Hostage (4 page)

'Faster!' yelled Paulo, glancing behind him as the shrill engine note of the man's snowmobile started up. The tree line was still at least five minutes' hard riding away and their pursuer would stop at nothing to get hold of the incriminating camcorder evidence. Paulo took the lead, pushing his snowmobile up to breakneck speed. The frozen surface was dangerously uneven in places, but he did not slacken his pace. Instead, he simply rode his bucking machine over the rutted snow, clinging on like a cowboy at a rodeo and ignoring the scream from the overheated engine. The others fell into line behind him, picking up their speed too.

It was a nightmarish race. The snowmobiles were being pushed to their limit. The skis on the fronts of the little machines were twisting and jerking crazily and the belts on the rear caterpillar tracks were in danger of coming off their wheels. Alpha Force were all fully dressed for travelling and their hoods were securely tied, but the goggles they used when riding the snowmobiles were still swinging from the handlebars. The icy wind was cutting into their exposed cheeks and noses like a knife and tears were streaming from the corners of their eyes.

Halfway to the tree line, black smoke began to pour from the back of Alex's machine but he gritted his teeth and kept the engine at full throttle. He could not afford to slow down. Alpha Force had a head start on their pursuer, but the man was travelling light, with no trailer to pull, and he was slowly gaining on them.

By the time they reached the trees, the man was less than a minute behind. Paulo slewed his machine to the right in a tight turn, sending up a huge fan of snow. He rode along the edge of the stand of spruce trees until he found a track, then he swung the snowmobile in between the trees and the other four followed him.

It was a mixed blessing to be in amongst the spruces. The wind was suddenly gone, giving their smarting cheeks and streaming eyes a chance to recover, but the snow was much deeper here, which put more of a strain on the snowmobiles. The danger of smashing into a tree or being knocked from their machines by a low branch meant that they had to slow right down and that felt bad, even though they knew that the man behind them would have to do the same.

'Paulo!' yelled Amber, from behind him. 'We're gonna have to stop!'

'We cannot stop!' yelled Paulo, looking over his shoulder.

For reply, Amber pointed to the black smoke that was still pouring from Alex's machine. Paulo's heart sank and he nodded. Turning back to the trail, he began to look for a place to hide. Up ahead, the trail curved out of sight. Once they were around that bend, they might just have time to split up and hide in the trees before their pursuer arrived. He pointed to the bend and the other four nodded or gave a thumbs-up sign to show that they understood.

By the time the man slewed his machine round the bend, Alpha Force had disappeared from the trail. He brought his snowmobile to a stop and turned off the engine. His breath was loud in the sudden silence, punctuated by the tick of his snowmobile's rapidly cooling engine. Pushing his goggles up on to the top of his head, he pulled the shotgun from its holster and climbed out of the saddle. He took his time as he checked out the deeper snow off-trail. Alpha Force might be hidden from sight, but it was impossible to leave no trace in snow and the tracks of their snowmobiles stood out clearly.

The man frowned. His prey had been clever. They had split up. Five different tracks fanned off from the trail into the trees and he did not know which track would lead him to the camcorder. For a moment he stood indecisively, then his face cleared as he realized it did not matter which track he followed. He picked one at random and began to make his way into the trees.

In her hiding place under the boughs of a fallen spruce, Amber heard the man approaching through the snow. She huddled further under the covering branches and held her breath. She had done her best to cover her tracks. Her footprints marched from her abandoned snowmobile up to the base of the fallen tree, then appeared to step over the trunk and continue onward into the forest. In reality, she had retraced her steps to the trunk, stepping backwards all the way. She had then ducked under the branches and squirmed along to the other end of the fallen tree.

The branches shook above her head as the man stepped up on to the tree trunk and then jumped off again into the snow beyond. Amber's heart was beating so hard, it felt as though it was going to explode out of her chest. The blood sang in her ears and she closed her eyes, hoping against hope that when her footprints ran out, he would not double back. She heard him moving on through the forest with the snow squeaking under his boots. The squeaking grew fainter and fainter, stopped altogether, then started to get louder again. He was heading back to the tree.

Amber groaned, then forced herself to lie still. The branches shook again as the man climbed on to the trunk. The shaking increased as he walked along the top of the trunk towards her, stepping over branches and stopping every few steps to peer at the ground on either side. Amber bit her lip and debated breaking cover and running, but the thought of that sawn-off shotgun kept her pinned to the ground.

The man reached the thinnest part of the trunk and stopped directly above Amber's head. The branches on the other side rustled as he moved them. Amber lay helplessly, waiting for him to do the same on her side. She knew she was going to be caught, but it was still a huge shock when the man plunged his hand through the branches and grabbed her by the back of her hood.

One powerful wrench and she was dragged out of her hiding place. The man let go of her hood, but before she could run, he wrapped his arm around her throat instead. She tried to kick him, but he tightened the crook of his elbow and she started to choke. The man pressed the barrels of the shotgun against the side of her head and she grew still.

'Now we walk back to the trail,' he ordered. 'Slow and steady. We don't want this thing to go off, do we?'

Back at his snowmobile, the man tightened his grip around Amber's throat and brought her to a halt. She lifted her mittened hands and tried to loosen his arm but it was like trying to move a metal bar.

'Hey! Kid with the camcorder!' he called. 'I have your friend here!' He pressed the shotgun harder into the side of Amber's head. 'What's your name?' he asked.

'Amber.' She choked as red spots danced in front of her eyes.

'Amber here is going to die on the count of ten unless you bring me that camcorder. Understand?'

There was silence from the forest. The man started counting.

'One, two . . .'

Hex stood with his back pressed against the trunk of a spruce tree. It was an impossible situation. If he did not give the man the camcorder, Amber would die. If he gave the man the camcorder, Amber would still die, then he would die too.

'. .. five, six . ..' called the man.

Hex closed his eyes. He could wait it out. Call the man's bluff. The more people the man killed, the messier this situation would become – and there was no way to make a shotgun killing look like an accident.

'. . . eight, nine . . .'

With a groan, Hex stepped out from behind the tree. He could not stand back and let Amber die. 'OK, OK,' he called, high-stepping through the deep snow, back to the trail. He was pleased to see that the man's cheek was already swollen and discoloured.

Once he was out on the trail, Hex lifted the camcorder and started filming again. 'So,' he said. 'You planning to kill us all with that shotgun? How're you going to pass that off as an accident? Moose with lethal weapons? I don't think so.'

'How old are you kids?' countered the man. 'Sixteen? Seventeen? Too young to be running around in these parts on your own. They won't find you before the spring thaw. By then, there won't be much left of you. We have some real hungry animals out here, especially through the winter. You will become just another tragic accident. Five unsupervised kids freezing to death.'

'That's good,' said Hex, still filming. 'Keep talking.'

The man's face darkened with anger. He opened his mouth, then stopped and glanced warily from side to side, searching for the Anglo-Chinese girl with a kick like a mule. He was not going to fall for the same trick twice. 'The rest of you!' he called. 'Out here now!'

One by one, Alex, Li and Paulo came out of the trees on to the trail and stood shoulder to shoulder with Hex.

'Kneel down,' ordered the man. 'Hands behind your heads.'

They all obeyed, except Hex, who kneeled but continued to film. The man marched Amber forward until she was standing in front of Hex. 'Give her the camcorder,' he said.

Hex looked up at Amber and she looked down as best she could with the man's arm locked round her throat and a shotgun digging into the side of her head. She stretched out her hands for the camcorder but Hex held back. Once this man had the evidence, it was all over for them. His mind raced, trying to find a solution. There must be something he could do!

Amber began to choke as the man tightened his grip and Hex's mind went blank. Reluctantly, he handed over the camcorder. The man dragged Amber back along the trail and then forced her to her knees. As the shotgun barrels moved round to the back of her neck, Amber looked hopelessly at the others. Her eyes were full of fear and big with unshed tears.

Alex tensed. The only chance now was for the four of them to rush the man. He would start firing immediately, but some of them might survive long enough to overwhelm him. If not, then at least they would die fighting, which had to be better than kneeling in the snow and waiting to be slaughtered. He glanced at Li, Hex and Paulo and saw the same determination in their eyes.

'On the count of three,' whispered Alex. 'One, two—'

He stopped counting as a roar echoed along the trail. An instant later, a huge, white shape burst out of the trees and reared up on its hind legs behind the man.

'It is Cyclops!' cried Paulo as the great bear roared again.

After one horrified glance behind him, the man kicked Amber out of his way and ran for his snowmobile, leaving her sprawled at the bear's feet.

Any other bear would have gone for the easier target, but this bear only had one eye and Amber was lying on its blind side. Cyclops ignored her. Instead, it went down on all fours, slamming its left paw into the snow centimetres away from her head, and took off after the man.

With a scream of terror, the man flung himself over to the other side of his snowmobile as Cyclops reared up and swiped at him with a huge paw. The bear came down on the little machine with such force, the fuel tank collapsed in on itself, spraying petrol everywhere.

With a snarl, the bear knocked the snowmobile out of its way to get to the man cowering in the snow. Again, it swiped at the man and this time its paw made contact with his head. The force of the blow snapped his neck and sent a spray of blood, bone and brains flying through the air. The man's body rolled and came to a stop very close to Amber, who was still sprawled on the ground clutching the camcorder. Hex surged to his feet and grabbed her under the arms, dragging her out of the way as the bear reared up again and roared a challenge.

'Everybody down and stay still!' cried Li. And don't look it in the eye. Bears see that as a threat.'

They crouched in the snow, keeping their eyes down. The bear glared at them all for a moment longer, then went down on to all fours and turned back to the body. With one rip of its claws, it opened up the man from neck to groin. Cottony flakes of jacket insulation floated up into the air, then down again to land in the spreading pool of blood around the body. The dead man's eyes stared sightlessly at the sky as the bear dipped its snout and began to eat.

Paulo thought he was going to be sick. He turned his head away and managed to swallow down the bile that rose in his throat. 'We must go while the bear is occupied,' he whispered to the others.

'What about him?' asked Alex, pointing to the body.

Paulo looked, then quickly looked away again. 'We can do nothing for him now. We must get away before the bear loses interest in him and turns on us.'

Alex nodded. They started to clamber to their feet, but the bear reared up and towered over them with a full-throated roar. It made a fearsome sight, standing three metres tall, gouts of blood dripping from its jaws. Quickly, Alpha Force sank to the ground again and the bear returned to its meal, watching them closely with its one eye. They were trapped. Their snowmobiles were scattered and too far away to make a run for it, and there was always the possibility that Alex's machine would not start again.

'What now?' asked Hex, looking at Li, their animal behaviour expert.

Li wiped the sweat from her forehead and thought for a few seconds, then her eyes brightened as she had an idea. 'Can we get hold of the guy's shotgun?'

For answer, Amber pointed out the handle of the shotgun, poking out from under the man's body.

'Oh,' said Li.

'But we have the – how do you say? – the tranquillizer rifle,' said Paulo. His English was now extremely good after his years with Alpha Force, but he still had trouble with the occasional word, particularly in times of stress.

Hex shook his head. 'It's back there in the snowmobile trailer.'

They all looked at Li again. 'Um,' she said, thinking desperately. 'If we could really scare it somehow . . .'

'How?' hissed Amber.

Li shrugged. She was all out of ideas.

'Would an explosion do it?' asked Alex, staring thoughtfully at the man's overturned snowmobile.

'Of course,' said Li. 'All animals are afraid of fire.'

Alex unzipped the pouch attached to his belt and pulled out his survival tin. His dad was in the SAS and always carried a survival tin as part of his basic kit. He had shown Alex how to put his own tin together and Alex now carried this small, battered metal container with him everywhere. It had saved his life and the lives of the other members of Alpha Force on a number of occasions, and he was hoping it would do so again now. Although it was only the size of a large tobacco tin, it was tightly packed with essential items. Inside there were needles and thread, fish-hooks and a line, a tiny medical kit, a flint, a magnifying glass, a compass and beta light, snare wire, a flexible saw, a tightly folded survival bag made of heat-insulated reflective material, a ball of dry kindling, a candle and a strip of matches.

It was the matches Alex reached for now, before replacing the lid on the tin and slipping it back into his pouch. Carefully he removed his outer mittens, then he tore the first match from the strip and ran the head across the striker. The match was good and dry and flared immediately. Quickly, Alex cupped it with his other hand until the flame was strong, then he flicked the match towards the fuel-soaked snow around the damaged snowmobile. The match fell well short. The flame fluttered and went out. With a soft curse, Alex tore off another match and tried again. The match landed nearer to the snowmobile but, once again, the snow snuffed out the flame.

'C'mon!' hissed Amber, staring fearfully at the bear a few metres away.

Alex frowned, thinking hard. Then his face cleared as an idea came to him. He stripped the thin, inner glove from his left hand, then plunged his hand down through the snow until he reached the frozen ground of the trail. His fingers began to ache, then hurt, and then grow numb as he scrabbled around under the snow. Finally, he found what he was looking for. He pulled his hand out of the snow with a small stone clutched in his blue fingers.

Alex blew on his hand to warm it, then pulled his inner glove on again. Opening the survival tin for a second time, he removed a small amount of the kindling material and wrapped it around the stone. Finally, he struck a third match and held it to the kindling until it was burning so well, he was in danger of setting fire to his glove.

'Here goes,' whispered Alex.

He took aim and threw the stone. It landed right in the middle of the fuel-soaked area around the snowmobile. For a second, nothing happened. Then the ground burst into flames with an explosive whump.

Cyclops flinched away from the flames, then, instead of running, he turned back and reared up on to his hind legs with a roar.

'It's not working!' hissed Amber, but Alex was watching a twisting snake of flame wriggle towards the snowmobile's fuel tank. An instant later, a second, much bigger explosion sent bellowing gouts of flame up as high as the tree tops. Alpha Force flattened themselves into the snow as a blast of scorching air spread outwards from the centre of the explosion.

Cyclops roared again, but this time it was more of a scream. Alpha Force raised their heads, shielding their faces against the heat of the flames. The bear was down on all fours, swatting at its scorched nose. All down one side, its fur was blackened and smoking. The bear flinched sideways as a second explosion came from the burning snowmobile, then the huge beast turned tail and ran. Alpha Force sat up and listened to the bear crashing away through the forest as fast as it could go.

'Missing you already,' muttered Hex, staggering to his feet. He hurried over to the dead man and began going through the pockets of the tattered jacket, trying not to look too closely at what the bear had done to the body.

Amber looked around with a dazed expression, as though she could not quite believe she was still alive. She began to shake and the shaking grew stronger and stronger, until her teeth were chattering uncontrollably. Li shuffled over and put her arms around her friend.

'Amber?' said Alex. 'Are you ready to move out?'

'Give her a minute, can't you?' demanded Li.

'We don't have a minute,' said Alex quietly.

'But the bear – it will not return,' said Paulo.

'It's not the bear I'm worried about.' Alex nodded over at the body. 'There might be more like him.'

Amber, Li and Paulo looked up at him in shocked understanding. There could be more than one killer out there. The man could have a partner, or even a whole team working for him.

'OK. I'm OK,' said Amber, climbing to her feet and bracing her knees to stop her legs from shaking.

'Where do we go?' asked Paulo, as Hex returned to the group, stuffing something into an inside pocket of his jacket.

'Away from here,' said Alex, glancing up at the column of thick, black smoke rising above the tree tops. 'If there are more killers in the area, this smoke is going to bring them running. We'll head inland. Hudson Bay is not a good place to be right now.'

After an hour of travelling, Alex began to look out for a good, sheltered stopping place. The smoke from the burning snowmobile was far enough behind them now and he was worried about the way his own machine was performing. It had taken several tries to start it and the engine note was rough and uneven. The wind had dropped as they made their way inland through the darkening day, but so had the temperature. According to the digital thermometer display on his dashboard, it was now twenty-five below zero, and even with their layers of arctic gear they were all beginning to feel the cold. At first Alex had been sweating behind his goggles, but now the sweat that had collected in his eyebrows had formed a crackling layer of frost and his nostrils were becoming blocked with plugs of ice.

He spotted a particularly thick stand of spruce trees and motioned the others to a halt. They waited with their engines idling while he studied the spot. The outer trees on one side of the stand were flagged. This meant that the branches only grew on one side of the trunk, giving the tree the appearance of a flag on a pole. The flagged trees were a good indication of the direction of the prevailing wind and this was important in choosing a good spot to camp. It would not be a good idea to set up a shelter on a calm evening, only to find a howling gale blowing through the entrance the next morning.

Alex pointed to the lee side of the stand of trees and they set off again, driving slowly along until he spotted what he wanted. Three spruce trees were growing shoulder to shoulder in a line, so close together that their lower branches merged together under their covering of snow. He brought his spluttering snowmobile to a halt in front of the three spruce trees and turned off the engine. The others parked up beside him one by one and turned off their engines too. The deep silence of the interior settled around them as they eased off their goggles and clambered stiffly from their machines.

'Fingers? Toes?' asked Alex. His face was so stiff with cold, the words came out slurred, but the others knew what he meant. They each checked for any sign of pins and needles or numbness that could be the start of frostbite. Next, Alex peered into each face in turn, checking noses and cheekbones. They all looked fine, just pinched with cold and tiredness.

Amber raised her frosted eyebrows, which looked very white next to her dark skin. 'Do we pass inspection?' she asked.

Alex grinned, pleased to see that she was back to her old, sarcastic self. 'Yes. You pass. And here's your reward.'

He reached inside his outer jacket and removed a small cloth bag which was hanging from his neck by a cord. He opened the drawstring and produced five bars of chocolate.

'Oh! I love you!' yelled Amber, tearing off her outer gloves and grabbing one of the chocolate bars. She ripped off the packaging and crammed the chocolate into her mouth. "Sgood,' she mumbled.

Everyone else grabbed a bar and began to eat as though they had not seen food for days. In such low temperatures their bodies used up huge amounts of energy just to stay warm, and since they had arrived in northern Canada they had all discovered a craving for fat in any shape or form. Here, even Amber could safely eat chocolate without worrying about blood sugar levels because she would burn it all up again within a couple of hours.

'Now, that is what I call survival expertise,' said Paulo, grinning at Alex with chocolate-coated teeth. Paulo knew that all the food in the trailers would be frozen solid and he had not been looking forward to the long, drawn-out process of lighting a fire and thawing everything out before they could start cooking. 'It is a good trick,' he added. 'Wearing your food. I shall have to remember that.'

Paulo looked down at Li, expecting her to meet his gaze with laughter sparkling in her uptilted eyes. Instead, she stood next to him, silent and pale, gazing back the way they had come. There was an awkward silence as the rest of Alpha Force remembered that Li had lost a dear friend that day.

'Right,' said Alex, breaking the silence. 'We've had our energy boost. Now let's make camp.'