Artemis Fowl_ The Arctic Incident - Eoin Colfer [76]
Butler hurried down the corridor, catching up with the others outside the inner sanctum. He could see Artemis’s predicament through the door’s quartz pane. In spite of all his efforts, Master Artemis had still managed to place himself in mortal danger. How was a bodyguard supposed to do his job when his charge insisted on jumping into bear pits, so to speak?
Butler felt the testosterone building in his system. One door was all that separated him from Artemis. One little door, designed to withstand fairies with ray guns. He took several steps backwards.
Holly could tell what he was thinking. ‘Don’t bother. That door is reinforced.’
The manservant didn’t answer. He couldn’t. The real Butler was submerged beneath layers of adrenalin and brute force.
With a roar, Butler charged the entrance, concentrating all of his considerable might in the triangular point of his shoulder. It was a blow that would have felled a medium-sized hippopotamus. And while this door was tested for plasma dispersion and moderate physical resistance, it was certainly not Butler-proof. The metal portal crumpled like tin foil.
Butler’s momentum took him halfway across the inner sanctum’s rubber tiling. Holly and Root followed, pausing only to grab some Softnose lasers from the unconscious goblins.
Cudgeon moved fast, dragging Artemis upright. ‘Don’t move, any of you. Or I’ll kill the Mud Boy.’
Butler kept right on going. His last rational thought had been to disable Cudgeon. Now this was his sole aim in life. He raced forward, arms outstretched.
Holly dived desperately, latching on to Butler’s belt. He dragged her like a string of cans behind a wedding car.
‘Butler, stop,’ she grunted.
The bodyguard ignored her.
Holly hung on, digging in her heels. ‘Stop!’ she repeated, this time layering her voice with the mesmer.
Butler seemed to wake up. He shook the cave man from his system.
‘That’s right, Mud Man,’ said Cudgeon. ‘Listen to Captain Short. Surely we can work something out here.’
‘No deals, Briar,’ said Root. ‘It’s all over, so just put the Mud Boy down.’
Cudgeon cocked the Redboy. ‘I’ll put him down all right.’
This was Butler’s worst nightmare. His charge was in the hands of a psychopath with nothing to lose. And there was nothing he could do about it.
A phone rang.
‘I think it’s mine,’ said Artemis automatically.
Another ring. Definitely his mobile phone. Amazing the thing worked at all really, considering what it had been through. Artemis ripped open the case.
‘Yes?’
It was one of those frozen moments. Nobody knew what to expect.
Artemis tossed the handset at Opal Koboi. ‘It’s for you.’
The pixie swooped low to catch the tiny mobile phone. Cudgeon’s chest heaved. His body knew what was happening even if his brain hadn’t figured it out yet.
Opal placed the tiny speaker to her pointed ear.
‘– Really, Foaly,’ said Cudgeon’s voice. ‘Do you think I’d go to all this trouble to share power? Oh no. As soon as this charade is over, Miss Koboi will have a tragic accident. Perhaps several tragic accidents –’
All colour drained from Opal’s face. ‘You!’ she screeched.
‘It’s a trick!’ protested Cudgeon. ‘They’re trying to turn us against each other.’
But his eyes told the real story.
Pixies are feisty creatures, in spite of their size. They put up with so much and then explode. For Opal Koboi, it was explosion time. She manipulated the Hoverboy’s controls, dropping in a steep dive.
Cudgeon didn’t hesitate. He put two bursts into the chair, but the thick cushion protected its pilot.
Opal Koboi flew straight at her former partner. When the elf raised his arms to protect himself, Artemis slid to the floor. Briar Cudgeon was not so lucky. He became entangled in the Hoverboy’s safety rail and was borne aloft by the wildcat pixie. They whirled around the chamber ricocheting off several walls before crashing straight through the open plasma panel in the cannon Pipe
Unfortunately for Cudgeon, the plasma was now active. He had activated it himself. But this irony did not occur to him