Читать книгу The Complete Ruby Redfort Collection: Look into My Eyes; Take Your Last Breath; Catch Your Death; Feel the Fear; Pick Your Poison; Blink and You Die - Lauren Child - Страница 98

RUBY HEADED OFF IN THE DIRECTION OF LITTLE BAY – she needed to take a look at the ocean before she went to school; not that it was likely to tell her a whole lot, but she just felt it might help to go and sort of drink it in.

She climbed on her bike and whistled to Bug – he liked to run alongside and a sprint out to the ocean was nothing for him. When they got within a quarter-mile, they both sensed something pretty strange.

It was a sound, a sort of clacking sound.

As they got nearer, Ruby couldn’t fail to figure out what it was. Hundreds upon hundreds of crabs, all making their way along the sands. That’s kinda weird, huh Bug?

The dog went to investigate, sniffing at the creatures and backing off as they snapped their tiny claws at his nose.

Ruby let go of her bike and slowly picked her way through the crabs, expecting to come to the place where they ended, but they didn’t end, they just kept on coming.

Then, far, far on the other side of the beach, she saw a diver walking towards the ocean. She called out to him, but he didn’t hear her, and before she could reach him he had ducked under the sea’s surface. A few yards up the beach sat a large yellow carryall – the diver would be coming back for it, she imagined, but Ruby couldn’t wait. She had promised Mrs Digby that she would not be late for school, and a promise in spit was a promise to be kept.

Ruby made it into school just seconds before the bell sounded, dashed into her classroom and slid into her seat, smiling at Mrs Drisco who scowled back. She looked for Clancy – he wasn’t there. He was never late for class so she guessed he must be off sick or more likely was still faking it.

Still freaked out? she wondered. Or avoiding something?

It didn’t take her long to figure it out.

The bell went and Ruby spilled out of her form room with all the other kids. She made her way to physics class and as she turned the corner, heard a familiar voice shouting.

‘Hey Redfort, are you planning on showing for swim practice this evening?’

Ruby turned to see Del Lasco, tall, sporty and kind of in your face, coming down the main stairway.

‘I said I would, didn’t I?’ replied Ruby.

‘Yeah, well, you say a lotta things and I haven’t seen you show for practice once this season.’

Ruby had been kind of busy with Spectrum and it was true she had simply not had time for Junior High commitments.

‘I did the swimathon, didn’t I?’

‘Sure. And got beaten by Clancy Crew. He wasn’t even on the swim team! You need to train. Sharpen up.’

‘I’ll be there tonight, OK,’ assured Ruby as she made for the door.

‘I notice Crew’s skipping off today too, which is just swell.’

‘And how is that my fault buster?’ called Ruby, disappearing into class.

If you didn’t know it, you might imagine that Ruby Redfort and Del Lasco weren’t even friends at all – but they were. Good friends in fact. Del Lasco had a mouth on her, that was for sure, but she was also very loyal. No one could deny that if the chips were down, you could count on Del to wade in and punch someone on your behalf, even if you didn’t want them punched.

Mr Endell was talking about white noise today. Which was pretty interesting as it turned out and sort of helpful given what Ruby was investigating for Spectrum. White noise, according to Mr Endell, was a kind of noise produced by combining every frequency together, from high to low – like someone playing every key on a piano at the same time.

What was interesting to Ruby was that white noise could be used to mask other sounds, including voices. This was because the ear was so busy dealing with so many different notes and tones, all sounding at once, that it couldn’t manage to tune into just one voice.

Mr Endell demonstrated this by turning on his desk fan, which he pointed out produced a kind of white noise, and then speaking at a normal volume.

He said, ‘ .’

‘What?’ chorused the class.

‘I was saying,’ said Mr Endell, turning off the fan, ‘that spies and secret agents have actually manufactured white noise machines to stop other spies and secret agents listening in to their conversations. Think of white noise as thousands of voices all talking at the same moment. It’s possible to tune into one voice in a group of chatting people. But there’s no way you can tune into one voice in a crowd of a thousand.’

Kinda fascinating, thought Ruby. Could someone be using something like this to block mayday calls and cargo signals, and reroute shipping? There was a good chance.

It was three o’clock and Ruby grabbed her swim bag out of her locker and hurried out to the waiting bus. Swim practice was going to be at the municipal pool due to the Dillon Flannagon Twinford Junior High pool incident. Ruby went to get changed, stuffed her bag in the locker and walked towards the Olympic-size pool. She could hear Coach Newhart shouting instructions and generally bossing the team into shape.

Ruby got into the water and did a couple of lengths to warm up. She had her swimming goggles on and couldn’t see too well, but she was aware that the lifeguard was blowing his whistle. Someone had committed some pool misdemeanour and she looked up to see who the culprit was. Through the blur of the water she saw the lifeguard frantically signalling to her to get out of the pool. ‘Man! What have I done!’ she muttered to herself. These municipal pool lifeguards were a royal pain in the behind. Ruby swam to the side and immediately began to remonstrate with the whistle-blowing bozo.

‘What? I didn’t use the verruca footbath with enough due care and attention, or was I splash…?’ Her voice tailed off as she lifted her goggles and found herself staring at a familiar face.

‘Oh brother! It’s you.’

‘Hey kid,’ said Hitch. He was wearing the blue shorts and logo-printed T-shirt just like all the other lifeguards and with his suntanned skin he blended in perfectly and no one gave him a second look.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I’m here to suggest that you go tell your coach that you need to get the nurse to take a look at that bump on your head.’

‘What bump on my head?’ said Ruby.

‘The bump you need to convince Coach Newhart is giving you so much grief that you have to see the nurse about it.’

‘Oh man! You know Del Lasco is going to actually kill me – you want that on your conscience?’

He threw her a towel.

‘I’d be more worried about Coach Newhart if I were you.’

‘Thanks, I appreciate your concern,’ said Ruby.

‘You signed up for this kid – I warned you, but you wouldn’t listen; this job can play fast and loose with your social life.’

‘It’s not my social life that I’m concerned about; Del can punch man, I mean really punch.’

Hitch pulled Ruby out of the water and she staggered off to try and act her way out of swim practice. Ruby Redfort was a first-rate actress and she did a good job of persuading Coach Newhart that she would be dead in the water if she so much as doggy-paddled. Then she made for the changing rooms; she could feel Del Lasco’s eyes boring into her back as she limped away.

Hitch and Ruby met in the corridor, both now changed, Hitch in a suit and tie and Ruby in jeans, jacket and bozo T-shirt. Hitch raised an eyebrow when he saw it, but didn’t comment.

He led her through a door marked Maintenance, which housed various pieces of equipment and pipes and tanks and all kinds of things which presumably kept the swimming pool clean and warm and full of water. Almost invisible behind one of the largest pipes was another door. It looked like it hadn’t been opened in quite a while and several dead flies were clustered on the floor in front of it.

He took out a keychain holding several identical-looking keys.

‘This is a door to Spectrum? You’re kidding me,’ said Ruby. She was well aware of Spectrum’s ability to create tunnels and entrances to the agency HQ – and all seemingly at a moment’s notice – but this was the Twinford City swimming pool.

‘You know Spectrum, always like to keep you on your toes,’ said Hitch, as he unlocked the door. It was made of thick steel and it closed with a satisfying clunk. They were at the top of a pure white spiral staircase, not an open-tread iron one. This staircase was completely enclosed and made of a material like moulded stone. Without a word Hitch descended.