by David Alric
But Chopper didn’t answer. He was now deep in thought. He reached over for the binoculars and peered intently at the site.
‘And they’ve taken most of the climbing stuff with them,’ he murmured. ‘Sam,’ he said suddenly, ‘get your gun and binoculars and get after them. They can’t have got far carrying all that gear and they may be taking it to the others. It’s our best lead for finding the plane and our free ticket out of here.’ Sam downed his coffee in a gulp, and went to get ready. A few minutes later he disappeared into the bush, choosing a route that meant he wouldn’t be seen by Helen.
After Sam’s departure Chopper and Biggles discussed the situation. To the relief of the pilot Chopper seemed calmer after his angry outburst the previous day and had apparently accepted that the disaster with the plane had been an unfortunate accident.
‘What the hell are they playing at?’ said Chopper, ‘and where’s their plane?’
The pilot drew on his cigarette and thought for a few moments before speaking.
‘There are three possibilities,’ he said eventually. Chopper leaned forward. Despite the unfortunate accident with the plane the day before he had come to respect the pilot’s judgement and wanted to hear what he thought.
‘First of all, the plane group may have just dropped the others off and will come back for them in a few days, or whatever. They may have even gone on to another site.’
‘Hmm, that would be bad for us,’ interrupted Chopper. ‘It means we’ll have to watch them all the time to make sure we’re ready to grab the plane when it lands – and it might not be for weeks.’
Biggles nodded in agreement and continued.
‘The second possibility is that they landed here because from the air this landing strip looks safe and easy, and it’s a good camping site because of the nearby shade and the river. They arrived in the afternoon and would obviously have wanted to get their tents up before nightfall, even though it’s not convenient for the rocks and fossils in the escarpment, which is what they’ve come for.’
‘So where’s the plane now?’ asked Chopper.
‘Well, I’m only guessing, but once some of the group got cracking setting up camp the others went off on a recce.’
Chopper looked puzzled.
‘Sorry, pilots’ slang. They went to reconnoitre, to look for whatever it is they’re interested in. While they were flying over the escarpment they saw the type of rocks they were looking for. They saw a suitable landing place nearby and they haven’t come back because they’ve decided to leave the plane near the rocks. Their specimens will be heavy and they can put them straight in the plane instead of lugging them back here.’
‘And what about their camp here?’ said Chopper.
‘Well, it’s only a couple of tents. They’ll either move them to a new site near the plane, or simply use this as a base – sleeping here at night and working near the plane during the day. On the last day they’ll fly the plane back here to pick up the tents and then go home.’
‘You said there were three possibilities,’ said Chopper. Biggles continued.
‘The third possibility is that they’ve crashed, though that seems unlikely. Flying conditions were perfect yesterday afternoon and the plane looked brand new. A mid-air collision is out of the question – there’s nothing here to hit!’ They both looked up into the empty blue sky and Chopper chuckled. He thought over what he had heard. It all made good sense.
‘How do we find out which of these theories is true?’
‘Simple,’ said Biggles. ‘We watch the group here and see if they are working on their own or joining the others. You’ve already done the right thing by sending Sam after the two kids. If they’ve gone to join the others he’ll find out where the plane is in the next few hours.’
‘So what you’re saying,’ said Chopper after a moment’s thought, ‘is that we don’t need to do anything until Sam gets back.’ The pilot agreed.
Chopper took a long final draw on the filthy-smelling black cheroot he was smoking and crushed it out in his plastic coffee cup. He looked at the pilot.
‘You’re a smart guy, Biggles. Maybe we should carry on working together when we get out of here – make those fat fortunes as a team, eh?’ He smiled, revealing a set of broken, nicotine-stained teeth. It was not a particularly attractive sight and the pilot felt slightly ill. Off hand, he couldn’t think of anybody on the planet he would rather not work with than the repulsive, belligerent oaf sitting opposite him, but he managed to conjure up a smile and nodded enthusiastically at Chopper’s suggestion. His immediate concern was his own survival, and he was only too pleased to be back in Chopper’s favour.
Chopper was still thinking over the conversation.
‘One more thing,’ he said. He jerked his thumb towards the other camp where, in the distance, Helen had rigged a rope between two trees behind the tents and was now hanging all the sleeping bags out to air. ‘If she leaves, we follow her. I don’t ever want them and their plane all out of sight at the same time. If they decide to leave we’re stranded.’ He paused, ‘… and we take the invisibility suits and the prof’s data disk with us. Everything’s in that tin box in the lab. Then if we have to grab the plane we’ll be all ready to go.’
‘What about the others?’ said the pilot.
‘We’ll top the professor before we go and pick up Sam on the way; the rest of them can have a long holiday here – a lifelong holiday. It’s a very relaxing place and they all need a break. They’ve served their purpose. I think the proceeds from the invisibility suit divides better into three than six, don’t you?’
Biggles suppressed a shudder. He was appalled by the man’s casual brutality.
‘Do we … er … have to kill the prof?’ he asked, somewhat tentatively. Having got back into Chopper’s good books he didn’t want to get on the wrong side of him again.
‘Well, no,’ Chopper replied. ‘If he’s around when we have to leave we’ll knock him off; if he’s not around we’ll just leave him, he looks in need of a holiday too. We’ll just do whatever’s convenient when the time comes.’
Luke had heard enough. He hurried back to his hut and tore off his suit. He quickly stuffed it into the specimen case he used to collect samples of ore then took his gun from its hiding place, checked it was loaded, and slipped it in his pocket. Meanwhile, Chopper had been having further thoughts.
‘If she suddenly decides to leave,’ he said to Biggles, ‘we’ll need to be ready to follow straight away; we can’t risk losing her.’ He paused. ‘In fact, where’s the prof now? Maybe we should sort him out first so we can get the stuff out of the tin box.’
‘I think he’s in the lab – or his cabin,’ said Biggles. ‘I’ll go and get him.’ He started to get up hurriedly in case Chopper decided to go and catch Luke unawares. He was desperately trying to think how he could warn the professor without incurring Chopper’s wrath.
‘No!’ said Chopper, confirming his worst fears. ‘He’s a clever bastard. We need to take him by surprise.’
Just at that moment, however, to Biggles’s intense relief, the professor appeared from his cabin carrying his specimen box. His other hand was in the pocket of his shorts clutching the gun. He walked up to them, praying that neither would notice the extra bulge of the weapon.
‘I’m just going to collect some more ore,’ he said casually. ‘See you guys later.’ He turned and walked away, his entire body tingling at the thought that at any second a bullet might come crashing into his back. He began to breathe more easily with every yard that put him further away from Chopper and eventually, sweating with fear, reached the safety of the trees.
‘Well, that solves that,’ said Chopper with a chuckle. ‘He seems to have opted for a long holiday rather than an unmarked grave – at least for the moment. What happens next is up to her.’
As he spoke they both looked over to the tents just in time to see Clio running up to rejoin Helen and Queenie.
‘What on earth is this thing they
’ve got with monkeys?’ muttered Chopper as he pushed back his chair and got up to go and check on the contents of the tin box. Biggles followed him to the lab and neither of them saw Helen stoop to remove a note from the monkey’s collar. Nor did Luke who, at that moment, was hiding among the trees donning his invisibility suit. Helen tore open the package with trembling hands; at least one of them must be alive to have sent it but now visions of a sole survivor lying critically injured flashed through her mind. She sobbed in relief as she read the note and the reassuring capitals that jumped instantly out of the page at her.
Hi love, WE’RE ALL OK!
Plane bust up and unusable. Dinosaurs in valley. Lucy can talk to them but they don’t know she is the PO, so v. dangerous to move about. We will wait near rope till you can get ladder over. Clio will tell Queenie where rope is and can bring reply back.
Hope all OK with you,
Love to all there from all here.
She sat down at the camp table to scribble a reply when she saw Queenie and Clio sniffing the air. She looked around but could see nothing unusual, so turned back to her task. As she did so the professor crept up behind the sleeping bags hanging on the line and struggled out of his suit. The monkeys came round and looked at him. Luke did a double take on Queenie’s spectacles and, having reassured himself that he hadn’t gone mad as a result of his recent encounter, called to Helen.
‘Helen, don’t be alarmed. It’s me, Luke,’ he called. Helen jumped. She got up to investigate as he spoke again. ‘I’m in great danger. That’s why I’m hiding from them.’ He pointed over the line towards the villains. He was still deathly pale from his recent near-death experience with Chopper. Helen glanced over to the other camp but saw nobody. At that moment Chopper and Biggles were in the lab rifling through the professor’s possessions.
‘You look terrible!’ she said sympathetically to the professor. ‘Sit down and I’ll make some coffee while you tell me what’s going on.’ As she spoke she passed him a camp chair, then went back to sweep the note from the table and pocket it. He sat down in relief, completely hidden from the view of the other camp.
‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to tell you the whole story,’ Luke began, ‘even though it may put my family in mortal danger. First of all, we are not a government expedition. I am a university physicist. A few months ago I made a significant discovery. A discovery that is going to change the world. An … incredible discovery. Unfortunately, that gang of villains,’ he jerked his thumb towards the other camp, ‘got to know what I was doing, kidnapped me, and brought me here so that I could complete my research without anyone knowing. Their plan is to steal the finished product and use it to become immensely rich.’He stopped and sipped gratefully at the coffee Helen had given him.
‘But how could they force you to complete your work? Surely they couldn’t make you think clever thoughts if you didn’t want to.’
‘Ah, very easily,’ the professor explained sadly. ‘I had no option but to comply with their demands. They said that if I refused they would murder my daughter and grandson – and I’m certain that their threat was not an idle one.’ He wiped a tear from his eye.
‘And what’s happened this morning to make you come here?’ asked Helen. She was sitting in full view of the other camp and cast a nervous glance in that direction.
‘Two things. The first is that they know my work is now complete. I fear I’m now of no further use to them and I’ve no doubt that they haven’t the slightest intention of my ever leaving this valley alive. The second is something that could be disastrous for both of us, my dear. Their plane is out of action. The pilot tried to hide it when you all arrived yesterday – the villains thought you might be the police – and it got stuck in a bog. I think they are now planning to steal your plane. If they do, they can’t take the risk of leaving you alive in case you get rescued later. I think we are all in terrible danger.’
Helen was in a quandary. His story was entirely plausible; there was no question that he had been terrified when he had appeared at the tent a few moments earlier, and it had been obvious from the start that Chopper and his gang were a bunch of thugs. On the other hand, something made her instinctively distrustful of the professor. She decided it couldn’t do any harm to tell him about the fate of their own plane. If he was in collusion with the other villains and his visit was all part of an elaborate charade, it would buy them all a little time, for the thugs would then know that they were all trapped in the valley together and think that a rescue plan for the explorers might already have been set in motion.
‘It so happens,’ she said, ‘that our own plane is out of action as well, so there’s no point in anyone pinching it.’ She didn’t say where it was, to avoid any awkward questions about how she knew about it.
‘Heavens!’ said Luke. ‘So we’re all stuck here?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, I think we were hoping to borrow your plane but that’s obviously out of the question.’ A thought struck her. ‘Is it actually damaged?’ she asked casually.
‘I don’t think so, but it’s stuck tight. The pilot thinks it would take fifty men to get it out.’
‘And just how many men are there?’ If they were up against an enemy, she thought, the more she could find out the better.
‘There are six of us altogether so we couldn’t possibly get it out, even with your lot helping as well.’ He paused, then added. ‘There’s just two of them over there at the moment, I think the others have gone to spy on your group.’
‘What are you going to do now?’ asked Helen.
‘Make myself scarce for the time being. I can’t risk staying with them and I don’t want to put you in danger by being seen with you. I’ve got some grub out there,’ he nodded vaguely towards the bushes, ‘and I’ll lie low until someone comes to rescue you – if that’s OK with you?’
‘Of course,’ said Helen, ‘the others should be back soon.’ She felt the white lie was fully justified in the circumstances and the sooner he disappeared the sooner she could get a note to the others and think about what she should do. ‘If you run out of food I’m sure we can find a way of getting some more to you. Good luck!’
Luke made good his escape, choosing a route to the trees that was completely obscured from the other camp by the sleeping bags hanging on the line. As it so happened someone was watching from the other camp but the bags served their purpose and he saw nothing of Luke. Chopper was pretending to sleep in a hammock but was furtively inspecting Helen’s camp every so often through his binoculars. He also occasionally looked to the escarpment to see if there was any sign of Sam returning with news of the plane. Biggles was drinking coffee in the lab, reading an old aeronautical magazine and hoping against hope that Luke wouldn’t return to a certain death.
After Luke had gone, Helen sat down and scribbled a note to the others. She was glad now that the professor had appeared before she had been able to write her reply, as his visit had dramatically changed the situation. She taped it to Clio, stroked her and then patted her gently on the back while pointing to the escarpment. The monkey raced off towards the cliffs and Helen knew that her note would soon be with the others. After Clio had gone she made herself another coffee and sat down to work out what to do next. The more she thought about it, the more she felt instinctively that she should try and join the others. She was very vulnerable here on her own and if the villains decided to take her as a hostage the entire group would be at their mercy. She glanced over to the other camp but saw no sign of movement. She got up unhurriedly so as not to attract attention and checked her survival rucksack. She had a long drink of water, applied some suncream and then called softly to Queenie. They crept behind the hanging sleeping bags, just as the professor had done, and used their cover to get to the trees. As they reached them Helen stopped in consternation as she saw a troop of wild monkeys, apparently lying in wait for them. Queenie pressed confidently towards them, however, and Helen realized with relief that Clio must have enlisted their serv
ices as guides to lead them to the rope.
As bad luck would have it, Chopper chose to make one of his intermittent scrutinies of the tents only a few seconds after Helen had disappeared. He stiffened when he saw she wasn’t there, then sat up and peered intently round the whole tent site.
‘I think we’re on the move!’ he shouted to Biggles. ‘She may be just having a pee, but let’s get the suits on so we’re ready.’ They scrambled into the suits and Chopper grabbed a revolver, a rifle, and a pair of binoculars while Biggles retrieved the professor’s research disk from the tin box. By the time they were ready there was still no sign of Helen. They hurried over to the empty tent site and were just in time to see her through the trees in the far distance, heading towards the escarpment. Chopper gave a grunt of satisfaction and the pair started to follow her. They might easily have collided with Luke who was standing silently nearby, also invisible, but the professor was expecting them and managed to avoid them by watching the flattened grass springing back up from where they had trodden.
16
The Horror of the Hollow Hills
Back at the base of the forbidding escarpment, Clare followed Sophie to the mouth of the cave and peered in. It was a narrow entrance – just big enough for a human being but certainly nothing bigger. She now realized why it had been invisible from further along the cliff.
Inside it was pitch black. The monkey walked in a little way then turned back as if surprised at Clare’s hesitation. She suddenly remembered Helen’s survival kit and breathed a fervent prayer of thanks as she rummaged to find the torch in her rucksack. She tested it and a weak light came on. She looked to see if Clive was still in sight, but he was long gone. There was nothing for it but to follow Sophie and Kai. She gripped the torch tightly, stretched her other arm out in front of her face to feel for obstacles, and walked into the darkness.