Jane Atlas was stood by the record player.
The treasure hunter was half-hidden in shadow, and half-lit by flickering firelight. She wore jeans and a shirt, the outfit of a mother at the supermarket, but there was something about her that warned the Snake Lady to remain still, to resist the urge to reach for one of the alarm buttons hidden around the room.
Jane Atlas looked like she’d had a tough time in the jungle: she had a black eye, a swollen jaw, and a dozen insect bites on her hands alone. Her face was scratched as if she’d been in a fight with an alley cat, but she also looked leaner and tougher than when the Snake Lady had seen her last, with eyes as narrow and sharp as razor blades. How had she broken in without setting off at least one of a dozen alarms? There were twelve mercenaries working beyond the walls of this room; it was their job to deal with this sort of trouble. The Snake Lady made a mental note to sack them all. But one problem at a time…
Stay calm. Control the conversation.
She forced a smile. “Jane Atlas,” she said. “I take it you are not a fan of opera?”
“Where is Sami?” Jane replied.
“What, no chit-chat? At least allow me to welcome you into my home before we get onto business. Where are the rest of the family?”
“Where is Sami? If he is dead, then so are you.”
She means it.
“Threats are so unpleasant,” the Snake Lady said. “I made your children a deal that I shall honour. Sami’s life in exchange for the emerald tablet. So, do you have it, or do you not?”
“We have it.”
Thank God. That tablet is one of the most important of them all.
“May I see it?”
“You may not.”
“Ah. You see, that is not how to conduct business. Dr Fazri has very little time left. So shall we stop playing games? I assume the tablet is close by?”
“Very close,” Jane replied.
“With John or Pandora or Jake?”
“One of them.”
“So how do you wish to proceed, Jane? You must be aware that the wall panels behind you are false. They conceal three chambers, little outposts of my organization. There are four mercenaries in each, all armed. I merely have to press one of several buttons in my immediate vicinity, and you will be captured.”
This time the Snake Lady’s smile wasn’t forced, and her perfect teeth gleamed in the firelight. Carefully handled, this situation could work out to her advantage. With Jane Atlas captured, the remaining members of the Atlas family could surely be forced into another mission. Even without her, they would make a fine team to recover the final tablet in China, which had so far proved so frustratingly elusive. And if they died, no great loss. They would need to be disposed of at some point anyway. They knew far too much.
But, first things first. The Aztec tablet was not yet secure.
The Snake Lady edged closer to an alarm button on the side of the coffee table. “Now, where is it?” she asked.
“Give me Sami first,” Jane demanded.
“You are not in a position to negotiate.”
“People keep telling me that and then wishing they hadn’t.”
She’s as tough as a pack of nails. Don’t give her an inch. Let your mercenaries take her out. That’s why you pay those idiots.
The Snake Lady moved her hand closer to the alarm.
“I wouldn’t touch that button,” Jane warned.
“Ah, you have seen it. However, you have miscalculated. You are fast, Jane, but even you could not reach me before I press that button.”
“Just tell me,” Jane said.
“Tell you?”
“The emerald tablets, where do they lead? Your organization must have spent millions of pounds and destroyed dozens of tombs to hide some secret. Tell me what is this all about.”
The Snake Lady’s black eyes gleamed like polished stones. “We have spent billions of pounds, and destroyed hundreds of tombs. Yes, to hide a secret. It is a secret that must be hidden, to avoid mass panic, the breakdown of society.”
“But you’re not destroying the tablets. You need them. Together, they form a map. Where to?”
“To a place we must find to ensure the survival of all life on Earth. You see, Jane Atlas, you regard me as a villain, yet I look upon you in the same light. By obstructing us you have no idea of the danger you cause.”
“It’s not up to you to hide secrets about history.”
“Is it not? Is it not, Jane? I say it is, as does an international treaty of sixty-three nations that protects and funds our organization. When will your precious little family realize that we are the goodies?”
“No. You can’t just wipe out history. People need to know.”
“Spoken like a true historian, but also horribly naïve. You are beginning to sound like your hot-headed children, Jane. I am surprised that they are not here, actually. Jake would have charged in here with some half-baked plan. Honduras must have been good for him. You finally have your children well trained.”
“They’re the best trained in the business.”
“Indeed, they are remarkable children. I cannot wait to see them again.”
The Snake Lady pressed the button.
Around the room, wooden wall panels slid up into the ceilings, revealing the three chambers hidden behind the living-room walls. The Snake Lady gasped and stepped back, as if she had been punched in the stomach.
There were four mercenaries inside each chamber, but all of them lay unconscious on the floor. Three other figures stood in the entrances, each breathing through a slim metal tube.
John Atlas. Pandora Atlas. Jake Atlas.
Wisps of green gas drifted from the chambers as the treasure hunters stepped into the room.
Jake Atlas yanked the tube from his mouth and grinned.
“Hello, Marjorie,” he said. “We’re back.”
That was such a good line! I was trying to look cool, like the rest of my family, but it was hard to stop myself grinning. You should have seen the Snake Lady; she was totally freaked out to see us step from her secret chambers. She always seemed so calm and in control, but right then she looked like someone had just slapped her in the face with an electric eel. Her mouth was a twisted expression of shock and disbelief. Her black eyes moved from me to Pan to Dad and then Mum, growing wider with panic.
“It’s not possible,” she gasped. “Those chambers are highly secure. Without Dr Fazri you could never have broken into them.”
“Hey,” a voice replied. “That hurts my feelings.”
She turned and saw the other members of our gang approach from the dining room. She recognized them both, but looked even more confused to see them here. Pedro snatched off his cowboy hat and greeted her with a quick bow. Beside him, leaning against the door frame for support, was Sami.
He was still very weak, but the antidote Dad had forced one of the mercenaries to hand over was already working, and he even managed a smile. After such an effort to save his life, we’d almost hugged the poor guy to death when he finally woke. I’d apologized about fifty times in the space of a minute, but he waved them all away with a shaky hand, muttering to Dad about something worse that he’d been through years ago in Guatemala, or somewhere. I’m not sure that was true, but it was so good to hear him talk. He’d not been strong enough to say much else yet, but his eyes told us how happy he was to see us all safe and together. I think he could tell that something had changed among us, too. The Atlas family he’d seen in Egypt was back.
“But… How…?” the Snake Lady breathed.
“Easy,” Pedro replied.
He held up a device from his gadget supplies, a sort of super-skeleton key that we’d used to get past the mad security in this place and open the rear doors to the secret chambers. It was called a … actually I’m not sure what it was called, I wasn’t really listening; I’d been too excited – this had been my plan, and Mum and Dad had totally gone along with it! Pedro had kitted us out with gas bombs to take out
the mercenaries, and new breathing tubes so the gas didn’t send us to sleep as well.
The Snake Lady couldn’t stop glaring at us. We all looked skinnier from our time in the jungle, tired from the long flight home, and bug-bitten, bruised and cut on every bit of skin that she could see. I had the worst injury: three deep scratches on the side of my neck, which I secretly hoped might scar because it looked so cool.
I noticed the Snake Lady looking at them, and tilted my head so she could get a better view in the firelight.
“Jaguar scratch,” I said. “You should have seen the other guy.”
“Alpha Squad,” she realized. “Are they dead?”
“No,” Mum replied, “but they’ll be out of action for a while. Once they’ve licked their wounds, I suspect they’ll come looking for us, as will your organization.”
The Snake Lady nodded slowly, trying to gather her composure. “Then why do this?” she asked. “Jane, you’re just putting your children in even greater danger.”
“My children can look after themselves, thank you very much.”
“Then why? What do you want?”
“Information,” Dad replied.
“But… What information?”
“All your information,” Pan said. “We’re going to use it to find the last tablet, and discover where they all lead. We’re going to smash your secrets wide open and let everyone know what you’re trying to hide.”
If it was possible for the Snake Lady to look more horrified, she managed it then.
“No,” she gasped. “No, you cannot. That information is classified… It is protected by an international treaty!”
“We’re wanted criminals,” I said. “That doesn’t bother us.”
That’s not entirely true. The moment I’d fallen with Kyle Flutes down to that jaguar, everything hadn’t just instantly changed. My jungle suit had protected me from most of the cat’s attack, but it still had that swipe at my neck. Kyle was bitten on the leg but used his sonic force field to blast the jaguar into the river. After that, all he could do was roar threats at my family as we got away with the tablet. We’d been rescued by Pedro in his helicopter, and then got here as fast as we could.
Wherever the tablets led, that’s where we were going next. All of us, together. But first we needed more clues.
“We just need you to stay still,” I explained, “while we hack your holosphere and steal all your information.”
Pan picked up one of the mercenary’s stun guns from the floor. “Only, we don’t trust that you will,” she added. “So we have to make you.”
“You look like you need a rest, Marjorie,” Mum said.
“Don’t do anything foolish!” the Snake Lady shrieked. “You want answers? I can give you answers. You can still work for me, all of you. I can give you new identities, even.”
We stepped closer, surrounding her now from all sides.
“We like our current identities,” Pan replied. She raised the stun gun. “Now, who’s going to take this shot?”
“You’re the best aim, Pandora,” Mum said.
“Thanks, Mum, but you can take it if you like.”
“Jake, would you like to?”
“Thanks, Mum!”
I took the stun gun and leaned over the Snake Lady as Pan and Mum rushed back to one of the chambers and began to download information from the People of the Snake’s systems, using one of Pedro’s gadgets. I heard laughter and gasps of excitement – laughter, from Mum! – as they scanned the hologram files.
“Guys,” Pan called. “You’re not going to believe where we’re going next.”
The Snake Lady glared at me. Her reptile eyes were no longer scared or confused. They were hard and focused and they gleamed with ferocity.
“You have no idea how much trouble you are in,” she warned. “We will come after you with everything we’ve got. What makes you think you’ll get away with this?”
I grinned and raised the stun gun.
“Haven’t you heard the first rule of treasure hunting?” I asked.
I fired, and then answered by my own question.
“Don’t mess with the Atlas family.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rob Lloyd Jones never wanted to be a writer when he grew up – he wanted to be Indiana Jones. So he studied Egyptology and archaeology and went on trips to faraway places. But all he found were interesting stories, so he decided to write them down. Jake Atlas and the Hunt for the Feathered God is Rob’s fourth novel, although he has written over eighty other books for children, including non-fiction and adaptations of such classics as Beowulf.
About writing Jake Atlas, he says, “It began on a rainy day in the countryside. Stuck at home, I watched an Indiana Jones movie and then a Mission: Impossible film straight after. I wondered if you could mix the two: classic treasure hunts but with crazy high-tech gadgets. I especially wanted to set the first adventure in Egypt, a place and history that I’d loved so much since studying it at university. But I didn’t really have a story, just an idea. Then, after becoming a father, I realized that many parents are invisible in stories for young people. I decided to write about a whole family on an adventure together. But not just any family – one with troubles and squabbles, special skills and deep secrets…”
Rob lives in a crumbling cottage in Sussex, where he writes and runs and moans about mud.
JAKE ATLAS
TOMB ROBBER,
TREASURE HUNTER,
TROUBLEMAKER
A couple of days ago I was a schoolboy with terrible grades and even worse behaviour – and a way of causing trouble that drove people nuts.
Now I am a member of a super high-tech treasure-hunting team searching for a lost tomb so I can save my parents from being turned into mummies by an evil cult.
Things have moved pretty fast…
OTHER BOOKS BY ROB LLOYD JONES
Wild Boy
Wild Boy and the Black Terror
Jake Atlas and the Tomb of the Emerald Snake
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
First published in Great Britain 2018 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Text © 2018 Rob Lloyd Jones
Cover illustration © 2018 Petur Antonsson
The right of Rob Lloyd Jones to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-8202-0 (ePub)
www.walker.co.uk
Jake Atlas and the Hunt for the Feathered God Page 23