The Amazon Experiment

by Deborah Abela

  Until he realised the snaking tree root was actually a snake.

  ‘Anaconda!’

  ‘Oh dear.’ Steinberger closed his eyes, clutched onto his door even harder and moved his lips as if he was praying.

  The Aqua Buggy swerved along the kinked and buckled track towards the snake. Max held on and imagined the ill-placed reptile splattered in a sprawl of snake mush.

  But Suave had other ideas.

  He reached beside him and pressed a small red button marked Airborne. Within half a micro second, the Aqua Buggy was sailing over the snake, landing on the other side in a bumpy but expert manoeuvre. Max was pleased the snake was still alive, but her stomach was starting to have a few problems with the constant jolts, twists and turns.

  She turned back to see the anaconda slide into the forest just as a vehicle behind them skidded into view, flinging a wall of mud into the air.

  ‘They’re gaining on us!’

  ‘Oh, dear.’ Steinberger swallowed hard, trying not to throw up.

  In the rear view mirror, Max saw Suave’s wide grin, before he pressed down even harder on the accelerator. She turned around, and it was then she noticed something. There were two men in the car, but the one behind the wheel reminded her of someone she knew. She couldn’t place the heavy features or the look of pure malice on his face, but when his eyes locked onto hers, a cold shiver of fear formed in her veins.

  Linden called out over the noise of the engine. ‘Something tells me this guy isn’t happy to see us.’

  ‘I think I know him,’ Max yelled back.

  ‘You know someone here in the Amazon?’

  ‘I know it sounds weird but it’s true.’

  Before her mind had a chance to figure out who he was, the Aqua Buggy came to an abrupt stop.

  ‘Why have we stopped?’

  There was no need to answer as she saw that the road had ended at the edge of a fast-moving river that was so wide Max couldn’t see the other side.

  ‘The Amazon River,’ Suave announced, like he’d just discovered El Dorado, the fabled city of gold.

  Max turned again as the vehicle behind them skidded to a stop. The man with the malicious grin stepped out and eyed them off, like a lion approaching an injured gazelle. He was a tall hulk of a man, with thick features and limbs like miniature tree trunks.

  He lumbered a few steps towards them before pulling out a phone, his face dripping with victory.

  Suave stared at the river as a giant tree trunk swept by. The Aqua Buggy was strong, but so was the current.

  Steinberger read his thoughts. ‘Will the Buggy cope?’

  ‘I’m sure of it,’ he answered confidently, reaching for the keys in the ignition. ‘Hold on, everyone.’

  The engine whined as it struggled to start.

  ‘This isn’t a great time for engine trouble,’ Linden said, shaking his head.

  Max watched as the two men lifted stun blasters as they walked towards the buggy. That’s when Max remembered who he was. ‘It’s Kronch!’ she told Linden. Kronch was Blue’s assistant from their second mission. The same sausage fingers, the same overstuffed arms, the same neanderthal plod and lack of neck. With his monkey-brained partner, Kronch slowly made his way towards them. A snivelling grin wiped across his face as he aimed his blaster straight at Max.

  Suave tried again and again to start the vehicle, but it choked and spluttered and refused to start.

  Max stared at the churning waters of the Amazon River as Kronch broke into a wheezing laugh behind them. They were cornered like caged rats and it seemed there was nothing they could do to avoid capture.

  Max, Linden, Suave and Steinberger sat strapped into the Aqua Buggy as Kronch and his bumbling partner approached like overfed elephants, enjoying every second of their captives’ nervous anticipation of doom.

  Suave went straight into his usual man-of-action routine. ‘Okay team, it’s time for Plan B.’

  Plan B? Why did he sound like he was the overpaid lead in some corny, B grade film? The one where the hero always has perfect hair and knows what to do. Max looked at him. Suave still had perfect hair. Even after all they’d been through.

  ‘What’s Plan B?’ Linden asked, eager to avoid the sausage hands of Kronch.

  Suave undid his seatbelt and pulled his laser from his pocket. ‘Jump in here, and when I tell you, turn the key.’

  Linden undid his belt and scrambled into the driver’s seat. In seconds, Suave had the bonnet open. Sparks flew from either side of the buggy as he worked to fix the stalled engine. ‘Start her up!’

  ‘He’s a mechanic too?’ Max asked incredulously. ‘Where does it end?’

  Linden turned the key. Again, the engine wheezed, turning in a broken rhythm, until finally it came to life.

  ‘Excellent,’ Steinberger breathed.

  Suave slammed the bonnet and resumed his place as driver.

  Kronch and his sidekick exchanged an amused look. With the river on one side and their truck blocking the path, where could their captives go?

  ‘So long, boys!’ Max called, as Suave shifted the engine into first gear and drove off the bank and straight into the river.

  Before the buggy was submerged Max caught the look of confusion on Kronch’s face and savoured every dazed second of it.

  ‘It’s going to really strain Kronch’s brain trying to figure out what just happened.’ Linden smiled at Max as the Aqua Buggy submarined through the waters of the river.

  ‘It’ll do his brain good to get some exercise,’ Max joked, before turning to Steinberger. ‘That was Kronch. He was …’ she began to explain, until she saw the look of terror suctioned onto his face. ‘Steinberger?’

  He didn’t answer.

  Every second of this mission took him into a new territory of fear, but there hadn’t been one moment where he had complained or even hinted at backing out. He may have looked awkward with his thin body, long limbs and desperate fear of bugs, but when it came to being brave, Steinberger was the most courageous of all of them.

  He stared rigidly at the water-filled windows around them. The view was filled with fish, eels and giant tangled walls of reeds swaying sharply in the forceful current. Max guessed Steinberger had never even been swimming in his life, going by his look of gasping suffocation. Sweat was running freely down his forehead and soaking into his already damp and bedraggled suit. His breath heaved in and out in quick, sharp jabs. He hadn’t heard a word Max had said. She tried again gently.

  ‘Steinberger?’

  He jumped. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Linden and I recognised the man in the car behind us.’

  ‘You did?’ He calmed a little.

  ‘It was Kronch. One of Blue’s thugs from Mission Blue’s Foods.8 It must mean Blue is involved and knows we’re here.’

  ‘The Mr Blue?’ Suave said with a streak of excitement in his voice.

  ‘That’s not a good thing,’ Max clarified.

  ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘What do we do now, Steinberger?’ After nearly losing his life the last time they met Blue, Linden wasn’t keen to bump into him again.9

  Just then the Buggy tilted sharply to one side as Suave turned to avoid a giant electric eel.

  ‘Oh dear!’ Steinberger was having trouble breathing again.

  ‘We’re getting close to finding Frond. Right?’ Max prompted, eager to stop Steinberger freaking out.

  As if that name had some kind of tonic in it, Steinberger’s demeanour instantly changed. He sat upright, threw his chest out and took a deep breath.

  ‘You’re right. We have a mission to complete and lives to save.’

  Steinberger took out his palm computer and began checking the coordinates of where they were and how to get back on track to find Frond. He leant forward and gave the directions to Suave.

  Max sighed, then caught sight of a crooked smile on Linden’s face.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Sometimes, Max Remy, you can be the nicest person I know,’
he whispered.

  She instantly blushed. ‘Don’t get too used to it.’

  Despite the warning, Linden’s smile became even bigger. Max tried to resist it but it was no good and she had to give in to her own wide grin.

  As Steinberger finished his directions, Suave gripped the steering wheel in excitement. ‘Okay everyone, Plan B is over. It’s time for Plan C.’

  ‘This better be good,’ Max groaned. With the ride through the forest and the force of the current nudging them from side to side, her stomach was ready for a steadier ride. But when Suave pressed harder on the accelerator and pulled the steering wheel towards him, the Aqua Buggy’s nose rose up like a plane during take-off.

  ‘Oh dear,’ Max and Steinberger said in unison.

  Within seconds, the Buggy broke through the surface of the river and bobbed on its rippling surface. Its wheels started turning, moving it forward like an inflatable paddleboat.

  ‘Woo hoo!’ Suave whooped as he wound down his window. ‘This is beautiful!’

  The others wound down their windows as the cloudless blue sky and a flood of sun spread around them. Great mountains of trees clung to the rich brown banks that acted as muddy slides for alligators and turtles. Birds of all sizes and colours swooped in and out of branches and dived for fish just below the river’s surface.

  ‘The Amazon is the second-longest river in the world after the Nile in Africa,’ explained Suave. ‘It’s so big in parts, many people refer to it as the Ocean River.’

  Max turned away from Suave’s nature documentary voice-over to see small islands peppered across the river’s surface.

  ‘Not the kind of place you want to dangle your feet, though,’ Linden advised.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Look.’ Linden pointed to an island they were sailing past just in time for Max to see the sharpened teeth and scaly body of an alligator leap out of the water and seize an unsuspecting turtle in its flattened snout.

  ‘I see what you mean,’ said Max, winding her window up a little.

  The Aqua Buggy manoeuvred through the churning waters of the Amazon River like a miniature ferry. Steinberger held on tight, trying not to concentrate on the rise and fall of chocolatey waves. The water lapped against the side of the vehicle, turning and swirling as they were lifted up and down on its deep swell. Max noticed Steinberger’s eyelids becoming heavy, his head leaning out his window, as if struggling to stay upright.

  ‘Steinberger, are you okay?’

  He didn’t answer. Max turned to Linden. ‘He must have the sleeping sickness!’

  Suave turned from the driver’s seat and studied his complexion. ‘I think it’s seasickness,’ he said with a knowing nod.

  Max panicked. ‘Well, maybe you’re wrong.’ Her eyes narrowed, challenging Suave, but just as she was about to say more, Steinberger vomited out the window of the Buggy.

  ‘Or maybe it is seasickness.’ Linden suggested, holding onto Steinberger’s jacket to stop him from toppling overboard.

  ‘Sorry about that.’ Steinberger sat back in his seat, embarrassed about what had just happened. ‘I’ve never had very good sea legs. Even on a river, so it seems.’

  ‘That’s okay.’ Max patted Steinberger’s hand, but was distracted by the view outside the window. The current of the river seemed to be getting stronger.

  The message light on Steinberger’s computer flashed.

  ‘Is it Frond?’ Linden asked.

  Steinberger opened the message. ‘No. It’s from Alex. She sent it a few minutes ago.’

  ‘Steinberger, it’s Alex,’ a sombre recording announced. ‘I’m afraid the situation here has become very serious. Agent Steeple has fallen into a coma. Her vital signs are extremely weak and Finch has placed her in a humidicrib with an intravenous drip filled with extra-potent vitamins to keep her alive. Time is very much against us.’

  Steinberger took a deep breath in an effort to drive away the final twinges of seasickness, and sent a message back. ‘Dear Alex, do not worry. Mission Triatoma is proceeding well. Ensure the Goliath is at the Invisible Jet in the next few hours.’ He thought again, before adding, ‘The fate of Steeple and all the agents of Spyforce is in good hands.’

  Max looked at his screen as he sent the message. ‘It is, isn’t it, Steinberger?’

  Steinberger smiled. ‘Couldn’t be in better, Max.’

  As he put the computer away, a quiet roaring sound swirled towards them from upriver.

  ‘Can you hear that?’ Max looked around, trying to see what it was.

  ‘Oh good, you can hear it too.’ Linden was relieved. ‘I thought it might be my stomach even though it sounded like something a little bigger.’

  ‘Something much bigger, if I’m not mistaken,’ Suave said.

  Max clenched her teeth. ‘And what would that be?’

  Suave listened for a few more seconds.

  ‘A waterfall.’

  Max looked in front of her. All she could see was river.

  ‘A waterfall?’

  ‘Yep, and from the height of that spray, I’d say it’s a big one. Hold on, everyone, I’ll try and take us to the bank.’ Then he added, ‘And you might want to wind up your windows.’

  They did as he suggested while Suave grabbed the controls and did all he could to manoeuvre the Buggy out of the current’s jostling, speeding grip.

  Steinberger, Max and Linden could now see it too. A haze of rising mist and a faraway boiling of water. ‘How high do you think it is?’ Steinberger asked gingerly.

  ‘A few hundred metres,’ Suave answered calmly, as if he was talking about the height of something safe like a bridge or a building, and not a crushing torrent they couldn’t possibly survive.

  Max and Linden now clearly saw the edge of the waterfall frothing along the horizon. There was a frenzy of water leading to a white haze of nothingness. Like the end of the world, Max thought as they were sucked closer.

  Suave’s face held a small but determined smile as he worked at the controls of the Buggy.

  ‘Is there a Plan D?’ Linden asked hopefully.

  ‘Not sure yet,’ Suave answered as he desperately tried to move them out of the path of the waterfall, but it was no good. The force of the current held them firmly as it hauled them towards the waterfall’s plunging, deadly edge.

  ‘Linden, there’s something I have to tell you!’ Max shouted over the noise of the crashing wall of water, as the waterfall rained over them.

  ‘What?’ Linden struggled to hear Max, whose words were consumed by the churning waves boiling around them.

  The Aqua Buggy shifted and rolled over the frenzied torrent. Steinberger clung onto his armrest as Suave continued to fight the increasingly futile battle to save their lives.

  ‘There’s something I have to tell you!’ Max and Linden had once before faced possible death by waterfall when they were taken to Mr Blue’s mansion. Then, as now, she panicked and thought it was time to tell Linden how she felt about him. How he was the most important person in her life. How he was special. How without him life would be … how was she going to say it?

  ‘It’s just that I …’

  She was interrupted by Suave calling out from the front. ‘Be ready to evacuate when I give the word.’

  And with that, Suave opened the sunroof, letting a torrent of water splash on Max like a bucket of water. He clung to the sides of the sunroof and hoisted himself out of the Buggy and onto the roof.

  ‘Evacuate where?’ Max yelled up through the wash, annoyed at how much Suave seemed to be enjoying their impending doom.

  Just then, they felt a heavy jolt on the roof.

  ‘That’s a good jolt, right?’ Linden winced.

  Above the thunderous pounding of water, they heard the sound of an engine come to life, and great whopping blades slowly turning above them.

  ‘The Heliocraft!’ Linden cried. He wound down his window and looked to see the flying inflatable vehicle gleaming in the brilliant sun, ready for takeoff.
Suave beamed through the clear cabin and gave him the thumbs-up.

  ‘Looks like we’re going flying, agents.’

  Max looked at the waterfall, then at the spinning blades above them, and knew she had little choice. Linden helped her climb out of the window into a swirling mass of wind and water, and, gripping the Heliocraft’s sturdy skids, she pulled herself into the craft.

  ‘Your turn, Steinberger.’ Linden tried to look as unfazed as he could, while every passing moment brought the waterfall even closer.

  ‘O … okay,’ Steinberger stammered.

  The river tossed the buggy like a ship in a storm, but with Linden behind him and Max leaning out of the craft above him, there were only a few near falls before the soaking Administration Manager was nestled into the Heliocraft and buckled into his seat.

  Moments later, a dripping Linden climbed in beside them and gave the biggest ever grin to Suave.

  ‘Ready for take-off, Captain.’ Linden was enjoying every second of their escape.

  The Heliocraft’s skids lifted into the air just in time to see the Aqua Buggy torpedo over the edge of the waterfall and disappear in a crushing, white oblivion.

  ‘Quimby’s not going to be happy when we tell her about that.’ Linden shook his head and released a shower of water over everyone. There was a moment of silence from the agents as they took in what had just happened.

  Especially the fact that they were still alive.

  ‘Woo hoo! Are we good or what?’ Steinberger whooped and punched the air.

  Max and Linden giggled.

  ‘I mean … that’s good … what just happened.’

  Then they heard a weird water-clogged hum, like a swarm of boulder-sized bees had pulled up beside them, but before Max could think about it any further, a large chopper appeared above them. Two spinning chainsaws hung from its underside.

  ‘That can’t be good.’ Linden watched as the spinning discs aimed straight for the Heliocraft’s blades.

  Suave tried to fly lower but he was too late. The high-pitched whine of metal on metal wrenched the air.

  The Heliocraft plunged a few metres before being wrenched to an abrupt stop by a net and swinging into a pendulum-style swoop.