The Complete Ruby Redfort Collection. Lauren Child

      Mrs Digby was surprised to hear a rat talk, a foreign one at that. ‘What language is that you’re speaking?’ she asked.

      ‘Oh, so someone is there,’ came the voice again, this time in English. ‘Who are you?’

      ‘I’m the one holding the heavy lamp, ready to knock you out, is who I am. Who are you?’

      ‘I’m being held captive. Could you help me?’

      ‘How do I know you’re not one of them?’

      ‘Because if I was, I wouldn’t be stuck in here.’

      Mrs Digby thought for a moment – he didn’t sound particularly dangerous, and seeing as they were in the same situation she thought she might as well get along with him. She set about pulling all the books off the bookcase until it was light enough to move.

      ‘OK, you ought to be able to squeeze through the gap, unless you are very fat, which I don’t s’pose you are if they have been feeding you the kind of rations they have been feeding me.’

      Gradually, one limb at a time a little old man appeared.

      A little old man with a huge moustache.

      ‘Klaus Gustav,’ he said, offering her his hand.

       Chapter 39.

      Lucky twice

      CLANCY WAS TRYING TO GET HITCH’S ATTENTION but Hitch was on the far side of the room, his eyes scanning the crowd, and he wasn’t noticing Clancy’s subtle hand gestures.

       Would you just look over here!

      Clancy didn’t know what to do – he didn’t want to leave the man in case he disappeared, but he couldn’t do anything about anything without Hitch. He began to wave and Hitch waved back, awkwardly – the way people wave when they don’t know why they are waving.

      Clancy tried again, this time more wildly, like a drowning person.

      ‘What are you doing?’ said his mother through clenched teeth.

      ‘Waving,’ muttered Clancy.

      ‘Well would you please stop it,’ she hissed, ‘it’s embarrassing your father.’

      But Clancy couldn’t stop – he had to make Hitch see that something very terrible might be going on. This man who claimed to be Klaus Gustav was not Klaus Gustav. Clancy was sure of it.

      Lucky for Ruby, she hadn’t actually fallen the one hundred and two feet to the ground below, but instead found herself clinging to a branch of a very rotten tree, dangling a mere sixty feet above the ground.

       What now?

      This was Ruby’s last thought, before a huge thunder-like boom shook the building. It came from Twinford City Bank. It was a deafening noise, an explosion.

      Inside the museum, for one half of a split second all the guests went quiet – only the party music played on.

      And then – pandemonium.

      Martini glasses dropped and shattered on the marble floor, a hubbub of noise rose up, some folks screamed and fear sparked like electricity. A sea of people rushed towards the doors. An alarm went off and sirens screeched – it was panic and chaos.

      But Clancy Crew was desperately trying to find a way back through the crowds – people were pushing and shoving, trying to get out into the square and he was the only person headed in the other direction. He felt himself being forced backwards and then all of a sudden, a hand grabbed him and pulled him free.

      ‘Where are you going Clancy Crew?’ It was Hitch.

      Clancy’s eyes were wild with panic. ‘That man, Klaus Gustav – I think he’s a fake. I think he’s meant to be a small man with a moustache – the man from the airport. I think this guy is the one who took Ruby.’

      ‘You know what kid,’ replied Hitch, ‘I’ve got a hunch you might just be right.’

      ‘So now what? The man, he’s disappeared – how are we going to find Ruby without him?’

      Hitch looked at Clancy. He really wasn’t sure about this, but it was his only hope. ‘Your pal Ruby, do you happen to know if she might have taken something from Spectrum? A gadget?’

      ‘Nothing she told me about,’ said Clancy.

      ‘You haven’t happened to see her with a keyring – one with little coloured scrabble tiles that you can slide around?’

      ‘That? Yeah, but it’s not from Spectrum – it’s just some dumb old keyring she said she found.’

      Hitch smiled. ‘That’s no dumb keyring – that’s a very sophisticated piece of Spectrum gadgetry,’ he said, pulling Clancy out from the scrum and towards the rear staircase.

      ‘What do you mean?’ called Clancy.

      ‘It’s a mini locator,’ shouted Hitch. ‘Used to belong to one of the smartest agents who ever lived. Slide the tiles, form a word, and it sends me a signal.’ He tapped his watch. ‘I got a hunch that I just might know where to find our friend Ruby.’

      Clancy looked at the little red light flashing on the dial. And then suddenly everything went dark.

      Outside the museum, dangling sixty feet above the ground, Ruby was beginning to lose her grip.

      Yikes, she thought, this is not a good situation.

      She wasn’t sure how long her fingers could hold on, but it was the branch that gave up first, crumbling in her hands.

      And she felt herself once more, tumbling through the air.

      By now the bank was crawling with security staff. Everyone from inside the museum was outside watching the bank. There were police cars everywhere, screaming sirens, and alarms setting off other alarms.

      But Hitch hardly heard them. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart as he ran down stone corridors, up steep stairways, all the way to the tower. He ran like a man possessed, he ran like his life depended on it.

      By the time Clancy Crew arrived at the heavy oak door, Hitch had already levered it open. Clancy Crew watched as green sand spilled out into the corridor and he watched as Hitch sank slowly to the floor. His head was in his hands, and the light on the little watch radar had gone out.

      ‘Rube?’ whispered Clancy, crumpling to his knees.

      ‘I’m sorry kid,’ was all that Hitch could say.

      But Ruby Redfort was lucky: in fact she was lucky twice.

      Firstly, because the power-lines broke her fall, and secondly, because the explosion at the bank had extinguished the power.

      After she had checked that she was still alive, Ruby inched along the cables until she was dangling over a large, leafy shrub. She let go – not a cushy landing exactly, but she was at least all in one piece, although she seemed to be missing a shoe.

       Nice going Rube! A super great time to lose footwear.

      She couldn’t see a thing, let alone a small size 3 lost in a thicket.

      Having got her bearings she picked herself up, then half ran, half limped towards the building. The place was totally deserted and all she could hear as she made her way down to the museum vaults was the commotion outside. Every last person was watching things unfold at the bank.

      Ruby wasn’t greatly surprised to find the basement door unlocked. It was just as the Count had promised – the lasers securing the entrance looked like they were active, but the locks had failed and no doubt someone was already inside. Carefully, she pushed open the door and stepped into the dimly lit passage.