The Final Curtain (3 page)

‘What's wrong?' Max checked that the straps of her dress hadn't slipped down her shoulders or one of the layers of her red silk skirt had been tucked into her underwear.

Eleanor and Ben became teary.

‘Okay, now you're freaking me out. What's wrong? Is it Steinberger? Larry? Has something happened to Mum?'

Eleanor rushed forward and wrapped Max in her quivering arms and long silk shawl. ‘You look so beautiful.'

Ben sniffed and hugged them both. ‘Like an angel.'

‘Oh boy,' Max mumbled. She feared she may well pass out from lack of oxygen until a white-gloved man announced the arrival of their car.

‘Oh. Okay.'
Sniff.
Ben let go. ‘I guess we better pull ourselves together.'

‘That'd be good.' Max breathed in deeply, now that she could, and followed with Linden. ‘One of these days I may not survive one of their emotional outbursts.'

‘It's true,' Linden said quietly. ‘You look really pretty.'

Normally, a comment like this sent Max's face into a girlish puce and made her want to run – do anything – to take the attention off her. But instead of running she said, ‘You look pretty good too.'

‘Thanks. Mum always said I had the face that could carry off casual or formal.' He tugged at the lapels of his suit. ‘Shall we?'

Outside the hotel, Max and Linden faced their ride.

‘A limo. Nice touch,' Linden said admiringly.

As Max bent down to step into the car, she stopped. A woman across the street in a long coat and dark glasses seemed to be staring at her. She held Max's gaze for only a second before lifting her hand in the air and hailing a cab.

‘Linden, did you …?'

‘Max? Linden?' Ben sat in the limo holding up two juices decorated with mini umbrellas.
‘You should see what else is in the fridge. That Steinberger thinks of everything, doesn't he?'

When Max looked back up, the woman had disappeared into the thick London traffic.

‘Did I what?' Linden asked.

‘Nothing.'

Max shrugged and climbed inside the car. She sipped on her juice and tried to think of where she'd seen the woman before. There was something about how she stood and the way she stared that Max knew they'd met before. No matter how much she tried to recall where, the memory remained scratchy – but she had the creeping feeling their meeting hadn't been very pleasant.

From the front, Spyforce Headquarters looked like a regular cement office building nestled amongst other similar cement office buildings in one of London's more solemn business districts. There was no outdoor furniture, no rich green pot plants, no colourful signs displaying the company name or the nature of their business.

The one item that gave away any information was the rich red carpet leading up to black-glassed front doors, which hinted that something special may be happening inside.

And special it was, once identities were checked and double-checked.

Max and Linden were directed by two solemn-faced men in dark suits to step onto a dark red floor tile. The two spies swapped brief smiles, and when their shoes touched the tile it lit up into the colour of burning coals. A gentle buzz trembled inside them like a million soft-drink bubbles making their way up their bodies.

After a few seconds, the bright red light and fizzing faded.

‘I'll never get sick of the Vibratron,' Linden smiled.

‘Me too.' Ben stepped onto the tile with Eleanor. ‘Along with Irene's cooking, it's my favourite part of the Force.'

After they'd been positively identified the front doors slid aside, allowing the four agents into a stately foyer. It had a grey slate floor, grey marble walls and windows obscured by sheets of grey film. Agents with immaculately pressed tuxedos and slicked-back hair instructed them to rest their chins inside a small mirrored box called a Face Reader, which analysed every bump and wrinkle to further confirm their identities.

Linden approached the Reader. ‘I'll have to be careful of my hair.' He patted his wild mop. ‘It took me hours to get it just right.' Max smirked but the two agents' stony faces didn't budge an inch at Linden's joke. ‘Maybe I'll just do the reading.'

After their faces had all been read, followed by soft melodic
pings
of approval, two metal doors slid open to reveal a brighter interior room dripping with sparkling streamers above mingling crowds of partying agents. Ben and Eleanor were immediately swept away into a whorl of hugging and back-slapping old friends. Waiters offering drinks wove their way between guests as if they floated on air, until Max realised they were floating on air in hover shoes. Guests were directed down a corridor, the walls alive with video reconstructions of missions from the Spyforce archives.

‘That's us!' Linden pointed to vision of him and Max being chased in the middle of the Amazon Jungle.
⁴

‘Kronch never stood a chance against Quimby's foldaway inflatable Aqua Buggy,' Max said. ‘And there's us in Malta chasing Syphon off the island of Gozo.'
⁵

‘There wasn't much that was going to stop his plans,' Linden added.

‘Except us,' Max said before feeling a cold shiver at the next piece of footage. ‘There we are in Venice, tied to the wharf on the Island of the Dead.'
⁶

‘That tide rose fast.' Linden watched closely. ‘Luckily Toby arrived in time to rescue us.'

‘Don't remind him, though,' Max said. ‘His head's big enough without any help from us.'

‘Wasn't that the time I saved you in Venice?' The voice behind them was unmistakable. ‘It'll be hard to find a suitable way to thank me for that one.' Toby shook his head. ‘But I'm sure you'll come up with something.'

‘You're my hero.' Max pretended an adoring look.

‘I knew you'd finally admit it.'

‘You know what I like about you most?' Max asked.

‘My charm? My good looks? My –'

‘Humility.'

‘Ah, yes, that's good too.' He straightened his tie.

Linden laughed.

‘Don't encourage him, he'll think he's actually funny.'

‘Funny and stylish.' Toby brushed the sleeve of his jacket. ‘What do you think of the suit?'

‘It looks good,' Linden said.

‘I wanted to look my best. Even though it's hard for me
not
to.'

‘I think that might be a record,' Max said.

‘A record for what?' Toby asked.

‘The shortest amount of time taken for me to get over you and your ego.' She walked ahead into the maze of video archives.

‘Nice to see Max is her warm and fuzzy self,' Toby said.

‘You know Max. She's not about to change for anyone.' Linden smiled. ‘Which I like.'

‘Don't tell her.' Toby watched her disappear into the crowd. ‘But I do too.'

The end of the corridor opened out into a grand ballroom. A huge dome ceiling shimmered with silver helium-filled balloons and spinning mirror balls, which cast sparkled light over candlelit tables and formally dressed agents. A brass band swirled music into the air as more waiters expertly hovered between the excited hands of agents, carrying trays of Irene's finest creations. At various points around the room, standing on marble pedestals, were fountains of tropical juices with glasses strung around the edges, while others bubbled with streaming melted chocolate surrounded by bowls nestled on ice and crammed with strawberries.

The walls were decorated with long, unfurled banners bearing the photographs of agents past and present, and at the end of the room behind a stage a bright projection with a revolving globe declared:

‘Mood flower?' An agent dressed in a white suit with butterfly wings on his back floated before Max and handed her a short-stemmed white flower.

‘What's a mood flower?' Max asked.

‘They change colour according to your mood. White is neutral, yellow is happy, green is jealous, black is angry, red is for love. They were made by Frond and her team in the Plantorium especially for tonight.'

The winged agents hovered away as the room filled with bobbing yellow flowers.

‘I see you have your flower.'

‘Aaah! How do you just appear like that?' Max asked, her flower tinged with yellow.

‘I have a light touch,' Linden answered. ‘Ready to party?'

Linden's flower was bright yellow.

‘Yes,' Max smiled broadly, ‘I think I am.'

‘Max! Linden!'

Max turned to see the beaming face of Ella through the crowd. Her mother, Valerie, had worked as a scientist with Ben and Eleanor in London and Ella, much to Max's dislike, had joined her and Linden on some early missions.

‘Ella's here.' Max didn't even try to hide the disappointment in her voice.

‘Yeah, she told me she was coming.' Linden waved her over.

‘You knew she'd be here?'

‘Yeah. We talk a lot on the Communication, Tracking and Recording Device her mother made.'

‘She's cute.' Toby walked up behind them. He'd stuck his flower in his lapel, and it blazed yellow against his black jacket.

‘I didn't know you still spoke with her.' Max's face resembled someone who'd sucked a lemon. Her flower faded.

‘Oh yeah. She always asks about you.'

‘She sounds nice,' Toby said.

‘She's a real sweetie.' Max saw that her flower had begun to turn green and flung it behind her back.

Ella picked her way through the crowd with a big-toothed smile usually reserved for Miss Universe contests.

‘Isn't this nice to have the old team back together again?' Ella's flower was as bright as an overripe mango.

Max tried to dodge out of her way but was too late. Ella had launched into an all-embracing hug, her perfectly springy curls tickling Max's nose.

‘It's hard to imagine anyone else I'd rather be
with.' Max wormed her way out of the hug.

‘I know you don't mean that,' Ella smiled, ‘but thanks anyway.'

‘Toby,' Linden said, ‘this is Ella.'

Toby took her hand and kissed it. ‘Linden told me about you, but he forgot to mention how pretty you are.'

Ella giggled and flicked her curls into the air. Max burned.

‘So it's only natural for you to be seen with the most handsome man in the room,' Toby continued.

Max stared at him. ‘Don't you have someone else to annoy?'

‘Nope. Lucky for you, I'm all yours for the whole night and for tomorrow's training session, too.'

‘That's supposed to be lucky, is it?'

‘Most girls would think it is.'

‘I guess I'm not most girls.' Max shook her head.

Ella had cupped her hand and was whispering into Linden's ear. ‘That's exactly what I was thinking,' he laughed.

‘This is going to be a fun night, don't you think?' Ella's Miss Universe smile returned even bigger than before.

‘I couldn't have more fun if I jammed my head in a door.' Max kept her flower firmly behind her back.

‘Sorry?' Ella asked.

‘I need to go to the bathroom.' As Max turned away she swung her flower in front of her.

‘Don't be long,' Toby said. ‘You know you can't stand being away from me. In fact … Stop!'

He was too late. Max had turned directly into a tray of Irene's famous blue honey mash and caviar canapés. The silver tray crashed to the floor with a
clang
, along with Max's ego.

Ella reached into her bag for a hanky, but Toby and Linden grabbed her arm and stopped her.

‘She prefers to deal with these little mishaps on her own,' Toby whispered.

Max's flower darkened. ‘Why do I have to run into the tray with the fish eggs?'

She plucked the waiter's napkin from his arm and tried to wipe off the slimy goop but only succeeded in creating a long fishy smudge down her dress before she gave up, gathered as much dignity as she could and walked towards Steinberger. She stole one last look at Linden and her heart stumbled. His eyes were focused on Ella as if she was the only person in the room. Both boys were
holding their sides and laughing as she threw her arms into the air with another of her stories.

Max held her nose against the pong of her fish-egged dress and turned into the crowd.