by David Alric
‘Mum, there’s something you need to know and it’s going to take some time. Don’t ring Grandma yet; sit down while I make us a cup of tea, and then I’ve got a story to tell you.’
A little while later Joanna was in a state of emotional exhaustion. Her mood had swung from black despair at the news of Lucy’s disappearance, to relief that she was not completely without help, and back to utter disbelief at the tale she was being told. Then, as Clare’s calm and factual account of the events of the last few weeks had gradually unfolded, she could do nothing except accept the story as being true, even though she could not begin to understand how and why it had all happened.
‘I think you should speak to Grandma and Grandpa now,’ said Clare. ‘Like us, they didn’t want you to worry that Lucy had cracked up after the operation; they didn’t believe it at first, but I think they really understand the situation now and it would help if you could talk to them.’
On hearing the news Grandma and Grandpa drove up from the coast immediately, and joined them late in the afternoon. They all had a miserable night, hoping against hope that Lucy’s abduction was somehow related to her animal powers and not some random crime. Then, in the morning newspaper, Clare saw what she had been looking for. An article described the mobbing of a small private plane by an enormous flock of birds of various species as it had prepared to take off from a club airfield in Buckinghamshire the previous day.
An expert on bird behaviour, the lengthy article concluded, says that the mobbing of large birds such as buzzards by small birds is not uncommon, but she has never seen the mobbing of an aeroplane, and never seen so many birds of different species in such a co-ordinated and frenzied attack. The plane, fortunately, managed to take off without mishap, and our expert says that the birds’ extraordinary behaviour was almost certainly down to the unusual weather patterns we have been experiencing in recent weeks.
Clare showed the article to her mother and grandparents.
‘Lucy was on that plane,’ she said. ‘That means she is being kept alive. Whenever she gets off the plane, and wherever that is, she will have animals and birds looking after her.’
As she spoke Grandma pointed out of the window. ‘Well, look at that!’ she exclaimed. The others followed her gaze. On the lawn Tibbles was crouching in front of a large pigeon. She made no move to attack the bird and soon the bird flew off. A few seconds later the cat-flap clunked and Tibbles appeared. She came straight over to Clare and dropped something on the floor at her feet. Clare picked it up.
‘It’s Lucy’s new dolphin ring,’ she said excitedly. ‘The one she got on holiday. She was on that plane, I’m sure – she dropped this so we’d know she’s able to communicate with us. I’m now certain she’ll be OK. We just have to wait for news and keep our fingers crossed.’
8
An Unplanned Trip for Lucy
It was Saturday in Rio. Lucy was being tied into a chair while Chopper paced up and down the room puffing at a cigar, impatient to question her. When she had been secured and her gag removed he stopped and faced her. He thought she reminded him of someone but told himself it must be his imagination.
‘You’re quite a pretty little chick –’ he started.
‘Quite pretty?’ thought Lucy. From that moment she hated the fat slob.
‘– and it would be a shame if all that was to change,’ he continued. Lucy’s heart suddenly chilled. ‘You see, I’ve got one or two mates who are a bit out of control. They get a bit careless with acid and razors and stuff – if you get my drift.’ Lucy certainly did get his drift. She waited and he continued.
‘– but nothing unpleasant needs to happen if you tell us who told you to ring up about our little jaguars’ rest home and dental clinic.’ He mentioned some names but Lucy just looked blank. Chopper was disappointed: the names he had given her belonged to the three main drug dealers working in south-west London. He fired more names at Lucy but she had no idea what he was talking about and said so.
‘Well, one of those gangs is trying to put me out of business and one of them must have put you up to it. What are they doing – giving you a new bike or paying your posh school fees?’ He suddenly thought of a different approach and tried to smile reassuringly. The effort made him look like a sick wolf. ‘Listen, if they’re threatening you or your family, that’s something I can take care of. Just tell me who it is and I’ll sort it.’
Lucy did not doubt for one moment that he could sort out anyone he chose to sort out but she still didn’t know what he was on about and said so again.
He leant forward close to her face and she almost retched as a waft of his foul breath engulfed her.
‘Look, kiddo, I haven’t got time for games,’ he hissed. ‘There’s no way on earth you could have heard about that jaguar camp except from one of my rivals. Now who was it? You’d better start talking or things are going to get extremely unpleasant very quickly.’
Lucy tried desperately to think. She couldn’t tell him about the animals. Suddenly she had a brainwave. If she could reassure this dreadful man that her knowledge about the jaguars was nothing to do with these rival gangs it might be all right.
‘It must have been my dad who told me,’ she said. ‘He works for a timber company in South America and maybe he’d heard about the camp. He …’
She stopped as she saw Chopper’s face. He had suddenly realized who she reminded him of.
‘Your dad,’ he said slowly. ‘Of course! He works for my company and he’s betrayed me!’ His voice rose to a shout as he spoke. Lucy was stunned. So this was the company that her father had joined. She now remembered where she had seen the logo on the villa gate before – it had been on the envelope of Dad’s last letter before his field trip. Then she realized she had made a terrible mistake. In her anxiety to protect her precious secret she had now landed her father in terrible trouble – possibly even put his life in danger, judging by what she had seen of Chopper so far. What rotten luck, she thought, of all the timber companies in South America he had to work for this one! But there was no time for self-pity.
‘Actually, I don’t think he did mention the camp. He wouldn’t if he wasn’t meant to, so I think I’ve made a mistake.’
‘You must think I’m a complete idiot,’ shouted Chopper. ‘Of course he told you.’ Chopper’s eyes narrowed as he thought more about what he had just learnt.
‘Who else knows about this – besides your father and you?’
‘Nobody,’ Lucy said firmly, desperate now to protect the rest of the family. ‘My mum and my sisters get very emotional about animals being mistreated and I couldn’t bear to see them upset. I made the phone calls all on my own.’
The effect of the sedative she had been drugged with on the plane had now finally worn off under the pressure of Chopper’s questions and the full horror of her situation had become clear to her. The dreadful interrogation and the fact that she had mentioned her father were all too much and she began to weep. She didn’t want to cry in front of this beast of a man but she couldn’t help it.
‘I only wanted to help the poor jaguars,’ she sobbed, ‘and I don’t know anything about your stupid company or any stupid gangs. Please don’t tell my daddy off and please let me go home.’
Chopper said nothing. He was completely unmoved by the distress of the lonely and frightened girl and was thinking only of what to do next. Finally he called someone to take Lucy away.
She was locked in a small bedroom on the third floor. The wallpaper had been stripped from two of the walls and some tiles had been removed from the en suite bathroom. High up on the wall of the bedroom, immediately above a French window, was a video surveillance camera; it obviously usually pointed down at the window to detect intruders but was now turned inwards to cover the room, and what looked like a new camera had been installed in the bathroom. The room was empty apart from a bed and a jug of water. It was obviously a guest bedroom that had been emptied for redecoration and then hurriedly converted into a cell. A Fr
ench window led out on to a small balcony overlooking the garden and the space between the balcony wall and the overhanging roof was enclosed by a steel mesh fence. The villa’s security system had been designed to stop an intruder from getting on to the balcony but it was just as effective in preventing anyone escaping. The door out to the balcony was shut. It was locked with a simple hook and eye catch to prevent the door swinging in the breeze but it was too high for her to reach and there was nothing in the room that she could use to stand on. She tried to move the bed, but it had been screwed to the floor.
She had stopped crying and now felt angry. She had to do something to warn her father as soon as he returned from his expedition because she was sure that Chopper would seek revenge on him for telling her about the secret camp and putting his business deals at risk.
Out of the corner of her eye Lucy saw some movement. A large lizard had crept out of a broken ventilation brick near the ceiling and was eyeing an insect on the window. Lucy called him and asked if he could open the hook and eye. He obeyed her immediately, flicking up the latch with his head, and then returned to eat the insect in a movement so fast that Lucy only saw him swallow. Lucy opened the door and slipped out on to the balcony. As she breathed in the cool evening air she suddenly froze as she heard voices below. Peeping through the wire mesh she saw Chopper and Sam sitting on the patio below. They were in reclining chairs enjoying the evening sun, smoking fat cigars and drinking large exotic drinks. She shut her mind to the evening cacophony of animal voices and tried to concentrate on the conversation below. Chopper was in mid-sentence.
‘… clearly not anything to do with our rivals. Her father must have told her about the camp and she rang up the Foreign Office to try to save the cats. She’s one of those bleeding-heart animal lovers. I just hope neither of them has told anyone else. He was told that the existence of the camp was to be kept secret for scientific reasons, but if he’s been blabbing to his snotty kid he might have blabbed to others. Any news about him, by the way?’ Lucy held her breath and strained to catch every word.
‘No, the plane never returned from an exploratory flight over unknown territory. The camp was the only landing strip within fuelling range, so it must have crashed in the jungle.’ Lucy’s heart stopped.
‘Please, please, God, let Daddy be all right,’ she prayed. She told herself that people often survived small plane crashes – it might even have made a forced landing – and that she had to concentrate on what was else was being said, for everybody’s sake.
‘What have you told the family?’ said Chopper.
‘They think he’s on an expedition into the remote interior so there’ll be no questions for a while. We can keep pretending to wait for news, then just say he’s tragically lost. By then the big drug delivery will be safely out of the way – it’s due on New Year’s Day, which is exactly two months today.’
‘Well, nothing is to go wrong with that,’ said Chopper. ‘It’s worth five million.’ They talked for a few moments about drug trafficking and Lucy realized that the timber industry was simply a cover for their true business. Soon Chopper returned to the subject of her father. He was clearly worried that no loose ends should be left untied.
‘What are Bonaventure’s chances of surviving the crash?’ he asked Sam.
‘It’s possible of course; others have survived a crash in the jungle, but he’d have to be pretty tough and resourceful ever to get back to camp.’
‘Well, I don’t want to take any chances of his talking to anyone else. If he reappears make sure he disappears again – permanently. What about the pilot?’
‘We’ve already told his wife she’s probably a widow. She asked us for compensation but she soon shut up when we reminded her that he was wanted for drug offences in four countries, had no legal passport and was flying without a current licence. If the drug deal goes through I suppose we could give her something.’
‘We could, but we won’t,’ said Chopper who had no interest whatsoever in helping anyone who couldn’t help him or threaten him.
‘Bring me up to date on the cats,’ said Chopper, changing the subject yet again. Lucy pricked up her ears.
‘The twins have done well – better, I must admit, than I’d expected. They’ve collected over thirty jaguars and pumas. They ransacked a couple of villages early on and since then there’s been nothing but co-operation from the locals. You remember Sing Song and his fancy operation to drain their bile?’ Chopper nodded. ‘He’s going to do all the cats they’ve collected so far as a job lot. He flew in yesterday and starts operating tomorrow at Cayman Creek. He reckons on doing two or three a day so it’ll take him about a fortnight. I’m flying there tomorrow to see our little animal goldmine get started.’
‘How much is he costing us?’ asked Chopper.
‘Too much – but he’s the best in the business. We’ll soon get it back, though. The animals can live for months after they’ve been operated on, and their bile is collected every day. When they finally croak we get all their other bits and pieces, teeth and stuff, which are worth a small fortune. One cat alone will pay all this guy’s costs and then we’re into pure profit, which we split with him and the twins. While the bile from this batch of cats is being collected, the twins can catch some more and he can come over and do another lot when we need him.’
Lucy was sick with horror at what she had learnt. The only good thing was that it sounded as if most of the jaguars that had been captured so far were still alive and unharmed. If she could find a way to help them, most might yet escape. She forced herself to put the jaguars out of her mind for the time being and concentrate again on the continuing conversation below her.
‘Well, that’s the father, the pilot, the drugs and the cats sorted,’ Sam was saying. ‘What about the kid?’
‘It’s too dangerous to keep her in Rio – I doubt if her disappearance will make the news over here, but if it does we can’t risk the maids or the gardeners recognizing her. On the other hand, we can’t let her go. She knows too much because I had to ask her about the other drug gangs. As soon as she tells anyone we’re sunk. I’d also like to know whether she’s told anyone else – though she says she hasn’t. The best thing to do is to get her off to the camp out of sight and sound. She can go and be locked up with her precious jaguars – I’m sure we can find a spare cage, and while she’s there Sid and Fred can find out if she’s blabbed to anyone else. There’s nothing those two will enjoy more than extracting some information from a young girl and if she doesn’t survive the experience – well, that’s one less disposal problem for us. Either way she’s going to end up as jaguar grub, so she’ll have done her precious animals some good after all.’ They both laughed and Lucy shuddered.
‘When I go tomorrow to check on things,’ said Sam, ‘I’ll take her with me and get in touch in a few days to let you know how things are going.’
With that, they went in to dinner leaving Lucy to her thoughts. She had been upset and frightened by what she had heard but at least she now had a clear idea of what was going on. There was just a chance her dad was still alive and she needed somehow to find him and warn him of the danger he was in. They were taking her to the camp – well, that was fine, it was her best chance of contacting her father. As for the plans concerning her own torture and death, she felt much less concerned about these than she did about her dad. The incident with the lizard and the balcony door-latch had reminded her that she could call on immediate assistance from the animal kingdom, and she knew that she could use her powers to protect herself when the need arose. What she particularly wanted to avoid was any further sedation so she planned to appear to co-operate as much as possible with Chopper and Sam in the hope that she wouldn’t have any more injections. She slipped back into the room and called the lizard, who obligingly restored the latch to its former state.
Just then someone knocked on the door. Lucy was uncertain what to do but when the knock was repeated she told whoever it was to come in.
The person outside tried to open the door as though ignorant of the fact that it was locked, then, after some rattling of the handle, the lock was turned and a middle-aged woman stepped into the room carrying a tray.
Maria Arrumadeira had lived in Rio all her life. She had been raised in poor circumstances and, with little in the way of formal education, had worked hard in domestic service. She had been thrilled to be offered a job as housekeeper to Senhor Chopper in his large villa and, having been recently widowed, she was now dependent on the job as the only means of support for herself and her eleven-year-old daughter.
When Maria was told to prepare a room she had assumed it was for one of the many visitors and business associates that came to the villa. She was surprised, however, when she was asked to make up a bed in one of the bedrooms being redecorated and told that the guest would only be having meals in her room. She was even more surprised to find, when she took Lucy’s supper up, that the door was locked and the guest was a girl, the same age as her own daughter, apparently completely on her own and looking very distressed. She spoke only a word or two of English and Lucy of course spoke no Portuguese, but after she had put the tray of supper down Maria pointed to her chest and said, ‘Maria.’
Lucy told her what her name was in the same way. Maria looked at Lucy’s distressed little face and red-rimmed eyes and her heart went out to her. She instinctively leant over and hugged the girl and kissed her on both cheeks.
‘Bua noite,’ she whispered, then turned and, pointing encouragingly at the food, went out, locking the door behind her.
After leaving Lucy, Maria went straight to Chopper’s wife Nandita, and spoke to her in the local dialect that was, for both of them, their mother tongue.
