Mission In Malta (15 page)

‘Aaah!' Max crouched low and clung to the metal bars of the cage that dangled above a large inland pool bulging with blobs of bulbous jellyfish. ‘There's height, water and jellyfish,' she breathed. ‘All you'd have to do is add leeches and all my favourite phobias would be here.'

‘It's okay, Max.' Linden spoke as if he was sitting on the lounge at home watching TV, not on the floor of an about-to-be-dunked cage. ‘We'll figure a way out.'

‘How?' Max looked at a rock platform beneath them where their bags lay, confiscated and discarded by a smiling Kenneth. He'd left them teasingly in full view of the two young spies, along with Max's belt and the Time and Space machine. When he and two other thugs hoisted them above the inland pool, Kenneth was the final one to leave, with one last echoing crack of his neck.

‘Keep your head up and breathe slowly. It always helps me whenever I'm freaking out.'

‘When have you ever freaked out,' Linden advised.

‘Plenty of times.'

Max screwed her face into a scowl. ‘Like when?'

‘Like when I had to give a speech at the regional finals of the national Eisteddfod, and
when my dad showed me how to help a cow give birth.' He paused. ‘When I realised my mum was never coming back.'

Max's shoulders eased downwards. Linden's mum had died of cancer a few years earlier. ‘What did you do?'

‘I gave the speech. I helped the calf being born.' He paused again. ‘I ran away a lot.'

‘You ran away?' Max loosened her hands. A little.

‘Yeah. Never very far. Just to the other side of town or to the end of the back paddock. Once I nearly made it to the next town about thirty kilometres away. That was in the beginning. After she'd died. I never went so far after that. It was enough to scare Dad, though. I never wanted to run away – I just wanted to run. Not to go anywhere or get away from Dad, but I couldn't breathe when I was standing still, and the only thing that seemed to help was running.'

The cage swung slightly in a breeze that swirled into the cave.

‘I was the opposite,' Max said quietly. ‘When Dad left to live in America, all I wanted was to stay still. I closed my bedroom door and stayed there for days, lying on my bed, listening to music on my
headphones to block everything out.'

‘What happened?'

‘My last battery ran out and I got up.'

Linden smiled.

‘I went through a pack of twenty.'

Linden laughed. It caught Max like a downward curve on a rollercoaster. She smiled and tightened her grip on the bar to stop her from falling.

‘I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before,' she said. ‘We should have called Stefan before we went to follow Alfonzo.'

Linden shook his head. ‘You went with your instincts, which most of the time I'd say are pretty good.'

‘You would?' Max frowned.

‘Yeah.'

‘How about the cupcake bomb at the luncheon?'

Linden shrugged. ‘Okay, that wasn't so good.'

‘And the time I thought Dretch was a double agent just before he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Spy Awards.'
⁷

‘He
was
acting a little strange that night.'

‘And when …' Max bit her lip and looked away. ‘When I almost got you killed in Hollywood?'
⁸

‘I'm here now, aren't I?' Linden held out his hands in a grand ta-da gesture. Max narrowed her eyes. ‘All right, there was that too,' he admitted. ‘But mostly you're spot on.'

Max face's became caked in a bright red blush.

‘And you heard Stefan – he said we were courageous and that it was an honour and a privilege to work with us.' The speckled blue light from below sparkled across Linden's face like tinsel.

‘Do you think that? Of me, I mean.'

‘Yeah. I do.' It was Linden's turn to blush. ‘Max?'

Max's stomach tightened. ‘Yes?'

‘I … I … I just wanted to say …'

‘Aaaah!'

The cage jolted downwards.

‘I guess that means Alfonzo said no.' Linden gripped the bars of the cage. ‘Which is good, of course, that Syphon won't get his way.'

‘Except we're going to die!'

‘Not yet we're not.' Linden reached into his
pocket and pulled out the two opened packets of Sherbet Liquefier. ‘There may be enough left to at least weaken the bars.'

The chain suspending them above the inland sea unwound with a sickening series of clangs. Linden sprinkled a skerrick of the remaining powder onto the base of one of the bars. When it began to sizzle, he slammed his shoe at it in a hard kick and it broke free.

‘Look, Max.' Linden pushed hard against the bar and bent it outwards.

Max had her eyes shut tight trying to ignore the fact that they were being lowered to their death.

‘I need you to help me.'

Max opened her eyes a sliver.

‘Take this and do the same with the bars next to this one. We'll only need to break a few and we can squeeze out of here.' Linden handed her one of the packets. ‘There's not much left so we can't waste any. Oh, and don't look down.'

Linden poured the remaining few specks of Liquefier onto the next bar. As the sizzling started, he again kicked at the metal and it came free. He bent it away so it protruded upwards like a crooked tooth.

Max smiled briefly, then went back to quietly panicking when she noticed they were only metres from the water.

‘Think of Syphon when you do the kicking,' Linden prompted. ‘I find it helps.'

Max smiled and sprinkled what was left from her packet. She leant back, pulled her knee towards her and, when the sizzling started, she kicked into the bar so hard it broke away from the cage and fell in a tumbling freefall into the water.

‘Remind me not to get in a kickboxing match with you.' Linden measured his body against the newly formed gap. ‘I think that might do it.'

The cage lowered closer to the bulging, blobbing surface of the pool.

‘The hover capability of the shoes should be strong enough for us to walk over the water. Ready?'

‘Are you serious?'

‘Okay,' Linden smiled, ‘maybe no one's ever ready for their first time of walking on water.' He watched as Max became hypnotised by the rising sea beneath them.

‘I'll go first.'

Linden pressed the green button on the side of his shoes and began floating above the base of the
cage. ‘It's good so far.' He moved carefully to the edge where he hovered briefly before stepping over the water. He sank instantly downwards, but the stream of air strengthened, lifting him safely above the clamouring waves and stinging jellyfish.

‘It works!' Max cried.

With a few near tumbles, Linden air-walked over the water to the rock platform at the pool's edge. ‘Your turn, Max.'

The cage jolted in a violent thrust. Max clung to the bars, her feet cemented with fear.

‘Max,' Linden called, ‘trust me. You'll be fine.'

Jellyfish and seawater spilled into the bottom of the cage, but Max still couldn't move.

‘Look at me,' Linden offered. ‘Don't look anywhere except at my face and you'll be fine.'

The cage cranked lower still. Jellyfish blubbered onto the cage floor. Max felt a jolt of fear slam into her chest. She reached down, pressed the green button on her shoes and rose above the cage's watery floor.

She stared at Linden's face and slipped between the bars.

‘That's it,' Linden smiled, ‘you can do it.'

‘Aah!' Max lowered briefly towards the water before the shoes lifted her above the restless
surface. She felt as if she was stepping on rubbery jelly as her feet stumbled through the air. Her breathing was short and her stomach ached, but all she looked at was Linden's face as she made it safely to the platform.

‘I told you you could do it.'

Max blushed and looked away as the final splash of the disappearing cage sank beneath the ocean's surface.

‘That Syphon kid better be ready for us, because I'm not leaving without Alfonzo.' Max picked up her belt and took out the Time and Space Machine. She activated the screen to reveal the virtual earth. ‘Alfonzo?' she breathed.

The screen zoomed in to an image of the leech expert, this time bound and gagged and slumped on the floor of what looked like a lab. ‘He's not far from here.' She zoomed out to reveal the exact location. ‘Let's go.'

Max's head snapped upwards at the echoing slap of footsteps coming towards them. She fastened the belt round her waist and slipped the machine inside. ‘No-one is stopping me now.'

Max and Linden reached for their packs and took out their Somniferous Pens. They stood ready, Pens poised at the sound of the approaching steps.

‘Now!'

When the two men appeared from around a craggy bend of rock, the darts found their targets. The men stopped and swayed briefly before thudding to the floor in a deep sleep.

‘Sweet dreams, fellas.' Max turned to Linden. ‘Did you get the footage of Syphon?'

‘It's all here.' Linden tapped on his watch.

‘It's time Spyforce and the world knew about Syphon's little plan.'

Linden plugged his watch into his palm computer and transferred the vision of Syphon discussing his plot. Max did the same with her MP3 recording before calling Steinberger.

‘Max, is everything okay?'

‘We're on the Island of Gozo and Alfonzo has been kidnapped by Louis B. Syphon. We've sent vision and a voice recording of him talking about a plan to destroy Malta. We need you to edit the two together and send it to my palm computer. It's only a few minutes long. How fast can you get it back to us?'

‘Consider it already there.' Steinberger smiled. ‘I'll send agents for backup. Give me details of your exact location.'

Max activated the locator on her computer and
emailed Steinberger their location coordinates. ‘Done. We'll see you at Spyforce with one rescued leech expert.'

Max shut down the connection and turned to Linden. ‘You get Alfonzo and meet me at the entrance of the cave. I have a date with a microphone and Kid Syphon.'

‘Remember the pact,' Linden said.

Max smiled. ‘I remember.'

The two spies retrieved their packs and jumped over the snoring men, Linden heading to rescue Alfonzo and Max to the security room.

When she arrived at the platform, she saw the back of a guard through the glass. Max stood firm and took a calming breath before leaping into the air and landing outside the door. ‘I'm getting pretty good at using these.'

The startled guard turned and faced Max and her Somniferous Pen. With one click, the guard gripped his arm with a pained groan before tipping sideways and slumping back into his chair. Max wheeled him out of the way and opened the connection on her palm computer. She had one message. ‘That was quick, Steinby.'

Before her was a desk with a control panel and a microphone and positioned above were several
monitors: one showed an image of Syphon pacing the dining hall, berating his cowering assistant, Kenneth.

In the corner of the security room was a camera looking straight at Max. She picked up the microphone and pressed a button that said
Universal Address.

‘Syphon, it's Max here, that annoying kid you tried to kill in the jellyfish pool.'

Syphon stopped yelling at Kenneth and looked around.

‘I'm in the security room.'

Syphon looked up. Max waved.

‘As you can see, your little plan for me didn't work. Not only that, I have a short video I'd like to play you.'

With the microphone in hand, Max walked over to the camera, held her palm computer before it and played Steinberger's edited footage. Max didn't watch the vision but enjoyed the look of sheer horror that leeched onto Syphon's face.

When the vision had ended, Max slipped her computer into her newly recovered pack. ‘So your little game is up, Syphon. Unless you release Alfonzo and the capsules, your little dinner speech will be broadcast all over the world, where once
again you will be known for who you really are.'

With a murderous look twisting into his face, Syphon grabbed Kenneth by the sleeve and dragged him to the moored red speedboat beside them.

Max spoke into her watch. ‘Linden? Are you there?'

‘Alfonzo and I have just left behind a few sleeping guards and are on our way to the entrance of the cave.'

‘Meet me at the jet skis.'

‘Yes, boss.'

Max leapt from the ledge of the security room and landed with a rubbery
thud
on the rock platform below. She ran to the jet skis, where she met Linden and a rumpled Alfonzo.

‘Alfonzo, are you okay?'

‘I couldn't give in to their demands, Max.' He stared at her through his good lens. ‘I tried to reason with –'

‘You made the right decision.' Max smiled. ‘We'll prove it. Jump on.'

Max leapt on one jet ski while Linden and Alfonzo climbed on another as an ear-staggering wall of engine noise filled the cavern. Syphon, Kenneth and the red speedboat raced past, typhooning a wall of water into the narrow passage
and over Max, Linden and Alfonzo. Max spoke into her watch. ‘Stefan? There's a red boat about to exit the cave. He's our man.'

Stefan's voice leapt to attention. ‘
Bravu
, Max! I'm on the case.'

Max and Linden started their engines and Linden quickly took off in a wash of go-get-'em confidence.

Max's exit wasn't so graceful.

‘Aaaah!'

Her jet ski jumped forward in a series of clumsy hops. ‘Oh, you've got to do better than that,' she complained before plunging forward into an accelerated take-off she couldn't stop.

‘Aaaah!'

Max sped out of the cave and onto the choppy waves of the open sea like she was on a bad-tempered bull. ‘Please, please, please don't kill me!'