Blink and You Die

  She supposed that whoever had been tailing her had either been caught in the same avalanche and was now buried and dead, or had witnessed Ruby’s burial, presumed she was dead, and returned back to their cave of evil or wherever it was these villains hung out. Either way, the human factor was no longer a problem. It was nature that might finish her.

  She needed to get off the mountain as quick as she could. She was free but she would soon be frozen if she didn’t find some shelter. She used the wrist binoculars, setting them to blizzard conditions. They allowed her to see through the blur of snow and make sense of the landscape. Head for the trees.

  It was tough going but she made it, and once there, she set about fixing herself some makeshift snowshoes. She made a mental note to thank Sam Colt for the hours of misery he had put her through teaching her these ‘dumb tasks’. Boy, was she ever wrong.

  The snowshoes worked pretty well and she trekked as far as she could, heading through the fir trees to the west. The forest already provided her with a certain degree of cover, but she needed to make camp, gather wood, build a fire.

  She was lucky. She found a partially fallen tree which created a perfect angle to clad in fronds of fir and there was plenty of fuel for a fire.

  For now, all her energy and reserves were devoted to this one task. And what’s more, Colt was right, it was good to be alive: enjoy the here and now.

  RULE 24: STAY ALIVE LONG ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT YOUR NEXT MOVE. She pulled the hood down over her face, closed her eyes and slept as well as she had slept in a long time.

  Ruby’s very next move was to wake up. Not bad, she thought, especially considering what had happened the previous day. The sky was clear and, despite the minus 10 temperature, the day looked like it might be a good one. She set about the task of rebuilding the fire and making sure she had enough fuel to keep it alive, even if a blizzard hit. She tried not to think about Hitch.

  RULE 21: DON’T THINK BACK, DON’T THINK AHEAD, JUST THINK NOW.

  That meant keeping warm, finding food and figuring out a plan. She had learned a lot about survival from her spring training camp. She had put herself in grave danger by striving to reach base camp as quickly as possible, rather than assess the situation and keep herself healthy. Once the tasks aimed at keeping her alive were completed, she had time to think. She needed to get help, needed to alert LB to what had happened. Only then did it occur to her that LB would already know the fate of the Spectrum X. No doubt her team was searching for the plane wreckage right now.

  But they wouldn’t know about her; they wouldn’t have any idea that she was still alive and holed up alone in the middle of the Northern Mountains.

  She sat staring at the Escape Watch for a full ten minutes, her finger hovering over the FIND ME button before she came to the inevitable conclusion that this was not a smart move. Someone back at HQ was rotten, and though she could send a message direct to Blacker or LB, there was no way she could be certain that this message wouldn’t be intercepted. Someone, or some kind of device, had tipped off Marnie Novak. Somehow, Novak had known that Hitch and Ruby would be flying from Colwin City – who had tipped her off? Who had sent Zuko off on another errand? Who had arranged for Spectrum X to fly them home? What had happened to the Spectrum crew? Someone was pulling the strings here. So if it wasn’t LB or Blacker then who? Froghorn? Ruby doubted that. He disliked her, sure he did, but he didn’t hate her, at least not enough to lose his mind.

  Hitch? Of course not Hitch, because Hitch was …

  Don’t think about Hitch. Gotta stay focused, Redfort.

  She cooked up what food she’d managed to forage and when she’d eaten she decided to turn in early.

  Get some sleep, and head off at dawn.

  She stoked the fire, making sure there were enough red-hot embers to see her through the night, then she lay down on her makeshift bed and felt the warmth beneath her. She was almost comfortable. She tucked the parachute cape around her and, with the fir fronds on top, she thought she might just stay warm.

  She had slept for no more than an hour when something woke her.

  She felt hot breath in her ear, an animal sound, snuffling, a lick to her face.

  She shrieked, leapt to her feet, grabbing a stick and …

  ‘Bug?’ She stood there breathing hard.

  The dog barked.

  ‘How did you get here?’ She dropped to her knees and pushed her face into his fur. ‘Dog of mine, is it really you?’

  She looked past him to see the figure of a man trudging towards her, his hand raised in greeting.

  ‘Found you!’ he said.

  ‘Bradley Baker?’

  ‘So I’m told.’

  ‘What are you, some kind of tracking genius?’

  ‘I am pretty good,’ he said, ‘but actually I cheated.’

  ‘How?’ asked Ruby.

  ‘I attached a transmitter to your pack.’

  ‘You did?’

  He picked up the backpack, unzipped the pocket and took out the Larva badge.

  ‘That’s a transmitter?’ said Ruby. ‘But you said …’

  ‘It didn’t used to be. I just added that feature myself.’ He tapped his head. ‘You know, peace of mind and all that. Turns out I worry. It must be the Mo Loveday part of me.’

  ‘So why didn’t you let me in on this transmitter secret?’

  ‘I didn’t want you to rely on it. I wasn’t sure it was going to work, I’m kinda rusty on all this secret agent stuff. It’s been a while.’

  ‘I guess it has,’ agreed Ruby. ‘Even so, that bump on the head obviously didn’t do as much damage as everyone thought.’

  ‘It’s all coming back to me, slowly but surely.’ He looked around. ‘You built this?’ said Baker. ‘I’m impressed.’

  Ruby followed his gaze. ‘Me too, actually. Hard to believe I flunked survival training, huh.’

  ‘You must have paid better attention than you thought,’ said Baker. ‘Look, I don’t mean to undermine your efforts or anything, but I’m pretty sure there’s a cabin down in the valley above the lake and it might be a tad more comfortable.’

  ‘You have to be kidding me,’ said Ruby. ‘You’re saying I could be sitting fireside in a snow cabin?’

  Baker extinguished the fire while Ruby gathered her things then, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulders, they set off.

  ‘So Spectrum found the pilot,’ said Baker. ‘He’s alive but pretty shaken – he was tied up back at the aerodrome, he was unable to identify the hijackers.’

  ‘Marnie Novak,’ said Ruby. ‘Lorelei was also on board but she wasn’t part of the plan.’

  ‘OK,’ he said.

  Ruby looked at him, ‘No word from Hitch?’

  He shook his head. ‘No word,’ he said. ‘But don’t give up hoping, there’s none better than Hitch, some almost as good but none better – that’s what I’m told. So until we know otherwise then he’s alive.’ He looked Ruby, square in the eye. ‘Agreed?’

  She nodded. ‘Agreed.’

  He handed her a pair of skis and a couple of poles and they were soon off at some speed – Bug chasing behind them.

  The cabin wasn’t exactly the Grand Twin Hotel, but there were dry logs in the wood stack and once the fire was lit, at least it was something approaching warm.

  ‘You must be pretty hungry,’ said Baker.

  ‘Ah, you forget I got my girl scout foraging badge.’

  ‘So not hungry?’

  ‘No,’ said Ruby, ‘I’m starving.’

  Once she’d eaten and thawed right through, Ruby realised how cold she had been before.

  ‘So tell me what’s been going on?’ said Baker.

  ‘Well, it’s been eventful,’ said Ruby. ‘I got kicked out of a plane, buried alive and almost froze to death, but at least I didn’t end up dead like you.’

  ‘I didn’t do so badly being dead; look, I started my own grocery business, became an expert in edible fungi and, I have to say, I ended up with some pretty nice
friends – quite a few of them too.’

  ‘From what I hear you were never short of them in your previous life either.’

  ‘That’s good to know.’

  ‘So does anyone actually have any idea that you’re here?’ asked Ruby.

  ‘Just LB.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Could we have been bugged, is that what you’re asking?’

  Ruby shrugged. ‘It feels like there are ears everywhere.’

  ‘LB and I met face to face and in a mole-free zone. I can assure you, no one was listening in. I’ll meet her tomorrow at the rendezvous just a half-mile to the east, bring her back here.’

  ‘There’s something I’m curious about,’ said Ruby, ‘and there’s not a chance that LB’s gonna fill me in so I wondered if you would?’

  He shrugged. ‘Try me.’

  ‘OK, so I mean I get that LB rescued you from crocodile-infested waters and all, but how did she end up here? How did she go from the northern territories of Australia to Twinford USA? How did …’ She stopped mid question. ‘I forgot, you probably don’t remember, right?’

  ‘Actually,’ said Baker, ‘turns out, that recall of SJ’s does indeed restore the memory – and I do happen to know the answer to your question.’

  ‘So are you allowed to tell me?’ asked Ruby.

  He shrugged again. ‘It’s not such a secret, it’s just LB’s not particularly talkative. You may have noticed this.’ He smiled. ‘I doubt that there are more than a handful of people who know anything much about her.’

  He stared into the fire for a minute. ‘It seems she was quite a kid, that Loveday Byrd; saved my life more than once actually. But on that first occasion at the rapids I had three ways I could have died. If the rocks didn’t kill me and the river didn’t drown me then I guess Casey hoped the crocodiles would make a meal of me.’

  ‘But you were saved.’

  ‘Loveday was there, she was a local kid, knew the area inside out and saw the whole thing unfold.’

  ‘She’s Australian?’ said Ruby. ‘She doesn’t sound Australian.’

  ‘I guess she lost the accent over the years. She’s been living over here a long time,’ he said. ‘Anyway, she did this incredible thing, I mean I watched her, this tall skinny girl, jump down about twenty feet, land on a shelf of rock no bigger than my two hands and then she leapt across the boulders until she reached me. I can’t tell you how she pulled me from the water because the last thing I remember is meeting a pretty big rock head on, but if it weren’t for her I’d have sailed right over that waterfall and I doubt if they’d ever have found my body – the crocs would have seen to that.’

  ‘I’m guessing you have no idea what the kid version of Casey looked like?’

  Baker shook his head. ‘No memory of that, and I heard there is no filed record in the Prism Vault, is that true? I mean you’ve been in there.’

  ‘The only mention of Casey is in that account of your almost demise. LB never met him and Samuel Colt said he wouldn’t be able to pick Morgan out in a line-up.’

  ‘Not forgetting that he’s gonna have changed quite a bit by now, it’s a lot of years ago,’ said Baker.

  ‘And if SJ’s right about her theory and Casey Morgan did seek out the Count then it’s quite possible that Morgan’s learned the technique of complete transformation.’

  ‘Which would explain why not a soul knows who he is,’ said Baker.

  ‘Except perhaps,’ said Ruby, looking at him, ‘you?’

  RUBY HAD NO IDEA AT WHAT POINT SHE FELL ASLEEP, whether it was while she was talking or Baker was talking, but when she woke up he was gone.

  It was the sound of the door closing that woke her. Ruby looked around but there was no sign of anyone, just a note pinned to the cabin door.

  Gone to meet LB, stay put, back soon.

  Ruby yawned, stretched her limbs, pulled on her boots and went outside to greet the day. Bug was lying warming himself in the sun, but got to his feet when he saw her.

  He followed close by while Ruby gathered some wood and built the fire. She was thinking of boiling up some water for tea when she noticed a light flash in the corner of the cabin. It was shining through the pocket of her backpack. She picked up the bag and searched through it until her hand closed around the mini locator. Its signal was flashing violet.

  Hitch, is that you? Are you actually alive?

  What to do next, she wondered.

  Should I go and find him right now? Or should she wait for Baker and LB to arrive?

  She thought for a minute. If he was in bad shape, maybe he wouldn’t last another hour … She should go.

  She left a note telling them where she was headed and, since she had no way of contacting him directly, she pinned the Larva badge transmitter to her suit so he could track her that way. She did not send a message to LB – the watch transmitter she was wary of.

  She wasted no time, grabbing just the essentials: gloves, hat, goggles and first aid kit. Once her skis were on, she checked the locator – it was telling her to head north-west. She whistled for Bug but he stood his ground.

  ‘Oh, come on!’ she said. ‘Hitch could be dying.’

  But Bug just barked.

  ‘OK, have it your own way, Bug, but I have to go.’

  She had gone no more than fifty yards when the husky caught up with her.

  ‘I knew you’d come round,’ she said.

  LB climbed out of the chopper and set about snapping on her skis. Due to weather conditions, she had touched down a mile east of the meeting point, but it would take her no time to ski the final stretch. She held the binoculars to her eyes and searched the horizon. Baker was a good way there already. She was about to set off when her eye was caught by another figure, smaller and clad in gold … and what was that following behind?

  ‘Is that a dog?’ she muttered. ‘Redfort, where are you off to?’

  LB watched as Ruby and Bug headed towards a low ridge not so far from the frozen lake.

  Where is she going? thought LB.

  She panned across the landscape to see what might be drawing Ruby that way. She counted three figures, crouching low in the trees. She focused in closer and saw a fourth, a woman, sitting on a sled. Marnie Novak?

  It didn’t take LB long to figure what was going down here.

  She radioed. ‘Bradley, we got a situation; the kid is headed due north-west and about to hit trouble.’

  ‘How many?’

  ‘Four.’

  ‘I’ll be there.’

  But it was LB who reached the ridge first.

  Ruby was still a way off when a shot rang out. The surprise of it caused Ruby to lose her balance and she fell awkwardly, losing her ski.

  More shots.

  Through the trees Ruby could see movement, blurred figures zig-zagging in the woodland. Then a distant voice.

  ‘Run!’ shouted LB. She yelled from far across the valley, and Ruby began to run, harder than she had ever run. Bug at her side, they ran through the dense woodland where the snow was less deep. They ran downhill towards the frozen lake and they didn’t look back.

  Baker arrived at the ridge to find three guys unconscious on the ground, and LB searching the trees for the woman.

  ‘Where did she go? I didn’t see her go.’ LB’s own blood drip-dripped onto the pristine white snow.

  ‘You’re hit,’ said Baker, placing his hand on her bloodied leg.

  ‘I’m alive,’ she said. ‘Just save the kid.’

  He looked into her eyes, pressing his hand to hers. ‘You can count on it,’ he said.

  He kissed her and then he began to run.

  ‘Don’t die!’ shouted LB.

  He turned, just for a split second. ‘I never do!’

  And he was lost in the trees.

  ‘I’ll make it back,’ he called.

  ‘I know it,’ she said. But her face said something quite different, and her eyes turned glassy. Her sixth sense was telling her something and she tried to b
lot it out.

  ‘Don’t die!’ she whispered.

  But the voice told her he was not coming back.

  GIRL AND DOG STUMBLED OUT OF THE FOREST and tumbled down the makeshift path slick with frozen snow. Ruby part-fell, part-slid down to where the lake met the rock shore. From the corner of her eye, Ruby saw a dog-pulled sled swiftly gliding across the flat snowscape to the edge of the trees. She got to her feet. She was standing on the lake now. Several inches of ice separated her from the death-cold water beneath. Nowhere to go but across the expanse of frozen lake, vast and exposed. All she could do was keep going. So she ran, across the iron water, skidding and falling and scrambling and running, and all the time Marnie Novak in her six-dog sled was gaining on her.

  ‘I see you sweetie, you’ve got nowhere to run, you can’t hide in plain sight.’

  Ruby turned, tripped and fell; all hope seeped away.

  ‘Even your dog has deserted you.’

  She looked around. It was true. Where is Bug? She had been running so hard she hadn’t noticed him fall. Then she saw him in the distance limping towards them.

  Marnie Novak, dressed in fur, stepped from the sled, casting a shadow which fell over Ruby and trapped her where she lay.

  ‘I believe you have something for me?’ said the woman.

  ‘I have nothing,’ said Ruby. ‘What do you think I could tell you, what do you think I know?’

  ‘More than you realise,’ said the woman. ‘It’s time for you to come with me. Casey Morgan would like to look you in the eye and find out what you know.’

  ‘Why don’t you look me in the eye instead?’ said a voice.

  The woman spun around, a face of fury and next, sheer puzzlement.

  ‘Who … what are you … how …’ she stammered.

  ‘Hello, Marnie,’ he said. ‘Long time no see.’

  Slowly, she smiled. ‘Back from the dead, Bradley? How original.’

  ‘It’s easy to pull off if you keep breathing.’

  ‘I guess that’s true sweetie, but for how long will that continue?’

  She fired shots at his feet and there was a cracking as ice split, and a crash as Baker fell into the lake below.