The Amazon Experiment (12 page)

A stun blast ricocheted off the side of the chopper as the burly goons sneezed and got ready to take another shot.

The chopper lifted slightly off the ground. Steinberger handed the Spyforce manual to Max and quickly hoisted himself inside. ‘What about the triatoma?' Max remembered with a sickening jolt.

‘They're travelling first class in a transporter capsule straight to Finch.'

Max's face softened beneath a wide smile.
‘You're my hero, you know that.' Steinberger blushed a burning red.

Then Max saw Blue. He'd followed the guards and was running up behind them, puffing and panting. ‘Stop them!' he shouted above the roaring blades, his face twisted into an ugly rage.

The helicopter lifted into the air as another shot barely missed Steinberger's head.

Max was furious.

She grabbed her Hypnotron and aimed it at Blue and his goons.

She then realised what she could do. If she wanted, now was her chance to lock Blue away forever in a world of hypnosis. She stared at the man who had used and hurt Ben, Eleanor and Francis, had kidnapped her father and even caused the death of Linden. She felt a rising fury in her chest. Getting revenge would feel so sweet.

But then she remembered Quimby's warning. If she hypnotised him forever, it would make her just as bad as him. Max gritted her teeth and watched as Blue yelled at the thugs to shoot. They tried to take aim but their sneezing fits sent shots off into the jungle. Max set the Hypnotron for twenty minutes and blasted them for thirty seconds.

‘Heel!' she yelled. The goons and Blue obeyed, squatting on the ground like obedient hounds. ‘Chase your tails.'

She watched them turn circles on all fours and smiled.

The helicopter swung away from the mansion, higher and higher, leaving Blue, his mansion and his distillery well behind them.

The Goliath was a large dome-shaped goods carrier that had responded immediately to Alex's call for assistance. Despite its bulky size, it had made its way effortlessly into the heart of the Amazon Jungle. Using the locator on Sleek's palm computer, the Goliath crew pinpointed the Invisible Jet. As the FZ-511 chopper swerved into view, they were using powerful cranes to lift the jet from its tree-top position into the cargo hold.

‘The Goliath,' Suave whispered reverently from the chopper's controls. Minutes later, he'd guided the FZ-511 into the Goliath's hold with faultless ease.

The crew of the Goliath welcomed them and directed them into the plush, air-conditioned interior. Sleek was still in the grip of the sleeping sickness and had been nestled carefully into a hospital bed and monitored by the crew's doctor.

The trip back to Spyforce was filled with an air of satisfied exhaustion. At least until the mention of food.

‘Food?' Linden was ready to kiss the Goliath crew member handing him a menu. ‘You've saved my life. Twice!'

As they ate, Max and Linden enjoyed Steinberger's stumbling and blushing as he
explained to Frond all that had happened. After he'd finished, Frond's normally bright demeanour had become downcast.

‘I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused,' she apologised, sad and frightened at how easily her mind had been captured by Blue. ‘I …' her voice cracked.

Steinberger steeled himself. ‘It was an honour rescuing you.'

There was an awkward pause. Max and Linden shot each other wide smiles as they stared at a furiously blushing Frond and Steinberger. Maybe now Steinberger was finally going to say how he felt. They watched as his lips quivered, his brow moistened, his eyes flicked back and forth in their sockets. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and said, ‘These cheese pastries are good, aren't they?'

There was a second's silence before Frond added, ‘Yes. Very tasty.'

And the moment was gone, filled with the crunching sounds of cheesy pies as the conversation turned to safer topics the rest of the way back to Spyforce.

 

On the Goliath's arrival at the VART, the medical team were waiting to rush Sleek to the infirmary.

There was also someone else.

‘Alex!' Max began to rush towards her but, realising she may have looked a little too excited, slowed down and put her hands into her jungle and worm-smeared pockets. ‘Hi.'

Alex gave what could have been called a smile.

‘Welcome back and well done on completing your mission.'

Max blushed. Alex had just congratulated her! She was happy to see her! She was …

‘Max, I think it's time to stop staring now,' Linden whispered. ‘I'm not having a spy partner who could double as a flycatcher.' He grinned.

Max closed her mouth and tried to look casual in searching for something else to look at.

As Sleek's hospital bed was wheeled off the Goliath, Alex filled them in on what had been happening. ‘The triatoma bug arrived here just in time for Finch and his team to create the antidote. It's been administered to the sick agents. Most of them are still a bit hazy, but after a few days they'll all be back to normal.' Alex turned to Frond. ‘Good to have you back. Finch will be very relieved to have you safely with us again.'

Frond smiled. ‘I won't be going anywhere again soon, I promise.'

Alex looked at the bedraggled agents before her. ‘Now that you're back, Finch has ordered full medical check-ups.' She looked around her. ‘Where's Suave?'

Suave, who had been unusually quiet for the entire trip home, was nowhere to be seen.

‘I'll make sure he reports to the infirmary.' Steinberger's mouth twisted into a frown. ‘Alex?' he asked carefully. ‘How's Harrison?'

‘He's fine.' She paused. ‘He's asked to see you.'

‘Thought so.' Steinberger knew it was time to face the consequences of disobeying his chief's commands.

After being checked over by Finch in the infirmary, Max, Linden and Steinberger were directed down a polished white corridor to the room where Harrison was recovering. As they entered, they could hardly see him for all the whitecoated medical staff busily checking his temperature, feeling his pulse and monitoring his heart beat.

‘Ah.' Harrison sat up as the agents stood in the doorway. ‘I've been baking for you … Oh, blast.' He looked agitated. ‘I mean,
waiting
for you.'

There was something in his tone that made Max and Linden feel uneasy.

The medical assistants heard it too. They finished their tasks and promptly left the room.

A loaded pause fell between them as Harrison stared at the newly arrived agents. Linden brushed a stray piece of hair from his forehead only to have it spring back again. Max could tell Harrison was going to reprimand Steinberger, but after all he'd been through, she just couldn't let him.

‘Mr Harrison, sir, I know what Steinberger did wasn't exactly by the book or your word but you have to know that if it wasn't for him …'

‘That'll do, Max,' Harrison said, with a finality that scared her. ‘I know what you're going to spray … I mean,
say
.'

‘You do?'

Harrison straightened out his bedcovers. ‘Suave came by before and told me everything.'

‘Everything?' Max was hoping he'd left a few parts out. Like her falling out of the tree and yelling at Suave for saving them.

‘Yep. He would have been a good agent.' He paused. ‘Once he'd gotten over his fear of worms.'

‘Would have been?' Max frowned.

‘Yes, I'm afraid despite anything I could say to convince him otherwise, he's resigned from the Force.'

‘Resigned?' Max said incredulously and a little guiltily. ‘He can't resign.'

‘I feel the same way.' He coughed and took a few seconds to get his breath.

‘Max and Linden. Your level of bravery never ceases to erase me …
amaze
me. I feel I don't say it enough but I want you to know that Spyforce is very proud to have you on our team.'

Linden snuck Max a small victory smile but it was wiped away by what Harrison had to say next.

‘As for you, Steinberger.'

Steinberger straightened up, preparing himself for what was about to come.

‘You directly disobeyed orders, put your life in grave danger and went into the field without even a skerrick of proper training. The possibilities for catastrophe were bendless …' Harrison winced. ‘I mean,
endless
.'

Max stared at Harrison's stern, determined face.

‘Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir.'

Linden gulped.

Harrison shuffled in the starched infirmary sheets, looking like he hated every minute of being a patient. ‘As it happens, your being on that mission was crucial for its success. As such, Spyforce is deeply indebted to you and we're giving you a
two-week holiday to any destination of your choice.'

Steinberger lifted his sagging head. ‘Thank you, sir.'

‘But let me say this: if you disobey Spyforce orders again, it won't be a holiday you will be getting.'

‘Yes, sir. Of course, sir.'

Steinberger hung his head but Max noticed a small smile of quiet pride on his face. She knew that if he was ever faced with the same dilemma, he'd do it all over again.

‘Sir?' Steinberger asked. ‘What about Agent Dretch?'

‘Yes. Dretch.' Max and Linden could read the guilt in Harrison's eyes over how Dretch had been treated. ‘Release him immediately and tell him I'd like to see him,' he said gruffly. ‘And make it quick, otherwise Finch's assistants are going to be back with all their flossing … that is,
fussing
.'

‘Yes, sir.'

‘And Steinberger?'

‘Yes, sir?'

‘Thank you for bringing Frond safely back to us.'

Steinberger's lips quivered. He went to reply but closed his mouth without saying anything.

‘Sir?' Max asked. ‘What will happen to Blue?'

‘Alex organised for an international police team to travel on the Goliath to Blue's mansion so they could inspect his jungle projects. Luckily for us, you thought to hypnotise him, Max, because he's been questioned and taken into custody. Funny thing was, though, he kept breaking into intermittent barking.'

Max broke into a cheeky grin.

‘Blue's been arrested?' For all his evil schemes, Max knew Blue always covered his tracks. It was hard to imagine he'd ever let himself be caught. ‘That's great news!'

Harrison's face clouded over. ‘I am worried, I must confess, that after all these years of anger towards the Force, we won't have seen the last of him. Or perhaps even the worst.'

Max swallowed. She still remembered the look of rage on Blue's face just before she hypnotised him.

A nurse bustled into the room, wriggled her way between the agents and the chief, and waved them out. ‘That will do, I'm afraid. Mr Harrison is not to be tired out and I must ask you to leave.'

Harrison sighed as the bustling nurse took over and he was once again surrounded by a flurry of thermometers, white coats and overly fussy activity.

The Spyforce cells were buried deep within the farthest and lowest layers of the Force. The terracotta elevator that took them there made various downwards and sidewards movements, until it slowed to a gentle whir. Then stopped. Halfway between the two floors.

‘At least with things back to normal we can concentrate on fixing these elevators.'

The agents crouched down and jumped out of the elevator into a long, grey, echoing passage that drabbed its way past a series of iron gates and bolted doors.

‘He should be in number thirteen,' Steinberger whispered.

‘Lucky,' Linden winced. They made their way past the other empty cells before coming to number thirteen.

Dretch lay on a narrow bed under a single light bulb. Delilah was perched on the end keeping watch, and at the sight of the agents standing before her, she sent out a low, throaty growl.

Dretch sat up, took Delilah in his arms and whispered a gentle
shhhh
. The CRISP guard on duty opened the gate and let them in. Steinberger stood before his friend, wringing his hands, explaining
everything that had happened in small broken sentences.

He paused as he tried to work out how to say the next part. ‘I never for a moment thought you …' but he stopped, knowing nothing he could say would express how sorry he was, or take back the time Dretch had innocently spent in the cells.

Dretch ran his fingers down Delilah's fur. His small and crooked body looked even smaller in his crumpled maroon coat. He'd never been a man who depended much on words. He tucked both hands deeply into his pockets and said nothing. Steinberger's heart heaved in fear at the possibility of losing a dear friend.

Max looked closely at Dretch's face and thought she saw the beginnings of a tear form beneath his spaghetti fringe.

‘You did what you needed to do. Loyalty to the Force must come first.'

He said nothing more, and the smile on Steinberger's face told Max and Linden he didn't need to.

‘Is there anywhere you'd like to go?' Steinberger asked.

‘How's Irene?

‘You know Irene. Soon after she'd had the antidote, she was back in the kitchen. She's not 100 per cent yet but I'm sure she will be soon.'

‘Is the kitchen open?' Dretch, like most agents in the Force, had a real passion for Irene's food.

Steinberger laughed. ‘I believe it's been given the all clear.'

‘Yeah, well, what are we standing around here for?' Dretch complained as he moodily walked past the agents. ‘I've got better things to do than …' His mumbling continued as he walked down the corridor towards the elevators.

‘Looks like Dretch is back to his old cheery self,' Max smiled.

‘Yeah,' Linden smirked. ‘I don't think you've got anything to worry about there, Steinberger.'

‘Well? What are you all waiting for? You want me to carry you there?' Dretch had reached the elevator.

‘I think you're right.' Steinberger sighed happily and they all hurried to scramble up into the elevator for a one-way trip straight to Irene's kitchen.

 

‘I think I ate too much.' Even though Linden had been transported through space and time, escaped the clutches of a nightmare vortex and ridden in
some of the world's most advanced vehicles, Irene's food was still the one thing that could send him into a sigh-filled, brain-frozen daze.

Despite Finch's orders for Irene to have complete bedrest for at least another twenty-four hours, Linden knew there'd be nothing that could keep her away from doing what she did best.

‘If you decide you could fit more in, there's plenty left.' She ruffled his hair and spoke to Dretch and Max.

‘I missed you, Irene.' Linden stared at the colourful woman sitting beside him as her hand rested on his shoulder. ‘I don't know what I'd do if you hadn't recovered.'