by Lauren Child
‘There’s more,’ she said she paused, took a breath. ‘It also turns out he is some kind of assassin.’
‘What?’ said Hitch.
‘Those goons you arrested, they’re after Baby Face Marshall.’
‘You heard them say that?’
‘Yeah. The red hat guy just hired them to rub him out.’ Hitch rolled his eyes. ‘Rub him out?’
‘OK, end his life,’ said Ruby, dramatically. ‘But the point is, the orders didn’t come directly from him. The orders came from his boss.’
‘And who’s his boss?’
‘The Australian,’ said Ruby.
‘He said so?’ asked Hitch, suddenly sitting up very straight.
‘Well, not exactly,’ said Ruby, ‘but he quoted her and the words sounded exactly like words she would use. You know how I told you she called me “sweetie” in this really creepy “I’m going to kill you yet I’m talking to you in this really soft mom voice” voice? Plus the red hat guy, he was Australian.’
Hitch was looking less convinced. ‘This isn’t exactly overwhelming evidence you have here.’
‘I swear, I’m sure it’s gotta be her.’
‘Well, whoever this guy’s boss is, she doesn’t sound like someone you’d want to run into, so I’m going to go in and see if I can get some more information from your two meathead friends, and then maybe we’ll have something to go on. And kid, get some sleep would you, you look kind of beat.’
‘I’m sure I’ll sleep like a baby,’ she said.
Blacker was waiting for her when Ruby arrived at Spectrum the next morning.
‘Hitch filled me in,’ he said as they walked to the lab. ‘Are you finding trouble or is trouble finding you?’
SJ looked a little fraught.
Blacker sniffed the air. ‘What’s that smell?’
‘That’ll be my hair,’ said SJ. ‘Some dufus somehow mixed the labels on my test samples and my shampoo.’ She caught sight of the bottle in Ruby’s hand. ‘More possibly poisoned beverages?’
‘Yeah,’ said Ruby. ‘I mean, I doubt it is. Actually I think the bottle contains some kind of code.’
SJ looked puzzled.
‘I think it’s contained in the taste? Or rather the flavours,’ she said. ‘When the guy sipped it he seemed to be analysing it, trying to decipher what was in it, and once he figured it out, he wrote it down.’ She paused before remembering, ‘Oh yeah, and there’s what’s printed on the reverse of the label, you can see it through the liquid – FOUR GREAT TASTES SINCE 1922. I’m sure it means more than what it seems to mean, if you know what I mean?’
Blacker and SJ were just looking at her; it was disconcerting.
‘Am I rambling?’ she asked.
‘Only a little,’ said Blacker, ‘but I follow you.’
‘That’s good,’ said Ruby. ‘So anyway, before I taste it for myself, I’d like to know for certain that one of the ingredients isn’t toxic.’
‘Always wise,’ said SJ. ‘You’d only have yourself to blame if you woke up dead.’
SJ took no time in getting on with the tests, the same procedure as before.
When she was satisfied she said, ‘Well, like last time, there’s no poison. There are various trace metals in there etcetera, but mostly it’s just water, salt and sugar.’
‘Salt and sugar?’ said Ruby.
‘Uh huh.’
SJ pushed her goggles on top of her head, which gave her the appearance of a fly. Then she held the bottle up to the light. ‘Where can a taste take you?’ she muttered. ‘Well, let’s see.’ She poured a little of the liquid into tiny beakers and they all sampled the drink. ‘The taste is … what do you think?’
‘Kinda gross,’ said Ruby.
‘As a drink, I’m not sure,’ said Blacker.
‘No,’ said SJ. ‘It’s like seawater. But sweet too.’
‘So you agree,’ said Ruby, ‘there’s something else to it?’
Blacker nodded and peered through the bottle at the label’s reverse. ‘“Four great tastes since 1922.” What do you think that’s trying to tell us?’ he mused.
‘I have no idea,’ said Ruby.
Was the intention to convey a message? A location maybe? If the taste was a code, pointing to something, someone or somewhere, then they were not seeing it.
There were a lot of unknowns, but at least now they knew that these elusive drinks were in some way connected to the dealings of some unsavoury people, even if they didn’t have a clue as to how or why.
‘What was in the first bottle?’ said Blacker. ‘The one purchased at the store?’
‘Water, lemon and sugar,’ said SJ.
‘No salt?’
‘Not in that one.’
Blacker scratched his head. ‘So the guy tastes the first drink, the sugary lemony one, and then a few days later arrives at the university music school,’ he said.
‘But I mean, what’s sugar and lemon got to do with the music school?’ said Ruby. ‘Is there any connection?’
‘There are lime trees in the courtyard,’ said Blacker.
‘Limes are not the same as lemons,’ said Ruby. She paused – she was thinking about the sleek new music school with its state-of-the-art concert hall. ‘So what used to be there, before the music building got built?’
‘The old comb factory,’ said Blacker.
Her face fell. ‘So nothing lemony about the place?’
‘Nope,’ said Blacker, ‘and no, it was never ever painted yellow.’
‘Nothing’s coming up lemons,’ said Ruby.
Blacker’s watch bleeped. He looked at the message and his relaxed expression faded.
‘I have to be somewhere,’ he said, jumping to his feet. He looked anxious, worried even, Ruby thought.
‘Everything OK?’ asked Ruby.
‘Sure, it’s nothing,’ he said, ‘just a routine briefing thing.’ But his face told another story. ‘Are you able to work on this alone, or do you want to team up with Froghorn?’
She gave him a look as if to say, you serious?
‘I guess not,’ he said, as he attempted to twist himself into his raincoat.
‘You got the sleeves all inside out,’ said Ruby, taking the coat from him and untangling it, ‘here.’
‘Thanks,’ said Blacker, ‘I’d be lost without you.’ He put the coat on. ‘So look, call me as soon as you get something, OK?’
‘Assuming I do,’ said Ruby. ‘So far I’ve been lucky – just happened to see strangers doing strange things.’
‘So keep your peepers peeled and you might just get lucky again,’ said Blacker, exiting the room.
Ruby thought about what Blacker had said, how she should keep her eyes peeled, so instead of going home she headed to Flaubert Street.
She found a bench on the far side of the road from the old piano factory and stared across at the huge Taste Twister billboard. Ruby took out her notebook and pencil and made a sketch of what she saw, making sure to get the details just right. The billboard, the image, the words and all.
She zipped her parka and sat watching for a while. Would the guy in the red hat come back? She sat like that for two whole hours in fact, before figuring that this was probably the dumbest thing she had ever done. The odds that anyone would just happen along were remote – she couldn’t rely on getting lucky – so instead she would have to use her brain. She thought back, visualising the guy in the red hat, staring up at the billboard.
What had he seen to make him go to the Little Seven Grocers store to buy the bottle?
The billboard told him to go. Either the name of the store was written somewhere on that advertisement or …
The billboard somehow gave the location of the store!
She stood up, waited for a gap in the traffic and crossed to the other side. She walked to the billboard and peered up at it, like the Australian man had done. A few minutes later, she saw it. At the bottom, in small numerals, was a set of numbers.
32.7410, -117.1705
&
nbsp; To a casual passer-by, it might just seem like this was a serial number for the poster. But Ruby had a hunch those numbers were not just any numbers – they had to be coordinates.
And if she wasn’t much mistaken, they were California coordinates.
In fact – she would put money on it – they were most probably the exact coordinates of the Little Seven store where the man had picked up the first Taste Twister bottle.
Was she right about this? Only one way to find out.
She began to run.
Chapter 38.
The Yellow Wind-Dragon
RUBY SAT AT HER DESK IN HER BEDROOM AND FLICKED THROUGH HER ATLAS. It was a sizeable volume and the most complete atlas available on the market. She had put it on her Christmas list when she was just four, and Santa didn’t disappoint. In fact, he made sure he delivered an updated volume every other year.
At the back of the atlas was a section on longitudes and latitudes.
Different regions of the world were shown on each spread, with the vertical and horizontal lines marked and numbered.
She turned the pages till she got to western America. Then she traced her finger down the page.
Longitude -117 …
Latitude 32 …
Her finger stopped.
It was over Twinford.
She nodded to herself. The atlas didn’t give enough detail – she’d have to check the precise location with Blacker, or someone else at Spectrum – but she knew what the other numbers would give: the address of the store where the man bought the first bottle.
OK, she thought. So if the billboard gave a location, then maybe the bottle gives a location too.
She picked it up and peered through the glass at the reverse of the label. FOUR GREAT TASTES SINCE 1922. And that weird mandala shape. She frowned. It reminded her of something. Something—
There was a knock at the door. Ruby put the bottle aside.
‘Yeah?’ she said.
The door opened and there was Hitch. He looked … not himself. A little drawn. A little pale.
HITCH: ‘You ever study kung fu, kid?’ Ruby almost fell off her chair.
RUBY: ‘What makes you ask that?’
HITCH: ‘OK, let’s say for the sake of speed, I know you did. Let’s say I know you were a black belt.’
Ruby said nothing – and then:
RUBY: ‘How do you know, anyway?’
HITCH: ‘I read it in your file.’
RUBY: ‘What file?’
HITCH: ‘The one Spectrum holds; don’t make like you didn’t think there was one.’
RUBY: ‘Of course I know there’s a file, LB’s mentioned it enough times, I just didn’t think this would be in there is all.’
HITCH: ‘Everything’s in there.’
RUBY: ‘I doubt that.’ Hitch raised an eyebrow.
HITCH: ‘You want a bet?’
RUBY: ‘My dad told me not to gamble.’
HITCH: ‘Very wise.’
RUBY: ‘But I happen to know Mrs Digby plays poker at least every week and does pretty well on it.’
HITCH: ‘That’s gambling for you; you never can tell.’
She looked him dead in the eye.
RUBY: ‘So you know what happened?’
HITCH: ‘I know you broke a kid’s arm once.’
Ruby said nothing.
HITCH: ‘I know you pretty much smooshed his nose too.’
RUBY: ‘Yeah, well, it wasn’t much of a nose.’
HITCH: ‘I bet he was pretty attached to it.’
RUBY: ‘Yeah, and in all the usual places.’
HITCH: ‘So why did you feel the need to flatten his nice little snout?’
RUBY: ‘He wasn’t such a nice little kid.’
HITCH: ‘True, he wasn’t little, and he wasn’t much of a kid either – what was he, 6’ 1” and ten years older than you? You were seven, is that right?’
RUBY: ‘I was trying to stop him from hurting someone. Someone who didn’t stand a chance.’
HITCH: ‘So it was all on you?’
RUBY: ‘Someone had to do something. He was dangerous.’
HITCH: ‘You were pretty dangerous too; this guy could have wound up with more than just a broken nose.’
RUBY: ‘I didn’t intend to break his nose.’
HITCH: ‘But you went too far?’
RUBY: ‘It’s hard to know what’s too far.’
HITCH: ‘And this is why your parents hate you fighting?’
RUBY: ‘It’s the one thing they’re pretty serious about – that and good manners.’
HITCH: ‘No more kung fu.’
RUBY: ‘No more kung fu.’
HITCH: ‘Maybe you just needed the right teacher.’
Ruby frowned. ‘Why do I get the feeling you want me to take up kung fu again?’
‘Because I do,’ said Hitch.
‘But you’ve already got me learning aikido,’ said Ruby. ‘I took care of those goons, didn’t I?’
‘Yes,’ said Hitch, ‘but they were amateurs. Aikido is a smart way to defeat a gorilla using his own gorilla strength against him. But for taking on someone smart and trained? Someone who doesn’t play it by the rules? No good at all.’
‘You think I’m going to have to take on a smart, trained cheat some time soon?’
He looked her square in the eye. ‘I hope not kid, but I wouldn’t bet against it.’
‘So you want me to study kung fu again … just in case?’
‘Yes.’
‘You think I might be in danger?’
‘Kid, when you’re in our line of work things can happen, unexpected things.’
‘We’re talking life-threatening things?’
‘Maybe.’
‘But you can’t guard against every eventuality.’
‘You might as well have the odds stacked in your favour.’
‘And this sudden desire for me to become the kung fu kid has nothing to do with the Australian woman making a reappearance? Or the Spectrum mole? I mean, if there is a Spectrum mole.’
‘I can’t say.’
Ruby sighed. ‘Are you trying to give me sleepless nights?’
‘Quite the contrary,’ said Hitch. ‘If I’m honest with you, I for one might sleep a whole lot better if I thought you were ready for anything – think like a girl scout and be prepared.’
‘I don’t think most girl scouts are expecting to run into psychopaths.’
‘Put the murderers to one side for a while and just think of it as an assignment,’ said Hitch. ‘Here. I got something for you.’ He took a small white business card from his inside jacket pocket, handed it to Ruby and said, ‘Your problem was never kung fu itself, kid, it was about discipline.’
The card was embossed with an origami pattern. Ruby turned it over and saw printed in red a name: Jen Yu, Yellow Wind-Dragon kung fu master.
‘She can teach you what you don’t know,’ said Hitch.
‘Why do I get the feeling I’m in the dark here?’ said Ruby.
Hitch shrugged. ‘It’s a secret agency,’ he said. ‘The clue is in the name.’
He turned to head back down the stairs but he stopped when Ruby called, ‘Hey, can you find out what these coordinates relate to?’ She handed him a piece of paper on which she had written the numbers from the billboard.
‘Why?’ said Hitch.
‘Ah, I’ll tell you if I’m right. It might all be seawater and lemon juice.’
Chapter 39.
So who blabbed?
NOT LONG AFTER RUBY ARRIVED AT SCHOOL THE FOLLOWING DAY, she was summoned to the principal’s office. He had a very particular subject he wanted to discuss and he took no time at all bringing it up.
‘The fight outside Sunny’s Diner, what can you tell me?’
Ruby shrugged.
He asked her a whole lot of questions and she gave him not many answers, at least none of the answers he was hoping for.
‘No, I can’t remember.’
‘No, I didn’t see.’<
br />
‘The whole incident’s a blur on account of my getting clonked on the head.’
He sighed. ‘So you can’t tell me who else was involved in this mindless act of vandalism?’
‘I wish I could sir.’
‘How about Del Lasco?’
‘Del? I don’t know why you would bring her name up,’ said Ruby.
‘Let’s just say a little bird told me.’
Ruby blinked. Who had told him that?
‘Maybe your little bird heard wrong.’
He sighed again. ‘Very well, Redfort. Dismissed.’
By the time she had returned to class, Del Lasco was in the hot seat.
‘What’s going on?’ hissed Red. ‘Are you in more trouble?’
‘I’m not sure that’s possible,’ said Ruby.
But as it turned out, she was very wrong. She knew this for a fact when she saw Del Lasco marching towards her at some speed. For a second, a split second, Ruby thought Del was going to punch her, but once Del got up close and Ruby was able to see her expression more clearly it became obvious that Del appeared injured rather than angry.
‘If you felt you had to rat on me then I understand. What I don’t understand is why you couldn’t have warned me,’ said Del. She looked truly injured. ‘I mean, I just need to know when to stop bluffing.’
‘I didn’t rat on you,’ said Ruby.
‘Really? So you just happen to leave the principal’s office and then I just happen to get called in and he knows I was there?’
‘I spoke to him, yeah. But I didn’t say anything.’
‘Sure. I can deal with anything, but not standing there like a total bozo lying my head off when they know the truth anyways,’ said Del.
‘But I didn’t rat on you,’ repeated Ruby. ‘I don’t rat, and if I did rat then I would tell you my reasons, which in any case I wouldn’t have, because I DON’T rat.’
‘So how do they know?’ said Del.
‘My guess would be some big mouth busybody like Mr Chester told them.’
