Blue's Revenge (12 page)

‘Well, it's lucky for us we're not going!' Max's mother cried.

Max shot her a frustrated scowl before turning back to Dretch. ‘We're a bit stuck at the moment but we'll get there as soon as we can.'

Dretch's eyes were edged with pride. ‘Anything else you need, I'll be here.'

He then disappeared and the screen went black.

‘I hope you don't think you're going to this Portal Room, young lady.'

Max looked up the map of the castle on the computer. ‘We can't stand by while Harrison is in danger.'

‘But Fetch just told us it'll be very dangerous.'

‘It's Dretch,' Max reminded her again. ‘And we'll be fine.'

Max knew the situation they were in was unusual but she wished that, just this once, her mother would trust her.

Linden tried to reassure Max's mum. ‘Max and I have a pact to look after each other on every mission.'

‘A pact? A pact isn't going to save my daughter's life, young man. And you heard that woman! If we try to escape it'll be the last thing we ever do.'

‘They say that kind of thing all the time,' Linden explained.

Max's mum fixed Linden with a bitterly cold look. ‘I am trying to have a conversation with my daughter, if you don't mind.'

‘Linden's right, Mum. They say things like that to scare us into doing what they want.' Max tried to stay calm. She turned to Linden. ‘The Portal Room isn't far from here, we just need to figure a way –'

‘How long have you been dealing with these sort of people?'

‘Mum, now is not the time to talk about this.'

Max's mother threw her hands on her hips in a way that made Linden and Toby blink. It was exactly the way Max would have done it.

‘I think now is exactly the time to talk about this. In fact, I've got all the time in the world to hear you try to explain what you've been up to, and I'm not moving until –'

‘Ah, Ms Beckinsdale?' Toby said gently. ‘Max and Linden really are experts at this. They're the only ones who can save us and we need to trust them.'

Max wasn't sure what it was about Toby, but he had this way of making her mother calm down.

Until the walls started closing in.

‘What's happening now?' Max's mother demanded.

Two walls on opposite sides of the cell began scraping along the dusty floor towards them.

‘Looks like Blue has already decided what he wants to do with us,' Toby guessed.

‘What? We've got to get out of here!' Max's mother took great gulping breaths, trapped in a choking panic.

The grinding sound of the moving walls echoed around the shrinking stone room, warning of a complete and crushing death.

Max and Linden desperately tried to work out what to do next.

‘Any ideas?' Max looked towards Linden.

‘Not yet, but I'm working on it.'

‘Well, work on it a little faster, young man!' Max's mother ran towards one of the approaching walls and tried to push it back.

‘Mum, can you be quiet so we can think?'

‘But if we don't do something now we're going to die!'

The scraping of the walls groaned around them like thunder.

Toby gasped as he felt a damp chill of dusty air. The stone walls nudged closer.

‘What's going to happen now? Are we going to die?' Max's mother screamed.

But Max couldn't answer. She tried to keep her thoughts calm and steady. After telling her mother she was a top spy who'd come to rescue her, it now looked like their lives were about to end in one slow but definitive squelch.

The cold, coarse surface of the cell walls moved closer and closer, threatening a crushing, pulverising death within seconds.

‘We're going to die!' Max's mother screamed again, holding her arms out in a futile attempt to stop them.

‘We're not going to die!' Max shot back, wishing her mum would stop saying the word die. ‘We're going to …' She dredged her brain for ideas, hoping to come up with something, but nothing came. That's when Toby spoke up.

‘Max, stand beside me.'

‘What?'

‘Just do it.' Toby stood with his shoulders facing the two moving walls. ‘And Linden, stand on the other side of me.' Linden wasn't happy following Toby's orders, but knew he had no choice.

The two agents stood on either side of Toby as the walls nudged against their shoulders.

‘What are you doing? You're going to kill my baby!' Max's mother screamed in horror until she couldn't stand it any longer and shut her eyes.

Just as the walls should have crushed them into flattened lifeless versions of themselves, the groaning sound of moving stone quietened and the walls came to a stop.

Max's mother opened her eyes to see the three agents standing shoulder to shoulder in front of her. ‘What happened?'

‘I think we just spoiled Blue's plans to do away with us.' Toby's pleasure in having saved them was all over his beaming face.

‘The Impact Suits,' Max remembered with a smile.

‘Yep. They're as good as you said they'd be, Linden.'

‘You're amazing!' Max's mother was only just coming to terms with their escape from death. ‘You really are one incredible boy, do you know that?'

Max gave Toby a smile full of admiration.

‘It was just an idea.' Toby blushed.

‘An idea that saved our lives!' Max's mother cried. ‘And as much as I think this whole business is too dangerous for you all, I want to thank you for looking after Max.'

‘Looking after Max?' Max and Linden cried in unison.

‘I don't need looking after.' Max tried to throw her hands on her hips but they were jammed tightly against her sides.

‘From what I've learnt today, I think you do! And another thing …'

‘Mum, could we save the lecture for later? We have to get out of here and rescue Harrison.'

‘And how exactly are we going to get out of here, young lady?'

Max let the ‘young lady' comment slide and held out her finger with a triumphant smile. ‘With this. It's a digital laser ring that will cut a hole in the wall and get us out of here. We just have to work out the best place to do it.'

‘That'll be easy.' Toby beamed even more. ‘Ms Beckinsdale, would you mind looking in my left sock?'

Max's mother bent down warily, lifted the leg of Toby's Impact Suit and pulled the X-ray Spectrogram out of his sock.

Linden frowned. ‘Where'd you get that?'

‘From your pack just after we landed. You were being a pain, acting all leaderly and bossy, so I thought I'd get you back.'

‘Get me back?' Linden fumed. ‘I was trying to help you –'

‘We don't have time to argue, young man,' Max's mother instructed. ‘Especially if Toby has something that will get us out of this squished prison. Go on, dear.'

‘Actually, Linden is better at this than me.' Toby smiled modestly.

‘I hope so.' Max's mother handed Linden the Spectrogram.

Linden was fuming but knew he couldn't say anything more. Toby's thieving may well help them find Harrison.

Although Linden's arms were pinned between the wall and Toby, he could just move his hands far enough to activate the device. He soon found a section of the wall that would lead them away from Peckham and straight towards the Portal Room.

Max held her ring at the exact spot and within minutes the laser had cut a hole through the stone wall.

‘Mum, you go through first.'

Max's mother started to protest but reconsidered at Toby's reassuring smile.

‘The rest of us are going to have to follow fast,' Max continued. ‘Because as soon as one of us moves, the walls will start coming in again. When I count to three, we'll all turn sideways and run for it.'

Max counted and all three turned and dived through the hole as the sound of the closing walls started up again. On the other side of the cell was a cathedral-sized room, with tall ceilings and towering stained-glass windows.

‘Where to now?' Max's mother was almost starting to enjoy herself.

Linden exchanged the Spectrogram for his palm computer and looked at the map. ‘Follow me.'

Although Peckham would now think they were dead so no-one would be looking for them, they still moved carefully through the winding corridors, ballrooms and spiralling staircases of the castle, until they reached an imposing set of doors.

‘This is it.' Linden used both hands to turn a large iron ring and an echoing click told them the doors were unlocked, but when they entered, what they saw before them left them chilled.

It was the regal room that Harrison's button camera had shown. The giant image of the snow-covered mountain still stood in the centre. Only now Harrison and Blue were
inside
the image, standing opposite each other, with the fury of a storm thrashing around them.

‘The Portal Room is filled with many gateways to astounding places,' Blue was yelling with pride to Harrison. ‘And this, I think, has to be one of my favourites.'

Max's heart was wrenched with fear. Harrison was a brilliant leader, but when it came to anything physical he was the clumsiest man she'd ever met.
She moved closer and reached out towards the image.

‘Max, come back here,' her mother ordered.

It felt like Max was touching a warm window made of gel. She pushed harder, but couldn't break through.

Inside the image, Blue held up a commanding hand and instantly a giant bird rose from below the cliff. Its wings fanned out around it like a giant sail, dwarfing the small body of Harrison.

‘It's a golden eagle,' Toby said, staring in awe at the hovering bird of prey. ‘They are one of the largest birds of prey and can kill by a single blow with their clawed feet.'

The bird swooped at Harrison, who ducked and fell to the snowy ground with a clumsy thud. The eagle turned and swooped again. Harrison tried to roll out of its way but was struck by the bird's powerful beak, which carved a deep gash in his face and sent him rolling towards the edge of the cliff.

‘Mr Harrison!' Max called, watching the Portal Room's thick jellied wall as the bird turned with an ear-ringing squawk and dived to deliver another attack.

‘Quick, Linden. Over here.' Max rushed to the marble stand.

‘Maxine, come back here!' her mother called.

But Max wasn't listening. The giant image of Blue laughed above her and the eagle swooped, thumping into Harrison with its powerful foot.

‘He's going to die!' Max cried as her chief tumbled over the edge, his hand reaching out just in time to grab onto a spindly tree.

Blue raised his hand as a signal for the bird to fly away. It veered off towards the darkened horizon. Its giant wingspan turned easily in the gusty winds as it began to spiral slowly downwards below the cliff, leaving its battered prey clinging for life at the edge of the rocky mountainside.

Max and Linden put their hands on the dome of the marble stand and instantly felt the stirrings of a powerful force swirl around them.

‘There is no way you're going in there, Maxine,' her mother warned.

Harrison panted. His cheek was a bloodied mess but, just as he seemed done for, he used the tree to drag his battered body up and over the edge.

‘Well, let's see what we have next,' Blue said teasingly as he held out the Portal Room switch.

The snowy surroundings began to spin around them.

Max's heart belted against her chest as the
force pouring out of the dome began to ruffle their clothes and hair. ‘Can't this machine go any faster?'

‘Max?' Toby called. ‘Do you want me to come too?'

‘No-one's going anywhere!' Max's mother became increasingly hysterical.

‘Linden and I can handle it,' Max answered Toby. ‘It's going to be dangerous in there and we've been trained for these kind of situations.'

‘You have? When?' her mother screeched.

‘Can you stay and keep things calm here?' Max asked Toby.

Toby's shoulders sank a little. ‘No problem.'

‘Thanks.' Max smiled.

The force of the energy from the dome increased. Max and Linden felt themselves being drawn into the scene above them, which had finally settled so that Harrison and Blue found themselves on either side of an ocean-drenched blowhole.

‘Max! You are not going in there and that's final.'

Max shot Toby a quick glance and he immediately came to the rescue.

‘Ms Beckinsdale, you've been so great taking all this in. We've come so far to save you and Mr
Harrison, but if Max and Linden don't go now he may die.'

Toby was good but even he couldn't calm Max's mother down this time.

She strode over to her daughter and pulled her away from the marble stand, which instantly cut off the energy field. She held Max by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. ‘Now you listen here. Whatever this thing is above us is way too dangerous a place for a young girl and I refuse to allow any daughter of mine to even go near …'

As her mother's ravings continued, Max knew time was running out for Harrison and she had to do something to stop her mother from interfering. She turned to Linden. ‘Have you still got that Knock Out Spray?'

Linden quickly handed over the Knock Out Spray. Max pointed it at her lecturing mother and pressed hard. Within seconds, she'd stopped yelling and had collapsed into the carefully placed arms of Toby, who lowered her gently to the floor.

‘It'll be better this way,' he smiled. ‘Just make that rescue quick, eh?'

Max put the pen in her pocket, raced back to the stand and replaced her hand on the dome.'

‘Max.' Toby had one last thing to say. ‘Be careful.'

Max smiled as the suctioning force again began to swirl around them until it was tugging at their bodies and pulling them towards the virtual world above. A world that held the frail and injured Chief of Spyforce.

‘Let's get him, eh?' Linden saw the look of worry on Max's face and gave her a wink. He knew what she was thinking. They were good spies, but what they were about to face would test every ounce of their courage and skill. There was only thing standing between them and Harrison's rescue, and it was the one man who wanted him dead.

The suctioning pull reached its peak and in one jet-fast sweep, they were flung into the centre of the alternate reality of the Portal Room.