Family of Spies, page 18
Ford smiled. “Okay, Gav. We’ll do it your way.”
As quietly as possible they returned to the entranceway, stopping out of sight of the next group of tourists.
Ellie held the pamphlet so they could all see it and looked at Ford. “Ready when you are.”
Ford let out a long breath of air and closed his eyes. He hovered his hand above it. Dancing in his mind was the déjà vu feeling that came with every clairvoyant memory. Ford clasped the paper and out of the pitch black emerged the fountain room, but darker than it was on the tour. Ford squinted into the eerie gloom as a figure of a man appeared before him. Great-Granddad. He stood stock-still, staring over Ford’s left shoulder.
Ford held his breath and slowly turned to see what his great-grandfather was looking at, half expecting the Nazi Gestapo to be standing right behind him. Ford sighed with relief. Only a dark passageway stared back.
Great-Granddad sighed too and began fiddling with a silver flashlight. He thumped it on his thigh and the light blinked on. He shielded the light with his other hand.
“Last thing I need is to alert the French Resistance of my presence,” he mumbled. “And I mustn’t get lost,” he muttered as he hastened down the corridor the cousins had first hidden in.
Ford cleared his throat. “We need to run down the passageway the three of us just hid down. He is concerned about running into French freedom fighters.”
Ford stumbled along, only vaguely aware of a set of hands pulling on his own. Within moments, they came to another passageway.
“Left, right, left, left, right,” Great-Granddad said, barely slowing as he veered left down a narrower path.
“Left turn. Now!” Ford cried out. His body jerked left.
They hadn’t gone more than thirty feet when Great-Granddad took another turn.
“Right!” Ford instructed.
This passageway was lined with molding green skulls. Ford shuddered as he passed a section of arm bones that had been crisscrossed in an intricate pattern. Who would do that? He kept his arms close to his sides, not wanting to touch anything in here. Who knew what kind of sickening sensations they would release?
“Left again,” Great-Granddad said, adjusting the box under his arm.
Ford repeated the turn to Ellie and Gavin.
Fifteen paces and another turn.
“Left,” Ford said and gasped.
The corridor in front of them was so narrow, Great-Granddad only just squeezed through. Then he and the flashlight dimmed. Shivers ran through Ford’s body. Even in a vision, he had no desire to be left alone in here. Ford steeled himself and followed his great-grandfather, his back pressed hard into a row of skulls. Icy tendrils spread across his shoulder blades like a spider’s web. He clenched his teeth as Ellie and Gavin’s hands nudged him along.
Once through, the sickening feelings left him. “Whatever we do down here,” Ford said, racing after Great-Granddad. “Do not let me touch any of the bones.”
His great-grandfather slowed as he approached a fork in the tunnel. “Left, right, left, left, right. This is it, then…” his words trailed off as he marched into the darkness, the glow from his flashlight guiding his path.
“Our last turn. Take a right,” Ford said.
Surprisingly, this passageway widened the further they trudged, finally opening into a round room. On the far wall, someone had carved an alcove into the stone and placed in it a stone shrine of a castle. Without hesitation, Great-Granddad strode to it, stepping over the carved structure to stand behind it. He rested the box on top of the castle as he crouched and wiggled three skulls that were stacked on top of each other in the wall.
“He pulled out three skulls behind the shrine. I think he’s going to hide his package behind them,” Ford said as he watched his great-grandfather pull a folded paper from his pocket. He opened the box and laid it inside.
“I may have failed Morah and Tom, but I will not allow one more agent to be taken on my watch,” he said and pushed the box into the compartment. It scraped along the edges, nearly getting stuck, but he jammed it in and then replaced the skulls.
He stepped over the tiny monument into the centre of the room. His removed his fedora and bowed his head. “May God keep you safe,” he paused and then, in a tearful whisper, continued. “Morah, Tom—I hope you can forgive me.”
He replaced his hat and disappeared. Ford blinked. Gavin now stood before him.
“We did it,” Gavin said. “I doubted you, but you were right.”
Ford’s eyes rolled back in his head as he slumped forward into his brother’s arms.
Chapter 37
Ford shifted. His elbow scraped along something hard. He opened his eyes. A pair of brown eyes stared back. He was on the cold Catacomb floor, with his head resting in Ellie’s lap.
“Ford, you scared us,” Ellie said, straightening up. She looked back over her shoulder. “Gavin, he’s awake.”
Ford lifted his head. It pounded in time with his heart beat. “What—what happened?”
Gavin crouched next to him, his brows knit. “You passed out. You’re lucky I caught you or you would have smashed your head.”
Ford struggled to sit up. The room circled in front of him. If he wasn’t careful, he would pass out again. He rested his head in his hands.
“Food?” Ellie asked.
Ford nodded, which set off a pulsing pain from his temple that raced across the side of his head and down his neck. Ellie passed him a mandarin orange. He tore the peel from the flesh and stuffed an entire half in his mouth. He chewed feverishly.
Without a word, Gavin passed him a water bottle. Ford glugged, water spilling from the corners of his mouth. The pulsing in his skull eased. He popped in the final few orange pieces and looked around the room and stopped mid-chew. His heart raced.
“The box! Did you get the box?”
Ellie jumped up. “It’s right here.” She dragged it along the floor to rest in front of Ford.
Ford swallowed and wiped orange juice from his fingers on his jeans. “It’s really here. Great-Granddad’s secrets. Right here.” Ford’s voice was whisper quiet. ‘XX’ was carved into the top. He pointed to it. “What do you think that means?”
“No idea,” Gavin said. “Just open it. We want you to tell us what your gut instincts say before we tell you our thoughts.”
Ford opened the box. A musty smell wafted out, reminding him of the old books they flipped through at the Ste. Geneviève Library. A tattered, leather-bound journal, old passports, a few rolled maps, and stacks of bills in all sorts of currencies lay inside.
“This was all Great-Granddad’s.” He picked up the journal and opened it to the first page. He looked to Ellie and then to Gavin. “Is this a list of code names for secret agents?”
“That’s what we think. We’d have to verify it somehow,” Gavin said. “And the list is meaningless if we don’t know who they actually are or which countries they work for.”
Ford paged through the book. Code names were recorded in sprawling black pen. He searched for Owl and Scout, finding their entries two pages in. Under their name was Radley. The traitor.
“So this is what Great-Granddad didn’t want anyone to find?” Ford asked.
Ellie passed Ford a small black metal tube. It had a spike at one end. “We found negatives inside.”
“Negatives?”
Gavin smiled. “Undeveloped photos. They were wrapped in a French bill that had some sort of coded message written on it. When we get back to London we can—”
“Okay kids,” a deep, English-accented voice boomed out from behind them. “We’ll take it from here.”
Ford dropped the tube into the box and, as the two security guards stepped close, he threw himself over the wooden box, closing the lid with his body. He gripped the sides so tightly, he thought he might leave impressions of his fingers in the cool wood.
“No!” he cried.
“Don’t make this harder than necessary,” said the female guard. She sounded American. She held a long, silver flashlight like a truncheon. She smiled and Ford thought she looked eager to use it.
“Wait… you’re not French,” said Ellie, stepping in front of Ford. Gavin stood next to her and together they made a wall in front of Ford.
Gavin jabbed a finger at the male guard. “It’s you! You’re the guy from the restaurant and you’ve been chasing us all over Paris. What are you? CIA or MI6?”
“Very clever. I think we can leave that to you to figure out,” the thin blond man said in a posh English accent. He clenched his hands, as if he was ready for a fight. “It’s time you children stop playing games and give us what we’ve come for.”
“We’re not children,” Ellie said. “And how dare—”
The woman rushed Ellie, the flashlight held high. Ellie’s arms flew up in front of her face. Gavin lunged at the woman. She grabbed Gavin’s arm and yanked it behind his back. Gavin cried out.
“Stop!” Ford shouted, as he stood on shaky legs. “Don’t hurt them. Take the box.”
The American agent released his brother as the English spy stepped toward Ford.
“No! Ford, don’t—” Gavin said, his plea silenced as the man grabbed Great-Granddad’s box.
Gavin stared at his brother. “Why’d you just give it to them? We came so far. We were so close.”
“I’m sorry Gavin, but I couldn’t risk you and Ellie. I just couldn’t—”
“Okay, children,” the woman said, drawing out the word and making it sound like an insult. “Enough chit-chat. Time to get moving.”
Ellie crossed her arms and glared at the spies. “We’re not going anywhere with you. If we leave with you two, you’ll murder us and dump our bodies down some dark, unexplored passageway. We’ll disappear without a trace.”
The woman glowered at Ellie. “We are secret service. We do not murder children,” she grabbed Ellie by the arm. “At least not yet. Never needed to, but keep it up and we might find a reason…”
“Okay, that’s enough,” the English spy said as he zipped all Great-Granddad’s secrets into a black duffel bag. “We don’t need to scare them to death.”
“You spoil all my fun,” the woman muttered, pushing Ellie towards the adjoining passageway. “Get walking and don’t get any smart ideas about escaping. I’m not as fond of rules and regulations as my partner. Sometimes accidents happen in the field.”
“You’re CIA—you can’t harm a fellow American,” Ellie said.
“True, but your cousins are Canadian, which makes them fair game.”
“Ellie,” Ford said, “Just do as they say. Please.”
Ellie’s shoulders sagged. “Fine.”
They followed the dim light from the American spy’s flashlight as they walked single file through the passageways. The English agent brought up the rear, making escape impossible.
Ford tapped Ellie on the shoulder. “I’m sorry Ellie, but I couldn’t let them hurt you guys.”
“It’s just—you didn’t even put up a fight.”
Ford slumped. “I know, but I thought of Great-Granddad and how he failed Scout and Owl and I just couldn’t do the same with you and Gavin.” A lump in the pit of his stomach gnawed at him. He may have saved Ellie and Gavin, but he failed to solve Mission Great-Granddad Mystery.
Ellie looked back over her shoulder and whispered. “Well, all hope isn’t lo—”
“No talking,” the English spy said. “Save your words for your parents.”
“What? Our parents? Won’t that blow your cover?” Ford asked, suddenly more afraid of the wrath of The Sisters than the two international spies.
The man laughed. “Dear boy, in these uniforms, we will appear to your parents as two members of the Catacomb security detail, patrolling the maze looking for foolish tourists who have gotten themselves lost. It does happen from time to time.”
“You mean, you aren’t going to arrest us?” Gavin asked.
“Or torture us?” Ellie added.
“As much as it would give me great pleasure, no. You are kids, playing at mystery games,” the female spy said.
“We are not playing games—” Ellie began.
“You are either the most stubborn or the most stupid girl. I can’t tell which. Listen to what I am saying,” she said speaking slowly. “You are kids, playing at mystery games. A game that is now over. You will not continue your search into Edward Hugh Crawford’s past. You will not poke your noses where they do not belong. You will not discuss either of us with your parents. You will get on your flight tomorrow to London and continue your European family adventure with no further incidents.”
“And if we don’t stop?”
The American spy shone her flashlight directly into Ellie’s face. Ellie shut her eyes and turned her head.
“Are you really so naïve? Do you recall the computer issues you encountered at the library? You do understand that wasn’t a coincidence, don’t you?”
Ellie nodded. Her eyes remained shut. Ford gulped.
“We will be watching you. Remember that. We will always be watching you.”
Chapter 38
Mom raced towards them. Dad, Uncle Jim, and Aunt June were close behind.
“Where have you been!” Mom shouted, her voice devoid of yodel. Instead it was laced with fear, worry, and, by the look on her face, a large part anger. She rarely got mad, but when she did, look out.
“We—ah—” Ford stammered, blinking his eyes to adjust to the bright light of the entrance room.
“Ah, Madame,” the English spy said in a perfect Parisian accent. “Your darling enfants merely lost their way. I do suggest you keep a very close guard on them for the rest of their time in Paris. This city does have a dark and dangerous side beyond the Catacombs.”
Mom shook his hand. “Thank you for finding them. We won’t let them out of our sight. Merci.”
“Now, if you will excuse us. We must return to our posts,” he said and then turned to the cousins, stepping close and lowering his voice. “Remember children. Listen to your parents, if you know what is best for you.”
The American spy snickered and followed her partner towards the exit.
It was quiet. So very, very quiet. Bad sign.
“We can explain—” Ford began, but shrunk into himself under his mother’s glower.
“Do not say one word,” she said. “If you hadn’t been found, you could have died.”
“But Aunt May, we can explain. We were—” Ellie began.
“Sweetpea, you need to hush your mouth. You are in deep, deep trouble,” Uncle Jim said. “Just march yourselves outside. We are heading back to the apartment.”
Gavin remained silent, but caught Ford’s eye. His face was as pale as Ford’s after a vision. They had gotten so close to figuring out Great-Granddad’s big mystery only to have Great-Granddad’s box stolen from them. Ford couldn’t help but feel like they had somehow let their great-grandfather down. And now their parents were livid. He glanced at his mom. She wouldn’t even look at him.
Maybe Mme. Bellerose was wrong. Maybe Ford wasn’t destined to do great things.
Ford dragged his feet as they stepped into the bright daylight. Dad pulled Gavin and Ford to the side, out of earshot of the rest of their family. “I am very disappointed in you two. Really and truly. Suffice it to say, you are grounded for the rest of our trip.”
“Grounded? But Dad—” Gavin began.
“No, Gavin. I won’t hear excuses and I am doubly disappointed in you. Quite honestly, I am shocked that you would allow your younger brother and cousin to put themselves in so much danger. It was so irresponsible and I expected more from you. Much more.”
“Dad, don’t blame Gavin. It wasn’t his idea, it—” Ford began.
“So you just went along with it, Gavin?” Dad asked.
“No, that’s not how it happened,” Gavin said, his pale face flushed bright red.
Dad shook his head. “I don’t have the stomach for this right now. The thought of losing all three of you in the Catacombs…just get on the bus. We’ll talk about this when we get home.”
Silence enwrapped them as the Whitaker-MacKenzie family trudged onto the bus.
Ford looked at Ellie. She winked back. What was she up to?
Chapter 39
The cousins had been under tight surveillance since the moment they got home. Dinner was one lecture after another about personal safety, risky behaviour, irresponsible decisions, and of course the resulting serious consequences. Mom ranted about “loss of trust” for a solid twenty minutes before Aunt June took over. They were dead serious about grounding them. They would not be let out of sight for the rest of their trip. The only thing they were allowed to do solo was use the washroom.
Mom stood at the end of the hall, watching the trio slink out of the dining room. “Straight to bed.”
Ellie slipped Ford a slip of paper as she passed him on the way to her bedroom. He slid the note into his back pocket and stepped into the bathroom. Locking the door, he unfolded it. The message was short and to the point.
F
Meet me in my room once the parents are asleep. I have something VERY important to show you. Mission Great-Granddad Mystery may NOT be dead!
E
P.S. DESTROY THIS NOTE!
A thrill raced through Ford. All hope wasn’t lost! That must have been what Ellie tried to tell him down in the catacombs. He tore the note into tiny pieces and flushed them down the toilet. If Mom or Dad caught them out of their bedrooms, their parents would totally lose it, but how much more trouble could they possibly get in?
Chapter 40
Ford yawned, then pressed his ear flush to his bedroom door. He hadn’t heard any sound in the hallway for over an hour. He glanced at the clock on his desk. 12:22. Part of him wished he could just go to sleep. The vision today had drained him. If Ellie was right and she had found something that could help them, he couldn’t just pull the covers over his head and ignore what could be their final crack at Great-Granddad’s big mystery.
