Deep Wild Blue
Page 11
‘Okay,’ Troy nodded. ‘Just make sure you wait for Lucy.’
Max Twig had been deliberately holding back. He didn’t want to be seen taking the road that would lead to the scrap yard. He waited for Troy and Jacob to head for Gull Cottage and watched Archie make his way to the boathouse. When nobody was around, Twig moved quickly in the direction of his car.
Archie was hanging around for about an hour in the boathouse. Eventually he caught the soft purr from the engine of Lord Braxton’s expensive car as it drew alongside Gull Cottage. Lucy’s words drifted down to him. He heard her say: ‘thank you,’ followed by the sound of a car door as it closed.
Troy emerged from Gull Cottage and gave Lucy an outline of the Council’s decision and Archie’s new plan for Kristo.
‘Do you think we’ll find another cottage for Lord Braxton?’ she asked Troy, as they made their way down the cliff path.
‘A slim chance. Property round here is very popular.’
‘It’s a rotten shame. Scarlett and her dad are really awesome people.’
Archie had pushed open the boathouse rear doors and a humming noise could be heard echoing from the cradle.
‘Will you want me talking to you on the transceiver?’ Troy asked Lucy.
She shook her head. ‘No point, we won’t be going deep… and I expect Uncle’s got loads to talk about after the Council’s visit.’
Archie had opened the front hatch and slid smoothly into Kristo. He closed it behind him and switched on the oxygen generator. He tapped the “camera” icon and the three plasma screens lit up. The dorsal screen showed Lucy arriving at the sea edge rails. Archie tapped the icon for the turbine engines to cut in and felt his body jerk back against the seat as Kristo moved forward.
The shark was programmed to stop at the end of the rails, and this he duly did, allowing Lucy to get a foot on the cradle. She heaved herself into Kristo’s rear seat, reaching up and closing the hatch above her head. With both hatches now shut the body-straps unrolled and dropped down.
Archie nudged the power up a fraction and Kristo slipped over the foamy waves and dropped into deeper water. Lucy glanced at the screens to check that no boats, swimmers, or surfers were anywhere around.
‘Lucky you,’ Archie said, ‘getting that ride on a Jet Ski. We all watched you from the shore.’
‘Scarlett and I are best friends now,’ Lucy smirked, catching a touch of jealousy in Archie’s voice. ‘I can join her whenever she takes it out.’
‘Do I get a ride?’
‘You’ll have to ask her.’
‘If we spot another cottage that Scarlett likes she’ll owe us a favour… then she won’t be able to refuse me a Jet Ski ride.’
‘Where are you thinking of looking?’
‘We’ll stick close to the coastline,’ Archie explained. ‘Valentine Cove will be first, then Driftwood Cove and finally Sunset Cove.’
‘Good idea. There are a lot of properties sitting on the cliffs.’
‘Plug your phone into the dorsal fin screen, and then we can take a few screenshots of cottages with “for sale” boards.’
Archie levelled Kristo up and kept low in the water. He increased power, turned to the right using the rudder pedals, and then set the guidance system for Sunset Cove.
‘Is that the Stinger at the sea edge?’ Lucy queried, zooming in and checking the dorsal screen.
‘Yep, the Riddle brothers must have towed it out of the old workshop. We’re almost level with Valentine Cove.’
‘I can see two figures standing by the Stinger,’ Lucy said.
Archie was frowning. He eased Kristo’s power down to a trickle as his eyes scanned the transmitted pictures from the dorsal camera. He looked once, blinked, and then looked again.
‘Take a screenshot of the two men,’ he told Lucy. ‘The scruffy one is Joe Riddle but… but…’ Archie’s voice hesitated. ‘But the man in the dark suit is the head of the Council. His name’s Sam Stark!’
There was a lot of movement by the Stinger. Both men had their backs against the rear of the mini-sub and were heaving it the last metre towards the sea edge.
‘You’re still wearin’ your Council badge,’ Joe Riddle observed with a chuckle. ‘Do you want me to call you Sam?’
‘No of course not!’ Twig snapped, wiping sweat from his face and peering into the Stinger’s large front bubble-window. ‘My job here is over. I just want my money and a fun ride in this mini-sub of yours before I head back to Devon.’
‘Hope you enjoyed your stay with us.’
‘One night was enough. The sleeping bag you gave me stinks.’
‘I asked Len to freshen it up. An old helper in the scrap yard used it before he died. I told Len to clean up all the pee stains.’
‘Disgusting,’ Twig huffed, holding out a hand. ‘Now give me my money… I worked damn hard for it yesterday, fending off questions from Braxton.’
Riddle slapped a packet in his hand. ‘We’re pleased with your services,’ Joe said.
There was a pressurised hiss as the Stinger’s rear hatch was opened. Riddle and Twig wiggled themselves into the front seats and fastened their seat-belts. The mini-sub moved forward under Joe’s control. He nudged the throttle lever to increase speed.
Twig’s face, although already white, seemed as if all blood had drained out of it. He’d requested a fun trip in the Stinger before he left for home, but now that it was happening he was beginning to regret it.
Tiny bubbles smeared and burst on the front and side windows as Riddle dropped the craft lower in the sea.
Max Twig jumped as a squid clung to the front bubble-window before its suckers slid sideways and its grip was lost. He heaved a breath of relief, giving Joe a very shaky smile.
The Stinger was travelling smoothly away from the coastline and unknown to Riddle it was staying on a course that would pass under Kristo.
The dashboard speaker above Twig’s knees began making a ‘pinging’ sound. He frowned and turned to face Riddle.
‘That’s the sonar,’ Joe said. ‘We bought the mini-sub at a Royal Navy Auction but deliberately didn’t pay for a few bits of stuff that were left in it.’
‘So why is it pinging?’
‘Dunno. It’s picked up something fairly large nearby.’
‘Well aren’t you worried?’
‘Nah… Give the gauge a thump with your hand.’
Twig banged the glass hard. Nothing happened.
‘Len would sort it out if he was here,’ Joe responded. ‘He deals with the electrical stuff.’
‘Well, he should have checked the Stinger out before we left for our trip,’ Twig whined.
Joe told him that Len was needed at the scrap yard as the Milford Estate agency was sending two possible buyers round.
‘The sonar has probably picked up the shape of a grey seal or a very large shoal of fish, bunched together,’ Joe murmured. ‘We’ve had it happen before.’
Twig said nothing, just mopped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
‘Don’t be so gutless, Max. You’ve got me to look after you… right?’
‘That’s what worries me,’ Twig said.
The sonar was still beeping. Joe tutted, loosened his seat belt, and bent down to look under the dash board.
Max Twig’s body went rigid with fright as Kristo’s huge tail slapped against his side window. The noise echoed in the Stinger’s cockpit as it slid along the glass, flicked a couple of times, slapped again, and then disappeared.
‘What the hell was that?’ Joe Riddle gritted, banging his head on the dashboard as he heaved himself back in his seat.
‘A s-shark,’ Twig said, his voice shaky.
‘Don’t be an idiot… we don’t get sharks in Cornish waters.’
Archie was having fun. He’d accidently touched the Stinger�
��s protection panels with Kristo’s tail, but nothing had happened.
Guessing the mini-sub was in trouble, Archie took Kristo into a dive, sliding the shark under the Stinger and scraping against the defence panels.
No reaction.
They were dead.
The pulse pattern of high voltage electricity which encircled and protected the Stinger wasn’t working.
Joe’s eyes flicked to a warning light on the dashboard. ‘The electric panels haven’t been switched on,’ he murmured. ‘If somethin’ touches them they work as a barrier between us and danger.’
‘Well, don’t talk about them!’ Twig blurted out. ‘Get them working!’
‘I dunno which does what,’ Joe admitted. ‘Len is always in charge of the electrics.’
Archie had dropped Kristo low. He knew that the Stinger didn’t have cameras and that its vision relied on the side or the front bubble-window.
‘Not many cliff cottages down here,’ Lucy said mockingly, giving Archie a sharp look. ‘If the Council man is in the cockpit, Riddle will tell him all about Kristo.’
‘That’s if he has come from the Council.’ Archie replied. ‘He said he was overworked covering Devon and Cornwall, yet he’s found enough time to visit the Riddles and have a trip out in the Stinger.’
‘You think he’s a fake?’
‘That’s my guess. Uncle Jacob said he never got a letter from the Council about his visit.’
‘What a dirty trick! So who is he?’
‘No idea. The screenshot might give us a few clues.’
Lucy had adjusted Kristo’s dorsal fin camera so the lens looked directly upwards. It was beaming pictures of the Stinger’s underside, and Archie, knowing Kristo couldn’t be seen from that angle, kept level with it.
Max Stark was getting very jittery. His eyes flicked left then right as he pressed his nose against his side window. He leaned against Joe in order to get a view from the other side.
‘Get off!’ Joe elbowed him away. ‘What the hell’s wrong with you?’
‘Somewhere out there is a shark!’
The words had just left Twig’s mouth as Archie raised Kristo’s nose. He pushed down hard on the rudder pedals and instantly increased speed.
‘Hold tight,’ he told Lucy as he hit the “thrusters” and both “gill” icons together.
Archie had used this move during a practise run so he knew exactly what to expect. He could hear compressed air gushing out of the gill slits forcing Kristo’s flexible body to twist in the water.
The shark skimmed sideways past the Stinger leaving the mini-sub rocked by the powerful move.
Twig grabbed Joe Riddle’s shoulder and shook it. ‘Now… now tell me you didn’t see a shark,’ Twig spluttered. ‘All in my imagination was it?’
‘Calm down, Max. It’s not real,’ Joe said. ‘It’s an electronic copy of a Great White.’
‘What are you talking about? Are you saying it’s a robot?’
‘It’s better than a robot… Len and I tried to crush the damn thing but failed.’
Twig’s eyes were constantly on the move, shifting from the side windows to the bubble front.
‘How is it controlled?’ he asked, biting on his lip.
‘I think that smug Archie kid is the pilot,’ Joe Riddle told him. ‘The old Uncle who you met from Gull Cottage used to be some clever-dick inventor.’
‘And the Stinger can’t match it?’
‘Nope, we’re at the shark’s mercy. It’s got every high-tech device built into its self-aware system.’
‘And we’ve got nothing!’
‘If the protection panels were working the shark wouldn’t come near us. Len’s set the high voltage electricity at maximum.’
‘What an idiot brother! A total idiot!’ There was almost a scream in Twig’s voice. ‘He sends us out without any protection.’
Joe shrugged and noisily scratched the bristles on his chin. ‘He weren’t thinkin’ right. Sometimes he only uses half his brain.’
‘Take this back,’ Twig said, reaching into his pocket for the packet of money. ‘You can keep it… Just get me safely to the shore.’
There was a loud thump on the base of the Stinger. Both men looked at each another.
Archie had swung Kristo round and dropped deeper. Lucy was keenly watching the plasma screens, unsure of her brother’s next move.
‘That fleabag Council man is going to get the fright of his life,’ Archie promised. ‘The Coastal Engineer said Gull Cottage could be saved, but Stark wouldn’t listen.’
‘Don’t be hasty, Archie. You can be a real little rebel at times.’
Archie didn’t hear her words. Using the rudder pedals he brought Kristo close to the surface at speed, sliding the shark’s head up the Stinger’s transparent bubble screen.
Kristo was almost vertical and the twins were tipped back in their seats as the cameras showed the blueness of the sky.
The front bubble screen was made of shatter-resistant acrylic and as Kristo levelled up, his head almost filled the outer surface.
Both Lucy and Archie could now see Twig and Riddle. Their eyes were bulging with terror.
‘Get me out! Get me out!’ Twig’s voice rose higher and higher as he stared at the shark.
Archie made sure that Kristo stared back at him and then he hit the “bite” icon.
The unexpected movement made Lucy jump as she watched it on the plasma screens. Kristo’s mouth opened wide enough to cover almost half of the Stinger’s bubble screen and when Archie tapped the “roar” icon the sound from the shark’s throat doubled the scare factor.
It was ear-splitting.
Twig’s creased face said it all.
Archie tapped the “roar” icon again and Kristo suddenly fell silent. As the shark closed his jaws, his razor sharp teeth dragged over the transparent bubble. The sound was like nails scratching on a chalkboard and Lucy’s nerves quivered as she held her fingers to her ears.
The Stinger’s power to go forward had ceased. Kristo’s weight against the bubble window had caused the mini-sub’s engine to stall and stop. It was now floating freely, controlled only by the sea currents as it broke free of Kristo and drifted upwards to the surface.
‘Stinger’s out of action,’ Archie said.
Lucy looked worried. ‘Well you can’t leave it bobbing about out here,’ she warned. ‘We must be at least two kilometres from the shore and the tides and currents are dangerous today.’
‘Kristo will get the Stinger back to Valentine Cove,’ Archie told her, holding back a grin as he thought about the scare he must have given the two men.
Using the “thrusters” and tweaking the rudder pedals he raised Kristo to the surface alongside the Stinger.
Tapping the “bite” icon he let the shark open and close its jaws over the lifeless protection panels. The grip was perfect. He pressed and held the “speed icon” and increased power.
Archie could feel Lucy’s breath on the back of his neck. ‘The speed generator’s creeping close to twenty,’ she said.
Archie nodded. ‘Spot-on. Any faster and we could flip the Stinger over.’
Joe Riddle and Max Twig had been tossed to the floor of the Stinger and were clinging on to anything that could be gripped firmly.
‘I-I’m feeling s-sick,’ Twig stammered. ‘Can’t you stop this thing from rocking about?’
‘Stop moaning!’ Riddle snapped. ‘We’re being towed along at speed so the stabilisers are useless.’
Archie had taken a quick glance at the plasma screens and could see that Kristo was very close to Valentine bay’s shoreline.
He eased right back on the power and in a practised movement turned the pectoral fins against the pressure of the sea. Acting as a brake, Kristo skidded and stopped just a few meters away from the shoreline.
Two things happened very quickly.
Archie swung Kristo away so that he was back in deeper water… and Joe Riddle pushed open the pressurised rear hatch.
Max Twig frantically shoved past Joe, losing a shoe in his scramble to get out. He ran, and kept running, passing the old workshop and scrabbling through a ditch as a shortcut to get to his car.
Joe Riddle watched him go. He pulled the packet of Twig’s payment money from his pocket and slapped it against his grubby palm. Joe reckoned that would be the last they’d see of Twig and was pleased with the return of the money. He stared at the Stinger knowing it would cost far more cash than the amount he was holding to get the mini-sub back to working order.
Kristo had left shallow water, swinging away from Valentine Cove as Archie, once again, relied on the guidance system to take them to the two remaining coves.
‘Sorry about the hold-up,’ Archie said, managing to conceal a grin. ‘But I couldn’t resist scaring the pants off that Council dork and shaking up the Stinger.’
‘Well the fun is over Archie Scott,’ said Lucy. There was a sharp note in her voice. ‘We’re here to find Scarlett a cliff-top cottage!’
Chapter Nine
‘Well done, Archie,’ Uncle Jacob remarked, gathering up the paperwork in front of his office computer. ‘Your hunch about Sam Stark was absolutely right.’
Two days had passed and Archie, Lucy and Troy had been called to Jacob’s office. All were standing and Oscar was weaving his way in and out of their legs.
‘Have you found something out about the Council man?’ Troy queried.
‘He’s not,’ Jacob said.
‘Not what?’
‘Not a Council man.’
‘So he was a phoney… a fake?’ Archie put in. ‘I knew there was something strange about him.’
‘Very strange,’ Jacob said, ‘Sam Stark isn’t a man at all. The head of Devon Council is a woman – her name is Samantha Stark.’