‘So what was the leech about?’ Linden asked.
‘Perhaps he thought it could help to suck out the poison,’ Dr Victoria guessed.
‘Okay, now I know he’s really weird.’ Max had on her sucked-lemon face. ‘He carries emergency leeches around with him.’
‘Dr Victoria,’ Linden spoke quietly, ‘will Mr Straussmann be okay?’
‘It is rare to die from a weever fish sting. The pain must have been very bad when you found him and eventually caused him to lose consciousness. I’ve flushed out the wound and need to continually wash it with hot water. The heat deactivates the poison,’ she explained. ‘He’ll need a few hours sleep, but he’ll be okay. I’d better go back in and check on him.’
‘So we can’t talk to him?’ Max stood up, eager to hear the end of Straussmann’s confession.
‘Not yet. I’ll call you when he’s regained consciousness and is able to speak.’ She smiled. ‘He’s very lucky you found him.’
‘Lucky?’ Max blurted. ‘He’s lucky I didn’t –’
‘Thank you, Dr Victoria,’ Linden cut Max off before she made any threats the doctor may not take kindly to.
‘You’re welcome.’ She walked back into the examination room.
‘So why would someone want to poison Straussmann, but not kill him?’ Linden asked.
‘A warning maybe?’ Max guessed. ‘Telling Straussmann that this time he’s only in pain, but next time it’ll be for real.’
‘Clever, very clever,’ Stefan pointed animatedly at Linden. ‘I am really working with the best.’ He flung his hands out before him and slipped into overacting mode. ‘Oh, are these yet two bright stars shining before me?’
‘Not sure about the shining bit,’ Max muttered. ‘One of these stars is actually a little soggy,’ she sniffed her sleeve, ‘and smelly, and she’d like to go back to the hotel and change.’
‘And if Straussmann is right and Alfonzo is to be kidnapped today,’ Linden added, ‘we’re going to have to be with him every second and make sure it doesn’t happen.’
It was almost daybreak when Stefan delivered Max and Linden back to the hotel. The jostled journey through potholes, fast-cornered turns and the occasional jumping of roundabout humps threw its passengers from side to side in the back of Stefan’s beaten-up car, keeping an exhausted Max wide-eyed and introducing her to a brand new taste of panic.
‘Did I say the car was better than the horse?’ she gasped.
‘I tried to be as quick as I could.’ Stefan turned round and smiled as if he’d just won the Grand Prix.
‘I noticed.’ Max dragged her jellied legs out of the car as a hubcap fell from one of the wheels with a metallic clunk.
Stefan poked his head out his window. ‘Throw him in the back, I’ll fix him later.’
Linden slipped the hubcap through the plastic cover of the backdoor window and waved Stefan off. They wearily climbed the stairs of the hotel but, before going to their room, Max suggested that they check on Alfonzo.
After passing the usual security guards posted outside his door, Max and Linden entered Alfonzo’s room and saw the leech expert, who was huddled on the lounge in a stoop of sadness.
‘Alfonzo?’ Max moved closer.
There was a small sniff and a soft nose-blowing.
‘Are you okay? What’s wrong?’
‘Edgar is gone.’
‘Gone?’ Linden asked.
‘Someone has taken him.’
‘I don’t mean to be nasty, Alfonzo, but why would someone want to kidnap a leech?’ Max asked.
‘It isn’t just Edgar. They’re all gone. Every one of them.’ This threw Alfonzo into renewed shuddering and sniffling.
‘What happened?’ Max sat beside him.
‘There was no time to bring Edgar back to the hotel between my first lecture and the luncheon, so he stayed at the centre, watched over by several guards. But it seems the sprinkler system had been tampered with and was activated, releasing a sleeping gas that knocked out the guards, allowing all my beautiful leeches to be … kidnapped.’
Linden watched another tear fall down Alfonzo’s face and reached for a box of tissues. ‘I’m sorry, Alfonzo. I know you and Edgar were close.’
‘Thank you.’ He blew. ‘Sometimes life is … sometimes we have to …’ But he couldn’t go on.
Alfonzo stood up and walked over to an open suitcase that was laid out on his bed, packed with folded clothes.
‘What are you doing?’ Max asked.
‘I’m leaving,’ he said quietly.
‘Leaving?’ Max threw him an are-you-mad look. ‘But you can’t just leave. We have to find out who kidnapped your leeches and get them back. Leeches are your life. You can’t walk out on them now.’
Alfonzo stopped packing. ‘It’s true, but I have to leave. I have urgent business. I’ve spoken to the conference organisers and they’ve been very understanding about my early departure.’
‘Where’s your urgent business?’ Max stood up and stepped closer.
‘In …’ There was a slight pause. ‘In Brussels.’ Alfonzo turned away from Max’s unflinching gaze and finished packing. He closed his case, pressed down hard on the locks and buckled the leather straps.
‘And after that, I have other urgent business I need to attend at home.’
‘That’s a lot of urgent business.’ Max crossed her arms.
‘Yes,’ Alfonzo answered.
Max swapped a confused look with Linden.
Alfonzo picked up his case and rested it by the door. He turned and stood before them. A glint of early morning sun poked over Fort St. Angelo, filling the room.
‘So your mission is over.’ Alfonzo smiled a difficult smile. ‘You no longer have to protect me, and with your aversion to my little wormy darlings, this should please you very much, Max.’
‘They didn’t bother me.’ Max shook her head slowly. ‘And after a while I may have even grown used to them.’
Linden redirected his confused stare to Max.
‘I would have.’ She flicked her head defensively.
Alfonzo held out his hand. ‘Thank you. I’m sorry you had to make the long trip. I appreciate everything you have done for me, but I’ll be safe now. You and Harrison have nothing to fear.’
This last word gained a harder edge, and Alfonzo’s face snagged with a pained expression.
Max stared into his grey-blue eyes. ‘It was really nice to meet you, Alfonzo.’ She moved slowly forward and slipped her arms around his waist. Linden pursed his lips and smiled. Max wasn’t normally the hugging type.
Alfonzo hugged her briefly before pulling away. He walked to the door, picked up his bag and left.
‘He’s a lousy liar,’ Max shook her head.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen anyone who’s worse,’ Linden frowned.
‘He knows more than he’s saying.’
‘How long do we wait before we follow?’
Max took the Time and Space Machine from her belt. ‘As soon as I get a reading on where he is.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘I slipped the Tracer Bug into his pocket when I hugged him.’
‘When did you get hold of the Bug?’
‘While Alfonzo was packing. It was in the side pocket of my backpack for easy access.’
Linden flashed Max a toothy grin. ‘Good thinking, 99.’
‘Thank you.’ Max turned back to the screen of her machine but felt Linden’s stare lingering on her. ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
Linden’s smile didn’t go away and was freaking Max out.
‘Will you stop smiling at me?’
Linden didn’t have much success trying to smother his smile. ‘Sorry, boss.’
‘And don’t call me boss.’
Max looked at the screen of the Time and Space Machine. ‘I hope it still works after all the water I’ve been in lately.’
The image of the earth appeared before them. It quickly zoomed in on Europe, then Malta
, then Valletta. And finally the place where they’d find Alfonzo.
‘Perfect. He’s outside the hotel but moving away fast.’ Max looked up. ‘Let’s go.’
‘I think we should call Stefan.’
‘There’s no time, Linden.’ Max headed for the door.
‘What if something goes wrong? Like it did with your pack?’
‘What if we waste time and something happens to Alfonzo?’
Linden reluctantly agreed and the two spies hurried out of the hotel. With the early morning church bells swooping around them, calling people to Mass, they ran into the street, winding their way down the steep incline of the city towards the sea. Max checked the Time and Space machine again.
‘He’s close. Come on.’
When they reached the roadside above the rocky harbour shore called St Lazarus Curtain, Max and Linden hid behind a small stone wall.
The bright orange light from the sun tinged the rocky inlet. There were a few buildings huddled together, clinging to the incline; their verandas were perched high over the water and were scattered with chairs, offering a perfect view of the city’s breakwater.
And a kidnapping.
‘There he is.’ Linden pointed to Alfonzo. He was standing on sea-washed rocks, a speedboat with its engine idling moored beside him. Alfonzo almost slipped as he stepped away from a splashing wave. He regained his footing and pulled his suitcase close to his chest.
One man stood at the wheel of the boat. He yelled something into the air just as another man appeared from behind Alfonzo.
‘Does that man on the rocks seem familiar to you? The one next to Alfonzo?’
Linden looked closely. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘I’ve seen him before. Here in Malta. I just can’t work out where.’
He grabbed Alfonzo roughly by the arm and pushed him towards the boat. Alfonzo’s feet and leather shoes struggled to manoeuvre over the wet rocks. The man in the boat began to wave his arms. His colleague on the rocks yelled back before grabbing Alfonzo’s case and pushing him forward. Alfonzo flung his hands out and only just managed to grab hold of a ladder attached to the side of the heaving vessel. He climbed in unsteadily and, when he reached the top, fell forward and landed heavily on the floor of the boat. When he picked himself up, one of the lenses in his glasses was broken.
He ducked as his suitcase was hurled into the boat, and the second man climbed inside.
‘They’re going to take him out of the country in a speed boat?’ Max watched as the two men began arguing again. ‘But the next closest country is Sicily, and that’s over a hundred kilometres away.’
‘It’s a good way not to be spotted, I guess.’
Linden’s mind trawled through their rescue options. ‘We need some way of following them. There’s a helicopter pad not far from here or we could get our hands on a boat or –’
Before Linden could say anything more, the spies were plunged into the darkness of two fish-smelling sacks.
‘Hey, what do you think you’re doing?’ Max’s feet were swooped out from under her, and she thumped onto the hard pavement. ‘Ouch!’
She kicked at the canvas bag, making contact with the limbs of her captor, and smiled when she heard a pained groan. The last glimpse of light at her feet was extinguished as a drawstring was yanked tight. She was heaved onto a broad and muscled shoulder.
‘Put me down. Where are you taking us? Let me go, now!’ She writhed and punched.
Max received no answer except the deep chuckles of their captors. She was jiggled painfully as her captor began to run.
‘Take it easy, will you? There’s a human in here, remember?’
The jolting ended as Max landed heavily onto a hard, ribbed surface. She heard the thud of Linden as he fell beside her. The ground vibrated beneath them as an engine spluttered to life. Gears changed and Max and Linden were driven away.
The two bagged spies slid into each other as the vehicle sped into one sharp bend after another.
‘It’s true. Everyone does drive badly in this country.’ Max slammed into Linden again.
‘He must be related to Stefan. Ow!’ Linden’s head whacked into the side of the truck.
‘Are you okay?’
‘I’ve had smoother rides. I’ll try and reach for my pocketknife and cut us free.’
Before Linden could carry out his plan, the truck came to a gear-crunching stop, sending the two spies into a squashed, not-so-cosy lump. Doors creaked open, and once again Max and Linden were hoisted onto muscled shoulders.
‘Call that driving?’ Max yelled from inside her bagged prison. ‘And you could have wrapped us in something a little less stinky. Don’t think you’re going to get away with this because –’
Max’s threat was cut short by the breath being sucked out of her. She’d been thrown off her captor’s shoulders and flung down a rough and slippery surface.
‘Lin … den!’ she stammered.
But she heard no reply as her body hurtled towards an unknown and fast-approaching end.
‘Aaaah!’
The last thing Max and Linden felt before being thrown down a long and slimy passage was a violent push in the back followed by the echoing slam of wooden doors. The two spies slid over the uneven surface, twisting and turning through the innards of the slippery passage that was to deliver them at increasing speeds to an unknown destination.
‘We’re … go … ing … to … die!’ Max’s echoing terror was only equalled by her fear of what would happen at the other end. But she didn’t have to wait long to find out what that would be.
Like an oversized cannonball, she shot out of the tunnel and, landing painfully on her rear, slid unceremoniously across a damp and soggy ground to an even damper and soggier stop.
Linden slid in only seconds later and, like an overturned turtle, came to a slippery, spinning stop on his backpack. ‘That wasn’t so bad. Are you okay, Max?’
Max’s voice grumbled out of the darkness, ‘For someone who’s just been thrown down a twisted funride, will probably be covered in purple and black bruises and had enough time to watch my life flash before me twice – yeah, I’m great.’
‘That’s good then,’ he smiled.
Within the tight confines of his bag, Linden sat up and twisted his arms from the straps of his backpack. He fumbled inside for his Swiss army knife and plunged it into the bag, creating a small opening. He grabbed at the torn material with both hands and ripped the bag from him.
Linden switched on the torch in his watch and found Max’s slumped bag. He gingerly made his way over and cut her out. ‘Welcome.’
The place where they’d landed was dark and the air was stale and damp. The only natural light was a faint glow drizzling from the top of the tunnel. A gentle, lapping sound quietly echoed around them. With careful steps, Linden slowly extended his hand until he came across a wall covered in rivulets of dripping moisture.
‘Let’s hope we haven’t landed in an underground sewer,’ he joked.
‘A sewer?’ Max jumped up. She pulled her arms in tight across her chest and tried not to imagine herself surrounded by a giant underground toilet.
‘There’s no smell though, so I think we’re okay. It’s more likely that we’re in a cellar or even a crypt,’ Linden guessed.
‘Crypt?’ A meteorite of fear crash-landed into Max’s voice. ‘Like where they keep dead people?’
‘There are a lot of burial chambers beneath this city, and this could be one of them.’ Linden shone his torch around him, lighting up rows of wooden shelves that lined the walls. ‘But this one looks like a cellar or some kind of underground cool room. I think now might be a good time to call Stefan.’ Linden lifted his watch to his lips. ‘Stefan? Come in, Stefan?’ Nothing. ‘Stefan, can you hear me?’
Linden waited a little longer. ‘We must be out of range. We did fall pretty far.’
Max squelched to the end of the passage where they were spat out.
‘You won’t get away
with this, you overgrown lumps of creep,’ she yelled. ‘I won’t let you bury me alive in some kind of subterranean graveyard. We’ll be out of here as soon as you turn around, and just when you think you’ve gotten rid of us – wham! – we’ll be right behind you. And another thing …’
‘Uh, Max?’
‘Hang on, Linden. I haven’t finished with these guys yet.’ She turned back to the tunnel. ‘The next time you decide to pick on us, you’ll regret every second that you thought you could –’
‘Max.’ This time there was more urgency in Linden’s voice.
‘Yes?’
‘Does something seem strange about the ground to you?’
The two spies watched as Linden’s light swept over the floor, revealing rippled, shining mounds.
‘What is it?’ Max shone her torch downwards and squinted into the low light.
Linden gave his less frightening suggestion first: ‘It could be cobble stones.’
The two remained silent for a few seconds, letting their ears tune-in to a low, almost inaudible sound.
‘As far as my memory from science class goes, cobblestones don’t make squelching noises.’ Max’s eyes followed the sweeping path of her torch.
‘It is squelching, but what is it?’
‘Knowing me, it’s probably some slimy creature from the bottom of the sea,’ Max sighed. ‘And just when I thought being tied up in a room full of worms was as creepy as it was ever going to get.’6
Linden blinked into the dim light and tapped a finger against his chin. ‘What is it?’ As if in answer to his question, he stared at the back of his hand before slowly pulling it away from his face. ‘Ah, Max, I think I know what it is.’
‘If it’s anything slimy, I don’t want to know.’ She turned away.
‘Okay.’ Linden went quiet.
A dripping, echoing silence squirmed between them.
‘Well? What is it!’
Linden winced and kept staring at his hand. ‘You’re not going to like it.’
‘There’s a surprise,’ Max muttered. ‘Tell me anyway. What did you find?’
‘I think we’ve just found Alfonzo’s kidnapped leeches.’
Mission In Malta Page 11
