by Rob Stevens
‘OGM,’ Grey uttered. ‘It looks like Miss Tension is planning to start a nuclear war.’
‘Will Switzerland nuke us back?’ Archie asked.
‘They don’t really have nuclear warheads,’ Highwater replied. ‘But plenty of their allies do – and would be only too happy to fire on us. Then our allies would join in and before you know it we’d be in the middle of World War Three. But, unlike the first two, this one would have no survivors.’
‘Surely the Prime Minister can’t start a war on his own,’ Barney said plaintively. ‘I mean, he has to get the backing of the other dudes in his cabinet – right?’
‘Most of them wouldn’t want to stand up to him in case it hurt their careers,’ Gemma muttered.
Archie ran his hand over his head, clutching a fistful of hair. ‘Is there any chance someone will spot the PM’s a fake?’ he asked desperately.
‘I thought he came across pretty smarmy,’ Barney offered.
‘I’m all over that, blood,’ Grey agreed. ‘He seemed phoney to me.’
‘Definitely,’ Archie said hopefully. ‘In a way he was too polished – like he was obviously really well scripted.’
‘Smarmy, phoney and well scripted,’ Highwater summarised. ‘In other words he is identical to the real Adam Winchester.’
‘Surely his family would realise he isn’t the real deal?’ said Archie.
‘I hear you,’ said Grey. ‘Except Mrs Winchester is in Canada and Toby will be under observation in the hospital for twenty-four hours.’
Archie’s phone began to vibrate and he answered it on the third ring. Before he could say a word he heard a voice say, ‘Hello, Archie. This is Evelyn Tension.’ Immediately all the colour drained from his cheeks. Jabbing a finger at the handset he mouthed two words to the others in the room – It’s her. Turning the handset’s loudspeaker on he said, ‘How did you get my number?’
‘Young man, I can assure you that getting your number was child’s play for me.’
Highwater twirled a hand at Archie and nodded insistently. Gemma began tapping furiously at her keyboard.
‘Uh . . . what are you up to?’ Archie stuttered.
‘Brave try, Archie,’ Tension said sweetly. ‘I think it’s so cute that you want to play at being an agent and I know you want to impress your boss who’s signalling you to keep me talking. But I’m not feeling playful today so listen up.’
‘OK.’
‘I’m sure, like me, you were shocked by the announcement Adam Winchester just made. It’s so sad when countries fall out, isn’t it? I mean, who would have suspected those nice neutral Swiss people of plotting something so . . . so despicable. If nothing is done I predict this will escalate to all-out nuclear war. Do you know what Armageddon is, Archie?’
‘It means the end of the world,’ Archie replied defiantly. ‘But if you start a war that kills everyone, then who will ever know how brilliant you’ve been?’
‘Oh, there’ll be survivors,’ Tension countered. ‘Some tiny far flung mountain villages and remote islands will escape the fallout. Eventually the radiation will subside and the nuclear winter will pass and the world’s population will start to grow again, slowly.’ She lowered her voice to little more than a whisper. ‘That’s when I’ll emerge from my shelter and reveal the despicable trick I’ve played on the world. Every child born in the post-apocalyptic age will grow up knowing about the sheer evil brought about by Evelyn Tension.’
‘Why are you telling me?’ Archie enquired. ‘Shouldn’t you call the real MI6?’
‘Oh, they’re so useless!’ Tension snapped. ‘It’s no fun outsmarting them – it’s too easy. They don’t even know the PM’s a phoney. You’re a smart boy, Archie. I suspect you and your friends aren’t too far behind me. If anyone can stop me destroying the world, it’s you.’
‘Keep her talking for ten more seconds,’ Gemma whispered.
‘Do you want us to stop you?’ Archie asked.
‘Darling, what a fascinating psychological question,’ purred Tension. ‘I could spend hours discussing my dreams with you. But time’s up – goodbye.’
The line went dead and for a moment the room was quiet.
‘No way!’ Gemma growled, her fingers hammering her keyboard.
‘What’s the matter, X-ray?’ Highwater enquired.
‘I was trying to save the audio so we could at least prove to Figo what Tension is up to,’ Gemma explained. ‘But her voice pattern has some sort of anti-phase echo. It’s like an audio shadow that exactly mirrors her words, effectively cancelling them out.’
‘Meaning the tape is blank?’
Gemma shoved her keyboard away in frustration. ‘Totally.’
Archie felt an air of despondency fill the room. He thought about his father and his grandmother and the millions of people who would perish if Tension’s plan to destroy the world succeeded, and he experienced a profound sense of defiance.
‘We can’t let her win,’ he said, gritting his teeth with determination.
‘We have to expose the impostor,’ Barney suggested. ‘All we need to do is get close to the pretend PM, then rip his mask off.’
‘Brilliant,’ Gemma snorted sarcastically. ‘I’m sure no one would mind if we wander into Number Ten and grab the Prime Minister’s face.’
‘I thought it was a good suggestion,’ Archie said. Barney nodded his appreciation.
‘It’s not a totally ridiculous idea,’ declared Highwater. ‘But it is nevertheless impossible. The PM’s bodyguards have orders to physically restrain anyone who tries to get within two metres of him. If you get too close they’ll flatten you like a truck. Even I’m forbidden from crossing the two-metre line.’
‘So how are we supposed to convince the world the dude in Number Ten is a fake?’ asked Barney.
‘Simple,’ Archie replied, with a gleam in his eye. ‘If we can’t expose the phoney PM, STINKBOMB will just have to find the real Adam Winchester and bring him back to London.’
‘There’s no way I can authorise you three to tackle Evelyn Tension alone,’ Highwater said regretfully. ‘You’re fantastic agents – but you’ll still need back-up to detain and bring in Tension. She is a trained assassin – an absolute monster.’
‘What if we don’t tackle her?’ Archie pleaded. ‘What if we track her using the Dragonfly? When we have her in sight you can send reinforcements to detain her and rescue the PM. If you tell Hugh Figo that Evelyn Tension or the PM has been positively identified then he’ll have to respond.’
‘So you wouldn’t actually need to leave the plane?’ Highwater clarified.
Archie shook his head. ‘I can hover a few feet above the waves and head her off if she tries to escape.’
‘And you promise not to board Tension’s boat under any circumstance?’
Agents X-ray, Yankee and Zulu nodded earnestly.
‘There’s still one thing I don’t understand,’ said Highwater strictly. ‘What on earth are you waiting for?’
Somewhere
Between
the O2 Arena and
Evelyn Tension’s
Secret Hideout
Evelyn Tension tilted her head to one side as she brushed her long copper-coloured hair. The computer screen in front of her flickered briefly, then showed a woman’s face. She had straight black hair and almond-shaped eyes.
‘Darling!’ Tension exclaimed. ‘How wonderful to see you. You look gorgeous in that uniform. That colour is so good on you.’
The woman glanced down at her yellow satin outfit and shrugged. ‘You are the boss,’ she replied robotically. ‘We wear whatever you decide we wear.’
Evelyn Tension glanced across at Klaus, who was in the room with her. ‘Did you hear that, Klausy?’ she whispered. ‘That’s exactly the sort of respect I deserve, don’t you think?’
Klaus dragged his mouth into a smile and nodded.
Turning back to the screen Tension said, ‘Tell me, how are all my pussycats doing?’
‘I a
ssume you are referring to the other members of Cougar Squad. They are all engaged in their duties, as per your instructions.’
The woman on the screen stepped back to reveal a room crammed with mechanical equipment. Row upon row of gauges and dials lined the walls, and circular radar screens cast an eerie luminous glow across the scene. Three other women were sitting in front of radars, monitoring them closely, and two more were marching up and down, taking readings and making notes on their clipboards. All six of them were identically dressed in yellow satin jumpsuits, their dark hair slicked back.
Tension beamed and clapped her hands rapidly. ‘I can’t wait to see my girlies again. Have you all missed me?’
The woman’s face filled the screen again. ‘We have been busy fulfilling our duties, as instructed,’ she replied flatly.
‘Oh, I’ve missed you all too,’ Tension oozed. Glancing at Klaus, she pressed her palms against her chest and mouthed the words So adorable.
‘Do you have the package?’ the woman demanded.
Tension looked at the man huddled at Klaus’s feet. ‘Oh yes,’ she purred. ‘Everything went like clockwork. We have the package and we’ll be with you soon. There is a possibility some kids might be following us . . .’
‘Kids?’ The woman raised her eyebrows slightly. ‘I’m sure we’ll have no trouble eliminating kids.’
‘Are you at the rendezvous point?’ Tension enquired.
‘Affirmative. We await your arrival.’
‘I can’t wait to see you too,’ Tension enthused. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be home soon.’
The woman frowned. ‘I am not worried.’
‘That’s my brave soldier,’ Tension said softly. ‘I promise when I get back we’ll have some proper girly time. I need to catch up on all the gossip . . .’ Her voice trailed off as she realised the woman had ended the call. She stared at the blank screen for a moment, her indulgent smile curdling slowly into a snarl. Spinning round to face Klaus, she yelled, ‘Can’t this thing go any faster? The sooner we get there the sooner we show this wretch what’s in store for him.’ One manicured talon extended towards the huddled figure. ‘Then he’ll rue the day he decided to double-cross Evelyn Tension.’
Archie was first out of the O2 Arena’s main entrance, clenching his teeth as he belted across the car park towards the Dragonfly. Gemma was close on his heels, her ponytail bouncing with each stride, and Barney brought up the rear, red-faced and wheezing.
By the time Barney reached the jet plane, Archie was already in the pilot’s seat scanning the instruments and running through his checks. Barney clambered into the aircraft and squeezed behind the co-pilot’s chair, slumping back into one of the two passenger seats. Gemma sat next to Archie and he slid the glass canopy forward and latched it closed.
Archie started the Dragonfly’s two jet engines and applied maximum thrust. As the plane leaped into the air he eased it vertically upward a hundred feet before slamming the nozzle lever forward, launching the aircraft into the evening sky. He pulled the stick back, and to the right, and the Dragonfly banked steeply as it climbed away, heading towards the mouth of the Thames and the open sea beyond.
Gemma was tapping away on the foldout keyboard of the newly installed Mode Foxtrot comms kit, using the screen in front of her to display the satellite images she was accessing.
‘We’re nearly at the coast,’ Archie said. ‘I’ll need a direction to fly when we get there.’
‘Hold your horses,’ Gemma murmured, squinting at the screen. ‘I’m tracking them down the river by leapfrogging CCTV footage. I’ve got them at the coast at two-fifteen but then they go out of range of ground-based cameras. I just need to find which satellite was covering the Thames estuary at that time.’
Barney leaned eagerly between the front seats. ‘Have you tried feeding the coordinates into the NASA Geomotionary Orbital Matrices? Then it’s simply a matter of pinpointing the exact moment on the theoretical quasi-elliptical time-phase axis – right?’
‘I haven’t got time for this, Zulu.’ Gemma turned and glared at Barney. ‘I’ll send you into orbit if you don’t pipe down.’
Archie glanced over his shoulder at Barney who looked chastened. ‘He’s only trying to help, X-ray,’ he said.
‘Sorry,’ Gemma sighed.
Barney slumped back into his seat and stared out the window, mumbling under his breath, ‘I suppose everything else Jack Bauer said was made up as well then, was it?’
‘Bingo!’ Gemma yelped. ‘I’ve picked them up on the Sierra-16 satellite. The footage was taken at fourteen-twelve and shows them heading north-east.’
Archie glanced at the plane’s digital clock. ‘They’re four hours ahead of us. Can you see how fast they were going?’
Gemma tapped a few keys. ‘Man, they’re blitzing at nearly a hundred knots.’
‘They must be in some kind of jet boat,’ said Archie, checking the Dragonfly’s airspeed. ‘It’s going to take us about an hour to catch up with them.’
The Dragonfly ripped through the sky, just five hundred feet above the inky water. Archie kept the controls at his fingertips, easing the stick fractionally one way or another to keep the plane on a level course. Meanwhile Gemma’s fingers were dancing over her keyboard.
‘Oh, man!’ she exclaimed.
‘What’s up?’ Archie asked.
‘Well, the S-16 satellite was redirected at ten past four,’ Gemma explained. ‘MI5 or 6 must be tracking some security threat of some kind.’
‘Probably a Daedalus Nine Alert or something,’ Barney whispered – more to himself than the others.
‘So we’ve lost them?’ Archie said, feeling suddenly desperate.
‘We had . . .’ Gemma smiled. ‘Until I accessed the global satellite mapping data files and picked them up a few minutes later on the Saturn-7 camera which just so happened to be overlapping the S-16 coverage. The chances of that happening are, like, almost zero.’
‘But what happens if Saturn-7 is redirected as well?’
‘It can’t be.’ Gemma glanced at Archie triumphantly. I’ve accessed the satellite’s control functions via the Mode Foxtrot kit.’
Archie’s eyebrows climbed his forehead as Gemma’s words registered. ‘So you’re actually controlling a real-life satellite?’
‘Totally!’ Gemma whooped. ‘I am all over them with Saturn-7. There’s no way Tension can escape us now.’
An hour later the Dragonfly was tearing through the night sky over the North Sea, about fifty miles south-west of the Danish coast. Gemma had kept the Saturn-7 satellite trained on the fleeing powerboat, logging its coordinates every five minutes and passing them to Archie who programmed them into the plane’s navigation computer.
‘They’re only ten miles ahead of us,’ Archie said. ‘So we should see them in a couple of minutes.’
‘If Saturn-7 didn’t have infra-red thermal imaging we’d never have caught them,’ Gemma commented.
‘We haven’t caught them yet,’ Archie cautioned, studying the black void ahead.
‘What’s that?’ Gemma yelped, pointing. ‘Just to the right of the nose!’
In the moonlight something was casting a lozenge-shaped shadow on the water, skipping noiselessly as it retreated over the waves.
‘It’s them,’ Archie confirmed, squinting into the night. ‘I’m going to drop down in front of the boat and head them off.’
As the Dragonfly cruised past the speedboat, Archie held his course for thirty seconds, outrunning the boat by about two miles, then snapped the nozzle-control lever back to the ‘hover’ gate. As the plane’s forward speed died its three occupants lurched forward against their harnesses. Spinning the aircraft with a kick of the rudder pedals, Archie pulled back the power and allowed the Dragonfly to descend until it was just a few feet above the icy sea.
Archie watched the powerboat emerging from the night as it raced towards them.
‘Er . . . they don’t appear to be slowing down,’ Barney observed.
&nb
sp; ‘That’s because they can’t see us,’ Archie replied. ‘Let me know when they’re half a mile away, X-ray. Then I’ll throw on our landing lights and give them the fright of their lives.’
‘You got it.’
Bouncing rhythmically, the boat speared towards them like an Exocet missile.
‘They’re coming up really fast,’ Barney whispered.
‘Patience,’ Archie murmured, reaching up and hooking two fingers over the Dragonfly’s landing-light switches.
The boat sped nearer.
‘But I mean seriously fast,’ Barney insisted.
‘Not yet,’ Archie breathed.
‘OK, on the count of three,’ said Gemma. ‘One . . . two . . . three . . . now!’
As Archie flicked the two switches to illuminate the Dragonfly, a terrific explosion ripped a hole in the night and a massive fireball engulfed the entire plane.
For a moment the three agents held their breath as the black cloud swallowed their plane. Instinctively Archie slammed on full power and hauled the control column back, driving the Dragonfly up and backwards, rocking violently with the force of the blast.
‘We’re toast!’ Barney cried.
Suddenly the plane was thrown out of the fireball, like a rock being spat from an erupting volcano. Archie fought with his controls as the Dragonfly arced backwards, violently rolling – threatening to flip over. Just managing to control the plane, Archie eased the aircraft into a descent, returning to just above sea level in order to inspect Tension’s speedboat. But there was nothing to inspect. Where the boat had once been there was nothing but open water, littered with shreds of smoking debris. Pieces of flaming wreckage were still raining on to the water like matchsticks.
‘What about the Prime Minister?’ asked Gemma helplessly.
‘Dead,’ Archie snapped in despair. ‘They’re all dead. No one could’ve survived that explosion.’
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Barney, absently opening a Twix to calm his nerves.
‘There’s nothing we can do,’ Archie answered quietly. ‘We have to go home.’