CHAPTER 9 - HARVEY THE SECURITY GUARD
"An airplane?" I asked, listening harder. The humming seemed to grow louder, like it was getting closer. It came from over the other side of the trees.
"Come on," Zane said, hobbling as quick as he could to the trees. "Maybe we'll have a bit of luck after all."
I followed him and we began to make out way through the dense woods. We got maybe twenty feet when the humming grew so loud we couldn't hear eachother. Zane glancd at me, then looked up. The humming was getting increasingly louder by the second.
We kept moving. Zane was struggling to get over logs and around ditches, but he kept moving. Actually, he was faster than I was, and I only had a couple of cuts and bruises.
The ground beneath us began to shake a little, like it does when the thunder rumbles. The humming kept growing louder. The combination made me think of someone mowing their lawn during a small earthquake, but that wasn't it.
"Look!" Zane yelled at the top of his lungs, but I could barely hear him. I looked up and saw what had made the humming noise. And what had made the ground shake. It was a plane, flying just over top the trees.
We watched, frozen in place, as it flew away, the humming and shaking dying as it did so.
"That was flying really low," I said, turning to Zane.
"I bet you there's an airport on the other side of these trees."
We kept walking. I hoped beyond all hope that it was DQA's airport. I mean, sure, we could fly to South Africa on another plane, but what if they didn't have a flight for South Africa? What if we couldn't get tickets? No, it would be better to be at DQA's than anywhere else.
"Ow!"
I looked up at Zane. He was on the ground.
"What happened?" I asked, helping him up.
He growled. "Tripped over that stupid stick."
I turned my head to where he pointed. "Wait a minute," I siad, getting closer. Yes, there was a stick, but there was also a string. A trip-wire of some sort.
"Why would that be in the middle of the woods?" Zane questioned.
I looked around. "It wouldn't. Unless it were here to keep people out."
Zane fingered the wire. "But why would anybody want to do that?"
Unfortunately, we found out that answer the hard way.
"Go on," yelled a man from behind us. "Hands up!"
Zane and I stuck our hands in the air and turned around. The man with the gun was about six feet, a little shorter than Zane, had dark hair, a thick beard, and had a mean look on his face.
"What's your business here, son?" The man asked Zane.
Zane stuttered, "Uh - we - uh -"
"Well?" the man said angrily. Apparently, he was very impatient.
"We're lost," I explained. "We were looking for an airport. Our truck broke down (Okay, so technically, it didn't work anymore. Does it matter if I said broke down or crashed?) and we heard an airplane, so we followed the sound. Our flight leaves in..."
Zane glanced at his watch. "Thirty minutes," he said nervously.
The man eyed him suspiciously. "Yeah," he said finally. "There's an airport over there." He pointed behind himself. "We'll see if you got any business here."
He told us to move, so we went in the direction of the airport, the man following us with his gun pointed.
"We didn't do anything," Zane said as he walked.
"Shut up," the man said, smacking Zane with the barrel of his gun.
Zane and I walked forward (well, Zane hobbled.) for almost fifteen minutes before we got to a clearing. There it was, the airport, and we were heading straight towards it. There were several airplanes, and one gigantic building. The large blue letters on its front read: DOPPLEGANGER QUEST ADMINISTRATION AIRPORT.
"Hey," Zane said, pointing to the sign. "DQA! We're supposed to be here."
The mad urged him to walk toward the building. "That's what they all say," he growled.
Inside, the man directed us to a small room and told us to sit in the chairs. "I'm getting the boss," he said grumpily.
"Good," I yelled. "We want to see him."
The man left the room. Zane and I were, once again, alone.
"We want to see the boss?" he asked. "Are you crazy? Let's get out of here."
Zane moved toward the door, but I stopped him. "No."
"Payson."
"You heard what O'Bryan said." I pulled the letter out of my pocket. "Carl Abbott is in charge. I bet he's the boss. When he comes in, we'll give him this note, and he'll clear everything up."
Zane glanced at his watch. "Ten minutes. If we go now..."
"They'll catch us," I said sharply. "And then we'll never get to South Africa. Just - just wait a minute."
Okay so it took longer than a minute. It took five, and Zane was getting worried.
"He's not coming. The plane's going to leave."
"He'll be here," I said, sitting in my chair.
When the door finally opened, the gruff man with the gun walked in, followed by O'Bryan. Well, it wasn't O'Bryan, it was Carl. He smiled as he took a seat behind his desk. "Harvey here says he caught you two sneaking around on government property. I'll give you thirty seconds to explain."
Zane glanced at me. I yanked the note out on my pocket and handed it to him.
"What's this?" he asked, opening it.
"Read it," I told him.
Carl read the note and folded it back up. He had a grim expression on his face. "I'm terribly sorry, but that flight has just left."
Zane and I exchanged looks. "Oh, no, no, no." I said quickly. "I can't have left. Because we need to be on that flight."
He smiled. "I understand that you want to -"
"Need," Zane said sharply. "Need to go to South Africa."
Again, he smiled. "Yes, well I'm afraid there is nothing more I can do. That flight will not land until it reaches South Africa. You're to late."
Zane stood up, knocking over his chair in the process. "We're to late? We could have made it if you hadn't taken your sweet time getting here!"
"Zane," I said quietly.
"We would be on that flight if it weren't for you and your wonderful security guard, Harvey!"
"Zane."
"You don't understand! We need to be on that flight. We need to be in South Africa now."
"Zane." I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down. He glanced at me and his expression softened.
"I'm sorry," he said to Carl and Harvey. "But we need to be there. It's very important."
Carl held up the letter. "I know, but there isn't anthing I can do. Another flight leaves for South Africa tomorrow night, if you -"
"Tomorrow night?" Zane asked, his voice growing loud again. "I don't think you fully understand the gravity of this situation."
"Oh, I understand the gravity if this situation perfectly," he glanced at the note, "Mr. Taylor. Now, if you would like to be on that flight tomorrow, I can let you stay in one of our rooms here, but otherwise..." He pointed to the door. "Are we clear, Mr. Taylor?"
Zane sat back down and folded his arms. "Perfectly."
"Fantastic," Carl said, smiling. "Harvey will show you to your room."
