The French Code (8 page)

‘Tetu might be in on it.'

‘We don't know that.' Veronique shook her head and nestled Fifi closer.

‘Think about it,' Max said. ‘He thinks your father is involved in his own kidnapping, and he's watching you partly for your protection but mostly to see if your father passes any messages to you. I don't think that adds up to someone you should trust.'

Veronique scowled. ‘What if something happens to Linden and Toby?'

‘It won't,' Max said. ‘They've been around
tougher men than Tetu. And even if they do have problems, which they won't, Spyforce will be there in a second to help them out.'

Max's watch lit up. ‘It's Linden.' She read the screen. ‘tailing 2 men. T @ c'tery. needs help.'

Max texted back, ‘Ill b there.'

Max entered the code for Linden and Toby's Tracer Bug on the Time and Space Machine. The virtual search engine immediately revealed an image of Paris and zoomed in to their exact locations. The screen showed Linden leaving the cemetery, but Toby stayed where he was.

‘What are those lights?'

‘The green one's Linden,' Max answered. ‘Toby is blue. I have to go and help him.'

‘I'm coming too.'

‘You're staying here. It might be dangerous.'

‘I'll be fine. I have this.' Veronique held up the amulet.

Max's eyes lowered. ‘It's a necklace. I'm not sure how that's going to protect you.'

‘Because it's a protective amulet and I don't care what you say, I'm coming with you.' Veronique threw her hands to her hips. Max recoiled slightly at the gesture that was becoming annoyingly familiar.

‘Okay.' Max threw a subtle look towards the windows. ‘We can't leave from this room; the police will see us. Look tired and let's go up to your bedroom.'

Veronique picked up Fifi, Max exaggerated a yawn for whoever may have been looking in from outside and the three went upstairs.

‘This is your bedroom?'

‘Yes.' Veronique held Fifi and looked around. ‘What's wrong with it?'

Max surveyed the four-poster bed with its pink doona and curtains, the purple fluffy lounges filled with cushions, and soft animal toys that were crammed into almost every other space.

‘Nothing.' Max began to cough and felt her throat become clogged with all the girliness. ‘Let's just go.'

She closed the curtains and switched off the lights.

‘Now that those guards think we've gone to bed, let's go and help Toby,' Max whispered.

‘Are we going to use the invisible cream?'

‘No.'

‘How are we going to sneak out of here without being seen?'

‘You have got to learn to trust me.' Max
focused on the steady bleep of Toby's tracer on the screen of the Time and Space Machine. It hadn't moved.

‘What are we going to do?

‘You'll see. Take my hand and hold on tight to the mutt.'

‘She's not a mutt, and why should I –'

‘Stop asking questions.'

Max grabbed Veronique's hand and pressed
transport
. With a quiet
fffttt
and the muffled barking of a small poodle, the three disappeared from the room.

Fifteen seconds later, in the darkened folds of Père Lachaise cemetery, a flash of fluorescent light ballooned in the air and tiny sparks of colour fell like a freak rain shower of light. Max, Veronique and Fifi appeared in the centre and, after a few moments suspended in the air, floated gently to the ground.

‘What just happened?' Veronique's hair sat like a wind-blown curtain over her face. Fifi shook her flattened curls from her eyes and let out a small whine.

‘We've just travelled across Paris using this Time and Space Machine that my uncle and his brother invented. Great for travelling fast, not so great for your hair.' Max stifled a giggle until she realised she and Veronique were still holding hands.

‘Err!' They both let go.

Max put on her Night Vision Sunglasses and switched on the torch in her watch. ‘Toby?'

Veronique placed Fifi on the ground, pushed her hair out of her face and began searching between graves, around tall marble crypts and amongst flower-strewn plots with carved angels, crosses and harps. She delved behind a huge cross-shaped headstone. ‘Oh.' She picked up a large sack, some rope and a piece of wood. ‘I guess this was meant for me.'

‘They must have left in a hurry,' Max said.

Fifi sniffed along the edge of a path and around the bottom of a rose bush. When she reached the base of a grave, she sat and barked.

‘What is it, Fifi?' Veronique made her way to the pooch.

Fifi barked again but wouldn't budge.

Max ran over and saw a smashed vase. ‘That would explain the crashing sound we heard.' She looked behind the grave and her Night Vision Sunglasses revealed a glowing green human shape. ‘It's Toby. That dog might be good for something after all.'

Fifi growled.

Max put the glasses in her pocket and handed Veronique her watch. ‘Hold this so I can see what I'm doing.'

Max reached into her pack and took out the bottle marked ‘conditioner' that contained the Invisibility Cream Antidote. She rubbed it over Toby's body and he slowly appeared, his arms and legs skewed, his face lifeless.

‘Toby?'

He didn't move.

Max put her head on his chest. ‘He's still breathing.'

She tapped him on both cheeks, but he didn't come to. She pulled Frond's Wake-Up Spray from her pack and squirted a fine mist of fish-scented spray over his face.

Toby stirred, moaning softly and moving his head from side to side. Max kept spraying until he convulsed into a writhing, coughing outburst. ‘What are you trying to do, kill me?'

Max stopped spraying. ‘I'm trying to save you, actually.'

‘Maybe you could use something less smelly next time?'

‘Frond's working on it,' Max smiled broadly.

Toby tried to sit up but stopped and held his head. ‘Did one of you use my head for soccer practice?'

‘I've wanted to, but not this time.' Max's smile faltered. ‘Where's Linden?'

‘When we spooked those two guys, and they ran off, we followed them to see where they were going.' Toby frowned. ‘That's the last thing I remember.'

‘I think it might have been because of this.' Veronique held up the plank of wood.

Toby gave a half-smile. ‘One of the men was swinging wildly, trying to kill ghosts with it before they left. Must have landed a lucky blow.'

Max's watch lit up. ‘Linden?' Veronique answered. ‘How are you?'

‘Fine. Is everyone there okay?'

Max reached for her watch. ‘Toby got hit on the head, but it'll probably do him good. Where are you?'

‘After those two guys left the cemetery, they got in a car and sped off. I followed them with my PFD but lost them in a tunnel in the centre of Paris. I took photos of them at the cemetery, but they're too dark to make anything out.'

Veronique grabbed Max's hand. ‘I was very worried about you, Linden. You were very brave to chase those men like that.'

Max frowned and withdrew her hand. ‘As for us, Mr Brave, we've had enough of graveyards for one night and we're heading back to the house.'

‘I'll see you there, boss.'

‘Don't call me …' but Linden had already signed off.

Max slipped her watch back on. ‘Toby, do you think you'll be okay to transport?'

‘No problem, I …' Toby got to his feet and wavered. Max and Veronique grabbed him by his arms. ‘As soon as I can master this standing-up business.'

Max used one hand to activate the ‘return' function on the Time and Space Machine. ‘Veronique, make sure you hold on to him tightly.' She smiled. ‘It'd be terrible to lose him half way.'

‘Wait.' Veronique leant down and picked up Fifi. ‘Now we're ready.'

‘What a shame,' Max mumbled. ‘We almost forgot Fido.'

‘Fifi.'

‘Whatever.'

Max pressed
transport
and the machine teleported them in seconds to Veronique's overly cushioned bedroom.

‘That's not as much fun when you have a sore head.' Toby sat gingerly on the edge of the bed.

‘So what do we –' Veronique began.

‘Shhhh.' Max crept to the door and heard muffled voices downstairs. She opened the door a little and her Descrambler went into action.

‘What do you mean you don't know where zey are? You must know. You 'ad ze simple job of guarding Veronique, and now you don't know where she is?'

‘Quick, put your pyjamas on,' Max whispered.

Toby snuck to his room and changed while Veronique rifled through a drawer and threw a pair of bright pink satin pyjamas to Max.

‘Tell me you don't seriously wear these?'

‘They're my favourites.'

‘The things I do for Spyforce.'

The two quickly changed. Max looked at Veronique's ruffled hair and mussed it up even more. ‘That's better,' she said.

Veronique scowled. Max smiled back and gestured for her to follow.

‘Nice pyjamas.' Toby smirked when he met them in the corridor.

‘Nice fish smell.'

‘I haven't had a chance to shower since I was almost killed.'

Tetu's screaming lifted into the upper floors of the house.

‘We better go down before he busts something.'

At the bottom of the stairs, Max's heart beat wildly at the sight of the enraged Tetu and two cowering officers. ‘Commandant Tetu?' She feigned a just-woken-up yawn. ‘What are you doing here?'

‘Where 'ave you been?' Tetu's face fired up like a bulging hot coal and his eye twitched like a dancing caterpillar.

‘Upstairs in our bedrooms.' Max was flanked by a bleary-eyed Veronique and Toby.

He strode across the room and loomed over her. ‘You 'ave not. I checked, searched, investigated zoroughly and you were not zere.'

Max slipped from under Tetu's knife gaze and slumped onto a couch.

‘And where is ze other one?' Tetu rippled with fury.

On cue, Linden appeared at the top of the stairs, his pyjamas crumpled and his hair askew, as if he'd just been woken from a deep sleep.

‘He is a heavy sleeper,' Max explained before she yawned again. ‘Is there something wrong?'

‘Yes.' Tetu blustered and twitched. ‘You were not 'ere. None of you were.'

‘But Commandant Tetu,' Veronique sat beside Max, ‘you have arranged very good minders. We were in the attic telling stories and must have fallen asleep. Are you here because you have news about Papa?'

Tetu stopped short. His tone softened, along with the colour of his cheeks. His eye calmed down. ‘Nothing concrete yet, Mademoiselle, but we are getting close. I am sure it won't be long until we find him.'

‘Thank you, Commandant. With you on the case, I know Papa is in very good hands.'

Tetu's eye twitched again. Just once.

‘Well,' Tetu said, ‘I will zay goodnight. Max, will you walk wiz me to ze door?'

Max hurried behind the large strides of Tetu. He opened the door and stepped onto the veranda where he stopped in a sudden spin.

‘I know you are playing games wiz me, and I don't like it. You are not to leave zis 'ouse unless I know about it and only under full escort. It's dangerous, unsafe, perilous. Is zat clear?'

Max gave him her best, obedient smile. ‘Yes, Commandant.' Her danger meter began to pound against her chest. ‘Commandant, I think …'

A gunshot cut through the night. Tetu pushed Max out of the way. The bullet cracked into a stone pillar beside where Max had been standing, sending a shower of grit and stone over her. Two officers ducked behind large potted plants, guns pointed as they scanned the grounds. Tetu stayed where he was in full view, legs astride, gun raised, searching for the perpetrator.

The sound of screeching tyres ripped through the air like a taunting laugh.

‘Maybe staying here isn't so safe, either.' Max rubbed her head from where it had struck the ground after Tetu's shove. Her danger meter was calm.

‘What happened?' Linden ran onto the veranda and dropped to his knees beside Max. ‘Are you okay?'

‘I think so, apart from a ringing in my ears and this newly forming lump on my head.'

Linden held out his hand to help her up.

‘I'm fine.' Max tried to stand and almost stumbled off the veranda into a rose bush.

Linden grabbed hold of her around her waist. ‘Maybe I'll help you anyway.'

‘It is obvious none of you are zafe 'ere anymore.' Tetu kept his eyes trained on the darkened borders of the front yard. ‘Go inside, pack your bags and 'ave everyone ready to leave in ten minutes.'

‘Where are we going?' Linden asked.

‘Zere is an estate not far from Paris.'

‘An estate? Whose estate?' Max brushed herself down.

‘Monsieur Strangways.'

‘Strangways?' Max asked. ‘Isn't he a subject of your investigation?'

‘Not any longer. We 'ave questioned him quite zoroughly and 'e 'as nozing to do wiz ze crime against Veronique's papa. 'E insisted on taking care of 'er at ze beginning, but I zought she would be safer here.' Tetu sighed. ‘Obviously, zat iz not true.
So until zis 'ole 'orrible business is taken care of, sorted out, over and done wiz, you will stay zere.' He looked up. ‘Now hurry. Each second you stay here puts you in terrible danger, and I 'ave given my word zat nozing will 'appen to zat little girl.'

‘But –' Max began.

‘You will do as I say.' Tetu's words were like a hollow wind, tearing the last ounce of warmth from the air.