Polly Pippin and The Tunnel of Death (16 page)

~

Polly glanced over to Alison and saw she was
sitting alone. Alison saw her look and called her over. 'Did you
see what happened to Miles?' she asked. 'He went over to get us
coffee and hasn't come back.'

But Polly was not sympathetic. 'He's gone
probably where Piers went,' she said. 'Now you know what it feels
like when someone you love just disappears.'

'Polly why are you being so mean to me?'
Alison said. She was genuinely upset.

'Get over it Alison. You're really starting
to get on my nerves,' came the terse reply.

'Polly,' was all that Alison could say
before Polly had swung on her heel and stamped out of the café,
slamming the door as she went.

'Talented actresses are so temperamental,'
Mr Rekrap said. 'It comes with acting genius. I expect that's why
I'm a bit temperamental myself.'

Alison was trying to hide her tears, and
Brad was nearly sick in his coffee.

~

As for Commander Rekrap, he was oblivious to
his surroundings. He called Captain Bean to his side, told him to
order some more cakes to take home and walked out of the Brown
Sugar Café into the bright sunshine. A line of rickshaws was
hugging the curb, each egging him to get in. Naturally, he got into
the first and nicest looking one. He brushed Captain Bean aside,
telling him to get in the one behind and bring all his belongings,
and he waved the rickshaw to move on. Had he looked more closely,
he would have noticed that the bulging arm muscles pulling him
along did not belong to a skinny Chinese Rickshaw owner. Selim was
pleased with himself. He had pulled it off he had kidnapped a
senior Rebel, in a rickshaw of all things. The Rebels were very
fond of absconding with whomever they fancied, it's about time we
did it back, was his thought.

~

He ran as fast as the wind, and Commander
Rekrap, who had a very full stomach, was soon fast asleep. Selim
had arranged to meet Sreip outside the cottage, and within a few
moments, he arrived at the door. He was surprised to find it empty.
He switched on his Freeflyer finder, and as he did, Rhettnor
appeared with a dozen or so Freeflyers.

'Commander,' he spluttered, 'I was expecting
Sreip to be here.'

'Well, you've got me instead. Did you manage
to find Piers?'

'No, but I captured him, he should know
where Piers is.' Selim pointed his thumb over his shoulder to
Commander Rekrap, who was still fast asleep, oblivious to his very
dangerous surroundings. 'And wherever Piers is, you will probably
find Miles. That bastard in the back there snoring his head off has
just whisked Miles away.

Tempest Unleashed

After crying himself to sleep, Brad woke and
felt as bad as he looked. Where is Steve? He hadn't been seen since
he insulted Rekrap. He hated Piers and would do anything to get him
out of Polly's life - even kill him. And where are Zack and Knox?
He got up and decided to make all efforts to find them. He picked
up the inter-transmission transphaser Zack had given him, and it
immediately sprang to life. The light flickered for a second, and
then a voice said, 'Where do you want to go?'

'To Zack and Knox.' As soon as the words
were out of his mouth, he realised he had made a grave mistake. He
had forgotten to erase the previous message, and that meant the
phaser would throw all the messages into the mix before, if ever,
obeying Brad's last order.

'Nooo!' he shouted and pressed every button
and slid every lever he could. But it was too late, Brad
disappeared, sucked into the mix with all the messages. He was
spinning faster than the speed of light, and when it stopped, he
was lying flat on his back, feeling decidedly sick. He decided to
stay just where he was, hoping that if he didn't move, the
transphaser would reverse and put him back home.

He lay still for some time and thought he
must have fallen asleep because, suddenly, he felt something sharp
digging him up the nose.

'Now what have we here?' a gravelly voice
said.

Oh no, he thought. It can't be. He decided
to play dead and hope the nightmare would go away, but it
didn't.

'If it isn't Brad actor extraordinaire
Capriole.'

Brad opened one eye, and his worst nightmare
was confirmed. 'Hello, Harry the Hand,' he croaked.

'Hello,' Harry said. 'I've been looking all
over for ye. I have a message from Zack and Knox.'

'Thank goodness,' says Brad. 'I was trying
to message them. What's the message?'

'I'm not sure you will like it. It could be
worse for you than ever before,' Harry said and giggled.

Brad began to panic. He knew what that
dreadful hand could do to him. Look what happened the last time. He
found himself in a cold, wet ditch. Then Harry dressed him up as
Romeo, and he thought Piers was going to punch him on the nose. And
what happened then? Oh yes, he was pushed up a filthy chimney. So
now what the hell could the hand do to him that was worse?

'Bradikins, are you awake?' Harry prodded
him again. 'Brad… Bradikins, wake up, wake up.'

'Stop prodding me, I'm awake.' Brad was
beginning to get angry. 'Are you going to tell me the message or
not?'

'Of course. Are you ready?'

'Yes I'm ready. I've been ready since you
arrived, so tell me the message or bugger off.'

'Now, now, temper, temper,' Harry said. 'I
have the choice. I can make it easy or hard for you, and now
because you were spiteful to me, I am going to be the meanest mean
I can be.'

'Oh, Harry, you are my new bestest, kindest
friend. I can put you in the movies.'

'Really? That could sway me… not. I don't
want to be in your stupid movies,' Harry said. 'Beside which, Zack
has a better idea for you.'

Brad did not like the look on Harry's face,
and he fell to his knees. 'I will give you anything you want, Harry
only don't poke me again, and if you do, anywhere but the
face.'

'What on earth makes ye think I want to hurt
you, Brad? I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to do exactly
what Zack tells me to do.' And he snapped his fingers - all of
them. 'Mission accomplished,' Harry said.

Back at the shack

The ominous noise was getting louder, and as
it did, visibility got worse.

'I don't like the idea of sitting here like
rats in a trap,' Piers said. 'Let's look for a compass. We could
get out the back of the shack.'

'Do you have any idea how big this continent
is Piers?' Hamish turned away from the window and looked at Steve.
'Plus he couldn't walk half a mile before collapsing. No offence
meant, Steve.'

'None taken,' Steve said.

'Right, then I will go alone. I can get
help. You can at least show me the right direction.' Piers was
desperate, he had no idea what was coming and had no intention of
waiting for it to arrive.

'Good idea,' said Steve. 'Let's re-enact the
movie.' Steve walked to the back of the shack. 'I don't know if you
two are interested, but while you have been gawping out of the
window, I have found what looks like a trap door. He opened it and
swung down out of sight. Hamish and Piers watched Steve disappear.
Seconds later his head appeared.

'It seems to be a cavern of sorts, and there
are three tunnels leading from the far wall.'

Hamish hit his forehead with the flat of his
hand. 'I'm stupid, bone stupid. Of course! Remember, Piers? You
pulled me out of it with Xavier. It was pitch-black down there, so
we couldn't see a thing.'

They both looked into the underground
cavern. 'Hand me down some candles,' Steve said.

'Steve, you have surprised me,' Hamish
said.

'You obviously don't know how hard a movie
director works. It takes a very organised mind,' Steve
retorted.

'Well, if you're that good, you can lead our
escape,' Piers said, a smile breaking out to fill his face.
'Anyway, let's get working, chaps. We should take all we can, and I
suggest when we leave, we try to nail up the trap door so no one
can follow us.'

They worked like the devil, wrenching open
all the cupboards, pulling up floorboards, climbing up in the roof
rafters and gathering anything they could carry that would be of
use. And all the time the noise was getting louder, whatever it
was, it was getting closer.

'What do you think that noise is?' Steve
asked. 'You should know Hamish. After all, you've been here many
times.'

'Yes, but in the safety of the base, and I
have no idea where that is from here, and I have never heard a
noise like that before.'

They continued to gather everything - more
than they could feasibly carry - and divided it into three bundles.
They dropped it all down to Piers, who was waiting in the
cavern.

'Are we ready to go?' Piers asked.

'Yeah,' both men said and joined Piers at
the tunnel's entrance.

'There seems to be three openings. That's
amazing, or could it be a coincidence?' Piers said. 'Should we
separate and go down each one or stay together?'

'I think we should stay together - safety in
numbers,' Hamish said while he was sorting out who would carry
what.

'One, two or three?' Piers pointed.

Steve looked down the first tunnel. Running
water could be heard quite clearly, and the floor was muddy and
slippery. Hamish looked down the last tunnel, it smelt of sulphur
and was hot. The outside noise was now right on top of them and the
shack was shaking.

'My God! What the hell is it?' Steve said.
'Which one Hamish, Piers? Quick!'

'Oh God, I don't know. Let's take the middle
one,' he answered.

Without giving it a second thought, they
closed and tied down the trap door and rushed to the middle tunnel.
But Piers felt uneasy, something was still holding him back. 'I
don't feel happy about us all going down the same tunnel.'

'Oh, come on, Piers. Listen whatever's was
coming is now right on top of us. We all decided to stay together,'
Steve said. 'If you are frightened, I will go first.'

Piers grabbed Steve by the shirt and was
about to punch him on the nose when Hamish came between them.

'Hey guys, we can't afford to fall out.'

'Maybe we should go back up and see what's
making that noise,' Piers said.

'Well, I'm going down that middle tunnel
either with you or alone,' Steve said.

Hamish did not know what to do. His loyalty
was with Piers, but he still thought they should all go down the
tunnel. 'I don't think you should go back up there Piers. Let's at
least have a proper look in all three tunnels before we decide what
to do.'

'Look, you two stay down here, and if you
hear me scream, just run down the middle tunnel and if I can, I'll
catch up,' Piers said. He smiled. 'It can't be that bad. It looks
as if we're not going to survive this anyway, and I would prefer to
go out in a blaze of glory. Give me five minutes.' And he was away,
clamouring back up the ropes they had used to secure the trap
door.

~

When he got to the top, he could not believe
his eyes. Lying on the floor of the partly demolished shack was an
enormous polar bear and her cub. Her leg was badly mangled by a
bear trap, which was still attached. Amazingly, she had somehow
managed to drag the anchor out of the ground. But it had bitten
deep into her leg, and even though she was bleeding badly, she had
managed to crawl to the shelter of the shack to protect and
hopefully feed her cub. She reared up, paws in the air, her long,
sharp claws showing. She was all of twelve feet tall. Bloody hell,
Piers thought as he looked at the advancing bear. He had no idea
bears were that big. Pushing her cub behind her, she advanced
towards him, limping badly.

Hamish and Steve waited at the entrance to
the tunnel, the silence was deafening. Finally, Hamish managed to
whisper 'Piers!' He was convinced that Piers would now be dead and
whatever was up there was lying in wait for them.

Piers gently shushed and cooed to the bear.
He stood and held out his arms. He knew not to make any quick
moves, which would frighten the creature. The bear stopped moving
and looked Piers directly in the eyes. He smiled, hoping to relay
that he wanted to help the big creature. Help, save my baby, its
gaze conveyed. Piers moved closer and stretched out his hand. He
did not know if the big bear would lunge and deliver the swipe that
would kill him, but the bear stood still as they locked eyes. She
knew his man in front of her was an uninitiated Freeflyer and her
baby would be safe with him. She then collapsed and lay still.

'Oh my God! Get up here quick and help me!'
Piers shouted to Hamish and Steve. 'And bring up the medical
supplies and any food we have.'

The interrogation

'Wakey wakey, Commander Rekrap.' As he
spoke, Selim smacked the Commander several times quite hard on the
face. The Commander was not used to that kind of treatment and
objected violently.

'Bean, Bean,' he said. 'I'll have your guts
for garters. Refrain, sir, refrain.'

When the slapping continued, he opened his
eyes to find himself surrounded by Freeflyers, and poor old Captain
Bean was cowering in the corner.

'Good afternoon, Commander,' Rhettnor said.
'I hope you enjoyed your rickshaw ride?'

'What… what's happening, Bean? Bean, shoo
these Freeflyers away and get me a cup of tea. I'm parched.'

Rhettnor was never sure if Commander Rekrap
was all there or just pretending to be stupid. 'I must apologise,
Commander, but I have to inform you, both you and Captain Bean are
my prisoners. I have a few questions to ask you. If you answer them
truthfully, no harm will come to you. However, if you lie to me, I
will torture Captain Bean here.'

'Do what you like to him, my dear Commander,
he's utterly dispensable. My top men will already be making tracks
to rescue me anytime now, and you will be sent somewhere you won't
like very much.'