‘Hello, BB?’ I said.
‘Cal!’ BB replied. ‘I’m so grateful to you for finding Sophie but we have to…’
Sophie grabbed my arm and pulled me to the ground. ‘Hang up!’ she hissed, pointing to the left.
I killed the connection, swearing under my breath. We lay motionless as a couple of torch beams swung away down the mountain. A late-night search party had hoped to catch us unawares. Luckily, we’d avoided them this time.
I tried to call BB again later, but the static was back with a vengeance.
DAY 45
46 days to go…
3:32 pm
Every day, we had to take evasive action to avoid being discovered. We’d shifted some of our supplies to the cemetery end of the filthy, old forgotten tunnel as a backup, and in desperation we’d even slept there a couple of times when groups of searchers started looking for us at night. But the risk of being discovered by anyone in the tunnels, plus the disgusting and uncomfortable surroundings made us wary of spending too much time down there.
We spent the next few days trying to put the information that we had gathered into some sort of logical pattern. When Winter and I talked, I told her I was concerned I hadn’t been able to contact her.
‘I’ve been away for a few days,’ she said, ‘Gabbi wanted to visit Perdita and meet Harriet so I organised that. And then I said to your mum, “Why don’t you come, too?” and she was really pleased with the invitation. It was exciting for Gabbi to see where the “ghost” had been and visit Harriet’s farm after hearing about how we managed to save it. You should see the place now, it looks like the Garden of Eden! She’s not making a lot of money but she’s free of debt and really happy. She’s joined the local theatre group and seems to be having a lot more fun these days. She asked me to say hi to you, at your special flight school. Ha!’
‘Good to hear,’ I said.
Winter’s voice became more serious. ‘Cal, I’ve been thinking about that world map in the lab that you told Boges about,’ she said, ‘and what immediately came to my mind was that very first picture that was sent to your mobile phone. That was way before we knew anything about Shadow Island.’
‘The one with the skull and crossbones superimposed on a map of the world?’ I asked. ‘I agree, it has to be linked. Damien is counting the same number of days as in that message. It must all fit together somehow. But how? What do those cities have to do with Damien’s plans?’
‘You said there were five destinations mapped?’
‘That’s right,’ I said.
‘And five very large rucksacks with rations and passports? And sealed envelopes. Plus five hologram eyes.’
‘Yes. But I’ve no idea why.’
Neither of us had an answer.
‘We know that one of the passport holders, Georgia Montgomery, is most likely a member of the Zenith team. My guess is that the other four are team members, too,’ I said.
‘But why would they all be going separately to different cities in the world? I can understand that Damien might want to reward them, but if it’s team-building he’s after, they would surely stay together and travel together?’ Winter asked.
‘If it’s not about team-building,’ I said slowly, ‘then it’s related to what’s going on here. And we don’t know anything about that yet.’
‘You said there were envelopes with security seals?’ Winter asked.
‘That’s right.’
‘So you know what I’m thinking?’ she said. ‘I’m thinking they’re sealed orders, like commandos get—not to be opened until the mission is underway. So that no-one can leak information.’
‘But if they are going to those major cities,’ I said, ‘there’d be absolutely no need for rations and water decontamination tablets. Why would you eat rations in Paris? It has some of the greatest restaurants in the world.’
‘None of it makes sense,’ Winter admitted. ‘Just like the Mordred key file.’
There was a silence.
‘Boges told me about the MACs and the UID names and numbers,’ Winter finally said. ‘And did you know that the other name you saw, Melehan, is Mordred’s son? So that list has gotta be connected to the Mordred key in some way.’
‘His son? This just keeps getting stranger,’ I said.
‘And,’ said Winter, continuing on another tack, ‘it only makes sense to take rations if you wanted to be invisible. To slip into a country and then disappear, just hunker down and hide. Like you had to, Cal, when you were living on the streets and in old houses, trying to go undetected.’
‘So why,’ I began, thinking aloud, ‘why would you go to a city and then disappear—with rations and sealed orders?’
‘So you could wait, Cal. So you could be in position and then just wait for the command to open the orders. We’ve got to find out what those orders are, what their mission is and what on earth those creepy eyes are for!’
‘I’ll bet that all that information is in the Mordred file,’ I said. ‘Why else would it be so secret?’ I said.
‘Speaking of which, Boges is battling with that. I haven’t heard from him since I got back from visiting Harriet,’ Winter said. ‘I’ve left messages but he hasn’t gotten back to me. He’d told me it’s a full-time job just getting his head around it, let alone getting through the encryption. He said he’s tried all the usual code converter programs and he’s getting nowhere—total zip.’
I sighed. I was starting to feel the same way. How was I going to be able to find out what the Zenith team members were going to do?
Interrupting my thoughts, Winter said, ‘Have you found out anything more about the missing kids?’
I told Winter how I’d followed Hamish and Damien as they took food to whoever was locked up down there, and how I’d failed to locate the prison.
‘But Sophie and Ariel think they’ve made contact with the prisoners. I’m determined to get them out of there. But that means I need to get my hands on the key to their prison.’ I mentioned overhearing Damien talking, and how he’d said that in sixty days, he wouldn’t have to bring food anymore.
‘That’s got to be related to the sixty day countdown I saw on his computer,’ I said. ‘And to the message I got, but I’m no closer to figuring out who sent it to me, or why. Were they friendly? Was it a warning?’
‘I don’t think it means anything good, Cal.’
The earth trembled again and a deep rumbling rolled across the mountain. Then just as suddenly, all was still. The tremors were coming more frequently now, I realised.
Winter’s words of foreboding stayed in my mind. The sooner we all got off Shadow Island, the better.
DAY 54
37 days to go…
Katz Cave
8:02 am
I thought after another week that Damien would give up sending out search parties. But he didn’t.
Sophie and I had carefully crept around in the early hours of the morning, and noticed with shock that he’d posted lookout stations all over the mountain, with platforms in high trees. He must be intending to have people with binoculars up there to scope out the rainforest.
We hoped we were hidden by the canopy, but the cleared areas could easily be watched and it was becoming almost impossible to move around Shadow Island. How was I going to bring a frail, possibly mentally ill man from Delta 11 into the jungle and hide him without being caught in the process? Our rescue plan seemed in jeopardy now.
We all knew that our cave hide-out was getting dangerous, with people combing the mountainside. None of us wanted to face the idea of moving to the tunnel permanently. Worse still, whenever I tried calling SI-6, the satellite phone just gave me static.
We’d almost run out of food, too. We desperately needed supplies.
‘I’m going to have to do a night raid on the food stores,’ I said. Zak, Ariel and Sophie all wanted to come with me. ‘Not a good idea,’ I said. ‘I appreciate your offers of support, guys, but this is best done by just one of us to limit the ris
k. I’d better avoid going across the island so I’ll go down to the waterfront and cross the rocks to get in through the mooring cave. Then I can come up through the secret tunnel and get into the resort from the cemetery. The master key should get me into the stores building. I’ll take our two backpacks to fill. That ought to be enough food for a few more days, and hopefully by that time BB will be in touch and we can get off the island.’
Shadow Island Jungle
9:19 pm
I made my way down through the rainforest heading for the big cave on the coast. I’d texted Ryan, telling him of my plans to steal some supplies from the stores building, asking him to be on stand-by in case I needed some backup.
I could hear people moving all around and went slowly and carefully to keep out of their way. From the edge of the jungle, I could just make out the raft, still safely tethered to the jammed log, moving sluggishly on the unusually still ocean. An onshore wind was flattening the surf as I broke cover and dashed across the rocks as fast as I dared. I was relieved when I finally took cover inside the mooring cave, away from the prying eyes of people above. But I still couldn’t afford to take any chances—Damien or Hamish could be down here.
Underground Tunnels
9:51 pm
I stole into the main tunnel and into the darkness, discreetly switching on my torch, keeping it shining downwards.
I could hear rumbling in the distance and wondered if someone was using the big rover machine, digging through the rock. But when I came to the widening of the tunnel at the laboratory, the huge machine was just sitting there, in exactly the same position as I’d left it, nearly three weeks before. I crept up to the door and peered cautiously through the window of the laboratory.
I frowned. The modbots sat in a square, squat pile, their lights winking. They certainly weren’t built up into a tower as Sophie and Ariel had said. Curious, I used the master key to open the door, carefully looking around in case there were any spythons hanging off the light fittings or lurking in a cupboard. The large rucksacks were still stacked in a row, leaning against the wall under the map of the world with its mysterious red strings.
I walked over to some other cupboards I hadn’t had a chance to look in last time. A few were locked, but as I tried the last handle, the latch gave way and the door opened. I staggered back at the sight of more rucksacks piled up inside. There were another five. Were these all for the Zenith team?
I poked around in the topmost bag—the contents were just like all the others I’d seen. In a side pocket I found a handful of passports. But the corner of an envelope caught my eye. Reaching further in, I pulled out another set of sealed orders. I had to know what they were!
I slid my finger under the seal to loosen it, but I would have to tear it to open the envelope. Reasoning that Damien would never know it was me, I tugged hard and pulled out a thin sheet of paper.
I turned it over, holding my breath—but there was nothing. Both sides of the paper were completely blank. Damn! Where were the real orders?
I put the paper back inside the envelope and placed it where I’d found it. I quickly closed the cupboard and went over to check the 3-D eyes. I was strangely relieved to see they were still there, glowing in their light box. Nothing moved except the winking lights on the modbots. Sophie and Ariel said that they’d watched as two of the squares climbed on top of another two. I came closer to get a better look at them. They looked just as I’d remembered them—some were the creamy colour of power points, others were black. They all had narrow slits on their surfaces and each one had blinking green lights. Hesitantly, I put out my hand to pick one up. As my hand closed around it, I jumped back in pain!
What the…? Something had bitten me! I examined my hand. Two tiny puncture marks in the centre of my palm already had tiny red beads of blood on them. I looked intently at the modbot cube that had attacked me. Had the cream cube ‘bitten’ me? But how? There was nothing sharp on it, no fangs, just a bland cream surface, and yet something had pierced my palm. I couldn’t see a spider or any insect that would account for the pain in my hand.
I peered into the narrow slits that radiated from the centre, looking a little like the star-shaped core of an apple sliced across its widest point. I couldn’t see anything in there. I put out my hand again, carefully, as if I were about to pick it up. Immediately, two tiny harpoons appeared out of the slits. As I pulled my hand away, they retracted.
Again, I curved my hand over it as if I was going to pick it up, and again the tiny needle-sharp harpoons appeared. This time, I noticed a puff of smoke and felt another painful, stinging sensation in my hand. The modbot had sprayed me with something!
Spooked, I backed away and hurried out of the laboratory. Somehow, the modbot had sensed my hand moving towards it. In some strange way, it seemed to be able to see—and attack.
For a few moments, I stood outside the lab, rubbing my hand on my jacket, trying to remove whatever had been sprayed onto my palm. The hot, burning sensation had spread to my fingers and thumb so that my whole hand was in pain.
To take my mind off it, I continued past the laboratory, looking out for a turn to the right that Ariel had said was just before the entrance to the secret tunnel. I crept along cautiously, worried that someone might appear around a corner at any moment. With my injured hand, I would find it hard to fight off an attack.
Eventually, I came to the stack of timber that Ariel and Sophie had described. Great beams of old, dry wood were piled against the wall and made it appear that the tunnel ended there. But when I shone my torch between the beams, I could see where the wood had been disturbed and glimpsed the door beyond.
It took me a while to lift some of the timber away because of my injured hand. I pushed the door open just enough for me to squeeze through. Once on the other side, I heaved it back into place as far as it would go. As I turned and stepped to follow the disused tunnel, I got a mouthful of the dust-laden cobwebs that Sophie and Ariel had mentioned. I pulled it off my face in disgust.
More carefully now, waving my torch around, I made my way along the tunnel. I could see the girls’ footprints in the dust ahead of me. In some places it was nearly ten centimetres deep. Half-buried bones lay on the sides of the rocky walls, and I saw rusty manacles and chains hanging from iron hooks. I shuddered at the thought of being chained down here and forgotten. Dust rose in clouds as I passed, and my sneakers were filthy already, as were my jeans. I sneezed and wiped my face with the back of my hand. The taste of dust was in my mouth.
The land was rising under my feet so I knew I was heading towards the cemetery, and soon enough I came to the place in the tunnel where we’d left our supplies and spent a couple of cheerless nights in hiding.
Ahead of me I could see a thin line of the dim light. I was almost there. Slowly, I pushed the heavy slab of stone over. It finally fell away, revealing the lights of the resort compound in the near distance.
Puffing and grunting with the effort, I hauled myself up and out. I took a couple of steps and then froze. One of the counsellors was sitting on a nearby tombstone. Any second now she’d raise the alarm and I’d be caught.
I stood for a second or so, unsure what to do next, waiting for her to challenge me and drag ‘Ryan Ormond’ off to Damien for being out of bounds in the cemetery.
Instead, she jumped to her feet, screaming in terror, and fled.
As I snapped out of my shock and realised what had happened, I started laughing, trying to stifle the sound with one of my filthy hands. All the tension and fear I’d been holding down for so long came out in a rush of almost hysterical laughter! But I didn’t dare make too much noise.
I tried to control myself and finally straightened up, wiping away tears of laughter with my fists. I imagined the scene from her point of view: an old convict tomb opening up at night and a grey figure, draped in ragged webs, face unrecognisable with filth, crawling out. No wonder she had run away. The ghost of Simeon Fincher was on the prowl! It would have been pricel
ess to see her trying to convince other people she wasn’t just imagining things. Good luck with that.
But I couldn’t hang around. There was a real risk she could come back with others to check it out.
Paradise People Resort
10:25 pm
Moving through the bushes near the resort, I was heartened to see that all the activity was taking place near the dormitories and recreational area to the east of the compound. Set back on the western border, the stores and generator buildings were almost deserted and in darkness apart from dim lights over the doorways. I moved cautiously from shadow to shadow, hoping that the dust covering me would act like camouflage and keep me safe.
I sidled up to the stores building, briefly and unavoidably exposed under the light above the doorway, before the master key allowed me to slip inside and close the door behind me. Cartons of food were piled around the walls and I started grabbing the most nutritious things I could see that we wouldn’t need a fire to cook—packets of nuts and dried fruits, muesli bars, crisp breads and tinned food. Finally, I took a powerful lamp and another strong flashlight. These would help light up the disused tunnel. I stuffed both backpacks to the brim, hauling them up over each shoulder. They were heavy but I felt good about securing more supplies.
Shadow Island Jungle
10:58 pm
Lugging my heavy loads, I made my way back into the dark undergrowth and guided by instinct and memory, started towards the cemetery and the disused tunnel. I planned to stash most of the food stores there, only taking what we would need in the next day or two.
I was almost back at Simeon Fincher’s grave when someone slammed into my back.
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