The Brain Sucker Read online

  Jinx grabbed a handful of grass and wiped off as much of the mud as he could. “Mum’s gonna have a fit.”

  Callum pulled himself to his wheelchair and climbed aboard. “Right,” he said. “We can’t sit around here all night chatting. We’ve got a job to do. I’ll just run a few checks on my chair.”

  He rocked the Thunderkit, clicked it into out mode and then gingerly wheeled along the grass. The carbon-fibre frame was scratched but undamaged. He spun the chair around in a three-sixty-degree turn. It was fine.

  Sophie handed Jinx her backpack. “Grab the chute.”

  Jinx ran over to the parachute, which had wrapped itself around a nearby bush. He folded it into a neat bundle and placed it into Sophie’s pack, then handed it back to her. “Any idea where the warehouse is?”

  “Close, I think. If we follow the railway tracks for another few hundred metres, we should be sweet.” Sophie referred to her phone. “I’d like to find the trolley first though. That’s our ride home.”

  Sophie, Jinx and Callum worked their way back along the train tracks. They located the trolley lying in a twisted heap beside the rails. One look at the mangled wreckage and it was clear it was destroyed beyond repair. Two of the four wheels were missing and the main support struts had snapped and warped. The engine wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

  Callum shuddered. If things had gone differently, he and Sophie could easily have been lying amongst the mess.

  Sophie kicked the remains of the trolley with her shoe. “We won’t be going anywhere on that. Guess we’ll have to find another way home.”

  Callum tried not to show his relief. He’d gone right off travelling by rail.

  The trio approached the rear of the car parts warehouse. They waited behind some trees where they had a good view of the back of the building. “Can I have the binoculars?” Callum asked Jinx.

  Jinx passed a powerful set of field glasses to Callum. He pushed aside a branch and swiftly scanned the surroundings. “No one in the sentry box, but there’s a camera on the corner nearest the garage and the dog run goes right around the back.

  “Pretty much what we expected then,” said Sophie.

  Callum agreed. “Yeah. Okay, we stick to the plan.” He handed the binoculars back to Jinx. “I’ll black out the camera, Jinx watches for guards, and Soph sorts out the dog.”

  They all took their positions. Jinx wriggled forwards on his stomach and hid himself under a large leafy bush.

  Callum rolled cautiously forwards until he sat at the edge of the tree line. Sophie followed close behind. When he was happy with his spot, Callum reached into his wheelchair bag and withdrew a collapsible paintball gun. He unfolded the barrel and stock, then screwed a gas canister into the rear of the gun. Callum loaded several balls of black paint into the chamber and cocked the weapon. He pushed the stock of the gun hard into his shoulder, took aim and fired. The weapon spat twice, and two gleaming balls sped through the night air, slamming directly into the lens of the surveillance camera, covering it with a thick layer of black paint.

  “Nice shot,” said Sophie.

  A smile played over Callum’s lips. He flicked on the gun’s safety catch and laid the weapon on his lap. “Your turn.”

  Sophie crept beyond the tree line and scanned the area. “Looks clear. Cover me. I’ll signal you when I’m done.”

  Callum nodded. Jinx whistled a pre-assigned bird call – a warbling twitter. This was a signal of acknowledgement. He’d been given one further call – an owl hoot – which he was to use as a warning of impending danger. He had practised his owl impression and was secretly pleased with the result.

  Without looking back, Sophie tightened the straps on her backpack and melted into the night. She moved furtively, making it to the wire fence at the rear of the warehouse without incident. She dropped to one knee, unclipped the pack that contained the parachute and dumped it onto the ground in front of her. She reached into a compartment near the bottom of the pack and withdrew a clear plastic container holding two chunks of rump steak. Sophie clicked the lid off and removed a piece of meat stuffed with fast-acting sleeping pills. She tossed the drugged meat over the top of the fence and into the dog run.

  Her timing was immaculate. Seconds later the German shepherd that had previously tried to amputate her fingers rounded the corner and raced towards her, lips curled in a vicious snarl. Sophie jumped back from the fence. She hoped the dog would notice the meat before it launched into a fit of barking. Fortunately, the dog’s stomach won out and it wolfed down the steak like a four-legged eating machine or a golden retriever.

  Sophie threw the second piece of meat over the fence and watched as the dog downed it just as rapidly. The dog licked its lips, sniffed the ground and walked over to the wire directly in front of Sophie. It regarded her with a calculating gaze. Clearly it was prepared to work for food – it would keep quiet as long as Sophie kept the meaty treats coming. Sadly she was out of steak.

  The dog watched as Sophie made a show of rummaging around in her backpack. In desperation she pulled out an apple and threw it over the fence. The German shepherd dashed after the piece of fruit, sniffed it in a disparaging way then came back to Sophie, snarling with disappointment. The animal was clearly a strict carnivore.

  “Come on, pills,” implored Sophie. She knew the dog would soon realise she was out of food and it would revert to being the guard hound from hell.

  The dog opened its mouth but instead of barking, it yawned. Then its eyes glazed over and it dropped to the ground. Within seconds the dog was snoring loudly.

  Sophie sighed with relief then retrieved a pair of wire-cutters from her pack. She returned to where Callum waited in the bushes and waved.

  Callum wheeled over to Jinx and gave him the paintball gun. “Patrol the rear of the warehouse. If you see anything suspicious or the dog wakes up, call Soph’s phone. If we’re not back in two hours, call the police.” He patted the gun. “This is for emergencies only.”

  “Okay,” whispered Jinx. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

  “No. You’re our backup. We need you here.”

  Jinx gave an enthusiastic nod. He was backup. That meant he was their last line of defence. How cool was that!

  Callum left Jinx and wheeled to the fence as fast as he could. By the time he arrived, Sophie had already cut a large hole in the wire.

  Sophie dumped her backpack behind a bush. She wanted to move freely once they got inside the run. Callum and Sophie sneaked through the hole, hugged the wall of the warehouse and edged their way along the side of the building. Before long they were directly outside the doorway Sophie had seen the previous day, but this time the door was shut and locked. Fortunately, a large dog flap had been built into its wooden frame.

  “I’ll go in through the dog door and then let you in,” Sophie said in a soft voice.

  “Be careful.”

  Sophie pushed open the dog flap with her hand, popped her head through and peered inside. The room was gloomy, cramped and smelled heavily of dog. The concrete floor was strewn with chewed dog bones and grubby stuffed toys in various states of disembowelment. A dog bed lay against a far wall. Beside it were two bowls. The dog’s name had been engraved in them. It was called Ripper. Sophie fervently hoped the sleeping pills would last a long, long time.

  The rest of the room was empty. A closed wooden door was fitted in the opposite wall. Sophie assumed the door led into the factory. She listened for sounds of movement, heard nothing and crept inside.

  Sophie wrinkled her nose; the dog smell was even stronger inside the room. She examined the door she’d just crawled through. It was secured by a bolt. She slid it back and let Callum in. Sophie moved to the door that led to the warehouse. Callum signalled for her to come close.

  Sophie padded over to him and crouched down beside his chair. Callum whispered, “Is the tracking device still working?”

  Sophie took out her phone and checked. “Yeah, the signal’s weak. The b
attery must be dying. I can’t pinpoint it, but it’s definitely coming from somewhere inside this building.”

  “I just wanted to double-check. Right, here’s what I think we should do. This is the point of no return. We are now officially breaking and entering. Going into the warehouse could be dangerous, so I’ll go in alone and see what I can find. You join Jinx and wait for me outside.”

  Sophie was quiet for a few seconds before answering. “Okay, good suggestion, but I’ve got a better one: we totally ignore your plan, because frankly it’s rubbish. Then we go into the warehouse together, get your gran’s goodness back, destroy the stupid bad bomb and go home–”

  “But …” interrupted Callum.

  “Do you really think I’m going to let you have all the fun?”

  Callum folded his arms across his chest. “I can do this on my own, you know.”

  “Of course you can, but why would you when I’m here?”

  Callum shook his head and forced a smile. “You really are the most annoying girl in the world.”

  “That’s probably true.”

  Sophie gave him a wink then pulled the handle and opened the door to the warehouse.

  Thirteen

  The door opened directly into a cavernous loading bay. Moonlight flooded in from a skylight and through several heavily barred windows. The warehouse was silent and dark. Its concrete floor was blackened from the tyre marks of hand trolleys and forklifts that roamed busily around during the day. At night the lifting equipment sat idle at one end of the loading bay. Large elevated shelving units lined the walls and formed a series of aisles. The shelves sat on sturdy wooden legs with the first platform beginning about three metres above the ground then progressing upwards in layers about two metres apart, stretching almost to the ceiling. Each unit was filled with a myriad of boxes and pallets. Foreign markings were printed on many of the containers. Callum guessed the boxes held car parts. At first glance everything seemed above board.

  Callum clicked his wheelchair to in mode and wheeled through the aisles looking for anything to indicate that the warehouse wasn’t what it seemed. Sophie shadowed him, her eyes scanning the darkened corners of the loading bay for movement.

  An open door near the rear of the warehouse caught Callum’s eye. He rolled cautiously towards it and stopped before the doorway. He glanced inside. The room was poorly lit, but he could make out the shapes of several vehicles lined up in the gloom. He motioned for Sophie to join him.

  “This looks like the garage. Let’s see if the van you saw outside my cousins’ house is in here.”

  Sophie removed a torch from her tool belt. Five vehicles were parked in the dark: a late model dark grey Mercedes, a compact, well-used runabout, two white vans with Big Al’s Used Car Parts painted on the side and a black van with tinted windows. Sophie covered the torch with her hand to restrict its beam and slipped towards the vehicles. “I think this is the van, but I can’t be sure.”

  Callum nodded. “Let’s see what else we can find.”

  Sophie panned the torch around the garage. They spotted nothing of real interest so they went through an internal doorway that led directly into an office.

  The room was tidy and organised. A sleeping computer sat on an expensive desk. The desktop also contained a set of in and out trays holding two neatly stacked piles of paper. Resting against the desk was a comfortable chair. Two doors were nearby. One led back into the loading bay and the other to another office.

  Sophie walked towards the second office. “I’ll take this one.”

  Callum began sifting through the papers in the trays. He was strangely calm, too focused on the task at hand to be afraid. He was, however, well aware of the urgency of their mission. They needed to move fast.

  The papers in the tray revealed little; apart from discovering that the auto parts business was extremely lucrative, Callum found nothing out of the ordinary.

  Sophie’s rifling of the secretary’s office brought about similar results. After ten minutes of fruitless searching, Sophie and Callum returned to the loading bay.

  Callum banged the arm of his wheelchair in frustration. “I feel like we’re missing something.”

  Sophie cast her eyes over the rows of shelves. “I know what you mean. Do you think it’s worth checking one of those boxes?”

  Callum shrugged. “Maybe. They’re a long way off the ground though. I’m not sure how we’d get to them.”

  “I am,” said Sophie as she leaped onto a forklift. She started the electric engine. “I’ve always wanted to drive one of these.”

  “Be careful,” warned Callum. “I’ve heard they are difficult to drive.”

  “Not a problem,” said Sophie, confidently, as the forklift lurched backwards and collided with a wooden pallet that had been leaning against the warehouse wall. The pallet fell over and a thunderous crash echoed through the building.

  Callum screwed up his face and waited for some sort of response, but the warehouse remained quiet.

  “Sorry,” whispered Sophie in her softest voice, which was a little redundant after the racket she’d just made.

  She hopped off the forklift and inspected the damage to the pallet.

  “Callum, come here,” she hissed urgently.

  Callum hurried to the rear of the forklift. The pallet had fallen aside to reveal the entrance to a goods elevator. The lift was big enough for three or four grown men to stand in and was surrounded by a mesh cage.

  “Look what I found,” said Sophie, behaving as if the accident was completely planned. “Wonder where it goes.”

  Callum pulled open the elevator door and rolled inside. “Only one way to find out.”

  Sophie jumped in after him and shut the door. A button on the wall indicated their movement choices – up or down. Callum pushed the down button and the elevator whirred to life with a disconcerting jolt.

  It was a short trip to the lower level of the warehouse. At first there was little to see but concrete floor, then the basement level of the warehouse came into view. A walkway spanned a wide drain that traversed the length of the building. A fast-moving stream of water flowed through it. Beyond the drain was a training area that would have looked more at home in a martial arts gym. Olive green mats were stacked in a neat pile beside racks of weights. Padded, sweat-stained benches were lined up on the wooden floor like hurdles on a running track. At the far end of the training area was a closed wooden door.

  Directly to the right of the elevator was a barred cage, which could obviously be used as a holding cell. Two lumpy, stained mattresses and a bucket were the only contents of the prison. To the left of the lift was an entranceway that led to a dark room. The area was dimly lit. Callum could just make out two pairs of black combat boots sitting outside the doorway. He figured the room was for Lester’s thugs. Both Callum and Sophie had the impression they had descended on a military compound.

  “It doesn’t look much like Big Al’s Used Car Parts any more,” Callum whispered. “But it does looks like the kind of place those bullies we met at Rebecca’s house would live.”

  Sophie quietly slid the elevator door aside and the two friends moved onto the walkway that crossed the drain. Callum looked down into the black water sluicing beneath him. The watercourse was deep and foreboding. “And this drain is just plain weird.”

  Sophie wasn’t going to argue. Being underground made her uncomfortable. She drew in a deep breath to push through her claustrophobia. She opened a pouch on her tool belt and checked her homemade smoke bomb and concussion ball. They were fine, and having some means of defence close to hand comforted her. It wasn’t just the enclosed space that was a cause for concern. She could still picture the slick black Glock pistol in the hands of the solidly built thug. She had no desire to have the same barrel pointed at her.

  Callum and Sophie’s first move was to check the room where they thought Lester’s thugs would be housed. Naturally, they didn’t want to get too close, so they stayed in the shadows until the
y were near enough to listen through the door. A rhythmic snoring came from within. Satisfied no one was stirring, they crossed the drainage ditch via another walkway and crept back the way they’d come.

  Callum pointed to the door at the end of the training area. “Let’s check out that room.”

  Sophie nodded. They made their way through the fitness equipment and stopped at the entrance. The door was locked and the room beyond was dark and quiet.

  Sophie examined the lock.

  “Can you open it?” Callum asked impatiently.

  Sophie hunted around on her tool belt and removed a device that looked like a pen light.

  “This is pretty cool. It’s a miniature laser scanner. It’ll map the inside of the lock and give me a reading of what the mechanism looks like so I can work out how to pick it. In theory.”

  “In theory?”

  “Yeah, well, I only invented it yesterday so it’s not really tested technology. It should work though.”

  Callum admired his friend’s optimism, especially given her variable hit rate.

  Sophie inserted the nib of the scanner into the keyhole and switched it on. A red light flicked back and forth then issued a beep. Sophie took out her trusty phone and plugged the scanner into the headphone socket. Within seconds a detailed three-dimensional outline of a locking mechanism appeared on the screen. Sophie pulled a bunch of keys from her pouch and flicked through them until she found one that matched the image on the screen. She showed Callum the selected key.

  “Try this,” she said.

  Sophie placed the laser scanner, key ring and the phone back on her tool belt, then inserted the selected key in the lock. She turned it and the door unlocked with a soft click.

  “And that’s how you do it,” she said with a smile.

  Sophie pushed the door open. Darkness flooded out like a living thing. Callum and Sophie gathered together at the edge of the doorway, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the gloom.

  A deep voice sounded behind them.