Kensy and Song were ahead of Max now as were his parents.
‘Hey, watch out,’ the boy yelled, but the boarder turned back, heading for him again. Dressed top to toe in black with a full face helmet, Max couldn’t tell whether it was a man or a woman.
The boarder shoved Max, who wobbled, but managed to get away.
Kensy had stopped for a second and looked back, wondering what had happened to her brother. It was then that she saw exactly what was going on. Max swerved left and right, but the other boarder was relentless.
‘Hey!’ she called. As the pair zoomed past her she took off after them.
The way the person was chasing Max, they were steering him towards an out-of-bounds area to the left. Their parents had disappeared down the right-hand side of the slope – she glimpsed them as they passed an old barn in pursuit of Fox and Heike. She had no idea where Song was.
The signs on the mountain were clear. The area Max was headed towards was dangerous and he needed to change course immediately.
‘Max!’ Kensy cried out.
Her voice echoed around the mountain and Song heard it too. He stopped and looked across, horrified to see the boarder clip the back of Max’s snowboard, sending the boy tumbling. Max finally came to a stop, teetering on the edge of a deep ravine, the other snowboarder standing over him. Song sped towards them.
Max was trying to catch his breath when the boarder lifted their visor. The fellow had unclipped one of his boots and planted his foot firmly on Max’s chest. The boy wriggled and squirmed, but he was going nowhere.
‘Who are you?’ Max demanded staring into the man’s black eyes. ‘And what do you want with me?’
‘My name is not important, but your silence is,’ the man hissed. ‘And the best way to manage that . . .’
He had lifted his leg to kick Max over the edge when Song slammed into the fellow’s back, sending him flying. But the man grabbed Max’s board as he fell, taking the lad with him.
‘Max!’ Kensy screamed as she reached Song. Without hesitation she pressed a button on the gadget around her wrist, which looked for all intents and purposes like a gold bracelet. A length of metal coil shot out the end like a lasso and flew towards her brother, grabbing the boy around the middle while she pressed another button that speared him back up towards her.
Song reached for Max and pulled him in.
Kensy fell to her knees and hugged her brother tightly. ‘Oh Max, I thought you were a goner this time.’
Max panted. ‘Me too. Thanks, sis.’
Song peered into the ravine. The man had landed on a snowy ledge about halfway down, flat on his face, but very much alive. Kensy could see him too – he rolled over and raised his fist at them.
‘Come on.’ Song pulled Max to his feet and hugged the boy.
‘You and your sister need to go home. I will find your parents and let them know. I assume that was your fake firefighter or his twin?’
Max nodded, his teeth chattering, but not from the cold.
‘Let us hope that he makes it to his afternoon activity as nothing is going to give me greater pleasure than to hand him over to the authorities,’ Song said. ‘Or push him off another cliff.’
Kensy grinned and looked at her brother. ‘You okay?’
Max smiled back at her. ‘Yes, thanks to you two. And remind me never to tease you about your snowboarding skills ever again, Song. You’re awesome.’
‘Thank you, Master Maxim,’ Song said. ‘Confucius says our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. And believe me I have had many falls, but the reason I am skilled now is because I have always got back up again. Now go – I will see you at the chalet.’
The twins raced down the mountain, but Kensy had no intention of going straight home. She stopped near one of the old cow barns that had been converted into a restaurant and informed her brother that she wanted to get the mind-reading patches back from the Van Leers’ chalet.
Max agreed. He thought it would be a good idea to check in on Soren too and see if he was okay.
The pair remembered to stay up higher on the slope, allowing them to weave their way through a cluster of hotels, houses and apartments taking them directly to the Van Leers’ place.
Kensy was just about to knock when Sylvie opened the front door.
‘Good morning,’ the woman said brightly. ‘I am afraid that you have missed Soren. He is out on the slopes with his parents.’
Kensy frowned, but didn’t contradict the woman.
‘Oh, is Axel home?’ she asked.
‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘He is skiing with the Van Leers too. I am just off to do the shopping.’
The twins said goodbye and pretended that they were heading back to the slopes. They waited until Sylvie was well on her way before they turned around.
‘Okay – so Soren’s parents think that he’s home in bed and Sylvie thinks he’s with his parents. There’s something fishy going on here,’ Max said.
‘We’ve got to get inside,’ Kensy said. She had already whipped out her hair pin lock picker, but quickly realised that there was nothing to use it on. Entry was by pin pad and they had no clue about the combination.
‘Okay, well, that’s not going to work,’ she said and shoved the hair clip back into her pocket.
The twins glanced at the house to see if there were any open windows, but it didn’t look good.
‘I’ve got an idea,’ Kensy said. She and Max hid their snowboards at the side of the building and ran around to the terrace where they scaled the stone wall up to the steaming pool and spa. She looked at her brother and pulled a face, then motioned towards the water.
‘You are joking, aren’t you?’ he said.
‘Well, I don’t have any swimmers,’ she said, remembering that you could get from the indoor pool to the outside by swimming under the glass wall. Presumably you could go the other way too.
‘Um, I don’t either,’ Max said, a look of alarm on his face.
‘Yeah, but you’re a boy. You can just wear your undies and as soon as you’re inside you can grab a towel. It was like a day spa in there with piles of fluffy towels – probably robes too. I’ll meet you at the front door with your clothes,’ Kensy said.
‘If I catch pneumonia, it will be your fault,’ he said, beginning to strip off.
Kensy had her arms full as Max dipped his toe into the water, grateful that it was much warmer than he expected. Seconds later he was under the glass and inside. Kensy ran back to the front door and waited for him to emerge, but he was taking a lot longer than she expected. Finally he opened up, wrapped in a fluffy robe with a towel on his head.
‘Thanks for hurrying,’ Kensy said. ‘Did you have a mani pedi while I was waiting?’
‘Haha,’ he said. ‘I just threw my undies into the dryer.’
‘TMI, little brother.’ She rolled her eyes and followed him back inside.
Kensy made a beeline for the drying room where she quickly located Fox’s and Heike’s black helmets. Fortunately she knew what she was looking for and soon had the two patches back in the silver container. Max had already given her the second earpiece so her set was complete. Her brother had made a bolt for the laundry where he grabbed his damp underpants from the clothes dryer and got dressed before returning the towel and robe to the bathroom in the pool area.
The twins met in the hallway when they heard the front door beeping.
‘Someone’s coming!’ Max grabbed his sister’s hand and the pair dived through the nearest door, finding themselves in a coat cupboard.
‘What do you mean the pick-up has been brought forward?’ the voice growled. It was Axel and it sounded as if he’d stopped right outside their hiding place.
The twins shuffled to the back as the door flew open and they could see Axel rifling through several of the coats, pulling a couple down off their hangers. He almost grazed Max’s head. The boy held his breath as the man closed the door again.
‘I need to finish packing and I will drop my suitcase at your apartment. Fox and Heike don’t know about my plans, but I will leave them a note. I guess it’s the least I can do after all these years,’ the man said and the children heard his footsteps walking away.
‘The pick-up at the bunker has been brought forward,’ Kensy whispered. ‘We need to get a message to Mum, Dad and Fitz. And how are we going to get Fox and Heike to the bunker and make sure that they’re caught red handed with their cronies?’
But Max had an idea. They just had to wait until Axel left the house again – then find that note.
‘I wonder where Soren is,’ Kensy asked as the twins scooted along the roadway on their snowboards, heading for home.
‘He’s lied to everyone,’ Max said. ‘But why? What’s he up to?’
When Axel finally left the Van Leers’ chalet the twins had emerged from the cupboard. They’d done a quick check of the house to make sure that Soren wasn’t hiding somewhere – it was big enough that you could lose someone for days, but there was no sign of the boy. Interestingly his laptop was missing from his room. They’d located the note Axel had left for the Van Leers upstairs and Max had quickly rewritten it, pocketing the original. Hopefully his plan would work.
Max had sent messages to his parents and Song about Axel’s revised plans and that he’d left some bait for Fox and Heike. Anna and Ed were impressed, given they’d learned while on the slopes that the couple had been planning to head home and stay there for the rest of the day. The four had ridden the chairlift together a couple of times.
Max turned to cross the little bridge over the river when he spied someone up ahead.
‘Kensy.’ He nudged his sister and pointed. ‘Is that Soren?’
The boy was trundling a suitcase. He wore a beanie pulled down low over his ears and had his collar up high.
‘What’s he doing?’ Kensy frowned.
‘Come on, let’s catch up and see,’ Max said.
It was fortunate there had been such a good fall of snow as the village was now completely covered making it easy to continue the journey scooting along on their snowboards.
The twins reached the bridge and saw Soren turn right. He was heading up the street near the fake firefighter’s apartment when suddenly he dived out of sight, pressing himself up against a doorway.
Kensy and Max leaned their snowboards against a wall and scurried inside a shop opposite where they had a view of Soren and the apartment block. One of the evil twins had just exited the building along with a woman. Surely it wasn’t the one that had chased them on the mountain. Max thought he would have been stuck on that ledge for quite some time unless he had exceptional climbing skills. The woman was dressed in a black ski suit and had a dark beanie over her long blonde hair. Axel was there too.
‘We need to get closer,’ Max said. The pair ducked back outside and wove their way along the shop fronts, diving behind the racks of clothes and tourist goods that dotted the promenade.
‘Have you got anything useful with you?’ Max asked.
Kensy suddenly remembered that she’d put one of her insect drones into her pocket that morning just in case.
‘Hang on,’ she said and tore off her gloves, quickly retrieving the dragonfly from its little box before sending it skywards.
‘You didn’t think Ferdinand might have been a better choice than Roger?’ Max said. ‘I can’t recall seeing too many dragonflies around here.’
Kensy shrugged. As long as she could get him close enough to hear what they were saying.
‘I can’t believe they have arrived early,’ the woman said. ‘It was lucky my client cancelled their appointment in Bern, though Heike will not be pleased. But at least I have had word that the new account with the Beacon will be finalised this afternoon. We can start transferring the data as soon as we have the release – and then I’m sure it won’t take long for Fox to begin causing trouble.’
Kensy’s jaw dropped.
‘What?’ Max looked at her, his palms upturned.
She pressed her finger against her lips.
‘Good work, Helena,’ the twin said. ‘Any idea where Daniel has got to?’
The woman shook her head. ‘He has always been my most unreliable brother. You on the other hand, Damon, I can set my watch by you.’
Kensy relayed the information she’d heard through the headphones to Max. ‘Her name is Helena – like on the letters we saw. Those twins are her brothers and they’re called Daniel – he’s the fake firefighter – and Damon. She just said something about the Beacon – about the data storage and that Fox is going to make trouble.’
Max’s brain was in overdrive. ‘Cornucopia. I saw that name flash up on Soren’s computer last night, but wondered what it meant. It must be the name of the data storage company where Dad and Uncle Rupert went yesterday for their meeting.’
Kensy nodded. ‘Fox and Heike must own it.’
‘We have to warn Granny not to sign anything,’ Max said, pulling out his phone.
Just as he was about to make the call Axel and the other two walked past. Kensy and Max spun around and buried their heads in a clothing rack, pretending to be tourists, but in doing so, Kensy forgot all about Roger the dragonfly. She turned back just in time to see him crash into the side of the apartment building. But that wasn’t all. Soren had emerged from his hiding spot and once the others were gone, he left his suitcase outside the building and headed inside.
‘What’s he doing?’ Max asked.
The twins raced towards the apartment block, Kensy scooping up Roger on the way. One of his wings was broken, which meant he wouldn’t be any use to them until she could get back into the workshop.
The door was unlocked and the twins hurried up the stairs. Soren had taken the lift.
Kensy and Max checked each level, though they didn’t find the boy. By the time they reached the top, Max looked out of one of the windows to see the lad running down the road, his suitcase dragging behind him.
But what he had been doing at the apartment block was a mystery.
As they flew back down the stairs Max telephoned his grandmother, but she didn’t pick up. He left a message telling her not to sign anything with Cornucopia and blathering on about it being something to do with Fox and Heike and they would ring her as soon as they knew more. He then phoned his father and told him what they’d seen.
Ed, Fitz, Song and Anna were already on their way to the mountainside bunker, having taken the snowmobiles from the garage at their chalet. Max said he and Kensy would follow Soren and see what he was up to then make their way to the bunker somehow. It wasn’t part of the plan, but it was what they needed to do for now.
The twins followed Soren all the way through the village to the train station where he hired a locker and placed his suitcase inside. He then hopped into a taxi. Kensy and Max got into the one behind and asked their driver to follow the vehicle. They weren’t surprised that Soren ended up at the farmhouse where the Spencers had borrowed the snowmobiles earlier in the week. The twins hid among a stand of trees, watching as Soren opened the garage and quickly removed one of the vehicles. All the while he was looking around and fidgeting. The boy sped away and Kensy and Max made a run for another of the snowmobiles, dumping their snowboards in the rack on the back as they pushed the vehicle outside. Max was about to turn the key in the ignition when they were aware of the quiet shooshing sound of another electric vehicle close by.
Kensy peered around the corner of the garage and saw Fox and Heike still dressed in their white ski suits and heading directly for them. They must have got the note Max had left at their chalet.
‘Why is Axel not answering his phone?’ Fox bellowed.
‘Pff, Axel is becoming unreliable, Fox, and I don’t like the way he has been criticising my workout routine. Where was he this morning anyway?’ Heike said as they crunched on the snow, getting closer and closer.
‘Come on,’ Max said as he turned the ignition and the distinctive ping
ing of the four-stroke engine filled the air. Kensy leapt onto the back and they took off, skidding and bouncing through the thick snow.
‘What on earth?’ Fox yelled, rushing around to the back of the house just in time to see the vehicle disappear over a snowy mound. Heike was right behind him.
‘Come back here, you rotten kids,’ Fox bellowed, shaking his fist at them. ‘I’ll teach you to go joyriding on my equipment.’
A way ahead of them the children could see Soren flying up the mountain. Kensy turned around and saw Fox and Heike making a beeline towards them on their own snowmobile.
‘Max!’ She banged her brother on the shoulder. ‘Go for the trees!’ she shouted as the Van Leers gained on them.
The boy dodged and weaved his way through the forest while Fox continued in the clear, following his son’s tracks.
Kensy kept watch as Max concentrated on where they were going. As they came out near the top of the grove the boy spotted two more snowmobiles higher up on another trail. Axel and Helena were out front and behind them were the evil twins. He hoped that his parents, Song and Fitz were already in place. Max turned for a moment to see where the Van Leers were, but when he looked up again his blood ran cold. Daniel and Damon had turned off the path and were speeding their way. ‘Oh no!’ Max shouted.
Kensy looked up and realised the problem.
The twin at the back was pointing and yelling before he made a cutting motion across his neck.
‘They’re coming for us!’ Kensy grabbed her brother around his waist and held on as Max revved the engine and took off up the mountain.
Kensy was trying to think whether they had anything among the Pharos-issue gear that could come in handy right now. If only they’d been skiing instead of boarding, then they would have the stocks with them, but the snowboards were only good for their intended purpose. This time they’d have to rely on Max’s driving skills alone.
Although she did have the lasso on her bracelet. She just wasn’t sure that it was going to be any use this time.
The twins were gaining ground on Kensy and Max, while Soren and the Van Leers had disappeared from sight.
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