Pep Squad (19 page)

‘You're drifting a bit too far south, Emily,' he continued, correcting the course slightly. ‘Try and hold it here.'

‘Sorry,' said Emily.

‘Next,' said Lieutenant Parry, bringing up a picture of a pair of ski goggles with fluorescent orange lenses, ‘ski goggles. The lens is made of an experimental material which allows you to see unobstructed through airborne water molecules including rain, sleet and snow. We'll be able to board with perfect visibility, even in a white-out. There's also night mode, so you can see in the dark, and binocular mode, which gives you magnification by a factor of twenty.'

The ski goggles were replaced by a picture of a rucksack.

‘These are your packs. The piping around the rucksack is a highly tensile copper-titanium alloy. A single strand can hold up to five hundred kilos. Perfect for an impromptu abseil or tying up prisoners.'

He then brought up a photo of some strange-looking thermal underwear. Unlike the kind you would buy in shops, this was a one piece that enclosed the feet and hands and also had a hood attached to the collar. It didn't look dissimilar to the suit Jess had worn in the VR booth for her entrance exam, with the exception that the hood on this one covered the entire face, except for the eyes.

‘Bullet-proof undergarments,' he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a swatch of material which he passed to Jess.

‘You've got to be joking,' she said, scrunching the soft, lightweight material in her hand before passing it around.

‘I'm serious,' said Lieutenant Parry. ‘Our agents wear this on all their missions. With a different TOG rating, of course.'

‘What's a TOG?' asked Krivan.

‘It's the system used to measure how warm a duvet or sleeping bag is,' explained Lieutenant Parry. ‘There's no better protection than P.E.P. underwear, and it covers more of the body than a bulky bullet-proof vest. Plus, it's an electrical insulator so it'll protect you from tasers too, and the unique weave of the fibres acts as a gas mask.'

‘Well, I don't know about you guys but I
always
look for that in a pair of undies,' said Ben, laughing.

‘And now, on the off-chance that we have to seize and transport the virus,' Lieutenant Parry continued, bringing up the next picture, ‘a Thermos. It's shock-proof and hermetically sealed. Any questions?'

‘Do I get any gadgets?' asked Emily, her eyes not leaving the instrument panel.

‘Other than the underwear and the chopper? We each get one of these,' said Lieutenant Parry, bringing up a picture of a mobile phone. ‘This is exactly what it looks like – a regular top-of-the-line smart phone with touchscreen, sixteen-megapixel camera, GPS, Bluetooth and so on. You name it, it's got it. Plus a few P.E.P. Squad extras,' continued Lieutenant Parry, grinning. ‘It operates over the P.E.P. Squad satellite network using a special protocol that makes communications impossible to intercept. I've uploaded the most up-to-date floor plans of the castle I could find, although there may be some additional secret passageways. There's also an infrared detector. When we're close by we'll be able to scan for security guards and lab staff by their heat signatures. The app is the same one used in the laser-tag maze exercise you did with Herr Klug.'

‘So what's the plan?' asked Jess.

Lieutenant Parry brought up a topographical map of the area surrounding Altganz Castle. ‘Tomorrow evening Emily will drop us here, two kilometres away from the castle on the opposite side of the peak, about an hour before sunset,' said the Lieutenant. ‘We'll snowboard along this trail – which is quite wide and flat – and approach the castle from the south.

‘Once we get to here,' he continued, highlighting a heavily-treed section of the trail, ‘we can use the phones to scan the castle interior from the cover of the trees. If any of Hess's men spot us and come to question us, we can say we're just taking photos. So make sure you take a few happy snaps first.

‘Whether they notice us or not, by the time we get here,' he said, pointing to where the trail neared the castle, ‘it should be close to getting dark – and freezing. If they have any human decency at all, they'll let us in.'

‘And given that they might be terrorists bent on destroying the planet, what happens if they don't?' asked Krivan.

‘Then I suddenly find I can get a signal on my phone, call “mountain rescue” and we use our night-vision goggles to ski on to here where Emily comes to pick us up,' said Lieutenant Parry, pointing to a spot further down the trail.

‘So we just give up if they don't let us in?' asked Jess.

‘No. That's when we move to Plan B, which I will explain as and when we need it,' said Lieutenant Parry, ‘but for the time being let's stick to Plan A.

‘Now if they do let us in, they'll most likely restrict us to this area here,' he continued, highlighting a group of rooms on the ground floor at the front. ‘If Altganz really is Hess's hideout, I'd assume that the laboratory would be underground, in the former dungeon.'

‘How do we get to it?' asked Matt.

‘That's where the nose and mouth covering of the hood comes in. As well as being bullet-proof, it doubles as a gas mask. Which will come in handy once I release the Sleeping Beauty potion.'

‘Sleeping Beauty potion?' laughed Emily.

‘P.E.P. Labs' airborne sleeping draught, potent enough to put a castle full of people to sleep.'

‘Seriously?' said Ben.

‘I just need to open my Thermos in front of an air-conditioning vent, and we'll be the only people in the castle left conscious for a good two hours. Plenty of time to break into the lab, steal a sample of the virus if it's there, destroy all the security tapes and escape.'

‘What happens when the bad guys wake up and realise the virus is gone? Won't they be even keener to release what they've got into the world?' asked Jess.

‘We have agents in Salzburg and Munich standing by. When I activate my Thermos to release the Sleeping Beauty potion, it automatically activates a beacon, so teams will come in to arrest everyone on the premises before they wake up.'

‘Impressive back-up,' said Matt.

‘Possibly highly necessary in this case,' muttered Lieutenant Parry. ‘That's Plan A in a nutshell.' He continued with his usual bravado. ‘Any questions?'

‘Yeah,' said Ben. ‘If we have back-up coming, why do we need to do anything more than knock out the bad guys and wait for the cavalry to arrive?'

‘Because you'll not always have back-up on a mission, and this is a good chance to practise all your new skills. Now, once we land we'll head for a nice little guesthouse I know, not too far from Altganz. Obviously, whenever we come into contact with any civilians we do not mention P.E.P. Squad, the mission or even Theruse Abbey.'

‘So what can we talk about?' asked Matt.

‘The usual teenage stuff: computer games, pop music, acne cures, whatever,' said Lieutenant Parry. ‘If you reach into the pouch below your tray table, you'll find your phones in there. Emily, you can get yours when we land. They've got slightly different covers, so if we do get caught and searched, the phones won't look out of place. They're currently in flight mode, and I'd appreciate your leaving them that way until after we've landed, but feel free to personalise them in any way you choose. I shouldn't need to tell you that black mission protocols apply. Those phones are not to be used for communication with anyone outside the people in this plane. Got it?'

‘Got it,' chorused the cadets.

Jess had been dozing for a good half hour when Lieutenant Parry said, ‘We are now commencing our descent into Germany. Please ensure you have your hand luggage securely stowed, your seat belt tightly fastened across your lap and hold on really tight because the runway's covered in snow and this might get a bit hairy.'

A light snow was falling as the plane bumped down on the small snow-covered landing strip without incident and taxied to a reasonably well-camouflaged hangar. Lieutenant Parry flicked a switch in the cockpit and the hangar door started rolling up. ‘Nothing beats having a remote-control garage door in weather like this,' he commented.

An Audi Q7 was inside the hangar waiting for them. Lieutenant Parry taxied to a stop so that the fold-out steps in the aeroplane's door lined up perfectly with the rear of the car.

‘Here we are,' he said. ‘If you could each grab a bag of equipment on your way out, I'd be most grateful.'

The cadets formed a line with Krivan at the back grabbing equipment bags and passing one to each of them.

Lieutenant Parry opened the plane door. The outside temperature was freezing.

‘Fresh powder should make our snowboard trip tomorrow a little easier,' said Lieutenant Parry, rubbing his hands together.

‘As long as it doesn't freeze overnight,' said Ben.

‘Always the pessimist,' said Lieutenant Parry. ‘Maybe when you take a job in P.E.P. Labs after graduation you could work on a ski or snowboard that turns ice into powder snow. Make things easier for us field agents.'

Ben merely grunted as he shouldered a sack of equipment.

When the Audi's boot was fully loaded, the cadets piled into the car and the lieutenant drove out of the airfield and onto a small road that wound round the mountains. Before long Lieutenant Parry pulled off the minor road onto an even smaller one. A short while later they arrived at a classic Tirolean-style Wirtshaus. It had a wooden, sloping roof, whitewashed walls and wooden window boxes spilling over with geraniums.

‘Now remember,' said Lieutenant Parry as he parked the car, ‘no talk of anything even slightly related to you-know-what, even when you think you're in private in your hotel rooms, until I give the all clear.'

The cadets nodded and unloaded their bags from the car. They waited in the lobby, talking about the benefits of Clearasil over Nomorezits while Lieutenant Parry spoke to the proprietor in flawless German. He came back with four keys, giving one to Emily, one to Matt, one to Krivan and keeping one for himself.

‘They've started serving dinner already, so come down to the dining room once you're settled.'

Jess and Emily put their bags down in their room without saying much, then went to meet the others at dinner. The boys and Lieutenant Parry were already seated in wooden chairs with love hearts carved into the back, reading the menus.

‘What's Kasspatzen?' asked Ben.

‘Egg noodles that are solid like gnocchi, but a lot smaller, with melted cheese and crispy onion on top,' said Lieutenant Parry.

‘Rindsgulasch?'asked Krivan.

‘Beef goulash. A slightly spicy, tomatoey sauce, but not as tomatoey as Italian food,' explained Lieutenant Parry.

‘And Leberkäse?' asked Jess.

‘Translates directly as liver cheese, but it's a kind of meatloaf.'

‘I'm going with the schnitzel,' said Emily.

‘Me too,' said Jess.

‘I'll have the meatloaf,' said Matt.

‘I'll give that gnocchi stuff a try,' said Ben.

‘Rindsgulasch,' said Krivan.

Lieutenant Parry called the waiter over and ordered for them.

‘So how good are you all at snowboarding?' he asked loudly, giving them a wink.

They spent the rest of the meal chatting about adventure sports, or in Emily's case misadventure sports, without a single mention of P.E.P. Squad. When they'd finished dessert, Lieutenant Parry herded them upstairs. He knocked on Jess and Emily's door a few moments later.

‘Grab your stuff and we'll pay the boys a visit. You too, Ivan,' he said, knocking on the next door.

Jess and Emily picked up their bags and went to the twins' room. When Ben opened the door, Lieutenant Parry put a finger to his lips and walked into the centre of the room, gazing at his mobile phone.

‘We're clear,' he said.

‘This phone's also a bug detector?' said Ben.

‘P.E.P. Labs have developed more apps than you can find on the iTunes Store,' said Lieutenant Parry. ‘Let's get the equipment sorted.'

He gave the cadets a practical rundown of all the gadgets they'd seen pictures of on the plane and helped Jess and the boys set the bindings on their snowboards. Then he talked them through the mission one more time.

‘OK,' he said finally. ‘I think we're good to go. Any questions?'

Jess thought the plan was pretty straightforward, but Krivan had several questions that seemed to grow more trivial as the evening wore on. Finally, when he'd run out of things to ask, Lieutenant Parry enquired if the others needed any further clarification.

They yawned and shook their heads.

‘Great,' said Lieutenant Parry. ‘See you at breakfast. Seven sharp.'

Emily unlocked the door to the girls' room and flopped down on her bed.

‘Krivan was acting weird tonight. I don't see how the snail population in this particular region of the Alps is going to affect the mission,' she said.

‘I admit that was a bit excessive, even for someone with a snail allergy. But I kind of got the feeling that there was something else he wanted to tell us,' said Jess thoughtfully.

‘I'm glad he stopped when he did then,' said Emily, rolling over to face the wall.

‘I'm going to have a shower. Do you need the bathroom first?' asked Jess.

Emily waved a dismissive hand at her.

Jess hopped in the shower and let the hot water soak into her muscles. When she came back into the bedroom, Emily was fast asleep. Jess climbed into bed but, unlike Emily, she was unable to sleep and lay awake, tossing and turning. Both Lieutenant Parry and Krivan seemed to be disturbed by something and that made Jess worried.

She pulled her mobile phone under the duvet, so the light wouldn't disturb Emily, and reviewed the mission plans.

Despite her relatively sleepless night, after a morning going over the plan in detail again, by lunchtime Jess was eager to get going. The other cadets could hardly sit still they were so pumped.

‘Are you all looking forward to the snowboarding?' asked Lieutenant Parry over lunch, raising his eyebrows to indicate they could only speak in general terms.

‘You bet,' said Emily.

‘The latest weather report says that the area got a dump of powder snow last night and no further falls are expected until we're down the mountain, so it'll be gnarly riding,' the lieutenant continued.

‘Sick!' said Matt.

Lieutenant Parry looked at the others.

‘How about you three?' he asked them.

‘Can't wait,' said Ben.

Jess flicked her eyes briefly at Krivan before nodding.

‘That's what I like to hear,' said Lieutenant Parry, standing up. ‘Emily, I'll meet you outside in ten. Ben and Matt – you know what you have to do. Jess and Ivan – you get some free time.'

Back in her room, Jess looked over the equipment. A snow-covered empty field with a reasonable incline lay next to the Wirtshaus. Now would be as good a time as any to practise her snowboarding. She slipped out of her jeans and put on her ski pants, jacket and snowboard boots. Then she grabbed her snowboard and went outside into the field. When she had walked all the way up the hill, she strapped her boots into the bindings of her snowboard and took off down the slope, coming to an abrupt stop as the front of her board hit a patch of snow and flipped her onto her face. She groaned and wondered if it shouldn't be her that was supposed to be injured, since her boarding skills seemed to have gone from bad to worse.

The sound of muffled laughter made her look up.

‘I'm sorry,' said Krivan, ‘but that was hilarious. Would you like a few pointers?'

Jess's first reaction was to tell him exactly where to shove his pointers but, realising she could really use the help, she swallowed her rebuke and said, ‘Yes, please.'

Krivan walked with her to the top of the hill. Jess went to clip on her bindings, but Krivan placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

‘Take a look at the snowboard first. If it's flat on the slope, there's no grip at all and you will just slide. So you need to lean the sides of your feet into the slope to carve. Keep your knees bent, hands out wide towards the edges of the snowboard to keep your centre of gravity low.'

Krivan clipped on his snowboard and Jess followed his lead.

‘Now, I'm going to go slowly. Do exactly what I do.'

Jess followed Krivan as closely as she could. He was a good snowboarder and a patient teacher.

As they got to the bottom and unclipped their bindings he said, ‘Much better. Could I talk to you for a second?'

‘Sure,' said Jess, then feeling her jacket vibrating she said, ‘hold on a minute.' She reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. It was Lieutenant Parry and the reception was so terrible she could barely hear him.

‘Mind scooting over to the side?'

‘What?' asked Jess. A relatively loud hum was making it difficult to hear.

‘Look up!'

Jess gaped. Only a few metres up the hill a helicopter was hovering. ‘How can a helicopter sneak up on you? They're usually pretty noisy.'

‘Its an EC155. Shrouded tail rotor, blue-edge rotor blades. That bird's a stealth machine,' said Krivan.

‘I suggest you move,' Lieutenant Parry continued on the phone. ‘Landings are always the most dangerous part of the flight and we don't have the most experienced pilot on board.'

Krivan and Jess grabbed their boards and ran to the side of the field. As the helicopter came in to land, its rotor stirred up the fallen snow so the whole thing was covered in a swirling, white cloud. Jess put on her ski goggles and could clearly see Lieutenant Parry and Emily sitting in the cockpit with headsets on.

Lieutenant Parry waved them over.

‘What did you want to talk about?' Jess asked Krivan as they approached the helicopter.

‘Never mind, it will have to wait,' he replied, as Parry opened his door and shouted, ‘Hop in.'

Jess and Krivan ducked under the rotors and climbed in.

‘Headsets,' said Lieutenant Parry, gesturing at the one he was wearing.

Jess and Krivan put on their headsets as Lieutenant Parry said, ‘Take her up, Emily.'

Emily took the helicopter smoothly into the air and headed towards the first ridge of mountains. The view over the Alps was beautiful. Lieutenant Parry drew their attention to the invisible border between Austria and Germany.

‘We've even got enough fuel to get to Venice if any of you fancy a quick pizza,' he said.

Emily smiled but didn't deviate from the programmed path.

‘OK, coming up on the right is Altganz Castle,' said Lieutenant Parry.

It looked just as it had in the slides – the fairytale castle that may or may not be hiding a sinister secret.

‘Later on you'll be setting us down behind that peak over there,' continued Lieutenant Parry, pointing to a rounded peak with a thick covering of snow. ‘Now, head south-southeast so that we can scoot on back to the heliport without the dudes in the castle realising we've doubled back on ourselves.'

Emily flew the helicopter over a ridge which was downwind from Altganz so that both the sight and sound of the helicopter would be unobservable from the castle. After a safe distance she took the chopper back to base.

‘That was great flying, Emily,' said Lieutenant Parry as Emily set them down. ‘Let's go see how the twins are doing.'

Ben had done a spectacular job on Matt's right ankle. The shape of the swelling and the colour of the bruise reminded Jess of the time she'd sprained her ankle when a competition gymnastics vault had been set at the wrong height. She hadn't been able to walk properly for two weeks afterwards.

‘Awesome bruise,' said Lieutenant Parry to Ben. ‘But you might want to make it a little more purple, since it's supposedly fresh today,' he advised.

‘That'll be the second layer,' said Ben, wiping a darker purple shade over the yellow bruise. ‘I did the yellow in indelible ink, so if we get stuck in Altganz for some reason, Matt can wash off this outer layer and it will look like the bruise is healing naturally.'

‘Full marks for forward thinking,' said Lieutenant Parry, glancing at his watch. ‘It's time to eat. Come and join us when you're ready.'

Jess tried to hang back with Krivan to give him an opportunity to voice whatever it was he'd wanted to tell her earlier, but Emily chattered at them non-stop all the way to the dining room. When she finally stopped talking and looked at her menu, Jess looked expectantly at Krivan but he shook his head, indicating the other diners in the room.