‘Ouch!’ Max’s head crunched into the ceiling. ‘Where did you get your licence from, a cereal box?’
The driver stared straight ahead and said nothing.
For a brief moment, a blinding white light filled the car.
Max and Linden turned to see two beams of light threading their way along the track, gaining on them fast.
‘What makes me think they’re not the welcoming committee,’ Linden said.
The driver of the Aqua Buggy wore a black-brimmed hat pulled so low that his face lay hidden in shadow. He took one brief look in the rear-view mirror and pressed hard on the accelerator.
Max gripped her armrest even tighter as she was churned around in the back seat like she’d fallen into a washing machine. Great walls of ancient tree trunks were only narrowly missed as he swept the steering wheel one way then the other. Any small miscalculation would mean certain death for them all.
Ahead was a huge tree root snaking across the ground.
Until they realised the snaking tree root was actually a snake.
‘Anaconda!’ Linden cried.
The Aqua Buggy swerved along the kinked and buckled track towards the snake. Max held on and closed her eyes.
The driver’s hand crept towards a small red button on the dashboard marked ‘airborne’ and, within a micro-second, the Aqua Buggy sailed into the air above the snake before it came crashing down, front wheels sending a spray of mud over the vehicle.
Max turned in time to see the anaconda dash into the forest, just as their pursuer slid into view.
She frowned. The person in the other vehicle reminded her of someone she knew. The heavy features, the look of pure malice on his face, the slightest hint of a grin as his eyes locked onto hers.
Linden called out over the noise of the engine, ‘Something tells me this guy isn’t happy to see us.’
‘I think I know him,’ Max called back.
‘You know someone here in the Amazon?’
They were hurled forward as the Aqua Buggy came to an abrupt stop. The road had ended at the edge of a plunging cliff. Max and Linden jumped out of the car to see remnants of a bridge protruding from the swirling waters of the river below.
‘What do we do now?’ Max asked.
‘About the cliff or about that?’
The vehicle pursuing them skidded to a mud-slinging stop only metres away. The man with the malicious grin got out and stepped towards them like a hulking spider approaching the centre of its bug-filled web. He was a tall log of a man, with heavy features and limbs like miniature tree trunks.
‘Kronch!’ Max recognised Blue’s assistant: the sausage fingers, the overstuffed arms, the Neanderthal plod and no neck. He pulled his trousers up over his bulging belly.
She took one step towards him. ‘I guess you never know what animal you’re going to meet in the Amazon.’
‘Careful, Max,’ Linden whispered.
Kronch sniggered and pulled from his pocket what looked like a bulbous toy gun.
‘And what are going to do with that, water-pistol us to death?’ Max folded her arms across her chest.
A door opened on the Aqua Buggy. The driver stepped out wearing his black driving hat, still sitting low.
‘And besides, there are three of us and only one of you.’
Kronch kept moving forward.
Max threw a look over her shoulder into the chasm behind them.
‘Come on, big guy, give it your best.’
Kronch aimed the gun at her and pressed the trigger. A rope arrowed into the air and snaked around Max in a firm, mummy-like hold. ‘Hey!’
He walked to Linden.
Max struggled and turned to their driver. ‘Do something.’
Slowly, he lifted his hat and smiled.
‘You,’ Max whispered.
Mr Blue gave a brief nod. He and Kronch latched onto Linden’s arms. ‘Say goodbye to your little friend. Your relationship has been lovely, I’m sure, pally and helpful, but even good things have to end sometime.’
Max fought even harder against her ropes as Blue and Kronch carried Linden to the edge of the cliff.
‘Did you know,’ Blue said, ‘the river below moves at such a quick pace and over so many boulders that if an object were to fall into it, it would all but completely disintegrate by the time it reached the sea? If the piranhas don’t get you first.’
‘Let him go!’ Max fought against her ropes. She lost her balance and toppled over, slamming her head into the rocky ground. She looked up groggily and saw feet dragging someone away. She saw the edge of the cliff and heard one final cry of
‘Max!’
Max’s body felt heavy.
‘Max?’
She moved her head a little. And groaned.
‘She’s okay,’ a voice said. ‘Max, what happened?’
She tried to open her eyes but they felt weighted down.
‘Max, you’re in the forest. We were on a training exercise.’
‘That looks like it went a bit wrong,’ another voice added.
Max opened her eyes to see two boys dressed in camouflage suits leaning over her.
‘Can you hear me, Max? It’s Linden.’
‘Linden?’
‘Your spy partner. Remember?’
‘And I’m Toby, your other, good-looking spy partner.’
‘Linden,’ she mumbled. ‘The cliff. The river. They didn’t get you?’
‘Who didn’t get me?’ Linden threw Toby a worried look. ‘We were training, only Toby and I finished a while ago, and we were sent to find you. There are loads of agents looking for you, actually.’
Max saw a flag sticking out of Linden’s top pocket.
‘You won.’ She smiled.
‘He was lucky,’ Toby added. ‘I was only seconds behind him.’
Linden took out his palm computer. Steinberger immediately appeared on his screen. ‘We’ve found her.’
‘Oh, thank goodness.’ Steinberger’s shoulders rolled forward in relief. ‘Is she okay?’
‘I think so. She was lying on the ground in the forest. She has a gash on her forehead.’
‘Is it bad?’
‘No. The bleeding has stopped.’
‘Good. I’ve got you on our radars now,’ Steinberger said. ‘I’ll send the coordinates to all the agents and get the chopper there with Dr Finch so he can examine her as soon as possible. They’ll lower a stretcher for Max, and I’ll send a jeep to collect you two. Keep her awake until they get there.’
Steinberger signed off.
Linden took a hanky from his pocket and scrambled down the bank to the stream. He plunged it into the water before hurrying back and dabbing Max’s bloodied forehead.
Max groaned again. She tried to get up but slumped back, covering her head with her hands.
‘Maybe you should stay where you are,’ Linden said. ‘You might have broken something.’
Max closed her eyes.
‘Do you remember what happened?’ Linden asked.
‘We were being chased. In the Aqua Buggy and …’9
‘Chased?’ Linden asked.
Max winced. ‘No, wait. I must have been having a nightmare.’ She rubbed her head. ‘I was in the forest. Following the map with my compass and … I stepped across the stream. On some stones. I thought there was an enemy agent. In the bushes.’ She paused. ‘But it was a rabbit.’
‘Rabbits can be very dangerous when they get going,’ Toby said.
‘I don’t remember anything after that.’ Max tried to move again. ‘Ow! My head’s killing me. And I’m cold.’
Linden took off his shirt and laid it over her. Toby watched him reach out and hold her hand. ‘Steinberger’s sending a chopper to get you out of here. Don’t worry,’ Linden said.
‘You’re in good hands now that we’ve found you.’ Toby puffed up his chest.
‘My hero. Ouch. Don’t make me smile. It hurts.’
From the distance they could hear the blades of the helicopter. It
swooped into position, hovering above them, and a stretcher was lowered. It had a hard case reinforced with strips of metal around the lower half. Toby held it steady on the ground. He undid the straps across the top and took out a blanket that was inside.
‘Do you think you can stand?’ Linden cried over the noise of the blades.
Max tried to sit up again but lay back, holding her forehead. She shook her head.
‘I’m going to have to pick you up,’ Linden said. ‘I’ll be as careful as I can, but it might hurt a bit.’
Max nodded.
Linden tucked his hands under her knees and around her neck. He carried her to the stretcher and laid her inside. Toby tucked the blanket around her before they tightly strapped her in.
Linden gave a thumbs up. The agent inside the chopper waved and began winching the stretcher slowly from the ground. It swung in the wind, shunting Max into the side.
‘Ouch.’ She winced.
Linden’s fists clenched and unclenched.
‘She’ll be okay.’ Toby tapped him on the back.
The stretcher lifted higher.
‘I’m going with her.’
‘We were told to wait here,’ Toby called, but Linden had already stepped onto the lower metal casing and grabbed hold of the cable.
‘You don’t mind if I get a lift?’ Linden asked.
Max shook her head before passing out.
The stretcher wound upwards to the aircraft. Linden took the hand of the agent and was helped inside the belly of the chopper before they eased in Max’s stretcher. The agent stepped aside for Dr Finch, who immediately began examining her.
Toby watched as the chopper swung into a sharp left turn and disappeared beyond the forest.
Dr Finch’s infirmary at Spyforce was more a mini hospital than an infirmary, complete with blinking and beeping machines, an operating theatre and white-uniformed nurses and doctors quietly checking tubes, pushing medicine carts and carrying out routine check-ups.
Toby was driven back to the VART and hurried to the infirmary, where he was met by a large nurse called Hilda.
‘Hey there. My name is Toby and I’m here to see …’
‘I don’t much care who you are here to see. What I do care about is that you lower your voice and speak quietly at all times. This is a hospital and, unless you want to be mushed into small spy pieces, you will act as I instruct and in accordance with the rules of the hospital, which are,’ she consulted a clipboard, ‘one: you will at all times …’
‘Ah, Hilda.’ Steinberger popped out from a nearby room. ‘It is always the most exciting of pleasures to see you. I see you’ve met our agent, Toby Jennings.’ He put his hands on Toby’s shoulders. ‘One of Spyforce’s finest.’ Steinberger turned Toby towards the room and gently shoved him inside. ‘In fact, they don’t get much finer than him. Courageous, smart –’
Hilda held up her clipboard. ‘But I haven’t finished –’
‘I’ll make sure he knows the rules so well that he’ll be able to repeat them in his sleep.’
‘But it is my –’
‘Dear Hilda. You have so many other more important things to do, please let me take this one small job off your hands so you can continue with your fine work.’
‘I am rather busy, Mr Steinberger.’ Nurse Hilda patted down her crisp uniform, straightened her already straight cap and returned to her station.
‘Well done,’ Harrison greeted Steinberger when he entered the room. ‘Hilda means well, but she can’t seem to shake off her time in the Special Forces.’
‘Did you get the rules of the hospital?’ Linden was seated in a chair close to Max.
‘Steinberger saved me from too many of those.’ Toby sat on Max’s bed and took a chocolate from an opened box. ‘Looks like you’ve come good and, who knows, that bump on the head may have finally made you realise I’m the best looking guy you’ve ever met.’
‘I wasn’t hit that hard,’ Max said. ‘And, yes, you can have one of my chocolates.’
‘We heard you two were quite the heroes.’ Steinberger beamed.
‘We were pretty good, actually. But you should have seen Linden. He was a real James Bond. He grabbed onto the stretcher cable and sailed into the air. No safety harness or anything. Of course, I was just about to do the same thing but ol’ hero here got in first.’ Toby grabbed another chocolate, threw it into the air and caught it in his mouth.
‘Thank you,’ Max said to Linden.
‘I was only following the pact. You seem so keen on it lately, so I had to.’ His smiled sparked a blush in Max’s cheeks.
Toby frowned and threw another chocolate into his mouth. ‘Like I said, I would have done the same if I’d –’
‘Max! Dear one, are you okay?’ Eleanor swept into the room followed by a teary Ben.
‘We came as soon as we heard. Does it hurt anywhere? What can I do?’ Ben enveloped Max in a tearful hug.
‘Actually, you could stop hugging me so tightly.’
‘Of course.’ Ben let go. ‘Sorry, I was just so worried. I didn’t know what to …’
Eleanor hugged Ben as Dr Finch entered the room holding X-rays.
‘Is she going to be okay, Doctor?’ Linden leapt out of his chair.
‘Everything looks fine. We’ve performed tests on Max’s memory, concentration, vision, hearing, reflexes and coordination.’
‘But that’s not fair,’ Toby argued. ‘Max had no coordination before she fell.’
‘Is there any way Toby can be taken back to the forest and left there?’ Max asked Chief Harrison.
‘You’d miss me too much,’ Toby said. ‘And I wouldn’t want to add to an already bad day.’
‘You were saying, Dr Finch?’ Harrison said.
‘There’s minor bruising on the head, knees and elbows, a cut to the forehead and a slight concussion but no fractures or internal injuries.’
‘So she’s going to be okay?’ Ben asked.
‘My diagnosis is for a full recovery.’
‘Oh, thank goodness.’ Ben whipped out a hanky and wiped his eyes.
‘What should she do now?’ Linden asked.
‘I suggest she stay in here overnight and rest.’
‘Can we stay here with her for a while?’ Toby asked. ‘I’ll need a little more time to work on these chocolates.’
‘Actually, I’d like the “rest” part to start now if you all wouldn’t mind.’
‘Thank you, Dr Finch.’ Harrison invited everyone to leave the room.
‘We’ll be outside.’ Ben kissed Max on the cheek. ‘Anything you want, just call. We’re here for you. Anything.’ He started crying again and was led away by Eleanor.
Toby grabbed a few more chocolates and Linden dawdled after the others. He turned back and smiled. ‘Don’t go anywhere.’
‘I won’t,’ Max said.
Hilda bulldozed into the room. ‘The doctor has ordered everybody out – and that includes you.’
Linden flashed Max a quick smile before turning to Hilda. ‘I guess I’d better go then.’
Hilda brushed down Max’s sheets so that there wasn’t a crease in them. ‘Dr Finch has ordered that you are to rest, and I will have nothing else out of you than that.’
‘Yes, thank you, Hilda. I …’
Max said no more before fatigue overwhelmed her. She sank into the pillow and beneath the crisp sheets and neatly tucked blankets. She took deep, calming breaths and slept, while on her ankle lay a very small, almost undetectable, red mark.
On an estate not far from London, in a dimly lit, elaborately furnished room, a figure reclined on a long lounge bathed in the faint glow of a stained-glass lamp. A phone sat on a table beside him. He didn’t have to wait long for it to ring.
‘Is it in place?’ he asked.
‘Everything went exactly as planned,’ a voice answered.
‘Is she with them?’
‘They picked her up within the hour of her … accident.’
‘Excellent. You can
always rely on Spyforce for their efficiency.’ There was a small delighted breath. ‘Too bad it will be their undoing.’
‘I’m okay. Really,’ Max protested from her hotel bed. ‘I think all I needed was a good night’s sleep.’
‘But we have to make sure.’ Ben fussed around her, bringing her drinks, fluffing her pillows and making sure all her favourite books were within reach. ‘Finch said that, with concussion, one of the worst things that can happen is another fall. It could cause even more –’
‘I’ll be here,’ Linden said. ‘I’ll call you on your palm computers if anything happens.’
Ben’s face twisted into a new kind of fear.
‘Which it won’t.’ Eleanor took his arm. ‘We’ll take the Time and Space Machine so we can be back here in seconds if they need us.’
Ben didn’t seem convinced.
‘If we had to leave Max in the care of anyone, it would be Linden, wouldn’t it?’
‘You’re right,’ Ben answered reluctantly. ‘But the moment anything –’
‘I will.’ Linden held open the door and, after one more kiss on Max’s cheek and another round of goodbyes, Ben and Eleanor finally left.
‘I love Ben, I really do,’ Max said, ‘but if he’d stayed here one minute longer I was going to deliberately knock myself out.’
‘It’s probably good that he went then.’
Max scratched her ankle. ‘I think I must have been bitten in the forest.’ She lifted her pyjama leg to reveal a red mark on her skin.
‘Try not to scratch it,’ Linden said. ‘Mum always said that makes the irritation worse. Can I get you anything?’
‘A ticket out of here?’
‘You’ve been told to rest.’ Linden shook his head. ‘Anything else?’
Max slumped. ‘A toasted cheese sandwich?’
‘That I can do.’
When Linden returned from the kitchenette with the sandwich, Max was asleep.
‘Not tired, eh?’ He looked at the sandwich. ‘Can’t let it go to waste.’
He lifted the telephone receiver from its hook and put the sandwich on a small table. He picked up Max’s backpack from the lounge to sit down when an envelope fell out, scattering photos over the floor. Linden looked closer. They were of Max’s dad and his wife, Mee Lin.
The Final Curtain Page 7