The Crystal Code (8 page)

Chapter 9

G
erald stepped up to the porch and peered through a window. Inside was as dark as coal dust. He gave Felicity a ‘here goes nothing' shrug and tried the door handle. It was unlocked. He pushed the door open.

Before he could take a step, a flash of movement caught his eye. He ducked, just as a ski pole whipped across the door and slammed into the frame, biting into the wood.

Gerald lost his balance and tumbled into the cottage. As he struggled to get to his feet, he caught sight of Ox winding up to have another swing at him.

Alisha was behind him. She grabbed Ox by the arm. ‘It's Gerald, you idiot.'

Ox lowered the pole and gave a sheepish, ‘Sorry.'

Felicity closed the door behind them. ‘Is everyone here?' she asked. ‘Is everyone safe?'

Ruby and Sam emerged from the darkness and there was a quick round of hugs and high fives as everyone tried to be first to tell about their adventures.

Alisha pulled the curtains across the windows and switched on a small table lamp. It supplied just enough light for Gerald to see that she was seething.

‘What's the problem?' he asked.

‘We made a clean getaway,' Alisha explained. ‘I'll give this boy one thing—he can drive a snowmobile. But that's about all he can do.'

Ox opened his mouth to protest but Alisha cut him off with a flick of her hand. ‘We got through that redwood forest without anyone following us. We could have come straight here. But we came to a clearing. And there was a helicopter there. Just parked in the snow. It was totally black, no markings.'

‘That must be how those men got here,' Gerald said. ‘All the roads are closed, so a chopper is the only way in.'

‘Exactly,' Alisha said. ‘And their only way out.' She jerked a thumb towards Ox. ‘So what does Einstein Junior here decide to do?'

Gerald didn't hesitate. ‘Blow it up.'

Alisha was astounded. ‘You approve of this?'

‘Of course,' Gerald said.

Sam nodded. ‘I'd do the same thing.'

Alisha tossed her hands in the air. ‘Boys,' she said.

‘It was the coolest thing,' Ox said to Sam and Gerald. ‘I just opened the fuel tank and set it off.'

‘But how did you light it without blowing yourself up?' Gerald asked. ‘Aviation gas goes off like a bomb.'

‘I know,' Ox said. ‘I couldn't just strike a match. But remember that emergency kit we took from the hangar? There was a flare gun in it.'

Sam and Gerald's faces lit up. ‘Cool,' they chorused.

‘So Alisha and I got back a bit and I shot a flare right into the open fuel tank.'

‘How many flares?' Alisha said, her eyes sweeping the ceiling.

‘Well, three,' Ox said. ‘All of them, as it turns out. The first two didn't really hit the target. But when the third one hit? Man! You should have seen it. It blew us right off our feet!'

‘We did see it,' Gerald said. ‘That's how we got away from our guy. You should have seen Felicity's one-woman war effort.'

Alisha was not impressed. ‘Don't you understand?' she said. ‘That helicopter was their way out. Now they're stuck here. With us.'

‘They might use one of Gerald's choppers,' Ox said, scratching at the floor with a toe.

‘Really?' Alisha said. ‘I seem to recall some bright spark managed to wreck two of them in the hangar. Now who might that have been?'

Ox was completely crushed. He tried to change the subject. ‘How about you guys,' he said to Sam and Ruby. ‘What happened to you?'

Ruby glanced at her brother. ‘It was total madness,' she said. ‘I can't believe we got here. Not after Sam fell off the snowmobile when we were halfway across the lake.'

‘You were on the lake?' Felicity said.

‘We headed there straight from the hangar,' Sam said. ‘We'd only just got onto the ice when one of those goons was after us on a snowmobile.'

‘So how did you fall off?' Felicity asked.

Sam looked to Ruby. ‘It was when he started ramming us, wasn't it?'

Ruby thought for a moment. ‘That'd be right. Just after you shot him.'

‘You shot him!'

They'd all settled onto a cluster of armchairs and sofas as Sam told his tale. ‘With the air pistol,' he said. ‘He was right on our tail so I figured anything to slow him down would help. I let off a few rounds. I think I got him coz he yelped pretty loud.'

Ox chuckled to himself. ‘Nice one,' he said.

Alisha shook her head.

‘He got pretty mad,' Sam said. ‘That's when he started ramming us. Hard. Ruby did an awesome job just keeping us going.'

Ruby dropped her head onto her brother's shoulder. ‘Why, thank you,' she said.

‘So this guy is really hitting us hard. Swinging wide and slamming into us. I almost fell off a couple of times.'

‘I thought I better take some evasive action,' Ruby said, ‘and pulled this huge turn just as he was coming at us again.'

‘That's when I fell off,' Sam said.

Gerald laughed hard. ‘What? It wasn't even from him hitting you? You just fell off?'

Sam held his head high. ‘Ruby pulled a
really
big turn,' he said.

Ruby joined in the laughter. ‘It was pretty funny. Sam went flying. Flat on his back across the ice. And then the most amazing thing happened.'

‘What's that?' Felicity asked, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘This is too hilarious.'

‘The guy chasing us on the snowmobile?' Sam said. ‘He ran over me.'

‘What!' the room chorused.

‘Well, “ran over” is a bit of an exaggeration,' Ruby said. ‘He went by very, very close.'

‘So close,' Sam said, ‘that I hitched a ride.'

‘You what?' Gerald said.

‘Hitched a ride. He was towing one of those red sleds behind him and as he slowed to turn after Ruby, I grabbed on. He must have dragged me across the ice for—how far, Ruby? Fifty metres?'

‘At least,' Ruby said. ‘Then Sam had the bright idea of actually climbing onto the sled.'

‘I got right up behind the creep before he even realised I was onboard,' Sam said.

‘What did he do?' Felicity was entranced.

‘Well, he stood up, trying to grab me. He was lashing out with one hand and steering with the other. And he got me, right by the collar.'

Felicity gasped, drumming her feet up and down. ‘Then what?'

‘Have you ever heard the rule: Never stand up on a snowmobile if you're going under a low bridge?'

‘No,' Felicity said.

‘Well, neither had this guy.'

There was a stunned silence.

‘Anyway,' Sam said. ‘He let go of me pretty quick after that. Lucky for him he had a helmet on. We left him nursing his head, nicked his snowmobile and came here.'

And then, through the laughter, the radio in Gerald's pocket crackled into life.

Instantly, everyone fell silent. Gerald pulled out the device and dropped it on the floor, as if it were alive.

‘
Snow's too thick…
' a tinny voice filled the room. ‘
No sign of them.
'

A different voice came through the speaker. ‘
Boss says to come back to the house. That's it for tonight
.'

‘What's the plan for the morning?'

‘He's considering options. We might be pulling out.'

‘Good. Coz I've got a splitting headache.'

Ox slapped Sam on the shoulder with a, ‘Nice one.'

Gerald turned down the radio volume and looked at the people in the room. Once again, he'd managed to drag his friends into a disaster. And while they'd all been excited by their close escapes, Gerald knew everyone was worried about what was going on up at the house. He suddenly realised that his legs were soaked. And he was freezing.

‘I think it's safe for us to light a fire,' he said. ‘That snow's too heavy for anyone to come looking for us tonight. Let's dry off these clothes.'

For the next hour they shared stories about their adventures that night. Alisha found a store of dry clothes in a bedroom and shared them round, although Sam insisted on walking around in his lurid green-and-red striped thermal underwear. Ruby, wearing an oversized Boston University sweatshirt and pants, handed out the snacks she'd taken from the hangar, and Ox and Felicity got the fire going. Sam and Gerald dragged out mattresses and blankets to make a huge bed in front of the grate. Alisha rolled up her sari to form a makeshift clothesline and soon, jackets, pants, boots and children were steaming by the fireplace.

‘You should have seen what Felicity did to that guy's jaw!' Gerald said, rolling back onto a nest of pillows. ‘It was a massacre. A mandibular massacre.'

‘Wasn't he president of South Africa?' Sam asked.

‘Who?'

‘Nelson Mandibular.'

‘Nelson
Mandela
, you goose!' Ruby burst into a laughing fit.

‘I knew that!' Sam protested. ‘I
knew
that. I was joking.' Everyone was laughing, Sam included. No one believed him. And it didn't matter. One by one, as the embers grew low, they dropped off to sleep, snug and warm, but still with such a long way to go.

Chapter 10

G
erald woke with a snowball to the face.

He had been dreaming quite happily. He was walking along a golden beach dotted with palms, somewhere warm. Alisha was running a beachside kiosk, selling cold drinks and sweets. Gerald had been trying to decide whether to buy an apple muffin or a blueberry muffin. He'd just decided on apple when both the muffins grew mouths, and told him that neither of them wanted anything to do with him.

The snowball came as a relief.

Gerald shook his head and wiped away the powder. The first thing he saw was the evil smile on Sam's face. ‘That's your 7 a.m. wake-up call, Mr Wilkins. Breakfast will be served in the main dining room at eight. Today's menu includes half a can of Coke and a stale packet of corn chips. You have a nice day now, y'hear?'

Gerald thought about retaliating but couldn't muster the energy. Sam laughed, adjusted his red-and-green thermals and continued on his way to the bathroom.

Gerald propped onto his elbows and surveyed the bodies strewn around him. Ox was snuffling to himself in deep slumber on one of the couches. Felicity and Ruby were curled up next to each other on a mattress on the floor, sharing a blanket. Alisha was already up, dressed in her snow gear and studying a picture hanging on the wall.

She looked around and saw that Gerald was awake.

‘Come see this,' she said. ‘It's a map.'

Gerald dragged himself from under his warm blanket and hopped across the cold wooden floor. The fire had burned itself out and the temperature inside the cabin was on the unpleasant side of frosty.

‘See?' Alisha said, pointing to a square marked on the chart. ‘I think that's the chalet, by the lake. So this would be us here.'

Gerald studied the map through bleary eyes. ‘There's nothing much around, is there? No towns. No villages. It's the back of beyond.'

Alisha nodded. ‘We have a long walk to get any help.'

‘What do you mean walk?' Gerald said. ‘We've got three snowmobiles out there.'

‘Those snowmobiles are now buried under a metre of snow,' Alisha said. She opened the curtains—the snow was up to the windowsill, and still tumbling down. ‘And do you see those lines on the map?'

Gerald looked to where Alisha was pointing. ‘They're contour lines. They show how high somewhere is. The closer together the lines are, the steeper the land. Understand?'

‘Course I understand,' Gerald said. ‘I'm not stupid.'

‘So you say.' Alisha said. ‘The best way out of this valley is up here. Through Cooper's Bowl.'

‘Where the lines are really close together,' Gerald said. ‘So not good snowmobile country.'

‘Not with all this soft powder about. But there are snowshoes here. We should be able to make decent time on foot. So over the mountain it is.'

Gerald chewed the inside of his cheek. ‘Terrific. So now we're mountain climbers.' Then he noticed something in the top corner of the map, along a ridgeline. ‘What's that?' He pointed to a symbol that looked like a guard tower from an old war movie.

Alisha dropped her eyes to the map legend. ‘It's a fire ranger's lookout tower,' she said. ‘But there wouldn't be anyone there this time of year. It's not exactly fire season.'

‘Maybe not,' Gerald said. ‘But I bet there's a radio.'

Alisha's eyes widened. ‘Of course. That's perfect! That's where we're going.'

Felicity had woken and joined them, wrapped in her blanket. ‘That looks a long way,' she yawned. ‘Can't we just use the radio that Gerald took last night?'

Ruby appeared over Felicity's shoulder, sleep still in her eyes. ‘That little thing is just short range,' she said. ‘Couple of miles at best. We use them on camping trips.'

Gerald poked his head up. ‘Where is that radio anyway?' he said. He wandered over to the coffee table, making sure to whip Ox's pillow out from under his head on the way.

‘Hey!' Ox grumbled. ‘I'm not awake.'

‘Come on, sleeping beauty,' Gerald said. ‘We've got work to do.' He picked up the radio and fumbled with the volume knob. There was a crackle. And then the words, ‘
I'm going in now. Come straightaway
…'

Gerald looked across to Ox. Before he could say anything the cottage door burst off its hinges and flew into the room. There was snow halfway up the doorframe and a large figure slid through the opening like an Eskimo into an igloo. He landed squarely on his feet—a giant of a man, dressed in a black snowsuit and balaclava, and brandishing a handgun.

He spotted Gerald in an instant.

‘Gerald Wilkins,' he said in a voice of deep threat. ‘I've been looking for you.'

Strands of a wiry beard poked through the man's balaclava. His eyes narrowed and locked onto Gerald. ‘You have put me to a lot of trouble, young fellow.' His breathing was laboured in the thin mountain air. ‘You have cost me time that I can ill afford to lose.' The man raised his gun and took a step towards Gerald. But it was as far as he got. Sam's swinging ski pole collected him across the nose. A metallic
dong
reverberated through the cottage. Sam's arms juddered as if he had just hit a fencepost. But the strike had the desired effect. The man stumbled backwards and dropped to the floor, his hands wrapped around his face.

Gerald looked at Sam, his mouth open. Sam held up the ski pole. Gerald could swear there was a nose-shaped dent in the middle of it. For a second, no one moved. Then there was bedlam.

Bodies dived into ski gear. Boots were yanked on. Alisha snatched the map from the wall and tore it from its frame, shoving the paper into her pocket. Gerald climbed out a window, straight into waist-deep snow.

‘There's one snowmobile out here,' he called back. ‘With a sled. We should all fit.'

Ruby climbed out after him. ‘Can't we dig out the other ones?'

Alisha scrambled through the door. ‘What about the snowshoes?'

‘No time,' Gerald said. ‘Laughing boy in there called for back-up, remember. They'll be here any minute.'

Gerald pointed Ruby to the driver's seat. Felicity and Sam squeezed in behind her. Then Gerald, Alisha and Ox clambered onto the sled and held on as well as they could.

‘Go, Ruby!' Gerald called. ‘Straight up the hill in front of you.'

Ruby pushed the starter and the engine fired. ‘How far?' she called over the noise.

‘Until you can't go any further,' Alisha called back.

The snowmobile moved off. The going was tough. The tracks struggled to get traction in the soft powder. The engine strained against the passenger load. But somehow they started the long climb out of the valley.

The cottage disappeared behind a hillock and for a moment all Gerald could see was a world of white, where the sky and the horizon melted into one.

Ruby pulled on the throttle and the snowmobile surged on, bouncing the sled behind it. Gerald, Alisha and Ox clung to each other. If they weren't fleeing for their lives they would have been having a ball.

Then Gerald saw them. Two black specks at the bottom of the hill below them. Snowmobiles, each with a single rider.

‘Faster, Ruby!' he shouted. ‘We've got company!'

Ruby urged the machine on. They topped a low rise onto a narrow saddle. A colossal slope towered over them like a snow-filled amphitheatre.

‘Cooper's Bowl,' Alisha said. ‘We go straight up here.'

The rise got steadily steeper. The snowmobile lurched on. Great swathes of snow broke away behind them and slid down the slope. At one point they bounced between two ridges, bucking the sled up into the air.

Then Ox fell off.

He went without a sound, tumbling and rolling, carried away in a flowing river of fresh powder. It happened so silently that Gerald didn't register that it had happened at all.

‘Oswald!' Alisha called out.

Gerald reached around and pounded Sam on the shoulder with his fist. ‘Stop!'

Before the snowmobile could judder to a halt, Alisha had thrown herself off the sled. She landed up to her hips in snow and waded down the hillside towards where Ox had fallen. ‘Oswald!' she called again. In the sudden quiet, her voice rang out like a clarion in the mountain air.

Gerald rolled off the sled and started after Alisha, struggling through the deep snow. The pain stabbed into his ribs again and he clutched at his side. He could see no sign of Ox.

Then a sharp
crack
split the silence.

Gerald stopped, breathing hard, and looked to the bottom of the mountain. Their two pursuers were off their snowmobiles. And each held a rifle to his shoulder.

Another
crack
sounded up the slope. Then another.

Instinctively, everyone ducked. But in the middle of the huge natural bowl, there was no place to hide.

Gerald heard one more
crack—
this time from far above them. The sound was deeper, louder and way more frightening than any bullet from a gun. Gerald spun around to face the mountaintop. And in that instant he understood.

The gunmen weren't shooting at them.

They were shooting over them.

Trying to start an avalanche.

An avalanche that was now bearing down on Gerald and his friends as if someone had flung open the gates of hell.