The French Code (12 page)

François carried Max up the stairs of Strangways's chateau, wrapped in the blanket from the truck. He entered her room and lowered her onto a long lounge. He fluffed cushions and laid one behind her back and one beneath her ankle before disappearing into the corridor. He returned with a pair of old crutches, a first-aid kit and an icepack, laying them on the dresser.

He backed away, squeezing his fingers until they drained to a lifeless grey-white.

‘She'll be fine now, thanks, François.' Toby smiled. ‘She's lucky she has me here to look after her.'

Max threw Toby an ‘oh really?' look, while François nodded and left the room.

Max looked at the others and put her fingers to her lips. She sniffed her mud-caked arm and spoke clearly. ‘I'm going to have a shower. I don't think I can handle this pond stench any longer. Veronique, will you help me?'

The two girls left the room, Max leaning on Veronique's shoulder and a mud-stained Fifi following close behind.

Toby transferred the photos of the scribbled notes and drawings to his palm computer and downloaded a template for hieroglyphics from the
Spyforce decoding database. Linden, meanwhile, searched the room, checking vases, desks and curtain hems for bugs.

After only a few minutes, he unhooked one from the frilled edge of a lampshade beside Max's bed. He held it up with a wide grin, before putting it on the floor and crushing it beneath his heel. He continued his search, but found nothing more.

‘Extermination complete.' Linden smiled and helped Toby with the deciphering of the notes until Max and Veronique re-entered the room, closing and locking the door behind them.

Toby and Linden stopped what they were doing and stared open-mouthed.

‘I feel much better after a shower,' Max said and waited for the boys to say something.

They both kept staring.

‘I said I feel much better …'

Linden snapped out of it. ‘Um … yep … sorry. The room's clear. I found one bug, but that's it.'

‘Excellent, now we can –' Max began before being interrupted.

‘What are you wearing?' Toby asked.

‘Why? What's wrong?'

‘Nothing,' said Linden. ‘You look … great.'

Veronique held a newly washed and fluffed Fifi
and smiled proudly. ‘I lent Max a few of my clothes.'

Max's hair was washed and blow-dried, and she stood in a halo of Veronique's best perfume. She wore slightly heeled boots, new jeans with a sky-blue skirt flouncing over the top and a tight, light-purple shirt with long sleeves finishing it off.

No-one said anything.

‘I might just put my own …' She turned to go, but Veronique blocked her path and Fifi barked. ‘You're not going anywhere.'

‘I can do what I –'

‘Does anyone want to know what we've found so far?' Toby grinned.

Max pushed her hair behind her ears and sat beside him. ‘As long as it takes the attention off me.'

‘The hieroglyphics decoder from Spyforce is pretty fast,' Toby began, ‘so I should have it all worked out pretty soon. But so far it seems that …' He paused and turned to Max. ‘You smell nice.'

‘You really need to get on with it.' Max gave him one of her best death stares before looking back to his notes.

‘There's a bit of mad raving, especially when Strangways gets to the part about “holding the world to ransom”.'

‘Holding the world to ransom?' Max asked. ‘How does he plan to do that?'

‘That's where it gets confusing. He talks about
heka
and goddesses and secret ceremonies, and his
Book of the Dead
gets loads of mentions. He gets especially worked up when he talks about that. His scribbling is all weird and hard to read.'

‘He's going to use an old book to threaten the world?' Max asked.

‘He even mentions specific pages,' Toby said. ‘And I'm not sure, but I think he's going to do it using an ancient ritual.'

‘He did get pretty excited about
heka
rituals when we were in the museum,' Linden said.

‘Maybe it has something to do with Papa's latest project and why he was so secretive about it.' A wavering tear fell down her cheek. ‘Maybe he's part of it?'

Linden laid his hand on her arm. ‘And maybe he's been kidnapped because he didn't want to be part of it.'

‘Papa could be a criminal. They might arrest him and throw him in jail. They might …' A loud sob escaped from her chest. Fifi nuzzled into her neck and licked her cheek.

‘There's no point getting upset, we don't know that's true,' Linden said.

‘Did your father ever talk about rituals and
The Book of the Dead
?' Max asked.

‘Papa told me about many and how some ancient ceremonies were performed with certain objects that brought the book's magical powers to life.'

‘Magical powers?' Max scowled before mumbling, ‘I was hoping for an answer based in the real world.'

‘I'll bet Strangways had your dad searching for something that would activate the book's powers,' Linden said. ‘But what?'

‘It could have been many things,' Veronique answered. ‘Figurines, potions, wands.'

‘Potions and wands?' Max looked like she had just sucked a lemon. ‘Are you
serious
?'

‘Yeah. The potions could be made of lots of different ingredients like dog's blood, and the wands were often carved with the likenesses of powerful gods – they were symbols of the magicians' authority to summon mighty beings.' Veronique held Fifi closer.

‘This must be what your dad meant on the night you last saw him,' Linden said. ‘That if the
wrong people had what he was searching for, it would cause great trouble.'

‘What kind of trouble?' Max asked.

‘I don't know,' Veronique answered. ‘That's all he'd say.'

‘Did your dad believe in all this magic business?' Max asked.

‘Absolutely. He's even proven it.'

‘Proven it?' Max eyed Veronique. ‘How?'

‘When I was a kid. He told me a story of how he'd cut his hand open and used
heka
to cure it within minutes.'

‘He cut his hand open to see if magic would cure it?' Max asked slowly. ‘And that never struck you as being a little odd?'

‘My father was very passionate about his work. I always trusted that he knew what he was doing.'

‘Right.' Max turned away from talk of magic back to the world of facts. ‘Are there any hints as to when this frail old man might be taking over the world? And from where?'

‘There are a few dates, referring mostly to when he added particular artefacts to his museum, along with scribbled notes about a neckpiece. The only place names were the ones in Egypt, but they seem to relate to where his museum pieces were found.'

‘I'll bet the main reason we're here is to keep us out of the way so Strangways can carry out his plan. Whatever it is,' Max's eyes widened, ‘we need to get another look at that book. Especially those pages Strangways mentions.'

‘But how?' Linden asked. ‘The dungeon is locked up tight?'

‘We could use the Time and Space Machine,' Toby said.

‘You'd set off the security system as soon as you landed,' Veronique said. ‘Regi even has the floor wired.'

‘So how do we sneak in?' Toby asked.

A slow smile came to Max's lips. ‘We're not going to sneak in. We're going to walk in.'

‘How are we going to walk in?' Toby asked. ‘Are you planning on walking through doors?'

‘Nope.' Max turned to Veronique. ‘How good do you think you'd be at charming your way in?'

‘That,' Veronique pulled her shoulders back and gave a flick of her head, ‘would be easy.'

Max unlocked their bedroom door, only to be met with the stone-cold face of François. She jumped back before lifting her ‘injured foot' from the ground and hopping to a chair. ‘Aaaah! François, we didn't hear you.'

He held out a tray of fresh bread rolls crammed with cheeses, salad and ham.

Toby and Linden gravitated towards the tray, but Max stuck out her good leg and blocked their path, leaving room for Veronique to go into action.

‘François, how sweet. Thank you.' She grabbed the tray and put it on a side bench. Her smile withered. ‘But I'm not sure I could eat anything right now.'

She reached into her pocket for Linden's slightly pond-soaked hanky. François's face was etched with a worried frown.

‘I feel a bit shaken after Max's fall,' she sniffed. ‘It reminded me of how fragile life is and how terrible things can happen in an instant. How you
can lose people when you least expect it …' She blew into the hanky. Linden laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, while Fifi snuggled into her leg. ‘Like Papa being …' She turned and wept on Linden's shoulder.

Max pursed her lips and sat forward in her chair.

‘We've been trying to make her feel better,' Linden said to François, ‘but nothing seems to work.'

François reached out to comfort her, but had no idea what to do with his hand, so he slipped it back to his side.

‘There is one thing that may help.' Veronique sniffed. ‘Could we go down to the museum?'

François shook his head and uttered a quiet, ‘No.'

‘Please, François. I know Regi doesn't like people going down there without him, but I'm sure he'd make an exception for me.' She held Linden's hanky to her nose. ‘It reminds me of Papa and makes me feel as if he is still …' This time Veronique fell weeping against Linden's chest.

Max crossed her arms, uncomfortable with just how much weeping on Linden was going on.

François's face twisted into a pained scowl, and
he shifted on his feet. Finally, he nodded and took his keys from his pocket. Fifi barked and jumped up on François's leg.

‘Thank you,' Veronique whimpered and threw her arms around François's waist. He flinched and looked as if he was having trouble breathing, until Veronique's performance finally came to an end. ‘This really means a lot to me.'

François looked at Max and Toby. ‘Not you two.' He handed Toby the first-aid kit with bandages.

‘But,' Max began, ‘I need to be with Veronique. It's my job. I couldn't …'

François held his hand out in invitation for Linden and Veronique to join him.

‘Max.' Veronique sniffed. ‘Since you can't come, I'll leave Fifi for company.'

Max squared a very unhappy eye on Veronique. ‘That makes staying behind all the more worthwhile.'

Veronique offered Fifi a kiss and handed her to Max with a wink before they were led away.

‘Looks like I need to do some doctoring.' Toby sighed and went to reach for Max's ankle.

‘Don't you even think of touching me.'

‘O-kaaay.' Toby slowly backed away and took a
bread roll from the tray. ‘Mmm … These are good.'

Max grabbed the medical kit and wrapped her ankle in a bandage. ‘That should make François happy.'

Her palm computer suddenly vibrated against her leg. She put Fifi on the floor and pulled her computer from her pocket. Linden was sending her a video link of the museum tour via his watch. ‘Nice one, Linden.'

The dark and grainy image showed François opening the door at the end of the stone staircase and standing at attention for Linden and Veronique to enter the museum. The sounds of their footsteps echoed around the room as the image sailed between the two sphinxes, passed the deities of chaos and water and the replica of the Rosetta Stone, with only a quick peek at the lower room and Strangways's
Book of the Dead.

‘I feel better already, François.' The video swung round to Veronique, who took a deep breath. ‘Thank you.'

Max could hear François mumble a reply, followed by the image of the nervous looking housemaster, whose eyes locked onto their every move.

‘We've got to get François out of there so they can take pictures of the book,' Max said.

‘We 'eed some 'ind of 'ecoy,' Toby suggested through a mouthful of sandwich.

‘A decoy. Something that will lure him out fast.' she smiled. ‘This castle is like a prison. I bet if you tried to open one of the doors leading outside you'd set off an alarm. That should get him running.'

Toby swallowed. ‘Yes, Miss Bo–'

Max narrowed her eyes.

‘I mean, okay.' Toby grabbed another roll and left the room. He crept downstairs into the kitchen and to the door at the rear. He undid a series of bolts and turned a key already in the lock. He swung the door open and sat at the table before taking a huge bite of his roll.

Max heard the alarm from the room. The image again swung round to François, who pulled a thin electronic device from his pocket and flicked it open.

‘What is it, François?' Max heard Veronique ask.

‘The kitchen,' he mumbled, before looking at the stairs behind him.

‘If you need to go, we can stay here.' Max watched her screen as Veronique unveiled one of her best smiles. ‘Linden is here to take care of me.'

In the background, François's eyes flicked back
and forth in indecision before the sound of the alarm sent him fleeing from the room.

The image darkened. ‘Good work,' Max heard Linden whisper. ‘He's on his way up.'

Toby held his computer before him and spoke into his watch. ‘I've sent the page numbers to your computer.'

‘I'm right on it.'

Max watched as the image followed Veronique into the lower room of the museum and the cabinet with Strangways's
Book of the Dead
. She put on the gloves and unlatched the cabinet door. Linden whispered the numbers and Veronique carefully turned the ancient and delicate pages, each turn finishing with the click of Linden's watch.

In the kitchen, François met Toby.

‘Sorry about the alarm.' The young spy finished the last of his roll. ‘Max needed to rest and I was going to take a walk. Good roll, by the way.' His face was all innocence as François looked around the room before pulling shut and locking the door, this time taking the key.

Toby stood up and brushed crumbs from his hands. ‘I could really get used to this chateau life.'

François reset the alarm system and hurried out of the room.

‘He's coming back,' Toby contacted Linden.

François's feet fell softly against the stone floor of the castle as he hurried down the stairs to the entrance of the museum. He burst in to be met by Veronique and her overly affectionate hug. In the background, Linden carefully closed the cabinet of
The Book of the Dead
and replaced the gloves where they had been.

‘Thank you, François.' She sniffled into his suit. ‘You've been so kind.' She began weeping.

François's horror-stricken eyes sought out Linden, who appeared from the interior of the museum.

‘She's a little overwhelmed.' Linden unfastened Veronique's fingers from her grip on François's jacket. ‘She'll be right after a lie down.'

Linden led his distressed friend upstairs to Max's room, with the jingling of François's keys and the turning of locks echoing behind them.

‘You're back.' Toby met them at the door of Max's room. ‘Did the alarm give you enough time to take the pictures?'

Linden handed Toby his watch. ‘Mission accomplished.'

Toby plugged the watch into the USB port of his computer and began downloading the photos. ‘Did you get all the pages?'

‘Every one.' Linden smiled. ‘Thanks to some very fine acting by Veronique.'

‘We were a great team,' Veronique whispered. ‘I never knew this whole spy thing could be so exciting.'

‘So we're a little more than just babysitters?' Max asked.

Veronique smiled. ‘Yes. Much more.'

Max turned to Toby. ‘How long will it take you to decipher the pages?'

‘Shouldn't be too long. I'll get started straight away.'

Linden's palm computer vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and opened the connection. ‘Hi, Steinberger.'

‘Hello, Linden. Good work on the bugging discovery. I've looked into the names of the people on the list and discovered they are of some of the most revered minds in the field of archaeology.' Three photos appeared on the screen beside the face of Steinberger. ‘They're professors mostly, from some of the best Egyptology departments in universities around the world.'

‘Are they all okay?' Linden asked.

‘Yes,' Steinberger answered. ‘I immediately had
agents dispatched to find them. All are in very good health.'

‘Did they know Monsieur Marceau?' Max asked.

‘Yes, it seems they did, Max. All of them used to meet on a regular basis, but we're not sure at this stage what those meetings were about. We should know more after they're questioned further. You've never heard of these people, Veronique?'

‘I met a lot of Papa's colleagues either at home or at functions – or when I went to the Louvre after school – but I don't remember them at all.'

‘Are you okay?' Steinberger asked gently.

‘Yes, thank you, your agents are taking very good care of me.'

‘She's been really brave.' Linden's compliment was returned with a girlish giggle from Veronique.

Max had heard enough about Veronique's bravery. ‘Steinberger, I know this is going to sound crazy, but it seems Strangways is planning to use
The Book of the Dead
to attempt some kind of ancient Egyptian spell.'

Steinberger's face moved closer to the screen. ‘What kind of spell?'

‘We're not sure yet,' Max said. ‘It's not possible, is it?'

‘Actually, Max, Quimby has had a keen interest in ancient Egyptian methodologies and theories for years. They were very advanced in many ways, and it's believed they possessed technologies that are lost to us, but that were far superior to anything we have today. Why, if we had the resources that were available then, we would be completely incapable of constructing the pyramids.'

‘Yeah, but
magic
?' Max laughed.

‘From Quimby's studies, these technologies may not be immediately comprehensible to us, but that is not to say the power of them should be underestimated. There are scientists today who believe fervently in the power of ancient practices and are working hard to discover their secrets. Be careful, Max. Strangways had devoted his life to this ancient civilisation. If anyone was to know how to harness these powers, it may well be him.'

A measured silence filled the room.

‘Stay safe, all of you. I'll let you know when I find out more.'

Steinberger signed off and Linden slipped his computer into his pocket.

‘It's up to you, Mr Code Breaker.' Linden looked at the tray of rolls François had brought them. ‘And it's definitely time for one of these.'

A brief knock was followed by the appearance of François at the door. His eye shot to Toby and his palm computer.

‘Playing games calms me down,' Toby explained.

François paused before speaking. ‘There is a call for you, Mademoiselle. Downstairs. Commandant Tetu.'

‘Why is he calling me on Regi's phone when he has my mobile number?' Veronique bent down and held out her hands. ‘Come on, Fifi. He might have news about Papa.'

Fifi jumped into her arms and François closed the door behind them.

‘Good news, I hope,' Toby said and turned back to his computer and notes. ‘Because I've only begun deciphering the first page, and it doesn't look good.'

Max and Linden crowded around him.

‘You remember how Strangways said his
Book of the Dead
was unique; I think I've worked out why. I told you I did a little research about the books last night before I went to sleep. Many of the spells that made up the books were actually written on rolls of papyrus and on tablets and temple walls. They were mostly good magic, but there were also books of
destructive magic. Flicking through these pages that Linden sent, it seems Strangways is a little more devoted to the destructive kind.'

‘How many spells do you think you are looking at?' Max asked.

‘There seem to be two separate ones. But one of them's pretty big.'

‘Do you think you can work them out?' Linden asked.

‘Yep. It'll be more tricky than decoding Strangways's notes, but I think I have the genius to do it.'

‘It's great working with someone so humble.' Max's palm computer vibrated in her pocket. ‘Commandant Tetu?'

The face of the steely French officer appeared on her screen. ‘'Ow iz everyzing?'

‘Very castle-like, thank you. Did you have good news for Veronique?'

Tetu paused briefly and his eye twitched. ‘Ah … not as such, no, but we are getting close. I would like to speak wiz 'er.'

Max's stomach pinched. ‘But you just did.'

‘I 'ave no idea what you are talking about. I am calling now to talk to 'er.'

Max nodded at Linden and flicked her head
towards the door. He put down his roll and raced from the room.

‘You didn't call to speak with her about five minutes ago?' Max tried to keep her voice firm.

Tetu's eye was twitching wildly now. ‘You will stop wasting my time and put Veronique on now!'