by Glenn Wood
Sophie examined the locator screen. The signal was definitely coming from somewhere within the building. She nodded.
Callum jumped a gutter and rolled his wheelchair onto a concrete driveway leading to the rear of the building. “Let’s find it then.”
They rounded the corner and stopped dead. Directly in front of them was a sentry box controlling traffic in and out of the rear of the warehouse.
A barrier arm extended across the concrete, blocking the way. A large man dressed in a black uniform and wearing dark sunglasses sat in the box. The security guard turned his head to face Callum and Sophie. He watched them very closely from behind his glasses. There was a loud rumble and a freight train blasted past not far from the end of the warehouse. The security guard didn’t react. He kept an unwavering eye on Callum and Sophie.
“No way through there,” Sophie said out the corner of her mouth.
Callum agreed. “Let’s see what the other side of the building’s like.”
He swung his wheelchair around and headed back along the footpath in front of the store. Sophie followed. As she walked, she noticed there were security cameras mounted on the roof at each corner of the warehouse. She caught up to Callum and nodded towards the cameras. He gave her a quizzical look.
“Top of the line,” she whispered.
The other side of the building contained a few car spaces and a series of drains diverting what sounded like a considerable flow of water away from the industrial complex. Seagulls circled in the distance, and Callum guessed they were close to the ocean. Beyond the car park was a patch of broken ground and a long grassed area. A solid chain-metal fence surrounded the grass. Tight circles of barbed wire topped the fence. The barrier followed the rear two thirds of the warehouse then disappeared around the back of the building.
Callum could see an open doorway just inside the fence. It led into the rear of the warehouse. He rolled to the end of the car park and surveyed the broken ground. It was littered with rubble, including broken bricks and offcuts of concrete. Even with the wheelchair in out mode it would be difficult to get across.
“I’ll have a look,” offered Sophie. Callum nodded reluctantly. He hated not being able to do it himself.
Sophie stepped across the rubble and walked up to the fence. She made sure no one was watching then took hold of the wire and gave it a gentle shake. Sophie called back to Callum.
“I think I could cut through–”
She got no further. A large snarling German shepherd burst from the doorway and leaped at her, its jaws snapping as it lunged. Sophie jumped backwards, removing her hand from the fence milliseconds before the dog hit the wire. If Sophie had been a fraction slower, the dog would have taken off her fingers.
The dog barked frantically, and Sophie scampered back to Callum.
“P-pretty heavy security for a car parts yard,” she stammered.
“Yeah, something’s not right here.” He watched her for a second. She was visibly shaken. “You okay?”
“Gave me a fright, that’s all.”
The dog’s barking subsided to a low growl.
“We’d better get out of here.”
Callum and Sophie retreated to the front of the building. Sophie sat on a low wall in the car park, taking a moment to calm her nerves. Callum pulled up beside her. “That bug of yours has audio, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, if we’re close enough, we might hear something. Good thinking.”
Sophie pulled out her phone, plugged in her headphones and passed an earpiece to Callum. A low hiss buzzed in Callum’s ear, then to his surprise a man’s voice cut through. Sophie and Callum looked at each other in astonishment as the voice went on, crackly but clearly audible.
“Newly acquired golden globe of goodness may be the breakthrough I’ve been looking for. It’s very rare and is found only in an ambassador of goodness – a person, usually a teacher, who passes their goodness on to others. The globe contains the ability to bypass the defensive field of ordinary blobs of goodness, normally for teaching purposes. If I can run the energy bolt through the golden globe, penetration and destruction of regular blobs of goodness may be possible.”
Sophie and Callum exchanged an alarmed look.
“The golden globe he’s talking about must be Gran’s,” whispered Callum.
“And he wants to destroy everyone’s goodness!”
Callum shrugged and held his finger to his lips. Sophie fell quiet. They both wanted to hear more.
Ten
Lester paced excitedly around his laboratory, dictaphone in his hand. Ancient texts lay open on his desk and his computer showed an internet page entitled “Weapons Modification”. The aluminium briefcase with Sophie’s tracer bug still attached (and unfortunately for Lester, unnoticed) sat in a corner of the room.
Another torpedo tube containing a freshly caught green blob of goodness dangled from the robotic arm at one end of the bench. A similarly shaped cylinder housing Rose’s golden globe sat in a moulded foam rubber box on the floor. Lester placed the dictaphone on the bench, carefully removed the cylinder containing the golden globe and walked to the opposite end of the bench. He picked up his energy weapon and clicked the cylinder into a modified chamber in the body of the weapon. The energy bolt would now pass directly through the golden globe as it discharged. He plugged in the weapon and restarted his dictaphone.
“Golden globe weapons test number one. Minimal power.”
Lester aimed the weapon at the green blob of goodness and fired. The blue energy bolt that shot from the barrel was now tinged with gold, and it passed through the tube and struck the blob with a fizzing crack. This time the tube remained undamaged, and the bolt met no resistance as it slammed into the body of the blob. With an animal-like shriek, the blob blackened then disintegrated, leaving behind nothing more than a wisp of smoke and a small pile of ash.
At 16 Hamstead Street on the other side of the city, Caine Wentworth sat bolt upright on the couch he’d been lounging on. He had a sudden desire to throw a rock through the neighbour’s window and then blame it on his brother. And with this thought came absolutely no guilt, conscience or morality at all. It was as if every last trace of goodness had been obliterated from his brain.
Lester let out a whoop of victory. He gabbled excitedly into his dictaphone.
“Success! Tube undamaged, goodness completely destroyed.” He examined the cylinder containing the golden globe. “Limited wastage of globe detected, but nothing significant.”
He paced the room, his brain churning. He continued to dictate. “By combining the golden globe with a massive energy blast, I should be able to send out a pulse that will destroy the goodness of every person in the country, perhaps even the world. Beginning construction of the bad bomb.”
Lester turned off his dictaphone and picked up his tools.
Callum removed his earpiece and motioned for Sophie to do the same. Her eyes were wide.
“A bad bomb. I don’t like the sound of that.”
Callum shook his head. “The guy’s a psycho. If he sets off his bomb, he’ll probably destroy Gran’s goodness forever and make everyone in the world like Mitchell and Bradley. Can you imagine what that’d be like?”
Sophie shuddered. “We can’t let that happen. Should we call the police?”
“Yes, this is too big for us to handle by ourselves. We should probably talk to Sergeant Bright; maybe now he’ll realise what’s happened to Gran. Use your mobile and we can direct them to the warehouse.”
Sophie took out her phone and called the city’s main police station. She activated the phone’s speaker so Callum could hear the conversation and waited. The call was answered within a few rings.
“Central Police,” said an unfriendly female voice.
Sophie remained polite. “Sergeant Bright please.”
The call was transferred and several minutes later Sophie had related their story to the sergeant. His reaction was not what they had hoped for.
“
A globe of golden goodness and a bad bomb!” he spluttered. “That’s ridiculous. What proof do you have?”
Sophie patiently explained that they’d overheard everything through a bug she had planted on the goodness thieves. This was too much for Sergeant Bright.
“You kids have been watching too many James Bond movies. Even if I wanted to get a warrant to search this warehouse, which I don’t, any judge would throw me out on my ear. Goodness thieves! Preposterous! Now go away before I lock you up for wasting police time.” The line went dead.
“That went well,” said Sophie.
Callum clenched his fists in frustration. “Typical. Just like what happened at my cousins’ house. Adults never listen to kids. We’ve got no option now; we’re going to have to sort this out ourselves.”
“Okay, so how do we do that?”
Callum thought hard. “The first thing we need to do is get Gran’s goodness back. He can’t make his bomb without that. Then we’ll find some hard evidence to take to the police, something so convincing they’ll have to believe us.”
Callum studied the warehouse.
“I think we should come back later, when it’s dark and the security guard has gone home. I’m not sure how we’ll get back here though. We can hardly ask Gran for a lift.”
Sophie thought for a minute then smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ve got an idea.”
“What is it?”
“Wait and see. It’ll take me most of tomorrow to prepare. I’ve got some engineering to do.”
Callum didn’t like being kept in the dark but knew better than to press Sophie. She’d tell him when she was ready.
Rose was still fast asleep when they returned to the car. Callum gently nudged her. She snapped awake. “What? Who? Where are we?”
“We’re about to leave the city, Gran, on our way home. You just had a nap.”
She wiped a line of drool from her mouth with her hand.
“Pity,” she said as she opened the car window and flicked the string of drool out onto the street. “The city’s growing on me.”
The remainder of the trip back to Thanxton was chaotic. The new Bad Rose was a rude and aggressive driver. She was constantly trying to pass other vehicles and leaned on the horn if motorists didn’t get out of her way. Callum spent most of the journey with his arms braced against the seat in front of him and his eyes closed. Even Sophie, who liked going fast, was looking distinctly nervous.
They arrived home in record time, and as Sophie hopped gratefully from the car she noticed steam coming from under the bonnet. She was pointing it out to Callum when Rose announced she was feeling unwell and disappeared into the house.
Callum watched his grandmother leave with a mixture of fear and concern. “I can’t believe this has changed her so much.”
Sophie approached his wheelchair. A tape measure appeared in her hands and she stretched it between the front wheels.
“It’s not surprising really. She’s been sweet and good all her life; having that ripped away must have altered her entire personality. Try and remember that underneath she’s still your gran.”
“I’ll try, but it’s not going to be easy. She’s becoming more offensive with every passing minute. She wants me to get some sardines out of her false teeth when I go inside.” Callum shuddered.
Sophie stretched the tape measure along the side of the wheelchair. “Don’t worry. By the end of tomorrow night we’ll have her back to normal and will probably have saved the world as well. I wonder if we’ll get a medal.”
“That would be cool.” Callum watched as she reached under his wheelchair and measured its width. “What are you doing?”
Sophie stood up and wiped dust from her trouser legs. “All will be revealed later,” she said, much to Callum’s annoyance. Sophie went back to the car, grabbed her sports bag from the boot and slung it over her shoulder. “Come by tomorrow afternoon – everything should be ready then.” She gave Callum a mysterious smile and headed home.
Callum watched her walk away, deep in thought. He stayed outside long after Sophie had gone. He was in no hurry to spend the evening with Rose.
The first day back at school after the break held one unexpected event. Jinx’s maths classroom blew up. Having one of Jinx’s classrooms explode wasn’t particularly unusual. So far this year he’d reduced the science and English rooms to rubble. Geography class had been flooded and history had fallen into a previously undiscovered underground cavern. Up to this point, however, mathematics had remained safe. It wasn’t a big explosion and no one was hurt, but it did liven up an otherwise dull day.
Callum caught up with Jinx at lunchtime. The red-headed boy was sitting by himself under a tree near the ruined wall of his classroom. He looked up as Callum approached and kicked his shoe into the ground.
He nodded glumly towards the debris. “I suppose I’ll get the blame for that. Even though it was a ruptured gas main that did the damage.”
Callum stopped next to him. “I heard the gas line broke right under your desk.”
“Yeah, just as I dropped my compass. It hit the leg of my chair and caused a spark. Next second … BOOM … half the wall’s gone. Just my luck.”
“Don’t worry about it. Everyone knows you don’t do stuff like that on purpose. Anyway, I’ve got something really important to tell you, so listen carefully.”
Jinx’s eyes widened as the story progressed.
“No way,” he said, and “You’re kidding” and “That’s insane” and “Wish I’d been there”.
By the end of the story Jinx was incensed. “He stole goodness from your gran and wants to destroy everyone else’s! That sucks. So, what are we going to do about it?”
“We aren’t going to do anything. Soph and I are going to check out the warehouse tonight.”
Jinx fixed his friend with a determined stare. “I’m going with you.”
“There’s no need. I’ve got it under control.”
“Don’t you want me to come?” A pained look crossed Jinx’s face. “I thought we were friends.”
“Of course we’re friends. It might be quite dangerous, that’s all, and I wouldn’t ask you to put yourself at risk.”
Jinx burst out laughing. “Getting up in the morning is risky for me. Come on, Cal. No one ever lets me do anything, and I really want to help. Please.”
“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone,” said Callum with a sigh. “I’ll call you later and let you know what time we’re leaving.”
Jinx clapped him on the shoulder. “Brilliant. You won’t regret this.”
Callum hoped not. Then he realised he hadn’t laid eyes on Sophie, which was odd as they shared several classes. He asked one of his teachers where she was and discovered she was away sick. Callum was certain she wasn’t ill, which meant she had spent all day working out how to get them to the warehouse.
He was both excited and nervous about what Sophie would come up with, so he hurried around to her place as soon as school ended. He knocked on the front door and Sophie’s mum answered. She was a rotund woman who wore an expression of constant concern on her face. This was probably due to being Sophie’s mother.
“She’s in the workshop as usual,” said Mrs Barnsworth. “Make sure she has the heating on. I don’t want her cold getting any worse.”
Callum nodded and headed out of the house. He was sure of two things: that Sophie didn’t have a cold and that she would be completely and utterly convinced that whatever she had made would solve all their problems. He was right on both counts.
Callum barely made it through the door before Sophie raced over, grabbed his wheelchair and pulled him to the workbench. A large white bedsheet lay on top of whatever it was Sophie had been working on.
“About time you got here. I’ve been ready for ages.”
“You seem remarkably upbeat for someone who has been struck down by a nasty head cold.”
Sophie shrugged. “I’m extremely resilient. Now, first things first. I finished your birthday p
resent.” She grabbed a padded metal armrest from the workbench and bolted it to the right-hand side of the Thunderkit on a swivel. “It’s retractable. You can click it in place or release it and flick it behind the chair out of the way.” Sophie demonstrated by releasing the arm and swinging it behind the chair. She then brought it back beside the wheel and locked it.
Callum wasn’t sure how much use the armrest would be, but he appreciated the effort Sophie had gone to. “Cheers, Soph. That’s gr–”
Sophie cut him short. “You haven’t seen the best bit yet.” She turned Callum’s chair until he faced the rear of the workshop. “Right, now pull the lever.”
Callum examined the armrest and saw a small trigger on the inside. He gave it a gentle tug.
Callum and the chair suddenly rocked back as a small hook shot from the front of the armrest and wrapped around a wooden beam at the end of the room. “What the hell!” he exclaimed.
Sophie could barely contain her excitement. “Miniature grappling hook with six metres of high tensile wire. Pull the trigger again.”
Callum did as he was told. The wire tightened and the armrest hummed. Callum could feel his chair being dragged towards the beam the grapple was hooked around. He laughed aloud. “Ha, you’ve put in a winch.”
Sophie nodded happily. “Yep. I know what you’re like; you’re gonna get this chair into all sorts of tricky spots and now, at least, you can get yourself back out.”
Callum continued using the winch until the grapple was within reach. He loosened it and pulled the trigger again. The hook retracted and the unit snapped back into place at the front of the armrest, virtually undetectable.
Callum wheeled back to Sophie at the workbench. He had a huge grin on his face. “You are a genius.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Have a look at this.”
She removed the bedsheet from the bench with a flourish. A square metal trolley that was slightly bigger than the base of Callum’s wheelchair lay underneath. Four iron wheels were attached to the trolley. The wheels had smooth concave grooves cut into their outer rim. A raised, padded platform had been attached to the inside of the trolley. Four clips hung from the corners of the platform.