The weather has gone weird. Is it a natural phenomenon or is something more sinister at work ? Hiding and seeking.
"What was that noise ?" asked the ranger suspiciously. He walked up to Dan, spotted the earpiece, grabbed Dan's arm and pulled out the earpiece. "What's this ?" he demanded.
"It's my earpiece for my MP3," said Dan. "Must have left it in by mistake. Get so used to wearing it, you know," he said, trying to sound innocent.
"Dan, are you there ?" came Tom's voice through the earpiece. It sounded tinny and quiet from a distance, but it was clearly audible. The ranger pulled on Dan's arm and twisted it up behind his back.
"Ow, let go ! What are you doing ?" asked Dan.
Ignoring his pleas, the ranger pulled out a radio from his pocket and spoke into it. "Team, I think we've got a spy on the premises. One of the kids has a radio earpiece in and his partner is missing. What do you want me to do ?" he asked. "Yeah ? Do you want me to wait and see if the other one gets back ? No ? OK, see you in five," he said, pushing the radio back inside his jacket pocket. "Right you. With me. You can explain yourself to the boss," said the ranger, shoving Dan towards his backpack, picking it up and then propelling the teen in front of him through the woods. Dan tried to loosen the man's grip, but he only tightened the twist on his arm, making him groan with the pain.
Tom had been making his way back to Dan's position when he spotted the ranger grabbing Dan's arm. He immediately ducked down behind some cover. He heard the ranger speaking and realised that it was him who had given Dan away. Tom instantly felt a huge weight of guilt descending. Should he jump out and try to help Dan ? He wasn't really a fighter. He could just make things worse. Still wondering what to do Tom heard Frank's voice over his earpiece. "Tom, whatever you are thinking of doing, don't !" he ordered quietly. "Stay put. I'm on my way to your position." Tom peeked out of his cover and saw Dan being taken away through the trees. Frank must have heard everything. The ranger had found Dan's earpiece, but not the hidden microphone.
"Zoe, Aneisha !" said Frank's voice.
"We heard," said Aneisha's tense voice. "We're watching the house now. Oh, someone's coming this way."
"Take out your earpieces, hide all your equipment and get on with the task," instructed Frank. "Make sure you look natural. Only put your earpieces back in once you are entirely alone, understood ?" he asked.
"Understood," said the two girls.
Frank closed his contact and cursed under his breath. He had disconnected Dan's earpiece from the communications loop as soon as he heard the ranger taking it from Dan but too late to stop it picking up Tom's message. Now, he was carefully making his way through the trees, trying to keep clear of all the other students and Mr. Flatley. This required quite a few wide detours. It took him over ten minutes to reach Tom who, judging by the look on his face, was now imagining the worst possible scenarios for Dan.
"Where are you taking me ?" came Dan's voice over the earpieces.
"Shut up and keep walking," came the more distant ranger's voice, followed by another stifled groan of pain from Dan.
"Frank, thank goodness. We need to help Dan !" said Tom.
"All right, stay calm Tom. Pack up all your gear. We need to get you to another location before we can do anything," said Frank.
"Oh, I have something to show you," said Tom. He grabbed all his gear together, left the tape and worksheets and led Frank through the undergrowth to where he had been when Dan had been caught. "Look !" he said, pointing ahead.
Frank looked, and took off his glasses. They were fake. He wore contact lenses normally. The glasses were just part of his caretaker disguise. His face immediately became more intense and business-like when the glasses came off. "What have we here ?" he asked, kneeling down in front of a strange metallic object, projecting out of the ground in the clearing in front of them. Frank looked around to check that they weren't being watched. There appeared to be nobody around.
"What is it Tom ?" he asked.
"I don't know, but it's generating a weak electromagnetic field," said Tom. "I recorded the results on the spy-pod. It's not like anything I've ever seen before," he said. "It could be some sort of intruder detection system, or a monitoring system of some kind," he said.
"There are no manufacturer's marks on it," said Frank, examining all round the object. "It's not part of some proprietory system. It's been custom made," he muttered. "Have you touched it ?" he asked.
"No. I didn't dare," said Tom. Frank nodded his agreement.
"OK. Photograph it, and send the recorded results to Stella," instructed Frank. "We need to move to a safer location," he added, looking around them.
Tom took the photo and started setting up a message to send to Stella. "Does Stella know what's happened ?" asked Tom.
Frank shook his head. "No, I'll tell her once you've sent that data," he said. Tom told him the message was sent, and Frank pulled out his phone. "Come on. We need to get moving," he said. "Hi Stella. Dan's been caught by one of the park rangers and he's been taken away. His microphone is currently still working. You can pick up the feed. Tom's still free and he's sent you information about a device he's found in the park. We're on the move. Aneisha and Zoe are on silent at the moment, because they're under surveillance. Can you arrange reinforcements in case we need them please ? Yes. I know. Thanks Stella," he said, hanging up. "Come on Tom. This way," he instructed, leading Tom through the woods, all the while keeping his eyes peeled for possible trouble.
Meanwhile, Zoe and Aneisha had their own troubles to deal with. As soon as they saw someone heading up to the meadow area from the house, they did as Frank said and concealed all of their high tech equipment, making themselves look like all the other groups of teens working across the fields. Fortunately they had done some work. Zoe's sheet looked a little bare. "Zoe," hissed Aneisha. "You need to put more on your sheet !" she whispered.
"But I can't record the species any quicker," complained Zoe. "I have to keep checking everything against the book."
"You don't have to actually do it Zoe !" said Aneisha. "Just make it up and look like you're half way across the area. Put any old thing down !" she hissed.
"Oh !" said Zoe, finally getting the point. "We only have to pretend," she said, making a set of random marks on the worksheet, then moving further across the survey area. She glanced around and saw a ranger talking to Melissa and her partner further down the field. They seemed satisfied and looked around before walking towards Zoe and Aniesha's position. "They're coming," she said, getting her head down and using her booklet to properly identify some of the plants she was finding.
"How are you getting on girls ?" asked a voice. They looked up and smiled at their visitor.
"Oh, it's a bit slow going to be honest," said Aneisha. "I've never seen half of these plants before," she said. "Would it be a problem if we don't get it 100% correct ?" she asked hopefully.
"We would prefer you to be as accurate as possible," said the man, crouching down beside them and looking closely at their sheets. "Ah, I see you've found quite a lot of the Bugloss," he commented, after checking Zoe's sheet. Aneisha saw Zoe's eyes widening in worry, but then the man said, "Always a good sign of healthy diversity in a meadow."
"Oh, that's good !" said Zoe with enormous relief.
"Yes, I'm glad you take these things seriously too," said the man, completely misunderstanding the reason for her relief. "We want to find as many different species as possible," he added, looking closely at the side of Zoe's face, as well as Aneisha's before glancing at their backpacks. Seemingly satisfied, he said, "Try not to trample on the plants after you've recorded them though. Well, good work girls. Keep it up. It all adds to our knowledge of the planet you know."
As he walked away towards the next pair of students, Zoe and Aneisha breathed a big sigh of relief. "That could have been close," said Aneisha. "If Dan hadn't been caught first, it could have been us."
"Do you think we should put our earpieces back in yet ?" asked Zoe.
"No. Let's wait until he's off the field," said Aneisha. "He might still come past on his way back. We need to show some progress." In spite of her own words, she kept a careful eye on the ranger's progress around the field. He seemed to take forever, spending quite some time with Roly and Byron. Finally he walked back down the field and checked in on their progress once again. Seemingly satisfied with what he saw, he returned back in the direction of the house. "Now !" whispered Aneisha. They both crouched down low and pushed their earpieces back in. The first thing they heard was the voice of as stranger.
"This equipment is all far too high tech for a schoolboy. Who are you ?" demanded the voice.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I came here with my school," said Dan's voice, which was interrupted by a loud slapping sound.
"Don't give me that rubbish !" shouted the voice. "Give me that earpiece," the voice instructed. There was a sound of something being stamped on. "We know there are powers seeking to destroy our work. You'll be very sorry you ever tried to interfere with us boy ! Tie him and take him upstairs ! Wait ! Have you checked for hidden microphones ?" asked the man. There was a sound of scratching and rustling, followed by thumps and bumps. They had found the microphone. "Hm. Thought you could keep this from us did you ? Say goodbye to your co-conspirators. You won't be seeing them for a while," said the voice angrily, before the signal was cut off.