The Chaos Code (25 page)

Then, suddenly, they were out – through the tapestry and into the lower level of the pyramid. Ahead of him, Robin skidded to a halt. So abruptly that Matt piled into the back of her and they almost fell.

‘We made it,' he gasped, almost laughing with relief.

Then he saw the grinning skull-like face of Klein looking down at him, and the dark muzzle of the gun like a tunnel leading into blackness. ‘Mr Harper would very much like a word with you,' he said.

Klein gestured with the gun for them to go ahead of him up the narrow stairway. Matt did not dare to look back, but he could hear the head of security talking into a radio, telling his men that the search was over and they could return to their normal duties.

They emerged into the entrance hallway, under the main staircase. Klein ushered them onwards, down the corridor, and Matt glanced longingly at the now-unguarded main exit from the pyramid. So close to freedom. But there was no way he was getting out now.

Even as he was thinking this, even as he turned back,
he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Robin had seen it too, and they both looked at the same time. They both saw Klein glaring malevolently at them, gun levelled threateningly. And they both saw a dark figure step out from the shadows of a doorway. A figure holding what looked like a frying pan.

It was a frying pan, and it connected loudly and painfully with the back of Klein's head. A split-second of surprise registered on his face, then his eyes flickered and closed and he slumped to the floor. Katherine Feather dropped the frying pan and shook her hands.

‘That jarred right up my arms,' she complained. ‘Those things …' She shook her head incredulously. ‘All right – you convinced me. Harper's really lost it big time. I should have seen it before, when he forced your father to help him. I just put it down to a bit of persuasion, convinced myself your dad was being daft or in breach of contract. But with what I've just seen …' She broke off, sighed, and inspected the frying pan. ‘I never liked that man,' she muttered, dropping the frying pan on top of Klein's unconscious body.

‘Thanks,' Matt said. ‘But what now?'

Robin was pulling at Klein's gun. But he had fallen on top of it and the shoulder strap was still wrapped round his arm. She gave up trying to drag it from underneath him. ‘Helicopter, out the front,' she said.

‘Good idea,' Katherine agreed. ‘I think we need to get a long way away from here as fast as we can.'

‘Thanks for helping us,' Matt said to Katherine as they hurried back to the entrance and out into the sunshine.

‘No problem. Like your Dad says, there's a point where money isn't enough of an excuse. Maybe I've just taken it for too long without really thinking.' She hurried across the causeway, leading them towards where Harper's helicopter was resting massively on its landing area. ‘What were you about to say to your Dad about that disc?' she asked.

‘What? Oh that. Just …' Matt shook his head. ‘Doesn't matter. I'll tell you later, when we're away from here.'

The helicopter door was unlocked. Katherine dragged it open and they jumped up inside. There was no sign of the pilot.

‘Tell me about the disc,' Katherine said. ‘In case we get separated or captured again.'

‘No way,' Robin said. ‘We are out of here.'

‘You kidding?' Katherine said. ‘How's that then?'
Outside a wind was whipping up
.‘You can fly us to Rio,' Matt told Katherine.

Sand and grit blew across the massive slabs
.

‘We'll get a plane from there, somehow,' Matt said. ‘We can call for help.'

The sand whirling into a frenzy, gathering, accumulating, coalescing …

Katherine was staring at him in shock.

Forming into shapes … Figures …

‘That's your plan?' she said in disbelief.

The figures turned towards the helicopter. Started towards it
.

‘Who do you think I am?' Katherine yelled at him.

Earthen fingers reached for the door
.

‘I can't fly a bloody helicopter!'

The first of the creatures formed from sand and earth was clawing at the helicopter door. Dirt smeared down the window as it tried to force its way in. The wind was howling across the open plateau, rocking the helicopter on its wheels.

Matt stared at Katherine in disbelief. He had to shout to make himself heard above the wind outside. ‘Why didn't you tell us before we got in?'

A massive, heavy, lumpen hand thumped into the window. Then another.

‘You didn't ask,' she shouted back. ‘I didn't know what your plan was. I'm Harper's PA not his pilot.'

‘I thought that's why you led us here!' Matt yelled back. ‘You said it was a good idea.'

The window cracked – lines crazing out from the point of impact. A thin trickle of sand ran down the inside.

‘I thought the pilot would be here. I don't fly helicopters,' Katherine insisted.

‘Then move aside for someone who does,' Robin told her. She pushed past Katherine and Matt towards the pilot's seat at the front of the cockpit. ‘You'd better get strapped in. This could be bumpy with that cross-wind.'

‘What are you doing?' Matt demanded. ‘Don't be stupid.'

‘You'll get us all killed,' Katherine yelled at her.

‘As opposed to what?' Robin said without looking back. She was strapping into the seat, pulling on the pilot's helmet, examining the controls in front of her.

‘It's no good,' Matt told Katherine. ‘You can't argue with her. Just pray she has some idea.' He sat down and pulled the safety straps over his head, snapping the ends into the central buckle.

‘Here we go,' Robin called.

The sound of the wind seemed to increase as the rotors swung lazily into life. Slowly at first, but picking up speed, they turned and rose and the helicopter shifted again on its wheels. Gently, laboriously, it lifted into the air.

‘She can do it!' Katherine said in astonishment.

‘Of course I can,' Robin told her, still concentrating on the controls. ‘I don't know this type though, so don't get too complacent.'

The helicopter continued to rise, and the rough, dark hands slipped away from the windows as it lifted into the air. It turned slowly on its axis, nose angled down.

Then as Robin eased the main control stick forward the helicopter picked up speed.

Over Robin's shoulder, Matt had a good view of the open plateau. He could see the half-dozen misshapen figures lurching uncertainly from side to side as they seemed to watch their prey getting away from them. One of them reached out, and its arm stretched, thinning to a sharp point as it stabbed up at the cockpit window high above it. Instinctively, Matt flinched. Beside him Katherine did the same.

But Robin didn't seem to notice. She pushed the stick further forward, the nose of the helicopter dipped so that it was almost standing on its nose. The rotor blades were now spinning in front of it, like an electric fan. They sliced into the extended arm, sending earth and grit swirling into a sandstorm. Through the dark blizzard Matt caught a confused glimpse of two of the sandmen stumbling into the path of the rotors – being sliced apart, strewn across the flagstones.

The helicopter lurched upwards, buffeted by the wind, righting itself. And suddenly it was clear of the debris and the wind dropped. Far below, the ancient, ruined town at the base of the mountain grew smaller as they left it behind, and flew onwards over the green and brown blanket of the rain forest.

At Rio, Harper had two men waiting for them when the helicopter landed. They escorted Matt, Robin and
Katherine to the main airport building. Katherine took them to one side and spoke to them – Matt could hear her insisting they should talk to Harper again and get proper orders and what did they think they were playing at?

‘I'll keep them in the executive lounge while you find out what's going on,' she told the two thugs. ‘Go on!'

No sooner had the two men gone, than Katherine led Matt and Robin to the British Airways ticketing desk.

‘Next flight to Europe,' she demanded. ‘Anything with three spaces. Then on to London, though I'd rather not a direct flight.'

Matt glanced over his shoulder, expecting Harper's men to be back at any moment. But for now at least there was no sign of them.

The first flight they could get on was to Amsterdam. They had to run for the gate, which was better than having to wait around in plain view, Matt thought as he raced through the airport. What must the woman at the BA desk have thought – three dishevelled passengers with no luggage, wanting to go to London, but not on a direct flight? It was only by luck that Katherine even had her passport with her.

Matt was tired, but he was unable to get settled on the plane to Amsterdam. He wanted to talk to Robin – not least to ask her where she'd learned to fly helicopters.

But irritatingly, she slept the whole way. She didn't seem at all worried that her father was left behind in the middle of the rain forest with Harper. But Matt guessed
inside she was as anxious and frightened as he was. Probably. He still didn't feel he really knew her, despite all they had been through together.

Amsterdam airport – Schiphol, as the signs proclaimed it – was pretty much like all the other airports they'd been in. They did not hang around. Katherine immediately changed their London tickets for a flight to Birmingham – which was closer to Venture's house. Plus, if Harper had managed to trace them, he might have people waiting at Heathrow.

Matt managed to talk to Robin while Katherine was off sorting out their tickets. He had seen the way Robin glared after Katherine as she left them in the executive lounge. ‘She's trying to help,' Matt said. ‘Give her a chance. It's all a bit much for her to take in.'

‘I suppose,' Robin said.

‘Try to see it from her point of view. Her great employer turns out to be some sort of elemental magician who wants to …I dunno – take over the world or something.' He smiled. ‘Bound to be a bit of a shock to her. It's a bit of a shock to me.'

‘Yes, all right,' Robin conceded. ‘Only …' ‘Only what?'

She looked away for a moment. When she looked back at Matt she was smiling sadly. ‘Only, I just don't like her much. That's all.'

‘I didn't like you much when I first met you,' he said. ‘So there.'

Robin's mouth twitched, as if she was trying not to smile back at him. ‘Liar,' she said.

They'd talked on the flight before Robin slept about what to do when they got back to England, and Venture's house was as good a base to start from as any, although it probably wouldn't take Harper long to guess where they had gone. Balanced against that was the library and other resources that Venture had at his disposal.

There was just one minor detour that Matt wanted to make though. As the plane began its descent into Birmingham Airport, he told Katherine and Robin: ‘I want to go to Dad's place first.'

‘Why?' Robin asked. ‘Homesick?'

‘Yeah, right. No, actually – there's something there we need.'

‘What's that?' Katherine asked.

‘I'll show you when we get there.' Matt wasn't sure he was right, and he didn't want to seem stupid. He was pretty sure Robin thought he was an idiot anyway, and after her skill at flying the helicopter he was even less keen to give her any excuse to think the worst of him. ‘Just a hunch, at the moment. But the way to stop Harper must be to decipher that disc before he does.'

‘But we don't have the disc,' Katherine said.

‘That's right.' Matt smiled.

He felt tired and drained by the time they landed. Katherine went to hire a car, and Robin to find a payphone
to call Mephistopheles Smith. She had called from Amsterdam and left a message for him.

‘Still not available,' she told Matt when she returned. ‘I asked them to have him call me at home as soon as he can.'

‘I bet Katherine has her mobile with her,' Matt said. ‘Try him on that, or leave them the number.'

Robin didn't reply, and before Matt could ask her why this was a problem Katherine herself was back. So he let it go. But he borrowed Katherine's mobile himself to call Aunt Jane and tell her they'd be back in a few hours.

‘There's a lot to tell you,' he said. ‘But not over the phone, and he left it at that.

The car was fast and red and got them to Dad's house in less than two hours despite the slow moving traffic on the motorway. Matt and Robin sat together in the back, and Katherine drove with an urgency and speed that set Matt's teeth on edge. She overtook when it looked like there wasn't room, and took corners so fast the whole car tilted and threw Matt and Robin against each other.

‘Why don't you offer to drive?' Matt said to Robin.

‘Don't have a license,' she told him, and they laughed.

‘So where did you learn to fly helicopters?' Katherine asked.

‘Dad's got a couple,' Robin said, as if this was perfectly normal. ‘There's a small hangar behind the house and a
landing pad. He was a bit annoyed Harper didn't use it but landed on the lawn instead.'

It was dark by the time they arrived outside Dad's house, and Matt saw the curtains of the house opposite twitching. He waved, and the curtains stopped. He smiled as he imagined what Mrs Dorridge must be thinking as she saw him and Robin and Katherine getting out of the sleek, new car.

‘Bit of a tip, isn't it?' Robin said as soon as Matt turned on the lights.

‘Yeah,' Matt admitted. ‘Well, it's even worse than usual since Dad was abducted by the mud men.' He kicked at the trail of dirt across the hall floor.

‘So why are we here?' Katherine said.

Matt led them into the study, and they negotiated a path to the desk. He hunted round for where he had left what he wanted, and eventually remembered putting it in a drawer together with the books and papers that had been with it.