The Nightmare Vortex (2 page)

Superspy Max Remy slammed her pick into the side of Popocatepetl in Mexico, a volcano that rose almost five a half thousand metres above sea level to a snow-covered, blue-sky summit. She was climbing to the top in an attempt to infiltrate the secret hideout of Count Blackheart, one of the world's deadliest fiends. Closely behind her was Alex Crane. The two spies were the best in the business and since becoming partners, were also inseparable friends.

‘Max? How long until we reach the top?'

Max brushed snow from her goggles and saw their destination a few metres above. ‘About thirty minutes.'

‘Good. My foot's got this itch I'm dying to scratch.'

The two laughed until the hook securing Alex's rope snapped and she swung away from the cliff with nothing more than Max for support.

‘Alex!' Max reached out to her friend but the wind buffeted her away. She loosened her rope to reach further, but it was no good. Alex fluttered like a burst hot air balloon battered by the icy winds.

Max had another plan but just as she was about to try it, a helicopter swung over the edge of
the summit, whipping the snow into a blinding storm and the winds into an even greater frenzy. A man carrying a large shiny knife was lowered on a long, metal cable.

‘Farewell, ladies.' Blackheart's voice reverberated from a loudspeaker.

Max needed to think fast. She had to get to Alex before the knife-wielding man did and before the force of the helicopter tore them both off the mountain. Before

‘Max!'

Max's head spun round. She wasn't climbing the summit of Popocatepetl. She was in her room and that was the sound of her mother calling.

The door opened. Why didn't her mother ever knock?

‘There's a parcel for you. It's from overseas.' She handed it to Max and stood there waiting for her to open it. Max put it on her bed and kept typing.

‘Thanks. I'll open it later.'

‘Don't you want to see what it is?' asked her mother, curious to see who the parcel was from.

‘Yeah. I just want to finish this first.'

‘Okay, sweetie. I'll be downstairs.'

After her dad left them for his new actress wife, Max's mother hadn't mentioned his name once. It was a kind of rule between them, but that didn't mean she didn't want to know what he wrote to Max.

When her mother was far enough away, Max locked the door and opened the parcel. It wasn't from her dad, it was from Spyforce. She picked up a small handheld device. The screen lit up and a soft voice spoke.

‘Max Remy fingerprint identification complete. And now a word from our leader.'

Harrison's face appeared on the screen. He had a bandage around his head and a whiplash collar on his neck. Next to Harrison, Max didn't seem clumsy at all.

Max opened
The Guide to Spyforce Missions
and looked up Alex's name. She watched as full-colour pictures showed Alex abseiling in the Andes, diving in the Mediterranean and hiding in the markets of Marrakesh, Morocco. She'd outwitted baddies from Budapest to Broome, but not only that, her father had been a spy too and they'd completed lots of missions together as Spyforce's only father and daughter team. But there was something else. One mission had been deleted. When she opened the page, it was blank.

‘What happened here?'

Max's alarm went off. She'd set it to remind her to check if her mum had called Linden's dad. She put the palm computer away, slipped the secret badge in her pocket and went downstairs.

Her mum was in full flight organising the ‘personality' party with a horde of people running after her every whim.

‘That's it!' decided Max. If her mother wasn't going to make the call, she'd do it for her.

‘Mum!' she yelled over the noise. ‘It's Linden's dad on the phone.'

Max held out the receiver while her mother gave her a ‘you're in trouble' look, but then was sweet as pie when she said ‘hello'. Max listened as everything was arranged. ‘So we'll expect the arrival of … of …'

‘Linden!' Max whispered in horror.

‘… of Linden this afternoon. Goodbye.' She flounced her hair. ‘Linden's dad sounds nice. Very mature.'

At that moment Aidan bounced up holding a doll that looked suspiciously like him. ‘Look at this.'

‘What is it?' Max cringed.

‘It's a Rex doll. After my character in the show.' He'd been given the role of a psychologist on a new soap.

Max did her best not to throw up.

‘I'll be upstairs.'

Max did all she could over the next few hours to block out the noise from downstairs until she
finally saw Ben and Francis drive up. They'd be in the city all week for some meetings and had offered to give Linden a lift. Max jumped off her bed and raced downstairs.

‘They're here,' she yelled as she flew past her mum.

‘Who?'

Max opened the door and saw the beaming face and wild hair of Linden staring back at her. She was so happy to see him she almost reached out and hugged him until she realised what she was about to do and stopped herself just in time.

Her mum walked up behind her like she'd recently been made queen of somewhere and put on one her best acts of snobiness.

‘Well if it isn't our country friends,' she said overly loud. ‘And … and …'

Max swung her head round to face her mother. ‘Linden!' she whispered.

‘Yes. You'll be in the spare room,' her mum said, but did nothing more to invite them in, so they all stood in an awkward silence that made Max burn up with embarrassment until Ben rescued them.

‘We thought we'd take the kids out for dinner, if that's alright by you.'

Everyone sighed, especially Max's mum. ‘That'd be lovely.' And she slobbered a goodbye kiss over Max who felt like she was drowning in saliva and lipstick.

‘Are you sure you two are related?' Linden asked after they'd left.

‘That's what it says on my birth certificate.' Max sighed, but Linden's smile made her feel instantly better.

In the car, they chatted wildly like there wasn't enough time in the world to tell each other all their news. Linden told Max how he'd received a parcel from Spyforce too.

‘Maybe they'll want us to go on another mission.'

‘Yeah! That's what I was thinking.'

Ben had chosen a vegetarian restaurant just for Max and after they'd finished eating, he clasped his hands together, and leant towards them excitedly.

‘Now we have something to tell you.'

Max waited anxiously as Linden struggled with the wrapper of an after dinner mint the waiter had just left.

‘Francis and I have finished the Time and Space Machine.'

‘Finished the Time and Space Machine!' Max yelled as they tried to shush her.

‘I think it's supposed to be a secret,' Linden mumbled through a chocolate covered mouth.

‘Sorry.'

Ben explained how they did it, including how they'd added the Time and Space Retractor Meter that Linden and Max helped bring to Australia.
¹
‘But the key component to the new Time and Space Machine, was Francis's discovery.'

Ben wiped his napkin across his mouth. ‘Want to come to the lab and see?'

‘In Mindawarra?' Max was confused.

‘No. We've got one here.' Ben kept his voice lowered.

‘Yeah, but it's a little more advanced than the shed.' Francis smiled.

Linden and Max leapt out of their seats and raced to the car. The journey to the lab seemed to take forever. Finally, they drove up to two security guards standing by tall, metal gates.

Francis pulled out a pass like he was some kind of FBI agent. ‘They're with me,' he said proudly.

‘Certainly, Professors.' The guards stood aside and opened the gates. Max was impressed. This was very different from how Francis had been treated in London.

Inside the entrance, two lab assistants helped Max and Linden into white, sanitised suits, shower caps and balloon-like shoe covers.

‘What do you think?' Linden asked Max. ‘Does it say, chick magnet?'

‘I'm surprised you haven't been mobbed already.'

‘I don't know,' whispered Francis. ‘I thought one of the lab assistants was looking at you funny.'

‘Mum always said I'd be a winner with the girls.'

Ben and Max giggled at Linden's attempt at looking suave, before heading off through a series of security doors and ultra white passages. They then stepped into a foyer-type room in front of the lab.

‘The temperature in the lab is rigorously monitored,' Francis began. ‘This room reads our collective temperature and adjusts the lab's temp accordingly. Once that is done, a release valve will be activated and we can go inside.'

After a few more seconds, a metallic click was heard and they entered the lab.

Francis was right. It was a lot better than Ben's shed. There were shiny machines, with tubes, gadgets and gizmos everywhere.

‘Now, to the secret component.' Francis looked so happy surrounded by scientific equipment.

He opened a small glass cabinet and removed a
deep blue velvet cloth. After carefully unfolding it, he placed it on a bench before them. ‘Here it is.'

Max and Linden stared. ‘A rock?'

‘Not just any rock,' Ben interrupted excitedly. ‘Tell them, Francis.'

Francis dimmed the lights with a remote. ‘Now look.'

‘Wow,' Max and Linden breathed together. Inside the rock were swirling patches of coloured light.

‘It's like the auroras borealis and australis.' Linden had seen pictures of the light phenomena but never for real.

‘That's right. After I left the Department of Science and New Technologies, I was so sad at what had happened, I just went walking. I walked all over the United Kingdom, until I came across a little town in Scotland where the locals talked about these rocks called Aurora Stones. When I saw them, I knew they were special and have kept one on me ever since. It was in my pocket the day I met you. When I arrived in Australia, Eleanor helped me analyse it and we found it was a special energy source. I've heard scientists talk about the stone but no one knew for certain if it really existed.'

Francis's eyes were alive with his discovery.

‘When Ben and I experimented with using it in the Time and Space Machine, we found it gave us the missing energy source needed to move at the speed of light, thus enabling time travel.'

Max and Linden stared at the rock as it glowed before them.

‘When can we see the Time and Space Machine?'

Ben turned to Francis with a knowing smile. ‘I'd say any day now, but you'll have to be patient.'

Linden's eyebrows sprang upwards. ‘This is Max you're talking about. Patience isn't something she's spent a lot of time developing.'

‘I can be patient.' Max folded her arms across her chest.

After about thirty seconds, she couldn't stand it. ‘How
long
do we have to wait?'

‘When it's done, you'll know,' Ben said. ‘For now, we better get you home.'

Francis rewrapped the stone and locked it securely away as Max and Linden fired off an endless stream of questions about the new Space and Time Machine. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a man smiled maliciously as he listened to the sound of voices transmitting all the way from Australia.