‘Are you a police officer as well?’ Kate asked.
‘No, no, well not really. I work for the Australian Government. I need to talk to you inside.’
A short time later they were in the kitchen with Mrs Warp, Gary Rhodes and, strangely, the gardener. Kate and Hector began to suspect that he was really a police officer as well.
Gary Rhodes explained that he had already seen Kate and Hector’s parents. He had news; there was an Australian assassin, known commonly as Sludge, on their trail.
‘We think he was in England on his way to you there, as he can’t travel on normal aircraft flights,’ said Gary.
In answer to Hector’s unspoken question, Gary produced a photograph of a short, stumpy man with a misshapen face and no hair.
‘He is too easy to identify, and far too large.’
‘He looks tiny,’ exclaimed Hector.
‘Yeah,’ replied Gary, ‘he looks tiny in the photograph. He is really six and a half feet tall, but very broad, which is why he looks small in pictures. He is incredibly tough, strong, tenacious...well terrifying actually.’
‘He looks like a troll,’ said Kate as she took the photograph from Hector.
‘Yes, and he’s about as bright as one. He grew up in Australia’s toughest institutions for young offenders, where he terrified the staff. He left aged thirteen when he stole a car belonging to the head of security. They were rather pleased, as he had taken to thumping holes in the walls and had began to experiment on the main beams supporting the building. He’s about thirty-two now, and has survived five shootings by various police forces around the world.’
‘What?’ exclaimed Kate, ‘He’s like a vampire; he can’t be killed.’
‘No, no,’ said Gary reassuringly, ‘He’s been lucky in part, but he is also very tough.’
‘If he is that large, and he looks like a camel’s bottom, why haven’t you caught him yet?’ asked Hector.
‘We have, several times,’ said Gary. ‘The police in Singapore caught him first. If you include the seven with life-threatening injuries, twenty-nine officers managed to wrestle him into a police van. Not the largest coppers, but very brave. They were exhausted, but then had to watch while Sludge just punched a hole in the side of the van and ran off.’
‘We, that is the Australians, caught him when he was foolish enough to catch a scheduled flight home on a fake passport. In fact, you might like to see the passport.’
A photocopied sheet was pushed towards Kate and Hector showing a lopsided figure with long hair and a frilly hat. The passport was in the name of Mrs Hemingway. Both Hector and Kate laughed.
‘Yeah, stupid wasn’t it,’ said Rhodes, ‘and Sludge is stupid most of the time, but don’t underestimate him. I tell you, Quantas don’t want to see Sludge again. We surrounded the plane with troops, all with machine guns. He came quietly, but broke out that night. The usual subtle approach, straight through the wall. Some idiot decided that Sludge would break a normal wooden bed, and so they gave him a steel, reinforced bed that he couldn’t break. Well, we happen to think that Sludge was strong enough to break that bed as well. He didn’t try to break it, however, not when a steel, reinforced bed makes such a good battering ram. The armed guards got there just as he broke through the wall. He threw the bed at them and then some of the rubble from the wall he’d just demolished. Some of the bricks he threw went so fast they took out part of the next wall. Sludge ran in among the guards, knocked them out, and for good measure, bent their guns.’
‘Clever,’ the gardener muttered in his thick accent.
‘Why is that clever?’ asked Kate.
Mrs Warp explained, ‘Well, by running in among the guards it made it difficult for them to shoot him. They could not shoot without possibly shooting one of their colleagues.’
Mrs Warp then turned to Gary Rhodes, ‘How close is he?’
‘He’s here. He got a small boat from England. The boat owner asked him to pull it onto the beach, but Sludge misunderstood and pulled it eighty metres inland. You can see his footprints. He stole a car and drove down across France. Sludge is a dreadful driver, and stole a different car after each of the six accidents he had. As far as we can tell, he’s been joined by a Chinese gentleman called Mr Tick. We think Mr Tick is supposed to increase the team’s average IQ, but adding a senile sheep would do that.’
Gary Rhodes did not stop for tea. It was as if he was eager to get away; aware that they were already doomed; reluctant to have the opportunity to get to know and possibly like them.
Tea was a somber affair. Kate had hidden behind a door and listened to Gary Rhodes briefing a senior French officer. He kept emphasising how fast and strong Sludge was. He was trying to impress upon the man just how many people Sludge had killed, and that while he was undoubtedly dim, he could be resourceful in a fight. The French officer, however, dismissed a good deal of what Gary Rhodes told him. The Frenchman was either well-prepared or surprisingly complacent.
Things turned ugly when Gary Rhodes suggested that there was a spy in the French police, and that not everybody in the French force could be trusted. Kate had eaten her tea in silence, trying to digest more than the iced buns.
Once alone with Hector, Kate explained everything she had heard. Hector, as usual, seemed quite unperturbed.
‘I expect we’ll have to fight Sludge,’ he said casually.
‘Hector, he’ll murder us in an instant. And, there is a spy. Someone on the French side could be helping Sludge.’
‘Yes, I think it’s Mrs Warp,’ said Hector, ‘She has a gun, some explosives and a box marked piano tuning kit in her handbag,’ He then added in his most casual tone, ‘I should think she was too closely watched last night, and tonight will be the night she does us in.’
‘Hector, how could you think that, she’s been really nice. She’s looked after us, and made nice meals, and just been nice,’ Kate trailed off.
Hector was looking smug. He was miming shooting and blowing up.
‘Oh no Hector, what are we going to do?’ Kate whimpered as a feeling of hopelessness engulfed her.
‘Nothing,’ said Hector, ‘I’ve already done it. I’ve nicked the bomb and the gun and hidden them under your bed.’
‘Why my bed?’ exclaimed Kate.
‘Well, I didn’t want the blame if they’re found,’ explained Hector, as if it was the most reasonable thing in the world.
Hector began to act rather strangely at bedtime. He cleaned his teeth and had a shower without an complaint.
‘You’re not a French boy pretending to be Hector are you?’ asked Kate.
‘You’ll see,’ replied Hector in an undertone.
After Mrs Warp left them Hector triumphantly revealed that he had managed to smuggle Bandit up to their room. He also had a spade and axe he had taken from somewhere downstairs. Kate sat on the floor, and she and Hector cuddled Bandit, who sat passively, but apparently happy, between them.
‘We’ll see Mum and Dad tomorrow,’ said Hector, and Kate smiled, feeling reassured for the first time.
‘I don’t want the excitement to stop.’ Hector confessed.
‘You just think we’ll survive and everything will turn out right,’ Kate observed.
‘Yep!’ said Hector.
They sat in silence for a while, before turning to a discussion of what to do tomorrow. Hector was convinced there would be hidden tunnels.