The Complete Ruby Redfort Collection

by Lauren Child

  ‘Indeed,’ nodded Klaus Gustav. ‘I hold the key to the secret of the Jade Buddha of Khotan.’

  ‘Will you unlock the case yourself Herr Gustav?’ asked Magorie Humbert.

  ‘You can count on it,’ he said, patting his top pocket.

  ‘I heard you were Swiss?’ said Clancy.

  ‘Indeed,’ replied the man.

  ‘Is that a Swiss accent you have?’ asked Clancy.

  The man nodded.

  ‘Because it sounds sorta, not Swiss, more like…’

  ‘Clancy! It’s not polite to ask questions like that,’ said Mrs Crew, her embarrassment evident. This was not the behaviour of an ambassador’s son. ‘I’m sorry Herr Gustav, our son rarely knows when to stop.’

  ‘I was just asking,’ said Clancy.

  ‘Well don’t,’ said his father.

  Ruby stood on the chair and, holding her wrist very steady, aimed the watch at a metal hook just above the window and pressed down on the winder button.

  Out shot the titanium cable. The grabber claw reached out, missed the hook and the cable slid down the wall.

  Ruby quickly retracted it and tried again. Come on, I don’t have time for this. This was true: the sand had already reached the seat of the chair. Ruby took aim again, and – bingo! – the claw closed around the hook. Ruby closed her eyes, pressed the retractor, bracing herself to be whisked at lightening speed through the air… and nothing happened.

  No, no, no! You are a rescue gadget and you rescue, that’s what you do!

  The sand was covering her feet and the tower was filling up fast. You can’t jam!, Spy gadgets don’t jam! She pressed again – still nothing.

  OK, you can jam but not now! She pressed the button again – nothing for one split second…

  …and then quite suddenly Ruby was wrenched from the chair and carried away high above the sand and onto the window ledge.

  Take your time why don’t you!

  She released the grabber and assessed the situation. The window, it seemed, was boarded shut from the outside, and she didn’t have enough space to give it a good hard kick. She looked around. Right in the middle of the ceiling hung an iron chandelier. If she could just grab on to that, she could swing herself at the blocked window and dislodge the boarding – how she was going to get down from the window was a whole different problem. Several times she pressed the cable button but to no avail – it really had given up.

  OK Rube, you still have time, don’t panic. She looked at the tape machine with its big spools turning round and round – and she had an idea. Sorry buster, but you are beginning to get on my nerves.

  Ruby took off one of the reels and pulled at the yards of song tape, then she took the keyring from her jeans and tied it to the tape, making a weight. Using this as a sort of lasso, she was able to hook and pull the chandelier towards her until she was able to grab hold of it. Then, hanging from it rather like a trapeze artist, she swung back and forth until she had gathered enough momentum to break through the wooden boarding.

  Only thing was she had gathered a little too much momentum: she crashed through the window and was flung into the night sky.

  By now Klaus Gustav was surrounded by all the glittering folk of Twinford.

  ‘To make a completely unbreakable glass display case is quite a feat, Herr Gustav, just how was it done?’ asked Ambassador Crew.

  ‘That was easy,’ said Klaus Gustav. ‘It was the key that was the tricky part.’

  ‘Might we see it, Mr Gustav, I have been just dying to know what it looks like,’ implored Sabina.

  But Klaus Gustav just tapped his nose. ‘Secrets, all secrets.’

  Clancy looked at Herr Gustav, the Swiss man with the accent which reminded him of… who was it?

  ‘Well we are very proud to welcome you to Twinford and our city museum,’ said Ambassador Crew.

  Herr Gustav smiled and his black eyes glistened.

  Dracula! thought Clancy.

  The scrabbling sound

  had got louder–

  it was definitely coming

  from behind the

  bookcase. . .

  Mrs Digby gripped the lamp. I’m ready for ya, the Digby’s have never been afraid of anything. (Well, except rats, of course.)

  ‘Ach!’ came a voice, ‘Ich habe auf meine Brille getreten.’

  Mrs Digby was surprised to hear a rat talk, a foreign one at that. ‘What language is that you’re speaking?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh, so someone is there,’ came the voice again, this time in English. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I’m the one holding the heavy lamp, ready to knock you out, is who I am. Who are you?’

  ‘I’m being held captive. Could you help me?’

  ‘How do I know you’re not one of them?’

  ‘Because if I was, I wouldn’t be stuck in here.’

  Mrs Digby thought for a moment – he didn’t sound particularly dangerous, and seeing as they were in the same situation she thought she might as well get along with him. She set about pulling all the books off the bookcase until it was light enough to move.

  ‘OK, you ought to be able to squeeze through the gap, unless you are very fat, which I don’t s’pose you are if they have been feeding you the kind of rations they have been feeding me.’

  Gradually, one limb at a time a little old man appeared.

  A little old man with a huge moustache.

  ‘Klaus Gustav,’ he said, offering her his hand.

  Chapter 39.

  Lucky twice

  CLANCY WAS TRYING TO GET HITCH’S ATTENTION but Hitch was on the far side of the room, his eyes scanning the crowd, and he wasn’t noticing Clancy’s subtle hand gestures.

  Would you just look over here!

  Clancy didn’t know what to do – he didn’t want to leave the man in case he disappeared, but he couldn’t do anything about anything without Hitch. He began to wave and Hitch waved back, awkwardly – the way people wave when they don’t know why they are waving.

  Clancy tried again, this time more wildly, like a drowning person.

  ‘What are you doing?’ said his mother through clenched teeth.

  ‘Waving,’ muttered Clancy.

  ‘Well would you please stop it,’ she hissed, ‘it’s embarrassing your father.’

  But Clancy couldn’t stop – he had to make Hitch see that something very terrible might be going on. This man who claimed to be Klaus Gustav was not Klaus Gustav. Clancy was sure of it.

  Lucky for Ruby, she hadn’t actually fallen the one hundred and two feet to the ground below, but instead found herself clinging to a branch of a very rotten tree, dangling a mere sixty feet above the ground.

  What now?

  This was Ruby’s last thought, before a huge thunder-like boom shook the building. It came from Twinford City Bank. It was a deafening noise, an explosion.

  Inside the museum, for one half of a split second all the guests went quiet – only the party music played on.

  And then – pandemonium.

  Martini glasses dropped and shattered on the marble floor, a hubbub of noise rose up, some folks screamed and fear sparked like electricity. A sea of people rushed towards the doors. An alarm went off and sirens screeched – it was panic and chaos.

  But Clancy Crew was desperately trying to find a way back through the crowds – people were pushing and shoving, trying to get out into the square and he was the only person headed in the other direction. He felt himself being forced backwards and then all of a sudden, a hand grabbed him and pulled him free.

  ‘Where are you going Clancy Crew?’ It was Hitch.

  Clancy’s eyes were wild with panic. ‘That man, Klaus Gustav – I think he’s a fake. I think he’s meant to be a small man with a moustache – the man from the airport. I think this guy is the one who took Ruby.’

  ‘You know what kid,’ replied Hitch, ‘I’ve got a hunch you might just be right.’

  ‘So now what? The man, he’s disappeared – how are we goin
g to find Ruby without him?’

  Hitch looked at Clancy. He really wasn’t sure about this, but it was his only hope. ‘Your pal Ruby, do you happen to know if she might have taken something from Spectrum? A gadget?’

  ‘Nothing she told me about,’ said Clancy.

  ‘You haven’t happened to see her with a keyring – one with little coloured scrabble tiles that you can slide around?’

  ‘That? Yeah, but it’s not from Spectrum – it’s just some dumb old keyring she said she found.’

  Hitch smiled. ‘That’s no dumb keyring – that’s a very sophisticated piece of Spectrum gadgetry,’ he said, pulling Clancy out from the scrum and towards the rear staircase.

  ‘What do you mean?’ called Clancy.

  ‘It’s a mini locator,’ shouted Hitch. ‘Used to belong to one of the smartest agents who ever lived. Slide the tiles, form a word, and it sends me a signal.’ He tapped his watch. ‘I got a hunch that I just might know where to find our friend Ruby.’

  Clancy looked at the little red light flashing on the dial. And then suddenly everything went dark.

  Outside the museum, dangling sixty feet above the ground, Ruby was beginning to lose her grip.

  Yikes, she thought, this is not a good situation.

  She wasn’t sure how long her fingers could hold on, but it was the branch that gave up first, crumbling in her hands.

  And she felt herself once more, tumbling through the air.

  By now the bank was crawling with security staff. Everyone from inside the museum was outside watching the bank. There were police cars everywhere, screaming sirens, and alarms setting off other alarms.

  But Hitch hardly heard them. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart as he ran down stone corridors, up steep stairways, all the way to the tower. He ran like a man possessed, he ran like his life depended on it.

  By the time Clancy Crew arrived at the heavy oak door, Hitch had already levered it open. Clancy Crew watched as green sand spilled out into the corridor and he watched as Hitch sank slowly to the floor. His head was in his hands, and the light on the little watch radar had gone out.

  ‘Rube?’ whispered Clancy, crumpling to his knees.

  ‘I’m sorry kid,’ was all that Hitch could say.

  But Ruby Redfort was lucky: in fact she was lucky twice.

  Firstly, because the power-lines broke her fall, and secondly, because the explosion at the bank had extinguished the power.

  After she had checked that she was still alive, Ruby inched along the cables until she was dangling over a large, leafy shrub. She let go – not a cushy landing exactly, but she was at least all in one piece, although she seemed to be missing a shoe.

  Nice going Rube! A super great time to lose footwear.

  She couldn’t see a thing, let alone a small size 3 lost in a thicket.

  Having got her bearings she picked herself up, then half ran, half limped towards the building. The place was totally deserted and all she could hear as she made her way down to the museum vaults was the commotion outside. Every last person was watching things unfold at the bank.

  Ruby wasn’t greatly surprised to find the basement door unlocked. It was just as the Count had promised – the lasers securing the entrance looked like they were active, but the locks had failed and no doubt someone was already inside. Carefully, she pushed open the door and stepped into the dimly lit passage.

  Bang!

  Another explosion. More alarms. More sirens.

  And then the emergency lighting in the museum basement went out.

  Hitch was trying to pull himself together. It wasn’t easy. He was also trying to pull Clancy together, which was harder.

  ‘Clancy, listen to me. I have to get to the museum basement – to the vault. You go alert your dad’s security team – tell them it’s all about the Buddha. You have to convince them that the bank is a decoy – I know it doesn’t look that way but it is.’

  But Clancy wasn’t moving.

  Hitch clicked his fingers in front of Clancy’s face. ‘You hearing me kid? I need your help.’

  Still nothing.

  Hitch slid over to the broken figure that was Ruby Redford’s friend, and put his hands on his shoulders. ‘Kid, this shouldn’t have happened. It’s my fault, I realise that, but I think I know who did this and I think I know where to find him. I want to make sure he pays for what he’s done to Ruby – and I need your help.’

  Clancy looked up, his face grey and his eyes hollow.

  ‘Can I count on you kid?’

  The boy nodded and got to his feet.

  ‘Here,’ said Hitch, ‘take my lucky lighter, it’s never let me down.’

  Trying to navigate the dark passageways was not easy – not without a flashlight. Ruby had memorised the basement plans, she knew them inside out, but the blackness was disorientating and she had little idea where she was or where she was going.

  But she hoped that wherever it was, she was going to make it in time.

  She felt a wave of panic as claustrophobia swept over her.

  Deep breaths Rube – it’s just a little darkness, nothing else…

  Darkness and some crazy Count who just tried to bury you alive.

  She moved as silently as she could. Don’t warn him. You have the advantage – he thinks you are dead. RULE 43: IF YOU’VE GOT THE ADVANTAGE – MAKE SURE YOU KEEP IT.

  She rounded the corner and there, bathed in a dim but beautiful light, sat the Jade Buddha of Khotan. More precious than gold. Even from where she crouched she could see that the carving was exquisite, the jade itself perfect translucent stone. She felt drawn to move closer, but she resisted, knowing the Count couldn’t be far away. She was right – seconds later he appeared like magic from the pitch black, holding the glass key.

  Carefully, he pushed the key into a slot in the glass cylinder and the door slid open. In his left hand he held a silver metal tube. What was that? Then suddenly she saw a tiny beam of light shoot out. He seemed to be studying something – was it the eyes of the Buddha that interested him? Was he just marvelling at the beauty of it or was there something else he was looking for?

  He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a notebook and fountain pen.

  He was writing something down.

  Why?

  ‘Well, well if it isn’t little Ruby slippers, the snoopiest kid on the block.’

  Without even turning around Ruby recognised the sweet voice of Baby Face Marshall.

  ‘Oh cripes! Not you again.’

  By now Hitch was standing outside the museum basement door. He pushed the transmitter button his watch. ‘Blacker, you there? Blacker, are you receiving me?’

  Nothing. It was the same with the other agents. OK, one last try – you better be there LB.

  Five seconds later LB came on the line. ‘Speak.’

  ‘The explosion at the bank – it’s a bluff, a distraction. They are after the Jade Buddha, and I’m pretty sure we are dealing with the Count. It has all the hallmarks of his work. He’s got his hands on the key. He’s the one who took Ruby, I just know it.’

  ‘Where is she now?’ said LB.

  Hitch paused. ‘I’m afraid the kid…’ His voice faltered. ‘She didn’t have a chance.’

  LB took a sharp breath, but didn’t say anything.

  ‘Look, I’m going after him – find me some backup.’ His transmitter cut out.

  Clancy, meanwhile, was lost. Galleries stretched in every direction and with only the flame from Hitch’s lighter it was difficult to work out where the nearest exit might be. Every door seemed to lead him to another. For all he knew he could be running in spirals – destined never to find a way out, like a fly trapped in a jar.

  Hitch switched on his Agent issue flashlight. It had a powerful directional beam and he was able to sweep light across the main corridor – passageways zigzagged every which way.

  He recognised the various twists and turns from the museum plans he had studied. It was no trouble
navigating, he was trained to find his way in impossible conditions. The tricky thing was second-guessing any surprises that might come along the way. In the maze of passageways it had been deathly quiet, but as he moved further and further into the museum vaults he thought he heard a voice – or rather voices.

  Two of them.

  Clancy flicked on the lighter. There it was:

  EXIT TO MUSEUM GARDEN.

  About time, he muttered, as he leant hard on the door and fell out into the warm night air. He was now at the back of the building. He would have to run around the north side to get to the square. He held the flame up and looked for the path. Something glinted. It was red and seemed to sparkle. He walked over to take a closer look. A red shoe, a very small red shoe. He smiled.

  Rube, I got a funny feeling you’re not dead. And I have a hunch I know exactly where to find you.

  The Count carefully locked the glass case, slipped the key into his jacket pocket, and walked slowly over to where Ruby stood. ‘Ms Redfort, you do surprise me. I am not sure whether I should be delighted or disappointed that you escaped the tower. Am I getting sloppy or are you remarkable?’

  ‘Mm, that’s a hard one to call. I’d hate to hurt your feelings, so let’s just go with me being remarkable.’

  The Count nodded. ‘What courage you have for someone so small and defenceless – quite admirable.’

  Ruby had her eyes trained on the Count’s pocket.

  ‘Yeah well you know, I’ve grown quite fond of you too.’

  The Count laughed. He couldn’t help liking this gutsy schoolgirl from Twinford – it was only a shame to see such talent wasted. ‘So what can I do for you?’

  ‘Back there in the tower, I felt we really hit it off – and you are such good company,’ said Ruby, giving the Count a little dig with her elbow.

  ‘Understandable, I’m sure,’ the Count replied. ‘Your stupid parents must be quite a burden to you.’

  Ruby felt the glass object in her palm. ‘Speaking of stupid, you really shouldn’t leave your valuables lying around – they can so easily get into the wrong hands.’ She held the key up in front of his face.