But when we got back, there was no sign of her. I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I risk going out to look for her, or wait for her to come to us? I was trying to decide when a noise made us all jump.
The radio had sprung into life! For the first time ever, SI-6 was calling me.
Zak looked on, startled.
‘I’ll explain everything, I promise,’ I said as I grabbed the radio out of its hiding place.
‘Night Hawk, this is Condor. Copy please.’
‘Condor, this is Night Hawk. So relieved to hear from you. We’ve been having difficulties making contact with you.’
‘That’s why I’m calling, Night Hawk. We hadn’t heard from you for a while. Do you read … copy …’ The line was dropping out again.
‘Condor? Do you read me?’ I tried in vain. There was only static.
I swung around at a different sound behind me. Sophie Bellamy stood there, her pretty freckled face pulled into a scowl. ‘What’s going on? That was my father’s voice! You’re talking to my father?’
Sophie wasn’t supposed to find out like this. ‘Sophie, listen,’ I started to say.
But she wasn’t listening. Her face screwed up in fury. ‘You’re working for my father! He sent you. You’ve been spying on me all this time. How could you? You lied to me! I trusted you!’
‘Sophie, please. It’s not like that, I swear.’
She didn’t want to hear it, instead she continued shouting. ‘Pretending to be my friend and all the time reporting me back to my father? You had no right to do that!’
‘Just listen to me, will you?’
But flinging me a last, furious look, she turned and crashed through the tangle of leaves and vines and out of the cave.
I took off after her. ‘Sophie! Come back. It’s not like that! Please, you’ve got it all wrong. Come back and let’s talk about it!’
I could hear her ahead of me, smashing her way through the rainforest.
‘Come back! It might not be safe!’
My words had no effect. The way she was going, she would run straight bang into the arms of the search party. I had to stop her, for her own sake.
Overhead, thunder grumbled and the sky darkened.
Shadow Island Jungle
6:38 pm
The thunder rolled overhead as the storm front grew closer. How was I going to get out of this mess? Sophie had to get off the island now. The search would be relentless, because she knew too much. Unlike other kids who might have run away from the resort compound, Sophie had been right into the heart of the mountain, where the secret training area lay. Damien had to silence her. This was serious.
Lower down I could hear search parties making another pass over the foothills.
‘Spread out and search every inch of your area,’ I heard Damien ordering through a loudhailer.
Zak had suddenly joined me. I hadn’t heard him coming at all. ‘Cal, we have to find her,’ he said, his suntanned face tight with fear and concern.
‘Zak’s right,’ said Ariel, who had materialised behind her brother.
This wasn’t working, I thought, randomly searching, exposing ourselves to capture. We needed to think of a plan.
‘We’ll go back to your cave,’ I said. ‘They haven’t ever found that. We’ll be safe there for a while. We can plan what we’re going to do next. Let’s hope Sophie stays well hidden.’
I sounded confident, but I wasn’t.
We made our way back through the rainforest as quickly as we dared, trying not to leave obvious footprints or broken vines behind us. All the time, my head was whirling, trying to come up with a plan that would work. It had to be a big plan. I had to find Sophie, get into Damien’s office with the Stealth Hacker, send the data to SI-6 and Boges, make sure Ryan was OK and free the unknown prisoner from Delta 11.
I could just hear Boges saying, ‘Sure, dude. Should be easy as!’
We squeezed through the well-hidden entry to the cave, rearranging the thick greenery behind us. I knew I wasn’t the only person holding my breath as I crouched down with Zak and Ariel.
Katz Cave
7:02 pm
They came close again, slashing through the vines and cursing the obstacles. A moment later, I heard Dean. He was standing just outside the concealed entrance.
‘She’s somewhere on this island and we have plenty of searchers. You lot go up that way again—’ I imagined him pointing, ‘—and you lot, head up over there. I’ll take a look around here and then join you.’
I was too scared to risk even a peep through the leaves. Instead I huddled together with the others.
Finally, the noises died down as the search party moved away.
The rainforest had been quiet for some time. There was just the steady sound of the rain and the slapping of palm leaves in the wind.
‘I think they’ve gone,’ I whispered. ‘At least for now.’
‘We’ve got to find Sophie,’ said Ariel, her brown eyes concerned.
Before anyone could even move, there was a sound outside. We froze at the noise. It came again. I looked out, scared and anxious. Not far from the cave, something was moving in the undergrowth. Cautiously, I peered through some leafy cover to see a python heading our way.
‘It’s a snake,’ I said, stepping through the cave’s leafy entrance, and watching, waiting for it to cross the open area ahead of me and disappear again into the thick undergrowth. But it didn’t. It turned and now it was heading straight at me. I jumped sideways calling as loudly as I dared to the others. ‘Look out!’
The creature sidled closer. I’d read in a nature magazine that snakes are timid animals and prefer to get out of the way of any threat rather than fight it. This snake hadn’t read the magazine. It seemed to be intent on coming straight towards me, and when I moved sideways, it did the same. It came closer, rearing up. Quick as a flash, I picked up a heavy branch and hit it. I’d only meant to discourage it, but the blow had been harder than I intended and now the creature lay on the rainforest floor, the back half wiggling, the front half still. I looked closer.
‘Geez!’ said Zak, taking the words right out of my mouth.
‘Oh my goodness!’ cried Ariel. ‘What on earth is that?’
I stood there staring at what lay on the path. This was no snake. Inside the torn skin, I could see wiring, circuitry and electronic components.
‘It’s man-made!’ Zak said. ‘Those pythons aren’t real. They’re some kind of robot!’
In front of our eyes, the electronic snake started to twist and heave. We watched in amazement as the undamaged remainder of its body regrouped, leaving the damaged section on the forest floor. Then, slightly shorter than it had been, the robot python slid away. Just before it vanished, I came out of my stunned state and managed to get a picture of it on my mobile.
Shadow Island had suddenly hit a new level of weird. Before we had a chance to talk about what we’d just seen, I froze again. It was a clap of thunder accompaning a sudden heavy shower, but over the noise of the rain, I could hear someone calling my name.
Zak put his hand on my arm. ‘Careful, it could be a trap. It could be anything after what we’ve just seen!’ Zak had a point. My mind raced to process this new threat. No-one here knew my name except Zak, Ariel, Ryan and Sophie. Zak and Ariel were with me, Ryan was down at the resort, so it had to be …
‘Sophie?’ I called softly.
Sophie Bellamy stood there, rain running down her face, scratches on her arms and legs from her wild run into the jungle. Her eyes were red and I knew she’d been crying. I went to her, putting the crazy snake out of my mind for the time being.
‘Sophie, I’m so sorry you had to find out about me and your father in that way. I was going to tell you at the right moment. But thank goodness you’re safe.’
She flashed a glance at me and I could see that she was still angry with me.
‘If you’d just let me explain. Come inside, quick. Everybody on the island is out looking for you.’
>
Inside, Zak passed her a towel and she rubbed her face and arms, finally squatting down beside us. ‘I came back because I realised I don’t really have anywhere else to go. I’m not saying I forgive you but I will listen to what you have to say.’ A frown lined her forehead again. ‘I’m warning you, it better be good.’
‘It is, I promise.’ I decided to tell her everything from the very beginning. ‘I’m probably breaking the Official Secrets Act,’ I said, ‘but because you’re part of the family, I’m hoping it won’t go too hard for me.’
I really had her interest now. So I told her how I’d been set up by SI-6, the frightening tests I’d been put through, BB telling me about his concerns for Sophie’s whereabouts and safety. ‘He didn’t ask me to spy on you, or tell on you. No way. All he wanted to know was that if you were here, that you were safe. That was my mission. And at the same time, your father wanted me to have a look around the Paradise People Resort—get an idea of what sort of a place it was, and if Damien was running the place well. Once I’d done that, I was to come back to the mainland. That’s it.’
Sophie looked up at me with her big blue eyes. ‘I know Dad means well. He always says he’s only got my best interests at heart and I’m sure that’s true. But he is so hard on me. Because of the sort of work he does, he always thinks the worst is going to happen. He used to have security guys follow me to school. It drove me nuts. I felt like a prisoner. It’s much easier when I stay with Mum, but she’s away a lot because of her work. Dad and I had this big fight one night and I took off. I miss Dad and I love him, but I can’t live like that any longer.’
As I listened to Sophie, all I could think of was how lucky she was to have her father, but I kept that thought to myself.
‘Sophie,’ I said, ‘that must have been tough. But please believe that I was going to go back to the mainland after checking that you were OK. It’s only since discovering that something bad is happening here that my plans have changed. We really should get off the island as soon as possible.’
‘But what about the other kids? What about the man on Delta 11?’ Sophie said.
‘BB and SI-6 will work that out. He might want me to come back or they might send their own guys.’
‘And Sophie,’ Ariel said, ‘you’ll never believe what just happened.’
‘With all the weird things happening in this place, I doubt you could surprise me.’
We told her about the python and she blinked. ‘OK. I take it back, I’m surprised,’ she said. ‘Robot pythons that repair themselves? Who made them? What do they do?’
‘That’s what I’m here for,’ I said, sending the photo of the python to Boges. ‘That’s why your father sent me here. I sure have some things to tell him.’ What was this place, I thought, that looked like a dream holiday resort and turned out to be more like a secret commando centre? What sort of a place has ‘snakebots’?
7:33 pm
‘Quiet! Someone’s coming!’ Zak had jumped up and was peering through a tiny crack in the leaves. ‘You’re not going to believe this,’ he hissed, ‘but Damien is headed right this way—with Hamish!’
My mobile started chiming—Ryan. I banged it quiet. Had Damien and Hamish heard that?
Slowly, I stood up to join Zak, nudging a branch to catch a glimpse of the two of them deep in discussion. Damien had his back to us, but I could clearly see the grimace on Hamish’s face. As we watched, they slowly turned and started pushing their way through the undergrowth, going higher up through the rainforest, faces determined, looking for Sophie.
‘Can I stay here for a while, please?’ Sophie whispered.
‘Of course,’ said Ariel.
‘Awesome!’ I said, glancing at the text that Ryan had sent me. I showed the others—
Got master key to office block.
I fired right back.
Great work, bro. How?
Ryan replied.
Elmore left keys on verandah. Grabbed master. Hidden in my mattress, inside comic. Damien grounded me for going out of bounds. But to hell with that. I’m on my way to find you.
‘No,’ I thought. I texted.
Stay there! I’m on my way to swap places.
Too late. Already halfway to you bro. You’re not the only daredevil in this family.
This was bad. Sometimes Ryan didn’t think things through. What if we ran into each other on the mountain and the searchers saw us together? We could both end up on Delta 11. I tried texting again, but Ryan had switched off his mobile, keeping out of sight as he made his way here.
I couldn’t worry about that right now because a plan was forming in my mind.
‘Gotta go, guys. This is the sort of chance you only get once. Damien is up here in the jungle. I’m going to be down there in his office! Tell Ryan to wait here, I won’t be long.’ I checked my pocket, making sure that the Stealth Hacker was tucked in there.
I took off down the mountain, making sure I kept well out of sight. I could hear the search parties still calling to each other, their voices echoing higher up on the mountain. I skidded and slid in the freshly wet soil. The rain had eased although the wind was becoming stronger.
I emerged through the cemetery, heading for the big mango and palm trees near the kayaks, staying well back until I’d scoped out the resort. The palm trees that fringed the beach bent and waved in the wind.
Paradise People Resort
7:57 pm
It looked like everyone was still out searching because there were no counsellors on duty and the compound gates were partly open. Only Elmore, standing on the verandah of the dining room, was visible. I sidled around the boys’ dormitory block, taking cover in between the clothes lines and the dripping-wet sheets that were hanging there. As I skirted around some buildings, I could hear a bunch of kids at the beach—laughing and messing about, oblivious to the drama unfolding in the jungle.
I bolted into the dormitory, straight to Ryan’s bed, lifting up the mattress. Sure enough, there was a superhero comic and inside that—the master key! I was concerned about Ryan’s whereabouts right now, but I had to hand it to the guy. This was a major, major coup.
Doubling over, I scrambled across the empty space between the dormitories. I did my best to avoid the CCTV areas, but I knew I’d have to go past one of them to get into the office block. I pulled my hoodie right up over my face and kept my head down. I skidded up the few steps into the office building and clanged up the steel stairs to the locked door. I pulled out the master key, and the lock turned smoothly. Closing the door behind me, I took a step into the room. On the CCTV monitor screens, I could see the deserted compound and Elmore pulling his trolley over towards the recreation block. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear yelling and shouting. Stay focused, I thought, hurrying over to Damien’s desk.
The two laptops sat there, their lids open. Only one appeared to be switched on—the laptop with the desktop icons showing. Anxiously I scanned them. One called Robotics and another named Electronic Engineering grabbed my interest but there was only one I could afford to focus on right now. There it was! The Mordred Key icon.
I was about to click on it and open it when something else on the screen caught my eye. At first I thought it was identical to the mysterious image texted to me a few weeks ago. The world map and the superimposed skull and crossbones were there, but something was different—instead of ‘90 days’, there was a digital clock ticking over, counting down days, hours, minutes and seconds. It was currently at sixty days.
Sixty days until what?
I took a quick picture of it with my phone then tore myself away from trying to work it out and clicked on the Mordred Key icon.
It opened but I couldn’t make sense of what I was looking at—a mess of data, letters, what I thought might be Greek and Russian script, signs, occasional scraps of words, figures—it looked like total junk—and there were pages and pages of it. What could it mean? I pulled the Stealth Hacker out of my pocket. Pushing it into a port, I tried to st
art the download. The download bar appeared, but nothing seemed to be happening.
8:12 pm
Outside, voices were coming. On the TV screen, I could see Damien at the head of the pack of people on their way back to the resort. I prayed they hadn’t found Sophie. Maybe she’d given herself up to save Zak’s hide-out.
The download bar began filling very, very slowly—12% … 18% … 21% …
‘Come on. Hurry up!’
27% …
I cursed the slow download.
To ease my anxiety, I minimised the file, and checked out the other icons on the desktop. There were various files, for the CCTV, attendance lists, amenities, advertising material and another icon labelled Emergency.
Outside the noise had become really loud and I flattened myself against the wall to peer out one of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. To my horror I saw that Damien was striding across the compound, already through the gates, dragging a struggling figure. From this distance, I couldn’t see who it was.
43 … 54% … 61% …
Hurry, hurry.
The group and the struggling captive came into view. I swore. My worst fear had been realised. The struggling figure was my brother, Ryan.
Ryan had obviously been caught during the search for Sophie and was now being hauled back by a very angry Damien, and worse still, I knew he would be brought up here into the office. I could hear Ryan yelling out as Damien, now with Dean’s assistance, manhandled him across the wide sports field heading for the office building. Thank you Ryan, I thought, as I realised he was making all that noise to make sure I knew they were coming. So I could get out … but I was stuck. Behind them, the staff who’d been in the search parties peeled off to their various dormitories and to the recreation centre.
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