THE RED MIST TRILOGY: The Box Set

by R T Green

  ‘That disc, guys. It’s a message from Zana. Please Miles, fire up the laptop. I’m told it’s Bluetooth enabled, so you should be able to find its signal.’

  While Miles booted up, Tami fed me pills and dad poured me another coffee. Everyone was fussing around me like I was an injured bird, and although all the attention was stifling, it somehow felt good. Felt real.

  Like it was supposed to. Like I was home again.

  Coop laid a hand over mine. ‘And what about Zana? You really think she’s turned again, gone full circle?’

  ‘I... I don’t know. It’s all just too confusing. What do you think?’

  He nodded to Miles, who went to the car, and came back with something he put on the table in front of me. ‘I think you might recognise this, Madeline.’

  I gasped. ‘Zana’s pendant?’

  Coop squeezed my hand. ‘When you two met behind the shack the other night, was she wearing it over the top of the abaya?’

  ‘No, I would have noticed that.’

  ‘Then you’s got your answer. She dropped it in the sand deliberately. So whatever she’s up to now, there’s no way in hell she’s gone back to the fold willingly.’

  Chapter 116

  Miles placed the disc next to the laptop, opened up Bluetooth. And there it was, unknown device. He paired it up, and my heart tried to explode.

  He glanced to me, silently asking permission to open it.

  ‘Do it, Miles.’

  A couple of pages of words appeared on the screen, and then I heard the voice of the woman I loved...

  ‘Hello Madeline. If you are listening to this, then I am happy because it means you have made it to safety. Now I am desperately hoping you or your father have found my pendant. If you have not, please look for it straightaway. When I was taken, I dropped it into the sand in the trees behind your house, close to where the track branches to the right.

  ‘You must find it, because without the communications disc we will not be able to put my plan into action. My sister will not harm you, but I must tell you she won’t let you out of her life either. The plan I have devised will put an end to the hell you have been going through. It will put an end to everything.’

  She was taking in monotones, a voice without emotion. It filled me with fear, because I knew for sure she was doing it for a reason. I glanced to Coop, he was frowning. He knew too. Zana, what are you doing..?

  ‘Madeline, I am begging you to follow my instructions to the letter. Please put aside any human emotions that may get in the way. There is no guarantee my plan will work, but I am afraid it is all I have.

  ‘I have killed too many. I can kill no more of my people. And especially my own blood, regardless of the fact she is evil and manipulating. But you can, Madeline, and you must. The instructions that follow will enable you to end this hell, and live a normal, happy life once more.

  ‘On the screen you should see two pages of notes. One explains how to operate the pendant, including how to locate my shuttle, which is off the grid at this time. The other page is the directions you will need to make the... weed-killer, as you called it at Dawson’s Hill, which you will use to destroy Tiri’s shuttle. All of the ingredients are easily obtainable, but harmless until you mix them together, and even then, harmful only to the bio-alloy of the shuttle.’

  I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, my heart begin to thump in my chest. Zana, what are you saying? I felt Coop’s hand slide over mine. Oh god... he was thinking just the same as me...

  ‘You will not be able to make a rocket like we did before of course, but I would suggest mixing the ingredients into ordinary glazing putty. You will have to physically attach it to the shuttle’s hull, but if you follow the plan, that will be possible.

  ‘Do exactly as I say. When you have learnt how to use the pendant, make its signal visible to Tiri. She will see you have done so. You will then be able to communicate. I have already told her I lost my disc, and where and why. She will not be too surprised you have found it.

  ‘The plan is based on the fact she is... obsessed with you, jealous of what we... what we had. I believe she will be desperate to have you back, and because of that she will listen to you. You must be firm with her, tell her you will come back to her, but only in exchange for me. That is the motivation for your return that will make it seem genuine to her.

  ’You must also tell her the exchange will only take place at a location of your choosing. She will be suspicious, thinking you have perhaps gone to the military or MI6, but in reality she will have little choice. As soon as she is aware you have escaped she will move the shuttle, so that no one will know where it is. So to have you back, she will have to arrange a pick-up point for the exchange.’

  I heard Coop let out a sigh. ‘Geez Zana, what the fuck are you doing, girl?’ My heart had already sunk through the floor, because I knew what was coming next.

  ‘Tiri will double-cross you of course. She will try and trick you back into the shuttle without letting me go. And even if she was prepared to exchange, I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself for me. So when you are close enough to the shuttle, and she thinks you are about to enter, run to the left of the hatch and plant the putty onto the hull. Then you must run for your life into the trees, because the bomb will have an instantaneous effect. The craft will dissolve into flaming dust in around three minutes.’

  Coop was clutching his head. ‘No, no...no... you think I came all the way here to watch you die, Zana?’

  Tami was in tears, my dad wasn’t much better. I was numb, unable to believe what I knew all too well I was hearing...

  ‘I know you can do this, Madeline. But you must act quickly, before Tiri has chance to form a plan of her own. As for location, the instructions on screen show you how to locate my shuttle. Use its facilities while you prepare for Tiri’s arrival. Close by, there is a clearing in the rainforest, big enough for her shuttle, which is a larger craft than the one I have. Do not deviate from this plan, and do not try any heroics. This is my destiny, but your lies elsewhere. Do not put that at risk any more than you have to.

  ‘And so finally this is goodbye, Madeline. I know we said it once before, and perhaps that should have been our last goodbye. It would have avoided the recent hell you have been forced to endure. I love you, and I never stopped loving you, despite how I had to make it appear. But this is the only way to end this nightmare, and to ensure once and for all that no other nightmares come to pass.

  ‘I only wish I could have brought you this message disc myself before you left the shuttle, and held you in my arms one last time. But I knew if I did that, you would never have gone. That could not be. I wish you a long and fulfilling life, Madeline. Please be happy, because that is my final wish.’

  No one spoke, for a whole minute. And then Coop startled us all, slammed his fist onto the table.

  ‘Ok folks, you heard the woman. Time to get to work.’ He stood up, rubbed a hand across his mouth. ‘Miles, get your brain round those notes, tell us what we need to get.’

  I stared at him, open-mouthed. My voice was hoarse, laden with disbelief. ‘So you’re just going to do what she wants, no questions?’

  ‘Sure I am...’

  ‘You bastard.’

  He turned back to me, his eyes giving away his pain and desolation. ‘Sure I am, Maddie. To a point. But if you think I’m gonna sit back and let her sacrifice herself after all this, you better think again.’

  Chapter 117

  Coop had his eyes fixed into mine. ‘You hearing those words, Madeline?’ I nodded, wiping away a tear of relief. Then he smiled warmly. ‘Good. But right now you’s looking like you’s about to collapse, and this ain’t gonna happen with you half awake. You’ve got three hours to sleep, kid, while Miles uses his techie genius to train up on that pendant, and the rest of us get our heads together. We all sit down for a council of war at noon, and now the captain is back on board ship, start making a rescue plan, you’s all agreed?’

  We were
all agreed. My dad put an arm around me, helped me up so I could get to my bed. Miles was grinning. ‘Bloody hell Jack, why don’t we just head straight to Pirate’s Bay now, get the Black Pearl ready for battle?’

  Ryland Cooper looked at the faces of the three people around the table. No one was smiling. Like him, they all knew any plan they came up with to rescue Zana was fraught with danger, and would be full of potentially catastrophic holes.

  But it had to be. Once again, there was no choice.

  A plan of sorts was forming in his mind. There were too many ifs, but it was all they had. He let out a big, faltering sigh.

  ‘Seems to me the only way to do this is to follow Zana’s plan up to the final minute, but then use Madeline as bait to draw Zana out so we can grab her.’

  Tami cried out, ‘No...’, but David nodded, knowing a certain someone would give them no choice. ‘We all know my daughter is going to do it anyway, regardless of what we say. We just have to make sure she’s not harmed. But somehow from what she says, I agree with her. Tiri won’t harm her.’

  Miles shook his head. ‘But the one fly in the ointment is that Zana doesn’t want to be saved. She’s prepared to go down with her ship, so that Madeline is the one who lives.’

  Coop grinned mirthlessly. ‘Geez, this is goddamn ironic. Two girls in a face-off, each one determined to save the other and sacrifice themselves.’

  David looked uneasy. ‘You think Madeline would actually give herself up to save Zana, for real?’

  He nodded sadly. ‘I think if it came to the ultimate choice... yeah, she would. It’s up to us to stop that happening.’

  Miles made a good point. ‘We’ve got one advantage though, folks. There’s something they don’t know.’ He glanced to Tami and David. ‘Forgive me for ramming this home, you two. But they found you pretty quickly, and clearly watched you for a while.’ Tami let out a visible shudder. ‘They must have seen a girl matching the description they had of Madeline going to Joe’s bar a few times a week. The girl, Lisa, was planted there to confirm it was her, and when they were sure, they took her.’

  ‘So what don’t they know, Miles?’

  ‘What they do know is that apart from Madeline, you two exist. What they most likely don’t know is that there are also two armed and dangerous DIAL agents on your side!’

  Coop nodded, Miles’s words adding a few more pieces to the jigsaw of his plan. It was still full of holes, but was the only way. ‘You got a list of ingredients for that weed-killer yet, bud?’

  He smiled ironically. ‘Yeah. Like most weed killer, the ingredients are readily available. David..?’

  He looked through the list and smiled. ‘Not a problem, guys. Resident home improvement expert here. I got plenty of putty... and I think most of what else we need!’

  ‘Someone will have to physically attach it to the shuttle, cos I ain’t trusting Madeline to do it, so that’s our job. Miles, fire up that pendant again. We need to know where Zana’s shuttle is now.’

  Chapter 118

  I found my dad in his workshop, the list in his hand, foraging on a high shelf to see what he had in stock to help with the weed-killer cocktail.

  A bright midday sun shone out of a cloudless blue sky, turning the day into a hot humid one. Tami had raked out a proper crutch from her seemingly endless stock of medical supplies, but I was trying not to rely on it too much. My rendezvous with Tiri was going to happen back in the rainforest, and I was determined to do what I had to without the help of external support.

  He glanced down to me from the stepladder. ‘Christ kid, should you be walking around?’

  ‘Stop being a father hen, dad. I’m going to have to walk later, aren’t I? It’s not so bad anyway.’

  He jumped down, took my hand. ‘It’s just... I worry, you being a bit nuts most of the time.’

  I laughed. ‘I know. I have to get her back though, dad. Whatever it takes.’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Whatever it takes within the limits of the plan... ok, you?’

  ‘Yes... yes, of course.’

  He walked over to the workbench. ‘We’ve got six of the nine ingredients for the brew. Just have to go and get the last three. And...’ He dropped a small plastic pot onto the top next to me. ‘Putty!’

  I smiled. ‘We can make a start with those. The others can be added when we’ve got them.’

  He slumped down onto a dusty old chair, looked exhausted. ‘Tell me this is going to work, Madeline?’

  My eyes dropped to the sandy floor. ‘I can’t, and I won’t tell you it is a hundred percent certain, dad. But Coop’s plan is as sound as it can be, and there aren’t many in Tiri’s army. And it seems I’m the ace of diamonds, so she will have to play it on our table. They will not get me without releasing Zana.’

  ‘Think they’re getting you, kid,’ he corrected.

  ‘Yes.’

  Coop and Miles were deep in conversation, the map of Tobago on the laptop in front of them.

  ‘There,’ said Miles, pointing to the screen.

  Coop turned to his partner and grinned. ‘Hope you’s got plenty of tree-phobia tablets.’

  Miles groaned. ‘Trying not to think about it, bud.’

  They’d found Zana’s shuttle, in a place just about as perfect as perfect gets, given the situation. On the north side of the island, just a quarter-mile from the beach, two clearings on the edge of the rainforest sat just a few hundred yards away from each other.

  Zana’s shuttle was in the smaller of the two. The larger clearing looked big enough for the enemy shuttle, but not so big as to leave no cover for the two agents. They’d be able to get very close before they were spotted.

  But there, on the edge of the rainforest, roads were almost non-existent. And both Miles and Coop knew the car had to be as close as they could get it, just in case anything happened to Zana’s shuttle.

  The nearest track was half a mile away from the clearings. So once they’d got as close as possible on four wheels, it was a trek on foot through Miles’s favourite jungle.

  Coop grinned, Miles groaned again, just as Madeline and David reappeared, and Tami shouted from the kitchen, ‘Lunch!’

  ‘Just three more things needed,’ said David as he sat down at the table. ‘I have my uses!’

  ‘Sweet. Lunch, then we hit the shops.’

  Chapter 119

  It was two in the afternoon. In the centre of the table, a small tin with a hinged lid held Zana’s own version of C-4, a cricket-ball sized lump of putty infused with the cocktail, deadly only to the bio-alloy of the shuttle.

  Like her rocket on Dawson’s Hill, its effects would be instantaneous. Once attached to the hull, it would eat into the shuttle... so Zana had to be out and away from it before Coop and Miles planted the weed-killer bomb.

  And that was the part of the plan that was turning my stomach inside out.

  On the table in front of me, the pendant seemed to be taking centre-stage. I knew Coop was watching my eyes. I knew because I kept glancing at him, feeling like a naughty schoolgirl being watched by a suspicious teacher. Occasionally I picked up the pendant, nervous hands turning it over and over.

  I knew the perilous risks we were taking, just as much as he did.

  He put a hand on my arm. ‘You ready for this?’

  I nodded, sucked in a deep breath, and silently pressed a tiny button built into the intricate pattern around the rim. A blue light came on. ‘It’s done,’ I whispered, and then pressed another button, telling the pendant to search for other discs.

  ‘Oh...’

  ‘What?’

  ‘If I’m right, it looks like they are already visible.’

  Coop let out a nervous sigh. ‘Game on.’

  Miles was staring intently at the pendant. ‘It’s a hell of a piece of kit. Still wondering how it communicates though. Text, voice, telepathy?’

  I knew he was trying to take my mind off the desperate situation we were in. ‘Doubt its telepathy, Miles. But I guess a kind of text
ing, and very likely voice. If she communicates at all.’

  ‘So what do you want to do, Madeline? She needs to know you want a swap, and the meeting point.’

  ‘Let’s wait a short while, see if she makes contact. One hour, and then I’ll contact her.’

  We didn’t have to wait an hour. Ten slow minutes went by, and then the pendant let out a single ping. My eyes widened, my heart stopped. ‘Looks like she wants to talk,’ I whispered.

  ‘Do it, kid.’

  The tiny central flat screen was flashing. ‘Do I just press it?’

  Miles nodded. ‘I think so.’

  I pressed it.

  ‘Hello, Madeline.’

  I sat back suddenly, a hand flying to my mouth. I looked at Coop, he gave me an encouraging thumbs-up.

  ‘Hello, Tiri.’

  ‘I see you found Zana’s pendant. She told me she had lost it.’

  I composed myself, verbally at least. ‘Yes, fortunately. I wanted to talk with you.’

  ‘Even though you ran away from me?’

  ‘A spur of the moment thing. I discovered someone had forgotten to lock my door. But then I realised I cannot run from you.’

  ‘I see you are learning. I was about to come and find you.’

  ‘Straight to the point, I see.’

  ‘That is my way, as you know, Madeline. So would you like to come and see me?’

  ‘What, walk into your lair, just like that? No Tiri, not on your terms. I have a condition. I will come back to you, but only in exchange for Zana, and at a place and time of my choosing.’

  The voice hesitated a moment, and then she sighed out the words. ‘Despite everything, you are still loyal to something that no longer exists. Zana is back with her own people, and has seen the error of her ways. She will not wish to be a part of an exchange, so what you ask is not acceptable.’