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  CONSPIRACY 365

  BLACK OPS

  HUNTED

  GABRIELLE LORD

  To Alex

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  PREVIOUSLY…

  DAY 30: 61 days to go…

  DAY 31: 60 days to go…

  DAY 38: 53 days to go…

  DAY 39: 52 days to go…

  DAY 40: 51 days to go…

  DAY 45: 46 days to go…

  DAY 54: 37 days to go…

  DAY 56: 35 days to go…

  DAY 57: 34 days to go…

  DAY 59: 32 days to go…

  DAY 60: 31 days to go…

  Copyright

  PREVIOUSLY…

  DAY 1

  Ryan has disappeared, leaving a note saying he’s with new friends. I receive a strange text message showing a world map with a skull and crossbones and the words ‘90 days’ written on it. That night, I’m attacked on the street and knocked unconscious.

  DAY 2

  I’m subjected to a series of terrifying tests and discover that a secret government organisation, SI-6, want to recruit me to go on an undercover mission. I’ll be sent to a youth retreat on Shadow Island to check on a missing girl. I agree because they believe Ryan is also on the island.

  DAY 8

  SI-6 brief me on the natural dangers on the island and their suspicions that all may not be what it seems at the resort there.

  DAY 16

  After a few days of paraglider training at SI-6 and being delayed due to bad weather, I finally leave for Shadow Island. I make a terrifying night landing there.

  DAY 17

  I find Ryan and discover he has serious concerns about the island’s new leader, Damien Thoroughgood. I swap places with him and make contact with Sophie, the missing girl, who decides to help me in my mission to find out the truth about Shadow Island.

  DAY 23

  I try to blend in as ‘Ryan’ at the Paradise People Resort and work hard to impress Damien. As more and more things seem suspicious, my concerns continue to grow.

  DAY 28

  I’m training in the elite athletic squad, The Edge. I notice people are going missing and Sophie has also disappeared. I come across kids in the jungle and follow them into a secret bunker underneath a mountain and watch them training. I find a network of tunnels and caves, and steal a motorboat to visit the rocky outcrop where a prisoner is rumoured to be held. The rumour is true but the prisoner doesn’t remember who he is and someone arrives before I can try to free him. Back on shore, I receive a mysterious message about Sophie.

  DAY 29

  Ryan and I meet Zak and Ariel, runaways who have been living in the jungle. We work together to figure out what Damien is up to and where the missing kids might be. We try to rescue Sophie but our plan fails.

  DAY 30

  I sneak into Damien’s office, steal a key and finally free Sophie. Back in the jungle, we’re spied on by a robot python. Ryan manages to obtain a master key so I can get back into Damien’s office to download secret information from his computer. But I see Damien returning before I’m finished, dragging Ryan with him. I’m trapped with no way to avoid coming face to face with Ryan and revealing my presence on the island to Damien.

  DAY 30

  61 days to go…

  Damien Thoroughgood’s Office

  8:16 pm

  I hurled myself away from the desk as footsteps clanged on the metal stairs outside. In my panic, I knocked over a statue next to the keyboard, and just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did. The statue must have hit a hot key, activating an alarm. Flashing red lights and a deafening siren screamed through the building. A running banner of green lights on the wall opposite the desk flashed a message:

  Escape hatch? Where? Frantically, I looked around the room.

  It was so discreet, I almost missed it. A small square hatch had popped open low down in the wall behind the desk. Outside the office, the noises on the staircase grew louder as Ryan was hauled up to Damien’s office—right where I stood, frantic to escape before our double act was uncovered!

  The hatch was already closing.

  This was my only chance.

  I dived through as the hatch closed, the door catching one of my feet. With a swift tug, I freed myself and the hatch clicked tight behind me.

  I was in a tiny crawl space. Maybe I could hide in this little hole until it was safe to come out again. Beyond the wall, footsteps thudded past me into the office. I could barely hear their voices over the screaming siren.

  ‘Shut that noise off!’ I heard someone yell, and almost immediately the siren stopped. Now I could hear the conversation in the adjoining room clearly.

  ‘What’s going on?’ bellowed Damien.

  ‘Someone set off the alarm,’ a voice said.

  ‘You!’ Damien yelled, obviously at my brother. ‘Sit there and don’t move. I’ll deal with you in a moment.’ I imagined Ryan sitting as he was ordered, probably wondering where I was, with no idea that I was hiding on the other side of the wall, less than a metre away from him.

  ‘It’s a false alarm,’ said Damien after a pause. ‘This statue fell over on my desk. It must have triggered it.’

  I breathed a sigh of relief. The green lights of the escape hatch signal must have also turned off. I hoped that no-one would think of checking behind the escape hatch, where I crouched, listening through the wall.

  ‘Ryan, I want some answers from you. What were you doing up there in the rainforest?’ Damien asked.

  ‘I saw a snake,’ said Ryan. ‘It was hanging around near the beach, where we pull up the kayaks. I was chasing it away further up into the jungle and I kind of got lost.’

  ‘Is that the truth? Or were you helping the runaways?’ Damien said suspiciously.

  ‘No, sir. I don’t know what you mean. I was just worried about the snake scaring some of the younger kids,’ said Ryan quietly.

  ‘Ryan, I’m very disappointed in you. I really thought you had the makings of an outstanding, elite athlete and a member of the top team. But I’m having second thoughts about your attitude. Take him to your office, Hamish. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not Ryan deserves to be at the next level.’

  ‘Please,’ begged Ryan. ‘Ever since I joined The Edge, it’s been my dream to get to the top level, so I can try out the awesome rock climbing and jungle adventuring I keep hearing such amazing things about.’

  I heard the sound of chairs being pushed back and footsteps moving away. Their voices faded as the door slammed shut behind them, while Ryan continued to protest his innocence down the corridor.

  The office was now empty. I hoped Ryan would be alright. If Ryan made the Zenith team—the final level of training, where kids were admitted to the exclusive and secret arena inside the mountain—then maybe I could learn more about what was going on. But I didn’t want him to do that if it meant risking his own safety.

  I promised myself that I’d come back to check on Ryan as soon as I could. But first I had to get out of the mess I was in right now. How was I going to get out of the office and escape undetected? I couldn’t risk ‘Ryan’ reappearing in Damien’s office. Not now.

  In the uncomfortably cramped space, I noticed three dim lights on the wall near my elbow. I looked closer. Each light had a label on it and it dawned on me then that the escape hatch wasn’t just a hidey-hole in the wall—it was a lift! I studied the labels for a moment—G and 1 were easy enough to understand—they were the ground floor below and the first floor at Damien’s office. So B must be for basement? If I didn’t want to run the risk of using the main stairs, I’d have to give it a shot. I pressed B.

  There was a slight jolt and then I was desce
nding with a soft hum. Within a few moments, the lift stopped and one of its sides slid open. I peered out. I was in a dim, underground space, partly filled with what looked like cartons of supplies. Cautiously, I climbed out and straightened up, rubbing my back and taking in my surroundings. I poked around in a few boxes, wondering if there might be food, but it was all paper and equipment.

  There was a dark corridor leading off into impenetrable blackness. It reminded me of being inside the mountain, behind the secret entrance in the jungle. All was still and silent. I looked around for CCTV cameras but there weren’t any. With the light from my phone, I started to make my way down the dark corridor. Was I walking into a trap? Was someone expecting me after the alarm had tripped? I didn’t have much choice. I kept following the tunnel between the thick rock walls.

  Unknown Tunnel System

  8:44 pm

  As I walked in further, a deep rumble from the depths of the earth growled through the tunnel, and a second later, the ground shivered underneath my feet. Then the jolting stopped as suddenly as it had started. I waited a moment but nothing more came. I kept going, deeper and deeper into the darkness.

  It didn’t take me long to start wondering if this underground hide-out was connected to the mountain lair where I’d seen the Zenith team training and the secret harbour that led out to the ocean. It seemed as if the whole of Shadow Island was riddled with tunnels—some natural, others obviously man-made, hewn from the rock.

  I discovered some of these tunnels were short and led only to dead ends. I found one huge storeroom filled with military-looking equipment in crates and under tarpaulins. On the side of one crate was some lettering. I wasn’t sure what it meant, so I took a photo and made a mental note to send it to Boges when I was back above ground.

  The tunnel I was walking through had a derelict, unused look to it—which suited me just fine. I had no desire to meet anyone else. Just as I approached the entrance to a larger tunnel, the light of my phone suddenly failed. I was plunged into midnight blackness. Fumbling in the dark, I pressed all the buttons I could find, but it was dead. Great.

  I leaned against a hard wall and tried to think. I was completely lost in a labyrinth of crisscrossing tunnels, and I couldn’t see a thing. I’d have to feel my way through. But through to where?

  Slowly, I started feeling along the rough surface, hoping to find the entrance to the wider tunnel I’d spotted just before the light went out. Shuffling along, my hands patting forwards along the walls, I found myself patting air. This must be it! I followed the curved sides along for a while then came to another corner. I turned with it and kept going.

  9:32 pm

  It was hot and humid in the tunnels, and I pulled off my hoodie, tying the sleeves around my waist. I stumbled along in the pitch darkness, feeling my way like some kind of underground caterpillar. I thought I could hear a faint humming sound in the distance and aimed for it. I hoped it would give me some clues as to where I was in the underground maze.

  Soon, the humming seemed closer. I moved towards it. My foot struck something and I was jerked forwards, banging my head against something solid. I started running my hands over it. It’s a vehicle of some sort, I thought, as I patted around in the dark, my hands moving over huge, fat wheels. They were attached to some steps and a platform, with some kind of roll bar running all round and what felt like an open cabin.

  I climbed onto the platform above the wheels and groped around, trying to interpret the strange vehicle through my hands. It was very big. There was a dashboard at what I presumed was the front of the machine. I ran my fingers over it, trying to get a sense of what kind of vehicle I’d blundered into. As I did so, I must have knocked a switch because a blinding light came on and I was jolted forwards.

  What was happening? Another earth tremor?

  This wasn’t an earth tremor. In a flash I realised I had somehow activated this heavy mining machine. It reminded me a little of the Mars rover, only ten times bigger! There was a blazing light shining down from the top of its cabin, a massive drum-like circular cutting blade at the front and a monitor mounted on the dashboard. I peered at the screen. It showed the wall the machine was heading straight for!

  Pixels on the screen twinkled, as if sections of the rock face were moving. How can a rock face move? But I had no more time to wonder about that. If I couldn’t stop the vehicle, it would crash straight into the wall.

  I frantically pushed buttons on the console, but the rover rumbled angrily and insistently towards the solid rock face. I gave up any chance of controlling it and was about to jump off when the rover suddenly stopped—only centimetres from the rock face. I must have gotten lucky with one of the buttons, I thought with relief.

  I climbed down, and by the light shining from the front of the vehicle, I investigated my surroundings. To the side of the rover, a steel door with a small window at head height caught my attention. What lay behind it seemed to be the source of the humming I’d heard earlier. As I approached it, the small window lit up. My movements had triggered an automatic light inside. It revealed a very well-equipped laboratory, where automated scientific equipment moved through their processing cycles.

  Other movement caught my eye and I saw a number of transparent sea creatures pulsing away in a row of fluid-filled containers stretching along the side bench. I wondered if they were Irukandji jellyfish, captured by Damien in order to study them. What was going on in this underground lab? Shadow Island was harbouring more secrets than I could have imagined.

  As I stepped back, the lights went out inside the laboratory. At my approach, the lights flashed on again and I tried the door handle, but it was locked. I took another look inside. There were benches and sinks, Bunsen burners, several fume cupboards and a scattering of scientific glass bottles and test tubes lying around. Someone had been here recently. I jumped when I realised I still had the master key, safely zipped up in my hoodie pocket. I pulled it out and tried it in the lock.

  Secret Laboratory

  9:40 pm

  Slowly, the door opened and I stepped inside. I went over to the sea creatures. They didn’t look like Irukandji. I’d never seen anything like these before—they were about three centimetres wide, shaped like miniature stingrays, gently moving through the water. I turned to the long, central island bench, where dozens of small cubes with rounded corners made an untidy heap almost along its whole length. They looked like kids’ building blocks. Did scientists play with blocks? But then I saw that these were no ordinary blocks. Tiny lights winked on some of them while others had small symmetrical openings in them, like the narrow slits of a power point.

  I cursed my phone for giving up right at the worst time. I felt sure Boges would know what these blocks were for, but I couldn’t send him a photo. Pinned on a board above one of the long benches running around the laboratory was a map of the world.

  There were lengths of string stretched across the map. There were also five red pins, each with a small handwritten symbol next to it. I frowned, trying to make sense of it. The pins were stuck into well-known capital cities—there was one in New York, others in London, Frankfurt, Johannesburg and the last one in Hong Kong. Maybe they were airline routes, I thought.

  I stretched up to see what was written next to the nearest pin. It was Johannesburg and I could just make out a letter and a number: Z3. I couldn’t see the others unless I climbed up on the bench and I didn’t want to risk doing that. Z3—Johannesburg. I wondered what that might mean.

  9:50 pm

  I turned my attention to the five very large backpacks, more like military rucksacks, standing in a row on the floor under the map. I peered inside the first one and poked around cautiously at its contents. At the top, I could see a pair of overalls, some tools in a wraparound holder, what looked like food rations and a small packet of sterile gloves. Daring to reach further inside, I could see there was a large, sealed envelope with serrated security tape across it and the words: ‘Do Not Open Until Command’. Huh?


  I kept searching and saw ropes, protein packs and tablets. ‘Decontamination,’ I read aloud. ‘Allow to dissolve in water before drinking’. In a side pocket, I spotted the edge of a passport. I pulled it out and opened it—Georgia Montgomery; DOB 14.10.96.

  If this was Georgia Montgomery’s rucksack, where was Georgia Montgomery? Was she one of the missing people?

  Quickly, I checked the other four rucksacks. They were identical—filled with rations, tools, water decontamination tablets, overalls, and each with a sealed envelope and passport. I reached in to have a look at another passport, but something made me freeze. I could have sworn I heard voices coming along the tunnel. I strained to hear. Was it just my imagination working overtime? I was spooked now.

  Hastily, I stole to the doorway and listened hard, all the while looking at the rucksacks. Where were their owners? What was in the sealed envelopes? Perhaps the Zenith team were going to do some survival field practice? But they wouldn’t need passports for that. Shadow Island offered all sorts of challenges to survival already.

  When I was convinced that no-one was coming, I turned my attention back to the lab, and started pulling open a few cupboards. I found more lab equipment, but inside one cupboard, another smaller glass-fronted cupboard had been installed. The key dangled temptingly in its lock. Cautiously, I turned the key and opened it. Inside was a small metal box. I lifted out the box and eased open the lid. On the underside, the words ‘Biosurge—caution—use only under medical supervision’ were written in bold red letters.