travel all the way from London to Zermatt in the time there was between following Curtis home and us seeing him at the supermarket. Unless he’s capable of teleportation then it can’t be the same person. Except . . .’ she hesitated for a second, ‘if he’s an identical twin.’
Max’s jaw dropped. ‘Of course.’ Why hadn’t he thought of that before now?
Ed sipped his coffee. ‘I’m going to post an agent outside the school and I’ve already alerted Magoo. He said that he’d have a stranger danger talk to the students this morning, and let them know there’s been a man loitering about asking inappropriate questions. Putting the whole school on his tail is a very good idea,’ Ed said.
‘It’s pretty obvious he’s working for Strawbridge. How would he even know who I am otherwise?’ Max said.
Ed frowned. The connection was definitely the most likely explanation. ‘I suspect your grandmother will orchestrate a meeting with the head of Scotland Yard – she’ll concoct some excuse to get him in.’
‘What about the hacking? That’s a legitimate reason,’ Kensy said.
Ed shook his head. ‘No. That will be dealt with in house. There’s too much riding on it to make anything public. Your grandmother will think of something.’
Kensy nodded. ‘Anyway if the firefighter is a twin, Max, that explains the other guy – though it’s a pretty weird coincidence that he’s here.’
Kensy and Song delivered the last of the breakfast plates to the table and the pair sat down.
‘So you and Song didn’t find anything last night, Dad?’ Max asked, loading his fork with a sizeable helping of scrambled eggs.
‘An old farmhouse that looks to be used as tourist accommodation. It was empty, and some cow sheds, which we checked too,’ the man replied.
‘So what’s the plan for today?’ Kensy asked.
‘I’ll get back from Bern as quickly as I can, but the main priority is to find Fitz. So no more escapades with Soren until he’s back.’
‘And after we find him?’ Max said.
‘I think we need to get into the Van Leers’ chalet and see if there’s anything incriminating there. The tip off we had was that they were meeting with intermediaries up here to expand their business. We need to catch them in the act – find proof of how they’re financing their purchases with dirty gun money.’
Ed looked at his watch and stood up. This morning he was every inch the businessman in a smart grey suit. He leaned down to kiss Anna.
‘Keep me posted,’ the man said as he grabbed his overcoat.
The family gave a wave.
‘Okay, let’s get moving,’ Anna said. ‘We have a Fitz to find.’
The twins, Anna and Song set off to the village not long after Ed had left for the train. Dressed in their ski clothes and sturdy walking boots with snowshoes slung over their backs, they looked like any other family off for a day walking in the mountains.
‘This search is going to be a lot easier in the daylight,’ Song said as they made their way towards the taxi rank at the end of the row of shops.
‘We’d better find him,’ Kensy said, a determined look on her face. ‘One night is tolerable, but more than that I don’t think I’ll sleep a wink.’
Max nodded. ‘I’ve got a good feeling.’
‘Really? That’s novel because you’ve had a string of bad ones up to now,’ his sister teased. She knew that Max would be on the lookout for their mystery man and truth be told she was too. They’d pointed out his apartment on the way to the village and given the place a cursory glance in case he was there, but there was no sign of anyone.
‘I’m trying to be positive, Kens,’ Max said, giving the girl a sneaky side ey
e.
They had almost reached their destination when a group of people tumbled out of a coffee shop straight into their path. The man was saying something loudly about reporting a stolen snowmobile to the police. The whole street could have heard him.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Anna apologised as she almost bumped into the man before realising whom she was speaking to.
‘Hi Soren,’ Kensy said. The words were out of her mouth before she had time to stop herself.
The boy blushed a deep shade of red. He bit his lip and didn’t reply.
‘Soren, do you know this girl?’ the man asked. The family was dressed in their ski gear; Heike resembling a giant canary in a vibrant yellow abomination while Fox wore a horrid orange ensemble. Standing side by side they looked like a fruit punch. The family’s skis were leaning against a rack on the footpath nearby. Kensy recognised Soren’s from yesterday and there were two longer pairs beside them. Hanging from the tips were their stocks and helmets too. The dusting of snow overnight had covered the roadway and there were other people skiing in the street, heading to the lifts at various points in the village. Given what Soren had said about his parents being first tracks people, the twins wondered why they were heading out so late. It was almost nine thirty.
Soren swallowed hard and Kensy frowned. If the boy didn’t want to say that he knew them, that was fine, although on second thought it would be far better for the families to get to know each other and denying their acquaintance would only make that harder in the long run.
‘Hello Mr Van Leer, Mrs Van Leer,’ Kensy offered her gloved hand. ‘My name’s Kensington Spencer. We met Soren yesterday when he returned my beanie that I had carelessly left at the cafe. He’s a very kind boy.’
Fox and Heike clearly didn’t know what to make of this jabbering child and her story.
But Kensy wasn’t about to stop. This was their opportunity to be formally introduced. She was waiting for her mother to step up and inject some charm and Max too, but it was Song who came to the rescue.
‘Mrs Van Leer, might I compliment you on your stunning suit. That shade of yellow really brings out your peachy complexion,’ Song said. The woman baulked for a moment, staring at the man, but Song had a deft touch. ‘You must tell me where you bought it. I would like to chase something like that for myself, though I cannot imagine the colour will suit me nearly as well.’
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