The Mask of Destiny (19 page)

Gerald, still straddling his bike, almost fell to the cobbles as he jumped to avoid the barrage of punches.

‘Stop it, will you?' he shouted. ‘There was nothing I could do. There were too many of them. They would have got me too.'

Ruby dropped her fists and bit her bottom lip. ‘This really slows us down,' she muttered, almost to herself.

‘What do you mean?' Gerald said.

‘We can't miss that train to Rome,' Ruby said, pacing up and down the cobblestones. ‘Any delay and we risk Charlotte getting there first.' Gerald could see she was weighing a dozen options that were bouncing about in her brain. Then she stopped. A decision had been made.

‘We have to leave Sam,' she said.

‘What?'

‘There's no other choice. How can we possibly steal him away from the police? It can't be done. We have to go on without him.'

Gerald was gobsmacked. ‘But we can't just leave him,' he said.

‘Why not? They'll take him back to London and our parents will collect him. It's not like he's done anything really wrong. It's you that Jarvis wants, not us.'

Gerald didn't know what to say. Ruby seemed determined to abandon her brother and keep on with the hunt.

‘He'll even put in a good word for you, Gerald,' Ruby said. ‘You know, with the police.'

‘But he's your brother,' Gerald said.

Ruby didn't seem to hear him. She nodded, her mind made up. ‘It's the best thing to do. We can still make that train if we hurry.'

Gerald stared at Ruby in disbelief. It was like he'd never met her before. Ruby had always had a determined streak, but this was something else. Abandoning her own brother?

But deep down, Gerald knew she was right. There was nothing they could do to help Sam now.

He picked up his bike and threw his leg over the crossbar. ‘Okay,' he said, ‘where's the station?'

Ruby jumped on her bike and headed back towards the main street. She had gone only a few metres when two gendarmes drifted across the opening to the laneway. And stopped.

Gerald didn't wait. He called at Ruby to follow him, spun his rear wheel around and they bolted back along the lane, with the policemen chasing after them.

Gerald was standing on the pedals, driving the bike towards the narrow set of stairs. He looked back to Ruby. She was pumping the pedals with everything she had. But the gendarmes were keeping up, even gaining on them. They were wearing rollerblades, and were sprinting like speed skaters at the Winter Olympics.

Gerald doubled his efforts, driving himself forward, straight at the stairway.

‘Get ready to jump!' he yelled back to Ruby. Then he launched himself over the lip of the top step. The bike soared out into the void. Gerald lifted himself off the seat and braced for the impact of the landing. He seemed to float in air for ages. Then his rear tyre clipped a step about two-thirds of the way down. The jolt rattled through the heavy frame and shook every bone in his body. The front wheel touched down and Gerald pulled back to stop himself flipping over the handlebars. A teeth-jarring second later and he was on the lower level. He shot between two parked cars that were squeezed onto the gutters on either side, like a bullet down a rifle barrel.

Gerald glanced back over his shoulder just as Ruby took off from the top step. He couldn't tell whether the scream was one of delight or terror, but she landed her bike, with a crunch of metal and buckling spokes, and sped along the lane towards him.

‘That was awesome!' Ruby screamed as she skidded to a halt. ‘I so want to do that again.'

‘Maybe some other time,' Gerald said. ‘But at least those guys on skates won't get down here so fast.'

Gerald almost choked on the words. Behind them the two police appeared at the top of the stairs, and didn't hesitate. They leapt into the air, slammed their skates onto the metal handrails and grinded to the bottom in a blur of blue uniforms.

‘Let's go!' Ruby yelled, and peeled around a tight corner into a winding backstreet. Gerald was on her rear wheel, coursing in her wake. They sped past a string of street cafes, the coffee drinkers' heads turning to watch them fly by, followed seconds later by the two policemen on skates. Ruby led the way, bouncing over the cobbles, riding like a jockey on a thoroughbred with the finishing post in sight. But with the two policemen in close pursuit, there seemed no end to this race.

Gerald caught up with her, driving hard. ‘Keep going,' he called. ‘You're slowing down.' The shouts from the pursuing policemen followed them around a tight corner.

Ruby hoisted herself onto the pedals and pushed harder, but she still drifted behind. Gerald looked back with alarm.

‘You've got a puncture,' he called. ‘Your back tyre is flat.'

Ruby looked urgently over her shoulder. The two policemen were only metres behind; Gerald could make out Ruby's reflection in their wraparound sunglasses.

‘Jump onto my bike!' Gerald yelled. He stood up, leaving the saddle open for Ruby to make the leap.

‘Are you nuts?' Ruby yelled back. She struggled to keep pace, her rear tyre dragging in the ruts and grooves of the roadway.

‘There's no time to stop. Jump for it.'

Gerald eased back until the two bikes were level. Ruby glanced over her shoulder; one of the gendarmes had sprinted ahead. He was barely two metres behind them.

‘Now, Ruby!' Gerald yelled. ‘Do it now!'

Ruby stared at Gerald, dread on her face. The gendarme had closed the gap to a metre, the clatter of his skates against the cobbles a staccato drumming in the air. Ruby gave a frantic burst of pedalling, inching ahead of Gerald as they reached a downhill stretch. She then stood on one pedal and spun her other leg over the seat so she was standing on one side of the bike as it coasted along.

‘Get ready, Gerald,' Ruby called, ‘Here I come!' Using all her strength and gymnastic agility, Ruby threw her trailing leg around and she spun across the gap to the seat on Gerald's bike. She landed with a grunt, facing back towards the pursuing policemen. One stretched out a hand, but just as he touched her shirt the abandoned bike slid under his skates.

The crash sent the gendarme skidding across the cobbles, wiping out a flimsy wooden table outside a cafe. Ruby's eyes widened at the scene, as diners flooded out of the building to find a policeman buried in a pile of tables and chairs.

‘Oh my,' Ruby said.

Gerald leaned forward and struggled to keep up the pace with the added weight on board.

‘The other policeman's still coming!' Ruby yelled over her shoulder. ‘Hurry up!'

Gerald tried to blink away the sweat running into his eyes. ‘Hurry up? I'm cycling for two up here.'

‘Lucky you're such a big strong man then, isn't it? Now shut up and pedal.'

Gerald dipped his head and powered on. He knew his thighs couldn't take much more of this—they felt like they would explode at any moment.

‘Come on, Gerald! He's catching up.'

Gerald glanced back. He was horrified to see how close the policeman was. They emerged from the winding street onto a broad junction. Across the busy intersection Gerald spied a possible way out.

‘Hold on,' he said to Ruby. ‘This could get rough.'

He ploughed through the crossing without missing a beat. Cars and vans skidded to avoid them—the junction filled with the squeal of brakes and the smell of burning tyre rubber. Gerald surged on, jumping the gutter with the front wheel but hitting it hard with the rear, and sending Ruby jolting into the air before she landed back in the saddle with a squeal.

‘Steady on,' she cried. ‘I haven't got much to hold onto here.'

They shot across a broad footpath and through a large set of iron gates into an enormous park. The gendarme stuck to them like chewing gum in hair.

Gerald bolted along a crushed stone path, past wooden benches and a line of statues, towards a lake. Children playing with wooden sail boats were snatched out of the way by their parents as Gerald tore by closely pursued by the flying gendarme.

Then Gerald saw a team of workmen on a path leading deeper into the gardens. They were leaning on their shovels by a barrow of gravel.

‘This better work,' he called back to Ruby. ‘Think light thoughts.'

He turned the handlebars and steered right at the cluster of workmen. The gendarme was seconds behind. Gerald sucked in a huge breath and gave it his all, streaming his energy into the pedals. They hit the freshly dumped layer of gravel, tyres biting deep. The workmen jumped clear. Rock chips sprayed out behind as the wheels sunk into the path. The bike slowed, sending Ruby flying forward into Gerald's backside, her feet spread wide in the air. The shunt from behind urged Gerald onward and he kept the bike moving. But the fresh gravel was too deep for the pursuing policeman. His skates hit the path and he came to a crashing halt, face first onto the loose stones.

Ruby broke out into an enormous grin. ‘Oh my gosh, Gerald. You did it.'

Gerald didn't look back. The angry cries from the workers told him to keep moving. He gave one last surge and the bike broke free from the path's clutches. They passed some playground equipment crawling with children and cruised through a set of gates on the far side of the park and onto a narrow street outside.

Gerald was spent.

‘Let's never do that again,' he said to Ruby. ‘My legs are killing me.' He wiped the sweat from his forehead on his sleeve and started a slow pedal through the deserted backstreets.

‘Are we still taking the train to Rome?' he said.

Ruby tapped Gerald on his side. ‘Stop here.'

Gerald pulled over and rolled off the bike to collapse onto the gutter. He stretched his legs out in front of him and rubbed his burning thighs. Ruby stood over him, clearly considering her next words carefully.

‘Sam would want us to go on,' she said. ‘To find the Tower of the Winds.'

‘But he's your brother,' Gerald said. ‘I thought twins were super close.'

Ruby rubbed her fingers against her temples and screwed her eyes shut.

‘What is it?' Gerald said.

‘I'm getting a message,' she said.

‘A message?'

‘Yes. A message from my stupid twin brother who was too slow to avoid the police.'

Gerald frowned at her. ‘Yes, very funny. But seriously. You want to go on without him?'

‘It's not what I want to do,' Ruby said. ‘It's what we have to do. I know it. You know it. And Sam knows it too.'

Gerald dropped his head. He just hoped that Sam would forgive him one day.

This time, Ruby sat facing forward on the bike and they eventually found their way to a main road.

‘I think there's a bridge up here. That'll take us across the river,' Ruby said. ‘It can't be much further.'

Gerald slammed on the brakes. Ruby shot off the seat and buried her face in Gerald's backpack. ‘What'd you do that for?' she shouted.

Gerald stabbed a finger towards the middle of the snarl of traffic ahead of them. ‘That's Sam,' he said. ‘In the back of that police car.'

Ruby shoved the pack out of the way and looked to where Gerald was pointing. The car was crawling ahead at a snail's pace in the centre lane, hemmed in on both sides by traffic. They could see the blond hair of the back of Sam's head through the rear window and what looked very much like the shape of Constable Lethbridge sitting beside him.

‘What do you think?' Gerald said.

Ruby swung off the bike seat. ‘I think you better go wait beside that laneway up there and get ready to ride like you're in the Tour de France.' Then she ducked low and scouted ahead, keeping below the tops of the cars. Gerald pedalled along the footpath, holding back, until the police car had passed the laneway. He stopped and watched Ruby shadow the car that was carrying her brother. He could make out Inspector Jarvis in the front, next to the driver. Ruby was a car length behind them, and one car to the right.

The flow of traffic came to a halt.

Then Ruby made her move.

She calmly walked between the lanes of cars to the back door of the police car, and tapped on the window.
Ruby tapped at the window again. In the backseat, Lethbridge raised his hands to Jarvis in a gesture of ‘what do I do?' There was more shouting. Then the window wound down. Lethbridge peered out at Ruby with a sheepish grin on his face.

There was a pause, then a flurry of activity inside the vehicle. Both front doors shot open as Jarvis and the driver tried to get out. But because the lanes of traffic were so tight, the doors couldn't open more than a few centimetres. Again and again, Jarvis and the driver banged at the doors. But they were stuck. The muffled sound of shouting came from inside.

‘Hello,' he said.

But that was all he had the chance to say. The moment the window was open far enough, Ruby shoved Lethbridge aside and dived headfirst through the opening. She grabbed Sam by the front of his shirt and, with a single heave, pulled him right out the window. To Gerald, it was like watching a baby giraffe being born.

Sam landed on the road in a shambolic heap. His hands were bound behind his back with cable ties. He writhed around on the ground before Ruby took him by the collar and lifted him to his feet.

Jarvis was screaming from inside the police car: screaming at the driver, at Lethbridge and finally at the gods. There was another barrage of door banging, which was answered by shouts of protest and the blaring of horns from the drivers of the vehicles that were hit.

Ruby and Sam appeared at Gerald's side. Sam had a huge grin on his face. ‘I knew you'd come and find me,' he said. Ruby ignored Gerald's pointed look while she shunted Sam onto the bike seat.

‘Come on, Gerald,' she said, lifting herself into the basket on the handlebars. ‘We've got a train to catch.'

Gerald launched the bike down the narrow laneway towards the river. With three on board, it was especially hard going—and it wasn't made any easier by Ruby singing ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head' at the top of her voice as they bounced along the cobblestones.