The Case of the Stolen Film (17 page)

‘What are you talking about?' said Holly, trying to laugh it off.

‘I said no more bluffing,' snapped Buchanan, pressing a button, causing the screen to flicker to life. ‘Now let me show you a little film that
I've
made. It's low budget and the camera work is a little shaky in places but it's got a terrific plot and I think you'll warm to the actors.'

Holly gasped. On the screen she and Dirk were breaking into Brant Buchanan's laboratory.

‘The monster,' said Callum, seeing Dirk. He looked away, fidgeting nervously and smoothing down his hair.

The shot cut to Holly and Archie standing in the cylindrical library. ‘
But didn't he say that it was full of expensive books? Why wouldn't he have cameras?
' said Archie on the screen.

‘That would be madness,' said Buchanan.

On the TV, Archie looked up at the film of the two Desert Dragons. ‘
But where's the actual film?
' said the onscreen Holly.

‘You were watching a duplicated DVD,' Brant Buchanan answered her. ‘You see, unlike World
Studios, I am more cautious with my films. This is my favourite bit now.'

The shot changed again, this time showing the exterior of a house. It was dark and the camera zoomed in to find Holly and Archie standing on a balcony. Archie held up a book. A tail materialised from something on the roof and took it.

‘I believe it's called blending, a skill unique to the Mountain Dragon,' said Mr Buchanan.

They heard Dirk say, ‘…
my gut tells me that anyone as wealthy as Buchanan is going to want to keep a secret like this to himself for a while.
'

‘How very astute,' said Mr Buchanan. ‘The phone's tapped, of course.'

Holly felt dizzy. Her hands were shaking but she felt Archie take one of them and grip it tightly.

‘You'll never find him. No one will believe you,' Archie said firmly. ‘People will say you faked this with special effects, that you're a mad rich man with too much time on your hands. You'll end up a gibbering wreck like Callum with monsters in your head.'

‘The monsters are crawling out of my head,' said Callum.

‘I have no interest in letting everyone in on our secret, Mr Snellgrove. Not yet,' said Buchanan.

‘Then what do you want?' said Holly.

‘Want?' said Buchanan, as though seeing how the word tasted in his mouth. ‘For years I haven't
wanted
for anything. I did or I had. I never wanted. And then you appeared with your dragon friend and gave me something new to
want
.' He leant forward. ‘I want a dragon. I want your dragon.'

‘You'll never catch him,' said Holly.

‘Ah, but thanks to you I already have,' said Buchanan. ‘When you called Mr Dilly about the missing film, it gave me the idea. I knew that the only way for him to retrieve it from the library would be to cut the electricity supply at the substation but, you see, what the history book you gave Mr Dilly didn't mention was that I have recently installed a back-up generator. Tonight, while we were at the party, the power went off and the generator kicked in. Do you know what that means? It means that awaiting us is a real, live fire-breathing dragon.'

‘He'll escape. Dragon claws can cut through anything,' said Holly.

‘As you proved when you cut through the hole in my laboratory roof,' said Buchanan, pressing a button in the armrest and skipping back to the footage of Dirk and Holly in the laboratory. On the film Holly
had just run back into the room and she and Dirk were hiding.

Holly was relieved to see that she was not in vision when she blended with the sofa. At least that secret remained intact.

‘The challenge was how to hold a creature that can tear through anything. Tricky. It was Weaver who came up with the answer. What's that stuff called again?'

‘IMM, Intelligent Memory Metal,' said Weaver, his voice coming through a speaker.

‘Ah yes, that's it. Intelligent Memory Metal. Amazing stuff. It's as strong as titanium but it instantly re-forms when broken,' said Buchanan. ‘I believe NAPOW created it for military use but so far no army has been able to afford it. I, on the other hand, had a little loose change, so I had it installed in the library. I'll be intrigued to see how Mr Dilly is dealing with it.'

Callum, whose eyes had been drawn to the screen, suddenly squealed and glanced at Holly. ‘I remember him. At Little Hope. He made my master go away.'

‘Vainclaw isn't your master,' said Holly.

‘Vainclaw Grandin,' said Buchanan. ‘Yes, he sounds like a fascinating character.'

Holly felt utterly defeated. Brant Buchanan knew everything and it was her fault. ‘Why?' she said quietly.

Buchanan pressed a button, which produced a glass of whisky by his side. He took a sip and spoke. ‘Let me tell you the secret to a successful business empire. Keep one step ahead of your competitors. If you know something they don't, you are stronger than they are. I'm already strong. I already know more than most. Imagine the strength this knowledge will give me.'

Weaver turned the car right, taking them up the driveway that led to Sands Mansion. They passed another car going down the hill. It was black with blacked-out windows.

‘Who is that?' asked Buchanan.

‘Probably just a lost tourist who saw the gates and turned around,' said Weaver.

The gates buzzed open and Weaver parked in the empty car park.

‘Let's go and see the catch of the day,' said Mr Buchanan.

They stepped out of the car as the yellow VW van parked next to them.

‘Hey, Buchanan, man,' said one of the long-haired men inside the van.

‘How you doing?' said the other.

‘Good evening, Hunter. Hello, Frank,' said Mr Buchanan.

‘Looks like you're throwing a kids' party, man,' said Frank.

‘If I was, I'd know where to find the clowns,' replied Buchanan. He turned to Holly. ‘Frank and Hunter have been on a fact-finding mission for me. They suggested that Callum might be a useful house guest. His father was more than happy to let him visit, wasn't he, Callum?'

‘Dad is scared of Callum,' said Callum. ‘He can't remember what happened at the concert but he remembers the fear. I see it in his eyes.'

‘Yeah, the concert,' said Frank. ‘No footage, no one remembering anything – that concert was a classic cover-up, man.'

‘But forget that. Now we got something really juicy, man,' said Hunter.

‘All in good time,' said Brant Buchanan, leading them through the garden, down the steps and around the corner to the library, which was surrounded by scaffolding. Weaver pulled away the tarpaulin and opened the door to reveal a sheet of metal behind it.

‘You see?' said Mr Buchanan, tapping the metal.

Callum was jabbering madly. ‘They're in there. They're in there. The monsters are in there.'

‘First contact with a real dragon, man,' said Frank.

‘Weaver, open it up, then,' said Buchanan.

‘Are you sure that's wise?' said Weaver.

Buchanan placed a hand firmly on Holly's shoulder. ‘Oh yes, I think we'll be OK, don't you, Holly?'

Weaver reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small handgun. With his left hand he pressed a button on the side of the door and the metal sheet disappeared into the ground.

He stood back, keeping the gun levelled at the doorway.

The room was dark inside.

‘You can come out now, Mr Dilly,' called Mr Buchanan.

They waited.

Nothing happened.

‘Weaver,' said Mr Buchanan, looking at him.

Weaver nodded and, with his finger twitching on the trigger of the gun, stepped into the library. He switched the light on.

‘Well?' said the billionaire. ‘What have we got?'

‘There's nothing here, sir,' said Weaver, stepping out. ‘The top has been opened. It's escaped.'

Stuck inside the giant tin can, awaiting whatever fate lay outside, Dirk felt like a baked bean, which
reminded him that, on top of being tricked, trapped and set up he was also starving.

‘You've led us into a fine old mess, Dilly,' said Kitelsky, pacing around the circular room.

‘It ain't his fault,' said Putz. ‘We followed him here.'

‘Either way, I'm itching to rumble and I got a hankerin' to rumble wi' Dirk Dilly, the dirty double-crossin' dragon detective,' said Kitelsky, skulking towards Dirk.

Dirk shot a line of fire at him, causing Kitelsky to yelp in pain. ‘It's a shame you've used up your poison, then, isn't it?' snarled Dirk. ‘Back off, Kitelsky.'

The three trapped dragons stared at each other.

‘What's that on your nose?' said Dirk, noticing that the end of Putz's nose was illuminated as though a torch was shining on it from above.

‘I don't know,' said Putz, trying to look at it and going cross-eyed in the process.

Dirk looked up and saw that the metal ceiling was retracting, revealing the night sky above. Moonlight was, once more, spilling into the room.

‘What's going on?' said Putz.

‘Come on,' said Dirk. ‘Follow me.'

One painful flap of his aching wings was enough to get him to the rim of the building, where he could see
that the grounds were floodlit and the security cameras were back on. One swivelled on its stick to point at him. Dirk sent an angry burst of fire at it, causing it to instantly blow up, and reducing it to a blackened crisp. Something caught his eye in the car park. In a dark shadow was a black car with blackened windows. A dark figure got in and slammed the door shut. It was too far away to make out his features. All Dirk saw was the wide-brimmed hat he wore. The engine started and the car drove away.

Kitelsky and Putz joined him on top of the building.

‘What happened?' said Kitelsky.

‘I don't know,' said Dirk.

‘What now?' said Putz.

The sound of another car engine was approaching.

‘We get out of here. Buchanan will have to wait,' said Dirk. ‘Take me to Skull Rock.'

As the dragons left the library, there was no avoiding being caught on camera, but Dirk knew he would have to worry about that later. The Turning Stone was more important right now.

They headed across the rooftops, out of town.

‘Which way is Skull Rock?' said Dirk as they left the city lights behind them and entered the dark desert. Scraggy plant life caught on Dirk's claws and dragged along behind him. He shook his leg free and wished he was fit to fly but his wings still throbbed from his dip in the Outer Core.

‘This way. It's on neutral territory,' said Kitelsky. ‘It stands between all of our territories. It's where the
three of us used to scuffle back when Mo was still out here.'

‘Why all the interest in Skull Rock again, anyway?' asked Putz.

‘What do you mean again?' replied Dirk.

‘It was around thirty years ago when the Dragnet came sniffing around asking about Minertia,' said Kitelsky.

‘Minertia?' said Dirk.

‘Sure,' replied Kitelsky. ‘That's where she breached the forbidden divide. We never saw nothing though, did we, Putz?'

‘Not a thing,' said Putz.

‘And you never saw the Turning Stone?' said Dirk.

‘The Turning Stone?' said Kitelsky. ‘So that's what this is all about. No, we never saw that.'

Dirk looked up at the sky. The moon was full and the stars seemed much brighter than they ever did in London. After they had been travelling a while, Kitelsky said, ‘Skull Rock's just past that ridge.'

Dirk saw the pile of huge boulders he was pointing at rising high on the horizon. They drew nearer and scaled the stacked rocks, until they reached the top.

‘Keep down,' said Dirk. In front of them was a large
rock shaped roughly like a human skull. At its base were two dragons.

‘Kinghorns,' said Dirk. ‘The Mountain Dragon's called Jegsy. The Sea Dragon is Flotsam. They work for Vainclaw.'

The two Kinghorns were using their claws to scratch away at the dirt, digging holes. ‘They must be searching for the Turning Stone,' said Dirk.

‘Well, if they think they can come strolling into our desert, scratching around, they've got another think comin',' said Kitelsky, standing up. ‘You ready to rumble, Putz?'

‘I sure am,' said Putz.

‘No,' said Dirk, but it was no use. The two Desert Dragons had already spread their wings, splayed their spikes and flown down the hill, Kitelsky landing on Flotsam's back, Putz whacking Jegsy in the face. Bursts of fire shot from the Kinghorns' mouths. Putz and Kitelsky dodged the flames and went at them again, fighting with claws and teeth.

‘Idiots,' said Dirk, shaking his head, staying at a safe distance.

A bubbling noise behind him caused him to spin round.

‘Today I got no confusion. Today I know I got
poison, so no funny business, Dirk Dilly,' said Mo Sorrentino.