by Chris Ryan
Suddenly, Eliza started jumping up and down at the window. A car had just pulled up outside the flat. ‘He’s here! He’s here!’ she squeaked, turning to Paulo in excitement as the man climbed out of the car.
Paulo stood up and straightened his shoulders. It was show-time. He looked out of the window and felt a jolt of shock run through him as he saw the face of the man walking up the path. Paulo recognized him. He had watched this man drive a military jeep past the restaurant terrace where Alpha Force had been sitting only the day before. The man was in civilian clothes now, but there was no doubt in Paulo’s mind.
He was looking at General Luis Manteca.
Eliza saw the expression on Paulo’s face and turned back to the window to see what had shocked him so much. She gave a frightened whimper as she too saw the face of the man walking up the path. Her eyes grew wide and she began to shake all over. She did not know this man as General Manteca. She only had one name for him. The Rat-catcher. He was the Rat-catcher who had murdered her brother. Eliza began to scream.
‘Can’t we get some fresh air in here?’ grumbled Amber, as a drop of sweat fell from the end of her nose. The inside of the white van was becoming hotter by the minute as the sun rose higher in the sky
‘Good idea, Amber,’ said Hex. ‘Why don’t we just fling the side door open and let everyone see us all sitting in here with our surveillance equipment?’
‘Shut up, would you?’ sighed Amber, pulling the headphones from her ears and slamming them down onto the radio receiver.
‘Keep them on, Amber!’ snapped Li.
‘You keep them on!’ retorted Amber.
‘Amber, you’re the only one who understands Spanish,’ said Alex tiredly.
‘All right! All right, Mr Logical!’
Amber slouched back in her seat and lifted her hair away from her sweaty neck. ‘Just give me a minute,’ she muttered. ‘I need a break from listening to Little Orphan Annie prattling on about how wonderful her new parents are going to be.’
Li stood up and pushed her head up into the open skylight window, trying to find some cooler air. She cocked her head and listened. ‘Can you hear that?’ she asked.
‘It’s him,’ said Amber, pointing at her uncle, who was sprawled out on the front seat of the van, snoring gently.
‘No, not the snoring,’ said Li. ‘Listen.’
They all concentrated.
‘It’s music,’ said Li.
‘Somebody’s playing Christmas carols,’ said Alex. ‘Very badly,’ added Hex.
‘Where’s it coming from?’ asked Li.
Amber tipped her seat back and craned her neck to look out of the front windscreen of the van. She nearly fell out of her chair when a high scream exploded from the headphones on top of the receiver. Lunging forward, she grabbed the headphones and slammed them back onto her head. She listened for a few seconds and her eyes grew wide with shock.
‘The drugs baron has arrived at the flat. Eliza is screaming. She says the drugs baron is the Rat-catcher — and Paulo says it’s . . . he says it’s General Manteca! They’re in trouble!’ she yelled. ‘We have to get over there. Now!’
Eliza’s screams filled the tiny bedroom of the flat. Paulo grabbed her and tried to cover her mouth but she tore his hand away. ‘It’s the Rat-catcher!’ she screamed hysterically. ‘The Rat-catcher!’
Paulo ran to the bedroom door and yanked it open just as the general burst into the flat. The two adoption men ran from the kitchen, their faces slack with shock. For an instant, everyone was still. Then Eliza screamed again from the bedroom behind Paulo.
‘It’s him. The Rat-catcher!’ she sobbed. ‘He killed my brother! I saw him!’
Paulo froze in the doorway as the general turned to look at him with the coldest pair of eyes he had ever seen.
‘Shut them up,’ the general ordered his men. ‘Now!’
The two men sprang down the corridor towards Paulo. He jumped back into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. He looked frantically around the little room, then grabbed a nearby chair and wedged it under the door handle.
‘The drugs baron is here!’ he shouted into the medal around his neck as he ran for the window. ‘It’s the general! Do you understand? The drugs baron is General Luis Manteca!’
Paulo reached the window as the door handle started rattling. He yanked the blind away from the frame and grabbed the lever to open the window. It was locked. Behind him, the door handle stopped rattling. A second later there was a huge thud as someone threw themselves against the other side of the door. Eliza screamed again and squeezed herself into the furthest corner of the room like a frightened animal.
‘We need help, now!’ yelled Paulo as he picked up a flimsy bedside table and started pounding it against the window. ‘The general. The drugs baron. The Rat-catcher. They’re all the same man! Do you hear me? They’re all the same man - and he’s breaking down the door right now!’
The little table splintered into pieces in Paulo’s hands. The window was not even cracked. Paulo threw the remains of the table to the floor, then changed his mind and picked up the splintered leg. He turned, holding the frail stick of wood in his fist, as the bedroom door was smashed open.
The general walked calmly into the room, with his two men behind him. Paulo looked into his smiling, cruel face and felt a cold chill run down his back. There was no mercy in the general’s eyes, only a deep, disturbing madness.
As the white van lurched away from the kerb and screeched down the road, Amber disconnected the headphones and flicked a switch on the radio receiver so that everyone could hear what was happening to Paulo and Eliza.
‘The general is the Rat-catcher?’ gasped Alex, grabbing onto a shelf as the van slewed round a bend. ‘And the drugs baron, too? Are you sure you’ve got that right, Amber?’
Amber nodded. ‘Pretty sure. He’s a busy man.’
Alex shook his head in disbelief. ‘It can’t be the general. Hang on, though, maybe he’s come to rescue them!’
Alex looked at the others with a hopeful expression. Just then they all heard the general shout an order over Eliza’s high screams.
‘He’s telling his men to hold the boy,’ said Amber. ‘He’s—’ Amber stopped. There was no need to explain what was happening. They could all hear Paulo’s grunts of pain echoing from the receiver. Li flinched as a sharp slap made Paulo cry out. She looked out of the front windscreen of the van. They were heading for the junction which would take them the short distance to the flats. The traffic lights were on red but there was no sign of any traffic crossing the junction ahead.
‘Jump the lights,’ ordered Li. ‘We have to get to Paulo.’
John Middleton nodded, and put his foot down on the accelerator. The van slewed out of the junction, then screeched to a halt in the middle of the empty road.
‘This can’t be happening,’ whispered Li, as she stared at the road ahead. No wonder there had been no traffic crossing the junction. A marching band was heading down the road towards them, followed by a huge crowd of people, all dressed in traditional costume. The band was playing Christmas carols and, at the head of the crowd, a line of men were carrying a group of life-sized Nativity figures on their shoulders. Behind them, the crowd stretched back along the road as far as Li could see.
Suddenly a crunching sound came from the receiver, followed by a whine of feedback. Then the radio fell silent. Amber grabbed the receiver and began to twist the dials, trying to find Paulo again, but it was useless.
‘We’ve lost contact,’ said Amber.
‘That’s it!’ hissed Li. ‘I’m not sitting here a second longer!’
The four of them left John Middleton in the van and ran as fast as they could towards the flats. Within seconds they were in the thick of the happy crowd and fighting their way through the dancing, twirling figures. Amber collided with a small, wheeled sweets stall, picked herself up and stumbled on, trailing streamers of pink candyfloss from her hair. As they ran and dodged, Alex could n
ot stop the same shocked thought running through his head. General Manteca! It was General Manteca all along!
After endless minutes of barging and pushing, they broke out of the tail-end of the parade. The street junction leading to the flats was only metres ahead of them. Li put on a spurt even though her lungs were burning. She turned the corner and pelted towards the flats but her heart was sinking inside her. She could see that the front door of the flat was swinging open and there was no sign of the old Chevrolet.
‘Wait!’ panted Alex, grabbing Li by the shoulder as she was about to burst through the open front door into the flat. Li struggled briefly, then came to her senses. They waited for Hex and Amber to catch up, then edged into the dim passageway. Alex saw three doors leading from the passageway, all open. He gestured silently, indicating that Amber should stay at the front door.
The first door opened into a kitchen. Alex could see a fridge and the corner of a kitchen table. He gestured to Hex, who nodded and padded silently up to the door. He eased his head round, then turned to Alex with an all-clear signal. They moved on down the corridor. The bathroom was empty too. That left only one door. Alex took a deep breath and slipped through the open doorway. It was a small bedroom and it was empty.
Alex stepped further into the room and a cold chill settled in his stomach as he saw the destruction there. The remains of a small table littered the floor, a chair lay on its side and the blinds had been ripped from the window. There were smears of blood over the cover of the nearest bed and blood was also spattered across the floor. As Alex stared at the blood, he caught sight of something shiny under the bed. He leaned closer and picked it up. Wordlessly he held it up for the others to see. Swinging from a broken chain were the smashed remains of Paulo’s covert radio.
‘Oh, no,’ moaned Li.
A blaring horn shattered the quiet. They ran out into the street. The white van was outside, with its engine revving.
‘Come on!’ called John Middleton through the van window. ‘I’ve got a signal!’
They tracked the signal through the city for nearly twenty minutes, jumping red lights all the way. ‘It’s the airport,’ said Alex finally, spotting a sign up ahead. ‘We’re heading towards the airport. That’s where they’re taking him!’
‘They’re not taking him,’ said Hex, staring at the green blip on the tracker screen. ‘They’ve already arrived. The signal has stopped moving.’
The van speeded on, following Hex’s directions, and the beep from the tracker grew louder and stronger by the second. Finally the airport complex came into view.
‘OK,’ said Alex. ‘When we get to the terminal, we split up and quarter the building. We’ll keep in touch via our cellphones.’
‘And I’ll stay here and monitor the tracker,’ said John Middleton, slewing the van round the corner to the front of the terminal building.
‘I think we’re too late,’ said Hex quietly.
‘What do you mean?’ demanded Li.
Hex turned the screen so that they could all see it. The green blip showed that Paulo was on the move again.
‘He’s already on a plane,’ said Hex.
‘What!’ shrieked Li. ‘How do you know?’
Hex nodded at the blip on the screen. ‘No car could go at that speed.’
‘But - there are planes taking off all the time! How do we know which one Paulo’s on? How do we know?’
‘We don’t,’ said Alex flatly.
The tracker only had a five-kilometre range. They sat in the van and watched in horror as the little green blip faded and disappeared.
‘This wasn’t supposed to happen!’ yelled Amber. ‘What are we going to do? We have to find him!’
‘Satellite tracking,’ said Hex suddenly. He turned to John Middleton. ‘A satellite could track that signal for us, couldn’t it?’
John Middleton nodded, his face lighting up with a wary hope. He wrestled his cellphone from his pocket and began to dial a number.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Hex.
‘I have a friend who works for NASA—’ he replied.
‘And he owes you a favour,’ finished Amber.
Ten minutes later the white van was heading back into Quito centre. John Middleton had made arrangements for his friend to fax the satellite pictures to him at the hotel as soon as they were ready, but it was going to take a couple of hours.
‘Two hours,’ groaned Li in the back of the van. ‘The general could do anything to them in that time. What if he . . .?’ Li swallowed, then tried again. ‘What if he kills them?’
‘Don’t think about that,’ said Alex firmly. ‘The general doesn’t know he’s got us on his tail. We’ll get to Paulo and Eliza in time.’
‘But what about the radio?’ said Amber. ‘What if it wasn’t smashed by accident?’
Hex shook his head. ‘If the general had found the radio, he would have found the tracker device too. But the tracker device is still working. I think Alex is right. The general doesn’t know about us.’
Li looked at each of the others in turn, then she bit her lip and gazed down at the floor, trying not to cry. Amber reached out and rested her hand on Li’s arm. They lapsed into silence, each struggling with their own thoughts about what the general might be doing to funny, gentle Paulo. Alex clenched his fists in frustration. There was nothing Alpha Force could do until the satellite images came in. He stared out through the windscreen of the van and his eyes widened as he suddenly recognized where they were. Perhaps there was something Alpha Force could do, after all.
‘Can you let us out here?’ he said, with elaborate casualness. ‘I need to stretch my legs a bit after being cooped up in this van all night.’
‘Good idea,’ said John Middleton as he brought the big van to the side of the road. ‘I’ll call Amber when the satellite pictures are in.’
‘So. What are we really going to do?’ asked Amber as they watched the white van speed off down the road.
‘A bit of breaking and entering,’ said Alex.
TWELVE
The street was deserted when Alex peered around the corner. He was counting on it staying that way. It was the last Saturday before Christmas. Most people would be out shopping.
‘Which house is it?’ whispered Amber, peering over his shoulder.
‘Third one along on the left,’ said Alex. ‘The one with the garage on the side of the house.’
‘Are you sure it’s the general’s house?’ asked Hex.
‘I’m sure. My dad and I picked him up from here just two nights ago. He was actually talking to those two adoption men when we arrived — paying them off, as cool as you like, and telling my dad they were his “ears on the street”.’ Alex let out an exasperated sigh as he remembered. ‘I knew they looked familiar! That guy is so sure of himself.’
‘Too sure, if you ask me,’ said Hex. ‘Someone’s going to catch him out one of these days.’
‘How are we going to reach the house?’ asked Li.
‘We walk up to it, of course,’ said Alex.
‘What? In full view?’
‘We’re just kids, remember,’ said Amber. ‘Who’s going to take any notice of a bunch of kids?’
‘Blinds are down,’ muttered Li as they headed up the road towards the house. ‘How do we know he hasn’t come back here?’
‘We don’t know for sure,’ said Alex. ‘But we have to try to get in. We might find something in there that leads us to Paulo.’
‘The house is alarmed,’ said Hex, assessing the security. ‘But I’ll bet the garage isn’t - and there might be a connecting door. I think we should go in through the garage. Those trees and bushes are going to give us a fair amount of cover.’
When they reached the top of the driveway, Hex took one look at the garage doors and sneered. ‘See what I mean?’ he whispered. ‘Too sure of himself.’
They were a pair of old-fashioned wooden doors and the only thing holding them shut was a wrought-iron drop-latch. Hex gripped the latch a
nd eased it up, then he gently tugged one of the doors. The rusting metal hinges squealed loudly and a whole flock of small birds exploded from the garden trees. Amber grabbed Alex’s arm, digging her fingernails into his skin.
Hex took a quick look down the driveway to the street, then he slipped into the dark garage. Li followed, then Alex, with Amber crowding in behind him.
‘There’s a car in here,’ said Hex.
Amber gave a squeak of panic. ‘He must be in the house!’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ said Li, running her finger over the tarpaulin that covered the car. ‘Look. Dust. This has been here for quite a while.’
Alex lifted a corner of the tarpaulin and pulled it back. A shiny black bonnet came into view, then a dark windscreen. Amber peered at the windscreen and gasped in shock as she saw a face staring back at her.
Someone was sitting in the car.
She took a step back, preparing to run, but Alex reached out and squeezed her wrist reassuringly. ‘It’s all right,’ he said calmly. ‘It’s mirrored glass.’
Alex pulled the tarpaulin further back, flicking it up and over the halogen lamps on the top of the 4x4. He nodded grimly. Eliza was right. The general was the Rat-catcher, and they had just found his hunting machine.
‘Over here!’ called Li softly.
The other three edged round the big car to join her. She was standing in front of a door in the side wall.
‘Told you,’ said Hex smugly.
The door had a pull-down handle, with a simple, keyhole lock. Hex peered into the keyhole and grunted in satisfaction. ‘Key’s in there,’ he said. ‘On the other side.’
He hurried over to a workbench against the wall and grabbed an old newspaper and a length of thick wire. He opened up a sheet of the newspaper and slid it under the door, leaving a small edge remaining on the garage side, then he eased the wire into the keyhole and slowly pushed the key out of the lock. The key dropped onto the newspaper sheet on the other side of the door.
