9

by James Phelan

  ‘Good!’ Alex was inside the control room of the crane, and he started to pull levers and flick switches to see what was controlling what.

  ‘Ten seconds—he’s fast!’ Shiva said, and Alex could see that his friend, way down below in a tiny little taxi, was being hotly pursued by Matrix. Lines of machine-gun fire tore up the ground behind the taxi. It was obvious Matrix was enjoying the chase and wanted to run his former colleague off the edge of the pier and into the water.

  ‘That’s it!’ Alex called. ‘Keep at it!’

  BOOM!

  The huge main cannon fired and the shell hit the end of the pier, turning it into a pile of broken concrete and twisted metal.

  ‘Five seconds!’ Alex called, measuring the time between the tank and his crane.

  ‘He’s right on my tail,’ Shiva said.

  ‘Three!’

  ‘He’s going to run me over!’ Shiva said, and it looked that way as the taxi flashed underneath the crane and then the tank rumbled through.

  Alex brought the huge hook up, right at the moment the turret’s barrel was underneath, throwing a lever and lifting—just enough, before the massive steel cables snapped tight, disrupting the forward momentum of the tank.

  It happened in slow motion. The snared barrel caused the war machine to twist on one side. It lifted off at a back corner and continued to twist and roll, until it seemed to hang precariously on one edge of its track—

  And stayed there for five full seconds until its weight shifted, just enough.

  The tank slipped off the side of the pier with an almighty splash of water that swept over everything in sight.

  ‘Yeeeeee-ha!’ Alex called. ‘We got him! He’s out of commission!’

  Alex climbed from the control booth and saw dozens of friendly fighters moving towards the sinking tank, tossing charges all over it to blow it to bits.

  ‘Shiva?’ Alex looked around. ‘Buddy, you there? Shiva? Shiva?’

  His heart sank and he realised his friend must have died in the game when—

  Alex saw the beaten-up taxi rattle to a stop down below.

  ‘That’s my name!’ Shiva called out. ‘Don’t wear it out, Thor—god of war games!’

  ‘Yeah!’ Alex said, pulling off his headgear to give Shiva a high-five back in the real world. ‘We did it! Take that, Matrix!’

  36

  EVA

  Eva sat in the chair next to Lora, who powered the tiny speedboat out to the much larger cruiser on Lake Michigan.

  ‘You sure about this?’ Eva asked, looking back to see if she could spot the helicopter full of Guardians that was lurking somewhere over the city, ready to rush in and storm Mac’s boat.

  ‘No. But we don’t have much choice—we need to hear Mac out, figure out his motives and see if he can be reasoned with.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Sam is the reason we came here in the first place.’

  ‘Because we have enough enemies?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Lora said. ‘And Mac is very well connected, very powerful—he is influential, especially among the American military. Whether we like him or not, it would be a real blow to lose his support.’ Lora eased off the throttle and guided the little boat up against the luxury yacht, catching a line tossed down to them. ‘You have to pick your battles, Eva. The trick is to know when to be diplomatic and when to be tough.’

  ‘And which time is this?’ Eva asked.

  ‘We’re about to find out.’

  I’m not sure I like the sound of that.

  Inside Mac’s huge luxury yacht, Eva sat in a lounge room next to Lora. Mac sat opposite, lounging easily in a large chair. There were no security guys visible, just an elegant maid who served them supper.

  ‘It seems, from what you’ve said,’ Mac said to Lora, ‘that you want me to join you—join the Academy and Council’s quest in this race.’

  ‘That would be our hope,’ Lora said.

  ‘Well, now hear my offer,’ Mac said.

  ‘Your offer?’ Eva said. ‘Lora’s barely finished speaking, and what, you’re just chucking that back in her face?’

  Mac smiled at Eva and said, ‘You’re a smart one, Eva. Good. You’ll need to be.’ He stood and paced around the floor. ‘You see, I agree with you, Lora, on one point—we should work together. But I’m not in agreement that the Academy should be involved.’

  ‘Lora works there,’ Eva said. ‘You know that.’

  Mac continued undeterred. ‘What I am offering is the full might of the US military machine. Think about it. We can use them to stop Hans and Stella dead in their tracks. The Enterprise and the Academy too. You work with me, you’re on the winning team.’

  He stopped and gave Lora a long hard stare.

  ‘In exchange for what?’ she asked. ‘What do you want from us?’

  ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Eva said. The two looked to her. She only had eyes for Mac, and her expression was full of fury. ‘He wants you to deliver the Dreamers, because that’s what he doesn’t have. He wants you to be a double agent, to work for the Professor, but give him information about the last 13, where they’re going, where the Gear is.’

  Mac nodded. ‘Smart girl.’

  ‘Then we’re both smart,’ Lora said, standing. ‘Come on, Eva, this man has nothing to offer us.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Mac said, his tone as if he held all the cards. ‘You think we’re done here?’

  ‘I’m done talking,’ Lora said.

  ‘And I’m done listening,’ Eva added.

  ‘Hmm. As you’ll see, I realised long ago that to succeed you sometimes need to make unpleasant alliances,’ Mac said, a crazed look now flitting into his eyes. ‘You can’t beat him, Lora, you should know that. So I’m giving you a final chance to join us.’

  ‘Us?’ Lora said, pulling Eva to her and pushing towards the door.

  But the door flung open as they turned to it and a darkness filled the doorway.

  ‘Yes …’ came the deep, metallic voice. ‘Us.’

  Mac’s working with Solaris!

  Lora stood in front of Eva, watching as Solaris and Mac both closed in on them. Eva shrank from Solaris’ gaze and frantically looked for another way out. There was none.

  We’re trapped. Caught in Mac’s trap.

  ‘You see, I made him an offer, too,’ Mac was saying. ‘I had something he needed. So we cut a deal.’

  ‘What could you have that he would want or need?’ Lora muttered.

  ‘Access,’ Mac said.

  ‘To what?’ Lora said.

  Mac looked at Solaris, who stood there, silent and resolute.

  ‘Why,’ Mac said, ‘I thought that would be obvious. All the Academy and Council information, getting the two of you here. Not to mention the bomb at the Academy … oh, I know it didn’t do its job, but not to worry. It flushed you out here, hoping for a truce. And now the Professor will do anything to get the two of you back. Am I right?’

  Eva shook with fear and with anger. Lora turned to her, silently willing her to accept their fate—for now.

  You have to pick your battles? We’ve well and truly lost this one.

  37

  SAM

  ‘They’re close behind us!’ Rapha said.

  ‘Yep,’ Sam replied, running down the stairs. ‘Follow me and don’t hesitate!’

  He jumped up on the steeply slanted stone balustrade covered in damp moss and slid down, picking up incredible speed by the time he reached the bottom and shot off the end as if from a cannon. He stumbled across the floor of the landing, Rapha not far behind him, landing in an awkward tumble.

  ‘Come on,’ Sam said, helping his friend to his feet and the two of them ran down the tunnel to the right, soon coming to the booby-trapped chamber again. The stone wall was still in place, blocking their escape.

  ‘Run and jump to the first monkey!’ Sam said behind Rapha, and he didn’t need to be told twice. With a long stride, Rapha made it to the first monkey, Sam landing to his left on another m
onkey tile.

  ‘Now what?’ Rapha said.

  ‘The tile you stood on before that triggered the wall,’ Sam said, ‘it had a spider on it. And there must be a way of resetting the chamber otherwise how could they get in and out?’ He looked at Rapha with a shrug. ‘It has to be worth a try, right?’

  Sam pressed his foot gingerly on a spider engraving.

  A grinding noise made them jump.

  I hope I haven’t just made things worse …

  The stone wall slowly rumbled in front of them, sliding upwards and back into the recessed ceiling above.

  ‘Nice!’ Rapha said. He readied himself and leapt to the next group of monkey tiles, Sam following.

  They caught their breath at the landing at the top of the spiral stairs, but not before Sam went back and stepped on a spider tile.

  CLONK!

  Another stone wall came down from the ceiling as Sam leaped to safety.

  ‘That should slow them up for a while,’ Sam said.

  Rapha nodded and sucked at the air, too exhausted to talk and they set off down into the darkness. Breathless, they emerged out onto the stone ledge where they’d landed in the ultralight.

  ‘Oh no!’ Rapha cried.

  ‘What?’ Sam spun around, expecting to see one of his enemies standing there.

  But there was no-one.

  ‘They’ve disabled the plane!’ Rapha said.

  ‘Can you fix it?’ Sam asked.

  ‘They’ve cut the fuel line,’ Rapha said, ‘and removed the spark plug. It’s not flying anywhere.’

  ‘Well, we have to get off this ledge,’ Sam said. He looked around, his hope fading.

  Rapha stared at his ultralight. ‘I have an idea,’ he said.

  Sam watched him working, realising within a few seconds what Rapha was thinking.

  ‘Good thinking, do it,’ Sam said. ‘We dismount the wing then we can hang onto the crossbar underneath.’

  ‘And use it to glide down to the basin level below.’

  Sam kept watch, wary of Hans’ men appearing. As he looked around, something by his feet seemed out of place. There were footprints in the dirt. Big, like the combat boots of …

  Agents.

  ‘Rapha …’ Sam said, looking over to his friend as he unhooked the large glider wing. ‘How could Hans’ guys get down here and attack your plane? I mean, they must have discovered another way to get to the city, not up this cliff face.’

  Rapha shook his head as if he was trying to make sense of it as he held the wing up above his head, then stopped and looked back at Sam with a shocked expression.

  ‘Sam—behind you!’ he called out frantically.

  Sam turned. An Agent was slumped over there, ten metres away, bending over against the cliff wall. He had climbing gear on … he wasn’t moving. Sam went over to him. He’d been shot through the neck by a skinny arrow.

  ‘He’s dead,’ Sam said, ‘A couple of them must have been here—I don’t think this guy had time to mess with our plane. Looks like he stood on the wrong tile then staggered back out.’

  ‘There’s no-one here now,’ Rapha urged, turning away from the dead body. ‘We must jump quickly before they come back.’

  Sam threw the Agent’s pistol into the waterfall and grabbed the radio headset. He put it on and immediately heard Stella’s voice giving out commands to her troops.

  ‘OK, we’re out of the tunnel system,’ Stella said. ‘Most of them just lead to look-outs in the cliffs. Keep your wits about you, I just heard shouting.’

  ‘We have to go,’ Sam said quietly to Rapha, who now had the hang-glider wing fully detached and held up high. He stood next to Rapha, gripping the bar overhead. ‘With any luck they’ll take care of Hans’ guys—’

  A piercing scream echoed from the tunnel entrance behind them.

  ‘That’d be someone else stepping on the wrong tile,’ Sam winced.

  ‘Ready?’ Rapha asked.

  Sam looked out at the jungle swathed in silver clouds. He could still tell that the drop from up there was immense.

  ‘Not really,’ he said. ‘But that’s never stopped me before.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ Rapha said. ‘Run as fast as you can, and when we clear the ledge, lean away from the cliff.’

  ‘Got it.’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘Wait—no countdown?’ Sam asked.

  ‘All right. One,’ Rapha said. ‘Two …’

  ‘Three,’ they said in unison, running full pelt with the glider canopy held over their heads until the ground gave way beneath them and then they were soaring into the cloud cover below. Sam’s heart jumped into his throat as he forced himself not to look down. He turned to Rapha who was grinning from ear to ear.

  THUD! THUD! THUD!

  The third shot he felt. A dart had hit the back of his leg, but his Stealth Suit protected him. He looked over his shoulder. There stood Stella on the ledge, dart gun in her hand.

  ‘That was—’ Sam trailed off. Next to him, Rapha was slipping into unconsciousness, two darts in his back, his grip on the bar above quickly loosening.

  ‘Rapha!’ Sam shouted, ‘Rapha, hang on!’

  Rapha passed out, letting go of the bar and tipping backwards away from Sam. Sam threw out his arm and caught Rapha’s left wrist. ‘Wake up, Rapha!’ he yelled but he knew it was no use.

  As they spun helplessly out of control in the air, he heard Stella’s laugh echo around them.

  ‘Try getting out of this one, Sam!’ her voice sneered from high above.

  Rapha dangled from Sam’s grip, getting heavier by the moment, pulling them downwards and towards the rocks of the jagged mountainside. His jacket started to come loose—

  RIP!

  Sam watched in horror as the tear widened, pulling Rapha further away from his slipping grip.

  No, I can’t lose him.

  Sam’s arm burned as he frantically tried to hold onto Rapha. He closed his eyes as the cliff face came crashing towards them.

  Scholastic Australia

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  Published by Scholastic Australia in 2014.

  Text copyright © James Phelan, 2014.

  Illustrations & design copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2014.

  Illustrations by Chad Mitchell. Design by Nicole Stofberg.

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  eISBN: 978-1-925-06327-1

 

 

 
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