Blink and You Die

  ‘An unblabby person … like an agent, you mean?’ said Clancy.

  ‘Yes, like an agent,’ agreed Ruby. ‘Maybe the plan is to, I don’t know, kidnap someone from Spectrum and make them talk, but since no one seems to have a clue as to what any of this is about it’s hard to imagine what useful thing they would say.’ She picked up a second card. ‘And as far as we know, the cyan scent would also come in handy. Used correctly, it could draw a person out of hiding, same as luring prey to the wolf. You could lure your victim or bait to a location without them really understanding they’re being lured.’

  ‘I don’t think it would work on me,’ said Clancy. ‘I know the scent, I know what to smell out for.’

  ‘Same here,’ said Ruby. ‘I think I might be cyan-scent-proof.’

  Clancy picked up one of the cards, the one which had the word ‘Oidov’ printed on it.

  ‘Still drawing a blank on Amarjargel Oidov?’

  Ruby sighed. ‘Why try to kill her? Why not just steal the snakes if it was the snakes this creep was after?’

  ‘Because maybe it wasn’t about the snakes,’ said a voice.

  Neither of them had heard Baker come in.

  ‘Boy, you move quietly,’ said Clancy.

  ‘Must be the training,’ said Bradley, stepping carefully over the cards. ‘These snakes are rare and ancient and amazing to look at, but I don’t think the attempted murder of Oidov has much to do with reptiles.’

  ‘So what does it have to do with?’ said Ruby.

  ‘So there’s a few thoughts I’ve been mulling over,’ said Bradley. ‘Two weeks ago you came into my store asking if I had ever read anything about so-called ‘Mars Mushrooms’, which I’d never heard of but later discover you read about in those confidential Spectrum files – a discovery of this Pinkerton guy, right?’

  Ruby nodded.

  ‘So I asked SJ and she filled me in on Pinkerton’s findings, told me how these ‘Mars Mushrooms’ enhance your memory – by a pretty big factor by the way; they also extend your life by quite a number of years, but you know all this, right?’

  Ruby nodded.

  ‘So what did you conclude?’

  ‘That if anyone got their hands on these mushrooms they could pretty much name their price.’

  Baker nodded. ‘Which brings me to these rare and ancient mushroom-eating snakes. Have you noticed how everything keeps coming up mushrooms?’

  Ruby and Clancy were staring at him.

  ‘So I went to meet Consuela …’

  ‘Consuela Cruz?’ said Clancy.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Bradley, ‘we’re old friends.’

  ‘When?’ said Ruby. ‘I mean when did you meet her?’

  ‘Just now,’ said Baker.

  ‘You said you were going to Penny’s Books.’

  ‘That’s where I met her,’ said Baker.

  ‘Oh,’ said Ruby.

  ‘What’s Consuela got to do with anything?’ asked Clancy.

  ‘She’s researching the snake mushrooms,’ said Ruby slowly.

  ‘Yeah, she’s been analysing the mushrooms that the yellow snakes feed on, so we cross-checked her findings with Pinkerton’s Mars Mushrooms and guess what?’

  Ruby looked at him, suddenly knowing what he was going to say. ‘They’re the same,’ she said.

  ‘Precisely,’ said Baker. ‘So I took it a little further and I began to wonder why a person would want Oidov dead when she appears to be the only one who knows where these snakes who eat mushrooms live, or rather where these mushrooms the snakes feed on grow.’ He looked at her. ‘And then I thought to myself …’

  ‘Maybe someone wanted Oidov dead because she wasn’t the only person to know where these mushrooms grow,’ said Ruby.

  ‘My thoughts exactly,’ said Baker. ‘So what if … I mean think about it before you fall about laughing, what if the Jade Buddha has something to do with all this? What if whatever’s embedded in those eyes, written there, encoded or what have you, what if it’s a location? Coordinates telling you where to find the Mars Mushrooms?’

  ‘That makes a lot of sense,’ said Ruby. ‘The legend … look into the eyes of the Buddha at midnight and double your wisdom and halve your age.’

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ said Baker. ‘It’s telling you where to go if you want to discover the secret to immortality – or something approaching it.’

  ‘Ah,’ said Clancy, ‘so the looking into the eyes bit doesn’t automatically make you either smart or youthful …’

  ‘That would account for my dad’s unchanged state,’ said Ruby.

  It felt like a breakthrough, and as Ruby rearranged her clue cards she saw that the puzzle was fitting together.

  Bradley Baker excused himself. ‘I might take a nap. This memory recall stuff really knocks it out of you.’

  They had been working flat out for several hours and it really was time for a snack.

  ‘You want to go ask Mrs Digby if we could have one of her Digby Clubs?’ said Clancy.

  ‘You got legs, why don’t you go ask?’ suggested Ruby.

  ‘I’m totally wiped,’ said Clancy, ‘I can’t even move.’

  ‘Well, tough, I’m busy.’

  ‘I know,’ said Clancy, ‘I’ll get Bug to ask, I’ll get him to do the “Go find” trick.’

  ‘Good luck with that,’ said Ruby. ‘He only does it when he’s in the mood.’

  Clancy looked at Bug asleep on the floor and tried to discern if the husky was in the right frame of mind to perform this most useful of tricks. He wrote Mrs Digby a sandwich order and tucked it in Bug’s collar then he said,

  ‘Go find Mrs Digby.’

  But the dog just stared up at him.

  ‘Go find Mrs Digby,’ he repeated.

  And the dog lay down and closed his eyes.

  ‘Why won’t he do it?’ moaned Clancy.

  ‘Because you’re saying it all wrong,’ said Ruby. ‘You have to say it with energy. ‘Bug, go find Mrs Digby!’

  Immediately, the dog got to his feet and pushed his way through the door and downstairs to the kitchen.

  Seven minutes later Bug returned carrying a basket of clementines in his mouth.

  ‘This isn’t what we ordered,’ complained Clancy.

  ‘You’ll have to go make them yourself,’ said Ruby. But before anyone could do anything Mrs Digby arrived with a plate of Digby Clubs.

  ‘I got your message,’ she said, ‘and it’s your lucky day that I happen to be feeling so generous-spirited. Tomorrow you can fetch your own darned sandwiches.’

  An hour later, once Clancy had gone, Ruby went to find Baker. She felt she had better say what had to be said.

  ‘Look, you’re probably wondering how come I’m discussing all this confidential stuff with Clancy. I mean this is strictly not allowed. Spectrum’s rule number one being keep it zipped.’

  ‘Is that so?’ said Baker.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Ruby. ‘I mean I would most definitely get kicked out of Spectrum if they knew I was discussing cases with a civilian.’

  ‘So why do you?’ he asked. ‘Discuss this stuff with Clancy, I mean.’

  ‘Because I can’t not,’ said Ruby. ‘I can’t lie to him, he knows everything. Don’t ask me how, he just has a sorta sixth sense – he looks at me and he can just tell if I’m lying, like he can see into my head.’

  Bradley Baker nodded. ‘Yeah, I think I used to know someone like that.’ He gave her a sideways look. ‘So anyone else in on your Clancy Crew secret?’

  ‘Just Hitch,’ said Ruby. ‘Him, me and Clance – that makes three of us.’

  ‘So now it’s the four of us,’ said Baker, ‘and it’s your lucky day because I’m good at keeping secrets.’

  WHEN RUBY GOT HOME FROM SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY she found the Spectrum 8 boss standing on the stoop.

  ‘Have you come to see Bradley?’ asked Ruby.

  ‘Well, I’m not here to see your mom and dad,’ said LB, ‘charming as I’m sure they are.’

  Th
e door was opened before Ruby could reach for her key.

  ‘Howdie mam, do come in, let me take your coat.’ Mrs Digby performed the coat-taking with such speed and vigour that LB was yanked sideways.

  ‘Don’t worry, one of my arms is still attached,’ said LB, steadying herself. ‘Thank you.’

  The housekeeper turned to Ruby and said, ‘I’ve baked, I’ve toiled, I’ve put snacks on a plate and drinks on a tray. I trust you can manage the rest yourself.’

  Then she turned back to LB. ‘Delighted to meet you mam. Relax, enjoy, use the facilities.’

  With that the housekeeper disappeared down to her apartment.

  ‘Does she have some peculiar condition?’ asked LB.

  ‘It’s TV bingo night,’ said Ruby.

  ‘I have no idea what that is, but it obviously isn’t good for the soul,’ said LB.

  They walked upstairs to the kitchen, where they found Hitch cutting sandwiches.

  LB looked at him. ‘Is this really what Spectrum pays you for?’

  ‘I can assure you it’s money well spent. I make a pretty good Digby club sandwich by now.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad the job seems to be challenging you,’ said LB. ‘And where’s Baker, vacuuming the lounge?’

  ‘Watching Crazy Cops,’ said Hitch.

  ‘I sincerely hope that’s not true,’ said LB.

  ‘Crazy Cops is actually a pretty good show,’ said Ruby.

  ‘I’ll take your word for it,’ said her boss.

  LB and Hitch went up to the top of the house to find Bradley, Hitch balancing the various plates on his arm, waiter-style. Ruby fetched the drinks prepared by Mrs Digby and followed.

  When she teetered in with the tray it struck her how surreal it was to have the three most important members of Spectrum 8 sitting there amongst her records, books, phone collection, assorted objects and – rather mortifyingly – strewn laundry.

  Baker, of course, was not watching Crazy Cops. He was working on the case and had been for a straight twelve hours – no breaks.

  ‘So what do we know?’ asked LB.

  Ruby gave her a quick breakdown of where they were:

  ‘The Australian was an actress who went by the name of Marnie Novak; she was the protégée of the Count and she was and is loyal to him and him alone. She had a child named Lorelei who became the Count’s apprentice, learning the art of disguise to an extraordinary level. Lorelei is still out there giving everyone including the Count a big headache.’

  LB: ‘But you don’t think Lorelei’s part of this?’

  RUBY: ‘No, she’s just a disrupter – a dangerous one.’

  LB: ‘And the Count’s motivation – are we any clearer on this?’

  BAKER: ‘We have theories. It could be the promise of Hypocrea asteroidi.’

  LB: ‘Pardon me?’

  BAKER: ‘Mars Mushrooms.’

  LB: ‘Ah yes, the professor’s discovery.’

  BAKER: ‘Homer Pinkerton was once a friend of the Count’s and it’s conceivable that Pinkerton told him about the life-giving properties of the mushrooms, and now the Count can’t think about anything else. Problem is, he is unable to get them without enlisting the help of this other character, the evil genius who seems to be pulling the strings.’

  HITCH: ‘But we can’t know any of this for a fact?’

  BAKER: ‘That’s right. It’s just a theory.’

  LB: ‘So any theories on who might be pulling the strings?’

  ‘I think it’s the child from the rapids.’ said Ruby.

  ‘Casey Morgan?’ said LB.

  ‘Why?’ asked Hitch.

  Ruby told them about the chalk message. ‘It fits,’ she said. ‘It all makes sense.’

  LB: ‘But no one knows who Morgan is?’

  HITCH: ‘Not a clue.’

  RUBY: ‘Other than it’s someone in Spectrum.’

  LB: ‘Hardly narrows it down.’

  HITCH: ‘And this Larva badge, we still don’t know how it came to be outside Pinkerton’s house?’

  ‘It couldn’t have been Baker,’ said LB. ‘He lost that badge over thirty years ago when he almost drowned at the rapids.’

  ‘I don’t think it was lost,’ said Ruby, ‘I think the kid Morgan stole it, which means the adult Morgan dropped it.’

  BAKER: ‘Maybe.’

  HITCH: ‘So if the Larva badge was dropped by Morgan then it’s more than possible that Pinkerton’s dog was stolen by Morgan.’

  BAKER: ‘That would seem logical.’

  LB: ‘And the point of stealing his dog would be?

  RUBY: ‘To hold Pinkerton to ransom, I guess.’

  LB: ‘So what did Casey Morgan want?’

  HITCH: ‘It could be many things. Pinkerton knew a lot of Spectrum secrets?’

  BAKER: ‘Whatever it was we know he didn’t get it; we know this because the Count told Ruby that he’s still looking.’

  LB: ‘OK, so I have another question. Why make a second attempt on Baker’s life so many years after the first?’

  RUBY: ‘Two reasons: the first was a grand plan to bring down Spectrum.’

  HITCH: ‘Have LB shoot down Baker, thus killing Spectrum’s finest agent. LB is finished, Spectrum destroyed.’

  BAKER: ‘A neat plan that didn’t pan out.’

  LB: ‘And secondly?’

  HITCH: ‘The second was purely emotional. Baker had everything Casey Morgan wanted: he was a successful agent, he had made Larva, and now he had just fully enrolled in the Spectrum Space Encounter programme – qualified the month he was shot down.’

  ‘You know,’ said Baker, ‘I think there’s one other reason.’

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Hitch.

  ‘I think maybe I knew who he was,’ said Baker.

  ‘You remember him?’ asked LB.

  ‘No,’ he said, ‘but if I was trying to get a message to you, when that guy found me dying on the road, then I must have figured it was Morgan who was behind it all.’ He looked at her.

  ‘So let’s start looking for Morgan,’ said LB. ‘Begin by finding out where he sprang from, where he was born, where he grew up.’ She looked at Hitch. ‘We don’t have time to sit back and wait for him to come to us.’

  ‘Understood,’ he said.

  HITCH DID AS HE HAD PROMISED: a talk with an elderly retired agent was how he found it, a lucky chance. The agent had remembered the boy talking about Colwin City and how much he loathed it there and, as it happened, the agent agreed, he had grown up there too and knew exactly the district, the street, the house in which Casey Morgan had lived.

  A day later, Hitch and Ruby were flying down to Colwin City with Agent Zuko, Hitch’s pilot friend. They’d been lucky to catch a ride; he was officially off-duty. The plane was a tiny single-engine craft: an uncomfortable flight, but a thrilling way to travel.

  ‘Take all the time you like,’ said Zuko. ‘I’ve got nowhere to be – I’ll just twiddle my thumbs until you get back.’

  They picked up a car at the aerodrome and drove on to the City, a grey industrial town with sprawling suburbs which seemed to stretch for mile upon mile across the flat landscape. There was nothing inspiring about the place, just a lot of ugly pylons marching towards infinity.

  The trip was unrewarding. There was no sign of the Morgan house, nor the street where the building had once stood. The whole suburb had been bulldozed long ago to make room for a highway intersection. If the Morgans were still alive after all these years then no one seemed to know about it, and all record of them seemed to have disappeared.

  Hitch stared up at the concrete mass of flyovers and shrugged. ‘Looks like we’re back to square one.’

  They got into the car and contacted Blacker back at HQ and told him the news.

  ‘So what did you dig up?’ asked Blacker.

  ‘Squat,’ said Hitch.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Not a darned thing,’ said Hitch. ‘Not one person can give us any kind of description, not one person can remember ever mee
ting the boy Morgan. It’s like he never existed. We’re chasing a shadow here.’

  ‘So what’s your next move?’ asked Blacker.

  ‘We’re coming back,’ said Hitch. ‘Over and out.’

  A message beeped up.

  ZUKO REQUIRED ELSEWHERE: ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT PROVIDED. SPECTRUM X NOW STANDING BY AT COLWIN AERODROME, DUE TO TAKE OFF IN TWENTY-ONE MINUTES, HASTE IS APPRECIATED.

  ‘What’s Spectrum X?’ said Ruby.

  ‘You’re going to love it kid.’

  They arrived at the aerodrome with forty-nine seconds to spare, no time to go greet the pilots or do anything more than buckle up before they were airborne.

  ‘This is quite a plane,’ said Ruby. ‘A lot of closet space.’

  ‘There’s a lot of kit,’ said Hitch. ‘Equipped for nearly every eventuality.’

  ‘Is that so,’ said Ruby.

  ‘Talking of kit,’ said Hitch, ‘LB wanted you to have this.’ He reached into a bag and took out the little white fur parachute cape.

  ‘You’re kidding?’ said Ruby.

  Hitch shook his head. ‘As far as LB’s concerned, you found lost gold; and for that remarkable feat you get this.’

  Ruby had only ever seen the cape displayed inside a cabinet in the Spectrum gadget room. Now, holding it in her hands, she realised what an incredible thing it was: super light and super warm, and totally discreet. It was impossible to see where the chute was hidden.

  ‘I might try it on,’ said Ruby.

  ‘Be my guest,’ said Hitch. ‘In fact, take a look around, kid, you might as well enjoy the ride, get something out of this whole bust of a trip.’

  It wasn’t often – actually it wasn’t ever – that a Spectrum senior agent suggest that a thirteen-year-old trainee have a good rootle through the hi-tech gadgetry.

  It didn’t take Ruby long to discover the Flight Kit Room: a narrow tube of a space that contained parachutes, survival gear and flying suits suitable for sub-zero conditions. The suit which particularly appealed to Ruby was gold, gold as in the colour of, but actually glimmering as if made from gold leaf. It was the same exact suit she had seen in the photograph on LB’s wall, only perhaps a little smaller. Over the top? Sure it was, but when did one ever get to dress like an old-fashioned superhero in an outfit that actually could make you become super? Might as well try it on, she thought, you can’t miss this opportunity Rube.