WARNING: This chapter contains some upsetting scenes.
(Jenny's POV)
MI9 is within our sights when we arrive less than five minutes later.
"Right, we're here," I say as we arrive by Lambeth Bridge. "Let's find that secret entrance."
"Er, it might be a bit difficult, Jenny," says Rose. "According to my Thames Tideway app on my Spy-Pod, the water has risen by six metres – meaning that the entrance is underwater."
"Then it looks like we'll be doing a bit of late-night swimming."
"Won't we drown?" Blane asks.
"Nah. The helmets are self-oxygenating – allowing us to breathe underwater. We'll be fine. Ready?"
"Ready!" says the team – though I think Daisy is still upset that we have to go through a sewer, but we have to do this.
I switch off the thrusters and do a forward dive while in the air, my back arched, my arms extended sideways and my legs straight and together, and plunge into the water with my arms stretched above my head.
The cold is ferocious, a hammer blow that nearly forces the air out of my lungs. My whole body is in shock, but the special heating panels integrated in the back of the wetsuit activates, warming my body up to a reasonable temperature.
The water is as black as ink. I can barely see two feet in front of me. I turn on the headlamp on my helmet but don't want the authorities to get suspicious, so I turn the light down so that there is just enough for me to see.
I feel a tap on my shoulder. I whirl around, to see Rose, Daisy and Blane. With everyone together, we kick forward, beginning our venture underwater.
We try to move as quickly as we can because the current, as I've just found out, is tricky, swirling first in one direction, then pulling us hard in the other.
I kick hard and try to lengthen my strokes as I continue to swim forward. The water is cloudy, green like pea soup.
I must have been swimming for almost two minutes. It feels closer to ten. My chest is aching and my biceps tightening. The current is surprising strong, but I kick through the swirling water.
I keep pushing against the current when I find myself looking into a black hole on the wall at the end of the bridge.
"Hey guys! I think that's the secret entrance to MI9," I tell the young spies. "Let's head for it."
We move forward. I can feel the force of the current pushing me back as I get near to the entrance. I try again, but another thrust of the powerful current throws me back.
"Now what do we do?" Blane asks.
My practical mind gets to work. Suddenly, I get a brainstorm.
"I've got an idea," I say. "Take hold of my wrist."
"What?" Daisy says.
"Just do it. Rose, take hold of the other. Blane, take hold of either of the girls' wrists."
The trio spring into action – Daisy holds onto my left wrist, Rose takes my right and Blane hold onto Rose's wrist.
"Now whatever you do, don't let go," I instruct them. "Daisy, press the button on my chest plate.
She does what I say and presses the red button. The thrusters activate once again and we shoot forward into the tunnel. The beams on our torch helmets point the way ahead and throwing pure, white light onto our immediate surroundings.
"Hold on!" I say when I spot a curve in the tunnel ahead of us. Gripping onto Rose and Daisy's wrists, I lean to the right of the tunnel and swim along the wall, looping around the tunnel like skateboarder.
"Woo-hoo!" I hear Blane whoop.
I circle the entire curve of the tunnel before swimming in a straight line again.
We continue to hurtle down the tunnel like a bullet, crashing through the water, when I make out a circular entrance up ahead of me.
"Daisy, switch off my thrusters!" I tell her.
With all her strength, Daisy brings up her hand and presses the button on my chest plate, turning off the engines.
Just as the thrusters are switched off, we emerge out of the tunnel… and down a waterfall!
"GWAAAAAH!" we scream as we fall all the way down to the body of water below.
"Bloody hell!" I cry when I break the surface. A few seconds later Rose, Daisy and Blane reappear, and we all swim to the side.
We climb onto the narrow walkway at the edge of the waterhole, and sit alongside it, our feet dangling in the grimy water.
I retract the visor back into the helmet. The air is damp and the warm (but disgusting) stench of sewage rushes past me. I look up at the outfall that we fell out from. It must be a least forty metres high.
What a thrill that was.
I let out a sigh. "Well," I say after a long silence, "that was… interesting."
"That was awesome!" says Blane, his eyes wide with excitement.
"That was scary," says Rose.
"That was something I never want to experience again," says Daisy.
We all nod, agreeing with the said comments.
"Anyway, no time dilly-dallying," I say, standing up. "We've got to keep moving."
The trio get to their feet and follow me along the walkway to a set of steps. At the top of the steps is a rusty ladder, running up to the ceiling, into the next part of the sewer. After we climb up the dank steps, we start to climb up the ladder. The metal rungs are ice-cold against my hands as I ascend further and ever further up the ladder. I can feel a rush of cold air streaming down towards me. I keep moving upwards until I'm shown metal grilles guided by the light on my headlamp set on the ceiling at the top of the ladder.
I use one hand to take hold of the grille and give it a push, but it's firmly secured, bolted into the rock face. I ball my hand into a fist and I punch at the grille, but to no avail. I keep punching the grille to shift it open until my knuckles gets sore and then I switch hands.
"Come on, you lousy fu…" I mumble as I continue to punch.
"What's going on up there?" I hear Daisy ask, but I ignore her and carry on punching, until one side of the grille shifts – but only a little bit.
My arm is starting to ache and my knuckles are getting sore, but I can't give up now. I give one last strong at the grille… and it flies up from the rock and lands with a clang.
Result!
Carefully, I begin to squeeze through the rectangular hole and climb out into the next part of the sewer. I help Rose out of the hole, followed by Daisy and then Blane – although he can pretty much do it himself.
"Where are we?" Daisy asks, dusting her hands off.
"It looks like some sort of tunnel," says Blane.
I light up my headlamp to full beam, and the light shoots out across the chamber like a laser show, lighting up everything in our sights.
We find ourselves in the middle of a relatively wide tunnel going in two directions in semi-circular form. The floor is a metal mezzanine and the circular rings of the iron/concrete walls seem to spiral into the distance. Thin straw-like stalactites can be seen, some more than two feet in length, where minerals in the rocks outside the shell of the structure have leaked through over the years, depositing formations not dissimilar to those seen in caves. They're hollow and most have a drip of water waiting to drop from their ends. As well as the stalactites, very short but stubby stalagmites are seen forming on the floor.
"What is this place?" Blane asks.
"Oh, my God – it's an underground bunker," says Rose. "MI9 must have used it as an air-raid shelter during World War Two. And I have to say that this is amazing! I mean, can you believe this? We have just rediscovered a piece of MI9 history!"
"And we get do some rediscovering later – after we save MI9," I say. "Right now, we need to figure out where we have to go."
"I'm on the case." Rose takes out her Spy-Pod and scans the tunnel. After a few seconds she says while pointing at one direction of the tunnel, "We go left."
"How do you know that?" Daisy asks.
"If we go right, we'll either end up under the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Abbey."
"So left it is," I say. "Let's go."
We walk down the tunnel, avoiding some of the stalactites along the way, with just our light beams to path the way – even though it's impossible to see the end of the tunnel, such as its length and in the distance seems to curve to the right.
"God, this place gives me the creeps," Daisy comments, wrapping her arms around herself.
"You can say that again," I say, shivering – not because I'm cold, because of the eerie feeling that the tunnel is giving.
We continue to walk down the tunnel. A distinct curve is seen along its length, extenuated by red metal pillars. The tunnel feels considerably drier – it's also a lot dustier and a thin mist of dust forms as we walk.
Despite appearing drier, the occasional mineral feature is observed on the walls and also the metal pillars along with their paintwork in places are starting to show their sixty-odd years of disuse.
After two hundred metres of walking, the tunnel stops and we arrive at a door immediately to our right. Once we open it, we walk down a short corridor that leads us to two steep-looking spiral staircases – one going up, the other going down (probably down to another part of the shelter). In the centre of the spiral staircases is a void, encased in a metal mesh, which would have originally been occupied by a lift. I mean it's not like there'll be one right now – this place has being abandoned for nearly seventy years.
"Looks like we'll be taking that stairs," says Blane. "Last one at the top is a loser!"
He starts racing up the spiral staircase. Rose, Daisy and I glance at one another and roll our eyes, but we quickly follow behind.
It's a lengthy climb as we ascend up the steep steps, but at the same time it's a great workout for toning muscles. I can feel my legs and bum tightening up already.
Up and up and up and up the stairs we go – and then after climbing over two hundred steps, we reach the top of the staircase.
"God, I'm knackered," Rose gasps.
"I'll never go to another step class again," Daisy moans.
"What are you two talking about? That was great, especially the steepness of the stairs – excellent for toning up your legs and bum."
"All right, guys, enough chit-chat. Let's keep moving," I say, though I am a bit shattered and slightly breathless after climbing up all those stairs.
On leaving the lift area, it becomes immediately apparent that although this place has long since finished being used as a shelter, the location has found a new use. It seems that it has become the subterranean hell that all cardboard boxes go to when they die. There are boxes everywhere! The entire complex is today being used to store paper documents in literally thousands of cardboard boxes. It seems ironic that in the digital age we're living, the entire contents of all the documents stored in the over eight hundred metres of tunnels of this complex can probably be stored on a single hard drive!
Immediately to our right, having left the lift shaft area is a doorway… but it's bricked up.
"Great – a dead end," says Daisy. "Now what?"
I approach the bricked-up wall. I reach out and knock on it. The wall sounds hollow.
"Hmmmm," I say. I clench my fist and I beat it so hard against the brickwork. Suddenly, the wall slides open with a loud creak to reveal a whole other room.
"No way," Rose whispers. "It's a secret door."
I stride through and enter the next room, with Rose, Blane and Daisy close behind.
The room is empty, but completely empty – there's an old desk, with stacks of old computer monitors, cardboard boxes wrapped in twine and a nest of cables running along the wall, multiple widths and colours. I head to the switch next to the door on the other side of the room and turn the lights on.
Daisy takes off her helmet. "Where are we now?" she asks.
"It looks like some sort of storage room," says Blane, taking off his helmet.
"Not just any old storage room – an MI9 storage room," says Rose, showing us a document with MI9's logo on the letterhead. "This is the basement."
"That explains the tunnels filled with boxes – they ran out of space in here," I say. "Anyway, now that we're finally inside MI9, we should find the Phillips guy and stop him from opening the vault."
"If we knew where he was," says Daisy. "We wouldn't even know where to start."
"I think I can solve that problem," says Rose. "Blane, pass me that cable over there."
Blane fetches the cable that Rose was pointing at as she picks up an old monitor and puts it on the desk. Rose takes the cable that Blane placed on the desk and starts stripping it.
We watch in silent puzzlement as Rose, confident and controlled, hooks the monitor up to the cable. She uses the other cables along the wall and begins stripping them.
"Turn that on," she instructs, pointing to the computer she picked up.
I turn on the monitor, but there's static on the screen. Rose begins touching cable to cable and as she does, brief images flashes onscreen of MI9's surveillance cameras, including Zeke's workspace.
"You've tapped into the surveillance system," says Daisy, impressed.
Rose continues to touch the wires to a series of main lines. Each one affords a different view of empty office spaces and corridors – most are crawling with armed men. We've also got audio, but at the moment there isn't any sound to hear.
"There are over six hundred cameras hidden throughout MI9," Rose tells us. She connects to another camera feed. The screen on the monitor switch to one of the meeting rooms – and what we see on the monitor is not a pretty one.
"Oh, my God," I whisper.
Frank, Oscar, Carrie, Stark and the other agents are in the meeting room – their arms bound – sitting on the floor, guarded at gunpoint by men in black military uniform. They look OK, which is more than what I can say for Director Fairchild. She's at the front of the room, her wrist tied to the arms of the chair… and she looks totally messed up. Her left eye is bruised and puffy, there's a graze on her cheek and a trickle of blood is oozing from her split lip and her right cheek. She's being smacked around by a man in a very sharp suit. I don't need three guesses to work out who that is.
"Casper Phillips," I murmur, narrowing my eyes and taking in the sight of the man whose arse I'm going to kick once I come face to face with him.
"Come on, Frannie; just give me the combination code. You know you want to," he says. "Give me the code and I'll stop smacking you silly."
Director Fairchild's eye is already swelling shut, but she still manages to glare at Phillips. "You know that's never going to happen," she says.
He grabs a fistful of the director's hair and gets right up close in her face.
"You know, my patience is becoming a bit like Prince William's hair – it's wearing thin. You either give me the code or I will beat you to a limp, bruised, bloody pulp."
She remains silent.
"Actually, you know what? I'm not gonna beat you senseless – I'm going to do something much worse than that." Phillips turns to one of the guards. "Get the equipment and strap it on her."
The guard salutes and picks up a duffel bag by the door and places it on the table. He opens it up and takes out an electronic box of sorts.
While the guard prepares to enable the machine, Phillips take out a walkie-talkie from the inside pocket of his jacket.
"Yo, Benny, what's up? Where are we? I need status!" he says.
"Almost done drilling, then we'll start packing explosives…" I hear a voice over the radio.
"Rose, switch the monitor to the vault," I say.
She hurriedly touches the cable to different main lines. Areas of MI9 flash onscreen. We keep looking at the screen until we come across the one we want.
"There!" I say, pointing at the screen.
The monitor shows a heavy security door with two people standing outside it. One is a weird and wild looking man, with long and tangled black hair, several strands threaded with beads. He looks like a pirate. The other is a tall, dark-haired man with a narrow face and pointed chin who's still on his walkie-talkie. Gee, I wonder who that could be. I can see that there are already holes bored into the door. They must have used a diamond-tipped drill.
"…we should be in the vault room in twenty minutes," Benny tells Phillips before switching off his radio and pocketing it.
Pirate Man kneels down and from his duffel bag he gently removes four sticks of plastic explosives, and starts packing the explosives in the holes of the door.
"I've seen enough of this," I say, turning my back on the screen. "So the situation is this: we have about twenty minutes to stop this Casper Phillips dude and his not-so merry men from accessing the vault. At the same time, we need to save our friends and colleagues. On top of that, we need to deactivate the C-4 explosives hidden within the building – while avoiding the millions of guards that are patrolling the corridors. The odds are against us…" I turn to the team with a cocky smile playing over my face, "and that's just the way I like it. I don't know about you but I'm up for the challenge. Question is are you?"
"I am!" says Blane.
"Count me in!" says Daisy.
"As you would say, Jenny, let's rock and roll," says Rose.
"That's the spirit," I say. "But before we go, I think a change in outfit is in order." With my watch-communicator I change from my aquatic flight suit into my ordinary spy outfit. Rose follows suit and changes into her spy outfit.
"And as for you two…" I use my watch-communicator to change Blane and Daisy into their very own spy outfits.
For Blane he's wearing black skinny jeans, a black turtleneck with a black collarless and sleeveless leather tunic jacket, and black knee-high boots. And as for Daisy, she's wearing a black skintight catsuit with a black leather jacket on top with the sleeves rolled up. She also has on black leather fingerless gloves, black knee-length high-heel boots and a black belt with a silver buckle bearing MI9's logo.
"Omigosh, I love it!" Daisy squeals, hugging me. "This look is absolutely perfect, Jen! I look so good."
"Yeah, you do," says Blane, checking out her bottom. But then he registers a double take. "I mean…" he clears his throat, "yeah – I look good, too. Thanks, Jen."
"You're welcome," I say. "Now that we're sorted out with outfits, we need to go to the Gadget Room to arm ourselves. So let's head there first."
The young spies and I leave the basement and head down the corridor to the elevator at the end of the passage. As the lift takes us up, a thought occurs to me – what if the lift doors open and the guards are on that floor? I tell Rose, Daisy and Blane to hold hands. I can see Blane and Daisy are reluctant but they hold hands, their cheeks going red as they do so which I think is quite sweet. Anyway after I take Rose's hand, I use my watch-communicator to activate the cloaking device, rendering us invisible.
The lift pings open when we get to the fifth floor and just as I suspected, three guards are standing in the corridor. The men, curious, start approaching the lift, giving us time to exit the elevator. One of the men aims his gun in the lift. He steps inside and checks the roof panel in the lift to see if it's being tampered with. The man steps out of the lift and shrugs his shoulders to his colleagues and they go back to monitoring the corridor.
Mentally sighing in relief, I lead the team down the maze of corridors – our hands still held together – passing guard after guard. I've got to admit I've done some challenging missions, but this is the most hardcore mission I've have ever accepted doing. It's also the scariest one because we've only got one shot at it. If we get caught, then it's game over.
We turn right at the end of a long corridor when we stop. Standing at one of the doors are two guards. They're standing outside the door of the Gadget Room.
"Shit," I curse quietly.
"What's going on?" Rose whispers.
"Two men are guarding the Gadget Room. There's no way we can get to through that door without arousing suspicion. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Blane asks.
"I may have an idea about how to lure them away," I say. "It's risky, but I don't think we have much of a choice." I spot the toilets not too far from where we are. A sly smile spreads slowly over my face. "Oh yeah – I think it just might work. Huddle up, team."
The trio crowd together as I tell them the plan. As I said it's risky because if I get caught, they'll be on their own. So this has to work.
After telling them the plan, I hand Rose my watch-communicator, making my body visible. I take deep breaths to compose myself, and then unzip the front of my catsuit, showing a little too much cleavage. After fluffing up my hair, I turn the corner – and the sex appeal.
"Well, hello, sexy boys," I say in a husky and erotic voice. I walk towards them, my hips wiggling back and forth.
The men turn and see me. They point their guns at me.
"Who are you?" one of the guards asks. He's tall and slender with black hair and green eyes.
"Who, me?" I say innocently. "Oh, I'm just that something special that your leader Casper Phillips sent as a present to you guys for doing such a grand job."
"Really?" says the other guard, slightly lowering his gun to check me out. He's Asian – like Rose – with brown eyes and long eyelashes. "Phillips certainly has good taste." He lowers his gun as his gaze slowly slides over my curves as if he has x-ray vision. "Very good taste."
I resist the urge to throw up. This guy's tongue is practically hanging down to his knees.
"You know, I could do with a five-minute break," says the Asian.
"We're supposed to be guarding the door," the dark-haired man tells his partner.
"Oh come on, it's not like anyone is going to break in here. One half is stuck in the office and the other half are back on the boat. Besides, look at those hips. There is most definitely junk in that trunk."
The raven-haired guard looks me up and down, taking in every single detail. After a few seconds, he lowers his gun.
"I've got to admit she is bloody gorgeous," says the green-eyed guard. He sighs in defeat. "OK, Raj. You win. Let's have fun with her."
A slow smile tugs at the corner of my lips. "Sweet," I say. "But not out here – we don't want your friends getting a bit of the action, do we?"
"Then where do you suggest we should go?" Raj asks.
"Follow me," I say with a wink.
I turn my back to them, my round bottom taunting them, and I lure the guards away from the door and lead them to the ladies' toilets.
"Bathroom sex, eh? Kinky," says Raj. "All right, let the fun begin." He and his raven-haired friend try to make a grab at me, when I stop them.
"Not so fast, boys. First I want you to strip for me," I say. "I like to see what I'm working with."
A nervous laugh escapes the dark-haired man, but Raj practically tears off his clothes and kicks them to the side, standing in only his briefs. (I have to bite the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from laughing.) His partner finally gives in and strips down to his boxers.
"OK, babe, that's our side of the bargain done," says Raj. "Your turn."
"Of course," I say. "But I wanna surprise you guys, so close your eyes – and no peeking."
They shut their eyes obediently. I zip up my catsuit to make them think that I'm unzipping.
"OK, boys. On the count of three, I want you to open your eyes," I say. "Ready?"
"Ready," they say.
"One, two, three."
Just as they open their eyes, the guards start to shake around as if in terrible pain. Five seconds later they collapse on the floor, their bodies still quivering uncontrollably.
"I'd rather sleep with a corpse than get into a threesome with you two losers," I say. "Deactivate cloaking device."
Suddenly Rose, Daisy and Blane become visible, with Rose and Daisy holding Lipstick Stun Guns.
"I can't believe these two thought they were gonna get lucky," says Blane, looking down at the trembling guards. "Still, it got them away from the door."
"Yeah – great plan, Jen," says Rose. "Anyway, here's your watch-communicator."
"And here's your Lipstick Stun Gun," says Daisy.
I wave my hand away after taking back my watch-communicator. "Keep it. I have a drawerful of them at home. It won't even be missed. Now let's tie these two up."
Blane and I drag the guards' bodies to the sinks and I use my handcuffs from my utility belt to secure their wrists to the pipes under the sink. Then I tied a piece of cloth over their mouths.
"Right," I say, dusting my hands, "let's get into the Gadget Room before they put new guards at the door."
We leave the scantily clad men in the bathroom and head for the Gadget Room. I take out my personal ID card from my belt and swipe it through the wall mounted keycard reader. After the beep is heard, the two panels on the door slide open and we enter the room.
After the doors close behind us, the lights automatically flicker on. The room is furnished with shelves filled with various gadgets, prototypes and weapons.
"OK, guys. Let's go shopping," I say. "Remember to pick the most practical gadget."
The team spread out to look for the appropriate gadgets for the mission, while I head to the weapons section at the back of the room. I scout the shelves, looking for something that we can arm ourselves properly with in case the gadgets fail.
Then I see it. I go over to the guns displayed in a glass case against the wall. Inside one of the cases are ten pistols. Underneath there's a label that reads, Paralyzing Stun Gun – Fires a projectile that administers a voltage capable of rendering the assailant unconscious and paralyzed for one hour.
"Cool," I say.
The case is locked with a padlock – but not for long. I take out my Laser Lipstick and activate it. The red beam eats through the bolt in seconds. I remove the padlock, open the case and take a gun out. After checking to see if there are bullets in the pistol, I tuck the fireman in my belt and take out three more guns. I close the case and hurry back to the team – but not before I pick up some gadgets of my own: the Mini Bombs and four Shield Pins.
"Sorry I took so long," I say. "I was just getting these." I hold up pistols. "Don't worry, they're non-lethal – they're used to temporarily paralyze people. But only use these as a last resort."
"Awesome," says Blane, taking the gun and posing like James Bond. Then he tucks the pistol in the holster attached to his thigh. "Sorry."
"That's all right… Mr. Bond," I say with a smile. "I also picked these lapel pins. Press the pin and your clothes will stiffen up and become hard as steel, making it bulletproof." The spies take the pins and attach it on their clothes. "How did you guys do?"
"I picked up this." Blane holds up the Instant Freeze Cologne. "This will stop them in their tracks."
"I went and got this." Rose holds up an electromagnetic pulse weapon. "It's called Quick Slick – it fires an oil slick."
"Impressive," I say. "What about you, Daisy?"
She holds up a round, metallic object the size of a tennis ball. "It's a Smoke Grenade," she says. "So we can make a quick getaway."
"That's great – really great choice of gadgets. Right," I look at my watch, "we have exactly ten minutes to make our way to the vault. Let's head down there."
"Just one quick question – how exactly are we gonna stop Phillips from accessing the vault?"
"I've got a solution to that," says Rose. "I remember visiting Zeke at his workspace a couple of weeks ago, and he was working on a scrambling device for an agent who was supposed to travel Taiwan sometime in the New Year. If we can get to the device and use it on the vault door…"
"Then it can stop Phillips from opening the door," Blane finishes. "So even if he does get the code, the vault will not open."
"Exactly."
"Good thinking, Rose," I say. "Zeke's workroom is not far from us – it's a floor below. But how can we get there? We can't leave the room through the doors in case there might be guards outside…"
"How about that?" says Daisy, pointing to a ceiling vent in the middle of the room.
"Daisy, you're a genius!" I head over to the vent. "Mmm, it's a bit high. Blane, get over here."
Blane strides over to me. I squat down.
"Get on my shoulders," I tell him.
Blane straddles on my neck and sits on my shoulders. I wrap my arms around his legs and I steadily stand up.
"OK, Blane, can you reach the vent?" I ask.
After hearing grunts and groans, he says, "Yeah – got it."
I hear the grille of the vent being pulled away. Then some grunts as Blane climbs into the vent – using his feet to climb onto my shoulders. My shoulders do become lighter when Blane finally climbs into the vent.
"I'm in," he says.
"Nice work," I say to him. I turn to Rose and Daisy. "Right, who's next?"
Rose steps up to the plate. I squat down as she climbs on my back. We hold hands as she climbs onto my shoulders and crouches to maintain balance. I slowly stand up straight. Once I'm up, Rose stands up and is pulled into the vent by Blane.
The same routine is done by Daisy. She climbs and stands on my shoulder and is hauled in by Blane and Rose.
Just me left now. How am I getting up there?
I look around the room to see what I can use to get into the vent. I spot a chunky bracelet on one of the shelves and head over to it. I take the bracelet – a Wrist-Mounted Grappler. I slip the gadget on my wrist and rush over to the vent.
"Make way, guys!" I tell the team. I point the bracelet in the vent and I press the green button on the side. A cable deploys itself from the bracelet and fires into the vent. I press the blue button of the other side of the bracelet and I feel myself being pulled up into the vent.
After I'm reeled in, I climb inside the vent and pull at the cable, freeing it from the metallic surface that it was attached to. Then I grab the grille and set it back in place.
"Wrist-Mounted Grappler, never leave home without it," I say, jangling the bracelet in front of the young spies' faces. "Now, let's head down to Zeke's workshop."
"I've got a map on my Spy-Pod on where to go so I'll lead the way," says Rose, and starts crawling, with the rest of us following.
Hold on, everyone. Soon, the team and I will stop Phillips, and we'll save all of you – even you, Stark.
As we crawl through the vents, my mind wonders to when one of Phillips' men got that machine out from the duffel on the security feed. I wonder what it was. Whatever that device is, I just hope it's not as bad as being beaten to a pulp.
Though I get the feeling that it's going to be worse than a beating.
A whole lot worse.
(Frank's POV)
This has been the most agonizing twenty minutes ever. It's incredibly painful watching the head of an intelligence agency being tortured by a former operative and there's nothing we can do about it because there are guns trained at us. It's bad enough watching Phillips beat Director Fairchild senseless, but it's even worse watching her being tortured by electrocution.
"AAAAAAGH!" Director Fairchild screams, seizing in pain by Phillips' electroshock therapy machine.
"It doesn't have to be like this, Frannie," he says, turning the machine off. "Just tell me the combination code and I'll stop."
The director coughs. "N-never…" she says weakly.
Phillips turns the machine on again and tortures Director Fairchild further.
"AAAAAAAGH!" she screams and contorts.
"How about now? Are you gonna give me the code now, Frannie?" he asks, switching the machine off again.
The director is coughing and gasping. I don't think she can last much longer.
"I'm… never… going… to… tell you… anything," she whispers, her voice raspy. "So… you may as well… kill me."
Phillips gets close to the director. "Now where'd the fun be in that? Besides, you're much too fun to kill."
There's a knock at the door and two men enter. One of them looks like an extra from Pirates of the Caribbean – he's slender with brown eyes and has black dreadlocked hair, adorned with all manner of beads and trinkets. While the other man is tall and slender – almost skeletal – with pale skin and bulging distended eyes. He could pass off for Cruella De Vil's brother.
"We're in, boss," says Cruella's brother.
"Excellent." Phillips smiles. He turns to Director Fairchild. "All right, Frannie, here's the deal: we got the vault room open. Very nice – I'm proud of my team. I put them together myself – they rock, there's no other way to say it, OK. So now, two things: one, if you don't give me the vault codes, we have the tech to get in anyway, it'll just take a while. Right? It's like a crock pot. But I need a microwave and that's you. And two, you give me the codes… I won't have to torture you anymore. This would be really excellent for you."
Director Fairchild stares at Phillips. Then she says, "I can't be the first person… who has difficulty taking you seriously."
Phillips looks at the director for a moment. We can all see for a flash that this actually annoys him.
"OK, we're gonna play a new game" he counters. "If you don't give ne the vault codes…" He looks over at us, "I'll have one of your agents killed. How about that? They're always willing to die for Queen and country, aren't they?" He walks up to Stark and grabs him by the scruff of his neck. "How about I kill Stark? I always hated him. I mean look at him – he's a smarmy, brown-nosing, grade-A arse-kisser. Seriously, Stark, how many cocks did you suck to become Chief Agent? Huh? Huh?"
Stark doesn't say anything. In fact he can't say anything because he's been too busy snivelling, snorting and crying like a helpless baby.
"You are so pathetic, Stark," Phillips hisses lowly in Stark's ear. "Always have been, always will be." Then he forces Stark on the floor and walks off as what is supposed to be our Chief Agent is crying even harder than before.
Phillips continues to search around the room… and spots me, Oscar and Carrie.
His lips curve into a devious smile as Phillips makes his way over to us. He bends down and grabs Oscar and Carrie by the arms, and pulls them to their feet.
"How about this, Frannie? How about I kill your little spy kids?" says Phillips. "Can you live with that on your conscience?" He tightens his grip on Oscar and Carrie. "I wonder who I should kill first. How about the boy?" He eyes up Oscar. "Nah. He's doesn't look like someone who'll scream and beg for mercy. The girl on the other hand…" Phillips eyes up Carrie and licks his lips. "Yes… she'll do very nicely."
Phillips shoves Oscar on the ground and drags Carrie across the room.
"No! No, Carrie!" Oscar cries. He stands up and takes a few steps forward, but the guards aim their guns at him.
"I'd sit down if I were you, boy," says Phillips. "Not unless you want a bullet in your head."
Oscar stands where he is for a few seconds. Then he retreats back to his place on the floor.
Satisfied, Phillips takes Carrie to the front of the room. She tries to wriggle and dodge once or twice, but Phillips grasps her arm so tightly that his knuckles turn white.
"All right, Frannie," he says. "I'm giving you one last chance to tell me what the code to the vault is. Because if you don't…" he leans close to Carrie, "my men are going to take this young spy into an empty office room… and they'll rape her."
My eyes widen in sheer horror.
"What?!" Casey exclaims.
"No!" Carrie cries, struggling.
"And you wouldn't like that… would you, Frannie?" Phillips continues. "Letting my men force themselves into this lovely, attractive and" – he sniffs Carrie's hair – "scrumptiously delicious berry-flavoured young lady. Making her feel ashamed, foolish… humiliated. Their cocks buried deep in her virginal, pink pussy; her tight, puckered arse and down her warm, wet mouth as she cries in panic and terror and shame, wishing she was dead. And in the end, she'll get that wish. Because when they're finished with her… they'll shoot her dead. They'll shoot her after she's dead, and they'll keep shooting her until there's nothing left to shoot. And then we'll send her remains to her family – in a shoebox. I can already picture the look on her dear mother's face when she opens the box… and she's screaming at the top of her lungs. What a Christmas present that will be. And it'll be your entire fault, Frannie. But it doesn't have to be like that – just tell me the code and I'll let the girl go. But if you don't… everything that I just said will be played in real time. So, the choice is yours. What do you care about more – the code or the girl?"
Director Fairchild is silent, figuring out what to do. Either she gives Phillips the code and he lets Carrie go – even though he'll end up killing her anyway. Or she refuses and Phillips' men drag Carrie away and force her to have sex against her will and kill her, and Phillips ends up killing Director Fairchild and the rest of us.
A whole minute goes by.
"OK, then," says Phillips. "Gentlemen, she's all yours."
He shoves Carrie into the group of men. Their eyes are dark and delirious with lust as they grab Carrie and start to drag her away.
"No! No! Let go of me!" she shrieks, throwing herself from side to side. "Let me go! Let me go!"
"Carrie!" Oscar and I scream, getting onto our feet.
"Sit down! Or I'll have you both shot!" Phillips shouts.
"Frank! Oscar! Help! Help me!" Carrie screams.
"Casper, stop this! This has gone too far!" Casey cries.
"You shut up! Otherwise I'll have you shot as well," Phillips warns.
"Help! Help! Help me, someone!" Carrie kicks and screams. "Help!"
"Stop!" Director Fairchild demands suddenly. Even though she's still weak, her voice is loud enough for everyone to hear. Phillips turns to her.
"Yes, Frannie – do you have something to say?"
"You win, Phillips. I'll give you the code."
"What's that, Frannie?" He cups his ear. "I didn't quite catch that. What did you say?"
"I said I'll give you the damn code," she says a little bit loudly.
An annoying self-satisfied smile appears on Phillips' face. "Good." He turns to his men. "Let the girl go. Now!"
The men reluctantly unhand Carrie, and she runs back to me and Oscar, her eyes filled with tears. Several spill over and dribble down her cheeks.
When Carrie runs back into us, she's gasping and sobbing.
"It's OK, Carrie. It's OK," Oscar tells her.
Carrie burrows against him and cries harder. We may be OK now, but what happens when Phillips gets the code, enters the vault and helps himself to what's inside?
"…twelve, two, four and ten," says Director Fairchild, giving Phillips the combination.
"And ten. Great. Outstanding," he says, writing the numbers down on a piece of paper.
Then in one motion, Phillips drops his pen, revs up the machine and switches it on.
"AAAAAAAAAGH!" Director Fairchild screams in agony. Her body jerks against the restraints as the shocks tear through her body.
"Nice try, Frannie, on giving me a sequence of numbers like it's the National Lottery!" says Phillips. "Now how about giving me the real combination?"
"GWAAAAARGH!"
"Casper, stop it! You're gonna kill her!" Casey cries.
"I can go on all night, you know," Phillips tells Director Fairchild, ignoring his accomplice. "And until you give me the real combination, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"GWAAAGH! WAAAAAAAUGH! OK! OK, I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" she screeches.
The machine goes off.
"You'll tell me the real combination?" Phillips asks.
The director nods weakly, and tells the ex-agent the real combination code to the vault.
"…eleven, eight, twenty-five and forty-nine," she finishes quietly.
"Thank you, Frannie," says Phillips, writing the numbers down again. He squeezes her arm. "See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" He turns to the pirate man and Cruella's brother. "Let's boogie, boys."
He leaves the room with the two men, leaving us with the armed guards. I look over to Director Fairchild. Her face is pale and strained. She's exhausted and drowsy… barely able to keep her eyes open.
There's a part of me that's thinking there isn't anyone to save us – they probably perished in the explosion that Phillips placed on the yacht. But there's a small part of me that's hoping that someone – anyone – will come to the rescue and save us from the lunatic.
Whoever that person or people are…
…you're our only hope.
(Jenny's POV)
After ten minutes of crawling, we finally reach Zeke's workshop. But we have to hurry – along the way, we heard an explosion so fierce that the vent we were crawling through shook. That means that Benny and his pirate friend must have blown the vault and its surroundings.
After peering through the grille to see if we're in the right place, I use my feet to kick the grille in. It comes away easily, falling to the ground with a crash. I hold my breath, hoping that no-one outside the workspace heard anything.
Nothing.
Sighing in relief, I dangle my legs out of the square hole and I lower myself into the room. I drop down to the desk below and land, cat-like, on the balls of my feet. I catch Rose as she lowers herself into the room, followed by Daisy, but Blane helps himself down and like me, he drops from the vent and lands on his feet.
The room is dark, but I activate the light feature on my watch-communicator.
"So what does this scrambler look like, Rose?" I ask, swinging the light around the room.
"It's like a small, round compact. You know, like the cosmetic product," she says. "And it's magnetic."
We begin looking for where Zeke may have kept the compact – drawers, cupboards, shelves and desks. But with so much junk in the room, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
"Hey – I think I found it!" says Daisy after a few minutes of searching. She holds up a small round metal case.
Rose goes to her to check for herself.
"Yep – that's it. Good work, Daisy," says Rose.
"Great. Now that we've got the scrambler, let's get out of…" says Blane, but stops when we hear a voice outside.
"I could have sworn I just heard someone, Terry."
"Hide!" I tell the trio. But there are so many tools and junk in this room that there's nowhere to hide, so they get behind the desk, out of view.
I, on the hand, switch off the light and head for the door. I stand with my back against the wall next to the door, and I draw my Paralyzing Stun Gun.
"Activate cloaking device," I whisper into watch-communicator, and my body becomes invisible.
The plan is that whoever comes through the door and searches the room, they'll get the element of surprise when – invisible – I shoot them with the PSG. Then the team and I will tie the person up, gag them and hide their body, giving us the opportunity to escape. But at the same time, if this Terry guy comes in here and sees his partner bound and gagged, then the alarm will be raised and sooner or later, the team and I will be caught, and it'll be over.
I just hope it doesn't come to that.
"Seriously, Tel, I heard noises coming from this room," says the voice, getting nearer now. A silhouette of him appears on the window of the door.
My heart starts thudding. I breathe out so deeply my nostrils quiver.
The door creaks open.
Even though I'm invisible, I try not to twitch. I breathe in and out, in and out, in and out…
A man peaks his head in the room. He's very near me. His head is so close I can feel his breath on me. He looks around. Then he opens the door completely, steps into the room and swings the torch around.
I hope Rose, Daisy and Blane are OK. Just stay where you are, guys. Don't any of you dare move or make a peep in case Terry's partner finds where you're hiding. Just stay in exactly the same position; quiet, cramped and uncomfortable, until he leaves the room.
"Huh. I must be hearing things," says the man. He exits the room, shutting the door behind him and douses the light. I hear him walking away, telling Terry he was right – his mind was playing tricks on him.
I don't dare move a muscle until the footsteps have completely disappeared.
"Deactivate cloaking device," I say, and my body becomes visible. "It's OK, guys. You can come out now."
The silhouettes of Rose, Daisy and Blane pop out from behind the desk.
"That… was way too close," says Rose.
"I've never being so scared in my life," says Blane.
"My inside still hurt," says Daisy. "It's as if someone has taken my intestines and tied knots up and down them, like a string of sausages."
"I must admit, I was totally bricking it," I say, tucking my gun back in my belt. "Look, it seems risky for all of us to head to the vault in case we get caught out. We might have been lucky now, but next time they may end up killing us. So I think it'll be better if one of us went."
"I'll do it," Rose offers. "I'm the only one who knows how to work the device. And if I do get caught, I know that you guys will be the ones to save me."
I nod in agreement. "Then it's settled. Rose will go to the vault while the rest of us stay here. Good luck, Rose."
"Good luck, Rose," says Blane and Daisy, hugging her.
"Be careful," Daisy adds.
"I will," says Rose. She goes over to the desk, takes out her Paralyzing Stun Gun and the Quick Slick and places them on the counter. Then she climbs onto the table. I follow suit and I crouch down, while Rose climbs onto my shoulders. I slowly and steadily stand up, and Rose climbs into the vent (she did that by climbing onto my shoulders) and starts to crawl through the duct to the vault.
xxoOoxx
Five minutes have passed.
During that time, Blane, Daisy and I have been (quietly) exploring the workshop. I read through some of the notes that Zeke has written down. Some have really complicated calculations written down and others had words so long I can't pronounce them, so I leave the notes alone and head to the shelves to read one of the books.
While I flick through the pages, I glance at Blane who is checking himself out using the computer monitor… but he's not examining his hair or checking for spots. It's only when I get close to him that I find out why he's looking at the blank screen – he's checking out Daisy's arse!
I roll my eyes and shake my head, but stop when a thought comes to me.
I can use this opportunity to see if I can get one of them to confess their feelings to the other. I think some light-hearted entertainment is needed for this miserable night.
I sidle up to Blane and look at the black screen of the computer to check out the back of Daisy.
"She does have a nice arse, doesn't she?" I murmur, and Blane jumps.
"Holy sh…" he says, starting, but I put my hand over his mouth to stop him from screaming.
I raise a finger to my lips. "Sh-h-h-h! We don't want Daisy finding out what you've been up to, do we?" I whisper.
"I-it's not what it looks like," Blane stammers. "I was just… I was just, um…"
I cross my arms over my chest and cock an eyebrow, waiting for a response.
Blane sighs in defeat. "OK, OK. I… may have been… checking out… Daisy's… arse," he says quietly.
"Like you were in the storage room earlier?" I say, and Blane nods. "I knew it! You like her, don't you?"
The pinkness on Blane's cheeks said it all.
"I've liked her since I was teamed up with her and Rose during our MI High days," he says. "She's beautiful and attractive, but…"
"But what?"
"But at the same time, she can be bossy, arrogant… bitchy." (He whispers that last one.) "And she acts the ever-so-superior, just because she comes from a rich family."
"Was she ever like that back at St Hope's?"
"All the time. She hung out with the popular crowd, attended parties, and was known to be vicious and petty to the unfortunates at the bottom of the 'popularity food chain', like me, Rose and my mate, Stewart."
"Is she still like that now?"
"Well… not really, no."
"Of course not – she didn't mean to be malicious and spitefully towards you and any of the unpopular kids. She only did those things to save face. You know inside that Daisy is a sweet, kind and generous girl."
"Mmm, yeah, I suppose so."
"And as for the 'ever-so-superior' act… I don't think she does that to rub it in your face. I think she does that because it's a defence mechanism."
"A defence mechanism?"
I nod. "Like you said, she comes from a rich family. And just because she's rich, doesn't mean she doesn't have problems. Unlike you, Blane, she wasn't brought up by loving parents. Her parents were and still are too busy to spend time with her – she only had butlers and maids. She masks her loneliness up by being haughty and proud while being with the popular crowd."
Blane takes a long look at Daisy. Her back is still to us as she takes one of the books from the shelf and flicks through it.
"Huh. I never thought of it like that," says Blane.
"There may also be another reason why Daisy is like that with you," I say.
"Why?"
"Duh! Isn't it obvious? Daisy likes you."
His soft brown eyes twinkle. "Really?"
I roll my eyes. "Double duh! Can't you see it? The way she acts cold and hostile towards you if you acted foolish or clowned around. The way she often criticizes you in one way or another – bonus points if she calls you an idiot for not understanding her feelings outside your earshot. She does that because she isn't sure how to convey her feelings properly. And let's not forget how jealous she was when you mentioned that Irena girl earlier tonight on the St Katherine, and when she denied liking you when you teased her about it – even though it's a bit hypocritical for you to do so, considering that you like her, too. You and she are tsundere."
"What?"
"It's a Japanese word. It refers to someone who acts annoyed or uninterested around the other person, but in reality they're quite fond of that person, which is what you two are. And quite frankly, most of us are getting a little bit sick and tired of the will-they-won't-they scenario. So before this night is over, you're going to go up to Daisy, man up and confess your feelings to her, otherwise I'm gonna knock both your heads together and I'm not gonna stop until you one of you says that you like the other. OK?"
Blane stares at me, stunned. Then after a long silence, he wraps his arms around me and hugs me. "Thank you," he says. "Thank you for saying that, Jen. I needed that kick in the backside. I can see why Frank wants to marry you."
I feel my cheeks go red, and I hug him back.
"What's going on here?" Daisy asks, coming up to us. "Why are you two hugging?"
Blane opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.
"We were comforting each other," I lie. "I was thinking about what was happening to Frank, Carrie, Oscar and everybody else upstairs with that Phillips guy. And I was wondering what would happen if Phillips got his hands on the combination to the vault…"
"But I told her that wouldn't happen," Blane chimes in. "Because Rose will stop Phillips from accessing the vault and when we finally face him, he's gonna be sorry he ever messed with us. And that's when we hugged it out."
"Huh," says Daisy. "Oh, OK."
As soon as her back is to us, Blane and I exchange a brief, silent glance and give a nod and a wink.
Just then my watch-communicator vibrates. I answer. "Rose?"
"I'm standing outside the vault," she says. "The place looks like a bomb site."
"Hold on. I'll see it I can get footage of you from the security cameras."
I quickly tap on the keypads of my watch-communicator and hack into MI9's security feed. Thank you, Zeke for the basic lesson on hacking.
Footage of the vault shows up… and Rose is right – the room is a disaster area. The explosion has torn out the walls and windows, but the vault is still intact. I can see Rose going over to the vault. She attaches the compact on the door and slides a screen from inside the container. I can make out a toggle switch on the end. She takes hold of it and switches the device on.
"The scrambler is identifying the combination," says Rose.
While the device is doing that, I switch from the vault to the meeting room where the hostages are.
I can see Frank and Oscar comforting Carrie, and I can see Stark just crying – surprise, surprise. I see Director Fairchild slumped, unconscious, in her chair. But I can't see Phillips anywhere. I switch between screens, searching for him.
"Where are you, you son of a bitch?" I murmur.
I switch the screen again and I see Phillips on the footage, marching down the corridor with Benny and Pirate Man. He's holding something in his hand. It looks like a piece of paper…
I gasp. "The combination! He has it!" I switch back to the footage of Rose and the vault. "Rose, you've got about one minute to get out of there!"
"Just a sec – the compact has identified the combination," she says.
I hear the sound of a click. It sounds like the vault door opening. Christ, I hope the building doesn't blow up.
Just then, Rose presses the activation switch on the compact.
"Scrambling is in progress," she says.
I switch to the corridor, and there's a group of men approaching the intersection. They're littered with debris from the explosion.
"They're getting closer…" Daisy whispers.
"Thirty seconds, Rose," I tell her.
The commando team are nearly approaching the intersection.
"Fifteen seconds," I say.
"Scrambling is still in progress," says Rose.
Phillips is ten feet from the intersection… nine… eight…
"Rose, get out of there. Now," Blane says.
Rose doesn't move for a moment. Then she says, "Scrambling complete." And rips the device from the vault, and escapes into the vent… just as Phillips and his men turn the corner and enter the room where the vault is.
I let out a shaky sigh. "Oh, my God, that was close," I whisper.
Blane, Daisy and I watch on the screen as Phillips types in the code. The look on his face when the computer tells him the combination has failed is priceless.
"Fairchild," he growls.
"Well done, Rose," I say to myself. "Now all we have to do is wait for her to come back and…"
"Wait. What is Phillips doing?" says Blane.
Phillips holds up his hand. Then he gets out a handheld device and points it to the vent. He sweeps the device along the wall. Then he stands back… and the commando team open fire!
"Rose!" Blane and I exclaim.
"Oh, my God!" Daisy cries.
We watch on the monitor as Phillips, Benny and Pirate Man stalk the corridor. The device that Phillips is holding is trained along the wall.
"Target out of range, looking to reacquire," says Benny.
The commando team fire into the wall. Blane, Daisy and I watch in horror as the bullets shred the wall and the duct on the ceiling.
Phillips holds his hand up again and the firing creases.
"Oh, God," whispers Daisy. "Oh, my God."
"Rose? Rose, can you hear me?" I say over my watch-communicator.
No reply.
"Come in, Rose. Come in. Do you read me?" I try again.
No answer.
"Rose?" The word comes out tiny and weak.
We wait some more. Listening hard.
But there's nothing.
Just silence.
"Oh no…" I whisper.
"No, don't –" Blane starts.
"She's dead," says Daisy. "I don't believe it. Rose is dead."
She buries her face in her hands and starts sobbing. Blane stomps off and angrily punches the wall.
I don't say anything. I can't say anything. I just stand there, staring at the screen in stunned silence, my fists clenched. This can't be happening…
But it has happened.
I can't believe that one of the most brightest, intelligent and quick-witted person I have ever met… is gone.