They won’t find her, realised Jake. Whoever took Lauren is keeping her under lock and key. If she’s still alive, that is. Angrily, he tried to dismiss the possibility that she wasn’t from his mind. She’s alive! he told himself. She must be!
Alec MacClain leant towards Jake and muttered, ‘The two Russians are back. The ones who went to the mainland. They came back on the ferry this morning.’
‘Does anyone know where they’ve been?’
Alec shook his head.
‘No, but the best guess is Glasgow or Edinburgh.’
‘So, whatever they went to get, they’ve brought back,’ said Jake thoughtfully.
‘That’s what it looks like,’ agreed Alec.
The materials to create spontaneous human combustion. To make a human body burst into flames. And they’d only be doing that if they wanted to test them out. And, the fact that they’d come back to Mull meant they were planning to test them here, on the island. On someone. A human specimen.
Lauren.
I have to stop them, thought Jake. He had to get into the Russians’ cottage. He was sure that was where Lauren was being kept prisoner.
The two Russians were back with the necessary ingredients. The experiment would be taking place any time now.
I have to go in, thought Jake. I have to go in now.
Chapter 21
Jake returned to his room and put on his jacket, then slipped a small torch into his pocket. He would need it to make his way through the tunnel, away from any daylight. He looked out of the window. Not that there was much daylight left; the evening darkness was starting to descend. He hoped the darkness would give him the cover he needed.
He went carefully and quietly down the stairs. If he could, he hoped to get to the cave and the secret tunnel without anyone seeing him. He felt confident in the MacClain family, but bitter experience in the past had shown him that, as far as the Malichea books were concerned, no one was to be trusted.
He made it out of the guest house unseen, but as he set off down the cliffside path to the shore, he ran into Rona coming up.
‘Mr Wells!’ she said, alarmed. ‘Should you be out?’
‘Yes,’ Jake assured her. ‘But I’d rather you didn’t say anything to anyone apart from your parents.’
She looked troubled.
‘There’s still no sign of your friend,’ she said.
‘No,’ said Jake. ‘So I understand.’ He looked past her, down towards the shore. ‘Where’s Robbie?’
She let out a heartfelt sigh.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’ve just been along to the boat shed, looking for him.’ She looked appealingly at Jake. ‘I’m worried that he’s going to do something stupid. If you see him, will you stop him?’
‘I’ll do what I can,’ said Jake. ‘But I don’t think what I say carries much weight with your brother. Anyway, I’d better be moving along.’
‘You’re going into the tunnel, aren’t you?’ she said. ‘Into the Russians’ cottage.’
Jake hesitated, then he nodded.
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Let me come with you!’ Rona begged.
‘No,’ said Jake firmly. ‘We’ve seen what these people can do. If you went in and anything happened to you, it would kill your parents.’ And they’d kill me, thought Jake to himself.
It was the best argument he could have put to her. He saw her face fall as she thought about her parents. She nodded.
‘What shall I do if you’re not back?’ she asked.
Jake did his best to put on a confident smile.
‘Add me to the list of people the search and rescue team are looking for.’ He grinned.
It was a confidence he didn’t feel at all. He was going into the enemy’s den, alone and unarmed, with no plan as to what he was going to do once he was inside.
He gave Rona a wink, and then set off down the steep path to the shore.
He walked along the shingled beach, stumbling slightly on the uneven ground in the gathering darkness as he moved. Finally, he came to the narrow cave that led to the secret tunnel. He checked that no one seemed to be watching, and then he slipped into the cave.
The barnacle-encrusted wooden boards that hid the entrance seemed to be in the same place where he, Lauren and Rona had left them on their last visit. He hoped that meant that Robbie hadn’t come this way. But then Robbie had told Jake very firmly that he had no intention of using the tunnel. But that didn’t mean Robbie wouldn’t.
Jake switched on the torch and heaved the heavy boards aside. The effort it took made his head start to ache again. What was it the doctor had told him? Nothing strenuous. Yes, well, all that was out of the window. There was only one thing that mattered now, and that was getting Lauren back safely.