Royal Ransom (14 page)

It didn't help that the route I'd chosen wasn't the most direct or the easiest. I'd deliberately taken us along paths that would be harder to track—creek beds, hardened dirt and rocky ways. Three times I'd even reversed our route and doubled back. Once I did it to throw them off our trail. The other two times were because I made a wrong turn. I didn't say that to Victoria or Andrew. They didn't need to know everything.

Besides, it wasn't that much farther. I figured that from the top of this hill I should be able to see the lodge, or at least the tip of its radio antenna sitting up above the trees. I knew Andrew didn't have much more in him. Heck, I didn't have much left myself. We were all running on empty—empty stomachs.

The hill started to flatten out. At the same time, the trees and bushes were becoming smaller as they became exposed to the north winds that raced over the top of the hill. I reached the crest. The lodge would be just on the edge of a small inlet. But there was no lodge … there wasn't even an inlet. The lake stretched out before me to
the horizon. Had we overshot it, or had I overestimated how far we'd travelled because of all the twists and turns?

I slumped to the ground. What were we going to do now? What was I going to say to Andrew and Victoria? Which direction were we going to go? I didn't know the answers to any of those questions. What I did know was that I had to get back to where they were resting.

I trotted down the slope, the incline encouraging my weakened legs to go faster. I skidded to a stop. Andrew and Victoria were rushing up toward me.

“What's wrong?” I demanded, although I was certain I already knew the answer.

“They're coming!” Victoria exclaimed.

“You saw them?”

“We caught a glimpse of them through a gap in the trees.”

“How far away?”

“I don't know. They were just tiny. Maybe far.”

“Did they see you?” I demanded.

“No.”

“Come on,” I said. “We've got to get going. Let's go this—”

“No!” Victoria said, grabbing me by the arm and spinning me around. “That's the direction they're coming from!”

“That can't be!” I exclaimed. “We came from the other direction.”

“I know what I saw. They're coming from over there,” she said, waving her arm and pointing.

“But we came from the other direction. How can they be tracking us if they aren't following our trail?” I demanded. “Maybe they've lost our tracks.”

“No. They were heading straight for us,” she said.

I paused. I needed to be certain. “You're
sure
they're that way?” I asked.

“I am completely positive.”

“Okay, come on, we'll go this way and—”

I stopped as Andrew slumped to the ground.

“What are you doing?”

He didn't answer.

“Get up!” I said as I reached down and grabbed him by the arm.

“Leave me alone!” he snapped as he shook off my hand. “We have to get going!”

“I am not going anywhere,” he said. “What's the point?”

“The point is, if we stay here they're going to get us.”

“They are going to get us anyway,” he said.

“They're
not
going to get us,” I argued, trying to sound convincing.

“Of course they are. They have tracked us this far. They have weapons and supplies—food. And with each passing hour, as we get weaker, they remain stronger. They are going to catch us.”

“Fine, then you stay here! Sit right here. Wave to them for all I care. Maybe after they've caught you they'll be satisfied and go back. Or maybe having you with them will slow them down, the way you've slowed us down, and your sister and I will get away! Come on, Victoria,” I said, and I started off.

I took a few steps before I realized that Victoria wasn't coming with me. She was standing beside Andrew.

“I cannot leave him,” she said.

I hadn't really intended to leave him behind. I was bluffing. I figured if the two of us started to walk away he would come after us.

“They are not after you,” Victoria said. “There is nothing you can do to help us. Please save yourself. I understand.”

She was right. They weren't after me. Once they got the two of them they wouldn't waste another second coming for me. I had to fight the urge to simply leave. I couldn't. I walked back to them.

“I guess we are wasting our time. We don't have a chance,” I said.

Andrew nodded his head slowly.

“Of course, it would be different if it weren't for you guys. If I were with a couple of my cousins we could get away—easy.” I paused. “But I shouldn't have expected anything more from the two of you.” I laughed. “Imagine me thinking a couple of spoiled rotten little
royals
who've been catered to and pampered their whole lives could ever show enough guts. It's like they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get—”

“That's not fair!” Victoria snapped. She grabbed Andrew roughly by the arm and pulled him to his feet. “You get going! Now!” she shouted as she pushed him in the right direction.

I tried to keep the smile off my face.

“And
you
were fooling nobody with that little speech of yours!” she muttered.

“I don't know what you mean,” I lied. “No idea whatsoever.”

I
STOPPED AND TRIED
to figure out which way to go. I knew where the lake was. That would be hard to lose. I just didn't know where we were on the lake. If we'd overshot the fishing lodge, there was nothing for another hundred kilometres. I didn't know where we were—we were lost. Lost. I tried to remember what advice I'd been given, what you should do when you're lost.

“It will be all right. We just have to stay ahead of them,” Victoria said.

“That's not enough. If they don't get us, then the wilderness will.”

“We will be fine.”

“Look, Victoria, I haven't wanted to say anything. I didn't want to worry you and your brother. But I have to be honest.”

“We're lost,” she said. “You have no idea where we are.”

“I have
some
idea. How long have you known?”

“A while,” she said.

“I know what I'm supposed to do,” I said. “I just can't do it.”

“Why not?”

“You're either supposed to stay put so you don't get more lost, or, if you can, retrace your steps back to where you started. We can't do either. It might be better if I had a compass.”

“A compass? I don't have a compass, but I do have a way to tell directions.”

“Let me guess, you're going to look for moss growing on the north side of trees.”

“Not exactly, but I can tell which direction is south,” she said.

“How?”

“Like this.” She held her arm up in the air, studied the back of her hand, then the sky. “South is that way,” she said.

“What makes you think that? Is it written on your hand?” I asked sarcastically.

“I was not looking at my hand, I was looking at my watch.”

“Your watch has a compass built into it?”

“No, but I read about a way to make your watch into a compass. You simply aim the hour hand directly at the sun, and south is halfway between the direction the hand is pointing to and the twelve.”

“Are you joking around?” I asked.

“No. That way is south.”

I was going to argue, but actually that was the direction I thought was south. She'd been right about the way to start a fire. Maybe she was right about this as well.

“That helps, but still, I wish we could just retrace our steps.”

“But since we can't, we will have to keep going forward. In three days, when we do not appear as scheduled, a search party will be sent. They will find us.”

“You make it sound easy. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find somebody who's missing up here, especially when they're not where they're supposed to be?” I asked.

My father had been involved with a number of search and rescue operations. I'd even gone along on a couple. It's a big, big country.

“They
will
find us,” she said. “That is a certainty.”

How could she be so positive? “Victoria … is there something you're not telling me about?”

She smiled. “Andrew and I are both carrying personal locating devices.”

“What?”

“It's called a Lotex,” Victoria said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small object about the size of a little flashlight, with a long wire tail attached.

“This is a radio transmitter, powered by two small batteries. Our signal is bounced off a satellite and the receiver uses a global positioning system to determine our location to within a few metres, anywhere in the world.”

“And you both have these?” I asked.

“We carry them with us whenever and wherever we travel,” she explained.

“Everywhere?”

“Everywhere,” she confirmed.

My head was spinning. “And … and … do people know this?”

“Of course, the members of the royal entourage and our security detail and—”

“But other people! Do other people know you carry these things?”

“It is fairly standard procedure. I would imagine that many people would be aware of this practice,” she admitted.

“Give me your transmitter.”

Victoria handed it to me.

“Both of you!” I snapped. “Right now!”

Andrew stood up and dug his out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“And the thing that gets your signals … the … the …”

“The receiver?” she asked.

“Yeah, the receiver. How big is it?”

“Larger than the transmitter, of course, but not very large.”

“Small enough to fit in a plane?” I asked.

“Oh, goodness! Much smaller.”

“Could it fit in a backpack?”

“Certainly, and … what are you saying?” Victoria asked.

“We have to get rid of these things,” I said, holding up the tracking devices.

“We cannot do that!” She reached over and tried to take them from me, but I pulled them away.

“Don't you see? These are how they're tracking us, how they know where we are! Don't you understand?”

“That cannot be. What you do not
understand
is that each of these transmitters has a different signature to identify who is carrying it. Only those with the highest clearance among palace security would know our codes.”

“
You
don't understand. Nobody has to know your codes. Look around! How many of these little transmitters do you think are out here? All they have to do is follow the only two signals that are being sent out! Yours,” I said, pointing to her. “And yours,” I said to Andrew. “We have to destroy them.”

“Destroy them?” Victoria asked anxiously.

“Yeah. Let's smash them, and—”

“They are very durable,” she said.

“We'll see how durable they are when I hit them with a rock,” I said.

“You can try, but it won't harm them.”

“We'll see.” I put them both down on the ground and picked up a large rock. I lifted it over my head and threw it down to the ground. There was a loud crash.

“We'll see how durable they …” I picked them up. There wasn't so much as a dint or a scratch on the cases.

“They are meant to remain functional even in the event in an airplane accident,” Victoria said.

“Come on, there's no way it could survive a plane crash.”

Victoria and Andrew didn't answer, but they looked at each other, and I knew that what she had said was true, and they knew it because their mother had been carrying one when her plane went down. I felt awful.

“Okay, if I can't smash them, maybe we can drown them. Let's drop them in the lake.”

“They are also waterproof. They transmit even if they're underwater.”

“Then I guess we'll just have to leave them behind. At least they won't be able to track us any more. I just wish there was something else that … wait a minute … I've got an idea.”

Chapter Fifteen

I
TIED THE TWO LOCATORS
around the piece of drift-wood, using their long wire tails. I secured the knots and then doubled them up. Gently I pushed the piece of wood into the river. It drifted and spun slowly, heading toward the very centre, and then it was captured by the current. It picked up speed as it bobbed away.

“Jamie, do you think this will work?” Victoria asked.

“Don't know. What I do know is that we won't have long to wait to find out. Come on.”

I started to wade across the water.

“What are you doing?” Victoria asked.

“Trying not to leave tracks.”

“But you said they were tracking us through the transmitters.” She sounded a bit confused.

“I'm pretty sure that's how they're doing it, but we can't take any chances. We'll walk upstream a few hundred metres, look for some rocks that will cover our tracks when we leave the water, and then we're going to head up to the top of that cliff,” I said, pointing upstream.

“Do we have to climb that?” Andrew asked.

“I want to get someplace where we can see them, but hopefully they can't see us.”

I continued upstream, and Victoria and Andrew trailed after me.

“Be careful, it's a little slippery in spots,” I warned them.

The river was cold, but the cold felt good. I cupped some water and brought it up to my lips. It felt great as it slid down my throat. Now all I needed was some food. And a soft bed, and ten hours of sleep … and my father to come and take us to safety. He'd know what to do if he were here.

“Walk right where I walk,” I said, as I stepped out of the water and onto a large rock. “Remember, no tracks.”