Missing

by Gabrielle Lord

  My teeth were chattering with cold by now. I desperately wanted to get out of the freezing water, but could I trust this gang?

  Wary, I swam over to the launch, ready to take off at the slightest whiff of more danger. The three of them were lined up along the side of the boat, as I swam nearer.

  ‘Passed with flying colours,’ said one of the young guys, who was wearing a wetsuit. ‘And don’t worry, buddy. I’d never have let you drown.’

  Now he tells me, I thought, angry.

  I let them help me up over the side of the boat where a small barbecue was sizzling. ‘OK,’ I said, pulling off the swim fins and slamming them down on the deck. ‘I want some answers. Who are you? What’s going on?’

  ‘Take it easy, Cal,’ said the woman, flinging back her thick tawny plait and putting a hand out.

  ‘Take it easy?’ I yelled, pushing her hand away. ‘Last time I saw you, you stuck a stun gun into me and I woke up in some kind of prison cell.’

  ‘That was regrettable,’ she agreed. ‘But we had to meet you somehow.’

  ‘How about asking? A phone call, maybe?’

  ‘That wouldn’t have worked at all,’ she said, seeming to take no notice of my sarcastic tone. ‘My name’s D’Merrick.’

  I remained standing, still very cautious.

  ‘It was impressive,’ D’Merrick continued, ‘how quickly you put the key together and got out of the room.’

  ‘Nicely done,’ added the young guy in the wetsuit, reaching out his hand. ‘I’m Axel. No hard feelings, I hope?’

  ‘And I’m Paddy,’ said the second guy, also extending his hand, a hamburger in the other.

  ‘Not sure if I’m ready to shake hands with any of you,’ I said. ‘I’ve just been through hell because of you people.’

  ‘Maybe a hamburger will help,’ said Axel. ‘And a hot coffee and an explanation.’ Under the light on the boat I could see that he was a strongly-built man with close-cropped dark hair and a cheeky grin—which I could have done without right now.

  ‘You switched off my air supply!’ I snapped.

  ‘And waited right behind you, making sure you didn’t panic yourself into trouble.’ He passed me a hamburger wrapped in a paper towel. ‘Go on,’ he laughed, ‘it’s not poisoned! Wrap yourself around this and D’Merrick, our team leader, will explain what’s going on.’

  Cautiously, I allowed myself to relax a little, sitting down opposite them and taking a bite of my hamburger. I was ravenous and wolfed the rest of it as D’Merrick spoke.

  ‘We’re from SI-6—Secret Intelligence, Special Branch. We work as a unit within NIS, the National Intelligence Services, and we’ve had our eye on you for a while. We liked the way you handled yourself when you were on the run for that whole year, and how you solved the mystery of the Ormond Singularity. And now you’ve passed the tests we put you through. You used your intelligence to work out how to get out of that sealed room.’ She pulled her thick plait around to the front as she continued, ‘And you figured out the instructions Fido gave you.’

  ‘You set up that dog?’ I asked.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Paddy, folding his thick arms across his broad chest. ‘We thought we’d use something different to get your attention, courtesy of our robotics section.’

  ‘And you kept it together in an extreme situation—when Axel stopped your oxygen. All pretty impressive, Cal.’

  I’d finished the hamburger and I was speechless. This had all been a series of tests?

  ‘I’ve heard enough—you said you knew about Ryan. Tell me! Where is he?’

  ‘That’s where you come in,’ said D’Merrick.

  ‘Me? I’m asking about Ryan.’

  The three of them looked at each other. ‘Look, this might sound tough to you, but we’re not cleared to talk about that just yet.’

  ‘Not cleared?’

  ‘Once we get back to headquarters,’ said D’Merrick, ‘we can explain everything. In the meantime, just relax, get warm and we’ll get you there.’

  The powerful motor launch took off, heading north. My three new acquaintances kept busy around the boat until we docked at a private jetty somewhere south of the city, where a black car was waiting for us. I was still very reluctant to go anywhere with them. D’Merrick opened the car door for me and said, ‘Just trust us a little longer—I know it might be hard after what you’ve been through, but believe me it will be worth it—especially when you know if Ryan is safe.’

  That clinched the deal. I climbed into the back of the car and even dozed off as Paddy drove and Axel and D’Merrick made small talk.

  I woke up with a jolt when the car stopped. My guts tightened in apprehension and fear as I saw we were back outside the building where my ordeal had begun.

  ‘It’s OK, Cal. This time you’re our guest,’ said Paddy. Hesitantly, I climbed out, staring at the mirrored doors of the main entrance. As we approached, the doors swung open and the four of us walked through. I heard the doors quickly and quietly lock behind us.

  Clayton Morris Industrial Estate,

  Palmers East

  4:37 am

  We were in a foyer with lifts straight ahead and corridors running to the left and the right. Paddy and Axel peeled off into the right-hand corridor while D’Merrick indicated I should follow her down the left-hand hallway. About halfway down, D’Merrick ducked through a door on our left as a small noise made me stop. I started to look around but a huge force brought me down to the floor as someone grabbed me by the throat and began to choke the life out of me.

  Extreme rage exploded through me. I’ve had enough!

  A massive surge of anger enabled me to pivot the pair of us around so that I was on top instead. As we swung round, my elbow found the soft part of his stomach and I dug in with all my fury. He let go of my throat and I instantly pinned his arms down with my body weight. His twisted face was now far too close to mine. But it wasn’t twisted in pain. The guy was smiling at me—a broad smile showing very white teeth.

  The smile became even broader as he said, ‘Well done! I was told to take you by surprise and you beat me. No hard feelings, I hope?’

  My jaw dropped. ‘You mean this was another one of their tests?’ I yelled.

  He grinned. ‘The name’s Max. Are you going to let me get up now?’

  My burning rage had subsided but I was still seething with anger. These people had no right to treat me like some lab rat. I jumped up and threw open the door through which D’Merrick had vanished. She looked up in surprise from behind a desk.

  ‘I’ve had a gutful of this! I’m going to the police. I don’t care if you are SI-6, MI5 or the whole of the KGB put together! I’m sick of being pushed around, kidnapped, practically drowned and then set upon by your trained gorilla out there! I demand that you let me out of here!’

  ‘Sorry about that,’ said Paddy, who had come into the room behind me. ‘We wanted to see how you’d go when you thought nothing else was going to happen—when you were relaxed and unsuspecting. But you handled it well.’

  ‘Then handle this! I’m outta here!’ I yelled, pushing past him and heading for the door.

  ‘You’re free to go, Cal, of course,’ Paddy called after me. ‘But if you go now, you won’t find out what’s happened to Ryan or where he is. You sure you really want to leave?’

  I stood, conflicted, at the doorway.

  ‘We wouldn’t have put you through all those tests without a very good reason. Think about it. Think about your brother.’

  I turned and looked down the corridor to see a tall, broad-shouldered man coming towards us. Something about him exuded an air of authority, and as he approached, I could see his shrewd, direct gaze under thick eyebrows. He put out his hand to greet me and almost without hesitation I responded, shaking his hand.

  ‘Good to meet you at last, Cal,’ he said. ‘I’m Benedict Bellamy—but everyone here calls me BB.’ He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘We’d like you to work with us.’

&
nbsp; Work with them? Is that what all of this had been about? I was being recruited by an intelligence organisation? But that didn’t make any sense.

  ‘Why don’t you come back and sit down,’ said Paddy, ‘and listen to what BB has to say? After you’ve heard him out, then decide. If you still want to leave, I’ll show you to the door and that’ll be the end of it. OK?’

  I grudgingly acknowledged that I had nothing to lose by hearing what BB had to say, so with my anger fading, I went back into the room and warily sat on a chair next to the others while BB stood up leaning against the desk, one leg crossed over the other in front of him.

  ‘Cal,’ he started, ‘I’ll tell you the whole story. A girl—someone I know very well, or thought I did—has gone missing. Our intelligence reveals that she’s almost certainly gone to Shadow Island. You might have heard of it?’

  I shook my head and BB continued, ‘Shadow Island is a resort—a retreat for young adults. They call themselves the Paradise People and it’s run by a man called Jeff Thoroughgood. Thoroughgood seems to be a good guy—he’s done a lot of work with street kids and running youth refuges. He helps get kids back into either education or employment. He now runs Shadow Island, a family property, as a rest and recreation centre for kids who need to get away from it all. I’m telling you all this because when we discovered the possible whereabouts of this young girl, we found out that your twin brother, Ryan, has joined the Paradise People.’

  ‘Ryan?’ I said in surprise. ‘On Shadow Island? Why would he be there?’

  ‘I was hoping you might have some ideas about that,’ said BB, running a hand through his thick hair.

  ‘I guess he hasn’t been quite himself for a while,’ I said, remembering. ‘What sort of a place is this rest and recreation island?’

  ‘It’s a combination of holiday activities and a retreat centre—with a strong self-development curriculum for teenagers. Physical activities, self-defence and motivational classes, that sort of thing.’

  Ryan had mentioned meeting interesting new friends. They must have been Paradise People.

  BB continued, ‘We can’t send an agent because they’d be too old. That’s another reason why we thought of you. But sending you in publicly might attract too much attention since you’re so well-known. We want you to go there covertly—no-one would know you’re on the island—and gather intelligence for us. We really must be very discreet about this.’

  There was a silence in the room while I considered what BB was suggesting. I knew he was right about going undercover. Ryan wouldn’t thank me for turning up and taking the spotlight with his new friends.

  ‘I should mention that we have some concerns, Cal,’ BB said finally. ‘We’ve recently heard rumours about the place, and that’s the other reason we want to get an operative onto the island.’

  ‘Rumours?’ I frowned. ‘What kind?’

  ‘A few months ago, Jeff was taken ill and left to recuperate in Switzerland. Since then, his brother Damien has been running the island. So as well as seeing if the girl is there and is OK, we’d like you to have a look around and make sure that everything is as it should be at the resort.’

  ‘We’re concerned that the group might not be what it seems,’ said D’Merrick, leaning in her chair so that her plait swung forwards. ‘There was a girl who came off the island recently who said some odd things about the place. A worker from the Bank Street Youth Centre alerted authorities to the possibility of an issue, but there wasn’t enough evidence to go in officially to investigate. Apparently some kids are coming back muddled up, and others aren’t returning at all.’

  ‘Do you think the Paradise People and their new leader might be taking money from these kids?’ I asked.

  ‘We don’t think it’s that,’ BB replied. ‘Going to the resort doesn’t cost anything.’

  There’s no such thing as a free lunch, I remembered hearing my dad say.

  ‘But we are worried that somehow the kids there might not be being taken care of properly,’ BB continued. ‘Before you make a decision, Cal, you need to know a couple of things. This is a personal mission—it’s something we’re doing “off the books”. Which means that we give you supplies and get you there, but we can only offer limited help once you’re on the island. We’ll give you a satellite phone with a line direct to me so you can contact us if necessary. Just in case something goes wrong. This has to be a completely secret operation—no-one else involved.’

  ‘What do you think is going to happen? It’s just a bunch of kids on a tropical island,’ I said, puzzled.

  ‘I’m sure everything will be fine,’ said BB, ‘but things can often turn out … unexpectedly.’

  I noticed that BB and the other three were all looking intently at me. I thought about Ryan, and my mind was made up. ‘OK,’ I said, hoping my voice sounded controlled and calm. ‘I understand. But there are a couple of things you need to understand before I agree to this. I have two good friends, you probably know who they are—Bodhan Michalko and Winter Frey. I’ll do this for you, but only on the condition that I can talk freely to them, and Ryan, and have their help if it ever becomes necessary. I’ve trusted them with my life before and they’ve never let me down. And one other thing, no more surprise attacks, thanks. I’m over those. That’s the deal. Otherwise, I’m walking out of here.’

  Now it was BB’s turn to stop and think. Finally, he nodded and pulled out a folder and opened it, bringing out a photograph and placing it in front of me. He’d accepted my terms. ‘This is the girl you’re looking for. Her name is Sophie.’

  I picked up the photograph and studied it. It was of a pretty, smiling girl of about sixteen or seventeen. She had striking dark blue eyes and blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail, with freckles across her nose.

  ‘You’ll need to observe her and make sure she is alright—all the time staying undercover. Later, we might consider seeing if we can get her home again.’ I went to hand the photograph back to him but he shook his head. ‘Keep it,’ he said. ‘I’ve got plenty more.’ He must have noticed my puzzled look because he continued speaking. ‘Her full name is Sophie Ann Bellamy. Sophie is my youngest daughter.’

  Now I noticed the deep concern and worry in his eyes. ‘We won’t send you over there unprepared, Cal. Paddy will organise the necessary training and equipment for you.’

  I suddenly remembered my physics assignment. ‘What about school? And my mum and Gabbi?’

  ‘You can leave that to us. We’ll talk to your family for you,’ said BB. ‘You have enough to focus on.’

  I thought of something else. ‘Did anyone from SI-6 recently send me a text message? A picture of the world with a skull and crossbones on it?’

  The blank look on BB’s face answered my question. ‘Skull and crossbones?’

  ‘Never mind. Someone sent me some random picture.’

  ‘Maybe it was a prank. From a friend?’

  ‘Maybe. So, how am I going to get there?’ I asked, changing the subject. ‘Aeroplane? Boat?’

  ‘We’ll talk about that later,’ said BB. ‘Shadow Island presents a few challenges—especially for a covert insertion.’

  Winter’s House

  Mansfield Way, Dolphin Point

  6:49 pm

  ‘Covert insertion, dude?’ said Boges. The three of us sat around Winter’s kitchen table as I repeated what BB had said. ‘That is serious military talk. That’s commando talk.’

  I’d told them everything that had happened with SI-6 and Benedict Bellamy—the insane tests they’d put me through the night before, then the revelation that they knew where Ryan was and that they needed my help. I pulled out the photograph of BB’s daughter.

  ‘She looks young,’ said Boges, picking up Sophie’s photograph.

  ‘I wonder what BB meant by “challenges” on the island?’ Winter said, helping herself to another biscuit.

  ‘I don’t know yet. But it seems that there have been rumours about the Paradise People and the guy who’s run
ning it now. They think he might not have the same kind of experience as his brother. Someone at the Bank Street Youth Centre had some concerns.’

  ‘Bank Street?’ Winter asked. ‘I’ve done volunteering at that centre. I know Rebecca, the woman who runs the place. We should ask her what she’s heard.’

  Boges pulled out his tablet computer and within moments had found what he was looking for. ‘Check this out, guys. This is the Paradise People Resort website.’

  Boges clicked on ‘Things to Do’ and zoomed in on the pictures on his screen so that we could all see it—kids playing volleyball on a beautiful beach with a vivid blue sky above. There was a row of palm trees and a big mango tree, with kayaks underneath, in front of a sparkling ocean. Table tennis games were happening on the grassy area beside the beach.

  ‘I feel like going there myself,’ said Winter. ‘It looks fantastic. I could handle a bit of tropical island right now.’

  ‘What is it, Boges?’ I asked, noticing the two lines on his forehead coming together. ‘You’re wearing your “something’s-not-quite-right face”.’

  ‘Because something’s not quite right, dude. Who’s paying for all this?’

  ‘I thought about that, too. It’s some kind of charity, I guess,’ I said. ‘So that’s it, guys,’ I continued. ‘I go there undercover and check Sophie and Ryan are both OK. And have a bit of a look around and make sure everything is above board—that the guy who’s running the place knows what he’s doing and hasn’t gone troppo.’

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Winter.

  ‘When too much tropical heat makes people go crazy,’ Boges explained.

  ‘Doesn’t sound like you’ll need us at all,’ sighed Winter, scrolling through the website and admiring the photographs. ‘Unless you need a ball boy or girl to jump into the surf and bring back a lost volleyball.’

  ‘Great work if you can get it,’ said Boges. ‘And you’ve got it, dude.’

  ‘Paradise,’ I said, rubbing it in a bit. ‘What could possibly go wrong?’