‘Yes, I know … Cynthia,’ replied Alex, annoyed at Max’s clumsiness and at revealing her real name. She took a cloth off her trolley and wiped the gunk from her clothes. Max was mortified and desperately wished there was some way she could rewind the last few minutes of her life and start them all over again.
Alex handed out new samples and leant into them both, pretending to explain the food-tasting process. Kronch stared at them. His eyes like hungry sharks.
‘Harrison’s hunch was right. Blue is planning to add a secret ingredient to his food products. One that isn’t marked on the packet. Which isn’t surprising. Half the time you read the ingredients on products and you still don’t know what you’re eating. Flavour enhancers, colourings, preservatives.’
Alex was starting to sound like Max’s mother.
‘What does this secret ingredient do?’ asked Ella, not suffering from any of Max’s shock or embarrassment.
‘It’s called T3-35A. It surrounds the part of the mind that determines good from bad and stops it from working, much like an antibiotic around bacteria, leaving the evil side of a person’s mind to take over. It can make an ordinarily good person become evil almost instantly.’
Kronch was getting suspicious at how long Alex had been with Max and Ella.
‘Meet me in Lab X in an hour and we can take a reading with your SAMs. I couldn’t bring mine because of the rigorous search procedures for employees.’
‘Any problems here?’ Kronch’s breath floated over them like blackened smog. Max’s Danger Meter vibrated inside her dress even harder than before.
‘No. They’re all set now.’ Alex put her clipboard on her trolley and walked away.
‘Hurrumph,’ Kronch hurrumphed as he walked back to his desk.
‘We’ve got to tell Linden,’ Ella whispered.
‘Yep,’ said Max, managing to speak again. ‘But we’ve got to get Igor off our backs first. When he’s lost interest in us, we’ll sneak out of here, get a reading of the secret ingredient and head back to Spyforce.’
Max and Ella pretended to go about their tasting, careful not to put the food in their mouths. In her head Max saw herself knock over the bowls again and again and each time it happened, she became even more angry at herself for being such a klutz. She looked up and saw Kronch speaking furtively into his phone, like he was planning something devious. Something that probably was going to be bad for her. She hoped he would leave them alone, but with the impression she’d made on him so far, she knew that wasn’t going to happen easily.
After half an hour of food testing, the BRATTs were given a short break to refresh their tastebuds with Blue’s Foods Fresh-from-the-Spring Mineral Water. The glass-floored corridor filled with a frenzied clutch of kids drinking water and talking food samples as Max and Ella stood as far away as they could, trying to work out what to do.
‘Kronch is watching us so closely there’s no way we’re going to be able to sneak away and meet Alex,’ Ella deduced.
‘You noticed.’ Max was chewing a fingernail and not trying one bit to be nice to her.
‘What do you think we should do?’
‘I think you should be quiet, so I can work that out.’
Max skated over some ideas in her head, wondering why of all the places in the world she had to share the part she was in with Ella.
‘I’ve got it! We can’t sneak away, but Linden might be able to.’
Max put her hand to her chin, adjusted the frequency on her watch and began talking.
‘Come in Lin … I mean, Jeremy. It’s …’ Max could hardly say it, ‘Cynthia. Can you hear me?’
‘Loud and clear,’ came a tinny, wire-thin voice from her watch.
‘Good. We’ve got a plan —’
‘It’s no good,’ interrupted the voice.
‘What do you mean it’s no good, you haven’t heard it yet?’
‘It’s me. Angelina.’
‘What?’ Max turned around and saw Ella with her watch to her mouth.
‘Jeremy is frequency two.’
‘I knew that.’ Max hated being wrong and hated even more being told she was wrong. ‘My frequency button must be stuck.’
Kronch came out of Room B and stood at the door, his eyes carving into them like chainsaws tearing through wood.
Max tried to ignore her Danger Meter and turned her back on Kronch as she spoke into her watch as discreetly as she could.
‘Jeremy, are you there? We’ve got proof that Blue is up to no good. Jeremy? Can you hear us?’
Nothing. Max tried again.
‘Can you hear us, Jeremy? We need your help.’
‘Ah, how I’ve missed that voice. So lovely to hear from you again.’ Max’s heart jolted in her chest like it momentarily forgot how to keep beating. ‘I was just on the phone to Kronch who was telling me how lucky we are to have you with us … Ms Maxine Remy.’
It was Blue.
And he had Linden’s watch.
Which meant he must have Linden.
‘Your little game, Maxine, while brave, has unfortunately come undone and as you know, in this business, that sadly comes with unpleasant consequences.’ He paused. ‘And perhaps some bad news for your little friend Linden.’
At the mention of Linden’s name, Max felt a wave of fury crash through her. If Blue hurt him in any way she’d do everything she could to make him regret it. Her finger pressed hard on the talk button to let him have it. ‘Now listen, Blue —’ but before she could say anything further, the watch went dead.
Hearing Blue’s voice again struck deep fear into her like she was sailing towards a hidden iceberg lurking dangerously in frozen waters. When she tried to swallow, it felt like an icy lump was stuck in her throat and what was worse, when she looked up, she saw Kronch heading straight for them.
‘Quick! Run!’ she yelled.
‘Where?’ Ella asked.
‘Not sure. Just run.’
They raced along the corridor followed by a lumbering Kronch. He pushed past a group of BRATTs sending them hurtling into fake jelly baths and gloopy mountains of imitation cheese. People below looked up as Max’s and Ella’s legs hurled them as fast as they could across the glass floor towards a huge twisting banana slide which connected their floor to the one below. They looked behind them and saw Kronch gaining on them.
‘Down there,’ Max instructed before leaping onto the slide and plunging round the yellow twists and turns and landing headfirst in the soft belly of an armchair shaped like a chef.
Max just managed to get out of the way as Ella nose-dived into the pudgy lounge.
‘Lucky you were here,’ she breathed at the chef, pulling her curls out of her face.
‘Urrrr.’
Ella’s eyes rocketed wide open as she thought the chair spoke back to her, but looking up, they saw it was Kronch, trying to lift his oversized body onto the banana slide. They considered each of the four corridors around them.
‘Which one do we take?’ Ella thought they all looked the same.
Kronch had managed to get one leg on the slide.
‘This one,’ Max decided and they sped off down the closest one.
They flew past noticeboards filled with posters of happy kids eating and laughing and cabinets filled with award winning Blue’s Foods products. They ran so that each step was faster than the one before, until they came to an abrupt stop at a solid steel door.
Kronch’s broken cry foghorned behind them as he toppled down the slide.
Gulping big drafts of air, Max tried the door.
‘It’s locked.’
A bellowing cry sounded behind them as Kronch missed the armchair and whacked straight into the concrete wall behind it.
‘My Danger Meter is going crazy,’ Ella breathed.
Then Max had an idea.
‘The laser!’ She reached into her pack, took the device from its hold and pointed it towards the lock. She pressed hard on the detonator button knowing this would be their only chance to get away
from the fast approaching Kronch, but when her finger came to a stop, she stared at the small grey gadget trying to believe what she saw.
Nothing had happened. She pressed the detonator button again and again but still there was nothing. Quimby’s words zigzagged in her head. The ones that told her all their gadgets had been checked and were in full working order. What were they going to do now?
Ella inhaled a quick fear-filled breath as Kronch got closer and closer. She took her laser from her pack and aimed it at the door.
‘It’s worth a try,’ she explained, wishing as hard as she could that her laser would work.
She pressed the button hard and a sharp line of red light blasted a high-powered beam at the lock.
‘It works!’ she cried.
Kronch’s plodding footsteps got closer and closer as the smell of melting steel filled their noses.
‘Quick,’ Max pleaded as the laser drew a heated line around the lock, leaving a puddle of liquefying mess at their feet.
Kronch was so close they could hear his laboured grunting as his stale breath clamoured to escape his lungs.
Ella held the laser firm, aiming it directly at the lock as Max’s mind raced back to when they collected their packs and to the last person she saw just before they entered the lab. Dretch! Of course. It was obvious he hated them and would get rid of them if he had the chance. He must have slipped into the lab to sabotage her laser before she picked it up. Which means he must be a double agent. That would explain why he flinched when he heard Harrison’s name. They were in deep trouble now but if they didn’t get back to Spyforce soon, the very existence of the agency was in serious danger.
‘Please!’ Just as Max said this, the lock fell to the floor and the door creaked open.
‘Alright!’ they cheered before Kronch’s thumping footsteps cut their celebration short.
Max took off through the door and skidded around a corner where she spied a goods lift in the shape of two bulging red lips.
‘In here!’ She parted the lips and Ella ducked inside with Max following quickly after her. She pressed the down button and pulling her hand quickly inside, the machine began its descent just as an enraged Kronch reached the top of the shaft and shouted down to them.
‘You won’t get away from me that easily, you brats.’
The words rained on them like a volley of poisonous darts.
Max took the map of the factory out of her pack. ‘If my guess is right, Linden is being held in Blue’s office.’
‘According to the CTR, he’s somewhere much closer than that.’ Ella held the device in her hand and tried to estimate his position.
Max rolled her eyes. ‘Or somewhere nearby, which I was going to say before you interrupted.’
‘What will we do when we find them?’ Ella was still nervous about Kronch’s menacing threat.
‘I don’t know. We can work that out on the way.’
Ella wasn’t so sure that was the best thing to do. ‘Don’t you think we should work out a plan before we sneak up on one of the most evil masterminds in the world?’
Max looked up from her map and offered Ella a stare so icy it could have kept a packet of peas frozen for a month. ‘We’ve got to get moving now or there’ll be none of Linden left to save.’
Then, just because she could be nasty, she added, ‘Unless saving yourself is more important.’
For the first time ever, something snapped inside Ella and she decided she’d had enough of Max’s constant bad attitude.
‘You think you’re always so right, don’t you Ms Expert dot com? I don’t know who told you your brain is superior to everyone else’s but if I was you I’d trade it in for a new one because the one you’ve got is a real reject.’
Max’s head jerked back not sure she was hearing right.
Ella was just getting warmed up.
‘And another thing, Miss Crabby, it’s obvious you don’t have many skills as a people person but you could at least try and scrape together a little decency so you’re a bit more pleasant to be around.’
Max was dumbfounded. She’d never heard Ella speak like this before. Part of her was stunned that Ella could get so angry but the other part of her had to hand it to her. That was a good piece of insulting.
‘Linden’s right.’ Ella stuck her chin out and raised one eyebrow. ‘You need to take yourself shopping for a badly needed dose of humour.’
The lift came to a halt and the hatch opened before them.
Max knew Linden didn’t think she had such a great sense of humour. That was okay. She could handle not being very funny, but there was something about hearing it from Ella that really hurt. When she tried to think of something to say, the only thing she could come up with was, ‘Oh yeah?’
‘Yeah,’ Ella said defiantly.
She bent her head and walked through another set of lips into a large, brightly lit basement. It was crammed with shiny metal cylinders mounted on tall, spindly legs that looked like gigantic, overweight insects. Steam was rising from their heads and the sound of bubbling echoed from inside them like hunger pains.
Ella crossed her arms in front of her and stared at Max, daring her to say more.
‘At least I’m taking this mission seriously,’ Max began. ‘Unlike you, who is so caught up with looking pretty that you —’
‘What’s going on?’ a voice nearby asked.
‘Wait your turn,’ Max snapped, resenting the interruption and continuing with Ella. ‘You’re so caught up with looking pretty …’
Max stopped and spun round.
‘Linden!’ she squealed as she threw her arms around him in a very unMax-like manner. ‘We were so worried about you. Where have you been? Are you okay?’
Linden laughed and prised Max’s tight grip from his neck.
‘There’s no need to get all gushy. I was only in a different lab.’
Shocked at her over-emotional reaction, Max straightened her dress and tried to find something else to do with her hands. She lowered her voice a few semitones. ‘We thought you were with Blue?’
‘Why would I be with Blue?’ he asked.
‘He was speaking on your watch,’ Ella told him.
‘I must have dropped it somewhere,’ Linden said a little sheepishly, patting down what was for him an immaculately neat hairdo.
‘That’s weird,’ Max puzzled. ‘My Danger Meter is buzzing.’
‘The whole place down here is full of bad energy. This is where Blue is planning to add the secret ingredient,’ Linden added a little too quickly.
‘How do you know that?’ Ella questioned.
‘Well, where else would they do it? This is the main food preparation area if you look on the map.’
While Linden looked like Linden, except for the hair, there was something very unLindenish about him.
‘Guess who our contact is?’ Max suddenly remembered.
Linden seemed annoyed. ‘You’ve met her already?’
‘Yep. It’s Alex Crane!’
She expected a big reaction but got none.
‘You know. Alex Crane. From my book.’ She was disappointed. Linden was the only one who’d read the Alex Crane adventures she’d written. Apart from Toby and the kids he read to at school while she was in the mud.
She checked her watch. ‘We’ve arranged to meet her in Lab X in five minutes.’ To try and hide her disappointment at Linden’s lack of enthusiasm, she concentrated on the map. ‘According to this, it’s on the second floor —’
‘Don’t worry about the map. I know a short cut,’ Linden cut in, not showing the least bit of curiosity at the fact that Alex Crane was real.
Ella threw an inquisitive glance at Max, who for the first time since they’d met, felt the same way as she did. They walked warily behind him through the spindly insect legs, beneath the rumbling metal stomachs and onto a conveyor belt that wound its way up and over, in and around the whole churning super kitchen. It then began a steep climb high into the extractor fan-filled c
eiling.
Max was worried. There was something very slippery about the way Linden was behaving. Normally he would have been excited about meeting Alex. He wouldn’t have minded her throwing her arms around him. He would have asked more questions about where they’d been. Especially of Ella. And the final clue that made her think something was wrong: he hadn’t made one joke since they’d found each other.
‘Here we are,’ he announced as he hopped off the conveyor belt in front of a furry blue door surrounded by blue frosted windows.
‘Are you sure this is it?’ Max was expecting something very different of Lab X.
‘Yep. Come inside,’ Linden offered like he was inviting them into his own home.
He opened the door and stood aside as they moved into a dark, silent room.
‘I’ll get the light.’
They heard a click followed by the gentle infusing of soft light that revealed a totally blue room. Blue beanbags, blue floor covered by blue rugs, blue televisions, a blue fridge and a blue desk. There were even blue plants growing out of blue soil.
‘This doesn’t look like a lab.’ Ella’s Danger Meter was going berserk.
‘That’s because it isn’t.’ They turned to see a figure at the top of a blue staircase with a thick, blue snake coiled around the railing.
It was Blue.
He moved down the stairs with catlike grace. Kronch stood at attention beside a moulded blue desk swathed in the light of a blue, jelly bean-shaped lamp.
‘Welcome, little ones. We’re so happy to have you with us.’
‘Well, don’t get used to it,’ Max warned him, ‘because we aren’t staying.’ As she turned to go, the door slammed shut courtesy of a remote control clamped in Kronch’s lumpen hand.
‘What’ll we do now?’ Ella whispered to her friends. Before anyone could answer, something happened that even today can still make Max’s blood turn to ice.
Linden looked at them, smiled and walked slowly over to stand next to Blue.
‘Linden?’ Max wasn’t sure what was happening but deep inside her she knew it wasn’t good.
‘Mr Blue and I have been chatting.’ Linden’s voice was slow and deep, like a talking doll when the batteries are running low. ‘He has convinced me that what he is doing here at Blue’s Foods is for the good of humanity and Spyforce is only trying to stop that.’
Spyforce Revealed Page 13
