The Complete Ruby Redfort Collection. Lauren Child

Chapter 16.

      Don’t look now

      IT WAS NICE TO BE BACK ON A BIKE AGAIN, and Lopez’s bike, although a good deal too big, was a pretty deluxe one. It was fast and light and Ruby seemed to be gliding along speedily with little effort on her part, which was lucky since it was beginning to get dark and the bike had no lights. She was just making her way up the steep hill – a deserted stretch of road – which connected East Twinford to West Twinford, when she started to feel the unpleasant sensation of a deflating back tyre.

      Oh geez, that’s all I need! She hopped off the bike and surveyed the flat. There was no way of fixing it; she was going to have to walk home and it was a long way. To make matters just that much more miserable, it began to gently drizzle.

       Fabulous, just fabulous.

      A few cars passed her as she trudged up the hill – some of them slowed down but none of them stopped. She didn’t want them to either, not unless it was someone she knew, someone she could count on. By now it was pitch black, there were a few streetlights but this was the industrial part of town and none of the mostly-abandoned warehouses were lit. The drizzle had become rain, real drenching rain.

      Ruby thought about her own bike with its sturdy, heavy-duty, all-terrain tyres – speed was all very well but given the choice she would take reliability any day.

       Darn it!

      She was so busy cussing and complaining to herself that she didn’t at first sense the car behind her. She had vaguely heard it in the far distance as it approached the hill, its gears shifting down as it began to climb. But what she hadn’t noticed was the sound of the engine slowing to almost walking pace; not overtaking, just following. Puddles were beginning to form on the road and her feet were soaking wet. The lace of her left sneaker had come undone and she bent to tie it. It was sodden and her fingers were cold, unable to get a proper grip. She made an ugly knot and stuffed the ends into her shoe.

      And that’s when she really became aware of the car.

      Still crouching, she turned her head; the headlights were on full beam and she held her hand in front of her eyes to protect them from the glare. The car was moving very slowly towards her, but she was unable to make out the driver’s face. Ruby’s mind began to weigh the options – friend or foe? What kindly stranger would be so stupid as to shine their lights in a person’s face and edge nearer to them in this creepy way?

      Foe, it had to be.

      Panic took a grip and Ruby, stumbling to her feet, began to run. She felt the rough stones beneath her soles and heard the sloshing of her shoes in puddles, but mostly she was aware of the thumping of her heart and the single thought that was echoing in her brain, how could you be so dumb?

      She quickly turned to check on the car, stumbled and went sprawling onto the road. The car stopped. Through the dazzle of the headlights she saw the door open and the black shape of a figure step out. A man. He paused, faceless behind the light, and then he moved, stepping steadily towards her. Tap, tap went his shoes on the shiny wet asphalt, thump, thump went Ruby’s uncertain heart. She held her breath, her hands unable to make a fist… she felt around for some stone or stick, some inadequate weapon to fend off who knew what. The man leaned down towards her, she could smell his cologne.

      ‘When are you going to start paying attention kid?’

      ‘Hitch?’ croaked Ruby, ‘that you?’

      ‘You better believe it buster,’ came the reply.

       Chapter 17.

      Strange and uneasy

      THE JOURNEY BACK WAS NOT A PLEASANT ONE. Hitch wasn’t mad, he didn’t need to be – Ruby was far too mad at herself already. She was, however, relieved – relieved to be sitting in a nice warm car and not to be in the hands of some mad murderous crazy type. Not that there were a lot of those around but you never could be quite sure and with Ruby’s luck lately, she felt the odds of meeting a mad murderous crazy type were high.

      Hitch drove in near silence while Ruby mumbled on. Every now and then he would raise an eyebrow or nod in agreement, but he never bothered to say, “I told you so”.

      He didn’t have to.

      When they got back to Cedarwood Drive, Ruby slumped down at the breakfast bar while Hitch unloaded Lopez’s bike from the trunk. When he came in he said, ‘Look kid, maybe part of this is my fault, I accept that, I’ve been kinda ribbing you and talking down to you – so maybe you and I need to start over?’

      Ruby was astonished – it was the very last thing she was expecting.

      ‘Yeah well,’ she said, ‘I guess I should have listened but I just like to be independent, you know what I mean?’

      Hitch nodded. ‘OK, so how about you get yourself to and from Maverick Street but on your own bike and on the condition that you attach this tracker device to the handle bars.’ He took out a small round orange metal thing that looked exactly like a bicycle bell. ‘The first sign of anything suspicious, you press the green button in the middle and I’ll find you.’

      It seemed like a pretty fair deal. ‘Sure, I can do that.’

      ‘One other condition,’ continued Hitch. ‘If someone ever does tail you, someone meaning someone relating to the work you are doing, someone who’s figured out what you are up to, then we have to pull the plug – no more code cracking.’

      ‘OK,’ Ruby nodded reluctantly. ‘I guess I can live with that.’ She had no choice other than to agree. But in any case she was determined that no one was ever going to tail her.

      On Saturday morning Ruby pulled on her jeans and a T-shirt which simply said, help is at hand. She looked out of the window – Mrs Gruber was walking her cat, as she always did on Tuesdays – apart from that, there wasn’t a whole lot of action. She went downstairs, scratched Bug behind the ears, grabbed her bike and cycled to Maverick Street. Halfway there she got, well, not so much a strange feeling, as an uneasy one. She had no idea why, but she sort of felt as if a pair of eyes were watching her every move.

       Getting edgy Rube, that’s not good. Stay alert but don’t ever get edgy.

      But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. This feeling was justified when the door was opened by none other than Froghorn – the Silent G.

      ‘Oh look it’s the wonder kid.’ He tapped his watch. ‘You’re late.’

      Ruby’s smile faded, ‘I’ve been missing you too – where’s Agent Blacker?’

      ‘He might be in later, but right now I’m the lucky babysitter.’

      Ruby gave him her best Ruby Redfort bozo-look. ‘So where’s the baby? Don’t tell me you lost it already?’

      Froghorn extended his index finger and jabbed it in her direction. ‘You think you’re the cat’s pyjamas, right?’ he hissed. ‘Well let me tell you, I’m in charge so you better toe-the-line little girl. You already got me in trouble once, by cycling off home on your own. But I’ve got my eye on you now, and not much gets by me.’

      ‘Oh brother!’ muttered Ruby.

      There was no jelly donut on her desk today and there would be no helpful conversation, let alone convivial chit-chat to speed up the work.

      Ruby picked up from where she had left off and started to read Lopez’s notes.

      She saw the way Lopez had put everything together, piece by piece. She had put the decoded messages in some sort of order, so they made a kind of conversation. It was easy to see what it all meant when you were looking at the whole picture. Just knowing any one piece wasn’t enough – it meant