The Amazon Experiment Read online

  As the device took hold, Max’s eyes drifted back in her head. A wave of numbness flooded over her. Her fingers loosened from the door and she fell.

  Linden leapt out of the plane like a high diver at the Olympics and within seconds grabbed hold of Max as she began her freefall to a certain death.

  ‘Gotcha!’ he whispered to himself as they swung Tarzan-style through the corridor of trees. Allowing for the rope’s swing to slow a little, Linden slowly retracted the Abseiler to pull them both to safety.

  Back inside the jet, Max’s life was still flashing through her mind as she opened her eyes to see Suave leaning over her slapping her cheek. Steinberger and Linden were fanning her with the bottom of their shirts. They were all asking if she was okay, but their voices wavered around her in pieces like someone was turning the volume up and down.

  Something about what was happening became annoyingly clear.

  ‘You can stop hitting me now.’

  Suave stopped and Linden sighed in relief. ‘She’s okay.’

  ‘Well done, Linden.’ Steinberger smiled at Max. ‘You frightened us for a minute there. Promise me you’ll be more careful in future. We’re not ready to say goodbye to you yet.’

  Linden and Suave laughed quietly at Steinberger’s joke, but Max’s face burned a glowing puce. She was grateful her life hadn’t ended in a squelching pile in the middle of the Amazon jungle. She just wished she could tone down the near-death experiences she gave herself.

  As Steinberger prepared to announce their next step, the jet lurched downwards in a stomachchurning creak. Insects and birds scattered again in a shrieking and panicked squall.

  When Steinberger had recovered enough of his senses to be coherent, he gave his orders in a clear, precise stream.

  ‘Max and Linden, I need you to use your Abseilers and get down to the ground. I’ll contact Alex and tell her what has happened, and Suave, I need you to assess the damage to the engine and calculate how safe the jet is in these treetops.’

  ‘Right away.’ Suave leapt into action like a spring-loaded frog.

  Max took her Abseiler from her pack, also eager to follow orders, until she looked outside the jet. She swooned again when she saw the distance to the ground.

  ‘Best thing is to not look down.’ Linden knew about Max’s fear of heights and began calmly readjusting the Abseiler harness around his waist. ‘The trick is to concentrate on every step. Ready?’

  ‘Yep,’ she answered, even though her real answer was no.

  Linden waited until Max had prepared her Abseiler.

  ‘Looks like we’re set, then.’

  The way he looked at her instantly made Max feel safe, like he’d somehow moved the jet closer to the ground. They both climbed outside the craft and began their slow descent. Step by step, Max concentrated just as Linden had said, until they reached the ground and fell in a relieved slump against a tree.

  ‘I told you it’d be okay.’ Max gave Linden a cheeky smile, enjoying the feel of solid ground beneath her. ‘Bug repellent?’

  They reached into their packs and applied the spray to ward off the squadron of bugs droning around them. Linden then held out a sesame seed bar he’d brought from home. ‘Want some?’

  No matter where they were, Linden always seemed to be able to pull food from some part of his clothes.

  Max took the bar. ‘Thanks.’ She hadn’t eaten since they’d left Mindawarra and her stomach was letting her know it. ‘Maybe we should take one of our meal capsules.’

  ‘I’ve already done that,’ Linden replied. ‘Doesn’t quite have the same kick as biting into a real piece of food.’

  ‘You’re right.’ Max broke the bar in half, then remembered something.

  ‘How do you know about giving injections?’

  Linden took his half of the bar. ‘I had to give them to Mum when she was really sick.’

  Max watched a mosquito as it buzzed around trying to find some bare skin to bite. ‘That must have been hard.’

  ‘A bit. Dad did it at first but as Mum got even more sick, I could see it was starting to get to him, so I took over.’

  Linden leant back against the tree and bit into his bar.

  Max sat turning hers in her hands, knowing exactly what she wanted to say but feeling like someone had wired her jaws together. Linden chewed and sighed and took in their new jungle surrounds. Max sat and stared as the bar melted onto her fingers.

  Then she just burst out with it.

  ‘Thanks for saving my life before, I’m sorry I’m such a klutz, I know I should be more careful but I just can’t seem to help it, all you’ve ever done is be there for me and all I do is keep messing things up and opening my big mouth and getting us into trouble and even …’ She had to say it. ‘Even getting you killed.’

  She’d done it. She’d finally said it. It left her mouth dry and her knotted stomach slightly queasy.

  Linden finished his mouthful. ‘Is that what all your nightmares have been about?’ he asked softly.

  Max lowered her head as images from the dreams crowded into her mind. ‘Yep. In each one you’re stuck somewhere high and then you fall and I can’t save you.’

  She blinked to stop the tears that were threatening to fall, a hard lump pressed against the back of her throat.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Linden.’ She bit her lip.

  ‘But Max, you’ve forgotten one thing. You didn’t let me fall. You caught me, remember?’

  ‘But the first time I didn’t. I just watched it happen.’

  ‘Well, as far as I’m concerned, it’s the second time that counts, because that’s the one that means I’m still your spy partner.’

  Max sniffed a small laugh.

  ‘And me saving you back there was just returning the favour. Mum always said one good turn deserves another. I was just doing what Mum said.’

  Max’s sick stomach feeling melted away.

  ‘And I’ll tell you another thing, Max Remy.’ He was starting to get fired up. ‘If you hadn’t saved me from the Nightmare Vortex, I’d still be trapped in one of Blue’s most evil inventions,6 spending the rest of my life facing the things that scare me most. The day you first came to Mindawarra, my life jumped to a whole new level, and with all that’s happened since then, I wouldn’t change one thing, especially the part about knowing you.’

  Max stared. She’d never seen Linden so animated. And then, a little more calmly, he said, ‘That Suave is pretty good.’

  She followed Linden’s gaze up the tree. Suave lay between two branches as if he was reclining on a deckchair, pointing his torch into the belly of the jet’s engine.

  Max smiled. Linden saved people’s lives as easily as most other kids rode bikes. No matter who she’d meet for the rest of her life, she knew Linden would be one of the best.

  And he was right, she admitted to herself, Suave was pretty good.

  Steinberger, on the other hand, was nestled in his Abseiler harness, clinging desperately to the nearest branch, handing Suave tools as he needed them.

  ‘How do you think Steinberger’s going to like his first mission?’ Linden asked.

  ‘It’s going to be a steep learning curve,’ Max grimaced.

  ‘Hopefully one that won’t fall on him and kill him. Watch out!’ Linden grabbed Max as a wrench fell only metres from them. ‘Or us.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Steinberger called down.

  Linden smiled slyly. ‘I bet on this mission he finally admits what he feels about Frond.’

  ‘There’s no way! He’s been holding back for years.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ Linden smiled. ‘How’s your mum’s wedding going?’

  Max was suddenly pulled from their mission smack bang into the middle of the freak show of life back at home. ‘It’s like this huge tornado has landed in our house and won’t go away. It’s always full of designers, cake makers and dress fitters and the phone has been ringing so much that any minute now it’s going to self-combust from overuse.’

  ‘
So everything’s pretty normal, then?’

  Max laughed. ‘Yeah, I guess so.’

  Now that the initial impact of the crash had passed, a slowly increasing racket of animal and insect noise was firing up all around them. Max and Linden weren’t that fazed by the whistles, screeches, hisses and hoots, and when Linden noticed a giant moth land on his shirt, he gently picked it off and nestled it onto the bark of the tree.

  There was something far more dangerous to be worried about: Steinberger was starting to navigate his ungainly way down with his Abseiler.

  ‘I think we better stand for this,’ Linden warned Max.

  They watched as he stood on the edge of the jet’s door, ready to abseil down. His shoulders lifted in a confidence-building breath, but just as he jumped, a giant butterfly flapped past his face, and his careful descent became a speedy slide all the way to the ground.

  ‘Well done, Steinberger,’ Linden said proudly. ‘The Spyforce Gym Team’s going to be calling you up when they hear about this.’

  Steinberger gulped great chunks of air and smiled when he realised he was still alive. ‘Oh, come now.’ He leant on a tree for support, but felt something strange. It was the spindly legs of a stick insect as it moved gingerly onto his fingers. He pulled his hand from the tree as if it was on fire and shook it vigorously, then tucked it safely into a pocket.

  Meanwhile, Suave had finished his work, packed his tool bag and made his way down with his Abseiler, landing firmly on the ground like a trapeze artist finishing a routine on the high wire.

  ‘How does it look?’ Steinberger swished bugs from his face and brushed their crawling droves from his clothes.

  ‘She’s too damaged to fly. I’m not sure if I can fix her, but I can give it a shot.’

  ‘There’s no time.’ Steinberger looked at his watch. ‘We must get on with the mission immediately. How stable do you think she is?’

  ‘After that last jolt, she’s settled pretty firmly into some solid branches. I’ve added some Abseiler rope for extra protection.’

  ‘What about Sleek?’ Linden wasn’t sure leaving the sick pilot behind was a good idea. Even if the jet was stable, there were enough animal noises around them to suggest it might not be so safe to be alone in the jungle.

  ‘With Frond’s medicine and Finch’s mini-respirator, he should be fine for at least the next forty-eight hours. I also added some Bug Repellent to him and spread Animal Dispeller sachets all around him,’ Suave said.

  Max looked at Agent Perfect and wondered if he ever got bored with being such a hero.

  ‘What if we can’t find our way back to the plane?’ she asked.

  ‘We all have our palm computers with us, including Sleek.’ Steinberger took out his. ‘So we will know where the jet is using his locator.’

  Thankfully all the computers had survived the bumpy landing.

  ‘What did Alex say?’ Max asked.

  ‘She took a reading of our area and confirmed we’re in the heart of triatoma territory. She’s also organising a transport carrier called the Goliath to make its way here. It will load the Invisible Jet into its hold and wait for us here until our mission is complete.’

  His voice had filled with the importance of what he’d just said, but another butterfly flew at him and he collapsed into a hand-waving mess.

  ‘Maybe some of this will help?’ Max offered him her Bug Repellent.

  As both Steinberger and Suave applied their repellent, the noise and movement of the jungle increased. Max started imagining monkeys, snakes, lizards and spiders, all of which seemed to be hidden only centimetres away. Branches moved suddenly above them, bushes rattled beside them and the flapping of giant wings whomped somewhere in the jungle behind them.

  Steinberger was the least easy with their surrounds. He’d rarely been outside of England, and during his years of employment with Spyforce he’d hardly left London. His brow was speckled with sweat at the heat and the thought of the animals around them. The repellent seemed to calm him down, as it immediately sent insects and bugs away, but when he looked down, the colour fell from his face like a leaking thermometer.

  ‘I … Is that …? Oh dear.’

  A thick green snake slid across his shoe.

  Max and Linden got ready to catch what they thought would be a fainting Steinberger until what happened next.

  Another message came through on his palm computer.

  He took out the bleeping device and stared at its miniature screen.

  ‘Who’s it from?’ Linden studied Steinberger’s face, hoping the news wasn’t bad.

  ‘It’s Frond.’

  The snake slithered away without Steinberger giving it another thought.

  ‘How’s she getting her message through? It looked like her palm computer had been crushed.’ Maxfrowned as a wide smile filled Steinberger’s face.

  ‘Clever girl,’ he whispered, almost to himself. ‘She’s using her video watch. It’s a new design of Quimby’s. She must have given it to Frond to test out. The watch is so small that even under close scrutiny it still looks like a simple watch, but it is capable of transmitting messages across the world from almost any location with perfect clarity.’

  Frond’s message contained a reference to a map, which Suave quickly located on his palm computer. She then gave the specific longitude and latitude points of where she was.

  ‘Can you work that out, Suave?’

  ‘Ten four,’ he snapped.

  While Suave worked out Frond’s exact location, Steinberger listened to the rest of the message. Frond explained that she was being held captive in a mansion where a lab was experimenting with stolen local plants and recipes that were hundreds of years old to create potions and serums. They were also conducting experiments using the triatoma bug. The message then ended with one simple plea.

  ‘Take care, all of you.’

  Her last sentence lingered in the air. Steinberger ran a finger across his computer where Frond’s face had just disappeared. ‘So she is here.’

  Suave interrupted Steinberger’s musing with the location.

  ‘Got it! Should be only a few hours from here.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ said Steinberger, once again in charge of his feelings. ‘We must find Frond and gather the triatoma bug fast. Agents’ lives depend on us getting back to Spyforce as soon as we can.’

  They prepared to leave, but as Suave swung his pack onto his shoulders, a half-eaten muffin flew into the air and fell with a clump on the ground nearby.

  Steinberger, Max and Linden stared. First at the muffin, then at Suave.

  ‘That’s one of Irene’s. I’d know it anywhere.’ Linden’s mouth hung slightly open at the sight of the golden and fluffy mango treat. Even though he knew it was dangerous to eat, possibly even fatal, it took all his self-control not to reach out and devour it in one large, delicious gulp.

  Max was immediately suspicious. ‘How did this get into your bag?’

  ‘I … I …’ Suave tugged at the collar on his shirt. The humidity was sticking to his skin like a sheet of cling film.

  ‘Well, Suave?’ Steinberger asked.

  ‘During my final tour of Spyforce, I was shown Irene’s kitchen and offered one of these muffins. Normally I don’t touch sweet things, but when I was told how delicious they were I took one for later.’ He looked guiltily at the muffin as it lay at his feet.

  ‘Have you eaten some of this?’ Steinberger knew they couldn’t afford any of them becoming sick.

  ‘No! No. I haven’t,’ he answered all too quickly.

  The story fell into place for Max. ‘But Sleek has. That’s why he passed out.’

  Suave just stared at them.

  Max was about to let him have it, when Steinberger interrupted her. ‘Let’s keep moving.’

  ‘But Steinberger …’

  ‘Max. It’s time to move on,’ he said decisively.

  ‘Max is right to be suspicious, Steinberger,’ admitted Suave. ‘That’s how it looks.’

/>   He was playing innocent and Max could see right through it.

  ‘Everyone here is well and we have a mission to complete,’ Steinberger said. ‘And there’s nothing more to be said.’

  ‘Yes, there is,’ insisted Max. ‘At the start, I caught him staring at me like he was up to something. And he did arrive at Spyforce at exactly the same time as the sleeping powder. Now we have a half-eaten muffin and a pilot in a coma!’

  Max eyed Suave, a small triumphant smile tickling the corner of her lips, but that was wiped away by what Steinberger said next.

  ‘Show her, Suave.’

  Suave undid the buttons of his shirt to reveal a rectangular metallic device stuck to his chest. From this, three thin cords networked across his skin and ended in small white sticking plasters.

  Max stared at the set-up. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘It’s a portable lie detector,’ Steinberger explained. ‘The moment Suave even slightly deviates from the truth, it sets off a high-pitched whistle. It is now standard procedure that all agents wear them for a specified period after beginning work at the Force. Suave was told about this and instantly agreed. And now, I suggest we get back to the mission.’

  He waited to see if Max had any other objections before turning on his heel and walking into the jungle.

  Max flicked away a fly and clenched her lips, desperately wanting to argue. It was obvious Suave was up to something, even if the lie detector hadn’t squealed yet, and before the mission was over she was going to find out what.

  They moved through the jungle, following Suave’s directions to Frond’s location. Because they’d left Spyforce in a hurry, there had been no time for Steinberger to find appropriate clothes, and his regular business shoes were having a hard time negotiating the ragged floor of the Amazon. The path they were on was knotted with thick twisting roots slithering from the base of trees that stretched high overhead into the thick jungle roof. Steinberger’s suit was continuously tugged at by branches and palms and thorny bushes. Max watched as he wiped his brow again. She knew how he felt. The heat was flooding all around them as if they were walking through a heated pool. Steinberger tripped again and fell forward into a spiky bush, then untangled himself without complaint. Even though she disagreed with him about Suave, Max liked Steinberger more at that moment than she ever had.