Blue's Revenge (13 page)

‘Oomph!' Max and Linden landed with a painful thud behind a large rock as a wild ocean swelled restlessly around them.

A few metres away, Harrison and Blue stood on either side of the rocky fracture of the blowhole. It exploded with a volcanic surge of water, raining a spray of freezing drops all around them.

Blue threw Harrison a laser gun. ‘I don't want the fight to be unfair. Though you were never any match for me when we worked together as agents.'

Blue pointed his laser at Harrison and sent a burning red beam pounding into his chest. The Impact Suit stopped the beam from cutting into his body, but the force of the laser sent him thumping to the ground. Blue frowned, knowing the laser should have done much more damage than a mere push.

Max wanted to run to Harrison's aid, but Linden held her back. ‘If Blue sees you now, he'll kill you.'

‘You were once a superb agent, Theodoran, we both know that,' Harrison gasped. ‘But your ego got in the way and ruined your sense of perspective.'

Blue seethed, flinging his arms into the air. ‘Perspective?' The whites of his eyes grew brighter as another burst of water surged through the blowhole. ‘I'll give you perspective. I was Spyforce's
most loyal and hard-working agent. I gave my life to that agency for years, trying to gain your recognition, trying to get you just once to say I was doing a good job.'

Max watched as Harrison again dragged himself up. His cheek was still bleeding and his suit was torn, with a burnt hole across his chest. The sight of him sent an ache through Max's heart. She held out her laser ring and tried to get a fix on Blue's gun.

‘It's a shame that your need for recognition became bigger than your need to do good.' In a trigger-fast move, Harrison held his laser out and delivered a marksman-like blow to Blue's hand. The laser sprang from Blue's grasp, bouncing across the rocky platform before it plunged into the yawning mouth of the blowhole.

‘Go Harrison!' Max whispered.

‘You've improved since we last met,' Blue reluctantly conceded. ‘But this time we're not parting until this is done.'

‘Done?' Harrison saw a crooked smile crawl onto Blue's lips.

‘Until one of us is dead.'

Max's fear rose in her like a wave of nausea.

‘That's it.' She again took aim. ‘I'm going to
strike him in the leg just badly enough to let us get Harrison out of here.'

She held the ring firm, determined to hit her mark, but when Max tried to activate it, nothing happened. That's when she looked at it closely and saw that the face was cracked. ‘It's broken,' she breathed.

Linden thought quickly. ‘The Knock Out Spray. If we can get close enough to Blue we can use that. Follow me.'

The wind swirled around them like a ghostly warning as they slowly crept behind large rocks and into darkened crevices out of Blue's line of sight.

Harrison held Blue's gaze, not wanting to flinch for a second at his challenge. ‘Why don't you just get on with whatever retaliation you have in mind?'

Blue lunged forward. ‘Always the smart one, aren't you, Harrison? You've always thought you were so much better than me. Better than everyone. Well, you're not!'

Another burst of water showered into the air, exploding over their heads.

‘Look at your record as leader.' Blue shouted into the wind as Max and Linden crept into position behind him. ‘In the last year Spyforce has come up
against some of its most fabulous security breaches and bungles. Agents have been kidnapped while others have almost lost their lives in my Nightmare Vortex. Expensive vehicles have been destroyed in waterfalls and crash landings and the entire agency was at the mercy of a potentially fatal sleeping sickness, snuck in by one of your own agents.'

‘Under your control!' Harrison winced, not only at having reacted to Blue's taunts but because he had just spied the anxious faces of Max and Linden.

‘He's seen us,' Max whispered.

Harrison continued as if he'd seen nothing. ‘I trust every Spyforce agent with my life. You never have nor ever will know anything of loyalty or even the smell of it.'

‘You and your loyalty! Well, if your agents are so loyal, how come I have this?'

Blue held up the Time and Space Machine.

Max looked on guiltily.

‘Yes, your precious Time and Space Machine! Your agents are so loyal they gave it to me.'

Harrison didn't flinch. He was used to Blue's sad and pathetic lies and knew that none of his agents would have willingly given Spyforce's most valuable invention to their enemy.

‘I am twice the scientist you will ever be,' Blue
crowed. ‘Look at the Doppelgänger! The world has been messing about with cloning for years and I've invented a device that does the same thing without all the fuss and expense. And now I have the Time and Space Machine as well, I suspect I will become very rich and very respected. I may even be given a Nobel Peace Prize!'

‘You were kicked off the Force for agreeing to sell the plans for those two devices. Have you learnt nothing from your dismissal?'

Blue smiled broadly. ‘I'll remember that when I collect my prize.'

‘I'm not sure you will be getting any prizes for peace when the world finds out you faked your own death and stole the plans and devices from Spyforce.'

Blue's sizzling rage was barely concealed behind his puce face and twitching brow. He was done with talking. He had what he wanted, and it was time to complete what he'd come here to do.

Max and Linden were almost close enough to use the Knock Out Spray when Linden saw Blue pocket the Time and Space Machine and pull out a small disc. Blue then flicked a switch which sent a stream of sparks pouring from it.

‘It's electrified.' Linden shuddered.

In one smooth action, Blue hurled it towards Harrison. It sizzled through the air in an electric blaze just as Linden flung a large rock into its path. The rock struck the disc, sending it off course, but not far enough. The disc left a burning gash in Harrison's unprotected hand.

Harrison stumbled to his knees just centimetres from the watery chasm of the blowhole, the pain searing through his hand like a burning whip.

Blue spun round, searching for what had thwarted his attack.

He then saw Max and Linden and his eyes bulged in anger.

‘You were supposed to be crushed by the walls of the Pulverising Cell,' he yelled, then calmed down and smiled. ‘At least this gives me a chance to thank you personally for bringing me the Time and Space Machine, Maxine. I knew if I made you mad enough you would deliver it straight into my hands. And now, not only will Harrison die but I'll have the pleasure of personally killing you two as well.'

Blue reached into his pocket and took out a grenade. ‘This may not be one of my creations but it certainly is effective.'

‘Run!' Max yelled at Linden as Blue threw the bomb. It exploded behind them in a blast of smoke
and flying debris just as they jumped into a dark and rocky crevice. They ducked and covered their heads with their arms to shelter from the pelting shower of sharp rocks.

‘Lay still,' Max instructed Linden as the dust from the explosion settled. ‘Let him think we've been hit.'

The Impact Suit had saved them from the brunt of the blast, but it had not been able to stop a jagged piece of rock striking Max's forehead.

Blue looked through the clearing bomb smoke and walked over to see the two spies lying still, covered with a jagged spray of rubble. Confident that they were dead, he turned to Harrison and reached into his jacket pocket for his final weapon.

‘I've had enough of playing.'

Max and Linden snuck to the top of the crevice and saw him take out a black leather glove, his face plastered with a sickening smirk.

Harrison lifted his head and stared desolately at the place where Linden and Max had fallen. ‘You may kill me but you will never destroy Spyforce.'

Blue said nothing, only smiled as he knelt down beside him.

‘This little creation is a Heart Stopper. Its name says it all. Shall I give you a demonstration?'

Blue pressed his gloved hand hard onto Harrison's chest above his heart. Harrison sucked in an immediate coarse and wheezing breath as the glove lit up like a neon blue skeleton.

Max and Linden stared in horror. The protection of the Impact Suit seemed unable to repel the power of the Heart Stopper. The Spyforce chief gasped small breaths as his remaining strength was drained from his body.

Blue smiled through clenched teeth, enjoying the final struggling seconds of Harrison's life.

‘I have waited a very long time for this moment, Reginald.'

Linden studied the glove. ‘There seems to be a power source at the wrist which is sending currents of electricity along each finger. If we can break that connection we should be able to stop it.'

‘But how?' Then, as Max asked the question, she saw it. The crackling electrified disc Blue had struck Harrison with earlier. ‘I think we've just found out.'

Max scrambled quickly out of the crevice and crawled over to the disc. She pulled the sleeve of her Impact Suit down over her hand and picked it up, smiling as she felt none of the electric current spitting from it.

She turned to Linden, who gave her a nod of
encouragement. They both knew Max would have only one chance to hit the Heart Stopper. If she missed, not only Harrison's but Max and Linden's fate would be sealed.

Max took careful aim and, taking a steadying breath, launched the disc into a sparkling path through the air and made a direct hit with the glove. Blue lurched backwards as the two power sources collided and the Heart Stopper exploded in a crackling fury of short-circuiting sparks.

Blue looked at the glove in fury and confusion as it sat useless and deactivated on his hand. He stood up and unbuckled it in anger, before tearing it off and throwing it behind him.

Seeing Blue off guard, Harrison lunged at him with a wrenching scream. The force of the impact caused Blue to hit the ground with a grunt of pain. The Time and Space Machine was flung from his pocket and landed on the rocks with a loud crack.

Max spied the fallen device. Desperate for it not to be broken, she sprang forward and scooped it up as the two men gripped each other in an uncontrollable fury.

An incoming wave churned and thudded beneath them like a volcano threatening to erupt. Another explosion of water gushed up and fell in a
drenching wall over Blue and Harrison. The sucking rush of the sea back into the blowhole dragged them closer to its edge. The two men then rolled to a precarious stop. Blue gave a frightened scream as he lay on his back, his head dangling over the edge of the blowhole, with Harrison's hands still gripping his collar.

‘We can end this now, Theodoran,' Harrison offered. ‘You can lose your life, or keep it and return to prison where you belong.'

Blue heaved great clawing breaths and again looked behind him to see the blackened chasm of raging sea beneath him.

‘Yes. Yes, prison please!'

Linden moved beside Max. They both knew Blue could not be trusted, but also knew that for Harrison to kill a man went against everything he believed in.

Harrison eased his grip, slowly stood up and offered his hand.

Blue accepted the offer, stood before him and smiled. ‘Sucker!'

He kicked Harrison's legs out from under him, forcing him to the slippery ground facing into the blowhole. Blue then pounced on Harrison and the two men wrestled even closer to the edge.

‘He needs our help,' Max cried, but as they leapt forward, another volcano-like explosion of sea water drenched the air around them in a torrential downpour. This time the wash of water back into the blowhole took both men with it.

‘Harrison!'

Max lunged towards the blowhole and fell to her knees, desperately trying to see a sign of her boss, but when she looked down, there was just a black, churning chasm.

‘Max!' Linden ran forward and knelt beside her, desperate to get her away from the edge before another wave crashed over them. ‘Come on.'

But Max couldn't move, her grief cementing her to the smooth ocean-washed ground. Little rivulets of water trickled along the stony platform before falling over the edge into the blowhole. She felt herself falling forward, drawn by the churning pull of the ocean and her anguish at having witnessed Harrison's fall.

‘Let's go, Max.' Linden held her shoulders and carefully lifted Max to her feet, moving her away from the watery chasm. When they were far enough away, she collapsed to the ground.

‘I tried to save him,' she yelled over the noise of the sea. Her devastation was so great it felt like
she was the one who'd been thrown into the surging ocean waters.

‘I know.' Linden's throat ached at his held-back tears.

‘I tried so hard but it wasn't enough.' Her anguish wrenched Linden's heart, tearing into him as he tried to comfort her.

‘Linden.' She looked up at him with desperate eyes. ‘What are we going to do?'

Linden didn't know. They had the Time and Space Machine and Max was safe, but apart from that, he did the only thing he could. He pulled Max in close and hugged her tight and they both cried knowing that Harrison, their beloved Spyforce leader, was dead.