The Nightmare Vortex

by Deborah Abela

  ‘Okay,’ said Max in a wilting tone.

  Linden was surprised. He knew Max hated being spoken to like that and that her exam had nothing to do with his stay. Usually she would have defended herself, but all she could think about as she climbed the stairs to her room was Alex and her dad. Everything else seemed a long way away.

  Alex Crane and Max Remy ran through the tangle of collapsed columns, roof beams and broken glass and jumped aside just in time to avoid a barrel-sized potted plant that rolled their way.

  ‘Are you two okay?’ Agent Crane called from behind.

  ‘Yeah, Dad. You?’

  ‘Yeah.’ He gave one of his famous lopsided smiles to his daughter and her friend. He was proud of both of them as they ran through the collapsing building without a shred of fear.

  The building was an old warehouse on the Hudson River in New York, and Max, Alex and her dad had infiltrated it to stop the forgery of great artworks that Spyforce had traced there. Only, a deadly tip-off by an arch enemy now saw the building collapsing around them.

  Without warning, a loud crash punctured the rumbling din. Alex and Max were pushed forward by the blast and fell to the ground. When they looked behind they saw a giant slab of floor had collapsed and Alex’s father with it.

  ‘Dad!’ Alex screamed as she saw him pinned under great weights of steel and concrete.

  Max and Alex pushed the blanket of rubble off them as they crawled over the crumbling pile of debris towards him.

  ‘Stop. It’s too dangerous,’ Alex’s father called.

  ‘We’re not leaving you,’ Max shouted, but the floor’s crumbling hold began to give way. They had to save him. He was one of Spyforce’s best agents. And he was Alex’s dad. If they could only reach out a little further. Just a little

  Max was pulled from her nightmare by the vibrations of her palm computer. She looked at the blinking device and knew she’d fallen asleep while studying again.

  ‘Will I ever sleep in a regular bed like normal people?’ she muttered as Steinberger’s image appeared on the screen.

  ‘Ah Max, you must have been up early,’ he said cheerily.

  ‘Sorry?’ She was struggling to make sense of the world.

  ‘I was worried I might find you in your pyjamas. You seem to be a late starter.’

  Max looked at her clothes.

  ‘Yeah. It feels like I never went to bed.’

  ‘I wanted to wish you luck for your exam. I’ll be supervising. It’s normally Dretch but he’s been called away.’

  ‘That’s a shame,’ said Max, a creeping chill covering her at the mention of that name. ‘Has Alex told you how we’ve been doing?’

  ‘Not yet. She likes to give a full report at the end.’

  ‘Oh.’ Max was hoping she’d said something.

  ‘I’ll see you both in an hour.’ Steinberger zapped off her screen.

  Max tried to shake off the nightmare and felt as helpless as Alex did at not being able to save her dad.

  ‘Max, are you decent?’ It was Linden.

  ‘Are you?’

  ‘I try to be.’

  ‘Come in then.’

  Linden was as perky as ever. ‘Ready for the exam?’

  ‘Is a Micro Subsonic Atomiser a great way to drive bad guys’ ears crazy underwater?’

  ‘Was Anna Purday the first agent to cross the Himalayas using only the Polar Sustenance Shield?’ Linden added.

  ‘Was 1972 the first year Spyforce won the Agency of the Year Award?’

  Linden smiled. ‘Been studying, eh? It’s a long exam. What about your mum?’

  ‘She’s shopping, which means she’ll be all day.’

  When Steinberger reappeared, Max and Linden were ready for him.

  ‘Each of you will sit on opposite sides of Max’s desk. The exam will appear on your palm computers with me sitting in the corner of your screens to supervise. Don’t let that put you off. I’ll be very quiet. You have three hours and your time … starts … now.’

  Linden shot a quick wink at Max for luck and they began.

  Max looked at the first question and was relieved when she saw she knew it. Her fingers scurried across the keys like frantic ants, eating up every question and racing to the next. When the final moments ticked over, the exam disappeared and Steinberger’s face filled the screen again. ‘Time’s up.’

  Max and Linden flopped back in their chairs.

  ‘On behalf of Spyforce, I’d like to thank you both for all your hard work this week. Spy work can be very difficult, especially while trying to keep up your regular life without anyone knowing about your alias. Even the best spies find that hard. And now,’ he said with an enlivened pause, ‘we have a job for you.’

  ‘A mission?’ Max perked up. After all this time they were finally going on another mission.

  ‘Kind of.’ Steinberger looked uneasy. ‘Quite a few agents here have been struck down with a very bad flu. Pesky thing. We can walk on the moon but we can’t control some sniffles and a stuffed-up head. Anyhow, we need your help.’

  Linden’s head filled with images of glaciers in New Zealand, deserts in Algeria, reefs off New Caledonia. ‘Anything, Steinberger. Just name it.’

  ‘We’d like you to be waiters at the Annual Spy Awards Night.’

  Waiters? Not only had Max not been invited but she was asked to be a waiter.

  It wasn’t quite what Linden had expected but he thought it could be fun. ‘Sure.’

  ‘Excellent.’ As Steinberger told them what their duties would be, Max scowled. I’ll never see any action as a waiter. All I’ll see is soup and trays and the backs of people’s heads as they tuck into a life that is exciting and adventurous and has nothing to do with me.

  ‘Ben and Francis have agreed to let you use the Time and Space Machine as Sleek also has the flu and his sinuses really play up when he travels long distances in the Invisible Jet. Your mother has been told they’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at seven and you’ll be home late. That will give you plenty of time to finish your cleaning duties once the awards are over.’

  Why is there always something wrong with my life? Max thought. When school is good there’s always Toby. When home is good there’s Aidan, and now that I’m about to go on a great adventure there’s a big pile of dirty dishes.

  ‘That’s all for now. I’ll see you tomorrow when you arrive at Spyforce,’ Steinberger finished cheerfully.

  Linden looked at a deflated Max. ‘It could be worse.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘We could have been asked to clean the toilets.’

  ‘Errrr.’ Max threw her pillow at Linden.

  ‘Just trying to be helpful.’

  As Max and Linden talked about the exam, a gloved hand outside Max’s house clutched a radio transmitter and a man spoke into his jacket lapel. ‘Radio transmission complete. What would you like me to do now, boss?’

  A voice whined from the other side of the world.

  ‘We’ve just been delivered a little bonus. Not only will we be the new owners of a brand-new Time and Space Machine but we almost have all we need to finally undo Harrison and Spyforce.’

  Max and Linden were packed and ready when Ben and Francis picked them up the next day. Ben was acting a little strange, double-checking everything and saying things twice. ‘I don’t mind telling you I’m a little jealous. Using the Time and Space Machine and being invited to the Spy Awards Night. It’s a very special invitation. It’s an honour. A real honour.’

  ‘We’ve been invited to be waiters,’ Max reminded him as they drove ever closer to the lab.

  ‘We know. We know. It’s a very important job. Very important. Serving some of the greatest, unsung heroes of our day. Saving the world while most of us have no idea we’re even in danger.’

  When it was put that way, Max felt better about what they were about to do. Maybe it wasn’t going to be such a bad job after all.

  Max watched as the lab appeared before them and after being waved through b
y the security guards, Max, Ben, Francis and Linden went through the necessary procedures for getting ready for the lab.

  When they finally stood in front of the Transporter Mark II, a tremor shot through Max’s body. ‘Do you remember the first time we used the old Time and Space Machine?’ she asked Linden.

  ‘Yeah.’ He looked down at his bulging white suit. ‘I was dressed a little better, but this should be fun too.’

  Max smiled. Apart from his corny jokes, Linden would always be first choice as her spy partner.

  ‘Do you remember how the Transporter works?’ Francis asked.

  ‘Yep,’ Linden and Max said together, eager to get on with it. After the last week of training and studying, they felt ready for anything.

  ‘Be careful out there, very careful,’ Ben said somberly. ‘It can be a dangerous business.’

  ‘Handing out soup?’ Linden asked.

  ‘Well, not the soup bit … all the other stuff.’

  ‘We’ll be fine.’ Max was worried Ben was going to get all emotional as he leant down and wrapped her in one of his hugs.

  ‘You’re very special to us. Both of you. Very special. You know that?’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ Max wheezed.

  After Linden had his dose of Ben’s hugging, they were ready to go, when Max’s pocket vibrated. She opened her palm computer.

  ‘Eleanor?’ Max was surprised to see her aunt.

  ‘Max. Thank goodness I caught you.’

  ‘How did you reach us? Do you have a palm computer too?’

  ‘Yep. We’ve had them for years. The first ones were really huge but they’re much more streamlined now.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me you all had one?’

  ‘You know we can’t tell you things before Spyforce lets us,’ Eleanor said gently.

  ‘What else don’t I know? Next you’ll be telling me you have a deep underground cavern in the farm that doubles as a secret high-tech laboratory.’

  Max thought she saw Ben and Francis exchange a quick glance.

  ‘Eleanor?’

  ‘Ah … I should let you go. The Spy Awards Nights are very special events. I’m sure you’ll be great.’

  Just as she spoke, they heard an enormous crash in the background.

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘It’s Larry,’ Eleanor explained. ‘He’s climbed onto the roof again.’

  ‘There’s going to be hail.’ Linden and Ben nodded.

  Eleanor and Ben were the only people Max knew who had a weather-predicting pig. Despite knowing she was going to regret asking, there was a part of her that had to know.

  ‘Why does Larry climb on the roof when it’s going to hail?’

  ‘He likes to pretend he’s a giant piece of ice plummeting to earth. Anyway, dear, better let you get on with it. Best of luck and may the Force be with you.’

  ‘Larry’s on the roof.’ Linden was disappointed.

  ‘Yeah.’ Ben sounded the same. ‘He makes this big pile out of hay and old rags and then he dives into it. Doesn’t hail much so we don’t see it often, but it’s great when it happens.’

  ‘Do you remember the time when a gust of wind blew up and he got stuck on the clothesline?’ Linden sniggered.

  ‘It took all three of us an hour to get him down, but then he went straight back up on the roof again.’

  ‘He’s a brave one, that pig.’ Linden smiled affectionately.

  Max watched Ben and Linden as they mused about Larry’s pig-flying abilities.

  ‘Is it too much to ask to actually get on with our mission?’

  ‘Oh, yeah.’ Ben shook his head. ‘Francis?’

  ‘Let’s all hold hands.’

  Hold hands? Max thought, it’s a spy mission, not a hippie convention.

  ‘Today is a very big day in the history of the scientific world and the advancement of mankind … I mean, humankind. Max and Linden, we wish you luck as you embark on a great journey. It’s not by sitting still that people become great. It’s by taking risks and moving ahead.’

  ‘And washing dishes,’ Linden added with fake seriousness.

  ‘And washing dishes.’ Francis smirked. ‘May the Force be with you.’

  Ben struggled with a tear tickling the corner of his eye as Max released her hand. ‘We better go.’

  ‘Call us on your palm computers when you get there,’ Ben’s voice cracked as Max tried to get out of there before she had to witness an adult cry.

  ‘Okay.’ She wrote Spyforce on the LED screen of the Transporter Mark II and it immediately displayed the coordinates.

  ‘This is much quicker than before,’ Linden exclaimed.

  ‘And take care,’ Ben added in a voice slightly higher than normal. ‘Lots of care.’

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘And don’t forget to …’

  But it was too late. Max grabbed Linden’s hand, said ‘Transport’ and just as Francis had told them, there was no loud noise, only a green flash of light, a quiet fffftttt and they were gone.

  A flash of fluorescent light billowed from the air and tiny sparks of colour fell like a shower from a fireworks display. Max and Linden appeared from the centre of the light and hung suspended in the air for a few seconds before floating gently to the ground.

  Watching from nearby, Steinberger pressed down on his stopwatch.

  ‘Fifteen seconds! Brilliant!’ he whispered to himself. ‘Not quite the speed we’d like yet but they’ve done it. Ben and Francis have to be two of the most ingenious people to ever get up in the morning.’

  Dressed in their white lab suits, Max and Linden arrived at Spyforce in the Vehicular All-Response Tower, or the VART for short. Linden landed on his feet looking pretty similar to how he left. Max, however, looked like a giant upside-down pavlova as her suit had filled with air during transportation and she’d landed on a pile of kitty litter and some freshly laid poo.

  ‘What is it with animals relieving themselves right where I’m about to land? The world’s not that small,’ Max said as she stretched her head over her expanded body to see the Transporter Mark II safely nestled in her hand.

  ‘And cats have to have the smelliest poo in the world.’

  Dretch’s cat, Delilah, chose that moment to saunter in front of Max looking like a proud goose that laid a golden egg. ‘You may think you’ve won this one, but just you wait,’ Max warned.

  Linden stared at his upturned friend. ‘Max, she’s a cat. She doesn’t speak English.’

  ‘She knows what I’m saying,’ Max sneered as the cat innocently licked its fur.

  ‘Ah Max! Linden!’ Steinberger walked towards them with a sprightly step, then suddenly stopped. ‘What is that smell?’

  ‘It’s Delilah’s welcome home present for Max,’ Linden explained. ‘I’m trying not to take it personally that I didn’t get anything.’

  ‘And who’s become a little chubby since I last saw her?’ Steinberger poked Max’s over-inflated suit and giggled.

  At that exact moment Linden thought Steinberger was just about the bravest person he knew.

  Max didn’t smile and Steinberger’s expression collapsed into a frown.

  ‘Maybe you should just help me up?’

  Steinberger pulled a small sewing kit from his pocket. ‘Another thing Nanna said never to be without, along with a hanky.’ He produced a shiny needle and plunged it into Max’s suit so that she flew through the air like an escaped party balloon.

  ‘Waaaaaaa!’ she yelled as she fizzled in front of Linden and Steinberger.

  ‘This is better than a fair,’ said Linden, knowing there was no way Max would hear him.

  ‘Maybe she should be part of the finale for tonight’s celebrations?’ Steinberger was buoyed by his own humour until Max, who was no longer airborne, came crashing to the floor with a loud, ‘Oooooph!’

  Linden and Steinberger leapt into action.

  ‘Max, are you alright?’ Steinberger asked anxiously.

  Max groaned as she tried to sit up. ‘No
w I know how the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz felt.’

  Linden and Steinberger looked at each other. Max realised she’d told a joke, which felt very unMaxlike. Linden opened his mouth to speak.

  ‘Don’t say anything. I’m just as confused as you are. Let’s go.’

  Max put the Transporter Mark II in her pack while Linden called Ben and Francis to tell them they’d arrived safely. She looked around the VART at the Sleek Machine, the Space Explorer and the area where the Invisible Jet would be if she could see it. As much as she was angry about her landing, she was happy to be back at Spyforce.

  Stepping onto the Vibratron 5000 for identification, they felt the familiar tingling sensation throughout their bodies. ‘I love this part,’ Linden said when it was his turn.

  ‘Are we going to Harrison’s office now?’ Max secretly hoped Harrison may have a mission for them and besides, she was sure he’d want to say hello to his top spies.

  ‘I’m afraid not. Harrison is busy with the heads of all the other agencies, going over final security details for this evening. Meanwhile, let’s get you fitted out.’

  Steinberger led the way down a series of long, dimly lit corridors until they reached the kitchen and the bright blue-and-red-striped hairdo of Irene.

  ‘Thank goodness you’re here. Quick, try this.’

  She held out a tray of hot pink muffins smothered in an orange-coloured sauce.

  Linden didn’t need to be asked twice. ‘Mmmmm.’

  ‘Is that a good mmm or a bad one?’ Irene looked nervous.

  ‘Can you come and live at my place?’

  Irene’s face stretched into a wide grin. ‘They’re going on the menu.’

  Linden liked Irene, especially the way she reminded him of his mother. They both had rounded figures, wore bright colours and always had a positive word for even the bleakest situation.

  ‘I’m in charge of the kitchen tonight and you and I will be working together.’

  ‘All right!’ Suddenly Linden didn’t care if he wasn’t on a mission. He was going to spend the night surrounded by slightly weird but delicious food.