How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini (15 page)

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Chapter 30

They left the dark safety of the storeroom. Ali led the way past the hall table and front door, then up the stairs. He was careful not to put his feet in the middle of the steps so that they wouldn't creak. The other two followed silently.

The smell grew stronger as they climbed. It was hot in Ali's nose, like pepper or cumin. And then he heard the noises. Low grunts, squeaks, scratching. It was hard to work out where it was coming from. Then he realised that it was coming from
everywhere
, from behind each of the doors upstairs. He looked around. There were four doors leading off the upstairs landing. The smells and sounds seemed to soak into the air around them, filling the space. Ali felt his legs tremble slightly as the urge to run raced through him. He felt like a rabbit with a hawk circling in the sky above. There was danger everywhere here – from the animals they could hear but not see, from the gang who had brought the animals here, and from D.O., who might prove to be the most dangerous of all.

Ali took a deep breath through his mouth. He had to keep control.

He moved to the first door and pressed his ear against the wood. There was a faint noise, a kind of scratching twitter. Whatever it was, it wasn't human. He gripped the handle. It turned smoothly. He opened the door a crack. It was dark inside. If there were no lights on, then there were probably no people inside. He hoped. His heart thumped as he pushed the door open. Gez and Caitlin tiptoed behind him.

In the darkness, Ali could make out the outline of a table. There were objects on the table, each covered with a cloth; domes, cubes, cylinders. The noises came from these shapes. He walked forwards carefully, his arms outstretched, tapping at the air to make sure he didn't bump into anything. He knew there were things underneath the cloths: living things. He felt the skin on his arms shiver and rise into goosebumps. Was this really happening to him?

His fingers reached the largest dome. He felt the cloth that covered it; it was thick and luxurious, like velvet.

‘Go on,' Gez whispered.

Ali grasped the cloth and then lifted it gently. The scratching sound stopped as though the animal beneath was surprised by the sudden pale dawn.

‘What is it?' Caitlin said urgently.

Ali tried to focus in the gloom, but it was no good. He could feel that there was something staring back at him, out of the blackness, but he couldn't tell what it was. ‘Torch!' he said.

Caitlin swung the bag off her shoulder and reached inside. Then a thin beam of light shone out across the floor. The beam was shaking, as though the person holding it was very nervous. She brought the beam up. The material in Ali's hand was blood red, and there, glaring out at him from the cage, was the biggest bird he had ever seen. He gasped.

‘Wow,' Gez said softly. ‘What is it?'

‘An eagle. Amazing,' Ali said. The eagle's eyes were focused on him. It had a proud, almost angry look. Its curved ice-pick beak shone in the torchlight.

‘It's beautiful,' Caitlin said.

The eagle opened its beak. Ali saw a sudden flash of bright pink tongue before it screeched.

Ali dropped the cloth. Caitlin flicked off the torch. But the sound of the eagle's piercing cry seemed to echo around the room, bouncing off shadows.

‘Bums,' Gez muttered.

There was a sound outside the door. Footsteps. Ali looked around, hardly able to make out anything in the sudden dark.

‘Bed,' Caitlin said. She grabbed his arm and pulled. Gez followed. She dropped to the floor and rolled, tucking herself under the single bed. Ali copied her, with Gez not far behind. There wasn't much space for the three of them, and Ali could feel the other two breathing on either side of him.

The door opened. Then the main light came on and its sudden brightness was blinding. Ali screwed his eyes tight and listened. Someone with heavy shoes clomped into the room. Then a second pair, lighter. There was a pause and then a voice said, ‘It's nothing, Boss. Just that stupid bird.'

Boss!

The boss was here. But was it Dave?

Ali felt Caitlin wriggling. She was squished up against the wall, with the bed just above her. Had she recognised her dad's footsteps?

The light flicked off and Ali heard the pair leave the room.

He took a deep breath, trying to slow his breathing. He tasted the dry dust under the bed and struggled to hold in a cough.

For a moment, there was silence.

‘At least two of the gang are still here then,' Gez whispered.

‘Was it . . . Did you recognise either of them?' Ali asked quietly.

Caitlin shook her head furiously. ‘One of them was Woody. I recognised his voice. I don't know who the other person was.'

‘Can we get out from here?' Gez asked.

‘Shh!' Caitlin whispered.

There was a new sound. Ali could feel it vibrating the floorboards under his back. Footsteps – coming up the stairs! He concentrated hard.

There were lots of people climbing the stairs, three or four maybe! A door opened somewhere.

‘Hello, Boss,' Ali heard Sidney say on the landing.

‘Who on earth is
she
?' a voice replied. A woman.

‘Dunno. We had to bring her. We found them together. We did like you asked with him, we arranged the accident. But we wasn't sure what to do with her. So we brought her here. Sorry, Boss,' Sidney said.

Boss? Boss was a woman? Ali strained to hear more.

‘You were supposed to be out tying up loose ends, not making more problems. What am I supposed to do with her?' the woman said.

Then Ali heard a sound that sent shafts of ice into his heart. A woman cried out as though she had been hurt. And he recognised the cry. It was Mum. The gang had captured Mum! It felt to Ali as though the floor had turned to jelly. Caitlin's hand reached for his.

‘Oh, honestly!' Boss said. ‘I can't believe you sometimes. Tie her up while I think about this. But you got rid of him, like I told you?'

‘Yes, Boss. Permanently. He won't be sticking his nose in where it's not wanted again,' Sidney said.

Ali heard them all moving along the landing and into the furthest bedroom. Then,
slam
, the door shut. Ali felt sick.

‘Who was that they've got?' Gez whispered.

Ali lay still. He felt Caitlin squeeze his hand, but he couldn't speak.

‘Well, whoever it is,' Gez said, ‘they're in big trouble.'

Caitlin reached over Ali's body to give Gez a prod.

‘Ow. What was that for?' he hissed.

‘Because you're an idiot. That was Ali's mum. And they must have been talking about my dad too.'

‘Oh,' Gez said. ‘I didn't know. Sorry.'

Ali took a deep breath, then spoke softly. ‘She was with Dave tonight. And now she's here. I don't understand.'

Caitlin shook her head. ‘My dad isn't the boss. He never was. I told you so. You should have listened.' She let go of his hand. ‘Did you hear what they said? They've got rid of him
permanently
. What do they mean?'

No one spoke.

Ali could feel Caitlin, lying rigid, next to him. He knew he had to say something. Anything.

‘I'm sorry,' he whispered.

Caitlin didn't reply.

‘This is my fault,' Ali said. ‘If I'd have listened to you, then we could have been protecting Mum and Dave. She wouldn't have been captured. Caitlin, I'm so sorry.'

Caitlin twisted towards him. ‘I don't need sorry. I need action. Hiding under a bed isn't going to rescue anyone. These people hurt my dad and your mum and all these animals. I say it stops, and it stops right now!'

Ali looked at Caitlin. Even in the dark he could see her eyes flashing. She was right. ‘Yes! We call the police right now. And these guys will be busted.'

‘All right!' Gez said. ‘Now we rescue your parents as well as all these animals. Proper superhero style. What are we waiting for?'

He wriggled out from under the bed. Ali and Caitlin followed. Ali put his hand into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. He pressed a key to light up the screen. Nothing. The screen stayed black. ‘Shine the torch,' he said. Caitlin flashed the beam over the phone. The screen was cracked. The case was loose. The phone was broken.

‘I must have landed on it when I fell off your roof,' Ali whispered.

They looked at each other in the torchlight. Phoneless. In a building stuffed with wild animals and bad guys. And a bad girl. There was a lump in Ali's throat that he had a hard time swallowing down.

‘What are we going to do?' Caitlin said.

‘There's only one thing we can do. We have to get out and call from a phone box,' Ali said.

‘But what about Dad and your mum? We haven't got enough time! There must be a phone in the house,' Caitlin said fiercely.

Gez nodded. ‘Yes, in the hall, or the main bedroom. I bet we could call from there.'

Ali thought about it, trying to remember – had he seen a phone downstairs? There had been a small table next to the front door with an ugly vase of dried flowers. And there had been something else – a small black box with wires attached. ‘Cordless phone,' he said finally. ‘There was a holder for a cordless phone downstairs. But the phone was missing.'

‘It could be anywhere,' Caitlin said.

‘No, it will be with the boss. She's in control of everything,' Ali said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

The boss. It wasn't Dave – he'd been totally wrong about that. He remembered the voice.
Tie her up
. Talking about
Mum
. Like some witch from a fairy story. He shivered. ‘Caitlin, what's Miss Osborne's first name?'

‘I know,' Gez said. ‘Remember the pizza receipt in their pooey bin? She's called Donna.'

Donna Osborne.

D.O.

Miss Osborne hadn't been kidnapped or murdered. She was the ringleader!

It was as though the ceiling was crashing down around him.
Thump
. A weight of guilt landing on him. His face burned. He'd been an idiot. All this time he'd been suspecting Dave, but it turned out that Dave had been making trouble for the gang. Dave was one of the good guys. If only he'd believed Caitlin, then perhaps he and Mum wouldn't be in danger now.

‘Caitlin, I'm sorry,' he said. ‘The boss must be Miss Osborne. Donna Osborne. She has to be the “D.O.” on the note we found, not your dad at all.'

Caitlin nodded slowly. ‘Ali Desai Ferguson, my dad is in deep trouble. Did you hear what they said? A permanent accident. I don't care about your sorry. I care about finding him and saving him. OK?'

‘OK. I just wanted to say –'

‘Well don't,' Caitlin interrupted. ‘Just help me save him.'

‘Hey,' Gez interrupted. ‘You two are fighting like you're already brother and sister! It's brilliant. Your parents should totally get married. If they don't get murdered first.'

‘Gez!' Ali hissed. Gez really was about as sensitive as a lamp post. But he did have a point. They needed to rescue Mum and find Dave. And to do that, they needed to get to a phone. He just hoped there was enough time.

‘Let's move,' Ali said. ‘I bet the phone's in the front bedroom with Miss Osborne. Peep, Sidney and Woody are in there too. How can we get past them with only the three of us?

Gez shook his head. ‘There aren't just three of us. There's an eagle right here. And somewhere there's a bear and a sloth and who knows what else. We just need to recruit them to our cause.'

‘OK, Doctor Dolittle,' Caitlin said. ‘How exactly are you going to do that?'

‘Easy. I just make sure the cages are pointing at the bad guys when I open the doors.'

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Chapter 31

‘Fine,' Ali said. ‘Gez, take the eagle. Then let's see what other animals we can find.'

Gez lifted the cage from the table as gently as he could. He wrapped both arms around it to steady it. Inside, the eagle scrabbled, doing its best to stay upright, but it didn't screech. Ali lifted the cloth on another cage; ten or twenty small birds whirred and fluttered over each other to get away from the pale light. They would do nicely. Ali picked up their cage. Their tiny wingbeats fluttered like the butterflies in his stomach.

Caitlin, with their bag of supplies slung over her shoulder, opened the bedroom door. The landing was empty. Ali crept out, clutching his cage. Caitlin and Gez followed behind. Caitlin pressed her ear against the next door along and waited. She opened it slowly. The bathroom. There were no people inside, but there was something in the bathtub. Another cage with a cloth thrown over it. She tiptoed up to it, lifted the corner and dropped it with a squeak of surprise. ‘It's a crocodile!' she whispered.

Ali squatted next to her and looked inside. ‘No, it's a monitor lizard. Cool. Their bite has more bacteria than a toilet bowl.'

‘Yuck.' Caitlin grabbed the top of the cage and heaved it out of the tub. The lizard tried to turn, its tail flicking angrily back and forth. Caitlin shuddered, but held on tight.

‘Come on,' Ali said, and waved them out towards the front bedroom. Here, they lined the three cages up, like cannons aimed at an enemy ship. Then Ali leaned forwards and gently unhooked the latches that kept the cages closed.

He whispered instructions quickly. ‘Caitlin, look for a phone. Gez, release any other animals. I'll get Mum. Ready?' Everyone nodded. He leaned forwards and opened the cage doors.

The animals didn't move.

‘Come on!' Gez tapped their cages to persuade them out.

Just then, a loud bark came from somewhere nearby. Falcon! The sound of the dog seemed to galvanise the captive animals. The eagle's shriek tore the air into pieces. The lizard scuttled forwards, the clattering of its claws on the bottom of the cage sounding like someone pounding on an old-fashioned typewriter. The small birds whirled like a mini-tornado.

The bedroom door flew open. ‘Wha—' Peep yelled. The eagle flew upwards, its talons extended. Peep leapt backwards. The lizard hurtled between his legs. The small birds, brilliant in reds and golds and greens, darted at his face, desperate to avoid the eagle. Peep tripped and fell back into the room with the eagle screeching and swooping above him.

Ali ran right over Peep, treading on his belly. Caitlin and Gez were right behind him. He looked around: a woman stood open-mouthed in the centre of the room. Her blonde hair was wrapped in an elaborate knot on top of her head, her skin was tanned and her lipstick was bright red.
Miss Osborne
, Ali thought. The next second, Miss Osborne screamed as the thick legs of the monitor lizard hauled themselves up her skirt; Woody and Sidney crouched low as the eagle screamed at them, Sidney yelling as the spiralling bird slashed his cheek.

And Mum?

There she was, struggling, bound to a chair, her eyes wide with alarm. A piece of tape was stuck over her mouth. Ali ran over to her and pulled the tape free.

‘Ali? What are –'

‘Shh, Mum. Let me get you out of here.' Ali crouched down behind the chair. The knot that held her arms in place was complicated. He worked at it desperately, tugging this way and that. The screams of the people and the animals continued around him like a rising symphony, but he concentrated on freeing Mum. Right now nothing else mattered.

‘Ali!' Caitlin cried. He looked up and saw Miss Osborne heading for the door. The lizard had scratched her legs and torn the bottom of her skirt, but hadn't stopped her.

Just then Falcon rushed forwards with a torrent of barking. She stood in the doorway, blocking the exit, and barked at Miss Osborne with her teeth on full display.

‘Falcon! Sweetie!' Miss Osborne jumped back in alarm.

Gez threw himself across the floor and rugby-tackled the women to the ground. ‘Smashdown!' he yelled.

Falcon turned her attention to Peep, who was struggling to get up. She growled and he cringed back down, shielding his face.

‘Good girl, Falcon!' Caitlin yelled.

Ali looked over at Caitlin. She was sitting on the bed with a phone cradled against her chin. She had stopped talking in order to praise Falcon, but there was definitely someone on the other end: she must have got through to the police.

The rope was loosened at last. Mum stood up, rubbing her wrists. ‘Watch out!' she shouted.

Woody made a grab for Ali, but the lizard, distressed by the sudden movement, leapt into the air and sank its teeth into Woody's arm. Woody yelped and spun around. Ali grabbed the rope and threw the other end to Mum. She understood. Together they ran around Sidney and Woody, looping the rope around the struggling pair. Blood ran down Sidney's face in gory streams. Woody sobbed, still trying to shake the lizard off. Ali pulled tight on the rope and both men were tugged together, trapped, with the rope around their middles. He tied the biggest knot he could manage.

Gez was struggling to keep Miss Osborne under control. She was bigger than him and fought furiously. He had her in a headlock, then he didn't, then he did again. Ali was glad that Gez had his big brothers to practice wrestling with; otherwise he would have had no chance.

Caitlin put down the phone. ‘They're on their way!' she said. Then she went to help Gez, gripping Miss Osborne's arms, so Gez could sit on her legs. Finally, unable to move, the woman stopped struggling. Ali threw them the spare rope from the hold-all, and together Caitlin and Gez tied Miss Osborne to Peep, who still hadn't got up.

The small birds fluttered to find perches. A few landed on Sidney, who was too stunned to even shake them off. The eagle settled on top of a wardrobe, glaring down at everyone. It was then that Ali noticed the sloth, moving slowly away from its basket towards the door. He grinned. Houdini might just make it this time.

‘Mum, are you all right?' Ali asked.

Mum's bottom lip looked a bit wobbly and her mascara was smeared, but she smiled as best she could. ‘Yes, I'm OK. Thanks to you three. How did you know I was here?'

‘We didn't,' Ali said. ‘We thought Dave might be here.'

Caitlin looked up. ‘Where is Dad?' she asked. ‘Did he go home?'

Mum gasped. ‘He's not with you? Oh no.'

‘What happened?' Caitlin said, her voice high and anxious.

‘They caught us outside your flat. We'd had dinner and a walk, and were just going back for a coffee. But
they
were waiting outside the door.' Mum pointed to Woody and Peep. ‘They seemed surprised that I was there. They were only after your dad. They said he'd poked his nose into their business once too often.'

‘What did they do to him?' Caitlin said.

‘Oh, love, I don't know.' Mum's voice cracked and her eyes filled. ‘It was all so quick. They put some kind of cloth over my mouth. Then it all went black and I woke up here.'

‘But what about Dad?' Caitlin insisted.

Mum shook her head. ‘I haven't seen him here. We were outside your flat. I don't know. But wherever he is, he's in danger. These guys mean business. I dread to think what would have happened to me if you three hadn't arrived.'

Caitlin's face seemed to flick through emotions: worry, dread, anger. Then it froze on anger. She looked at Miss Osborne, who struggled on the floor, trying to loosen the rope around her arms.

Caitlin held her firmly and leaned in close. ‘Where's my dad?' she said in a voice that made Ali shiver.

There was no answer.

The room filled with the sound of sirens and strobing blue light from the street below. The police had arrived. The front door burst open and what seemed like hundreds of booted feet charged into the house. Caitlin shook Miss Osborne's shoulders. ‘Where's my dad?' she yelled again.

‘Taken care of,' Miss Osborne said. ‘He's been on my trail for weeks. Woody tried to teach him a lesson, then we came after you. He came to his senses then, gave Falcon back, said he'd keep quiet. But it was too little too late. Well, he's learned now that you don't mess with Donna Osborne and get away with it.'

Caitlin starred at Miss Osborne, her eyes wild with anger. Ali stepped forwards, ready to pull Caitlin back.

Suddenly, the landing clattered with the sound of footsteps. The room filled with police officers and noise – radio chatter, shouts, instructions. The eagle took off again and resumed its screeching.

‘No one move!' an officer yelled.

‘But my dad –' Caitlin edged towards the door.

‘Wait.' A second officer held Caitlin by the shoulder.

‘My dad's still out there somewhere. He's –'

‘Don't worry, we'll call your dad for you,' the first officer interrupted.

‘No, you don't understand. Please, listen. We have to find him.'

‘I'm sure your dad will understand. Go sit on the bed, and I'll find a nice lady officer to sit with you till all this is sorted.'

‘No, listen –' Caitlin tried again.

‘I'll find a lady officer in just a minute.'

Caitlin looked stunned. Ali quietly picked up the hold-all and nodded towards the door. They all three tried to slip past the policemen.

‘Where are you kids going? We'll need to take statements from everyone,' the officer said crossly.

‘I can't stay in here,' Ali said. ‘It . . . It stinks. Lizard poo. Need air. Gonna be sick.' He made disgusting retching noises into his palm.

The officer's nose crinkled in horror. ‘Go on then. But don't go far. We'll need to talk to you.'

They ran past the police, down the stairs and through the kitchen, with Falcon bounding at their heels. Gez shut the back door gently behind them.