The French Code

by Deborah Abela

  Through the mesh of forest, Linden caught a glint of light. ‘There’s something shining out from those trees.’

  Toby tied up the horses and Veronique picked up Fifi.

  ‘It’s through here.’ Linden led the way into the thick undergrowth of the forest, climbing over log-sized roots and fallen moss-covered trunks, until they found themselves facing a rundown shed.

  ‘I never knew this was here. And I’ve been riding on Regi’s estate for years.’

  On top of the shed were a collection of satellite dishes.

  ‘They’re very fancy dishes for a rundown shed.’ Linden pulled open the door. Inside was a mess of hay, machine and tractor parts and, at the far end, a desk laid out with computers, GPS systems, microphones and an audio panel. There were strewn sheets of paper and books with scribbled notes and diagrams.

  ‘A listening post,’ Linden said. ‘Someone’s being bugged.’

  Linden picked up a pot of tea from the bench and lifted the lid. ‘This hasn’t been here long,’ he said. ‘I’d say it was freshly brewed this morning.’

  ‘So this shed is used to spy on private conversations?’ Veronique asked.

  ‘Yep. With the help of a few listening devices or bugs,’ Linden answered.

  ‘So who do you think is behind the eavesdropping?’ Toby asked.

  ‘These books and papers should tell us something.’ Max wiped her hands on a pile of hay and slowly thumbed through a notebook. ‘They’re filled with scrawled notes, doodles and what looks like names.’ She turned to Toby. ‘Can you look these up?’

  Toby took his palm computer out of his pack.

  Max read. ‘El Faiyum, El Qasr, Baharia and –’

  ‘They’re places in Egypt,’ Veronique said. ‘Papa has been to all of them.’ She stepped closer to Max and looked at the book. ‘And they’re not doodles. Some are hieroglyphics.’

  ‘And I’ll bet a man who has his own copy of the Rosetta Stone knows a little about hieroglyphics,’ Max said. ‘Veronique? Do you have that note Strangways left you this morning?’

  ‘It’s here.’ She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a soggy note.

  Max lined it up beside the book. ‘I’d say that handwriting is a pretty good match.’

  ‘But this shed is miles from anywhere. Strangways has difficulty walking. How would he even get here?’ Linden asked.

  ‘He has a helper or he made the notes somewhere else or …’ Max stopped. ‘He’s faking it.’

  ‘Faking it?’ Toby asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Max said, ‘or at least exaggerating to make us think he’s a frail old man incapable of kidnapping someone.’

  ‘Regi did kidnap my father.’ Veronique looked down at Fifi and concentrated on stroking her fur. ‘I know it,’ she said softly.

  ‘We still need to work out the meaning of his hieroglyphic doodling,’ Max continued. ‘Toby, take pictures of the notes and you can work on deciphering them back at the house.’

  ‘As good as done, Miss Bossy.’

  Toby pretended not to see Max’s poisonous scowl as he held his watch close to his face and snapped pictures of the pages of notes.

  ‘Just don’t mess them up. We don’t want anyone knowing we were here.’

  ‘Yes, Miss –’

  ‘Do you really want to finish that sentence?’ Max asked.

  ‘Maybe not.’ Toby went back to taking photos.

  ‘Linden, is there any way we can find out where the bugs have been placed?’ Max asked.

  ‘I can try.’ Linden took a small USB drive from a side pocket in his backpack.

  ‘What’s that?’ Max asked.

  ‘It’s called the Gatecrasher.’ He turned on the computer and plugged in the drive. ‘A small but very clever device that temporarily dismantles the computer’s security system and gives me access to all its files. Spyforce issue it as part of the Computer Analysis and Infiltration course.’

  ‘Handy,’ Max said.

  ‘Very.’ Linden flashed Max a smile that made her feel like a meteor had crash-landed into the pit of her stomach. She tried to look normal and steady her breathing while Linden’s hands flew over the keys, typing in passwords until he accessed the file he was looking for. ‘And there she is.’

  A list of bugged buildings appeared on the screen.

  The chateau and grounds

  The homes and offices of:

  Antoine Marceau

  Pedro Bolivar

  Gustave Heinrick

  Alessandra Rossi

  Veronique held Fifi even closer. ‘Papa’s name. Regi has been eavesdropping on my father? But why?

  ‘We’re not sure yet,’ Max replied carefully. ‘But he’s also been listening to us.’ Max shivered recalling all that they’d said since their arrival at the chateau, especially her suspicions of Strangways.

  ‘Aside from your father, do you recognise any of those other people?’

  Veronique shook her head.

  ‘I’ll get Steinberger to run a check on them.’ Linden took his palm computer from his pack and typed out the message.

  ‘Why would Strangways bug a long-time friend who he was working with?’ Max asked.

  ‘Maybe he didn’t trust him,’ Linden said before looking up at Veronique. ‘Sorry.’

  The only sound was the turning of pages as Toby continued taking pictures.

  Max handed Veronique a Tracer Bug. ‘I want you to keep this on you. Just in case.’

  ‘Just in case what?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but I think it’s a good idea for us to know where you are every second.’

  Veronique slowly reached out and put the bug in her shirt pocket.

  Outside, the muffled hum of an engine sped towards them.

  ‘Time to get out of here,’ Max said. ‘Follow me.’

  Toby arranged the papers as they were. Linden removed the Gatecrasher device and turned off the computer, wiping it over with his shirt to erase any fingerprints. They ran through the forest to where the horses were tethered, the sound of the engine quickly gaining on them.

  ‘Linden, hold my backpack,’ Max said. ‘And Toby, I need you to play doctor for my sprained ankle.’

  Toby shook his head. ‘I’m not sure I want such a difficult patient.’

  ‘I’ll give you difficult if you don’t come here now.’

  Max turned to the pond. ‘The things I do for Spyforce,’ she muttered before throwing herself into the shallow pool.

  Toby knelt beside her and grabbed her ankle when a small truck bounced out of the forest, tearing strips of dirt into the air behind it.

  The truck came to an abrupt stop and François jumped out.

  ‘What are you doing here? Who said you could –’

  ‘I’m afraid I’m not as good at riding a horse as I thought.’ Max winced. ‘Siren got a little excited and bolted off the track before he decided to throw me.’

  François said nothing. He turned to Veronique and surveyed her muddied appearance. She pushed a hardening clump of sludge-covered hair out of her eyes. ‘I tried to help, but I … slipped.’ She smiled sweetly.

  ‘Aow!’ Max yelped to draw François’s attention back to her.

  ‘I think she may have twisted it.’ Toby feigned concern. ‘My parents are doctors,’ he explained to François. ‘We better get her back to the house so I can examine it more closely.’

  François’s eyes flicked towards the part of the forest that hid the shed.

  Max and Toby swapped nervous looks. There was a moment’s hesitation before François squatted beside Max and carefully lifted her up. He looked at Linden and flicked his head towards the truck. Linden opened the back doors and stood aside as Toby climbed in first, ready to nurse the injured ankle, and François gently lay Max on the bench.

  She gasped in pain. François’s face wrinkled into a frown. He took a blanket from a cupboard beneath the seat and laid it over her before meeting her eyes.

  Max squirmed awkwardly under his searching g
aze. She looked away. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Will someone come to collect the horses?’ Veronique asked.

  François nodded and moved away, inviting her and Linden to climb in. He closed the doors behind them and hoisted himself into the driver’s cabin. A murky window separated him from his passengers.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Linden leant in, faking concern as François threw them a look in the rear-view mirror and cranked the engine to life. It shuddered beneath them in a mechanical snarl and pulled away from the muddy pond.

  ‘François must have us on a surveillance system of some kind.’ Max clenched her teeth as the truck hit a pothole. ‘How else could he have known where we were?’

  ‘But was it your fall or our stumbling across the shed that made him get there so fast?’ Toby continued his inspection of her ankle.

  ‘How well do you know François?’ Max asked Veronique.

  ‘He’s been Regi’s helper since I was a kid. I know he seems cold, but he’s really sweet and can’t stand when he sees people or animals in pain. Once, he and I found a baby starling that had fallen out of its nest and nursed it until he was able to fly again.’

  ‘That’s sweet, but from now on we don’t trust him,’ Max said. ‘We don’t trust anyone on this property. There’s a reason those people are being bugged, and I’m guessing it isn’t a very nice one.’

  She caught François’s gaze in the mirror, searching and focused. She looked down at her ankle and clutched it in faked pain. ‘And it’s about time we find out what it is.’

  François carried Max up the stairs of Strangways’s chateau, wrapped in the blanket from the truck. He entered her room and lowered her onto a long lounge. He fluffed cushions and laid one behind her back and one beneath her ankle before disappearing into the corridor. He returned with a pair of old crutches, a first-aid kit and an icepack, laying them on the dresser.

  He backed away, squeezing his fingers until they drained to a lifeless grey-white.

  ‘She’ll be fine now, thanks, François.’ Toby smiled. ‘She’s lucky she has me here to look after her.’

  Max threw Toby an ‘oh really?’ look, while François nodded and left the room.

  Max looked at the others and put her fingers to her lips. She sniffed her mud-caked arm and spoke clearly. ‘I’m going to have a shower. I don’t think I can handle this pond stench any longer. Veronique, will you help me?’

  The two girls left the room, Max leaning on Veronique’s shoulder and a mud-stained Fifi following close behind.

  Toby transferred the photos of the scribbled notes and drawings to his palm computer and downloaded a template for hieroglyphics from the Spyforce decoding database. Linden, meanwhile, searched the room, checking vases, desks and curtain hems for bugs.

  After only a few minutes, he unhooked one from the frilled edge of a lampshade beside Max’s bed. He held it up with a wide grin, before putting it on the floor and crushing it beneath his heel. He continued his search, but found nothing more.

  ‘Extermination complete.’ Linden smiled and helped Toby with the deciphering of the notes until Max and Veronique re-entered the room, closing and locking the door behind them.

  Toby and Linden stopped what they were doing and stared open-mouthed.

  ‘I feel much better after a shower,’ Max said and waited for the boys to say something.

  They both kept staring.

  ‘I said I feel much better …’

  Linden snapped out of it. ‘Um … yep … sorry. The room’s clear. I found one bug, but that’s it.’

  ‘Excellent, now we can –’ Max began before being interrupted.

  ‘What are you wearing?’ Toby asked.

  ‘Why? What’s wrong?’

  ‘Nothing,’ said Linden. ‘You look … great.’

  Veronique held a newly washed and fluffed Fifi and smiled proudly. ‘I lent Max a few of my clothes.’

  Max’s hair was washed and blow-dried, and she stood in a halo of Veronique’s best perfume. She wore slightly heeled boots, new jeans with a sky-blue skirt flouncing over the top and a tight, light-purple shirt with long sleeves finishing it off.

  No-one said anything.

  ‘I might just put my own …’ She turned to go, but Veronique blocked her path and Fifi barked. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘I can do what I –’

  ‘Does anyone want to know what we’ve found so far?’ Toby grinned.

  Max pushed her hair behind her ears and sat beside him. ‘As long as it takes the attention off me.’

  ‘The hieroglyphics decoder from Spyforce is pretty fast,’ Toby began, ‘so I should have it all worked out pretty soon. But so far it seems that …’ He paused and turned to Max. ‘You smell nice.’

  ‘You really need to get on with it.’ Max gave him one of her best death stares before looking back to his notes.

  ‘There’s a bit of mad raving, especially when Strangways gets to the part about “holding the world to ransom”.’

  ‘Holding the world to ransom?’ Max asked. ‘How does he plan to do that?’

  ‘That’s where it gets confusing. He talks about heka and goddesses and secret ceremonies, and his Book of the Dead gets loads of mentions. He gets especially worked up when he talks about that. His scribbling is all weird and hard to read.’

  ‘He’s going to use an old book to threaten the world?’ Max asked.

  ‘He even mentions specific pages,’ Toby said. ‘And I’m not sure, but I think he’s going to do it using an ancient ritual.’

  ‘He did get pretty excited about heka rituals when we were in the museum,’ Linden said.

  ‘Maybe it has something to do with Papa’s latest project and why he was so secretive about it.’ A wavering tear fell down her cheek. ‘Maybe he’s part of it?’

  Linden laid his hand on her arm. ‘And maybe he’s been kidnapped because he didn’t want to be part of it.’

  ‘Papa could be a criminal. They might arrest him and throw him in jail. They might …’ A loud sob escaped from her chest. Fifi nuzzled into her neck and licked her cheek.

  ‘There’s no point getting upset, we don’t know that’s true,’ Linden said.

  ‘Did your father ever talk about rituals and The Book of the Dead?’ Max asked.

  ‘Papa told me about many and how some ancient ceremonies were performed with certain objects that brought the book’s magical powers to life.’

  ‘Magical powers?’ Max scowled before mumbling, ‘I was hoping for an answer based in the real world.’

  ‘I’ll bet Strangways had your dad searching for something that would activate the book’s powers,’ Linden said. ‘But what?’

  ‘It could have been many things,’ Veronique answered. ‘Figurines, potions, wands.’

  ‘Potions and wands?’ Max looked like she had just sucked a lemon. ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘Yeah. The potions could be made of lots of different ingredients like dog’s blood, and the wands were often carved with the likenesses of powerful gods – they were symbols of the magicians’ authority to summon mighty beings.’ Veronique held Fifi closer.

  ‘This must be what your dad meant on the night you last saw him,’ Linden said. ‘That if the wrong people had what he was searching for, it would cause great trouble.’

  ‘What kind of trouble?’ Max asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Veronique answered. ‘That’s all he’d say.’

  ‘Did your dad believe in all this magic business?’ Max asked.

  ‘Absolutely. He’s even proven it.’

  ‘Proven it?’ Max eyed Veronique. ‘How?’

  ‘When I was a kid. He told me a story of how he’d cut his hand open and used heka to cure it within minutes.’

  ‘He cut his hand open to see if magic would cure it?’ Max asked slowly. ‘And that never struck you as being a little odd?’

  ‘My father was very passionate about his work. I always trusted that he knew what he was doing.’

  ‘
Right.’ Max turned away from talk of magic back to the world of facts. ‘Are there any hints as to when this frail old man might be taking over the world? And from where?’

  ‘There are a few dates, referring mostly to when he added particular artefacts to his museum, along with scribbled notes about a neckpiece. The only place names were the ones in Egypt, but they seem to relate to where his museum pieces were found.’

  ‘I’ll bet the main reason we’re here is to keep us out of the way so Strangways can carry out his plan. Whatever it is,’ Max’s eyes widened, ‘we need to get another look at that book. Especially those pages Strangways mentions.’

  ‘But how?’ Linden asked. ‘The dungeon is locked up tight?’

  ‘We could use the Time and Space Machine,’ Toby said.

  ‘You’d set off the security system as soon as you landed,’ Veronique said. ‘Regi even has the floor wired.’

  ‘So how do we sneak in?’ Toby asked.

  A slow smile came to Max’s lips. ‘We’re not going to sneak in. We’re going to walk in.’

  ‘How are we going to walk in?’ Toby asked. ‘Are you planning on walking through doors?’

  ‘Nope.’ Max turned to Veronique. ‘How good do you think you’d be at charming your way in?’

  ‘That,’ Veronique pulled her shoulders back and gave a flick of her head, ‘would be easy.’

  Max unlocked their bedroom door, only to be met with the stone-cold face of François. She jumped back before lifting her ‘injured foot’ from the ground and hopping to a chair. ‘Aaaah! François, we didn’t hear you.’

  He held out a tray of fresh bread rolls crammed with cheeses, salad and ham.

  Toby and Linden gravitated towards the tray, but Max stuck out her good leg and blocked their path, leaving room for Veronique to go into action.

  ‘François, how sweet. Thank you.’ She grabbed the tray and put it on a side bench. Her smile withered. ‘But I’m not sure I could eat anything right now.’

  She reached into her pocket for Linden’s slightly pond-soaked hanky. François’s face was etched with a worried frown.

  ‘I feel a bit shaken after Max’s fall,’ she sniffed. ‘It reminded me of how fragile life is and how terrible things can happen in an instant. How you can lose people when you least expect it …’ She blew into the hanky. Linden laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, while Fifi snuggled into her leg. ‘Like Papa being …’ She turned and wept on Linden’s shoulder.