Blink and You Die

  ‘Cynophobia,’ said Quent.

  ‘That’s a big word for a small kid,’ said Del.

  ‘I know everything about dogs,’ said Quent.

  ‘So how do you know that Mrs Hassensack has cyno-whatever?’ asked Mouse.

  ‘My mom designed her costume,’ said Red, ‘and they got chatting. Turns out Mrs Hassensack has issues.’

  Suddenly, bringing Bug to this crazy party seemed like a very bad idea. There would be a scene, her parents would be mortified, Ruby would be in the dog house, and all in all it would be a very bad start to 1974.

  ‘I better go fetch him before we both get sent to the pound,’ Ruby sighed. ‘Look, if you see that Crew boy, tell him he’s royally late.’

  ‘Where shall I say you are?’ asked Elliot.

  ‘I don’t know, tell him I’ll be on planet Mars – which is where I wish I was, by the way.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Elliot.

  ‘You want me to come with you?’ asked Mouse.

  ‘Nah, I won’t be a minute. I’ll bet he’s gone to find Consuela. She’s a soft touch when it comes to Bug.’

  Ruby began to weave her way through the party, making sure to avoid her parents, who were in the middle of a highly animated conversation with the planet Neptune and a flying saucer, or some unidentified flying object, it was hard to say.

  ‘Bug!’ hissed Ruby. ‘Where are you, you horrible husky?’ She looked in the rooms either side of the grand corridor. There were people everywhere, elegant gatherings clustered here and there, some sitting, others standing, all of them chatting, but no Bug.

  ‘Hey, anyone seen a husky?’ she called.

  Barbara Bartholomew turned around when she heard Ruby’s voice. ‘Oh, hey Ruby, I did see Bug and you better catch hold of him before Mrs Hassensack sees him. She’s not a fan, if you know what I mean. She has allergies, and that thing, what’s it called?’

  ‘Cynophobia,’ said Ruby.

  ‘That’s the one.’

  ‘Thanks Barbara. Could you grab a hold of him if he comes this way?’

  ‘You can count on it, honey.’

  Ruby lingered a second. ‘Would you maybe not mention it to my mother?’

  Barbara gave a theatrical wink. ‘I’ll keep it zipped, no reason to ruin her evening.’

  ‘I appreciate it,’ said Ruby.

  She continued on until she reached the staircase. She wasn’t certain why, but if she had to guess, instinct told her to go up rather than down. As she climbed the stairs, so the chatter and laughter receded, and once on the 34th floor it was just a gentle hum and burble. She cocked her head and listened, and then she thought she heard the sound of Bug’s plaster cast tapping along the marble floor. She quickened her pace, rounded the next corner and then there she saw him.

  ‘Bug! What in jeepers are you doing?’ The dog stopped, turned to look at her, paused for just a moment and then walked on.

  ‘Bug, you come back here!’ But he wasn’t listening. This was odd, super odd. Bug was one very well-behaved dog – at least he was on just about any other day.

  ‘Hey, what’s got into you? Geez, Bug, you choose this moment to give up on the whole command thing?’

  It was then that she became aware of the air. It wasn’t the smell of candles, perfume and food that she now breathed. It was something far richer. It was different from the other delicious smells which were coming at her from all directions and everywhere. This scent was intoxicating. More exotic than jasmine, more heady than roses, more …

  Cyan, she thought.

  She knew that scent. The last time she had smelled it, she was on top of Wolf Paw Mountain, nose to nose with its fearsome creator, the Blue Alaskan wolf. Cyan. The rarest perfume in the world, a scent designed to lure prey.

  ‘Bug, come back here!’ she hissed. But the dog wouldn’t be called.

  When she turned the next corner, she saw him standing there at the far end of the hallway. He paused just a moment and then he was gone.

  Her instinct was to follow, but she knew this was a trap. Whoever was luring Bug was actually luring her. Don’t follow. If you do whoever is round that corner will kill you and then they will kill your dog. You live, Bug lives.

  She could hear footsteps coming her way. She backtracked, slipping in through a half-open door. The room was dark. The footsteps moved quickly.

  A man? And then she heard a voice. It was hushed, but there was no mistaking who it belonged to: Hitch? She was about to step out from her hiding place, when his words caught her. He was speaking into some kind of radio device.

  ‘I’ll find her,’ he whispered. ‘She’s here in the building. I saw her come up, she’ll be lurking somewhere in the shadows. She’s smart but I can outsmart her.’ He stopped almost directly in front of the door behind which she hid. ‘I know we want her alive,’ he said, ‘but that all depends on whether I reach her before our friend the Count does.’ He sniffed the air. ‘I smell cyan – he’s here already and he’ll kill her if he gets the chance.’ The way he spoke was matter-of-fact, urgent but without emotion. ‘At least with her gone, it would bring everything to a close.’

  He began to walk, his footsteps heading off down the passageway.

  Ruby didn’t move. Stay still until you are absolutely sure the coast is clear. Was that a rule? She couldn’t remember.

  It was while she stood there as still as the walls, that the Escape Watch flashed red.

  A message from HQ.

  YOU ARE IN DANGER!

  This word message was followed by a picture message. A black-and-white photograph appeared on the screen, a boy of about six, maybe seven.

  She stepped backwards as if the small white teeth of the boy might take a bite. For the eyes which stared back at her were the eyes of the Redforts’ very own house-manager, the eyes of Spectrum Agent 192.

  The image dissolved and the following words appeared:

  THE MESSAGE WAS FROM BUZZ and was followed by the words:

  I AM COMING TO FIND YOU, STAY WHERE YOU ARE, KEEP AWAY FROM HIM.

  It was hard to be exactly reassured by this.

  It was good to know that someone was on the way to rescue her from mortal danger, but if Ruby could have picked anyone to come to her aid then it would not have been the woman who sat, mushroom-like, surrounded by telephones, picking up messages and passing on instructions. Of all the people in Spectrum 8, Buzz seemed the least likely to be capable of saving her. But it was turning out to be that kind of day, since Ruby had to admit that of all the people she had worked with, Hitch seemed the least likely to be the one to try and kill her.

  RULE 81: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR MOST TRUSTED ALLY TURNS OUT TO BE A PHONEY?

  The answer was not in Ruby’s little magenta rule book, because for most of her life, Clancy Crew had been her most trusted ally and so she had never once had to contemplate the thought.

  Clancy Crew, meanwhile, was trying to recall any one of Ruby’s rules in the vague hope that it might perhaps give him even the faintest clue as to what he should do next. Bug had been shut behind a door, the Count obviously didn’t trust this injured husky not to take a bite, and so Clancy alone stood staring into the eyes of Count von Viscount, unsure of what his next move should be.

  ‘So Master Crew, we have managed to acquire a dumb animal but failed to lure the smart girl.’

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Clancy.

  ‘Why is that?’ asked the Count.

  ‘She didn’t follow,’ said Clancy.

  The Count looked at him with cold disgust. ‘She did not.’

  Clancy said nothing.

  ‘You lied to me,’ said the Count. ‘You lied.’

  Clancy looked back at the man. ‘How could I? You gave me a truth serum and I told you the truth.’

  The Count’s eyes were boring into him; he could almost feel their stare. ‘What do you think I am, some kind of fool? An imbecile?’

  ‘A bear,’ said Clancy.

  The Count looked puzzled.

  ‘Do you
know what I’m capable of?’ he hissed.

  ‘Anything,’ whispered Clancy. ‘You’re capable of anything.’

  But the Count didn’t hear. His attention was caught by another sound – footsteps moving fast, two people, but not together. He let go of Clancy, who stumbled, his head hitting the edge of the sill, a nasty thud.

  ‘I’ll catch up with you later,’ said the Count. ‘You might as well stay where you are. No one can save you now.’

  I think that might be true, thought Clancy as he watched the man walk away, his shoes tap tap tapping on the cold marble floor.

  WHAT TO DO IF YOU MEET A BEAR – WISH YOU HADN’T!

  As Clancy lay there, he thought about the unsolvable problem, the problem which had no answer – bears. The only thing he and Ruby had always agreed on was who in all the world might save you should you have the misfortune to meet one.

  ‘Mrs Digby,’ he whispered, before passing out.

  As Ruby turned the corner she saw him and, more to the point, he saw her.

  ‘Ruby!’ called Hitch.

  She turned and ran.

  ‘Kid, where are you going?’

  But she didn’t reply. She just tore down the passageway as fast as ever she could. She made it to the back staircase and quickly sprinted down the zigzag stairs to the 33rd floor. She was relieved to be back where the party was, where all the people were. She ran along the deserted east corridor until she reached the big wooden doors which led to the grand hall. She could hear the hubbub on the other side. She reached for the handle and pushed down hard, expecting the doors to swing open, but they didn’t – they were bolted shut. She hammered hard with her fists, but no one was going to hear her, not with the racket of the music and the dancing and the laughing and happy chatter.

  Where is Buzz? Darn it, where is Buzz! She pulled at her hair and slapped her hand to her head several times. Keep calm, she told herself. Focus Ruby, stop freaking out and focus.

  She closed her eyes, took a breath. And just like that an idea popped into her head. She remembered that overheard conversation – her mother talking about the party, the little catering lift, a sort of updated dumbwaiter that was going to be installed to carry food and dishes from the newly built kitchens all the way to the grand dining room on the 33rd floor. If Ruby could find that then she could climb inside, she was certainly small enough, and once in the lift she would be able to travel to the basement level and grab a cop or a passer-by. She really wasn’t feeling choosy.

  If only she had paid attention to her mother’s chatter, if only she had, she would have known why this plan was simply not going to work. Two minutes later she found out. The room was an empty shell of a space, a building site. There was no dumbwaiter, just one desperate girl.

  She could hear Hitch, his footsteps clicking along the marble corridor. How had he known she would come this way? Could he read her mind? Was it some Spectrum intuition? And as she lifted her hand to her head she found the answer: the fly-barrette, she must have triggered the locator. It was not broken, just jammed. Hitch knew exactly where she was because she had told him. She began barricading the door with ladders and construction workers’ tools and anything that might possibly buy her one more second of time.

  RULE 44: WHEN IN A TIGHT SPOT, BUY YOURSELF SOME TIME: ONE MINUTE COULD CHANGE YOUR FATE.

  Now what? Wait for help to arrive? Buzz, you walking mushroom, where are you?

  She could hear him outside, trying the handle.

  ‘Kid, I don’t know who’s spooking you, but you’ve got this all backwards.’

  She kept quiet, as if silence was a good way to fool him, make him think she wasn’t there.

  Not a chance.

  Clancy came round and realised he was very uncomfortable sprawled there on the floor. Something rock-like was digging into his hip. He reached a hand under his side.

  ‘Buttercup?’ he said, pulling the doll from his jacket pocket. ‘Oh boy, I forgot about you. Olive’s going to be mad at me, Mom and Dad are going to be mad at me, and where am I? Flat on my back doing nothing about nothing.’ He looked sadly at the doll. ‘Why don’t you go get help, Buttercup? I’ll try crawling off to find Ruby, while you find someone to save us.’ And then he remembered the last thought he’d had before he’d slipped into unconsciousness. It had been about Mrs Digby and bears and he wondered, was it possible that she could save Ruby?

  He groped for his indelible pen, he still had it in his back pocket, and he scrawled a silver message on the doll’s face.

  It said:

  Follow me back to Clancy

  Then he sort of half-walked, half-staggered to the door that held Bug.

  The dog wagged its tail, pleased to be released, pleased the frightening man in the long black coat had gone. Clancy stroked the husky’s head.

  ‘OK Bug, you gotta do this one thing, think you can?’

  The dog wagged its tail some more.

  Clancy held the doll out to him. ‘Go find Mrs Digby?’

  The dog’s ears pricked up when he heard her name.

  ‘Here, go find Mrs Digby.’ But Bug just stood looking at Clancy and the trickle of blood running down his cheek. ‘Bug, go, you have to go, OK?’

  But the husky did not move.

  ‘Bug, you know this game, you’re really good at it.’ Clancy threw the doll, and said in his most commanding voice, ‘Bug, go find Mrs Digby!’

  The dog stood still.

  Clancy was getting desperate, his voice losing hope. ‘Bug, for jeeper’s sake, you have to go get Mrs Digby, you have to or Ruby will die, you understand? I need your help.’

  And the dog did seem to understand. He picked up Buttercup and he turned and he ran back down the corridor towards the staircase.

  ‘Kid, open the door, you’ve got to open the door.’

  ‘I don’t gotta do anything, I’m not listening to you, listening to you is how Bradley Baker wound up dead.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ruby.’

  ‘Your picture is what I’m talking about. It was found buried in the files, the files you tried to hide.’

  ‘Kid, you’re not making any sense.’

  ‘You’ve been lying to me!’ she shouted. ‘But you’re good at that, aren’t you? Because that’s what you are, just one big lie.’

  ‘You’re all mixed up kid – open the door and we can talk.’

  ‘If you think I’m gonna open this door to you, you must be crazy – oh, I forgot – you are!’

  ‘You have to let me in, Ruby!’

  ‘Never!’

  The noise that followed was of Hitch’s shoulder thumping into the door. The barricade was beginning to give. There was no way out. Except via the window. She was a long way up; what was this, the 33rd floor? Another storey and then the roof.

  She went to the window – a broken latch, no way to open it. ‘Ruby?’ A small voice came from the watch. ‘Ruby? Are you there?’

  ‘Buzz, is that you? – where are you?’

  ‘I tracked you, I’m on the other side of the wall; can you make it to me?’

  ‘How?’ said Ruby. She was feeling straight-up panic now.

  ‘There’s a ledge. Do you think you could get yourself to me?’

  ‘Maybe if I can get out of the window.’ She looked around, there was a fire extinguisher in the corner. She heaved it from the wall and ran at the window, smashing it into the glass, tiny fragments exploding into the air.

  Jeepers Rube, is this how you want to die?

  Ruby peered out and looked to the sidewalk below.

  Oh brother, she thought.

  ‘It’s a long way down.’

  ‘I see that,’ said Buzz, ‘but you can make it, I’m right here.’

  She saw Buzz’s hand beckoning her. Six yards, maybe eight, and she would be safe.

  ‘You can do it, Ruby.’

  Buzz was right, she could do this; she’d done so before. It was just back then, a few months ago, when she’d taken a walk al
ong the outside of the Sandwich Building, there had been no ice-cold wind, no ice, and more to the point – no psychopath trying to pluck her from the ledge.

  Don’t think about that.

  She stepped through the window and out onto the narrow stone shelf.

  Behind her, there was a crashing sound as the door finally gave and Hitch sort of tumbled into the room. He righted himself, looked around, wondered where she’d gone, ran to the shattered window and then he saw her.

  ‘No!’ he shouted. ‘Don’t do that!’

  ‘Get away from me!’ she yelled. ‘I know who you are, don’t you see?’

  ‘Whatever you think you know, you got it wrong,’ said Hitch, his voice steady.

  ‘I know what you did, I know who you are.’

  ‘And who’s that?’ asked Hitch.

  ‘You’re Casey Morgan,’ said Ruby.

  MRS DIGBY FELT A NUDGE to her leg and looked down to see Bug.

  ‘Well, where in the dickens did you come from?’ said Mrs Digby. ‘You’re meant to be with Ruby.’

  The dog nudged her again, and the old lady’s drink, a precarious sort of red cocktail, splashed from its glass onto her dress. ‘Well, now look what you’ve gone and done,’ she said, tottering to the nearest table and wiping at her skirts with the edge of the elegant white tablecloth. The dog followed her, butting her leg with his head. ‘Stop it, would you, you’re making a scene.’ She bent down to grab his collar and for the first time registered what Bug had in his mouth.

  ‘What is that horrible thing?’ She reached for Buttercup. ‘Where did you get this?’ The dog looked at the old lady and she looked more closely at the big round face of the baby doll, and the silver words scrawled across its face.

  Follow me back to Clancy

  Mrs Digby looked at Buttercup’s round green eyes staring unblinking back at her, and then she looked at Bug.

  ‘You got something you want to tell me, dog of mine?’

  Bug wagged his tail, sensing she had finally understood.

  ‘Come on then,’ she said. ‘You take me to Clancy.’

  Ruby was losing her nerve. Safety was too far away. She was still several icy steps from the window where Buzz stood calling to her.