The French Code (11 page)

In the castle courtyard, François held open the double doors at the back of a small passenger truck as Max and Linden stepped outside.

‘There you are.' Veronique pulled on a pair of riding gloves. ‘I thought you'd changed your mind.'

‘I wouldn't miss a chance to ride,' Max said.

‘Really?' Veronique let Max's statement linger in the air before turning to François. ‘To the stables.'

She climbed in and settled onto a side bench seat with Fifi nestled beside her, leaving barely enough room for Max to squeeze in. François closed the doors, double-checking that they were firmly shut. He hoisted himself into the driver's cabin and wrenched the gears. The truck lurched into action, skidding over the pebbled path of the chateau, out the castle gate and over the roughly planked drawbridge before turning sharply into a canopied forest path.

‘Is François the only one who works here?' Max asked.

‘Regi has a few stable hands and a driver, but he is a very private man. When it comes to the chateau, it is only he and François.'

‘He seems a little frail to be riding horses,' Max said.

‘Riding was a great passion of his when he was
younger and fitter. Now he just visits and talks with them. As a horserider yourself,' she offered Max a sugary look, ‘you'll know how adorable they can be.'

‘Of course I do,' Max answered. ‘Completely adorable.'

Veronique stared at Max. ‘Once you get attached to horses, it's hard to let them go.'

After several bumps over potholes that saw Max's head collide with the hard metal of the jeep's roof, they came to the stable complex. In the main yard, four stable hands stood at attention, ready with the horses.

Veronique stepped out of the truck and ran to a chestnut-coloured horse with a bright red leather saddle and golden stirrups.

‘Hero.' She nuzzled into his nose. ‘You get even more beautiful each time I see you.'

Linden stood beside Max. ‘What do you think?'

Max swallowed. ‘They're big, aren't they?'

Veronique placed her foot in the stirrup and sprang into the saddle as easily as if she was climbing into bed.

‘Hey, fella.' Toby stepped up to his horse and mounted just as easily.

‘Of course he knows how to do it,' Max mumbled.

‘You don't have to do this,' Linden said.

‘No. I want to.' Max straightened out her jam-smeared shirt.

‘They're very well trained, Max,' Veronique said. ‘There's nothing to be scared of.'

‘I'm not scared. I'm looking forward to it.'

‘Great. Take Siren.' Veronique pointed to a smaller horse. ‘She has a beautiful nature and will be perfect for you.'

Max steadily approached Siren and took hold of the reins. The horse whinnied and twitched. A damp, sewery smell rose up from behind the horse and slammed Max in the nose. ‘Easy there, fella.'

‘Ooops.' Veronique feigned a pitying look.

Max looked down to see her foot splattered by a steaming pile of horse manure. ‘Great,' she mumbled before whispering to her horse. ‘I feel the same way, so let's make this as painless as possible. Deal?'

Siren snorted salivary spray all over Max's hands. ‘Thanks.' She winced.

Max was helped into her saddle by a short, muscly stable hand, and after a few near misses where she almost tumbled off the other side, she was on.

Then she looked down.

‘Oh.' Her head felt light. ‘It's a long way from the ground.'

A few final checks were made to Max's horse before he was walked beside Veronique. The two horses exchanged grunts and snorts, with Hero stamping the ground.

‘What's he doing?' Max asked.

‘Just a little healthy rivalry,' Veronique smiled.

Linden gave Max a wink and vaulted himself into his saddle.

‘Fifi, you keep up,' Veronique instructed. ‘Ha!'

Hero and Siren charged at Veronique's cry, leaving the boys behind for the stable hands to make final adjustments to their saddles.

The two horses galloped to the rear of the stable buildings and into open country. Max clutched her reins, her scream drowned out by the thunder of hooves.

The hills were lush and green, falling around them in huge waves, which was possibly why Max started to feel seasick.

‘Whoah!'

She flattened herself against Siren, who tore after Hero like they were in a derby. Max shut her eyes and clutched the reins, holding them close to her chest as she bounded up and down on what felt like an out-of-control bull at a rodeo.

She half-opened one eye and saw Veronique and Hero leap over a hedge and disappear down a narrow forest path.

‘Oh no,' Max whined and shut her eyes again. In seconds she was airborne. ‘Aaaah! I'm going to die!'

Her horse hit the ground with a body-shaking thud, followed by the
whoosh
of fluttering leaves and closely passing tree limbs.

Veronique's horse made another leap into the air, sailing over the still, dark waters of a small pond.

Siren, however, had other ideas.

His hooves dug in for an abrupt stop, just short of the pond's edge, where he reared up on his hind legs.

‘Aaaah!' Max tried to hold on, but her hands slipped along the reins and gave way.

Veronique heard the splash and swung Hero around to see a soggy and mud-blotched Max sitting in the rippling waters of the pond. She cantered over and dismounted. Her shoulders heaved and her hand flung to her mouth to try and stop the onset of giggles.

‘Siren is normally so good with water.' Veronique couldn't hold back her laughter any longer.

Max glared at Veronique as Siren blasted a horsey sneeze all over her. ‘Maybe you could find something more useful to do than stand there and laugh?'

‘Oh, so you're not enjoying the chance to wash off the horse manure and jam?' Veronique blustered into an even louder giggle.

‘Don't you get bored acting so superior all the time?' Max scraped mud from her arms.

‘I thought it'd help us bond, since that's what you do.'

Max slurped herself up from the pond's muddy bottom. ‘I don't act superior.'

‘Oh no?' Veronique swung her shoulders back and forth. ‘Look at me, I'm a world-famous superspy.'

‘Making sure nothing happens to you,' Max reminded her.

Veronique crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. ‘While being grumpy and angry all the time.'

‘You're a snob.' Max crossed her arms.

‘You're bossy.'

‘Oh no, you're the expert in that.' Max squelched up the slippery bank. ‘François! To the stables!' she mimicked.

‘You don't know anything about me,' said Veronique.

‘I know you're spoilt, arrogant and vain.'

‘And you're a slob who is always covered in some sort of slime.'

‘At least I'm not obsessed with how I look twenty-four hours a day.' Max swiped off a glob of mud, which accidentally sprayed Veronique's jeans.

Veronique's mouth flung open in disbelief. ‘Do you have any idea how much these jeans cost?'

‘If it's anything like your ego, it's bound to be over-inflated.'

Veronique's jaw closed and hardened. ‘Why you …' She scooped up a handful of mud and threw it at Max for a perfect T-shirt bullseye.

Max's eyes widened into two white rings, pulsing from her mud-flecked face. ‘I can't believe you did that? What are you, five years old?'

‘No, I'm just sick of your attitude.'

‘Maybe I'm sick of yours.' Max returned the favour with a mud-slinging throw, which caught Veronique squarely on the shoulder.

‘That's it!' Veronique leapt at Max and pushed her backwards into the pond.

The two rolled over in the belching, sucking mud pit. Their hands grasped at collars and sleeves and smeared brown slime over each other.
Veronique fumbled her way to her knees, swiped her hand through the sloppy earth and, just as she was about to sling it all over Max, she slipped and fell headfirst into the stewed mess.

‘Ha!' Max scrambled unsteadily to her feet. ‘Now who's the slob?'

She teetered forwards and backwards, laughing in great gasps until her feet slipped out from beneath her and she spun into the air, landing in a muddied whoopee-cushioned splat.

Veronique sat up and giggled. ‘I guess we both are.'

Max frowned before looking down at her wet, chocolate-coloured body. ‘I guess we are.' She tried to fight it, but a smile tickled the edges of her lips before rising into a laugh.

Veronique scraped a splodge of muck from her face. ‘You look ridiculous,' she said.

‘So do you.'

There was a brief pause before their loud shrieks lifted into the air.

Fifi ran out from the forest, panting and barking. ‘It's okay, Fifi. Max and I have just had a little … fall.' She bent forward and giggled.

‘And that dog is a crazed ball of psycho fluff.' Max laughed even more.

‘She only acts like that with people she doesn't like.' Veronique tried to breathe through huge gulping laughs.

Fifi tilted her head to the side and whined.

From the thickened tangle of trees behind the girls, Toby and Linden galloped into view.

‘What happened?' Linden jumped off his horse and threw the reins to Toby. ‘Are you two okay?'

‘Yeah.' Max swiped another glob of sodden earth from her face. ‘Just. And it's about time you two showed up. She almost killed me.'

Max and Veronique turned to each other and lost it, falling over their sludgy bodies, gasping and trawling for breath, chuckling even harder.

Linden frowned and turned to Toby, who just shrugged.

Max dragged herself to her feet. ‘Miss Fashion here called me bossy, and we were just discussing whether that was entirely correct.' Max held her hand out and helped Veronique upright.

‘And Miss Bossy here won't admit she is.'

Max looked to Linden and Toby. ‘I think you'll find that these two will tell you that's not true.'

Linden said nothing while Toby began concentrating on patting the horses.

Max's mirth dissolved. ‘Won't they?'

There was another long pause.

‘Well, you see …' Linden stopped. ‘What was that?'

Through the mesh of forest, Linden caught a glint of light. ‘There's something shining out from those trees.'

Toby tied up the horses and Veronique picked up Fifi.

‘It's through here.' Linden led the way into the thick undergrowth of the forest, climbing over log-sized roots and fallen moss-covered trunks, until they found themselves facing a rundown shed.

‘I never knew this was here. And I've been riding on Regi's estate for years.'

On top of the shed were a collection of satellite dishes.

‘They're very fancy dishes for a rundown shed.' Linden pulled open the door. Inside was a mess of hay, machine and tractor parts and, at the far end, a desk laid out with computers, GPS systems, microphones and an audio panel. There were strewn sheets of paper and books with scribbled notes and diagrams.

‘A listening post,' Linden said. ‘Someone's being bugged.'

Linden picked up a pot of tea from the bench and lifted the lid. ‘This hasn't been here long,' he said. ‘I'd say it was freshly brewed this morning.'

‘So this shed is used to spy on private conversations?' Veronique asked.

‘Yep. With the help of a few listening devices or bugs,' Linden answered.

‘So who do you think is behind the eavesdropping?' Toby asked.

‘These books and papers should tell us something.' Max wiped her hands on a pile of hay and slowly thumbed through a notebook. ‘They're filled with scrawled notes, doodles and what looks like names.' She turned to Toby. ‘Can you look these up?'

Toby took his palm computer out of his pack.

Max read. ‘El Faiyum, El Qasr, Baharia and –'

‘They're places in Egypt,' Veronique said. ‘Papa has been to all of them.' She stepped closer to Max and looked at the book. ‘And they're not doodles. Some are hieroglyphics.'

‘And I'll bet a man who has his own copy of the Rosetta Stone knows a little about hieroglyphics,' Max said. ‘Veronique? Do you have that note Strangways left you this morning?'

‘It's here.' She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a soggy note.

Max lined it up beside the book. ‘I'd say that handwriting is a pretty good match.'

‘But this shed is miles from anywhere. Strangways has difficulty walking. How would he even get here?' Linden asked.

‘He has a helper or he made the notes somewhere else or …' Max stopped. ‘He's faking it.'

‘Faking it?' Toby asked.

‘Yeah,' Max said, ‘or at least exaggerating to make us think he's a frail old man incapable of kidnapping someone.'

‘Regi did kidnap my father.' Veronique looked down at Fifi and concentrated on stroking her fur. ‘I know it,' she said softly.

‘We still need to work out the meaning of his hieroglyphic doodling,' Max continued. ‘Toby, take pictures of the notes and you can work on deciphering them back at the house.'

‘As good as done, Miss Bossy.'

Toby pretended not to see Max's poisonous scowl as he held his watch close to his face and snapped pictures of the pages of notes.

‘Just don't mess them up. We don't want anyone knowing we were here.'

‘Yes, Miss –'

‘Do you really want to finish that sentence?' Max asked.

‘Maybe not.' Toby went back to taking photos.

‘Linden, is there any way we can find out where the bugs have been placed?' Max asked.

‘I can try.' Linden took a small USB drive from a side pocket in his backpack.

‘What's that?' Max asked.

‘It's called the Gatecrasher.' He turned on the computer and plugged in the drive. ‘A small but very clever device that temporarily dismantles the computer's security system and gives me access to all its files. Spyforce issue it as part of the Computer Analysis and Infiltration course.'

‘Handy,' Max said.

‘Very.' Linden flashed Max a smile that made her feel like a meteor had crash-landed into the pit of her stomach. She tried to look normal and steady her breathing while Linden's hands flew over the keys, typing in passwords until he accessed the file he was looking for. ‘And there she is.'

A list of bugged buildings appeared on the screen.

Veronique held Fifi even closer. ‘Papa's name. Regi has been eavesdropping on my father? But why?

‘We're not sure yet,' Max replied carefully. ‘But he's also been listening to us.' Max shivered recalling all that they'd said since their arrival at the chateau, especially her suspicions of Strangways.

‘Aside from your father, do you recognise any of those other people?'

Veronique shook her head.

‘I'll get Steinberger to run a check on them.' Linden took his palm computer from his pack and typed out the message.

‘Why would Strangways bug a long-time friend who he was working with?' Max asked.

‘Maybe he didn't trust him,' Linden said before looking up at Veronique. ‘Sorry.'

The only sound was the turning of pages as Toby continued taking pictures.

Max handed Veronique a Tracer Bug. ‘I want you to keep this on you. Just in case.'

‘Just in case what?'

‘I'm not sure, but I think it's a good idea for us to know where you are every second.'

Veronique slowly reached out and put the bug in her shirt pocket.

Outside, the muffled hum of an engine sped towards them.

‘Time to get out of here,' Max said. ‘Follow me.'

Toby arranged the papers as they were. Linden removed the Gatecrasher device and turned off the computer, wiping it over with his shirt to erase any fingerprints. They ran through the forest to where the horses were tethered, the sound of the engine quickly gaining on them.

‘Linden, hold my backpack,' Max said. ‘And Toby, I need you to play doctor for my sprained ankle.'

Toby shook his head. ‘I'm not sure I want such a difficult patient.'

‘I'll give you difficult if you don't come here now.'

Max turned to the pond. ‘The things I do for Spyforce,' she muttered before throwing herself into the shallow pool.

Toby knelt beside her and grabbed her ankle when a small truck bounced out of the forest, tearing strips of dirt into the air behind it.

The truck came to an abrupt stop and François jumped out.

‘What are you doing here? Who said you could –'

‘I'm afraid I'm not as good at riding a horse as I thought.' Max winced. ‘Siren got a little excited and bolted off the track before he decided to throw me.'

François said nothing. He turned to Veronique and surveyed her muddied appearance. She pushed a hardening clump of sludge-covered hair out of her eyes. ‘I tried to help, but I … slipped.' She smiled sweetly.

‘Aow!' Max yelped to draw François's attention back to her.

‘I think she may have twisted it.' Toby feigned concern. ‘My parents are doctors,' he explained to François. ‘We better get her back to the house so I can examine it more closely.'

François's eyes flicked towards the part of the forest that hid the shed.

Max and Toby swapped nervous looks. There was a moment's hesitation before François squatted beside Max and carefully lifted her up. He looked at Linden and flicked his head towards the truck. Linden opened the back doors and stood aside as
Toby climbed in first, ready to nurse the injured ankle, and François gently lay Max on the bench.

She gasped in pain. François's face wrinkled into a frown. He took a blanket from a cupboard beneath the seat and laid it over her before meeting her eyes.

Max squirmed awkwardly under his searching gaze. She looked away. ‘Thank you.'

‘Will someone come to collect the horses?' Veronique asked.

François nodded and moved away, inviting her and Linden to climb in. He closed the doors behind them and hoisted himself into the driver's cabin. A murky window separated him from his passengers.

‘Are you okay?' Linden leant in, faking concern as François threw them a look in the rear-view mirror and cranked the engine to life. It shuddered beneath them in a mechanical snarl and pulled away from the muddy pond.

‘François must have us on a surveillance system of some kind.' Max clenched her teeth as the truck hit a pothole. ‘How else could he have known where we were?'

‘But was it your fall or our stumbling across the shed that made him get there so fast?' Toby continued his inspection of her ankle.

‘How well do you know François?' Max asked Veronique.

‘He's been Regi's helper since I was a kid. I know he seems cold, but he's really sweet and can't stand when he sees people or animals in pain. Once, he and I found a baby starling that had fallen out of its nest and nursed it until he was able to fly again.'

‘That's sweet, but from now on we don't trust him,' Max said. ‘We don't trust anyone on this property. There's a reason those people are being bugged, and I'm guessing it isn't a very nice one.'

She caught François's gaze in the mirror, searching and focused. She looked down at her ankle and clutched it in faked pain. ‘And it's about time we find out what it is.'