The Aeroplane of Adventure

©2009 David Marlor

This novel is based on the characters created by Enid Bylton in the Adventure Series. In this regard, it is the ninth adventure and follows The River of Adventure.

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Chapter 19: Caught Again

The children were stunned at the sight of Big Bertha. Jack looked at Philip and raised an eyebrow. Philip looked grim. If Big Bertha was what he thought it was, it would be a threat to any nation that was an enemy of the gang. Not for the first time, Philip wished Bill was with them. He would know what to do.

Jack pulled on Philip's sleeve and Phillip nodded in understanding. They whispered to the girls that they should leave. The girls nodded and silently the children found their way carefully back into the train tunnel from which they had come. Jack stopped suddenly and cautioned the others to be quiet, but it was too late.

An old man with a gray beard and two men in uniform had come out of the tunnel. The old man said something to the other two and then turned directly towards the children. The children could see he was old and stooped. He held a lantern aloft and stopped in surprise at the sight of the children. He mumbled to himself, grappled at a pocket in his white coat, pulled out an old fashioned pair of glasses and perched them on the end of his nose. He peered closer at the children.

"Well," he said in a low stunned voice. "Well, it's children. Well, I never." Jack pushed the girls behind him, debating whether they should run for it.

The old man looked around and saw that the other two men were now busy doing something at a console. He turned back to the children. "What are you doing here? Children shouldn't be here, no no, that they shouldn't," said the old man in a low voice.

"We're..." began Jack.

"Shush," said the old man, "come over here." He led the children over to a small door in the side of the cave, well out of sight of the men and Big Bertha. He opened the door and ushered the children in. The bewildered children didn't know what to do, but Jack sensed the old man was scared.

"It's okay," said Jack to Lucy-Ann and Dinah, "I don't think he'll harm us. Let's see what he wants." Inside the room, the man closed the door and hung the lantern on a hook at the centre. He turned to the children. "Look, I don't know how you got here or who you are, but you have to get out of here," he said in a dramatic whisper.

"Who are you?" asked Philip, curious as to why this old man would want to help them.

"Who am I?" asked the old man, shocked. "Of course, but you're only children. I'm Peter Wilson."

"Peter Wilson?" said Philip. "Now why does that name sound familiar?" He snapped his fingers. "Of course! I've read about you in the paper. But... you died in a plane crash!"

"Is that what they're saying?" said Peter Wilson, grimly. "No, I'm alive, but I can't leave here. I must stay inside the hill – they watch me all the time when I'm out of the main control room. I've tried to escape. I hid in a treehouse in a big tree for almost half a day, but they found me. Who are you?" he asked, suddenly realising he didn't know who these children were.

"I'm Jack Trent," said Jack. "And this here is Philip and Dinah Cunningham, and this is my sister Lucy-Ann. Oh, and this is Kiki. Say how do you do, Kiki."

"How do you do," said Kiki and held out her foot to shake hands. The children shook hands with the brilliant scientist.

"You have to get out of here. Here, take this," said the scientist, pulling out a sheaf of note paper and giving it to Jack. "I can't explain now, but if you get off the island, give this to the police, they'll know what to do. But no. This isn't fair, I can't give you these important papers, if the men found out..." The scientist trailed off, and absently started putting the papers back in his pocket.

Lucy-Ann went over to him and gently took his hand. He looked into her deep blue eyes. She smiled and gently took the sheaf of papers out of the scientists hands. "We know it's dangerous," she said, her voice shaking. "But you're in danger too. We want to help, and we can help. We can leave here, you can't. Let us help you."

The other children watched Lucy-Ann in surprise. Little Lucy-Ann, who never liked adventures, was offering to help even though she knew the danger. Jack felt proud of his little sister.

"Yes, let us help. We all want to, don't we," said Jack. The others nodded their heads in agreement. "How do we get out'?" he asked, taking the papers and pushing them down into his shorts pocket.

"I don't know," admitted the scientist. "I've looked and tried but it seems that all of the doors are controlled automatically from a central control room. I haven't found it because they won't let me wander all over the place freely – just around here, near Big Bertha."

Philip told him about the hangar and how he had got out. The scientist seemed surprised. "I never thought of that, though I haven't been as far as the hangar. Maybe I'll give it a go if I get a chance. Look, you'd better go now before you're caught. Let me create a diversion so you can escape down the tunnel quickly. And if you're caught," he said as an afterthought, "destroy those papers. Don't let the men find them on you, whatever you do."

The scientist opened the door cautiously and then went over to a console to talk to some men. The children watched from the door. The scientist suddenly dropped something with a loud crash. Everybody in the cave ran over to see what had happened. Peter Wilson was on the floor, and soon had the men examining the floor for something he'd supposedly lost in the accident.

"Come on," said Jack, and led the way out of the room, along the cave wall, and into the safety of the tunnel.

They made their way quickly back to the junction and then turned and continued up the tunnel marked 'Hangar'. Nobody felt like talking. This was really really serious.

Jack was worried. What was the best thing to do? Then another thing struck him – they were launching Big Bertha within 48 hours! But where was it aimed? And why? Jack hurried on faster, almost running up the tunnel. The children had to duck into niches a few more times as trains came past them.

They came to another junction, but this time the tracks only went down one tunnel.

"Jack, this is where I joined the tunnel." said Philip excitedly. "Come on, let's keep going, we're not too far off the hangar now." The children continued on their underground journey through the hill.

"Look, around this bend we come into a wide tunnel in which the trains are stabled," whispered Philip to the others. "Jack, let me lead now, I know the way." Jack nodded and Philip took the lead. He crept around the corner and saw the spare trains sitting silently under the glow of some overhead lights. Philip led the children down one side of the cave, keeping well into the shadows. They came to a small tunnel that led to the hangar. But this time the hangar was full of bright lights. As the children watched, they could see the aircraft being loaded. The hangar doors were wide open and the children could see starlight outside.

Starlight! Was it really dark? Jack looked at his watch. Yes, it was already 9:00pm.

"Philip," he said, leaning over and speaking into Philip's ear. "Do you think we could get out and not be seen?"

"We have to try," Phillip whispered back. "Look, let's go around that side where there are more shadows and less people. We may have to run for it when we get to the hangar doors. Now, no noise and no torches. We'll have to feel our way along the cave wall."

With Philip leading, Jack, Lucy-Ann and Dinah crept along the side of the cave in the shadows. But then Philip tripped and crashed down on some loose bottles left in the shadows. None of the children saw them until it was too late.

Immediately lights were shone in the direction of the noise and the children were caught. Two men with machine guns covered the children and they had no choice but to surrender. Another man, the tall man that Philip had seen, came over. He looked at the children and recognised Philip.

"Why, it's you! And you do have some friends, I see," he said, looking over the other three children. "Children! I hate children. Nasty interfering little –" He spat on the floor and then looked at the children as if he didn't know what to do with them.

"You let us go," said Dinah fiercely. "You have no right to hold us here. We're not doing anything wrong. We're just lost."

"Oh, you're lost all right," said the tall man in a nasty voice. "And you won't be found until we've finished what we have to do. Then, maybe you'll be found. I said maybe, mind!"

Another man called to the tall man urgently. The tall man turned and said something in a foreign language, sounding annoyed, then turned back to the children. "I'm afraid I'll have to cut our little chat short as I have things to attend to. Guards! Put them in a storage cave and I'll deal with them after we're finished here." He turned to the children. "Enjoy your stay." The tall man turned and left.

The guards escorted the children to a small cave not far from the train tunnel. One of the guards unlocked a stout wooden door and pushed the four children into it. The children heard the lock click and the guards marching away.

"Now what?" Dinah looked at the other children. "We're in a real fix now."

"Well," said Philip, seeing that Lucy-Ann was really scared. "we'll get out of here. We just need to think."

"Well, I don't see how," said Dinah, her temper getting the better of her. "You're always so optimistic, Philip. Can't you see we're trapped in here?"

"Now, Dinah, calm down," began Jack.

Dinah turned on him. "Oh, and you're just as bad as Philip." Dinah sat down in a corner, a furious look on her face. Jack looked around the small storeroom. At least they had light, thanks to a couple of dim bulbs. Jack looked closely at the bulbs... and an idea began forming in his head. Something he'd read in an adventure book a few years ago. It probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a try.

"Philip, give me a leg up," said Jack, taking off his shirt. Philip looked startled, but he linked his hands together and helped Jack reach one of the bulbs. Jack had wrapped his shirt around his hand. He twisted one of the hot bulbs and it came free.

"Okay, Tufty, let me down," said Jack. He sat down on the hard floor of the cave and started working on the hot bulb with his Swiss army knife. After a few minutes he held up two short pieces of wire from the bulb's contacts.

Lucy-Ann and Dinah were puzzled. "What are you doing Jack?"

Philip grinned. "I think I know. Jack, you're going to try and pick the lock, aren't you?"

"Well, I don't know if it will work, but we have to try," said Jack. He went over to the door and then started to fiddle with the two short pieces of wire in the lock. He tried one way and then another, but nothing ever happened. After a while Jack was exhausted and frustrated. He give the wires to Philip. "Here Tufty, you try. I'm beat!"

As Philip was trying to pick the lock, the children heard a tremendous explosion and alarm bells started to ring. They heard men running and shouting. Whatever was happening out there in the hangar?

After another few minutes, Philip gave a low whoop and the children heard the door click. "Jack, it worked, it worked," said Philip excited. "Come on, let's get out of here."

But what a shock for the children! The explosion they had heard was an aeroplane at the entrance to the hangar. The entrance was completely blocked and men in firefighting equipment were attending the flames. The smoke in the hangar seemed to be drawn up into the roof and out of the cave.

"Golly, we can't get out that way," said Jack, dismayed. "It'll take ages for that fire to be put out, and even then there will be men everywhere. We're still trapped."

Continues tomorrow...

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