The Final Curtain (8 page)

‘We were pretty good, actually. But you should have seen Linden. He was a real James Bond. He grabbed onto the stretcher cable and sailed into the air. No safety harness or anything. Of course, I was just about to do the same thing but ol' hero here got in first.' Toby grabbed another chocolate, threw it into the air and caught it in his mouth.

‘Thank you,' Max said to Linden.

‘I was only following the pact. You seem so
keen on it lately, so I had to.' His smiled sparked a blush in Max's cheeks.

Toby frowned and threw another chocolate into his mouth. ‘Like I said, I would have done the same if I'd –'

‘Max! Dear one, are you okay?' Eleanor swept into the room followed by a teary Ben.

‘We came as soon as we heard. Does it hurt anywhere? What can I do?' Ben enveloped Max in a tearful hug.

‘Actually, you could stop hugging me so tightly.'

‘Of course.' Ben let go. ‘Sorry, I was just so worried. I didn't know what to …'

Eleanor hugged Ben as Dr Finch entered the room holding X-rays.

‘Is she going to be okay, Doctor?' Linden leapt out of his chair.

‘Everything looks fine. We've performed tests on Max's memory, concentration, vision, hearing, reflexes and coordination.'

‘But that's not fair,' Toby argued. ‘Max had no coordination before she fell.'

‘Is there any way Toby can be taken back to the forest and left there?' Max asked Chief Harrison.

‘You'd miss me too much,' Toby said. ‘And I wouldn't want to add to an already bad day.'

‘You were saying, Dr Finch?' Harrison said.

‘There's minor bruising on the head, knees and elbows, a cut to the forehead and a slight concussion but no fractures or internal injuries.'

‘So she's going to be okay?' Ben asked.

‘My diagnosis is for a full recovery.'

‘Oh, thank goodness.' Ben whipped out a hanky and wiped his eyes.

‘What should she do now?' Linden asked.

‘I suggest she stay in here overnight and rest.'

‘Can we stay here with her for a while?' Toby asked. ‘I'll need a little more time to work on these chocolates.'

‘Actually, I'd like the “rest” part to start now if you all wouldn't mind.'

‘Thank you, Dr Finch.' Harrison invited everyone to leave the room.

‘We'll be outside.' Ben kissed Max on the cheek. ‘Anything you want, just call. We're here for you. Anything.' He started crying again and was led away by Eleanor.

Toby grabbed a few more chocolates and Linden dawdled after the others. He turned back and smiled. ‘Don't go anywhere.'

‘I won't,' Max said.

Hilda bulldozed into the room. ‘The doctor has ordered everybody out – and that includes you.'

Linden flashed Max a quick smile before turning to Hilda. ‘I guess I'd better go then.'

Hilda brushed down Max's sheets so that there wasn't a crease in them. ‘Dr Finch has ordered that you are to rest, and I will have nothing else out of you than that.'

‘Yes, thank you, Hilda. I …'

Max said no more before fatigue overwhelmed her. She sank into the pillow and beneath the crisp sheets and neatly tucked blankets. She took deep, calming breaths and slept, while on her ankle lay a very small, almost undetectable, red mark.

 

On an estate not far from London, in a dimly lit, elaborately furnished room, a figure reclined on a long lounge bathed in the faint glow of a stained-glass lamp. A phone sat on a table beside him. He didn't have to wait long for it to ring.

‘Is it in place?' he asked.

‘Everything went exactly as planned,' a voice answered.

‘Is she with them?'

‘They picked her up within the hour of her … accident.'

‘Excellent. You can always rely on Spyforce for their efficiency.' There was a small delighted breath. ‘Too bad it will be their undoing.'

‘I'm okay. Really,' Max protested from her hotel bed. ‘I think all I needed was a good night's sleep.'

‘But we have to make sure.' Ben fussed around her, bringing her drinks, fluffing her pillows and making sure all her favourite books were within reach. ‘Finch said that, with concussion, one of the worst things that can happen is another fall. It could cause even more –'

‘I'll be here,' Linden said. ‘I'll call you on your palm computers if anything happens.'

Ben's face twisted into a new kind of fear.

‘Which it won't.' Eleanor took his arm. ‘We'll take the Time and Space Machine so we can be back here in seconds if they need us.'

Ben didn't seem convinced.

‘If we had to leave Max in the care of anyone, it would be Linden, wouldn't it?'

‘You're right,' Ben answered reluctantly. ‘But the moment anything –'

‘I will.' Linden held open the door and, after one more kiss on Max's cheek and another round of goodbyes, Ben and Eleanor finally left.

‘I love Ben, I really do,' Max said, ‘but if he'd stayed here one minute longer I was going to deliberately knock myself out.'

‘It's probably good that he went then.'

Max scratched her ankle. ‘I think I must have been bitten in the forest.' She lifted her pyjama leg to reveal a red mark on her skin.

‘Try not to scratch it,' Linden said. ‘Mum always said that makes the irritation worse. Can I get you anything?'

‘A ticket out of here?'

‘You've been told to rest.' Linden shook his head. ‘Anything else?'

Max slumped. ‘A toasted cheese sandwich?'

‘That I can do.'

When Linden returned from the kitchenette with the sandwich, Max was asleep.

‘Not tired, eh?' He looked at the sandwich. ‘Can't let it go to waste.'

He lifted the telephone receiver from its hook and put the sandwich on a small table. He picked up Max's backpack from the lounge to sit down when an envelope fell out, scattering photos over the floor. Linden looked closer. They were of Max's dad and his wife, Mee Lin.

And they were holding a small baby.

Linden looked at Max and frowned. He gathered up the photos, put them back into the envelope and tucked it into her backpack.

He nestled into the lounge, gave her one last look and munched into the sandwich.

Max slept for over three hours when a faint knock at the door woke her. Linden opened it to a hotel employee who handed him a note.

‘A message for you, sir.'

‘Thanks.'

‘Who is it from?' Max sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes.

‘Toby wants us to meet him in a café across the street.'

‘Excellent.' Max threw off her covers. ‘I'm so hungry that even the idea of eating with Toby doesn't spoil my appetite.'

Linden didn't move. ‘Why didn't he come up here and ask us himself?'

‘You know Toby.' Max grabbed some clothes. ‘Leaving a message with the concierge would have made him feel important.' She shot into the bathroom.

‘Maybe.' Linden tried contacting him on his palm computer. When Max emerged from the bathroom he said, ‘He's turned his computer off.'

‘No offence, Linden,' Max lifted her coat from the back of a chair, ‘but neither of you likes to be interrupted when it comes to food.'

‘Are you sure you feel okay to go out? We could get room service.'

‘I feel great, except for the fact that I feel like I've been in bed for days.' She slipped her arms through her backpack straps and opened the door. ‘Let's go.'

The café was lit with low-hanging lights surrounded by rich red shades. There were rounded lounge booths with deep cushioned seats, and in the centre of the room was a glass counter filled with cream cakes and topped with bottles of sweet sauces, cordials and milkshake syrups.

‘I'll have a vanilla milkshake, a vegetable pastie, a large serving of hot chips and a piece of apple pie with cream, ice cream and raspberries.' Max smiled. ‘Oh, and a chocolate brownie for afters.'

‘I'll have the same, thanks.' Linden smiled at the waitress. ‘Are you sure we picked up the right Max Remy from the infirmary?'

‘Yes, you did, every hungry inch of her.'

Linden looked around the café. ‘I don't see Toby anywhere.'

‘He'll be here. He's not going to miss the chance to eat and annoy me at the same time. In fact –'

Max's face drained of all its colour.

‘I think I've just lost my appetite.'

‘But you've ordered all that –'

Linden followed Max's gaze. A barrel-shaped man with log-thick legs and tennis racquet-sized shoes walked through the door.

‘Finch warned me I might have moments of confusion after the fall.' Max's voice was strained. ‘Can you see what I see?'

‘If you can see Kronch, then we're seeing the same thing.'

‘Why would Kronch be here?'

‘Because he's with
her
.'

Behind the lumbering bodyguard was a slim woman with her hair neatly pulled into a ponytail and wearing a long fitted coat.

‘Peckham.' Max shook her head. ‘So that's who she was.'

‘Who?'

‘I thought I recognised a woman outside our hotel when we left for the party. Only, I couldn't remember who she was.' Max pursed her lips. ‘I guess now I know.'

Kronch twisted his thick neck round as he heaved his way towards them.

‘What are they doing here?' Max asked.

‘They're with me.'

A thunderbolt of nausea stormed into Max.

‘We've come to have a little chat.'

The voice behind them was unmistakable. Cold, like deep winter snow.

Peckham and Kronch were now standing beside them.

‘Care to join us?' Peckham held out her hand to the next booth. Kronch stood over them like a fortress.

‘Have you grown bigger since I saw you last?' Max stared at Kronch's stomach. ‘You might want to go easy on the cream cakes.'

She and Linden's eyes met briefly as they both grabbed their packs and slipped out of their seats.

It was Blue's face that shocked them most. He had a long scar that ran the length of his forehead down to his ear, and his left eye was hidden beneath a black eye patch. He wore a woollen scarf around his neck, a slightly too-large cardigan around his thin, measly body, and he hunched into his seat like a man twice his age.

Max and Linden met Blue and Peckham during their first mission to London to track down Ben's brother, Francis, to reunite them so they could
finish building their Time and Space Machine.
¹⁰
Back then Blue was a man who wore only the best handmade suits, always had perfectly cut hair and stood tall and confident in expensive Italian shoes.

‘How very nice to see you again, Maxine and Linden.'

‘It's Max. And you don't really expect me to believe that, do you?'

‘It would be wrong of me to expect anything from you,' Blue said. ‘Not after all that has happened between us.'

‘Where's Toby?' Linden asked.

‘He's busily ensconced in watching some action movie in a cinema down the road. He had nothing to do with the note. It was from me.'

‘If you do anything to hurt him …'

‘Trust me, Max,' Blue said, ‘I have no wish to harm the boy.'

Max eyed him off. ‘As pleasant as it is to see you again, what do you want?'

A cool smile slithered into Blue's lips. ‘I'm here to tell you that my war with Spyforce is over.'

Max and Linden swapped looks.

‘I hope you don't take this the wrong way,' Max said, ‘but I have trouble believing that.'

Kronch inched forward.

Blue shook his head. ‘It's okay.'

The bodyguard offered Max a hardened glare before slowly stepping back.

‘After the fight between Harrison and me at my castle on Cape Wrath, I was quite badly injured.' He raised his hands towards Kronch and Peckham. ‘Fortunately, I was rescued by my trusty assistants and delivered to my doctors. They kept me in an induced coma to give my body time to heal without feeling any of the pain. When I was brought to, it took months of rehabilitation to get me where I am today. What was immediate, however, was my realisation that I can never win against Harrison and his agents.'

‘Took you a while to realise that, didn't it?' Max mumbled.

‘That's not even the most important part. I saw clearly, for the first time since leaving Spyforce, that it isn't about winning at all.'

He took a deep breath that ended with him bent over in a wheezing cough. Miss Peckham patted him gently on the back until he could breathe normally again.

‘I have been foolish.'

‘You made quite a habit of it for a long time.'

Linden squeezed Max's arm beneath the table and offered her a careful look. She gave him a smile that told him she wouldn't go too far.

‘No, Linden. Max has a right to say that.' Blue's smile faded. ‘Because, sadly, it's true. Harrison was only doing what he does best, protecting the world. He is a man who believes in honesty and fair play, whereas I couldn't understand what harm there was in bending a few rules, especially if science was to benefit.'

‘Like selling Spyforce inventions to known criminals, for example,' Max reminded him.

‘Yes.' Blue's face chiselled into a pained frown. ‘I'd lost my way, but that has all changed.'

‘You know the police will take you back to Blacksea Prison when they find you.'

‘Actually, they won't.' Peckham's smile was triumphant.

Max frowned.

‘I've recently offered myself to the police,' Blue explained. ‘And we have come to an agreement.'

Max looked to Linden, who shrugged and shook his head. ‘Spyforce would have been told if that was true.'

‘It was a condition of handing myself in that no one else knew until the deal was done.'

Max eyed him carefully. ‘So the police are just letting a dangerous criminal roam free?'

‘Not exactly “free”. When I leave here, I am to stay confined in my castle in Scotland, and I have to wear this.' Blue held up his arm and pushed back the sleeve of his cardigan.

‘A tracking device?' Linden asked.

‘A Radio Frequency Identification Bracelet, actually. It enables the authorities to know where I am and what I am saying every second of the day.'

‘What's the agreement?' Max asked suspiciously.

‘As my health is so very poorly, I have been excused from carrying out my sentence at Blacksea. The authorities consider that I can hardly be seen as a threat to them in my current state, but I could be very useful to them in other ways. As well as paying a substantial fine, I have handed over my passport and will deliver regular classes to special police scientists.'

‘What are you going to teach them?' Max asked. ‘How to make vast sums of money for yourself while lying and ripping off almost everyone around you?'

Peckham leant in close to Max. ‘Mr Blue has one of the most exciting scientific minds in the world. Only a mind like his could have created the Nightmare Vortex, the Spectral Hologram Mark III?
¹¹
and the Doppelgänger, which can replicate an entire human being's physical form.
¹²
They are truly works of a genius.'

‘And what about the Heart Stopper device that almost killed Chief Harrison? What's so exciting about that little killing machine?'

Kronch slammed his fist into the table. Max jumped.

‘Now, now, Kronch,' Blue said. ‘It just wouldn't be Max if she wasn't direct.'

‘Excuse me.' The waitress shimmied past Kronch and delivered Max and Linden's order. ‘Double milkshake, chips, pastie, apple pie and brownie. Enjoy.' She turned away.

Blue raised his eyebrows. ‘You must be hungry.'

‘I was.' Max folded her arms.

‘I know you care not to remember, but I did work for Spyforce for a long time. All I can hope is that my small contributions to their many gadgets
goes some way to making the world a better place.' He smiled. ‘Some of my favourites were the freeze rays, force-field hazes and, you must remember, I was there for the beginnings of the Time and Space Machine.'

‘That you wanted to sell to the highest bidder, no matter what they wanted to use it for.'

‘I only hope that with time, I can earn your trust,' Blue said quietly.

‘You know as soon as I leave here I'm going to double-check everything you've said.'

‘You are nothing if not thorough, Max Remy, and I applaud you for that.'

Blue's eyes didn't so much as look at Max but, like the Face Reader, they analysed every centimetre of her thoughts. With a strained sigh, he leant into the table and moved closer. He didn't touch her, but Max felt his presence all over her.

‘I owe you a great debt, Maxine.' He blinked, just once. ‘I mean, Max.'

‘Me?'

‘Yes, you. I came up against one of Spyforce's most clever agents when I met you.'

‘I'm sorry?' She leant forward, making sure she could hear properly.

‘It's true, and it's because of meeting you that I can now see how wrong I was.'

‘Okay, now the flattery is getting creepy. Why don't you just tell me what you want.'

Blue broke into more coughing that seemed to squeeze the breath from his chest. He fished a hanky from his pocket and held it against his mouth. Peckham patted him more forcefully on the back while Kronch handed him a clear mask attached by a tube to a small oxygen cylinder beneath the table.

Max slowly reeled back from this old and broken man.

‘Sorry,' Blue said when he could breathe comfortably again. ‘I tend to run out of breath very easily. In the fall, one of my lungs was punctured, so I have only half the breathing capacity of a regular person.' He took in another long, calming breath.