Rat-Catcher (4 page)

S
IX

The next morning Alex and his father loaded their luggage into the jeep. They were both travelling light, with one rucksack each. Everything else Alex needed was on his belt. There was a single-bladed knife in a leather sheath, and a pouch which held his passport, a tobacco tin and a small plastic case. The tobacco tin contained the survival kit his father had given him and which he carried with him everywhere. It had proved to be a life-saver earlier that year, when the five members of Alpha Force had been stranded on an Indonesian island. The small plastic case was his Christmas present to his father. It held a collection of beautifully crafted fishing flies, which it had taken Alex months to make.

They set off on the first leg of their journey, towards the train station. They had only been on the road for a few minutes when the cellphone clipped to the car dashboard began to beep. Alex's dad pressed the button which activated the speaker-phone facility.

'Yes?'

'There's trouble,' said a man's deep voice over the speaker system.

'Mike? What sort of trouble?'

There was a pause. 'We don't have a secure line,' said the voice.

Alex's dad cursed. He had left his radio at the base, thinking he would not be using it over Christmas.

'You need to get over here. Now,' continued the voice.

'Where are you, Mike?'

'On the route we drove the other day, remember?'

'I remember. Any particular rendezvous point?'

'You'll know it when you get there,' said the voice. With a click, the phone went dead.

Alex's dad cursed again, then swung the car round in a screeching turn and began to head north out of Quito. 'Sorry, Alex,' he said. 'We'll have to catch a later train. I need to check this out.'

'What's going on, Dad?' asked Alex.

'That was one of my men from the unit. The route he was talking about is the road between Quito and the Colombian border. My guess is there's been some trouble with that consignment of sulphuric acid.'

They saw the smoke when they were still kilometres away. A thick, greasy smudge of it wavered above the road ahead like a black marker flag. Alex's dad put his foot down when he saw the smoke and the big jeep leaped forward, its spinning tyres sending up a cloud of dust.

A few minutes later they arrived at a small truck stop in a remote spot at the side of the highway. It was nothing more than a square of concrete with a toilet hut - a place where tired lorry-drivers could park-up for a few hours of sleep. A temporary checkpoint had been hastily erected across the turn-off, and two Ecuadorian soldiers were guarding it. As soon as they recognized Alex's father, they saluted and raised the barrier.

Alex's father drove through into the truck stop and parked the jeep in grim silence. The oily black smoke was coming from the burnt-out remains of a small truck. As the smoke drifted over the concrete square towards them, Alex caught a scent which was both acrid and sweet, like the smell of meat left too long on the barbecue.

'There's General Manteca,' said Alex, pointing to a familiar figure in olive green. The general was standing beside two humped shapes lying side by side on the concrete. The shapes were covered over with army blankets and the general's face was strained and grey as he stared down at them.

'And there's Mike,' said Alex's father, as a man built like an all-in wrestler emerged from the other side of the burnt-out truck. He opened his car door and stepped out onto the concrete square. Alex started to follow him.

'No. You stay here, Alex,' ordered his dad. 'You don't want to see this.'

Alex sighed and slumped in his seat as his father hurried towards the big SAS man. They talked for a few minutes, then they both walked over to join General Manteca. The general crouched and folded back the two blankets. Alex sat up to get a better look. He was guessing that the blankets were covering the remains of the two men from the truck, but they were too far away for him to see anything.

Nobody was looking his way, so Alex eased open the car door and slipped out onto the concrete. His father and the general were deep in conversation. Alex took a deep breath and walked quickly across to the burnt-out truck. As he got closer he could feel a wave of heat still coming from the remains of the truck. The concrete all around the vehicle was blackened and the bushes over on the edge of the square were badly scorched. It must have been an intense blaze.

Alex glanced over at the three men once more, then stepped smartly behind the back of the truck. He eased his way along the far side, listening to the creaks and clicks as the twisted metal slowly cooled. The back of the truck had once been boxed in, but all the panels had burned away, leaving only an open metal framework behind the cab. Alex looked in through the framework and saw that the bed of the truck was empty. There was no sign of the five drums of acid the truck had been carrying.

Alex reached the front of the cab and peered round the corner. His mouth went dry as he realized he had guessed right. He could see two men on the ground, half covered by the army blankets. They were both dressed in civilian clothes and they were both very dead. Alex had been expecting to see burned bodies, but these men had been shot at close range, one in the head and one in the chest. The bullets had done a great deal of damage going in and even more damage on the way out. Alex swallowed hard and just managed to keep his breakfast down.

The general was talking in a flat, hopeless voice, very different to the strong, confident way he had talked about the operation the previous night. 'We found their car a little way down the road,' he said to Alex's father. 'They must have been parked up there, keeping an eye on the truck. They ran over here when they saw the flames - and somebody shot them down.' The general's shoulders slumped. 'Two of my best men,' he said. 'They both have families.'

Alex frowned as he watched his father put an arm around General Manteca's shoulders. He had thought that the men under the blankets were the drivers from the truck. He had been wrong, they were General Manteca's men. So where were the truck-drivers? Alex stepped up to the cab and peered in through the glassless window. At first he did not understand what he was seeing. The seats inside the cab were all burned away, leaving nothing but the metal frames and the springs. Balanced on the springs were two large bundles of shiny black sticks. Alex leaned in for a closer look and the smell of barbecued meat hit him full in the face. His eyes widened and his hand came up to his mouth as he realized that the bundles of sticks were the remains of the truck-drivers.

Alex felt his stomach clench as he stared at the curled-up stick figures. They were both hunched forward in their seats, clinging to the steering wheel. He could not understand it. Why had they stayed in the burning cab? Why had they not jumped out before the flames took them? He looked again at their claw-like hands and this time he saw the twisted wire which had been used to tie their wrists to the steering wheel. Alex lunged away from the truck and vomited into the bushes, then he made his shaky way back to the jeep.

He was still shaking when his father and General Manteca walked over to the jeep together a few minutes later. They seemed to be arguing about something. His father gave him a cursory nod, then frowned and looked at his pale face more closely. 'Are you all right, Alex?'

Alex nodded. He did not tell his father what he had done. He felt vaguely ashamed of himself. He had been warned to stay put, but his curiosity had got the better of him. He had wanted to see what the dead bodies looked like and now he thought he would never be able to forget what he had seen. He shuddered. The person who had done that was truly evil - and his father was trying to track that person down. Suddenly, Alex felt very scared.

'They were my men,' the general insisted, hardly noticing Alex. 'I want to go.'

'Luis, I know how you feel,' said Alex's dad. 'But think about it. The chances are this guy knows what you look like. And Guayaquil's a coastal city - a jumping-off point for the Galapagos Islands. A bunch of gringo tourists aren't going to be out of place there, are they?'

'What's happening, Dad?' asked Alex.

His dad took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. 'One of Luis's men was still alive when he got here.'

'Barely alive,' muttered the general grimly.

'He died within minutes,' continued Alex's dad. 'But before he died he managed to tell Luis that the men who hijacked the truck and took the drums of acid were from Guayaquil. He recognized their accents and the Guayaquil numberplate on the truck. It's a good lead. There's a strong possibility that this cocaine factory is in Guayaquil. It's Ecuador's biggest port. There's a lot of stuff shipping in and out all the time. It makes sense for the drugs baron to have his base there. So . . .'

'So you're going after them,' said Alex flatly.

'Yes. I'm recalling the unit. We're going deep undercover, as tourists. If we can find the cocaine factory, we can still salvage something out of this mess. I'm sorry, Alex. I know how much you were looking forward to our trip.'

Alex nodded. He was terribly disappointed but, after seeing what had been done to those men, he realized that there were more important things at stake than his Christmas holiday.

'It's OK, Dad. I understand. Really, I do.'

'Good lad. I'll just make some arrangements with Mike, then I'll take you to the airport and see if we can arrange you a flight home.'

'There's nobody there, remember? Mum's in Paris for Christmas, with her mates. I could go and stay in Argentina, though, with Paulo and Li.'

'Sure his family won't mind?'

'No. They'd invited me anyway. I can call them on the way to the airport.'

When they got to the airport, they discovered that there was a flight leaving for Argentina in two hours' time. Alex bought his ticket, then he and his dad stood looking at one another in the departure lounge. It wasn't that Alex had nothing to say to his dad. Rather, he had too many big things to say and didn't know where to start. He had seen what this drugs baron was capable of and he knew that his dad could be going into great danger. A deep-cover operation meant that the unit were on their own, pretending to be civilians, with none of the protection and authority that an SAS uniform might give them. Alex knew his dad might not come back from this one.

'Well,' said his dad finally, glancing at his watch, 'I have to be going.'

'OK,' said Alex, looking at his feet.

His dad reached out and ruffled a big hand through his hair, then he lifted Alex's chin and looked into his eyes. 'Still ugly, I see,' he said.

Alex grinned. 'Older by the minute,' he retorted.

His dad smiled. 'Have a good Christmas, Alex,' he said quietly, then he turned and walked away.

Alex sighed and reached into his belt pouch for his passport. His fingers closed around the little plastic case of fishing flies.

'Dad! Wait!'

His father turned as Alex ran towards him.

'Here,' said Alex, pushing the box into his dad's hands. 'This is for you. For Christmas.'

They shared a quick, fierce hug and then his father was gone, disappearing through the doors of the airport terminal without looking back.

Alex wandered over to the check-in desk and flung his rucksack onto the weighing machine. He wished there was some way he could help his dad, but he was just a kid. What could he do? Then, suddenly, he remembered Amber's last words to him before they split up for the Christmas break.

We'll have to find our own mission,
she had said.
Keep your eyes open, Alex.
Of course! There
was
a way to help his dad! Alpha Force could investigate the adoption men rumour. The street kids of Quito might not want to talk to adults, but they would talk to a group of kids their own age.

'Any seating preference?' asked the check-in clerk, in a bored voice.

'I don't want a seat,' said Alex, grabbing his rucksack back just before it disappeared along the conveyor belt.

'Excuse me?' said the clerk.

'I've changed my mind!' yelled Alex, running for the phones.

S
EVEN

'Thanks for coming,' said Alex that evening. He was once again sitting on the terrace of the general's favourite restaurant, but this time his companions were Amber, Hex, Li, Paulo and Amber's uncle, John Middleton. 'It's not just to help my dad,' he continued. 'If we can find these bogus adoption men, we'll be helping the street kids too. You didn't mind me calling, did you?'

'Are you kidding?' said Amber, flinging the menu down onto the table. 'I've discovered Hex doesn't do holidays. I mean, New York at Christmas, it's pretty spectacular, right? There's skating in Central Park, all the big stores have these amazing Christmas decorations and there are tons of shows on Broadway. What was the only thing Hex was interested in?'

'You tell me,' grinned Alex.

'The local internet cafe,' hissed Amber. 'Sheesh! I ask you!'

Hex ran his hands through his straight brown hair so that it stood up in spikes. 'We went there once,' he grated, his green eyes flashing. 'And she spilled coffee all over my keyboard.'

'Alex, I have to thank you for calling us,' said Amber's uncle. 'One more day with these two and I might have committed murder.'

'Li nearly did that,' said Paulo.

'What, murdered someone?' asked Amber.

'Yes,' said Paulo, grinning at Li and nodding his head so hard his dark curls bounced up and down.

Li narrowed her eyes at him. 'Paulo told me all about the heated swimming pool on his family ranch,' she explained. 'He didn't tell me it was going to be swarming with local girls, all competing to become Mrs Paulo. They wouldn't stop talking about his gorgeous sexy eyes and his gorgeous curly hair. So-oo irritating.'

'What did you do, Li?' smiled Alex.

'I just pushed one into the pool, that's all,' said Li demurely, but her dark eyes were sparkling and her high cheekbones flushed a rosy pink as she swallowed down a giggle.

'Poor Rosa,' said Paulo, grinning fondly at Li. 'She was wearing an evening gown. And she couldn't swim.'

'Yeah, well, Paulo jumped in and rescued her,' giggled Li. 'And she decided that he must be in love with her. After that, she wouldn't leave him alone for a second.'

'I, too, am pleased that you called, Alex,' said Paulo, in a heartfelt voice.

'No problem,' said Alex.

'I think it's a perfect first mission for Alpha Force,' said Li. 'It's something only a group of kids could do.'

Amber nodded. 'If someone's murdering street kids, we need to stop them. My mom and dad would've approved,' she said. 'Right, Uncle?'

'Right,' said John Middleton.

The waiter arrived and they all ordered the dish of the day, except Amber, who insisted on ordering the local speciality.

'Is the senorita sure?' asked the waiter, looking at John Middleton.

Amber bristled. 'Hey! I ordered it, didn't I?'

'The senorita would enjoy the dish of the day,' insisted the waiter, still looking at Amber's uncle.

'I said, I'm sure,' hissed Amber, glaring at the waiter, who retreated to the kitchens.

'So,' said Amber smugly. 'What next?'

'Well, I suppose we just hit the streets and find out what we can,' said Alex.

'I have been thinking about that,' said Paulo. 'The street children may talk to us more than they would to an adult, but there will still be a barrier there. Unless they think they are talking to one of their own.'

'Ah. You mean we should pretend to be street kids,' said Hex.

'Not all of us,' said Paulo. 'Just one of us.'

'I could do that,' said Amber. 'I speak Spanish.'

'Not like a local,' said Paulo. 'You don't look like a South American either.'

'But you do,' said Li slowly, giving Paulo a serious stare. 'You think it should be you, don't you?'

'Yes,' said Paulo. 'It is the only way to get the - what do you say? - the inside information.'

One by one the others nodded. 'Sounds like a good idea,' said Alex, speaking for them all. 'But are you sure, Paulo? It could be dangerous.'

'I am sure.'

'We can make it safer,' said John Middleton. 'There are such things as covert radios so that we can keep in touch with you. And I could get a tracker device fitted into your belt buckle. That way, we'll always know where you are.'

'That is good,' said Paulo. 'But where would we get such things?'

'I have a friend in Quito--' began Amber's uncle.

'Don't tell me,' sighed Amber. 'He owes you a favour.'

John Middleton smiled at his niece, then turned back to Paulo. 'After the meal, you and I shall pay him a visit.'

'And the rest of us will hit the streets and try to get a feel for what it's like out there,' said Li. 'Find a safe spot for you.'

'We can all meet up back at the hotel at the end of the--' Alex stopped talking in mid-sentence and his eyes widened as he stared out at the street. Suddenly he pushed his chair back and dived under the table.

'Alex, what the . . .?' said Amber.

'Don't look at me,' hissed Alex.

'Come on,' drawled Hex. 'You don't look that bad. It's only one pimple--'

'See that army jeep coming down the street?' interrupted Alex. 'The guy driving it is General Luis Manteca.'

'What's wrong with him?' asked Li.

'Nothing,' said Alex. 'He's a really nice man - a friend of my dad's - but I can't let him see me here. He thinks I'm in Argentina, staying on Paulo's ranch.'

'So what do we do?' said Hex.

'Just keep talking,' hissed Alex. 'Tell me when he's gone.'

They chatted about the weather and watched the army jeep drive slowly past them. Alex held his breath under the table.

'Uh-oh,' said Hex, after a moment.

'The general's not coming in here, is he?' yelped Alex.

'No, he's gone,' said Hex in a strangely strangled voice. 'But Amber's meal has arrived.'

Alex emerged from under the table. Amber was staring down at her plate with a look of pure horror on her face and Hex was trying very hard not to laugh. Alex made a quick check up and down the street, then he got back onto his chair and stared at Amber's meal. An animal that looked something like a large rat had been skewered, roasted whole, then laid out on a bed of rice.

Amber stared at the creature for a long time, taking in the neat ears, the little curled paws, the tightly closed eyes and the prominent front teeth.

'What is it?' she squeaked.

'El cuy,'
said the waiter.

'Mmm. Lovely,' said Amber. 'Thank you.'

As soon as the waiter disappeared, Amber rounded on Paulo. 'What's a
cuy?'
she demanded.

Paulo was red in the face from trying not to laugh. He swallowed hard and looked at Amber. 'It is a guinea pig,' he said.

Hex gave a huge snort of laughter and Amber glared at him. 'Guinea pig!' she shrieked. 'That's the local speciality? What is it with these people?'

'Oh, I don't know, Amber,' giggled Li. 'You've eaten worse.'

They all knew what Li was referring to. Amber was a diabetic. She had to inject herself with insulin twice a day and she also had to make sure she ate regular meals, to keep her blood-sugar levels steady. If she missed a meal, her blood-sugar level could become dangerously low, causing a hypo - a dangerous condition with symptoms of sweating, faintness, irritability and dizziness. When they were stranded on the island, Amber had once been forced to eat raw grubs in order to avoid a hypo.

'You promised you'd never mention the grubs!' flared Amber. She pushed her plate away. 'Anyway, I can't eat this.'

'Then we'll get the waiter to bring you something else,' said John Middleton.

'No!' hissed Amber. 'He'd laugh at me.'

'Here,' said Hex, relenting. 'You can share mine.' 'Thanks,' said Amber, beaming.

As they settled down to their meal, Alex looked around the table at the faces of his friends and realized that, for the first time since that morning, he had stopped feeling scared.

'Street kids up ahead,' murmured Li. 'Looks like trouble.'

'Where?' said Alex, moving closer to her.

'See those two boys?' said Li. 'They're building up for a fight.'

Alex went up on his toes and craned his neck to see over the heads of the crowd. A little way ahead, a thin, dark-haired boy of about thirteen with a sore-looking rash around his mouth was repeatedly shoving another boy in the chest.

'I see them,' said Alex and pointed the boys out to Amber and Hex as they came up to join him. The four of them had been walking around the streets of the Old Town for nearly two hours since they had split up from Paulo and John Middleton. They had been looking for the places where the street kids hung out and had been astounded at the sheer numbers begging on street corners, huddled in doorways or trying to sell roses to the crowds of people walking by.

Alex, Hex, Amber and Li had quickly learned that the street kids gathered in tourist areas, so they had headed for one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Old Town, the Plaza San Francisco. On one side of the plaza the twin white towers of the Monastery of San Francisco, the oldest church in Quito, rose into the night sky. The cobbled plaza below was ringed with stalls. Some were selling tacky religious souvenirs, others were hung with colourful woven bags and belts. Beside these stalls, Indian women, wearing dark felt hats, stood impassively as the crowds surged by.

It was the week before Christmas, a time when traditional, life-sized Nativity scenes were installed in churches and public places all over Quito. The Nativity scene at the Monastery of San Francisco was meant to be one of the most spectacular and a constant procession of people were making their way across the plaza and up the steps to see it. Li, Amber, Alex and Hex were right in the middle of the crowd when the two street kids started to fight. Suddenly, the thin boy gave the other boy an extra-hard push in the chest and he staggered backwards into the crowd. The two boys started fighting in earnest, fists and feet flying, and the four friends found themselves squashed between two layers of people as the crowd in front of them stepped back and the crowd behind them surged forward for a better view.

'Hey! Watch it!' gasped Amber. She hated being in a crush and she was starting to panic, but the fight was over almost as soon as it had begun. The two boys picked themselves up, nodded to one another as though the fight had never happened, then ran off through the crowd. A third boy pushed past Hex and Amber and ran after the two fighters.

'What was that about?' said Li as the crowd moved on, filling the space where the fight had been.

'It was a diversion,' said Hex grimly, patting at the pocket of his jacket. 'My palmtop's gone.'

Li's eyes narrowed. 'They stole it?'

Hex nodded.

'Well, what are we waiting for?' snapped Li. 'Come on!'

Li darted off through the crowd after the three boys with Alex, Hex and Amber at her heels.

'There they go!' shouted Amber, pointing to the steps that led up to the monastery. The three boys were pushing their way through the crowd towards the main doors. Li put on a spurt and reached the bottom of the steps just as the three street kids were about to disappear into the monastery. The thin boy with the rash around his mouth glanced back. His eyes widened for a second as he saw Li and the others charging up the steps towards him, then he scowled, grabbed the other two boys by the shoulders and pushed them ahead of him into the church.

Li bounded up the steps with her long black hair flying behind her. The other three caught up and they raced into the church together. There, they stumbled to a halt and stood, panting. It was quiet inside the huge church. The only noises were the scuff of feet on the creaking wooden floorboards and the sigh of whispered conversations floating up to the high ceiling. The ornately carved roof was lost in gloom and the bare light bulbs gave only a dim glow to the thick gilding which covered the walls of the church. The three street boys were nowhere in sight.

'They must be here somewhere!' shouted Hex, his fingers frantically keying the air as he yearned for the return of his stolen palmtop.

A disembodied 'Shhh!' came floating towards them. As quietly as they could, the four moved into the main part of the church, looking around them. Over in one corner a life-sized Nativity group dressed in traditional local costume stared back at them. There were benches, statues and dark corners everywhere. If the street kids were lying low in here, they had plenty of hiding-places.

'Split up,' whispered Alex.

The four of them spread out in a line and began making their way to the centre of the church, checking every possible hiding-place. They had nearly reached the other end of the church and Hex was groaning in frustration, when Li suddenly gave a wordless yell.

A second later the three street kids exploded out of a confessional box and pelted towards a tiny door set in the back wall of the church. Instantly, the four of them changed direction and shot out of the little door only metres behind the street kids.

On they ran, following the street kids through narrow, winding cobbled streets. Li was determined to catch them and she seemed to have boundless energy. Whenever the three boys ahead of her turned a corner, she would increase her speed, always managing to get to the corner just before the boys disappeared around the next one. After a while the street kids were glancing over their shoulders more often, as though they could not quite believe they were still being chased. Alex, Amber and Hex panted along behind, doing their best to keep up.

The streets grew narrower and the crowds thinned out. They were into a quieter, residential area where old houses were divided in flats with wooden balconies leaning out over the street. Alex was beginning to get worried. Suddenly he realized that he had no idea where they were. The street they were running along was completely deserted and their footsteps echoed loudly on the cobbles.

'Li,' he gasped, 'perhaps we'd better give up.'

'We'll catch them at the next corner,' promised Li, sprinting on up the steep incline. 'They're just about finished.'

Alex looked ahead at the three running boys. They were beginning to stumble on the cobbles and one was clutching at his side. 'One more corner,' panted Alex, sprinting after Li.