Agent Matt: Academy of Shadows
Chapter 14: Waiting in the Shadows
It was raining in Tomoeda, the sort of rain that seems never to stop. The early evening traffic was huddled together, going nowhere. Korindo Ooishi was standing at the window, looking out over the street, when there was a knock at the door. He turned away almost reluctantly, as if the city at its most damp and dismal held some attraction for him. Mrs. Jensen came in. She was carrying a sheet of paper. As Ooishi sat down behind his desk, he noticed the two words MOST URGENT printed in red across the top.
"We've heard from Matt," Mrs. Jensen said.
"Oh, yes?"
"Samantha gave him a global-satellite transmitter built into a portable CD player. Matt sent a signal to us this morning, at eleven twenty-seven hours, his time."
"Meaning ...?"
"Either he's in trouble or he's found out enough for us to go in. Either way, we have to pull him out."
"I wonder . . ." Ooishi leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. As a young man, he had gained a degree with honours in mathematics at Cambridge University, England. Thirty years later, he still saw life as only a series of complicated calculations. "Matt has been at Ombre Académie for how long?" he asked.
"A week."
"As I recall, he didn't want to go. According to George Hiroku, his behaviour at Osokiuo Mansion was, to say the least, antisocial. Did you know that he knocked out Hiroku's daughter with a stun dart? Apparently, he also got her nearly killed in an incident in a railway tunnel." Mrs. Jensen sat down.
"What are you saying, Korindo?" she demanded.
"Only that Matt may not be one hundred percent reliable."
"He sent the message." Mrs. Jensen couldn't keep the exasperation out of her voice. "For all we know, he could be in serious trouble. We gave him the device as an alarm signal, to let us know if he needed help. He's used it. We can't just sit back and do nothing."
"I wasn't suggesting that." Korindo Ooishi looked curiously at his deputy head of operations. "You're not forming some sort of attachment to Matt Ishida, are you?" he asked. Mrs. Jensen looked away.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"You seem worried about him."
"He's fifteen years old, Ooishi! He's a child, for heaven's sake!"
"You used to have children."
"Yes." Mrs. Jensen turned to face him again. "Perhaps that does make a difference. But even you must admit that he's special. We don't have another agent like him. A fifteen year-old boy! The perfect secret weapon. My feelings about him have nothing to do with it. We can't afford to lose him."
"I just don't want to go blundering into Ombre Académie without any firm information," Ooishi said. "First of, all this is France we're talking about-and you know what the French are like. If we're seen to be invading their territory, they'll kick up one hell of a fuss. Secondly, Sorrow has got hold of boys from some of the wealthiest families in the world. If we go storming in with the SAT or whatever, the whole thing could blow up into a major international incident."
"You wanted proof that the school was connected with the deaths of Jones and Vanko" Mrs. Jensen said. "Matt may have it."
"He may have it and he may not. A twenty- four -hour delay shouldn't make a great deal of difference."
"Twenty-four hours?"
"We'll put a unit on standby. They can keep an eye on things. If Matt is in trouble, we'll find out soon enough. It could play to our favour if he's managed to stir things up. It's exactly what we want. Force Sorrow to show his hand."
"And if Matt contacts us again?"
"Then we'll go in."
"We may be too late."
"For Matt?" Ooishi showed no emotion. "I'm sure you don't need to worry about him, Mrs. Jensen. He can look after himself." The telephone rang, and Ooishi answered it. The discussion was over. Mrs. Jensen got up and left to make the arrangements for an SAT unit to fly into Geneva. Ooishi was right, of course. Delaying tactics might work in their favour.
Clear it with the French. Find out what was going on. And it was only twenty-four hours.
She would just have to hope Matt could survive that long.
Matt found himself eating his breakfast on his own. For the first time, Jamie Spurtz had decided to join the other boys. There they were, the six of them, suddenly the best of friends. Matt looked carefully at the boy who had once been his friend, trying to see what it was that had changed about him. He knew the answer. It was everything and nothing. Jamie was exactly the same and completely different at the same time. He finished his food and got up. Jamie called out to him.
"Why don't you come to class this afternoon, Matt? It's Latin." Matt shook his head.
"Latin's a waste of time."
"Is that what you think?" Jamie couldn't keep the sneer out of his voice, and for a moment Matt was startled. For just one second it hadn't been Jamie talking at all. It had been Jamie who had moved his mouth, but it had been Dr. Sorrow speaking the words.
"You enjoy it" Matt said. He hurried out of the room.
More than twenty hours had passed since he had pressed the Fast Forward button on the Discman. Matt wasn't sure what he had been expecting. A fleet of helicopters all flying the Japanese flag or a hoard of samurais and ninjas storming the mountains would have been reassuring. But so far nothing had happened. He even wondered if the alarm signal had worked. At the same time, he was annoyed with himself. He had seen Sorrow shoot the man called Baxter Stockman in the operating room, and he had panicked. He knew that Sorrow was a killer. He knew that the academy was far more than the finishing school it pretended to be. But he still didn't have all the answers. What exactly was Dr. Sorrow doing? Had he been responsible for the deaths of Paul A. Jones and Anto Vanko-and if so, why? The fact was, he didn't know enough. And by the time JIN 7 arrived, Dr. Baxter stockman's body would be buried somewhere in the mountains and there would be nothing to suggest there was anything wrong. Matt would look like an idiot. He could almost imagine Dr. Sorrow telling his side of the story...
"Yes. There is an operating room here. It was built years ago. We never use the top two floors. There is an elevator, yes. It was built before we came. We explained to Matt about the armed guards. They're here for his protection. But as you can see, gentlemen, there is nothing unpleasant happening here. The other boys are fine. Baxter? No, I don't know anyone by that name. Obviously Matt has been having bad dreams. I'm amazed that he was sent here to spy on us. I would ask you to take him with you when you leave. . . ."
He had to find out more-and that meant going back up to the third floor. Or perhaps down. Matt remembered the letters in the elevator. R for Rez-de-chaussee. S had to stand for Sous-sol-French for basement. He went over to the Latin classroom and looked in through the half open door. Dr. Sorrow was out of sight, but Matt could hear his voice.
"Obscurum of mens pectus pectoris vadum plumbum lemma ut opulentia of suus ruina…" There was the sound of scratching, chalk on a blackboard. And there were the six boys, sitting at their desks, listening intently. Jamie was sitting between John and Jacco, taking notes. Matt looked at his watch. They would be there another hour. He was on his own.
He walked back down the corridor and slipped into the library. He had woken up still smelling faintly of soot and had no intention of making his way back up the chimney. Instead he crossed over to the suit of armour. He knew now that the alcove disguised a pair of elevator doors. They could be opened from inside. Presumably there was some sort of control on the outside too. It took him just a few minutes to find it. There were three buttons built into the breastplate of the armour. Even up close, the buttons looked like part of the suit ... something the medieval knight would have had to use to strap the thing on. But when Matt pressed the middle button, it moved. A moment later, the armour split in half again and he found himself looking into the waiting elevator. This time he went down, not up. The elevator seemed to travel a long way, as if the basement of the building had been built far underground. Finally, the doors slid open again. Matt looked out onto a curving passageway with tiled walls that reminded him a little of a London subway station. The air was cold down here. The passage was lit by naked bulbs, screwed into the ceiling at intervals. He looked out, then ducked back. A guard sat at a table at the end of the corridor, reading a newspaper. Would he have heard the elevator doors open? Matt leaned forward again. The guard was absorbed in the sports pages. He hadn't moved. Matt slipped out and crept down the passage, moving away from him. He reached the corner and turned into a second passageway lined with steel doors.
There was nobody else in sight.
Where was he? There had to be something down here or there wouldn't be any need for a guard. Matt went over to the nearest door. There was a peephole set in the front, and he looked through into a bare, white cell with two bunk beds, a toilet, and a sink. There were two boys in the cell. One he had never seen before, but he recognized the other. It was the red-haired boy, Aidan Bouchard. But he had seen Aidan in Latin class just a few minutes ago! What was he doing here? Matt moved on to the next cell. This one also held two boys. One was a fair-haired, fit-looking boy with blue eyes and freckles. Once again, he recognized the other. It was Jamie Spurtz. Matt examined the door There were two bolts but as far as he could see, no key. He drew back the bolts and jerked the door handle down. The door opened. He went in. Jamie stood up, astonished to see him.
"Alex! What are you doing here?" Matt pressed a finger to his lips telling him to hush.
Matt closed the door.
"We haven't got much time," he said. He was speaking in a whisper even though there was little chance of being overheard. "What happened to you?"
"They came for me the night before last," Jamie said. "They dragged me out of bed and into the library. There was some sort of elevator . . ."
"Behind the armour."
"Yes. I didn't know what they were doing. I thought they were going to kill me. But then they threw me in here."
"You've been here for two days?"
"Yes." Matt shook his head.
"I saw you having breakfast upstairs fifteen minutes ago."
"They've made duplicates of us." The other boy had spoken for the first time. He had an American accent. "All of us! I don't know how they've done it or why. But that's what they've done." He glanced at the door with anger in his eyes. "I've been here for months. My name's Arthur Jones."
"Jones! Your dad's ... ?"
"Paul Jones." Matt fell silent. He couldn't tell this boy what had happened to his father and he looked away, afraid that Arthur would read it in his eyes.
"How did you get down here?" Jamie asked.
"Listen," Matt said. He was speaking rapidly now. "I was sent here by JIN 7. My name isn't Matt Hiroku. It's Matt Ishida. Everything's going to be okay. They'll send people in and get you all freed."
"You're a spy?" Jamie was obviously startled. Matt nodded. "I'm sort of a spy, I suppose," he said.
"You've opened the door. We can get out of here!" Arthur Jones stood up, ready to move.
"No!" Matt held up his hands. "You've got to wait. There's no way down the mountain. Stay here for now and I'll come back with help. I promise you. It's the only way."
"I can't-"
"You have to. Trust me, Arthur. I'm going to have to lock you back in so that nobody will know I've been here. But it won't be for long. I'll come back!" Matt couldn't wait for any more argument. He went back to the door and opened it. Mrs. Stenavich was standing outside. He barely had time to register the shock of seeing her. He tried to bring up a hand to protect himself, to twist his body into position for a karate kick. But it was already too late. Her arm shot out, the heel of her hand was driving into his face. It was like being hit by a brick wall. Matt felt every bone in his body rattle. White light exploded behind his eyes. Then he was out. The two boys looked shocked their only escape was now lying on the floor unconscious.