Flash Flood (23 page)

Every accident has a fuse, son. There’s always a fuse.

Alex watched with a sort of dazed curiosity as a thin rope of his own blood twisted away from him towards the surface. That must be the fuse, he thought. In the few seconds left to him before he lost consciousness, Alex imagined the fuse stretching across the sea and back in time to twenty-four hours earlier, when they had all still been aboard the
Phoenix
. That was when it had all started. That final Watch Duty, when the fuse was lit …

Alex knelt on the fore-deck of the
Phoenix
as she cut a graceful path through the clear, blue water. The
Phoenix
was a beautiful ship; a newly-built replica of a three-mastered schooner with white sails that curved like wings in the breeze. She was a week into her maiden voyage, sailing east across the Java Sea. To the south, the island of Java made a jagged scribble on the horizon and all around them clusters of smaller Indonesian islands dotted the water. The late-afternoon sun touched everything with a soft, golden glow.

Alex had no time to gaze at the view. He was concentrating on polishing the brass fittings of the deck rail to a high shine. His back ached and his chest and arms were beaded with sweat in the humid heat of the day, but, for the first time since the voyage began, he was happy. A-Watch were nearly at the end of their latest Watch Duty and, for once, nothing had gone wrong. Heather, their Watch leader, had been
determined to have a good Watch. She had set them their tasks and then spent the whole four hours circling the deck, watching them coldly like a small, blue-eyed shark.

Alex glanced at the other four members of A-Watch. Amber and Hex were both hunched over a big, metal cookpot, preparing vegetables. They were working in a sullen silence and trading hostile looks, but at least they weren’t fighting. Li was up in the rigging, clambering and balancing high above the deck with the confidence of an expert climber. Alex was not sure how much work Li was doing up there, but he supposed anything was better than the total lack of interest she had shown so far. Paulo was swabbing the deck. He had started off well, but now he was absent-mindedly pushing his mop back and forth over one very clean patch of deck while he gazed up at Li, hypnotized by her slim legs and the swing of her silky black hair.

‘Paulo!’

Paulo jumped. Heather was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. He
swallowed, then tried one of his trademark heart-melting smiles. The smile turned to a look of horror as Heather stalked across the deck towards him, her eyes like chips of ice. Grabbing the mop, Paulo moved off, swabbing at high speed and sending water flying everywhere. Alex grinned as he turned back to his polishing. Heather was tiny but very scary. She was in her mid-twenties, he guessed, which made her barely ten years older than the five members of her Watch, but she had started work aboard sail-training ships like the
Phoenix
at sixteen and she was as hard as nails.

Alex gave the brasswork one last swipe and straightened up, rubbing his aching back. He caught the tiniest nod of approval from Heather and grinned again. This trip might just start working out after all.

‘Not bad,’ said Heather, looking around the deck. ‘Not
good
,’ she scowled, folding her arms. ‘But – it’s a start. Now, listen up. B-Watch’ll be relieving us here any minute, so let’s get this deck ship-shape for them. Paulo and
Alex, stow away your cleaning stuff. Hex and Amber, carry that cookpot down to the galley. Together! Li, enough of the circus act. Come down and take a bow. I’m off to write up the Watch log.’

Heather walked away and Alex breathed a sigh of relief. The Watch was over and nothing had gone wrong. He was beginning to think there might be some hope for A-Watch. He was mistaken.

As soon as Heather was out of sight, Hex dropped his side of the cookpot.

‘Hey!’ yelled Amber, jumping out of the way as water slopped onto the deck.

Hex ignored her. Pulling his palmtop from the pouch at his belt, he flipped it open and sat down with his back against the mast. His fingers keyed the air and he stared at the screen with a hungry look on his face as he waited for the machine to wake up.

Amber’s dark eyes flashed as she glared down at Hex. ‘Look at you,’ she spat. ‘Junkie hacker. Can’t you cope with real life?’

‘Not when you’re in it,’ muttered Hex.

Li hooted with laughter as she climbed down the last stretch of rope webbing. ‘Way to go, Hex. Straight through the heart. You win the Mr Nasty prize for today.’ She paused for an instant, looking down to check out her next foothold, and Paulo threw down his mop.

‘Do not worry, Li,’ he said, leaping to the base of the mast. ‘I am here.’

Paulo reached out his hands to her and Li looked at him with raised eyebrows, then threw herself backwards off the rigging. Flipping over in mid-air, she landed neatly with her arms outstretched and her uplifted eyes full of mischief. The thud of her feet hitting the deck startled Hex, making him look away from his screen for an instant. It was enough for Amber. She swooped down and snatched the palmtop, sprinting away with it as Hex struggled to his feet.

‘You are dead!’ yelled Hex and Amber laughed over her shoulder at him.

That was when the accident exploded across
the deck. Still looking behind her, Amber ran full pelt into Paulo’s discarded mop. The wooden handle smacked into her shins, knocking her off her feet and sending her hurtling across the deck. The palmtop flew through the air and disappeared over the side. In an instant that seemed to last for ever, Alex saw that Amber was either going to follow the palmtop into the sea, or smash her skull against the deck rail.

Without stopping to think, Alex put his head down and launched himself at Amber in an attempt to knock her off-course. The impact jarred every bone in his body and stopped his breath. For one, stunned second, he felt as though he was floating in mid-air, then he landed hard on the deck, knocking the remaining breath from his lungs and grating the skin from his elbow.

Alex sucked in air and blinked rapidly to clear his vision. Had he succeeded? He did not dare to look behind him. Instead, he looked up at Li, Hex and Paulo. All three of them were
wearing identical shocked expressions. Alex closed his eyes, imagining the worst. Then a fist thumped him squarely in the back.

‘You prize moron!’

Dizzily, Alex got to his knees and turned round. A relieved grin spread across his face. Amber was standing over him and she looked furious.

‘You think that was funny?’ yelled Amber. ‘See what you did?’ She thrust a grazed and bleeding knee in front of his nose. The wound looked startlingly pink against her black skin.

Alex stopped grinning. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘I was just—’

‘He was just saving your miserable life,’ interrupted Hex, with an icy edge to his voice.

‘Oh, puh-leeze,’ sneered Amber.

‘It’s true,’ said Li. ‘Alex stopped you from going overboard.’

‘Yeah, right,’ said Amber uncertainly, peering over the deck rail.

‘Really, he did,’ said Paulo. ‘You were about to follow that palmtop into the sea.’

Amber looked at Paulo, then at Hex. ‘Your palmtop? In the sea … ?’

Hex nodded grimly. Amber looked down at her feet. When she raised her head again, there was a smile of pure delight on her face.

‘Your precious palmtop … ?’ She mimed a clownish dive and snorted with laughter.

Hex snapped. He started towards Amber, his green eyes flat and merciless. Amber grinned and settled into a fighting stance, her feet apart for balance. Hex was broad-shouldered and muscled, but Amber matched him in height and her reflexes had been sharpened by training in the sports only rich girls get to play. Years of fencing, archery and downhill skiing had taught her all about balance, avoidance, concentration and speed. Amber felt more than ready to meet Hex head-on but, before the fight could start, a wave of cold water knocked them both sideways. They stopped in their tracks, coughing and spluttering as they tried to clear the water from their eyes.

Alex, Li and Paulo all turned to see where
the water had come from. Heather was standing there, holding a dripping bucket. She seemed to crackle with a furious energy. The freckles stood out darkly on her white face and the muscles jumped in her clenched jaw. She threw the bucket to the deck, where it rolled backwards and forwards with a metallic rumbling in the sudden silence. Heather let the silence grow until she had their full attention. When she finally spoke, her voice was tight and small, as though she was holding back a roar.

‘Clean up this mess, then report to me on the aft-deck in ten minutes,’ she snapped, then strode away without looking back.

CHRIS RYAN joined the SAS in 1984 and has been involved in numerous operations with the Regiment. During the first Gulf War he was the only member of an eight-man team to escape from Iraq, three colleagues being killed and four captured. It was the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS. For this he was awarded the Military Medal. He wrote about his remarkable escape in
The One Who Got Away
(1995), which was also adapted for screen.

He left the SAS in 1994 and is now the author of many bestselling thrillers for adults, as well as the
Alpha Force
series for younger readers. His work in security takes him around the world and he has also appeared in a number of television series, including
Hunting Chris Ryan
, in which his escape and evasion skills were demonstrated to the max, and
Pushed to the Limit
, in which Chris put ordinary British families through a series of challenges. More recently, he appeared in
Terror Alert
on Sky TV, demonstrating his skills in a range of different scenarios.

Flash Flood
is the first in a new series of adventures for younger readers.

ALPHA FORCE – THE MISSIONS
Have you read them all … ?

SURVIVAL
The five members of Alpha Force meet for the first time when they survive a shipwreck and are marooned on a desert island.

RAT-CATCHER
Alpha Force fight to catch an evil drugs baron in South America.

DESERT PURSUIT
Alpha Force come face-to-face with a gang of child-slavers operating in the Sahara Desert.

HOSTAGE
When they are alerted to reports of illegal dumping of toxic waste, Alpha Force fly to Canada to investigate.

RED CENTRE
An Australian bushfire and a hunted terrorist test Alpha Force’s skills to the limit.

HUNTED
Alpha Force find themselves in a desperate battle with a ruthless band of ivory poachers in Zambia.

BLOOD MONEY
While they are in southern India, Alpha Force learn of a growing trade in organ transplants from living donors and must locate a young girl before it’s too late.

FAULT LINE
Disaster strikes when a massive earthquake devastates a built-up area in Belize.

BLACK GOLD
Alpha Force are diving in the Caribbean when an oil tanker runs aground and when an assassin strikes they need all their skills to survive.

UNTOUCHABLE
Alpha Force must unearth the truth about the mysterious activity on a laird’s estate in the Scottish Highlands.

THINK YOU CAN

HANDLE MORE ACTION?
^*

Check out Chris Ryan’s action adventures for adult readers