Chapter Nine
Arrival
The day was coming to an end, and most of the preparations for the next day had been made. Hex and Paulo were planning to leave the small village early morning and get to the camp by about midday, to give the impression they were hot and tired and had been walking for days. Meanwhile, Alex, Li and Amber would stay behind and follow their progress using the tracking device.
Alex stretched out on the sofa. It was still light outside, but he decided they'd best get an early night to make the most of the next day.
"I'm gonna go to bed." He said to the others. Amber nodded.
"Debbie, Li and I have been waiting to go for ages," She replied, "But you and Paulo wouldn't get out."
"OK, we're off. See you in the morning." Alex swung open the door to the bedroom. Hex was already on one of the beds, lying on his front and typing furiously away on his palmtop.
"Found anything?" Alex said, shutting the door behind him. Hex looked up.
"Come and have a look at this," He said, turning the screen around for Alex to see, "This is the whole chain of e-mails between TD and Erica. Starting from about three years ago. The building site - it's not a house, it's a factory."
"How do you know?" Alex said, sitting on the side of the bed. Hex read out the first of the e-mails.
"The first one's from TD. They didn't even know each other to start with. It says, 'You don't know who I am. To you I am TD. I am contacting you because I need an apprentice, someone to work for me in America. I will pay you well; you will just need to follow the exact instructions I give you. Do you accept? TD.' That's the first one. And the basic storyline is Erica accepts, TD gives her all the details and she starts building this thing, illegally hiring people and not paying them. I don't know what kind of factory it is, but whatever it is, it's illegal. You can tell by the way they talk about it."
"It did look a bit big for a house." Paulo remarked, moving over to the other bed. He had entered the room while Hex was talking.
"Erica's real name is Hannah Gates. Judging by the rest of her e-mails, she's a pretty normal person. Leads a major double life. She's got e-mails from friends and friend-networking sites, along with the ones from TD. TD, I'm not sure about. He's deleted his inbox, but I'm onto getting into it."
"If he's deleted his inbox, how did you know what Erica – er, Hannah - sent him?" Paulo asked.
"Erica's outbox."
"Oh." Paulo pulled on his pyjamas and crept into the bed, pulling the covers over himself. "Mm, comfy. Much better than the hard floor. Looks like you're on the floor tonight, Alex."
"Fine. I'm used to it, anyway. By the way, Hex, what happens if a slave gets disabled or something?"
"They get killed. I don't know how, but they do."
The next day dawned bright and early, and Alpha Force were already up and fed by six o'clock. Debbie was still inside, fast asleep, so Alpha Force met outside.
"You can't go in wearing that, Paulo. You look way too rich." Li said, unzipping the front of his fleece.
"What's wrong with it? It's quite cold at the moment."
"Take it off when you get going. It'll warm up in a bit. Don't you have any... um, less-neat jeans? With holes in?"
"No."
"Borrow some of Hex's. All his jeans have holes in." Amber said. Hex ignored the comment, and she smiled to herself. "What? It's true."
"You'll need backpacks or something, with water and spare clothes in. Do tramps usually carry around a spare set of clothes?" Alex said, emptying his rucksack on the floor. He picked up a full water bottle and dropped it in.
"I think so. You might as well, anyway."
"It's kind of lucky we did get lost in the first place, otherwise we wouldn't have found the site." Li said. The five of them packed two bags, containing water, spare clothes and a map and compass. Alex checked they were both wearing their belts with the small devices installed.
"We'd better check them." Hex said. Alex took the main tracking device and looked at the screen. Right away, two green dots started blinking in the middle. "Yup, that's fine."
"Where's your palmtop, Hex?" Amber asked innocently, "You can't go in there with it. You've got the map to find your way."
Hex looked like he was about to protest, but Paulo interrupted, "She's right. They'll think something's up if we're wondering around looking for a job with a thing like that. Come on, I'm giving up my jeans." Hex sighed and passed the small computer to Alex.
"Don't you dare - "
"OK, OK. Whatever. We'll only go through and look at all your files." Amber drawled.
"Besides, Hex, how're you going to send the information to if you've got your palmtop? If you send it to this, we can get it here."
Amber took one last look at Hex and Paulo, ready to go. They were dressed simply enough, with t-shirts and jeans, and their backpacks gave their tired appearance an extra boost.
"You all ready, then?" Li asked. Paulo nodded and looked at Hex.
"Is there anything else we need?" Hex shook his head and shrugged.
"Don't think so. Map, water, compass, spare clothes, tracking device, mobiles, anything else?" Hex searched through his bag as he mentally ticked off each item one by one. He still felt at loss without his palmtop, but he'd get over it. He'd been to places before without it.
"OK then, we'll be off. How much range has the tracking device got?"
"About twenty miles at the furthest zoom, so we'll be fine. That's about thirty-two kilometres." Hex replied, securing his rucksack.
"You take care." Amber and Li gave each of the two boys a hug, and while Hex acted embarrassed, Paulo seemed to enjoy the attention.
"We'll be back soon, my loves, with a red rose - "
Hex coughed loudly. "Paulo, let's go." He gave a quick wave to Alex and the girls and took the big Argentinean's arm, leading him backwards away from the village. Paulo couldn't resist one last shout -
"Keep a weather eye on the horizon!"
"Is there anything to do round here, besides playing childhood games?" Li moaned, practising her karate kicks in Debbie's main room. Debbie wandered inside holding a pile of laundry.
"Careful, Li. You'll knock something over." She put the clothes down on the chair in the corner and went back outside to fetch the rest. Li stopped and flopped down on the armchair.
"I bet Hex and Paulo aren't this bored. Is the tracking thing on? How far have they gone?"
Alex sighed and looked at the small screen again. "They're about a quarter of the way there. Which is pretty good. Five kilometres in half an hour." Alex and Amber were bored too. They hadn't anticipated the long waits in between checking on Hex and Paulo, and now the planning was over, they were at loss for something to do.
Debbie came in the door again. "Alice'll be coming over in a bit to get her clothes. I wasn't finished with them yesterday. Maybe you could do something with her? She gets very lonely now she's the only kid in her family."
"Sure." Amber said. She didn't mind Alice; she looked like a really nice person.
"I've got an idea," Li said, "I spy, with my little eye - "
"No, Li!" Amber threw a cushion at her and she ducked, grinning. A flicker of disapproval stayed momentarily on Debbie's face, but then she smiled.
"You guys," She said fondly, "You remind me so much of my boys." She stopped when there were three loud knocks on the door, and a loud, female voice called,
"Deb, it's me!"
Debbie grinned, "Here she is." She said.
Even though it wasn't even mid-morning yet, Paulo could already feel sweat beginning to form and trickle down his back. The thick sunscreen that Debbie had given them didn't help the heat much, and Hex's trousers were tight around the waist. Looking around, there was no shelter in sight, just the rocks and sand they'd seen on the way here. And mountains.
Paulo stopped abruptly. "Hex, you know what we've forgotten?" Hex turned around.
"What?"
"Ropes, for climbing up those cliff-faces." Paulo couldn't believe they'd been so stupid. They'd remembered clothes, compass, map... and forgotten the only thing that would get them up the cliffs. If they were Li, they'd be able to make it up easily.
"Crap."
"Is it too late to go back?" Paulo wondered aloud.
"Probably. But we'll find another way up... there's bound to be a longer uphill track going around it." Paulo thought about it for a moment, then nodded. It seemed the best idea.
They continued on for a while, checking occasionally on the map and compass that they were vaguely going in the right direction. They didn't need it that often, because they could remember most of the landmarks from the way they had come. Alpha Force had specifically trained themselves in memorising distinct points.
After about an hour, they stopped for a rest. It was now nearly the hottest point in the day, and they topped up with water and sunscreen.
"How far d'you think we've gone?" Hex asked, studying the map. Paulo looked.
"Well, there's that hill we just climbed, is that it? Yes, and that hill there is that one up ahead. So - where the hill lines are all bunched together must be the cliff. We're nearly there. And the site - that was up here somewhere, so I'd say we're about halfway."
"Better get going then," Hex said, standing up and folding the map up. Paulo put his water away and followed.
"Ssh," Paulo stopped suddenly, a couple hours later, and gripped Hex's arm. Hex stopped and listened too. Then he heard it - a few voices, not far away, but getting closer. "How close are we?"
"We're nearly there. About two miles to go." Hex mentally converted the kilometres to miles while he read them out. It was nearly one o'clock, and they were behind already. The only other route they'd found around the cliff had added an extra four kilometres to their journey, and they were exhausted.
Paulo spotted a large rock nearby and ducked behind it, dragging Hex with him.
"They could be just backpackers," Hex suggested, "Like us." He added with a wry smile. Paulo shook his head.
"Better not take any risks. Listen to what they're saying."
In a couple minutes, the owners of the voices came into view. One was a tall, broad man, and another was a slim woman. Between them was a man in his early twenties, his head hanging down. As they got closer, Hex and Paulo could make out what they were saying.
"...close at all, mind you." The woman was saying, "You think here's far enough?"
"Nah," growled the big man, "Another mile or two should do it." The young man in the middle didn't say anything, and conversation between the two others stopped as well. They all seemed to know what they were doing, and no discussion was needed. After a couple more minutes, the trio disappeared again over the next rise. Paulo and Hex emerged from behind the rock.
"What the hell was all that about?" Hex said.
"I don't know," Paulo replied, "But whatever it was, it was probably to do with the site. They came from that way."
"Follow them or continue?"
Paulo thought for a moment. He wanted to see what was happening to the young man, but he had doubts. They hadn't planned to get sidetracked along the way, and if they did anything different, Alex and the others should know. "I think we should stick to the plan." He decided.
"Me too. Then we can tell the others when we get there."
"At least the hardest part is over." Paulo panted as they reached the top of yet another steep hill. They had really struggled around midday, it being the hottest part of the day. It was still really hot now, but in comparison to earlier, it was a bit cooler, "Shall we stop for a while? I think we can allow it."
They sat down on the hard ground and observed the scene below them. This was a part of the area that Hex hadn't seen before, but Paulo had passed it when he came to see what the noise was with Amber. They could hear it now, and had been able to for the last hour or two.
"The site," Paulo pointed, "Is just over that mountain, straight ahead."
"One more downhill and one more uphill to go." Hex commented, relieved that the journey was nearly over. He tried to ignore the growing sense of unease and nervousness in his stomach as he thought about what might happen to them when they got over the hill. They hadn't properly talked over how they were going to get themselves 'caught'.
After they were feeling ready to carry on, the two boys stood up and started walking down the other side of the hill. The gap between this one and the last one was a flat plain about a mile wide, and they both knew it would be hard to get across without any shelter.
At last they made it to the bottom of the last mountain. The noise was louder than ever, and it was weird to think that the site was only a mile away, through the hill. They shared an exhausted glance and wearily started trekking up the steep hillside.
"It's the last mountain," Paulo was trying to comfort himself as well as Hex, "As soon as we get to the top of this one, we'll be able to see it. And the downhill will be easy." Hex could only grunt in reply. The heat was suffocating and the bag felt like it was heavier than it was, weighing down on his shoulders. Now he knew their destination was so near...
Ten metres from the top he stopped and got a drink from his bag. If he couldn't see the top he probably would have carried on. Paulo stopped a couple metres ahead and turned around.
"Just need a drink - " Hex murmured, and took a long swig of water.
"Come on," Paulo took Hex's arm and started dragging him up the hill. They were both desperate to stop, "We're so close. Right over this hill..." Paulo trailed off as they reached the top and the site was displayed below them. They sat down for one last time before they finished the journey, and to discuss the next part of the plan.
"It's huge," Hex muttered under his breath.
"Where do you think we should - er -get captured?" Paulo wondered aloud. Hex watched the streams of people, moving about, undertaking various jobs. It was so orderly, in straight lines, kept neat by the authority figures, making sure that no one stepped out of line. There was a clearing in the middle of two building structures with just two lines of people running through it, and a couple figures keeping order. Hex pointed at them.
"There looks a good place," He suggested, "It's not enclosed, so they won't really get too suspicious."
"OK then," Paulo stood and held out a hand for Hex to pull himself up, "And from there, we'll make it up. You ready to go?"
"Yup. Let's do this."
Hey guys, this was chapter nine! Do you have any ideas as to what else you'd like to see, or what you're looking forward to etc.? Also what you think can be improved is great :D
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to look at Pass on the Story! Thanks muchly :P Spinky
