Part 15 (2/2)

'Don't get high,' said Li.

'Diesel fumes. This is the exhaust pipe for the generator. They've been clever installing it near this pothole so they wouldn't have to build chimneys. And this is their only ventilation hole, which is why they've kept the fumes contained in this pipe.'

Alex stood up and peered into the crevice where the drainpipe disappeared. 'This is the factory?'

'It must be,' said Li. 'It's in the right place.'

'I wonder how far this crevice goes.' He switched his torch on and shone it into the hole.

'Well?' said Li.

'Can't see much... some bulky shapes, lots of gla.s.s pipes... It's really close.'

Paulo tapped him on the shoulder, offering his mobile. 'Take a picture.'

'I would if I had very long, slim fingers,' said Alex, 'but I can't reach down the hole.'

Li took off her rucksack and rummaged inside. She brought out a wire coathanger. 'How about this? It got into my bag along with my Gore-tex jacket.'

'Excellent,' said Paulo. He straightened it out and handed it to Alex.

Alex made a rough cage for the phone and set it to take several frames on a timed exposure. He pa.s.sed it gently through the crevice into the container. He slid it to the limit of his reach, then heard several clicks as it took the pictures. He pulled it back out, unthreaded the case and inspected the results. A slow, satisfied smile broke out over his face. He handed the phone to Li and Paulo.

The two friends gasped.

The pictures showed red walls with steel ribs; royal-blue drums; several items of gla.s.s, like a complicated laboratory. There was no doubt this was the underground drugs lab.

Paulo was thinking. 'You know what they do? I bet they bring the ingredients here inside the carca.s.ses. When they get an order they take the finished product to the bothy to be counted and bagged, then transport it in a carca.s.s to the coast.'

'Why do they bother with the bothy?' said Alex. 'They could do everything underground.'

'Ventilation?' said Paulo. He squinted at the picture. 'It looks very crowded in there. There must be a lot of dust when they're measuring pills out. The bothy's bigger, with better ventilation. Even there, we saw they had to use masks.'

Li nodded. 'It's very clever. Everything's hidden the factory's underground and every time they move something it's inside a carca.s.s. No one need ever see anything unusual.'

Paulo looked at the picture on the phone. 'But how long did it take them to build all this? Surely that would have attracted attention.'

'Let me see that,' said Alex. Paulo handed him the phone. Alex looked at the picture. 'Ah yes, I thought so. They didn't build it.' He pointed to the steel ribs on the walls. 'It's one of those transcontinental containers, like they carry on s.h.i.+ps and lorries. They must have dug a great big hole and buried it. Simple and quick.'

Li nodded. 'That's why we found such a big area when we paced it out with the metal detector.'

'Those blue drums,' said Paulo. 'We found pieces of them in the bothy. They obviously contain the raw materials. I wonder where they dispose of them? They must have quite a collection.'

Li looked at her watch. 'Ten minutes and we need to go to the surface to call the others.'

Alex looked at the pipe snaking into the factory. 'This is a brilliant discovery, Li.'

Paulo nodded. His mind was already working. 'If the others can find out when the pick-up is, there's a lot we can do with this.'

22.

OLD F FRIEND.

Hex pulled back the portcullis on the lift and stepped out into a deep-pile crimson carpet. They turned down the corridor towards their suite. It was time to call the others.

The other lift in the pair arrived and they heard a rattling sound. The iron portcullis was stiff. There was also a voice a rather distinctive one. 'I've been abseiling, potholing, kayaking...'

Hex and Amber froze.

'Really?' said a male voice.

'Oh yes. My horse bolted with me on the moors and I had to navigate off a foggy sea using just my compa.s.s.'

Hex looked at Amber with an expression of pure fear. 'Tiff,' he mouthed.

'Wow, you're a really adventurous girl,' said the male voice.

'She's showing off,' whispered Amber.

The portcullis finally snapped open.

Amber and Hex shared the same thought. They did not want to run into Tiff right now. Hex noticed a door-shaped outline running across the picture rail and down through the dado. It must be one of the secret servants' entrances. As the voices came towards them he pushed it open. Amber practically pushed him through to get out of the way in time.

They were in a windowless stone stairwell lit by a bare light bulb, in marked contrast to the opulcnce they had just left behind. Sounds and smells of cooking wafted up from below.

Hex looked around, curious. 'How the other half live.'

Amber pulled the door open a crack and peered back into the luxury world. 'They've gone.'

They went back into the corridor. Their suite was just a few doors along.

Amber closed the door and locked it. Now, finally, they were alone.

'What's she doing here?' Spluttered Hex. He unclipped the phone from his belt and waved it around, looking for the best signal.

Amber belly-flopped onto a ma.s.sive four-poster bed. Everything in their suite was on a grand scale. Their two bedrooms were each the size of an entire apartment. 'She's changed her tune.' Her voice s.h.i.+fted into Tiff's nasal tones. 'My stallion bolted, I navigated out of a sea fret using just my sense of smell.' 'My stallion bolted, I navigated out of a sea fret using just my sense of smell.' Amber's expression was furious. 'She hated every minute she spent with us. Now she's a born again Lara Croft.' Amber's expression was furious. 'She hated every minute she spent with us. Now she's a born again Lara Croft.'

Hex needed a stronger signal and moved to the window. It was starting to rain again. 'We need to keep out of her way. She could blow our cover.'

Amber traced the pattern of the heavy brocaded bedspread with her finger. 'If she carries on boasting like that, she'll blow her own cover. If the gamekeepers hear her it'll be obvious she was at the hostel.'

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