The Chaos Code

by Justin Richards

  ‘What have you got there?’ Venture asked after he had been watching for a while.

  Harper did not look up. ‘I wonder,’ he said. ‘Any ideas?’ He held the disc out and Venture took it.

  Venture cradled it carefully in his palm as he examined it closely. ‘It’s just a bit of pottery,’ he said in a level voice. ‘Anyone else?’ He handed the disc to the nearest person, as if deciding it was of no value or interest at all.

  The nearest person happened to be Matt. He took it, turning it over in his hands, feeling the weight … For a moment, just a second, he imagined himself back in Dad’s study. Something about the disc was so familiar. The size, the shape, the weight … Then he remembered the box he had found in Venture’s house when he’d been sent to get a statue. A wooden box containing a metal disc …

  Matt was aware that Venture was watching him closely, as if he had guessed what Matt was thinking. The slightest shake of the head – almost imperceptible. The man’s expression was still set and stern. Matt shrugged and handed the disc to Katherine Feather.

  ‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ he said.

  The gentle motion of the plane eventually lulled Matt to sleep. He dozed, and woke and dozed again. Sometimes when he woke, Robin was sitting beside him, sometimes he was alone. Snatches of reality in between dreams of darkness.

  He was aware of Katherine stretched out cat-like and asleep on one of the sofas. None of the others seemed to sleep at all. Harper in particular was wired – examining the strange disc through a magnifying glass, going through the parchments and papers, talking earnestly and urgently to Venture.

  An hour out from Rio, Matt woke to find Robin once more in the adjacent seat. Her father was beside her, crouched down so they were on the same level to talk.

  ‘I’ve told him it’s not my field,’ Venture was saying. ‘But he’s becoming worryingly insistent. Just be careful.’

  Robin nodded, and Matt wondered what they were talking about.

  Venture was looking across at Matt now, seeing that he was awake. ‘You need to be careful too,’ he said.

  ‘What of?’

  ‘Of Harper. He wants me to help him translate the symbols on that disc.’

  ‘And you can’t?’

  ‘I won’t,’ Venture said softly. ‘He may ask Robin. He may even ask you. Be careful how you reply. That disc is unique.’

  Matt frowned, remembering the very similar disc he knew Venture had in his possession. ‘But, surely –’

  Venture cut him off. ‘As far as Harper is aware, it is unique. It is obviously that disc he’s been after, not the rest of the Treasure. He thinks it will lead him to a treasure far greater than the one we have already found for him. That’s the trouble, isn’t it? We’re never satisfied. The more we have, the more we want.’

  ‘I just want Dad back,’ Matt said. ‘We’ve got the Treasure of St John now. Do we bargain, or will they let him go, or what?’

  Robin took Matt’s hand and held it between both her own, just like she’d held his hand in the restaurant in Copenhagen. ‘We’ll find him,’ she promised.

  ‘I think we’re now much closer to finding Arnold,’ Venture agreed. ‘Though perhaps not in the way you imagine.’

  ‘Meaning what?’ Matt demanded.

  Venture smiled, but it was a sad, sympathetic smile. ‘Just a theory. It is perhaps surprising we’ve heard nothing from these mysterious opponents of Harper’s. Seen nothing of them. No evidence that they even exist. Except for the fact your father’s missing. The Treasure was undisturbed, and Harper never suggested that there might be anyone else in Denmark after it. He seemed to take no precautions. And now, well, Harper’s sudden insistence that I help him further worries me. His quest for more of the ancient knowledge …’

  Matt shifted in his chair, stretching. ‘I think that’s just a lot of mythical rubbish. Ancient knowledge and powers.’

  Robin looked to her father for the answer. ‘It doesn’t really matter what we think,’ Venture said quietly. ‘It’s what Harper thinks that matters now. He has the disc, he has a dream. And he’s offered me a very large amount of money to help him interpret the disc and realise that dream.’

  ‘Worrying,’ Robin agreed.

  ‘Not as worrying as the fact that he described it as his “final offer”,’ Venture told them. ‘We could jump ship in Rio, but I doubt we’ll get the chance. And better to extricate ourselves amicably if we possibly can. Stay on good terms. He’s a powerful man and it wouldn’t do to upset him if we can avoid it. Get some sleep,’ he went on before Matt could ask him again what he meant. ‘We’re all going to need our wits about us.’

  Looking over Venture’s shoulder, Matt could see Harper staring at the disc, his forehead creased with concentration.

  The helicopter back to the Waterfall Pyramid was as noisy as ever. Both Harper and Venture seemed preoccupied. Harper’s eyes were gleaming with excitement and enthusiasm. Venture, by contrast, was solemn and serious.

  Despite having seen it before, Matt was still as impressed as ever with the spectacular view of the approach to the pyramid. The sight of the water cascading down the side of the extinct volcano was almost hypnotic.

  As soon as the helicopter landed, the moment the noise of the engines had died and the rotors had spun to a lazy stop, Venture said to Robin and to Matt:

  ‘I’ve been thinking some more about that disc. And I’m convinced that Harper is now very close to what he is actually after. The rest of this is all a diversion. It’s the knowledge he thinks he can get from the disc that is really driving things. First thing you do when you get inside is pack. We’re leaving just as soon as I can persuade Harper we’re no longer useful to him.’

  But Harper, it seemed, would not be persuaded.

  ‘I really can’t agree to let you go,’ he said, as if he was refusing them some minor request. He stood by the helicopter, watching as men in khaki uniforms unloaded the crates into which the various artefacts had been repacked in Rio and carried them to the pyramid.

  ‘It isn’t a question of agreement,’ Venture told him. ‘We came here to help you find the Treasure, which we have now done. I really can’t spare any more of my time. I have other things to see to, other work to do. Of course, if you’d like my help again I can try to schedule something. But not for a while. So we are leaving. Now.’

  Harper shook his head. ‘I don’t think so.’

  One of the men in khaki had paused beside Harper. He was a tall man, solidly built and with a completely bald head. His skin was tight on the face, his eyes sunken so that his head was a thinly wrapped skull.

  Harper nodded to the man. ‘Have you met Mr Klein?’ he asked Venture. ‘He is my head of security. So very efficient.’

  As if to prove it, Klein slipped something off his shoulder and caught it easily in his massive hands. It was a machine gun, and it was pointing at Venture, Robin and Matt.

  ‘You really will have to accept my hospitality for just a little while longer,’ Harper said. ‘I was hoping that you’d help me decipher the disc willingly. But if not …’ He shrugged. ‘Well, so be it. Mr Klein, will you show my guests to their rooms? I think that for the time being Mr Venture should share with his daughter. Perhaps that will help him to get matters into perspective. She needs such careful looking after.’

  Harper smiled, his whole face creased and wrinkled as if with the effort. He reached out a hand, running the tips of his fingers down Robin’s cheek. She stared back at him impassively, not moving.

  And quicker than Matt would have believed possible, Venture’s arm shot out. Quicker than either Harper or his head of security could react, Venture knocked Harper’s hand away. His voice was low and dangerous: ‘Don’t you dare touch my daughter. If anything happens to her …’ He left the threat hanging heavy in the air between them.

  Klein recovered quickly, swinging the gun round so it was pointing directly at Venture.

  Harper was shaking with anger, but he put up a
hand to stop Klein. ‘Then you had better make sure there is no reason for anything to happen to her,’ he said, furious. ‘By cooperating.’ He stood for a moment, staring Venture down. But Venture’s eyes were cold and unflinching and it was Harper who looked away.

  He turned to Klein. ‘Take them inside,’ he said.

  Several other armed men in similar khaki uniforms joined Klein to take Matt and the others to their rooms. Matt was bundled back into the room he’d had before. He could hear Robin and her father being pushed into the room next to his before his door slammed shut. There was no sound of a key or a bolt, so he guessed there was a guard outside. He tried the door to check.

  It wouldn’t open. There must be some way of programming the door so it could only be opened from the outside. He was trapped – locked inside a stone-built room with no other way out. Matt put his ear to the door, and could hear nothing from outside.

  But, he realised, he could hear something. From somewhere else, ever so faintly, he could hear music. There had been no music a few moments ago. Where was it coming from? He walked round the room trying to work it out. But it was so faint that it was impossible to tell.

  So Matt gave up. He flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Then he got up and switched on the huge plasma screen on the opposite wall. The computer desktop appeared – just as he had left it. And still he could hear the music. It was a different tune now, a pop song he recognised from last year. Still so faint he wondered if he could be imagining it.

  He shook his head, and switched the screen from the computer to television. Somewhere, maybe down in the ruined town below, Harper must have one hell of a satellite dish to pick up the channels from here, he thought as he flicked through them. An American news channel, news again only in Spanish or Portuguese, a documentary, adverts, someone explaining how exciting a steam cleaner could be, a film, MTV, more adverts …

  Matt stopped. He stared at the advert – a woman driving a big car through a mountain stream and along a narrow road in the middle of nowhere. Then he changed back to the previous channel. MTV – music. The same music as he could hear, accompanied now by the video. He muted the sound, and watched the dancing. Yes, it was exactly the same music, exactly in time. He could hear a television somewhere. He turned off the screen and sat on the bed, thinking.

  The television was tuned to a music channel and turned up loud, so that Robin and Venture could talk quietly without the risk of anyone hearing them. Of course, there was no one else in the room, but Venture was pretty sure that Harper had microphones installed. He had searched carefully for hidden cameras, and was as certain as he could be that there were none. But microphones could be built into the walls themselves. They didn’t need to be visible, they didn’t need to see and therefore be seen.

  ‘There doesn’t seem to be any way out apart from the door,’ Robin said.

  ‘Then we must get out when the door is already open,’ Venture told her. ‘A different problem.’

  ‘Harper will take you to help him decipher the disc soon. Maybe you’ll get an opportunity to escape.’

  ‘We are in the middle of the rain forest,’ Venture pointed out.

  ‘So we bring someone else here. To get us. Though I don’t know how,’ she admitted.

  ‘Smith?’ Venture smiled. ‘He’d love that.’

  ‘He’d be interested in this place,’ Robin said. ‘And the disc.’

  ‘Yes, the disc.’ Venture tapped his fingers together. ‘That’s another strange thing …’

  ‘What is?’

  Venture was frowning now. ‘That’s an odd drumbeat.’

  ‘Modern music,’ Robin told him, smiling. ‘We’ll never understand it. The youth of today.’

  But Venture was on his feet, checking the door and then the walls. ‘Definitely coming from the screen,’ he decided. He clicked the remote and the music faded.

  Yet the thumping sound they had taken to be a drumbeat continued.

  Venture turned up the music. ‘Great beat,’ he said loudly as he did so. ‘Hear that rhythm. No other drummer like him.’

  Robin watched, her head tilted to one side so that her long black hair hung away from her head, as her father felt round the plasma screen. He beckoned for her to come and help. She managed to work her fingernails, then the very tips of her fingers behind the screen. Together they edged it away from the wall.

  ‘It must come out for maintenance or replacement,’ she said quietly. The screen was moving easily now, as if someone was pushing from the other side.

  Wires and cables trailed behind the screen. The sound of the music was almost deafening, and the thumping had stopped. The thin screen came clear of the wall panels and they stepped carefully back – to reveal the empty space behind the screen. Empty apart from Matt, climbing through from the hole in the wall. A hole that went right through into the other room beyond that was a mirror image of theirs.

  ‘Makes sense,’ Venture said as they pushed the screen back into place. They did not push it right back, so it would be easier to remove next time. ‘A single set of cables for both screens. Like when you plumb hotel bathrooms back-to-back.’ He dusted his hands together and said to Matt: ‘You did well to work it out.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Matt said. ‘Why’s the telly on so loud?’ Robin explained about the microphones and Matt shook his head. ‘You’re just paranoid,’ he said. But he said it quietly.

  ‘We are locked up,’ Robin pointed out.

  ‘First things first.’ Venture spoke as if this was not a problem. ‘It won’t be long before Harper sends his thugs to take me to help him with his disc, so we had better make this quick.’

  ‘Why’s the disc so important?’ Matt said. It was tempting to shout to be heard above the sound of the music. He had to struggle to hear Robin and Venture, though they didn’t seem to find it a problem. ‘You’ve got one very like it, only yours is made of metal.’

  ‘And don’t tell him that, whatever you do,’ Robin said. ‘Anyway, it’s different.’

  ‘It certainly is,’ Venture agreed. ‘Though I’m not certain if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Harper thinks,’ he told Matt, ‘that the disc is a message. A message from the past. As I told you on the plane, he thinks it is the key to a great treasure. He believes that it contains clues that hold the secret of that great treasure, or which can lead him to that treasure. The treasure he is really after.’

  ‘And what’s that?’ Matt laughed. ‘Ancient gold and silver?’

  ‘In a sense. He’s after what the ancients knew. Their ancient knowledge and wisdom. The way they thought, the way they controlled their lives. That is what he is after, and it is far more valuable and infinitely more dangerous than any ordinary treasure. Now he has the disc, he believes it is within his grasp.’

  ‘So, how do we stop him?’ Robin asked. ‘He’ll decode the disc. With or without your help.’

  ‘I’m afraid you’re right,’ Venture said. ‘Even the fact he can’t decipher the disc won’t slow him down for long. It may be the disc itself that he is after, or the disc may point the way forward to the next stage of his journey. He’s on the trail and he knows where it leads. He’s desperate to reach the end of the journey and it seems that he’s already a good way along it.’

  ‘The rats,’ Robin said, her voice almost swallowed up by the music.

  ‘What about them?’ Matt demanded.

  ‘Later,’ Venture said. ‘There is a lot you need to know, but later. Now we have to get out of here. Or, more accurately, we have to get you two out of here.’

  ‘What about you?’ Robin said, her concern evident.

  ‘I must try to stop Harper, or slow him down. And I’m afraid I don’t see a way that I can get out of here as well as you two.’

  ‘And how do we get out?’ Matt asked. ‘The door’s locked, the hole in the wall only leads back into another locked room. The walls are solid stone – well, except for the hidden microphones, and the plughole in the bath is too small even for
Robin.’

  Venture smiled and nodded. ‘All you see is the problem. You must learn to see the solution. See the wood despite the trees. Trust me, there is a way.’

  The waiting was the worst. Matt could hear nothing, and he hoped that Robin would have a better idea of what was going on. In the event, he need not have worried. Without warning, the door to his room was yanked open and the skull-headed Mr Klein strode into the room.

  He stared at Matt through malevolent eyes, without saying a word.

  Matt had been lying on the bed, reading. Though he had little idea what he’d actually read. Really he was just staring at the pages.

  ‘What?’ he said.

  Klein still did not reply. He turned on his heel, stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

  ‘Wonder what’s rattled his cage,’ Matt said out loud. ‘Think I’ll put the telly on.’

  With the music channel once more blaring out it was easier to pull the screen out of the wall than it had been to manhandle it back into position earlier. But now Matt had the help of Robin pushing from the other side – from the space where she had been hiding between the two screens.

  ‘There’s not a lot of room in there,’ she complained. ‘Let’s hope they left the door open.’

  ‘Did you hear what happened?’ Matt asked as they pushed at the screen in Robin’s room from the space behind.

  ‘It was that Klein man,’ she said. With both screens playing loud music, it was hard to hear her at all.

  ‘Mr Baldy,’ Matt said. ‘Yeah, he stomped in, looked at me and then stomped out again.’

  ‘Checking you hadn’t disappeared too.’

  ‘What did your Dad say when they found you’d gone.’

  Robin smiled. ‘He said I’d just popped out for a bit and would be back later. That didn’t go down too well actually, although it’s the truth.’ Her smile was gone now and she was biting her lower lip. ‘I think they hit him. I heard them searching the room, checking I wasn’t hiding. Then they took Dad to Harper.’

  The screen almost fell into the room. But between them they managed to keep hold of it and lower it gently down the wall as far as the connected wires and cables would allow. Then they climbed through into Robin’s room. It was a mess – drawers pulled out of the cabinets and books and papers and clothing strewn across the floor. But it was empty.