CHAPTER 20
Mandy was too exhausted even to scream. She collapsed against her captor, gasping for breath. He in his turn, clasped her tightly against his chest.
"Well, I never," said a familiar voice. "Mandy! So I was right when I found that map all marked up. You are all here - somewhere. Oh my dear, what a state you're in!"
Mandy managed to lift her head to see a well-known face. Derek's eyes, bright even in the darkness, looked into hers with deep concern, but Mandy was terrified. She tried to pull away from him, but he held her fast.
"Don't be silly!" said Derek. "Come on, sit down and get your breath."
He pulled her over to the low part of the tower wall, sat her on it and sat down beside her, supporting her against his side. Mandy had no choice but to stay there, leaning against him, until her breath came back. Gradually she realised that, it seemed, he was not intending to do her any harm and she relaxed.
After a few minutes, he asked,"Feeling better?"
Mandy nodded.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"Can I trust you?" Mandy managed to say.
"You can trust me."
"James and Rodney are shut in the secret passage and Mr Bates did it!" gasped Mandy all in a rush. "And I've got their car number!"
"Secret passage? Mr Bates? What's all this?"
Mandy found herself telling him the whole story, somewhat confusedly. Derek, however, appeared to understand at once. "And you say you have the car number?"
"Yes, in my pocket notebook." She produced it.
Derek released her, fetched a torch out of his pocket and read the notes. He smiled tautly to himself, produced a mobile phone from his pocket and keyed in a number.
"Rogers here!" snapped Derek as the phone quacked an answer. "Red alert! All available cars! Apprehend a Ford saloon number A389 JKL, last seen in the east Ravenshurst area. Two occupants - white - one short and dark, the other tall. Yes - I'm at Coldharbour Castle in the Abbey Wood - send two officers and a WPC. Yes - I've found the missing youngsters!"
Mandy stared at this new, unknown Derek. Who on earth was this, giving orders with such authority?
Derek put the phone back in his pocket. "Now," he said, "we must see about your unfortunate brother and his friend. Don't you think they have stewed down there long enough? Do you know how to open the door to the passage" - he shone the torch round on the tower walls - "because I cannot see any door anywhere now, can you?"
"It was to the left of that seat," said Mandy. "Yes, look, you can see the slab of stone they moved to get to the - well, button, I suppose - that worked the door. At least Mr Bates didn't replace that."
"Don't suppose he saw it. He was too busy, by the sound of things. OK, so now what?"
"Shine the torch on this stone. That's it, here. Now, James found some sort of marking on it, and pressed it with his foot."
Mandy took the torch from Derek and passed the beam back and forth over the stone. Finally she made out the pattern of two women and a star.
"Here we are," she said.
She tried stamping on the pattern, but nothing happened. After she had tried this twice, she was getting panicky.
"Here, let me!" said Derek, moving her out of the way. He sharply tapped the centre of the design with his heel, and to Mandy's relief the rusty noise was heard, and the darkness of the nearby wall grew darker as the door began to open.
Derek sighed in relief. "Right," he said. "So we go in here?"
"Yes," said Mandy weakly. "Do I have to go in?"
"No," said Derek. "You wait on the seat. The police will be here any minute. Can you hear the sirens now?"
Sure enough, there was the sound of police sirens on the night wind, drawing ever closer.
"Do they know the way?" asked Mandy shakily.
"Of course. Now I must go down here. We can't leave those poor boys any longer. You say the man said he hadn't shot them?" asked Derek almost as an afterthought.
"He said 'Wish I'd shot them'," quavered Mandy.
"Same thing. Now don't worry. Help is coming. See you!"
With this Derek pushed open the door, bent almost double and, shining his torch in front of him, vanished into the bowels of the earth, leaving Mandy shivering on the seat.
************************
"This prayer isn't working," said Rodney miserably. "It's as dark as ever. And Mandy isn't coming either. I expect they've got her, too. And I still can't breathe."
"I wish I hadn't got you into this," said James. "It's bad enough doing this to myself, without you and Mandy being killed as well."
He paused.
Then he said "I can't stand this much longer either. DAD! Oh, Dad, please help me!" he yelled.
"Hey!" shouted Rodney. "It has worked. I can see a light. Only faint, but a light."
"You're going mad," snapped James.
"No, look. It's getting brighter."
James was persuaded to look. He turned painfully to where he thought the door to the chamber might be, and sure enough a faint glow was showing.
"Don't say they're coming back to shoot us!" he whispered. "Keep quiet, Rod. It's probably them!"
"If it is, we can't move anyway, so what does it matter? Perhaps it's Mandy. Call her. No? Then I will. MANDY!!"
The light grew brighter, and resolved itself into the round glare of a torch in the doorway.
"So there you are!" said the owner of the torch. "My, what a predicament you're in!"
"Derek!" cried James. "I knew you were one of them! I suppose you've come to finish us off!"
Derek stood to his full height in the centre of the chamber, glad to stretch himself out after his cramped journey down the tunnel. "Sometimes, James Woods, I really wish I could!" he snarled. "You never listen to your mother - or to me. Now look what a mess you're in. Still, you may be relieved to hear that I've come to get you out of it."
He set his torch down on the floor and got down on his knees beside James. "They did a good job at tying you, didn't they?" he commented. "I think I shall have to cut this rope. Good job I've got a Swiss Army knife, isn't it?"
James flinched away from the knife, but Derek simply cut his bonds and lifted him to his feet, before going to concentrate on Rodney.
"There," he said. "You're free. Now get your muscles moving and let's get out of here. Once we're out in the fresh air you can tell me all about it."
When they emerged from the door in the wall, the small courtyard of the tower seemed to be crowded with people. Mandy emerged from the middle of them and threw her arms round James.
"James!" she cried. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm all right," said James sulkily. "But where were you when I needed you? Chicken, I suppose."
"That's enough of that!" announced Derek. "Deal with your accusations of each other later. For now, I shall ring your poor mother and tell her you are safe. Then I think we should all go to Manor Farm and get this sorted out."
He got out the mobile phone again and dialled Anita's number. She answered at once.
"I've rounded up your lost sheep!" he told her. "I'll bring them back later. No, don't worry, they're perfectly safe. Yes, please tell Mrs Omatola that Rodney's OK as well. Right? See you then."
While this was going on, James recognised the young detective constable he had met at the police station, with a woman police constable and a uniformed man.
"You got yourself in real trouble, didn't you, young man?" said the detective constable.
"I found the treasure and Mr Bates took it," said James. "But who is this Derek Rogers? Do you know who he is?"
"I think he should tell you that," said the detective.
"Right," said Derek. "Now I'll ring Manor Farm. I went there looking for you lot," he said to the boys and Mandy, "and I think the best thing is to go back there and get you tidied up and fed. I don't want to confront your mother with you as you are now."
"We can get some questioning done there, as well," said the detective. "We need to know all that happened."
