Max’s face had turned the colour of white chocolate. ‘Uh huh.’ She nodded.
‘Good. Alfonzo is in room 321. There are security guards outside his door who are expecting you in half an hour.’ Stefan proudly looked at his watch. ‘Which will give you enough time to get ready for tonight’s official party to open the conference. It will be a good chance to see who is there and watch for any suspicious activity. Any time you need me, I will be on the other end of your radio watch. I’ll be back in the morning to take you and Alfonzo to the conference. Any questions?’
‘No, I think that’s it for now, Stefan. Thanks for the lift.’ Linden casually stepped onto the pavement as if he hadn’t been driven there by a lunatic. ‘Max? It’s time to get out.’
Linden leant into the front of the car and tried to pull Max’s fingers off the armrest, but she was clinging so hard the armrest came off in her hands.
‘Sorry, Stefan,’ Linden apologised and opened Max’s door.
‘That’s okay.’ Stefan took the armrest and threw it in the back. ‘See you in the morning.’ And before he left, he added, ‘We are a special lot, us agents. Brave, strong and we do what we do because we love it. It’s in our blood. Sahha!’
Stefan revved into the busy, narrow street before he disappeared in a crunch of gears around the corner.
‘If we survived that we can survive anything,’ Linden joked.
Max wasn’t amused. ‘Better go inside and meet slug man.’
‘Leech man, actually.’
‘Whatever.’
‘I just don’t understand why some guy would want to spend his life poring over slugs.’
‘They’re not slugs,’ a quiet voice breathed behind them. ‘They’re leeches.’
Max spun around to see a small man with glasses, a slightly hunched back and wispy blond hair as light as tiny feathers standing in the corridor. She tugged awkwardly at her tasselled belt and wished her mouth knew when to stay quiet.
‘Quite a different animal altogether, actually.’ The man smiled and held out his hand. ‘Alfonzo Martina, and you must be my minders, Max and Linden.’
‘Sorry.’ Max bit her lip and shook his hand. ‘I didn’t know …’
‘That’s okay. As much as I love the little creatures, I don’t expect the world to share my delight.’
Alfonzo nodded to the two guards standing outside his room before unlocking the door and inviting in his two young guests. ‘Please, come in.’
The room was a regular hotel room, except for two things. The panoramic view of the Grand Harbour and, to Max’s skin-crawling revulsion, the small transparent tanks dotted throughout the room, filled with leeches.
‘Kinnie?’ Alfonzo asked, removing several amber bottles from a small fridge.
‘Kinnie?’ Linden asked, unaware of Max’s mini freak-out.
‘Bitter orange cola. It’s made here in Malta. Very thirst-quenching.’
As Alfonzo poured the drinks into glasses Max remained a life-sized statue of herself, unable to get rid of the sensation that every leech in the room had escaped and was crawling all over her. Small, slimy, creeping, slithering …
‘Max?’
‘Aah!’ Max jumped.
Linden had changed into a brown, striped suit and white shirt that he wore with his Flea-Powered Trainers. He held out a glass and bowed slightly forward like a well-dressed waiter. ‘Your Kinnie, madame? It’s really good.’
When Max looked down to see that her body was leech free, she took the drink and sat gingerly on the lounge, as far away from the nearest leech as possible.
‘Harrison is overreacting by sending you here.’ Alfonzo’s voice was like a radio that was turned two notches too low. ‘It is very kind of him to worry about me, but there is no need.’
‘But what about the piano and the out-of-control truck?’ Linden asked.
‘Accidents, just as I told Harrison. You’ll see. There is nothing more going on than that. Why, you yourself must have been in dangerous road situations before?’
‘Most of them on the way here.’ Max kept her arms close to her body as she sipped her drink.
‘Harrison likes playing the big brother and is afraid that I can’t take care of myself.’ Alfonzo smiled. ‘It’s sweet, but very unnecessary.’
‘And the other scientists?’ Linden asked carefully.
Alfonzo put his glass down on a table beside a large tank. His finger stroked the outline of a leech inside. ‘Sad,’ he barely whispered. ‘So sad.’
He kept stroking the glass before he stopped himself.
‘How rude. I haven’t introduced you to Edgar.’ He pulled a pair of long rubber gloves from his pocket and slipped them on before carefully retrieving the overly large leech.
‘Say hello. Come on now, don’t be shy, Edgar.’ The leech stood on one end while flinging his long worm-like body in the direction of Max and Linden. ‘These nice people are here to meet you.’
Max gasped and slid down the lounge away from Alfonzo and his leech.
‘He’s cute,’ Linden admired.
‘Cute?’ Max’s eyes were pools of shock. ‘Are you looking at the same thing I’m looking at?’
‘Don’t you like Edgar?’ Linden smiled.
‘I liked him a whole lot better when he was in his tank.’
Edgar gripped Alfonzo’s glove and curled his body into an arch, before settling into a curled ball.
‘He’s tired. It’s been a long trip for him.’ Alfonzo gently placed Edgar back in his moist, creek-styled tank. ‘I do understand your question, Max. Why would some guy want to spend his life poring over slugs?’
‘Well, that’s not really what I meant.’ Max tried to cover for her big mouth. ‘I was only wondering …’
Alfonzo smiled. ‘From the time I was a small boy I was intrigued by them. As I grew older I put that interest aside and have been lucky enough to have worked in many different areas of science. Most of them I found very rewarding, but there is something about the simple purity of working with leeches that has provided my most pleasing moments of all. Uncomplicated and warm.’
Alfonzo floated in a daze of happiness. ‘Most people have an extreme and irrational fear of these beauties, but for me nothing could feel safer.’
He leant down to look inside Edgar’s tank. ‘Did you know that leeches don’t have noses and are blind, but they breathe through their skin and have highly developed sensors?’
‘Really?’ Max raised an uninterested eyebrow.
‘Yes,’ Alfonzo enthused. ‘They have muscular suckers at each end, but the one at the mouth is for sucking blood. They can eat three times their own body weight in blood.’
Max’s stomach felt like it flipped before falling back where it should be. ‘Doesn’t it hurt?’
‘Oh no, that’s the wonderful thing about leeches. They have anaesthetic in their saliva, which means you don’t feel any pain. Very polite of them.’
‘Very,’ Max winced.
‘The saliva also has an anticoagulant called hirudin that prevents the host’s blood from clotting, allowing it to flow more smoothly.’
‘And you’re excited about this because …?’ Max asked.
‘Because it’s fascinating.’
‘Brain surgery’s fascinating too, but it doesn’t mean I want to see it up close.’
‘Don’t worry about Max,’ Linden warned Alfonzo. ‘She really is excited about leeches; she’s just not good at showing it.’
‘Oh, but you’ll see, Max. Once you’re hooked on leeches, they tend to suck you in.’
Linden and Alfonzo laughed. Max stared at them and wondered what great spies, like Alex Crane, were doing right now.
‘Get it?’ Alfonzo chuckled quietly. ‘Suck you in? It’s a little joke we in the leech world like to throw around every now and then.’
Alfonzo sat down on a lounge opposite Max and Linden, looking very comfortable now that the subject had turned to leeches.
‘In Australia there is a breed cal
led Richardsonianus australis, which are the most medically useful in the world as they can suck blood for up to ten hours in one sitting. Others give up after twenty minutes.’
‘I don’t mean to sound negative, but what’s the point of the slimy little bloodsuckers anyway?’ Max did nothing to remove the look of disgust from her face.
‘I prefer not to use the word “bloodsuckers”,’ Alfonzo clarified. ‘There are so many other delightful aspects that make the leech truly magnificent. They’re used in plastic surgery, and products are created from their saliva that are used in the prevention of heart disease. They also aid blood flow in microsurgery, which is used to reattach limbs.’
‘Reattach limbs?’ Max felt her head spin and inflate above her body.
‘After microsurgery to reattach body parts such as ears and fingers, the body needs time to create new veins. So in the meantime, they use leeches to draw out the blood that the veins aren’t capable of doing just yet. Isn’t that incredible?’
‘Yeah, incredible.’ Max’s head started to throb and her skin turned clammy.
‘Why do you sprinkle them with salt if you’re bitten by one?’ Linden took another swig of his drink.
Alfonzo’s eyes lit up like a Christmas parade. ‘The salt causes them to vomit, which makes them open their mouths, hence, they let go,’ Alfonzo concluded as if he’d just discovered the meaning of life. Until he saw Max’s face. ‘But you can’t die from a leech bite. Even if you’re bitten by several leeches.’
‘That’s amazing,’ Linden cried.
‘That’s disgusting,’ Max reminded him. ‘So when they’re not sucking your blood they’re vomiting all over you.’
‘They have a fascinating history too. In ancient times, doctors believed draining a patient’s blood was good for all sorts of things from improving your memory to helping digestion.’
‘If we talk about leeches any more, I know someone whose digestion is not going to improve,’ Max mumbled.
‘In fact, a lot of the early blood-letters weren’t doctors at all but barbers. The red-and-white striped barbers’ poles let people know you could get a haircut and a good blood-letting as well.’
Max felt her face heat up and her hands start to tingle. ‘Can we stop mentioning the word blood?’
‘High-society women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries would even put leeches behind their ears before a ball to give them rosy cheeks and shining eyes – and, so they thought, help them dance until dawn.’
‘All that proves is that sometimes human beings have a habit of leaving their brains at home when they go out into society,’ Max muttered.
‘How come they’re not that popular anymore?’ Linden asked.
‘It’s called “modern medicine”.’ Max rolled her head away from the two leech fanatics.
‘Actually, modern medicine is the reason they’re back,’ Alfonzo explained, as if it would make Max’s day. ‘What happened in the past was that the humble leech started to be seen as a cure-all and was being prescribed for anything from kidney infections to sore knees and even hysteria, all of which the leech could do nothing for.’
‘I’m going to get hysterical in a minute if we don’t start talking about the mission,’ Max groaned into her chest.
‘Ah yes, the mission.’ Alfonzo laughed a gentle snigger. ‘I’m sorry.’ He settled back into the lounge. ‘I tend to get a bit carried away when I talk about leeches – you see, they aren’t just my work, they’re my life.’
‘I guess we all have a different definition of living.’ Max took a deep breath and tried to steady her breathing, which had begun shifting into hyperventilation mode.
‘I know you think Mr Harrison is being overprotective,’ Linden began, ‘but he’s worried about you because of what happened to the other scientists in your group.’
‘Yes, yes.’ Alfonzo’s eyes fell. ‘The world of science and nature is where the heart of life is. Without it we have nothing.’
‘Harrison said your former group, Futura, was working on ways of making the world more sustainable.’
‘That’s right, Max.’ Alfonzo’s smile held a brief glimmer of hopefulness. ‘We had big plans for a world we feared humans were damaging to a state almost beyond repair. If we acted immediately to safeguard vital natural environments and resources, such as the ozone layer, and prevent the drying out of continents, the destruction of wildlife and so forth, we believed we could create a healthy and even better planet for the future.’ He let loose a small laugh. ‘Ideas that were very grand but were never to be.’
The way his shoulders drooped startled Max like a blow to the stomach.
‘Do you know who could be behind it?’ she asked. ‘I mean what happened to the other scientists?’
Alfonzo looked at her, eyes buoyed with sadness. ‘Each of those men were brilliant scientists and good men. Who would want to –’
A knock at the door was followed by the entrance of one of the guards.
‘Your limousine is here to take you to the ceremony, Mr Martina.’
‘A limousine?’ Linden asked.
‘Yes, I told them not to make a fuss, but it seems they’re going to anyway. Thank you, Anthony.’ Alfonzo stood and adjusted his coat. ‘We’d better go.’
Max watched the heaviness in Alfonzo’s shoulders weigh into his dragging footsteps. She was determined to protect him and find out who was behind the attacks on the Futura scientists, but for now she was just relieved to move away from his leeches and stop talking about bloodsucking and vomit.
Max, Linden and Alfonzo made their way down to the limousine and, in a silent and quick ride to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, arrived at the opening ceremony of the World Annual Leech Conference.
The gardens sat high in the city of Valletta, floating above the Grand Harbour and commanding sweeping views of the ancient waterway.
A man in a black-and-white suit opened Alfonzo’s door with a low bow, and the leech expert stepped out in a flurry of camera flashes and applause. He walked down the red carpet beneath breeze-shuffled trees draped with strings of coloured lights. Women offered wide, swooning smiles, and men clambered forward to shake his hand. And all of them were kissing him on both cheeks.
‘He’s like some kind of leech celebrity,’ Max whispered to Linden as they followed behind, occasionally blinded by the white camera flares.
‘Leeches are obviously very popular.’ Linden straightened his jacket and started waving at the adoring looks from young girls. ‘Maybe I should wear a suit more often.’
At the edges of the gardens, ancient stone arches were snaked with stands of pink bougainvillea. Buried within the many garden beds, hidden like gnomes, red lanterns glowed. In the centre of it all, a many levelled fountain was lit from beneath so that it seemed to spill streams of gold.
‘Ow!’ Max pushed a tall man’s elbow out of her face. ‘There’s plenty of ground to stand on without having to use me as well.’
Waiters swept through the excited hum with large trays of food and drinks. They wove their way around brightly coloured lips, through cologne-whiffed air and past polished shoes, pressed suits and long, flowing gowns.
And each time people met, they kissed. It was everywhere. Old couples, young couples, kids and their parents. An old lady slipped one of the waiters a peck on the cheek when he handed her a cocktail.
‘What’s with all the kissing?’ Max mumbled to herself.
‘The what?’ Linden looked up from a tray of small meat pies a waiter was offering him.
‘Why all the kissing?’
‘It’s a big night and people are excited.’
‘I’m excited too, but you don’t see me kissing everyone I meet.’
As eager leech fans scrambled around Alfonzo to get his autograph, security guards attempted to organise an orderly queue, and Max and Linden found themselves jostled to the back of the crowd.
‘This is like the Hollywood of the science world.’ Max smoothed her elbow-shoved hair as they
were pushed to the outer fringes of the ceremony.
‘If I’d known leeches were so popular, I’d have paid more attention to my hair.’
‘I’m not sure that would have helped.’ Max smiled at Linden’s untameable mop. ‘And anyway, our attention is supposed to be on Alfonzo and the people here, not your appearance.’
Linden tried to pat down his unruly hairdo but gave up when a passing waiter with a tray full of ricotta cheese-filled pastries walked by. ‘Pastizzis. Steinberger told me about these.’ Linden took a bite. ‘Yep. They are good. I’ve got to find out a way to get these into the Mindawarra Bakery.’
‘Hey, watch it.’ Another Alfonzo fan swung his camera into Max’s head while trying to take a photo. ‘Do you mind if I have a little bit of earth to stand on?’
But Max didn’t have to worry about standing for much longer. A wave of overzealous leech fans had forced her away from Linden and towards the balcony fence bordering the gardens.
‘Max, you have to try one of these. Max?’ Linden turned to see Max lifted from the ground by the crush of fans and left teetering on top of the low iron fence.
‘Linden!’ Max reached forward in the confusion and tried to find something solid to hold onto, but one final, unseen shove from the crowd sent her toppling off the balcony.
‘Max!’ Linden pushed through the crowd as if he was fighting a powerful rip. He reached the fence, searching desperately into the lamp-lit evening for Max, but all he could see was the blackened sweep of night that stretched all the way to the harbour.
Linden spoke into his watch. ‘Max, can you hear me?’
Nothing. An awful silence blotted out the night so that even the boisterous sounds of the party became muffled in the face of what may have become of his friend. Linden searched the darkness below, wondering if Max had landed in the harbour or, perhaps, he winced, slammed into the hard stone of the cobbled harbourside pavement.
‘Max, please answer.’ Linden held the watch close to his lips. ‘Where are you?’
‘I’m here,’ a small, irritated voice floated out of the device.
Mission In Malta Page 6
