As they stood there, the announcer’s voice rang out again: ‘The next pilot to take off … Oh … er … I see here we have a new, late entry to the race, representing the nation of Arnovia. Please welcome to the field Arnovian pilot Herr Wild!’
There was another thunder of applause from the crowd, but the grey man stiffened. ‘What? An Arnovian plane?’ he exclaimed.
Their eyes met and with a jolt, Sophie knew exactly what he was thinking. As one they turned, and then they were both running across the grass.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Issy-les-Moulineux Airfield, Paris
‘What an almighty shambles,’ muttered Forsyth as he and Lil pushed their way through the crowds. ‘How on earth are we going to tell the Chief that not only have we lost the Crown Prince, now we’ve lost the princess as well?’ His voice rose to a fretful note. ‘I was in line for a promotion, you know. I was going to be made Major! I might have got a medal out of this. All that’s jolly well out of the window now.’
‘Shut up about your stupid promotion!’ hissed Lil. ‘If you hadn’t gone off, the children would never have been left on their own in the first place!’ She felt furious with him, and with herself too, for leaving Anna alone, for being such an idiot as to mistake Alex’s message for a telephone number, for letting any of this happen. ‘We have to find them! Anna’s here all by herself, and if she’s right, then Alex is here too. We’ve still got a chance to save him! Come on, Forsyth.’
But even as she dragged him forward, there was the roar of a plane taking to the air. Lil could see the German flag fluttering from its tail: ‘No!’ she cried out, imagining the worst and Alex already aboard.
But Forsyth had grabbed for his field-glasses. ‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘It’s a one-man plane. There’s only the pilot aboard. No room for a passenger.’ He shook his head. ‘Look, I’m certain the princess got this wrong – all that gibberish about Shakespeare plays! The prince is only eleven, for heaven’s sake! He’d never have been able to come up with something like that.’
‘You don’t know Alex,’ Lil flashed back. ‘He’s smart. He’s got an imagination. Being eleven hasn’t got a thing to do with it. In any case, Anna must be here somewhere. Anna! Anna!’ she called out desperately.
‘Ssshhhh! ’ Forsyth hushed her at once. ‘You know the kidnap attempt has been in the newspapers. We have to stop them finding out about the prince being missing, and there are journalists everywhere! Why, there’s the frightful Russell girl who writes for The Daily Picture up there. We have to be discreet !’
‘I don’t care a bit about newspapers, or about being discreet,’ answered Lil hotly. ‘All I care about is that Anna and Alex are safe.’
Before she could say any more, the announcer’s voice boomed out again: ‘We have a new, late entry to the race, representing the nation of Arnovia. Please welcome pilot Herr Wild!’
‘An Arnovian plane?’ murmured Forsyth. ‘And who the devil is Herr Wild?’
But Lil had already grabbed the field-glasses out of his hand and was training them on the plane bumping out of the hangar and on to the field. The taller man in the front seat in overalls, cap and goggles could have been almost anyone, but the smaller figure behind him, even disguised in a muffler and a big leather flying coat, was someone she would recognised anywhere.
‘Forsyth – look! ’ she exclaimed. ‘I can see him! It’s Alex!’
Anna watched as the German plane roared up into the sky, becoming smaller and smaller until it disappeared altogether. She felt desperate. There was no passenger – Alex had not been on the German plane. Had she got the clue completely wrong? What if Alex wasn’t here after all?
Tears blurred her eyes again but she wiped them roughly away with her sleeve. She couldn’t cry now. She had to think. What would Beryl or Mops or Jean, or any of those Heroines of the Fourth Form have done now?
Würstchen was yapping and struggling in her arms. ‘Shush! ’ she scolded him sharply, even as she tried to work out what to do next. But he wriggled so much that she had to set him down on the floor, at which point he began to tug on his makeshift lead, pulling her in the direction of another one of the hangars, giving a volley of little excited yaps.
As he jerked her towards the door, she realised why. The word Arnovia had been scribbled on a piece of paper and pinned to the hangar door; and as she came closer, she realised she could hear someone speaking inside:
‘Make sure His Highness stays strapped in tightly. I don’t trust him not to struggle.’
She dared to creep forward into the hangar. From behind a pile of crates she stared as the Countess stood instructing the pilot in a sharp voice. She was dressed in an elaborate gown and grand plumed hat that were quite unsuitable for an airfield, and even from here, Anna could see that her face was made up with its usual heavy rouge and powder.
‘Hurry up!’ she was snapping at the pilot. ‘You’re next. Are you certain you really know how to operate this machine?’
There was something about the way she was speaking to him that seemed familiar, and with a sudden shock of recognition, Anna realised that the man clambering into the cockpit was not merely a pilot – he was the Count. His shiny domed head had been hidden by a leather flying cap, and goggles covered most of his face, obscuring his bristling moustache, but now he pushed them aside to reply. ‘Of course I do!’
‘Well you’d better take care. This is our only chance to get the prince out of France,’ retorted the Countess sharply. As she spoke, she stepped back, and then Anna saw that beyond her, in the passenger seat of the plane, was Alex. He was dressed in a big leather coat and cap, with goggles and a muffler wound tightly over his face, and he was struggling to free himself.
‘Stop that!’ demanded the Countess. ‘You’ll only endanger yourself.’
Anna’s heart seemed to stop still. Alex was there, only a few feet away from her, but what was she supposed to do? She knew that one girl and one little dog had no chance at rescuing him – not with the Count and Countess there.
Evidence, she thought desperately, grabbing for the attaché case with shaking fingers. If she could do nothing else she could get evidence. Her hands fumbled clumsily for the watch-camera, and she tried to steady them. Remembering what she had seen Lil do, she carefully positioned it, and then pressed the button just as the Countess handed something to the Count. It looked like an exercise book: as Anna watched, he tucked it carefully inside his flying jacket.
‘Be careful with it!’ she said strictly. ‘They care even more about that than they do about the prince. We mustn’t let them down now, Rudolf. Things are bad enough as it is. This is our last chance and heaven knows we don’t want them as our enemies. So be sure you take care.’
With shaking fingers, Anna dropped the camera carefully into her skirt pocket. The hangar door was opening: the Countess was saying goodbye. ‘I’ll see you at the rendez-vous, just as we agreed. Good luck.’
She stepped back from the plane, and the mechanics stepped forward, ready to roll it outside. From her corner, Anna could clearly see Alex struggling in the back seat and shouting something, but whatever it was, it was quite lost in the loud roaring of the crowd. The Countess gave a little nod of satisfaction. Anna could have screamed aloud.
‘Here’s Herr Wild, coming on to the field now,’ came the announcer’s voice, amplified by the loud-hailer so it could be heard even above the roar of the crowd. ‘Herr Wild will be flying this fine aeroplane, a new top-of-the-line two-seater Farman …’
But there was something strange happening, and a little murmur of surprise flickered through the crowd. Across the airfield from where Anna stood, two people had detached themselves from the crowd and vaulted the fence. One was an athletic young man, and with him was a tall young woman with dark hair. They were racing across the field towards the plane, as though determined to reach it before take-off.
‘What’s happening?’ murmured the people in the crowd. ‘Is something wrong?’<
br />
Up on the platform, Miss Russell shaded her eyes with her hands to get a better look.
‘Can the persons on the field please return behind the fence immediately!’ called out the announcer. ‘Members of the public are not permitted on the airfield. Please go back at once or you will be removed by the police!’
But Lil had no intention of going back. She knew that Alex was in that plane, and she was going to do whatever it took to save him. She lengthened her stride, pulling ahead of Forsyth, and as she did so, she saw to her amazement that across the airfield, two other figures had broken away from the crowd and were running towards the plane, like their own mirror images. It was a tall man in overalls, and a little way behind him, the smaller figure of a girl with fair hair. For a moment, she looked almost like … but of course, it couldn’t possibly be …
Forsyth was close behind her; they were gaining on the plane now; Lil could hear the announcer shouting at them even more furiously. She must catch the plane, she had promised Anna, she must.
She put on an extra burst of speed, and so did the girl running towards her. It couldn’t be … it simply couldn’t be … but then, unbelievably it was – it was !
‘SOPHIE! ’ she screamed in a voice that didn’t even sound like her own.
Sophie’s face turned towards her – shocked and amazed, and then for one brief second, filled with delight. For a second they stared, unable to believe their eyes, and then they yelled to each other, at the very same moment: ‘We have to stop the plane !’
The crowd were pointing and exclaiming. Up on the platform, Sir Chester Norton was speaking in a low, rapid voice to the race official; beside him, another official had wrested the loud-hailer away from the announcer. ‘Clear the airfield!’ he yelled. ‘Clear the airfield!’
Several policemen were running after them towards the plane. ‘Get back!’ they cried. ‘It isn’t safe!’
Miss Russell was staring more closely at the figure of the fair-haired young woman. ‘Good gracious – it’s her again,’ she exclaimed, reaching quickly for her notebook. ‘But whatever are they doing ?’
Everyone on the platform was so busy staring down at what was happening on the airfield below them that not one of them noticed the figure of a girl with plaits, with a small dog under one arm and a battered attaché case in the other, who had come racing up the steps of the platform. Not a single one of the race officials even glanced in her direction, as she scrambled up to where they stood, looking down at where Lil and Captain Forsyth, and two others that Anna did not recognise, were running towards the plane. But the plane was getting away from them, Anna saw – bumping over the grass, carrying Alex away with it. The police, the officials, none of them understood what was happening. It was going to be too late.
She saw the backs of the race officials, all peering down into the field below, and then beside them, abandoned on the ground now, the loud-hailer. As she grabbed for it, the young lady with the notebook turned sharply towards her, but Anna already had the loud-hailer in her hand.
For a moment she was not sure if she could do it, but then everything the Countess had ever said to her came back in a rush. Princesses should not raise their voices. A princess should be seen and not heard.
Not any more, thought Anna.
She raised the loud-hailer and then shouted through it as loudly as she could: ‘ARRETEZ! STOP! STOP THE PLANE! ’
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Issy-les-Moulineux Airfield, Paris
Sophie heard the voice scream out from somewhere above their heads. She heard the startled exclamations of the crowd, the yells of the mechanics. Her breath caught in her throat as she and Lil fell into step beside each other, running towards the plane. It was still moving, but the pilot was looking up at the platform, confused by what was happening. For the briefest of moments, the plane began to slow. His hesitation was all they needed: together they lunged forward and grabbed for the plane’s tail; together they braced their feet on the grass; together they felt their muscles strain. The plane rocked to a standstill.
The pilot yelled out something that Sophie could not hear, and tried to start the engine again. His mechanics were already running towards them, but then the grey man was there, shielding them, and blocking the mechanics way. One aimed a blow at him, but he dodged smartly and in one fluid motion, tripped the man, who fell hard on to the grass.
Lil didn’t know the man who was helping them, but this didn’t really seem the time to begin asking questions. Besides, every ounce of her energy was focused on reaching Alex before the plane could begin moving again. ‘We have to get him out!’ she yelled to Sophie, pointing to the passenger seat, where Alex was even now fighting to free himself. ‘He’s the Crown Prince of Arnovia. They’re trying to kidnap him!’
Sophie’s eyes widened, but she seemed to understand at once. In spite of everything that was happening, Lil felt a sudden surge of joy that she was here. It seemed somehow right to be dashing round to the side of the plane together; right that Sophie was with her as she leaned forward to pull Alex free.
‘Lil! Look out!’ Sophie screamed, and Lil saw that a mechanic was rushing towards her, swinging a crowbar. She dodged him, and then Forsyth was there, grappling with him, wrestling the weapon away.
Together, she and Sophie managed to rip off the straps that were holding Alex into the passenger seat: a moment later, he was wriggling free, and then she had pulled him safely down on to the grass.
The grey man was still grappling with the mechanics: ‘Get the notebook!’ Sophie heard him shout. She made a dive towards the pilot, but he pushed her roughly away, screaming something angry in German, and she fell back on to the grass. The engine let out a howl as one of the mechanics managed to begin pushing the plane forward again, the propellers starting to spin. Sophie struggled to her feet; the grey man was hurling himself forward too; but she knew that it was already too late. The plane was bumping across the grass again, moving wildly and unsteadily now but, almost before they could reach it, it was in the air.
The plane wobbled low over the heads of the crowd, dipping and shaking, and for a moment Sophie thought that there was going to be a terrible accident. But then the nose of the plane lifted and it roared higher into the sky, dragging away a tangled length of red-and-blue bunting with it – up, up and away.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs,’ came the flustered voice of the announcer. ‘As you can see there has been a slight … er … technical hitch with the departure of Herr Wild. We apologise for the disturbance. However he is now in the air and we wish him good luck! There will now be a short intermission and then next to depart will be Captain Nakamura of Japan!’
The music started up again in a hurry. All at once, the airfield seemed to be thronged with people: angry officials hustling them all off the grass, policemen asking questions, a reporter with a notebook elbowing her way to the centre of it all.
‘So much for keeping this out of the papers,’ groaned Forsyth. But Lil did not hear him. Anna was racing towards them, still carrying the attaché case, with Würstchen bounding joyfully at her heels. Princesses do not run – but this one did. She flung herself towards Alex and Lil.
Alex was wheezing more strenuously than she’d ever heard him, even now that Lil had unfastened his heavy leather coat and cast it aside, along with the scarf and goggles, but he still managed to pant out: ‘Anna, you did it! I knew that you would – I was scared that if I wrote something obvious they’d notice and know it was me, but I knew you’d be able to work it out.’
‘Well done, Anna,’ said Lil, with a delighted laugh. ‘I told Forsyth the two of you were jolly smart.’
But Anna was pointing across the airfield. ‘Look – over there! It’s the Countess – she’s escaping!’
Sure enough, some distance away from the throng of people, Anna could see the figure of the Countess and her footman, disappearing into a motor car. Captain Forsyth had obviously already seen them,
and was running towards the motor accompanied by two of the French policeman, but it was obvious that they would not get there in time. The footman was behind the wheel, and he was going to start the engine. They were going to escape.
But as Forsyth drew closer, something unexpected happened. The motor car would not start. Anna saw the Countess’s face, red with screaming, in the back seat as she yelled at the footman to make the car go. So much for discipline and decorum now.
‘She can scream as much as she likes. It isn’t going to work,’ said a nonchalant voice. To Lil’s enormous surprise, she saw that Tilly was now standing beside them. In spite of being amongst the chaos of a Paris airfield, she looked as matter-of-fact as if she was back in her workshop at Taylor & Rose. ‘I’ve removed a few essential components from the car engine,’ she explained briskly. ‘When I realised what was happening, I put two and two together, and I thought I’d take a few precautions to prevent anyone using that car to make a getaway,’ she explained. ‘Oh, this is Dr Bernard, by the way.’ She gestured to the man standing beside her, in white flannels. ‘He was very helpful in passing me spanners.’
Lil stared at her, and then back to where the Countess could be seen shrieking with rage and hitting out at Forsyth and the policeman. It was all completely perfect, she thought, and grinning at Sophie in delight.
But Sophie could not share her joy. She gave Lil a quick, rueful smile, and then looked away from the chaos, to stare up at the plane, already barely more than a speck in the sky, and with it the Professor’s precious notebook, containing everything the Fraternitas Draconum needed to find the secret weapon.
‘I’ve lost him,’ she muttered to herself. ‘He’s gone.’
Peril in Paris (Taylor and Rose Secret Agents) Page 18