It showed a picture of what looked like an open-plan office, except there were no walls. The furniture was blocky and crudely coloured, like a computer game. The people were also rough approximations, but immediately recognisable – Katherine Feather, Doctor Stribling, Matt and Robin.
Harper moved the mouse, and the image moved with it. The point of view changed as if the camera was moving, pulling back to a low stone wall. And behind that, the rough, rocky side of the cavern itself.
As they watched, the wall of the cavern shimmered and moved. The surface seemed to ripple and melt. Then it bulged and grew as a shape began to force its way out of the wall …
‘I’m staying,’ Dad said.
‘You what?’ Matt couldn’t believe it. ‘But you don’t have to stay here for me any more. I only just found you – I’m not losing you again. We can get away.’
‘Only if we’re quick,’ Robin pointed out. ‘Once they’ve searched the pyramid, they’ll come looking down here.’
‘I’m staying,’ Dad repeated. ‘Sorry, Matt, but I have to. From what you tell me, Julius is still here, and together perhaps we can keep Harper in check. Maybe we can slow down his work. And while I think of it,’ he said, smiling, ‘this disc he has us all working on …’
‘Yes,’ I was thinking about that,’ Matt said. ‘There’s something you need to know about the disc, something important …’
But Robin stopped him. She was holding his arm, tightly. ‘Come on!’
‘I think,’ Katherine said, ‘that you may already be too late.’
She was pointing past them, towards the main amphitheatre. Matt and Robin both turned to look. It was dark between the area where Dad and Katherine were working and the main structure. But silhouetted against the distant lights, shapes were forming, shadows were deepening. It was as if the walls and the floor were erupting, spewing out dark, earthy creatures. Lumpy and misshapen figures that were lurching towards Matt and the others.
If they waited, they would be trapped. ‘We have to get past them,’ Matt shouted. ‘Dad – it’s now or never. I can’t just leave you here.’
But Matt’s father was shaking his head. ‘You can,’ he said emphatically, ‘and you must. There’s no time to explain or to argue. Just believe me, it’s for the best. Now, go on – get out of here while you can.’
‘If we can,’ Robin muttered. ‘Leave him, Matt. Once he’s decided something you can’t make him change his mind.’
‘Like you’d know,’ Matt said. He felt close to tears, but he was determined not to show it. He took Robin’s hand and they ran. ‘See you, Dad,’ Matt shouted back over his shoulder. ‘We’ll get out of here – I’ll come back for you. We’ll bring help!’
‘Be careful!’ he heard in reply. As if he hadn’t thought of that.
The ground at their feet was rippling and moving. In the dim light, Matt could see the earth and grit between the slabs of stone bubbling up like spring water. It was coming together, coalescing, forming into a puddle of sand that flowed upwards – another figure that turned to face them, lumbered after them, misshapen arms stretched out to grab them as they passed …
Coarse, gritty fingers snagged at their clothes and clawed at their faces. They put their heads down and charged through. Matt lashed out, felt his hand thump into earth. It came away wet and muddy.
They were in the light now, leaping down the terraces towards the stage. But the creatures were hurrying after them, leaving trails of sand and earth behind them.
Matt did not dare look back, did not dare to look too closely at the things that were after them. Were they really made from the earth itself?
Robin had pulled her hand free and was running just ahead of Matt. ‘That’s what I call empirical proof,’ she shouted to him.
‘It’s what I call a nightmare,’ he gasped back.
They reached the stage, and Robin charged onwards, heading for the river that roared past on the other side of the circular dais.
‘What now?’ Matt asked. ‘Swim for it?’ He was struggling to keep up with her.
‘Don’t be daft. Down the tunnel.’
The river ran past the stage and out of the enormous chamber through a tunnel it had eroded from the mountain rock over the millennia. Along the edge of the water was a lip of rock – little more than a ledge. It ran like a path beside the river. Matt followed Robin into the tunnel.
‘We won’t be able to see where we’re going,’ he pointed out. The light was already fading. He could see the water like oil surging past them, its rush and roar almost drowning out his words.
A tiny light. Not much, but enough to illuminate Robin’s face. ‘Keyring torch,’ she said. ‘Don’t know how long it’ll last.’
‘Or what good it will do,’ Matt said. ‘If this ledge just stops we’ll be in the water before we know it.’
‘Oh you’re a bundle of optimism,’ she told him. ‘Come on.’
But Matt had stopped dead, rooted on the ledge just yards down the tunnel.
‘What?’ she demanded.
He could only nod dumbly at what he saw behind her.
Slowly, Robin turned, holding up her keyring. The tiny blue light glimmered faintly, throwing shadows across her face. Barely enough light to see.
Barely enough light to illuminate the wall of water rising up from the river and curling over at them. Barely enough to show the way the water split, like arms reaching out. The wall of water was hanging in the damp air, holes torn out of it that might be eyes. A raging mouth. A face that Matt had seen before, he realised with horrified fascination – staring at him from the window of a train. Had Harper been watching him for so long?
Another dark, wet shape was forcing its way up out of the river. Glistening and rippling, arms first then head and shoulders – a figure heaving itself up onto the ledge in front of them. A figure made of water. Feet slapping on the rock floor, puddles escaping from its every step, cold wet hands reaching out for Robin and Matt. Behind it, the whole river was still curling upwards, towering over them.
They turned and ran, as the huge wave crashed down on the ledge and watery dank figures pushed through it and sludged after them towards the cavern.
Out into the light again – to find the earthy creatures almost at the stage, trails of sand and mud like seaweed behind them.
‘Back up to the pyramid?’ Matt wondered, so winded he was almost retching.
‘Reckon so. You got your breath back?’
‘No.’
‘Come on then,’ she said. Robin grabbed his hand and dragged him after her.
Back the way they had come, up the steep steps. Shoulders down, smacking into one of the figures, sending it spinning away – mud and earth showering from it like water shaken off a dog. Another figure loomed ahead, reaching out, so close that Matt could smell the fetid stale earth it was made from. He could see roots and plant filaments knotted through its clutching hands.
Matt grabbed the pole holding one of the lamps as they passed, and pulled. The lamp crashed down, exploding in a shower of glass as it hit the ground. But Matt held onto the metal pole and swung it hard at the creature reaching out for them.
It scythed into the figure, sending earth flying. The pole stuck – buried in the creature’s side as if he had thumped it into the ground. But it slowed the creature enough for Matt and Robin to sprint past.
On, up the terraced steps – enormous leaps, chest-bursting breathless running. The dark opening of the passageway leading up to the pyramid now within sight. Matt looked back, saw how close the things were, and ran faster. He glanced anxiously across to where Dad had been, but could see nothing and no one through the gloom and past the broken outer walls. ‘I shouldn’t have left you,’ he said. But his words were little more than breathless gasps.
Into the passage. No more steps, but uphill. Their breathing echoing off the walls. Sand slipping from between the stones and pooling on the floor – rising up. Matt kicked viciously at every little pyramid of sand
he passed, sending the grains flying apart again.
Then, suddenly, they were out – through the tapestry and into the lower level of the pyramid. Ahead of him, Robin skidded to a halt. So abruptly that Matt piled into the back of her and they almost fell.
‘We made it,’ he gasped, almost laughing with relief.
Then he saw the grinning skull-like face of Klein looking down at him, and the dark muzzle of the gun like a tunnel leading into blackness. ‘Mr Harper would very much like a word with you,’ he said.
Klein gestured with the gun for them to go ahead of him up the narrow stairway. Matt did not dare to look back, but he could hear the head of security talking into a radio, telling his men that the search was over and they could return to their normal duties.
They emerged into the entrance hallway, under the main staircase. Klein ushered them onwards, down the corridor, and Matt glanced longingly at the now-unguarded main exit from the pyramid. So close to freedom. But there was no way he was getting out now.
Even as he was thinking this, even as he turned back, he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Robin had seen it too, and they both looked at the same time. They both saw Klein glaring malevolently at them, gun levelled threateningly. And they both saw a dark figure step out from the shadows of a doorway. A figure holding what looked like a frying pan.
It was a frying pan, and it connected loudly and painfully with the back of Klein’s head. A split-second of surprise registered on his face, then his eyes flickered and closed and he slumped to the floor. Katherine Feather dropped the frying pan and shook her hands.
‘That jarred right up my arms,’ she complained. ‘Those things …’ She shook her head incredulously. ‘All right – you convinced me. Harper’s really lost it big time. I should have seen it before, when he forced your father to help him. I just put it down to a bit of persuasion, convinced myself your dad was being daft or in breach of contract. But with what I’ve just seen …’ She broke off, sighed, and inspected the frying pan. ‘I never liked that man,’ she muttered, dropping the frying pan on top of Klein’s unconscious body.
‘Thanks,’ Matt said. ‘But what now?’
Robin was pulling at Klein’s gun. But he had fallen on top of it and the shoulder strap was still wrapped round his arm. She gave up trying to drag it from underneath him. ‘Helicopter, out the front,’ she said.
‘Good idea,’ Katherine agreed. ‘I think we need to get a long way away from here as fast as we can.’
‘Thanks for helping us,’ Matt said to Katherine as they hurried back to the entrance and out into the sunshine.
‘No problem. Like your Dad says, there’s a point where money isn’t enough of an excuse. Maybe I’ve just taken it for too long without really thinking.’ She hurried across the causeway, leading them towards where Harper’s helicopter was resting massively on its landing area. ‘What were you about to say to your Dad about that disc?’ she asked.
‘What? Oh that. Just …’ Matt shook his head. ‘Doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you later, when we’re away from here.’
The helicopter door was unlocked. Katherine dragged it open and they jumped up inside. There was no sign of the pilot.
‘Tell me about the disc,’ Katherine said. ‘In case we get separated or captured again.’
‘No way,’ Robin said. ‘We are out of here.’
‘You kidding?’ Katherine said. ‘How’s that then?’ Outside a wind was whipping up.‘You can fly us to Rio,’ Matt told Katherine.
Sand and grit blew across the massive slabs.
‘We’ll get a plane from there, somehow,’ Matt said. ‘We can call for help.’
The sand whirling into a frenzy, gathering, accumulating, coalescing …
Katherine was staring at him in shock.
Forming into shapes … Figures …
‘That’s your plan?’ she said in disbelief.
The figures turned towards the helicopter. Started towards it.
‘Who do you think I am?’ Katherine yelled at him.
Earthen fingers reached for the door.
‘I can’t fly a bloody helicopter!’
Chapter 14
The first of the creatures formed from sand and earth was clawing at the helicopter door. Dirt smeared down the window as it tried to force its way in. The wind was howling across the open plateau, rocking the helicopter on its wheels.
Matt stared at Katherine in disbelief. He had to shout to make himself heard above the wind outside. ‘Why didn’t you tell us before we got in?’
A massive, heavy, lumpen hand thumped into the window. Then another.
‘You didn’t ask,’ she shouted back. ‘I didn’t know what your plan was. I’m Harper’s PA not his pilot.’
‘I thought that’s why you led us here!’ Matt yelled back. ‘You said it was a good idea.’
The window cracked – lines crazing out from the point of impact. A thin trickle of sand ran down the inside.
‘I thought the pilot would be here. I don’t fly helicopters,’ Katherine insisted.
‘Then move aside for someone who does,’ Robin told her. She pushed past Katherine and Matt towards the pilot’s seat at the front of the cockpit. ‘You’d better get strapped in. This could be bumpy with that cross-wind.’
‘What are you doing?’ Matt demanded. ‘Don’t be stupid.’
‘You’ll get us all killed,’ Katherine yelled at her.
‘As opposed to what?’ Robin said without looking back. She was strapping into the seat, pulling on the pilot’s helmet, examining the controls in front of her.
‘It’s no good,’ Matt told Katherine. ‘You can’t argue with her. Just pray she has some idea.’ He sat down and pulled the safety straps over his head, snapping the ends into the central buckle.
‘Here we go,’ Robin called.
The sound of the wind seemed to increase as the rotors swung lazily into life. Slowly at first, but picking up speed, they turned and rose and the helicopter shifted again on its wheels. Gently, laboriously, it lifted into the air.
‘She can do it!’ Katherine said in astonishment.
‘Of course I can,’ Robin told her, still concentrating on the controls. ‘I don’t know this type though, so don’t get too complacent.’
The helicopter continued to rise, and the rough, dark hands slipped away from the windows as it lifted into the air. It turned slowly on its axis, nose angled down.
Then as Robin eased the main control stick forward the helicopter picked up speed.
Over Robin’s shoulder, Matt had a good view of the open plateau. He could see the half-dozen misshapen figures lurching uncertainly from side to side as they seemed to watch their prey getting away from them. One of them reached out, and its arm stretched, thinning to a sharp point as it stabbed up at the cockpit window high above it. Instinctively, Matt flinched. Beside him Katherine did the same.
But Robin didn’t seem to notice. She pushed the stick further forward, the nose of the helicopter dipped so that it was almost standing on its nose. The rotor blades were now spinning in front of it, like an electric fan. They sliced into the extended arm, sending earth and grit swirling into a sandstorm. Through the dark blizzard Matt caught a confused glimpse of two of the sandmen stumbling into the path of the rotors – being sliced apart, strewn across the flagstones.
The helicopter lurched upwards, buffeted by the wind, righting itself. And suddenly it was clear of the debris and the wind dropped. Far below, the ancient, ruined town at the base of the mountain grew smaller as they left it behind, and flew onwards over the green and brown blanket of the rain forest.
At Rio, Harper had two men waiting for them when the helicopter landed. They escorted Matt, Robin and Katherine to the main airport building. Katherine took them to one side and spoke to them – Matt could hear her insisting they should talk to Harper again and get proper orders and what did they think they were playing at?
‘I’ll keep them in the executive l
ounge while you find out what’s going on,’ she told the two thugs. ‘Go on!’
No sooner had the two men gone, than Katherine led Matt and Robin to the British Airways ticketing desk.
‘Next flight to Europe,’ she demanded. ‘Anything with three spaces. Then on to London, though I’d rather not a direct flight.’
Matt glanced over his shoulder, expecting Harper’s men to be back at any moment. But for now at least there was no sign of them.
The first flight they could get on was to Amsterdam. They had to run for the gate, which was better than having to wait around in plain view, Matt thought as he raced through the airport. What must the woman at the BA desk have thought – three dishevelled passengers with no luggage, wanting to go to London, but not on a direct flight? It was only by luck that Katherine even had her passport with her.
Matt was tired, but he was unable to get settled on the plane to Amsterdam. He wanted to talk to Robin – not least to ask her where she’d learned to fly helicopters.
But irritatingly, she slept the whole way. She didn’t seem at all worried that her father was left behind in the middle of the rain forest with Harper. But Matt guessed inside she was as anxious and frightened as he was. Probably. He still didn’t feel he really knew her, despite all they had been through together.
Amsterdam airport – Schiphol, as the signs proclaimed it – was pretty much like all the other airports they’d been in. They did not hang around. Katherine immediately changed their London tickets for a flight to Birmingham – which was closer to Venture’s house. Plus, if Harper had managed to trace them, he might have people waiting at Heathrow.
Matt managed to talk to Robin while Katherine was off sorting out their tickets. He had seen the way Robin glared after Katherine as she left them in the executive lounge. ‘She’s trying to help,’ Matt said. ‘Give her a chance. It’s all a bit much for her to take in.’
‘I suppose,’ Robin said.
‘Try to see it from her point of view. Her great employer turns out to be some sort of elemental magician who wants to …I dunno – take over the world or something.’ He smiled. ‘Bound to be a bit of a shock to her. It’s a bit of a shock to me.’
The Chaos Code Page 19