by Justin D'Ath
Kay Nine. Was it some sort of drug?
‘I’m not letting you inject me with anything,’ Colt said.
The rat cop yawned. ‘It’s not that kind of experiment.’
She had removed her stun gun from its holster and placed it on the desk beside her – within easy reach if Colt tried anything.
‘What about the elephant?’ he asked. ‘If I do your experiment, will you let her go, too?’
Officer Katt gave him a pitying look. ‘You’re not very smart, are you, Snowy? You couldn’t see what was right under your nose.’
Before Colt could ask what that meant, there were shuffling noises outside. The door banged open and Officer Owen entered the office backwards, tugging on a piece of cord that seemed to be caught on the screen door. Suddenly it came free and a small, brown dog rushed in.
Colt gasped. It was Zoltan! He’d come back to life!
‘Kardos, SIT!’ barked Officer Owen, and the animal obediently sat down.
Colt remembered now – DoRFE had bought three Hungarian rat dogs. This wasn’t Zoltan, it was his replacement. And it looked every bit as mean as the last one. Kardos was glaring at Colt with his teeth bared, his body straining and quivering against his lead, as if he was about to attack.
Colt rose to his feet.
‘Sit down, Snowy,’ Officer Katt said calmly.
‘It’s going to attack me!’
‘We’ll see,’ she said. ‘Release it, Owen.’
What happened next was almost too quick for the eye to follow. Claws scrabbling on the imitation-wood floor, Kardos launched himself across the office, straight at Colt.
But Colt moved quickly, too. He jumped onto the desk. Kardos tried to jump up after him, but he wasn’t quite big enough. Snapping and growling, he made two more attempts to get up, then rushed around the other side of the desk. Officer Katt leapt back out of the way.
‘KARDOS, HOLD! KARDOS, HOLD!’ yelled Officer Owen, charging round the desk after him.
It was like a scene from an old comedy vid made back in the Animal Days when there were guard dogs. But there was nothing funny about it. Kardos really meant business. Colt remembered what it felt like to be bitten by a rat dog. Agony! He turned in slow circles on the desktop as the psycho dog raced madly round and round him, with Officer Owen in pursuit.
Officer Katt watched from over by the filing cabinets, her expression a mixture of fear and puzzlement. And Colt noticed something. In her hurry to get out of the dog’s way, she’d left her stun gun on the desk.
He picked it up and pointed it at Kardos.
‘DON’T SHOOT HIM, YOU FOOL!’ yelled Officer Katt.
Colt felt like shooting her. And as for being called a fool, he was the only person not acting like one! But he had already killed a rat dog, and that was one too many.
‘Get him out of here, then.’
Finally Officer Owen managed to grab the dog’s lead. Kardos was snarling and foaming at the mouth, still trying to get at Colt as the male rat cop dragged him to the door and pulled him roughly outside.
‘Give me the gun,’ said Officer Katt.
Colt couldn’t resist. ‘Say please.’
‘I’m not playing games,’ she snapped, walking towards him with her hand held out.
Colt jumped off the desk and handed her the stun gun. He knew she wouldn’t shoot him. ‘See – that’s exactly what Zoltan did,’ he said, gesturing towards the door where Kardos and his handler had disappeared. ‘He attacked me for absolutely no reason.’
Officer Katt checked the gun, then slipped it into her holster. ‘There must have been a reason,’ she said.
‘But I didn’t do anything!’
‘It’s not what you did or didn’t do,’ Officer Katt said slowly. She was looking at him in a strange, spooky way that made him feel uneasy. ‘It’s what you are.’
Colt knew he shouldn’t have trusted them. He had taken part in the rat cops’ stupid experiment, but now Officer Katt wasn’t going to phone his mum.
‘You promised!’
‘I promised to call her,’ she said with a cunning smile, ‘but I didn’t say I’d call her tonight.’
Colt was tired and grumpy. He only just managed to hold his anger in check. ‘Give me back my bike, then. I’ll ride home.’
‘I think it would be better if you stayed here till morning.’
‘Why? I did your experiment.’
‘It wouldn’t be safe riding all that way in the middle of the night.’
Since when was Officer Katt worried about his safety? Colt wondered. ‘So phone my mum,’ he said.
She shook her head. ‘Let’s not argue about it, Snowy. It’s very late – way past your bedtime.’
‘You can’t keep me prisoner!’ he cried, edging towards the door.
It creaked open and in walked Officer Owen. At a nod from his boss, he placed a restraining hand on Colt’s shoulder.
‘Birdy knows where I am,’ Colt said. ‘They’ll send the real police.’
‘If and when they arrive,’ Officer Katt said calmly, ‘we’ll explain how you broke into a restricted research facility and threatened government officers.’
‘I didn’t threaten anyone.’
‘You pointed a loaded stun gun at Officer Owen and me.’
‘I did not!’ Colt said. ‘I pointed it at the dog. And I wasn’t even going to shoot!’
‘It’s your word against ours, Snowy.’ The rat cop raised her eyebrows. ‘Who do you think they’re going to believe?’
Colt bit his lip. It was a waste of time arguing. The police probably would believe Officer Katt.
‘Empty your pockets,’ she said.
Now ‘stolen keys’ was added to his list of crimes.
They escorted him to a little garden shed behind one of the cottages. Officer Katt unbolted the door and shone her torch in. The shed was empty except for a few gardening tools and some bags of potting mix. Officer Owen collected the tools and took them outside.
‘In you go, Snowy.’ Officer Katt gave him a little shove. ‘Sweet dreams.’
The door closed. Colt heard the bolt slide into place, then footsteps walking away. Officer Owen said something that made the other rat cop laugh. It was probably a joke about Colt. He hated them. But at least they had given him a bottle of water and allowed him to keep his SmartTorch. He used it to check out his makeshift prison cell. There was no window. A single tree spider hung in a dusty web, its many eyes glinting in the torchlight, but it was just a little one – hardly larger than his hand. Colt pushed experimentally against the door. It creaked . . . and held firm. Superclown could have busted his way out in moments, but Colt wasn’t Superclown anymore.
What changed? he wondered. Was it something to do with the rat dog biting me?
Using a bag of potting mix as a pillow, Colt made himself as comfortable as possible on the cool, dirt floor. He had a sip of water, then switched the torch to Battery Saver mode. The tree spider was harmless, but he didn’t like the thought of it creeping around in the darkness.
Tired as Colt was, sleep wouldn’t come. There was too much on his mind.
Officer Katt was onto him. She knew something weird was going on. The way his ankle had completely healed in just a few days had spooked her out. And then that experiment with Kardos – how freaky was that! Rat dogs were supposed to hunt ghost rats, not people.
Is that why she’s keeping me prisoner? Colt asked himself. Because I’m a freak?
‘Colt? Are you awake?’
Colt opened his eyes. He must have gone to sleep after all. He hadn’t heard the shed door open. A small, black figure stood silhouetted against the starry night outside.
‘Birdy?’
‘Shhh!’ she hissed. ‘I think they’re asleep, but we have to be careful.’
He grabbed his SmartTorch and switched it to Auto.
‘Turn it off!’
‘Sorry.’
‘We have to be really quiet,’ whispered Birdy. ‘The dog’s just rou
nd the other side of the house.’
‘Yikes!’ he gasped.
‘Don’t worry, it’s tied to the railing. But I think it’s awake.’
Holding his hand, Birdy led him around the back of the shed so it screened them from the cottage. Then they struck off across a stretch of open ground towards a shadowy group of trees on the far side of the compound.
‘Where are we going?’ he asked.
‘I found a place where you can wiggle under the fence,’ she whispered. ‘I think you’ll be skinny enough.’
Colt looked back. The DoRFE van was parked in front of the cottage. ‘Where are the rat cops?’
‘In that little house. But I reckon they’re asleep. The lights turned off ages ago.’
Colt wondered how long he had been asleep. Officer Katt still had his wrist-phone, so he couldn’t check the time. ‘How did you find me?’
‘The hardest part was staying awake,’ Birdy whispered. She yawned, which made Colt yawn too. It had been a very long day. And it wasn’t over yet.
‘After they locked the gate,’ Birdy went on, ‘I found the gap under the fence (it’s behind those trees) and I waited there till they locked you in the shed. Lucky the door just had one of those sliding thingies, not a lock that needed a key.’
Colt thought so, too. But her mention of doors and keys reminded him of why they’d come here. He stopped in his tracks. ‘I think I know where Lucy is.’
Birdy stopped, too. ‘Is she okay?’
‘We need to check.’ He tugged her hand. ‘Follow me.’
But Birdy pulled the other way. They were nearly at the trees. ‘It isn’t safe, Colt. We have to get right away from here before they find out you’re gone.’
‘What about Lucy?’
‘We can tell Captain Noah when we get back – he’ll come and get her.’
‘But I have to be sure she’s here first,’ Colt whispered. That stuff Officer Katt had said about him not seeing what was under his nose had put doubts in his mind. He gently pried Birdy’s fingers loose. ‘Wait here, Birds. I won’t be long.’
‘I’m coming with you,’ she said.
Keeping in the shadows as much as possible, and making a big detour around the cottage with the van parked next to it, Colt and Birdy worked their way back across the compound. The scientist’s station wagon was parked next to another cottage – one of the ones with washing on its clothesline. They kept well away from it, too. When they reached the long, low building where the rat cops had caught him, Colt was relieved to see that all the lights were off. But the floodlights along the fence lit up the other side of the building.
Crouched in the shadows round the back, he and Birdy peered in through the window behind the desk. It was very dark inside. Colt selected the Spy function on his SmartTorch and pressed its lens to the flyscreen. Shashlik! The peg-board was empty!
There goes Plan A, he thought.
And there wasn’t a Plan B.
Colt was about to switch off the torch when he saw a glint of shiny metal on the desk. The keys were still lying right where Officer Katt had dropped them after he’d handed them over!
‘Stay here, Birdy.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘I left something in there.’
‘We’re meant to be finding Lucy,’ she whispered.
‘We are,’ he said. ‘But first I need a key to get into the place where she’s locked up.’
Where I think she’s locked up, he thought.
He stepped out of the shadows and raced around the end of the building into the glare of the floodlights on the other side, just as he’d done a few hours earlier when the rat cops were off hunting for Birdy. But this time the office door was locked. Colt put his shoulder to it and pushed with all his strength, but he was just a skinny thirteen-year-old, not a superhero.
That part of his life was history.
Lucy would be history, too, if he couldn’t get those keys.
Colt raced back around to the dark side of the building, where Birdy waited beneath the window.
‘The door’s locked,’ he whispered. ‘We’ll have to break in somehow.’
‘This window isn’t closed properly,’ she said.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I only just noticed.’
There was a tiny gap at the bottom. With Birdy’s help, Colt pried the flyscreen loose and lifted the window all the way open.
‘I won’t be a sec,’ he whispered, clambering in headfirst over the sill.
But Birdy wasn’t going to wait outside. She was a Flying Flynn. Diving in over the top of him, she did a graceful forward flip and landed lightly on her feet next to the desk. Colt was still getting up off the floor when Birdy dangled the keys in his face.
‘Are these the ones you wanted?’
Sometimes it was a bit embarrassing having a friend who was a trapeze artist.
‘Yeah,’ he mumbled. ‘Thanks.’
‘So where’s Lucy?’ she asked.
‘We’ll go there in minute.’ Colt stuffed all four keys into his pockets. ‘First I want to show you something.’
He led her down to the laboratory and shone his torch into one of the cages.
Birdy let out a gasp. ‘Guinea pigs!’
‘They’re not pigs,’ said Colt. He had seen a real live pig once, when his mother worked as a vet at a government farm. It was a huge smelly animal with hardly any fur. Nothing like these.
‘There were two types of pigs,’ Birdy explained. ‘Guinea pigs were pets. Hasn’t Hamish reached G yet?’
‘We’re only up to E,’ Colt said. E for elephant. ‘Come on, we’d better hurry.’
Before they left the laboratory, Colt went looking for his backpack. Birdy was still fussing over the guinea pigs. ‘Why do you think they’re here?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know,’ he whispered. ‘They must be for research or something.’
‘We should take one back for Hamish. It’s his birthday in a couple of days.’
‘They don’t belong to us.’
‘Lucy doesn’t belong to DoRFE.’
Colt remembered what Officer Katt had said. An eye for an eye. But that didn’t make it right.
‘It’d be stealing, Birdy.’
She gave a big sigh. Turning away from the cages, she watched Colt dragging his backpack out from its hiding place.
‘Is my phone still in there?’ she asked.
Kristin answered on the very first ring.
‘Colt!’ she cried. ‘Is that you? Thank heavens! Are you all right? Is Birdy with you? Is she all right? Where on earth are you?’
It was a lot of questions. Colt tried to answer them, but his mother kept interrupting.
‘. . . worried sick . . . nobody knew where . . . parents hadn’t seen . . . bicycles missing . . . Captain Noah thought . . . police are out looking . . .’
‘Tell them to come to the DoRFE Research Centre.’ It was Colt’s turn to interrupt. He was peering out through the blinds at the floodlit gate where he’d sneaked into the compound several hours earlier. It was padlocked shut. ‘They might need to bring boltcutters to get in.’
‘What?’ said his mother.
‘It’s a long story, Mum. I’ll tell you all about it later. Gotta go. Bye.’
He ended the call.
‘Are we in trouble?’ Birdy said.
‘Do you need to ask?’
‘I did ask.’
Colt checked that the big old ‘eye-phone’ was turned off before slipping it into his pocket. ‘The police are coming.’
‘Rat poo!’ gasped Birdy.
‘We might need their help to rescue Lucy.’
‘What if she’s not here?’
Colt led the way back to the open window. He was worried about that, too.
‘Where else could she be?’ he asked.
Birdy sounded worried. ‘The sign says we should wear breathing apparatus.’
‘All the more reason to get Lucy out,’ Colt whis
pered.
They were crouched outside the Biohazard building. Birdy held the SmartTorch with its light dulled to Glo, while Colt tried each of the keys in the door. The first two didn’t work. Nor did number three. Finally, the very last key turned the lock. Phew!
Colt pushed the door slowly open. He sniffed the air. It was the same animal smell he’d detected in the truck, only here it was much stronger.
Something rustled in the darkness.
‘Put it on Spy mode, Birdy.’
The SmartTorch’s green Spy beam lit up what at first looked like a thousand stars twinkling in the building’s cavernous interior.
But they weren’t stars, they were eyes.
Birdy gripped Colt’s elbow. ‘Rats!’ she gasped.
Colt gently pried the SmartTorch from her fingers. His nose told him they weren’t rats. He selected SmartBeam. For a moment the building filled with light, then the beam narrowed as its clever motion sensor chose a single point of focus.
‘They’re guinea pigs,’ he whispered.
Hundreds of them. In dozens of cages.
He selected MultiSeek, and the beam began strobing madly back and forth, settling on each set of eyes for perhaps half a second before moving to the next.
But there were no elephant eyes.
Where are you Lucy? Colt wondered.
‘Someone’s coming!’ Birdy hissed behind him.
Shutting off the torch, Colt stuck his head around the door. Over by the cottages, another hand-held light flashed back and forth. Much brighter than Colt’s, its powerful beam swept across the compound like a searchlight.
Uh-oh! Just in front of the light, his nose to the ground, Kardos strained on his lead. Colt quickly pulled Birdy inside and shut the door.
‘Do you think they saw us?’ she whispered.
‘It doesn’t matter if they saw us or not,’ he replied. ‘Kardos will find me.’
‘How?’
‘He knows what I smell like.’ Colt clicked his torch back on. ‘Let’s see if we can find Lucy.’
They had only gone a few paces when Birdy suddenly grabbed his arm. ‘The key! It’s still in the door!’
Colt darted back, cracked the door open, reached out and grabbed the key. In the brief moment the door was open, he got another glimpse of their pursuers. They were over by the office now. One of them was holding Kardos’s lead, while another shone the torch in through the window where the flyscreen had been removed. It was impossible to see who the two people were in the dark, but it didn’t take a genius to work it out.