Rose, Carrie and Oscar have left MI High and are now working in Edward Dixon-Halliday's elite MI9 unit. The team have to deal with a high stakes extortionist who seems to be trying to bankrupt the country.
"Thanks Carrie," said Oscar, getting his breath back. "Now we've just got to get to the apartment." They looked across the river of water running down the road. "I think we're out of stepping stones," he said.
Oscar took out his phone. "Hm, not much signal on it," he said, before dialling his Dad's number. "Dad, we can't get right up to the apartment because of the water. We're going to need a little help," he said. They could hear the murmur of Edward's voice over Oscar's phone. "Dad, have you looked out of the window ?" asked Oscar, sounding a little frustrated. There was a pause. "Yes, that water ! We're standing on top of the bus shelter, opposite." Oscar, Rose and Carrie waved at the apartment window, diagonally opposite where they were standing. The windows were designed to reflect light so they couldn't see if Edward was looking out or not. "Yeah. OK. We'll wait," said Oscar before hanging up.
"Dad's going up to the roof and will send a rope across for us to get up," explained Oscar, putting his phone away in his jacket pocket. "I guess he'll take a minute or two to find the equipment," he said, folding his arms.
"What were you doing at your Dad's ?" asked Carrie.
"I moved in," said Oscar. "Been there for a week now."
"Oh, that's great !" said Carrie. "At least you'll get to spend some time together."
"Yeah. He thinks I spend too much time in the bathroom," said Oscar. "He's still moaning about my aftershave too," he added, frowning.
"He's only teasing you Oscar," said Rose. Oscar's reply was a raised eyebrow and a shrug. Then his phone rang. He listened to some instructions and then closed the call.
"Dad's going to fire a rope into telegraph pole next to the bus shelter. We need to move over to the other end," said Oscar. They all shuffled to the far end of the shelter. There was a bang as a spike shot into the wooden telegraph pole next to the shelter, sending small splinters showering out at the sides. It was attached to a small pulley and two ropes stretched back to the rood of the building opposite. The looked up and could see Edward motioning them to come across. As they watched, the ropes pulled tight, and a couple of handles came zizzing across the street, dangling from the rope.
Carrie stepped up to the rope and wrapped the handles round her wrists. "Hope he's got a motor for this thing," she said. "I don't fancy pulling myself over." Just as she finished speaking the handles started moving up the rope and Carrie was lifted off the roof, up and over the still swiftly flowing water running down the street. Her weight pulled the rope down, but her feet stayed clear of the water. Oscar and Rose watched anxiously. Oscar wondered if he was going to get wet again. He was already feeling quite cold after his dip in the water when crossing the building site. They'd been standing in the breeze for over ten minutes now and the water was steadily soaking through his trousers.
As they watched Carrie reached the roof and Edward helped her over the parapet at the top. The handles swept back down and it was Rose's turn. Oscar helped her get her grip and then waved to his Dad. Rose also headed up smoothly. As she neared the top, Oscar heard a groan from the telegraph pole. He looked and was alarmed to see that the metal spike had slipped slightly. It was still quite firmly embedded though, so he hoped it would bear his weight. The handles returned and he wrapped his wrists firmly into the loops and stepped off the shelter roof. His weight pulled the rope down hard and within seconds his legs were dangling into the flood water sweeping down the street. He was now resigned to getting wet so didn't worry too much about it. He heard shouting from up on the roof and looked up. Too late he glanced to his left to see some sort of wooden crate coming straight at him, swept along by the flood water. It hit him on the leg, making him wince, dragged along his trousers and knocked him over to the side.
As he spun out of control, Oscar felt a jolt along the line and still dizzy and disorientated fell down into the fast-flowing water. His wrists were still wrapped up in the loops and he held on tightly as his legs were swept from under him and his head went under the water. He felt himself being dragged across the tarmac of the road, before banging into what must be the kerb. The water was muddy and filled with all sorts of objects. He tried to get his feet on to the ground and stand up, but it was flowing so quickly, he couldn't get his feet down. Eventually, he managed to get on to his knees which let him get his head up out of the water and gasp a few breaths, before his knees were pushed away from under him.
This time he was dragged into a solid object of some sort. Using the object as leverage, he managed to push himself up on to his feet, grabbing on to a pole. Coughing and gasping he found he was hanging on to a parking restriction sign at the side of the road. The pulley rope was swinging around in the water behind him. It still seemed to be attached up at the roof level. Wrapping his good leg around the pole, Oscar reeled in the loose rope until he reached the spike at the end. He pulled the rope as tight as he could and wrapped the end of it round and round the pole until he was able to hook the spike over the rope itself. Making sure he had his wrists tightly wrapped, he tugged twice on the rope.
The rope went taut and the loops started dragging him forwards. He staggered and tripped as soon as he let go of the pole and fell into the water again. Luckily the pulley hauled him out of the water quite quickly and he started rising up the side of the building. He had to use his legs to push himself away from the side of the building and avoid banging into any objects which stuck out. Finally, dripping and exhausted he reached the top of the building. Three sets of arms reached out and hauled him over the edge of the parapet and he sank down on to the ground, panting and shivering.
Edward hauled in the remainder of the rope and dismantled the pulley and tackle. "Come on, let's get inside," he said. He helped Oscar get on to his feet and then realised he was limping. Edward handed Carrie the equipment and slung Oscar's arm over his shoulder. "Easy does it," he said, helping Oscar to the door on to the roof. Edward didn't want to risk a power cut while using the lift so they had to climb down six flights of stairs.
"Right, shower for you," he said to Oscar once they were in the flat. He asked Rose to get on to HQ for an update and asked Carrie to make them some hot drinks while he helped Oscar to the bathroom. Oscar seemed slightly stunned so Edward had to help him shower off the mud and dirt from the flood water. Edward then realised that in addition to a few new bruises and scrapes, Oscar had a gash on his left leg which was bleeding steadily now that he had warmed up under the hot water. Oscar staggered to the toilet and vomited.
"Well, that saves us getting your stomach pumped," said Edward cheerily. Edward taped a dressing to Oscar's leg, put on his shorts and a dressing gown and helped him to the living area. By the time Oscar was lying on the sofa, the dressing was soaked in blood. Edward put a towel under Oscar's wounded leg and stuck two cushions underneath both his legs to raise them up.
"Should we get him to a hospital ?" asked Carrie, concerned.
"Two problems with that," said Edward briskly. "First we've got to get him there and second the hospitals are going to be full of people already." Just then, all the lights went out, the fridge stopped humming and they were plunged into silence. "And third, the power's just gone off," said Edward. "Stay where you are," he said, walking through a door next to the kitchen area. As he walked back out, the lights and other appliances came back on. "Emergency generator in the basement," explained Edward. "Luckily it's water tight in there. Just supplies this apartment." He walked over to Oscar who was lying silently on the sofa, blood slowly seeping into the towel under his leg.
"OK, let's sort you out," he said quietly, pushing Oscar's damp hair away from his face. He got Carrie to wash her hands, put on latex gloves and then hold a clean cloth tightly against Oscar's wound. Oscar winced when she pressed against the cut, but made no sound. Meanwhile, Edward walked briskly round the apartment collecting together what he needed. He moved a standard lamp over and pointed the light at Oscar's leg. Putting on latex gloves he started examining the wound.
"OK, doesn't look like there's any serious damage, but it's going to need stitches. Let's clean it out first," said Edward and he washed out the cut carefully with sterile water. Oscar winced a couple of times when Edward pressed the wound open to wash all the dirt out. Rose overcame her nausea and sat on the arm of the sofa to hold Oscar's hand.
With Carrie's help, Edward stitched up the wound and put on a dressing. Then he got antibiotics from the fridge and injected a dose into Oscar. "There, we'll have to repeat that for a couple of days and hopefully it will see off any bugs that were in the flood water," said Edward. Oscar lay on the sofa looking tired. His legs were still perched on top of the cushions. He sat himself up and tried to get up. "You stay there for now. You've lost quite a lot of blood," said Edward fetching a blanket, laying it over Oscar and clearing up the medical supplies.
Carrie put a cup of hot tea into his hands. "You drink that," she said, smiling. "You need to rehydrate."
"Right you two," Edward said to Rose and Carrie, "Let's find out what's been going on."