Root nodded. ‘Agreed. We fly up far enough to clear Koboi’s blocker signal, then alert Major Kelp.’
‘What about Scalene? He’s mesmerized to the gills, he can’t look after himself. If we do escape, Opal is not going to leave him around as evidence.’
It was basic criminal logic. Your typical ‘take over the world’ types were not averse to knocking off a few of their own if it meant a clean getaway.
Root actually growled. ‘It really tugs my beard to put us in harm’s way over a goblin, but that’s the job. We take Scalene with us. I want you to sink a few charges into that box round his waist, and when the buzzing stops I throw him over my shoulder and we’re off up E37.’
‘Understood,’ said Holly, lowering the setting on her weapon to minimum. Some of the charge would be transferred to Scalene, but it wouldn’t do much more than dry up his eyeballs for a couple of minutes.
‘Ignore the pixie. Whatever she says, keep your mind on the job.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Root took several deep breaths. Somehow it calmed Holly to see the commander as nervous as she was. ‘OK. Go.’
The two elves turned and strode rapidly towards the unconscious goblin.
‘Have we come up with a little plan?’ said Koboi mockingly from the small screen.
‘Something ingenious, I hope. Something I haven’t thought of?’
Grim-faced, Holly tried to shut out the words, but they wormed their way into her thoughts. Something ingenious? Hardly. It was simply the only option open to them.
Something Koboi hadn’t thought of? Doubtful. Opal could conceivably have been planning this for almost a year. Were they just about to do exactly what she wanted?
‘Sir…’ began Holly, but Root was already in position beside Scalene.
Holly fired six charges at the small screen. All six impacted on Koboi’s pixelated features. Opal’s image disappeared in a storm of static. Sparks squeezed between the metal seams and acrid smoke leaked through the speaker grid.
Root hesitated for a moment, allowing any charge to disperse, then he grabbed
Scalene firmly by the shoulders.
Nothing happened.
I was wrong, thought Holly, releasing a breath she did not realize she’d been holding. I was wrong, thank the gods. Opal has no plan. But it wasn’t true, and Holly didn’t really believe it.
The box around Scalene’s midriff was secured by a set of octo-bonds, eight telescoping cables often used by the LEP to restrain dangerous criminals. They could be locked and unlocked remotely and, once cinched, could not be removed without the remote or an angle grinder. As soon as Root leaned over, the octo-bonds released Scalene and whiplashed around the commander’s torso, releasing Scalene and drawing the metal box tight to Root’s own chest.
Koboi’s face appeared on the reverse side of the box. The smokescreen had been just that: a smokescreen.
‘Commander Root,’ she said, almost breathless with malice, ‘it looks like you’re the sacrifice.’
‘D’Arvit!’ swore Root, beating the metal box with the butt of his pistol. The cords tightened until Root’s breath came in agonized spurts. Holly heard more than one rib crack. The commander fought the urge to sink to his feet. Magical blue sparks played around his torso, automatically healing the broken bones.
Holly rushed forward to help, but before she could reach her superior officer an urgent beeping began to emanate from the device’s speaker. The closer she got, the louder the beep.
‘Stay back,’ grunted Root. ‘Stay back. It’s a trigger.’
Holly stopped in her sooty tracks, punching the air in frustration. But the commander was probably right. She had heard of proximity triggers before. Dwarfs used them in the mines. They would set a charge in the tunnels, activate a proximity trigger and then set it off from a safe distance, using a stone.
Opal’s face reappeared on the screen.
‘Listen to your Julius, Captain Short,’ advised the pixie. ‘This is a moment for caution. Your commander is quite right — the tone you hear is indeed a proximity trigger. If you come too close, he will be vaporized by the explosive gel packed into the metal box.’
‘Stop lecturing and tell us what you want,’ snarled Root.
‘Now, now, Commander, patience. Your worries will be over soon enough. In fact they are already over, so why don’t you just wait quietly while your final seconds tick away.’
Holly circled the commander, keeping the beep constant, until her back was to the chute.
‘There’s a way out of this, Commander,’ she said. ‘I just need to think. I need a minute to sort things out.’
‘Let me help you to sort things out,’ said Koboi mockingly, her childlike features ugly with malice. ‘Your LEP comrades are currently trying to laser their way in here, but of course they will never make it in time. And you can bet that my old school chum, Foaly, is glued to his video screen. So what does he see? He sees his good friend Holly Short apparently holding a gun on her commander. Now why would she want to do that?’
‘Foaly will figure it out,’ said Root. ‘He beat you before.’
Opal tightened the octo-bonds remotely, forcing the commander to his knees.
‘Maybe he would figure it out, at that. If he had time. But unfortunately for you, time is almost up.’
On Root’s chest, a digital readout flickered into life. There were two numbers on the readout. A six and a zero. Sixty seconds.
‘One minute to live, Commander. How does that feel?’
The numbers began ticking down.
The ticking and the beeping and Opal’s snide sniggers drilled into Holly’s brain.
‘Shut it down, Koboi. Shut it down, or I swear I’ll…’
Opal’s laughter was unrestrained. It echoed through the access tunnel like the attack screech of a harpie.
‘You will what? Exactly? Die beside your commander?’
More cracks. More ribs broken. The blue sparks of magic circled Root’s torso like stars caught in a whirlwind.
‘Go now,’ he grunted. ‘Holly, I am ordering you to leave.’
‘With respect, Commander. No. This isn’t over yet.’
‘Forty-eight,’ said Opal, in a happy, sing-song voice. ‘Forty-seven.’
‘Holly! Go!’
‘I’d listen if I were you,’ said Koboi. ‘There are other lives at stake. Root is already dead — why not save someone who can be saved?’
Holly moaned. Another element in an already overloaded equation.
‘Who can I save? Who’s in danger?’
‘Oh, no one important. Just a couple of Mud Men.’
Of course, thought Holly, Artemis and Butler. Two others who had put a stop to Koboi’s plan.
‘What have you done, Opal?’ said Holly, shouting above the proximity trigger and core wind.
Koboi’s lip drooped, mimicking a guilty child.
‘I’m afraid I may have put your human friends in danger. At this very moment they are stealing a package from the International Bank in Munich. A little package I prepared for them. If Master Fowl is as clever as he is supposed to be, he won’t open the package until he reaches the Kronski Hotel and can check for booby traps. Then a bio-bomb will be activated, and “Bye bye, obnoxious humans”. You can stay here and explain all this. I’m sure it won’t take more than a few hours to sort it out with Internal
Affairs. Or you can try to rescue your friends.’
Holly’s head reeled. The commander, Artemis, Butler. All about to die. How could she save them all? There was no way to win.
‘I will hunt you down, Koboi. For you, there won’t be a safe inch on the planet.’
‘Such venom. What if I gave you a way out? One chance to win.’
Root was on his knees now, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. The blue sparks were gone, he was out of magic.
