Mort by Martin Chatterton Read Free Book Online Page A

thought, that her ‘magic’ was simply good fortune. Unlikely but possible.
    And now he came to think about it, the same could be applied to the death of the sabre-tooth. What if Khan’s spear had accidentally hit the animal? The witch had said Khan was ‘her hero’. Would she have said that if she had planned on Khan’s spear killing the tiger? And, if she was a witch, why did she need Khan’s spear to kill the tiger? Couldn’t she just have cast a spell on the beast?
    It made sense.
    Khan was on his way to Mort’s not-so-secret laboratory. That was the most likely place the boy would be. And if the woman wasn’t a witch, then these two were a dead weight.
    It would have been simple to kill them both but Khan was feeling generous. The woman had freed him from his collar, afterall. For that, and that alone, he was going to spare their lives.
    Two minutes later he came to an abrupt halt outside an open hatchway and motioned Trish and Nigel through into the ballroom. Khan walked across the vast floor and opened a small door set into the opposite wall, revealing a store cupboard crammed with brushes and various cleaning items.
    â€˜Are the children in here?’ asked Trish. ‘We do have a ferry to catch.’
    â€˜In. Now,’ said Khan, producing a length of rope from somewhere inside his tunic. He pushed Trish and Nigel inside. ‘Sit on floor and I tie you up.’
    â€˜Tie us up? Why are you going to tie us up?’ asked Trish. ‘I thought you were taking us to the children.’
    Khan shook his head. ‘Neg!’ He pointed to the floor. ‘I leave you here. My gift. You should be grateful.’
    â€˜Grateful?’ said Trish, hotly.
    â€˜Grateful I not kill you. Or is it you prefer to be killed?’
    â€˜We should do what he says,’ said Nigel, sitting down and holding out his hands. Khan pushed Trish to the floor and trussed the two of them up, back to back.

    Trish opened her mouth to say something else and Khan pushed a foul-smelling rag into it. Next he turned to Nigel and did the same to him.
    Then, without another word, Khan closed the door of the store cupboard and left.

Five minutes after leaving his headquarters, and with the light outside fading fast, a worried Sir David was about twenty metres from the ballroom when the door began to open. A grimy figure emerged.
    Sir David just had time to dart behind a thick curtain hanging by the side of a long window before Khan stepped from the ballroom and began walking in his direction. With a jolt, Sir David noticed that Khan was no longer wearing his shock collar.
    Sir David put his back to the wall andwaited. He was armed, but a collarless Khan was something to be avoided.
    Khan passed by and disappeared round a corner.
    Sir David waited another twenty seconds before checking the hallway and moving quickly to the ballroom. Once there, he put his ear against the door.
    Not a sound.
    The naturalist waited patiently. From Alaska to Zimbabwe, he had found that waiting often brought results. Several minutes ticked by.
    And then, from inside the ballroom, a noise. Just a faint rustling sound, no more.
    Sir David brought the heavy-duty tranquiliser gun up to shoulder height and silently placed the muzzle against the door. He pushed it slowly open and put his head around the frame, the lapels on his safari suit quivering with nervous tension.
    At one end of the long room a curtainmoved lazily in the breeze.
    Sir David moved into the ballroom and advanced towards the curtain. As he drew closer he could see that what was causing it to move was a gentle breeze blowing from an open ventilation hatch, the door of which swung gently on its hinges.
    It didn’t take a genius to realise that this was where Khan had come in.
    The big question was how far behind Khan was Smiler?
    Sir David thumbed the safety off the gun and approached the ventilation shaft. At the entrance he clicked the switch on