Hitch's phone buzzed as the next phone call arrived. He picked it up and took a look at the number. "Hey, it's Argyle!" he said, so he flicked the call button to the left and answered it. "Hello, Mr Starshine. Have you had a nice trip so far?"
"Got some important information for you," Argyle replied. "There's more clues relating to the Lost Engine. Somebody needs to head to Australia, and as I can't get back in contact with Izzy or her family that's going to be up to you and Misty."
Hitch sighed internally. "I'll check when the next flight is." He ended the call, then dialled Misty. "Hey, Misty?"
"Hi Hitch!" Misty replied. "Got any news from our friends?"
"It turns out we need to go to Australia for the next clue."
"Australia?"
"Yes, Australia. I'm currently looking at flights, and there'll all pretty long. Most have layovers- the one that stops at Singapore looks the most reasonable."
There was a pause over the phone. "That might be a bit of a problem. I'm a little afraid of flying. Partly because I've never done it before."
Hitch was silent for a moment. "It's not that different to travelling by train over a long distance. I'll be with you the entire time, so I can explain what it all is and how to get there. Do you have any paperwork required for flying?"
"Well, I did have a passport in case Opaline needed me to do anything overseas, but I can't remember if it's in date."
"I'll come over and take a look."
Back in Ireland, the Moonbows were having the same conversation, after Argyle had sent the translated document back to them. "Australia?" Aurora said. "It's very far!"
"It's a very long way indeed," Isaac said. "And I somehow doubt walking five hundred miles, followed by another five hundred on top of that, will get us there."
"Not even close," Izzy said, as she looked at a map. "We'll need to fly." She looked at anything relating to an airport. "Though we are in luck. There are flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Australian airports. Any suggestions as to where the clue should take us?"
Aurora looked closely at the document with her glasses on. "Well," she said, "the document contains a reference to Paraburdoo, which I've never heard of and I have no idea where it is."
Izzy did some googling. "It's a mining town in the Pilbara Region. The closest major airport is Perth, but even that's a long distance away from the settlement. We'll need another car."
Isaac glanced at the map himself. "Let's hope the parking tickets at the airport car park are cheap," he said. "We may otherwise find ourselves out of pocket and with a lack of a car. Alternatively, we could ask Goldie's family to foot the bill. Last I heard they were loaded."
"If that's all good, we can probably book?" Izzy said. "The internet seems stable around here, and the website for Quantas looks good. Plenty of things to do during the flight."
Back in Switzerland, the Glacier Express was slowing down a steep hill as it prepared to make a booked stop at Tiefencastel. The Starshines were momentarily distracted by the scenery, and were a little surprised when they saw and felt the train begin to slow down before the next stop.
"Are we booked to stop here?" Sunny asked, as she brought up the timetable on her phone. "This complimentary Wi-Fi is really handy."
Suddenly, as the train rolled to a halt, a person walked down the aisle and handed Argyle a message. His eyes widened in surprise as he read it.
Goldie noticed her husband's sudden shift in mood. "Argyle, is something wrong?"
Argyle turned the notice around so his wife and daughter could read it.
Trouble on its way.
You need to leave the train now.
There's a car in the car park with plenty of fuel. It's a Black BMW M3.
Sunny nodded. "Who gave you this?"
"I don't know, but we have to go," Argyle said, and stood up, heading for the door, followed by Goldie and Sunny gathering up their belongings.
As they were doing this, a group of figures in armour and carrying weapons stopped at the front of the train. The leader held his pistol to the driver and barked instructions at him, whilst the rest boarded the open the coaches and began to search.
The passengers were, understandably, terrified. They thought the train was being hijacked by terrrorists (and for all intents and purposes it basically was). These men swarmed the train, searching every inch of it for their targets.
A few moments later, a chopper touched down near the station, and Opaline got out. She and her guards strode over to the train. "Any sign of them?" she asked.
One of the soldiers walked back over. "No sign of them," he said. "They must have bailed earlier."
Suddenly, a black car tore out of the parking lot and down the road. This caught the troops by surprise.
"There's your answer," Opaline said. "Take the Humvees and chase them by road. I'll follow from the air." She smiled as she looked back to the helicopter that was touching down nearby. "I've been wanting to test our new Alligator for a while."
Little did she realise, but a locomotive had overheard the conversation, and made a fateful decision. "Befestige mich an diesen Ersatzwagen!" she said. ("Attach me to those spare coaches!") "Jemand ist in Gefahr, und er wird sehr nützlich sein!" ("Somebody is in danger, and they will be very useful!")
Argyle was driving down the road, strictly holding to the speed limit. He went into a tunnel, and as a BMW M3 does not have a funnel we cannot do the obvious joke. But when he emerged from the other side, he had a nasty surprise waiting for him.
A heavily armed gunship was waiting for them outside. It swung around and began to chase them.
"You really think I would let you run away, Sunny?" a voice mocked.
Sunny looked about in confusion, but the car radio seemed to be off. "Who just spoke?" she asked.
"I didn't hear anybody speak," Goldie said.
They had no time to say anything else as the chopper opened fire. Based on observation, the chopper had a front mounted gatling gun which allowed it to pepper the ground with lead. Argyle swerved back and forth across the road to avoid the firepower of the chopper, but was stunned when the bullets didn't go through.
In the chopper, Opaline growled. "They must have refitted the car with armour plating and bulletproof glass. Ready the missiles."
The gunner glanced over. "Ma'am, in these mountain valleys the missiles cannot lock the target. We'll have to dumb fire."
"Do what you need to," Opaline replied, as she flipped up the fire button.
The car raced into a tunnel, and Opaline swerved to avoid having to fly down it. For a brief moment she was flying sideways, and once they were at the other end of the tunnel they waited for the car.
The road and the railway run parallel around Landwasser viaduct, meaning two tunnel portals sit side by side. Argyle had settled on driving fast in order to avoid the firepower of the chopper, and was now speeding towards the end of the tunnel.
"It's a good thing there aren't any speed cameras on these roads!" Goldie joked.
"I think they'll understand given the circumstances," Argyle replied, as they approached the exit. The car popped out of the tunnel portal.
Opaline saw the car. "FIRE!"
The chopper unleashed a barrage of rockets at the road- only for a train to suddenly appear in front of them. Most of the rockets slammed into the train's coaches, which mercifully were empty, and avoided the car. Unfortunately, some also hit the bridge the train was travelling over. And it began to collapse.
The engine seemingly detached from the train as the bridge collapsed, the burning coaches falling with it into the ravine below. The chopper suddenly got a lock on the car.
Then there was a loud explosion.
Sunny looked up after hearing the explosion. To her surprise, it wasn't near them. Instead, flames were shooting out of the chopper and it was spinning out of control. "I don't think the chopper's a problem anymore!" she said.
Moments later, a jet aircraft flew nearby. The pilot gave them a thumbs up before pulling away. "Viper to Starshine. Threat eliminated. Good hunting."
Argyle, amazed this car had a radio, replied. "Uhh, thanks for saving our bacon, Viper. I owe you a lot of beers."
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm on duty right now," the pilot replied. "Good hunting, and best of luck."
Sunny noticed the aircraft's markings. "What's an RAF Tornado doing out here?"
None of them noticed Opaline and her copilot landing on a nearby landbank. "Should we call for backup?" the copilot asked.
"Obviously," Opaline replied. "Direct force didn't work. Time to try and more subtle approach."