Many of MM’s child guests had been in the volcano for up to two weeks and the natives were
getting restless. It was against this background that MM, with a certain amount of resentment,
decided a safari might be good for them all to maintain their interest and divert their attention
from the increasing homesickness. She had caved in to Techno’s suggestion, after all, another
two days and it would all be over. So a little diversion might help ease the tension.
Jack’s gang first heard the dissent at breakfast that morning. The Irish contingent were sat at
the next table.
A small boy about Timmo’s age was complaining. ‘I miss my mum, she always cuddled me
before I went to sleep.’
A larger more loutish lad rudely replied. ‘Shut up you wimp, you’re such a mummy’s boy.
Get a life and have some fun. There are no parents to order us around, we eat McDonalds
every day and play constantly with no school. What more could you ask for?’
The little boy thought about it for a minute. ‘I would ask for some proper food, a homemade
steak and kidney pie with spotted dick and custard for pudding and I want a grown-up to tell
me what to do and when to do it.’
The lout pushed him, ‘see, you’re a great wimp.’
‘No I’m not, I’m not scared or anything. I thought it would be fun without parents, gaming all
day and stuff. But really, it’s boring. I’d rather be at school with my real friends passing
messages in the classroom or playing Gaelic football.’
‘You wimp, you’re just crazy, no one even likes Gaelic football, real soccer’s far better.’
‘It’s in our culture you Protestant.’
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‘Idiot.’ The bigger boy stood and pushed the smaller one off the bench seat. ‘Shut up you
Catholic wimp or next time I’ll thump you so hard you won’t get up.’ The smaller boy
cowered on the floor, closely watched by Jack. He left his friends and walked across to help
the small boy to his feet and then turned to face the bully.
‘Next time you want to pick on someone, pick on me.’
The bully stood eye to eye with Jack but after a few moments he sat down murmuring. ‘We
are all entitled to our opinions.’
‘Sure,’ said Jack, ‘just like people in Libya and the other countries in The Arab Spring in
2011. They wanted freedom of speech but dictators no different to you had stopped them.’
‘I dunno mate, don’t get het up about it, it was just a lark.’
Jack eased up on him. ‘Remember those people had to fight for their rights. We are here
having an easy time for two weeks and so you should try and show respect for other’s
opinions. Right?’ He leaned over the bigger boy until he heard a murmured okay in reply.
Jack nonchalantly rejoined the others, who were impressed by how he handled the situation.
‘It’s not all about money and power is it Jack?’ Kate looked for support. MM’s master plan
was scaring her as they drew closer to action. ‘This stuff, what we’re doing. You see, I don’t
understand how it will benefit us kids.’
‘No Kit Kat. There are more important things in life than money and power, all the subjective
things like love and family. The trouble is, most of these children have forgotten the truth
about modern life. How easy we have it, in places like the UK and Europe. They don’t think
about children near here with no food or water. No Kit Kat, money isn’t everything but the
safe and stable structure of our society lulls us into a false sense of security. Everything
comes easy in our lives and we all exist in a privileged way.’
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She turned away from him, sometimes she found it painful talking with Jack. She imagined
she loved Jack, just like The Prince and Princess stories from her Disney books. She was
beginning to have teenage urges. She had even imagined him kissing her gently on her lips
and then instantly dismissed it from her mind. Shaking her head, she grimaced at the thought
but felt hotter, with a strange little tingle down her back.
* * *
The children were due to go on safari in two batches. Jack’s gang were in the first batch andready to go at 10 am.
As they stood next to their assigned Landrover, Madame Musseine started to address them
from the gallery above their heads. ‘It is with the greatest pleasure, that I give you a final
present.’ All the gamers roared in appreciation apart from the English. In the next two hours,
you will see leaping lions, huge hippopotamuses and riotous rhinos.’
Roger was muttering as they watched her. ‘Lions lie about and rarely leap, hippos are quite
small and rhinos only riot if you get too close.’
MM continued. ‘Enjoy your safari my little ones, soon we will win, we will conquer. You are
all part of my gang now. The Black Hand Gang.’ The children dutifully held up their left
hands, all died with permanent black ink since their arrival. A klaxon sounded high above the
vehicles and they all climbed into the cabs. Slowly, in line astern, 20 Landrovers left the
safety of the volcano.
As soon as they appeared outside, Wolf was alerted by the SAS surveillance team hidden on
the foothills, 6 kilometres away. Two men were in the team and had parachuted into position
a week before. This ensured they could avoid detection by the Maasai informers. The soldiers
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had spotted the metal snake appear from the door in the volcano and sent a coded signal to
London via the “comms” satellite silently crossing Africa in the outer stratosphere above.
Wolf quickly pulled up the satellite video link to watch the Landrovers’s progress and dialled
Brett on his cell phone. ‘Morning, have you got this?’
Brett was aghast. ‘My god, why is she letting the kids outside?’
‘I suppose it is a way of warning us to back off. The message is simple – Look, they’re alive
but don’t mess with me or else.’
Brett considered MM’s motives. ‘I think your right Wolf. I’m making for the Hummer now.
Send me the convoy’s coordinates every five minutes and I will get as close as I can. You
never know, they may be in it and get a chance to give us the memory stick.’ Brett ran for the
huge metal beast and gunned it into life and then raced down the dirt track leading to the
Tanzanian border.
The Landrovers had spread out over a 30 square kilometre area. It was Kate who decided to
hang her pink jacket out of the window as a signal to any watching friendly eyes. Everyone
except the driver noticed and silently applauded her cleverness. That was until the rhino saw
it through blinking and unfriendly eyes. Their vehicle was closing on a small pool that the
driver knew contained hippos and so he didn’t notice the mother rhino and the two-week-old
calf standing under a chunky baobab tree. As he revved the engine to scare the hippos into
some action to entertain the kids, the rhino charged.
‘Look out,’ it was Kit Kat who screamed first, closely followed by the rest including the
driver. The two tonne animal slammed into the side of the Landrover and rolled it onto its
side. Everyone fell on top of each other and the driver’s head was smashed on the
windscreen, which knocked him unconscious. The vehicle had stopped moving and lay dead.
Once the rhino had circled around the cabin, she decided to retreat back to her calf under the
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tree. But she watched the opposition for any sudden movement and was quite prepared to
charge again.
‘Quiet, everyone stay quiet.’ Jack took command. ‘What can you see?’ Kit Kat slowly raised
her head out of the open side window, which was now facing a perfect blue sky. She glanced
around quickly and pulled her head down as the rhino snorted from 50 metres distance.
‘The rhino’s really close Jack, we can’t get out.’
‘Perhaps someone will rescue us if we try the radio?’ Timmo’s idea was great until they tried
it and found it had been broken in the crash.
‘We could get out and push the Landrover back onto its wheels, then we could drive back to
Kilimanjaro?’ They all looked at Roger, who was intelligent but not very practical.
Marshall replied. ‘Great thinking mate. What about the rhino and who the hell can drive?’
‘Ah! Point taken.’ Roger started to rethink his bright idea before continuing. ‘The problem is,
I can smell diesel leaking out of the tank...’ They all realised they were between a rock and a
hard place. Get charged by a rhino or die in a vehicle fire. ‘Maybe we should try running for
it?’
Marshall pointed out the practical issue. ‘It would kill Timmo first as he’d be so slow.’ That
was when they heard an engine. Jack clambered up the bench seat and pushed himself against
Kate to get his head out of the side window. She blushed bright red as he leaned his hard
body against her soft one. On his right he could see a camouflaged Hummer. Its window was
wound down as Brett levelled his dart gun at the rhino. Jack heard the blast of air as the dart
hit the rhino. Within five minutes the beast had sunk to its knees and finally lay on its side,
fast asleep.
The yank walked up to the Landrover and pulled open the door. ‘Need any help Limeys?’
Boy were they glad to see Brett. ‘I’m going to rig a steel cable around your axle and pull you
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upright with my Hummer, so hold on tight.’ They braced themselves as they crashed back
onto their tyres. He walked back and undid the cable before standing alongside. ‘All OK
then?’
‘How did you know?’ It was Roger who asked.
‘Satellites and the SAS. Remember we are here to help if anything goes wrong. So...’ He
looked at the children and the still unconscious driver. ‘I need to make myself scarce, do you
have a package for us yet?’
‘Sorry Brett,’ Jack apologised, ‘we’ll try harder, we are really sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise, just do your best and most importantly, stay safe. Now then, who can drive
the Landie?’
‘I can.’ They looked at Marshall in amazement. ‘I nicked a car with a mate once,’ he too
wanted to apologise, ‘everyone was doing it in my neighbourhood!’
Brett was abrupt, ‘don’t bother with all that Marshall, just do it, and go slowly.’ And then he
was gone before the Maasai or another Landrover had time to appear.
* * *
Back in the volcano, the children sat on Jack’s bed in their quarters. The safari hadn’tdistracted them at all, unlike the rest of the gamers, who were now more relaxed with each
other. The team were leaning their heads close to Jack’s as he spoke softly. It was a wise
precaution against hidden microphones or lip synching CCTV.
‘Look we know something is going to happen soon and so we need to make a move.’
‘I’m scared Jack. Is that honest enough?’ It was Kit Kat who had spoken. ‘This is the scariest
thing I can imagine.’
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Timmo’s wheelchair had been shunted next to the bed. ‘What? Scarier than having teeth out
at the dentist in Chester?’
‘One hundred times worse,’ she replied.
‘Really?’ said Timmo, ‘How many teeth have you had out at one time, cos I had four big ones
out in the spring, and they used gas!’
‘Listen you two, just focus on the mission please.’ It was Marshall who had intervened.
‘Listen to Jack.’
Jack continued more forcibly. ‘One step at a time okay? First I need to take the memory stick
and find a place where we can upload their plans.’
Roger pointed out the obvious. ‘That may be easy but how do you propose to get it to Brett?’
There was no answer at first. ‘Somehow okay? First the upload, second we have to find the
key. Has anyone got any ideas?’
‘The easiest place to access their IS network has to be Techno’s AIC.’
‘That’s a great idea splodger. What about the key?’
Splodger had an idea. ‘I suggest Timmo and I try to get closer to Techno as he seems to like
us. You know, follow him around, just like real spies would.’
‘Great, then it’s settled. I’ll wake you at 3 am and we can head to Techno’s AIC. Timmo, you
have to stay here tonight with Marshall and then tomorrow you will both be fresh and alert to
work on Techno.’ They all moved to their separate beds and Jack walked to the light switch.
‘Night everyone, see you at breakfast.’ He turned the light off and climbed into his bed. It
was a cold evening and he snuggled under the covers as much for a sense of security as
warmth.
At 3 am, Jack’s Casio watch alarm bleeped three times. He was wide-awake as soon as it
bleeped after a fitful sleep. Quietly he slid out of bed and woke the others, leaving Timmo
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and Marshall asleep. Within five minutes they were assembled by the door of their
accommodation. He used the silent sign language learned on their training patrols at Brecon
and motioned them forward. As they went down the dark corridor towards the AICs his team
adopted standard SAS patrol procedures. One would dart forward on tiptoe and check the
next junction. A second would move forward on the all clear signal. It was as if they had done
it all their lives.
They crouched behind Techno’s AIC. Only a handful of other AICs were in use that night as
most of the technicians had acted as drivers on the safari. Therefore, the night shift had an
official night off. Only the nerds were burning the midnight oil.
Jack sat cross-legged and twisted the heel of his trainer clockwise through 720 degrees. He
then turned it backwards another 360 degrees. Immediately it popped off and the red memory
stick fell into his hands. He whispered to the others. ‘Roger, take my Swiss army knife and
pick the door lock, then come back immediately. Kate, hide yourself nearby and watch for
anyone coming. Come over and tap the walls of an AIC if you see anyone approaching.’ The
three children went about their tasks.
Roger arrived back and put his head close to Jack’s. ‘All done. By the way, when you put the
memory stick in Techno’s PC, Wolf said you needed to follow the instructions by inputting
any commands as it uploads their data.
‘Yep, so what?’ Jack wasn’t thinking.
‘So use the brain hugger to save time.’
‘I can’t mate, I need a bald head.’ Roger was silent for a few seconds.
‘I know what you can do. The spinal cord is linked through the back of the neck to the cortex
of the brain, so if you attached the four headsets side by side as close to the nape of your neck
as possible, well then you dramatically reduce the time to siphon off their plans.’
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‘You are so clever mate, that’s fabtastic. Then we have the same effect on data speed but no
one will see the bite marks beneath the collar of my sweatshirt, especially if I leave it turned
up.’
‘Exactly’ said Roger, ‘Just like that love bite you got off Kit Kat.’ Jack punched his friend
hard on the arm.
‘I never!’
‘Did too!’
Kate had returned and was listening aghast. ‘For goodness sake you two. Stop arguing, we
need three minutes to download their plans so get on with it.’ She looked anxiously up and
down the lines of AICs. The giant snails sat stationary but in her mind’s eye, they were
closing together to devour her.
Roger handed Jack, Timmo’s 3D glasses. Jack gestured why? By shrugging his shoulders.
‘Just take them, it was Timmo’s idea.’ Jack left the two of them and entered the AIC, silently
closing the door behind him.
He punched the power button and waited. ‘What would Techno have done to protect his
secrets? The door was too easy to open.’ He was thinking hard. Before he reached for the
brain hugger the screen brightened, it looked hazy and he couldn’t make out any of the start
up messages. He slid the memory stick into the USB socket alongside the screen. Colours
flickered across the screen but still he couldn’t make anything out. He put his hands on his
head in exasperation and then he felt the 3D glasses perched on top of his forehead. Pulling
them over his eyes he was amazed to see the messages on the screen centralise and become
totally visible. ‘Good boy bro.’ He reached for the brain huggers and gasped as they dug their
brain-seeking claws into his neck. He felt the warm blood as it trickled down his back but
immediately he was in command and started to think his way through the program. The
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commands came through on the screen every ten seconds. It was a simple tick list which
fronted the antivirus detection software. As no barriers were encountered he just kept hitting
the enter button. Within a minute it was all over and he had the data on the stick which he
secreted back into the heel of his trainer. Pressing the off button on the PC, he glanced around
before leaving the AIC and joining his friends. He did a joyous thumbs up to them all and
motioned everyone to move back towards their beds.
The four friends were gasping for breath, it wasn’t the silent run from the scene of their
espionage, it was constant fear of discovery. And then they arrived at a relatively safe area.
The gang were hiding in a darkened corner of sector one, on level three. They were crouched
and leaning against the cold rock of the cavern. No one spoke, it wasn’t safe. The AICs were
200 metres to their left, the fun zone was to their right and a safe and secure bed was behind
them.
Jack had his hands on his knees as he quietly spoke to Roger who leaned next to him. ‘All we
need to do now, is get it to Brett.’ He stood up and placed his hands on the rock wall behind
him. It was slightly damp as the warm air of the volcano had condensed on the colder rock
face. Jack took a few more deep breaths. He was thinking fast. ‘Have we got any spare time
left this morning splodger?’
Roger gave the answer. ‘Well it’s about 3.30 am now. The AICs are still partly manned but
everywhere else is relatively dead apart from a few weirdos in the fun zone. Why do you
ask?’
‘Remember the gyroscopes in sector two?’
‘You are joking Jack.’ Roger was appalled. ‘You can’t fly one for a start and if someone sees
you.’
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‘They have SAM missiles!’ Kate was scared of losing Jack.
Jack smiled and pulled his friends closer to him, he could smell Kate’s perfume. What a girly
girl, wearing perfume on a mission. ‘Look, we are talking about the fate of the civilised world
here. It’s not a computer game anymore. Kate, leave this to us and go back to bed.’ She didn’t
want to leave her Jack but he gave her no choice. Kate turned away to follow the rock wall
back towards their accommodation, staying in the shadows to avoid detection by CCTV.
She hadn’t argued with Jack, which made the mission run smoothly. A strong leader was
essential.
As Jack led Roger towards the gyroscope hanger, he whispered to his pal, ‘they must fly like
a plane, and anyway, I’m only going to borrow one.’ Roger stayed quiet. He thought his
friend had gone barking mad. Within five minutes Jack was sat in the small cockpit of a
gyroscope close to the hangar door. He was looking down at the controls as Roger pointed
out the obvious similarities with the plane they had flown. They were both whispering and
occasionally glancing around but there were no guards. Jack started to play with the satnav
which was just like in his dad’s car. Quickly Jack input the latitude and longitude given to
him by Brett in the carpark. He looked around at the controls for a last time. Turning on the
cloaking would be easy, there was a large red button and underneath it was written the word
“cloak”.
‘Give us your watch Roger, I can’t see my Casio in the dark, it’s an old LCD.’ His friend
handed his watch over. ‘Use the clock on the wall mate and stick exactly with the timing I’m
going to give you. Is that okay?’
‘You are stark staring bonkers Jack.’
‘Yep.’
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Roger decided to do the calculations, maths wasn’t Jack’s strongest subject at school. ‘Okay
then, assuming 15 minutes to Outspan based on the satnav, 7 minutes on the ground and 15
back, I will reopen the hangar door in exactly 37 minutes, okay?’
‘Okay splodge, just make sure you don’t get caught here.’
‘Never mind me, I can find a good hiding place nearby.’ He was quite emotional, ‘good luck
Jack and break a leg.’
‘What?’
‘It’s an expression they use in the theatre, “break a leg”, it means good luck.’
‘Whatever mate, see you in half an hour.’
‘40 minutes!’
‘Yep that too, bye mate.’
Roger ran towards the door controls and Jack started the engine on the gyroscope. It was
almost soundless. He pressed the red button of the cloaking device and kicked on both foot
pedals to release the brakes – just like in the Cessna. The force of the propeller immediately
drove the machine across the floor at high speed and towards the door as it gaped open.
Gaining speed the machine went over the precipice beyond the door as Roger pressed the
close button and settled down to wait behind some barrels of diesel.
‘Flippin heck.’ Jack never usually swore but as the gyroscope skated out of the door, it fell off
the edge of the ledge, leaving him plunging at 45 degrees down the side of the volcano. For a
moment, fear made him panic. He knew the engine was running, turning the large propeller
and he was valiantly pulling backwards on the joystick. But, the gyroscope continued its
plunge, even in the dark night he could make out the rocks 500 metres below and getting
closer every second.
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Then it dawned on him. There was a lever by his right that had five different positions. It
must alter the position of the top rotor. He jerked it to the opposite setting and immediately
the gyroscope started to lift out of its dive. Five degrees at a time, it slowly veered away from
the cliff face and just as he was about to crash and die it reached level flight. He missed the
ground by 10 metres and manipulating the flight lever he climbed a little higher and set off
towards Outspan at an altitude of 100 metres, high enough to miss any trees but low enough
to make sure MM’s guards on the outside of the volcano didn’t see him silhouetted against
the sky . Jack felt his heart beating hard against his chest and dragged in large gulps of air to
calm himself down. After a few minutes he had regained his self control and steered more to
the west to bring up the correct course on the satnav and then he relaxed.
‘This is so cool, if only Kit Kat could see me now’ and then he dismissed the thought and
concentrated on the horizon. It took only 10 minutes to reach the hotel, which he circled
above at about 50 metres altitude hoping to draw Brett’s attention. He could barely see the
outline of the building but there was definitely a ribbon of water, maybe a stream alongside.
Then he spotted the flares. Brett had heard the whispering motor in the dead of night and
guessed it was important. He had taken a gamble on it being a friend and not a foe. He was
running below Jack on the flat bank of the stream lighting flares every few metres to make a
short runway.
Jack put her down as soon as he could see ten smouldering white flares lying in the grass. He
used a combination of the throttle and the lever, which changed the angle of the rotor to slow
his descent and after a few bumps he was stationery. A dark figure loomed alongside him.
‘I knew you could do it Jack.’ Brett hugged him tightly and could feel the boy shudder as he
sobbed, the fear coming out in a gush of emotion. ‘Come on agent, you’re safe now. You
don’t need to go back in there.’
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Jack stopped crying and handed over the memory stick. ‘I am going back Brett. Roger is
opening the door in exactly 15 minutes time.’
‘No Jack, enough is enough. Come on, let me get this transmitted to London so they can
decipher it and then you can go to b