Dinah woke and looked at her watch. It was early in the morning, but dawn had broken, she could tell because she could see Bill peeking through the door at what was going on outside. She stretched stiffly. She had felt comfortable enough when she lay down to sleep but obviously the blankets weren't as soft as she'd thought. Bill turned round as the others began to stir. Dinah thought he looked tired. She wondered if he'd slept at all or had been awake on guard all night. After all, she thought, he hadn't had chance to rest since the car crash.

They all whispered softly as they awoke, checking that everyone was all right. Bill pulled out the bag of food that they had taken from the house and shared it out. They enjoyed a breakfast of bread and ginger biscuits.

"What's the plan, then?" asked Jack, feeling much better after his meal. Kiki gave a large hiccup as she finished her biscuit. "Pardon!" she said cheekily.

"We'll have to go and explore the aerodrome," said Bill. "I've been watching, there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity but we don't know how many people are here."

"Couldn't Big Charlie have left in the night?" asked Lucy-Ann.

Bill shook his head. "I was watching, his car is still parked outside the aerodrome. He's here."

They left the shed, locking it behind them after making sure they had left no trace of their being there. Lucy-Ann hung the key back on the hook on the side of the shed. Then they jogged over to a door Bill pointed out in the side of the huge building in front of them. Jack saw a runway over to his left, with a small plane parked on it. He couldn't see anyone about.

Philip opened the door, being the first one to reach it. They slipped inside. Bill looked around in all directions, taking in their surroundings. They were in a huge hangar, large enough to house several planes, but there was only one on the tarmac in front of them, another small plane like the one Jack had seen on the runway. A metal walkway ran around the room above their head, accessible by metal ladders positioned here and there. A few doorways indicated that there were further rooms up there. In the far corner of the room was what looked like an office, with a large window looking out over the hangar floor. The hangar was lit with dim lights, creating large shadows, but the office was brightly lit, and they could see two people moving inside.

"That looks like Big Charlie," said Bill grimly. "Come on, I want to see if we can hear what he says. Keep to the shadows."

"There's some oil drums over there," pointed out Philip. "Can we hide behind them?"

"Good idea," said Bill. "Quickly, come on." He led the way and they positioned themselves behind the oil drums. From this position they couldn't see the window of the office, but this meant that the people in the office couldn't see them either. However, the voices in the office were ringing out clearly, echoing slightly in the hangar.

"Here's the last lot, Darren," a gruff voice was saying, that the hidden people all recognised as Big Charlie. Jack pointed excitedly at the floor, and they realised that the shadows of the two people in the office were being cast on to the tarmac. They watched with bated breath, as Big Charlie's shadow held out a small bag.

"There's not much here," a new voice answered, not taking the bag.

"Yeah well, I had some problems," said Big Charlie, sounding annoyed. "I had to clear up quickly. Didn't have time to make any more than this. And it didn't turn out like I hoped. Listen, I need to get out of the country for a while."

"You want a plane?" Darren asked.

"Yeah, but not travelling with these." Big Charlie shook the bag he was holding, and there was a tinkling sound as some of its contents fell out onto the floor.

"Idiot," said Darren, making no effort to pick up the dropped items.

Big Charlie produced a gun and waved it. "You'll damn well help me," he said. "I've paid you well enough."

They heard Darren sigh and his shadow disappeared from view. No doubt he was picking up the dropped items, but he did not seem intimidated of Charlie. The people stood up again.

"Okay, well this lot are due out in an hour. I can get another pilot in to fly the second plane, but it'll cost ya."

"Whatever," said Charlie impatiently. "When can he leave?"

"Two hours I guess. If he's willing to do it."

"Call him," Charlie snapped.

The hidden eavesdroppers heard Darren dialling a number. "Rob," he said. "Flight in two hours mate? Overtime pay. Cool. Ok, your passenger will meet you by the plane in two. Inside, mate."

"Excellent," said Big Charlie, and it sounded as if he was smiling. "Let's go upstairs to the staff room and have us a drink."

"Nah, I gotta go," said Darren. He finally took the bag from Charlie. "Jimmy will have this in his plane when he leaves in an hour. You got people the other end waiting for it?"

Charlie nodded.

"Right then, I'll need some money."

Charlie pulled a large wad from his jacket and handed it over. "This do?" he asked. "And you don't tell anyone you've ever seen me, got it?" He waved the gun, just to make his point clear.

"Course, Charlie," said Darren, sounding affronted. "Wouldn't ever do that to you. Nice doing business with you, anyway. Good luck."

The door of the office was pulled open and Darren strode out. The watchers shrank back into the shadows more, holding their breath, but he didn't look round. Big Charlie followed shortly afterwards, climbing a ladder to the metal walkway above and disappearing into a door upstairs.

"Let's take a look at the office," Bill said. "Keep quiet now."

They went quickly into the office. Something crunched under Jack's foot. He bent down and picked it up. "A diamond!" he said in an awed voice.

"Yes," said Bill. "Just that single one is worth hundreds of pounds. Or it would be if it was real. Unfortunately it's counterfeit, Jack."

"Fake?" asked Jack. "And he had a whole bag of them!"

"He's had many bags full," said Bill with raised eyebrows. He was searching around the office. "We think he's making them somehow, and selling them abroad as real diamonds. Aha!"

He had moved aside a pile of paper and found a telephone. "At last! Keep a look out for me, Philip." He dialled a number and spoke urgently into the phone, turning away and speaking in such a low voice that the children couldn't hear what he was saying. They were all examining the fake diamond anyway. "It's so pretty," said Lucy-Ann.

"You can keep it if you like," said Bill with a grin, putting down the phone. "Well, we're saved! The team are getting ready right now. Only trouble is, they won't be here for about three hours. We're quite out in the middle of nowhere."

"But that means that Big Charlie will have left by then!" said Lucy-Ann, looking dismayed.

"Yes," mused Bill. "But I daren't try to confront him. Not with you here. He has a gun, as you know, and wouldn't hesitate to use it. Also, I don't know how many other people are around."

"We can't let him get away!" cried Philip. "Not now, after all this!"

"Don't worry, I don't intend to let him get away," said Bill seriously, looking at pieces of paper that were on the desk. "I need to think of something to do."

"We could get the diamonds!" said Jack excitedly. "We know Darren was going to put them in the plane outside."

"No," said Bill, and Jack's face fell. He liked the thought of stealing the diamonds from under Big Charlie's nose. "The diamonds aren't important, and it's not worth risking. Charlie's the one we want. Hey!" he exclaimed suddenly, making Lucy-Ann jump.

"What is it?" asked Jack, concerned.

"It's a piece of paper, listing the countries Charlie has been flying diamonds to. And his contacts there! This is amazing luck." Bill pocketed it, looking positively pleased with himself. "Right, what can we do? We must stop Charlie. Come on children, you are always good at ideas!"

Dinah had been looking round the office too. She opened a large cupboard and turned round eagerly. "Look!" she said. "A pilot's uniform! You could dress up as a pilot, and pretend to be Rob, and fly Charlie straight into the hands of the police! Oh," and her face fell, "but he knows what you look like."

"Yes," said Bill, frowning. "That's a shame, because it's a brilliant idea, Dinah. If only we could disguise me really well. But it's a real risk. I've done disguises before, as you've seen, but I had proper help then, to make a professional disguise. What do you think?" he asked, looking round at their faces.

"I'm not sure," said Dinah. "What if Big Charlie recognised you Bill? I think it's too risky."

"Couldn't we just slash the planes tyres or something?" asked Lucy-Ann. Bill laughed. "Have you ever seen an aeroplane's tyres Lucy-Ann? They are thick and strong, and it would be unlikely we would be able to slash them."

"Anyway they might have spares and be able to fix the plane up," said Philip.

"Yes, and if we did a thing like that they would know there were people around and come and look for us," said Bill.

"Right, that's decided then," said Jack.

"What's decided?" asked Lucy-Ann, puzzled.

"Wipe your feet," said Kiki.

"It's decided that discussing Bill to look like this Rob is the only option we have left. We will just have to make sure we do a good job, that's all," said Jack.

"I think you're right Jack," said Bill. "I'm willing to do it if you are willing to help disguise me."

"Of course we are," said Philip. "It's just lucky that Big Charlie doesn't know what Rob looks like."

"Right, I'll go and get into this uniform and you lot have a look around for things to help disguise me," said Bill, picking up the pilot's uniform. He opened a door at the other end of the office to find it was a small bathroom.

While Bill was getting changed the others hunted around the office looking for anything that would help disguise him.

"Hey, look what I found," said Jack. "Black shoe polish. We could use this to cover Bill's hair."

"You could also use it to give him big black eyebrows and a moustache," said Dinah with a little giggle.

"That's a great idea Dinah," said Philip. Lucy-Ann was rummaging through the desk drawers while Philip was searching a box underneath one of the chairs. Kiki kept saying, "dusty, fusty, musty" over and over, but no one took much notice of her.

"Dark glasses," said Lucy-Ann holding them up. "Bill could wear these, then his eyes wouldn't be seen, and aren't those meant to be the most distinguishing thing about a person's face?"

"Yes," said Philip taking the glasses. "Look, these are expensive sun glasses, lucky they have tinted frames." Just then Bill emerged from the bathroom, looking very smart in the pilot's uniform.

"Bill, what have you done? You look slightly different," said Dinah puzzled.

"I've had a shave," said Bill. "I was starting to grow a beard and I found a shaver in a little cabinet in there. Glad you think it makes me look different. What have you found in the way of disguises?"

"Well we thought we could put black shoe polish on your hair and eyebrows," said Philip.

"And maybe give you a moustache," said Lucy-Ann.

"Then there are these dark glasses you can wear," said Dinah.

"Sounds great," said Bill. "Okay, set to work. The sooner I'm ready the better."

"Lucy-Ann, you keep a look out for anyone coming, and we'll disguise Bill," said Jack. Bill sat down in a chair and Lucy-Ann stood by the door and peered out. Dinah and Jack started trying to cover Bill's hair with the shoe polish. Their hands soon got covered in the black polish and slowly Bill's hair started to turn from brown to black.

"It's a good thing this is liquid shoe polish," said Jack. "We would never have been able to cover your hair so well if it was kind out had to put on with a brush." Suddenly, a noise startled them all. They looked around, wondering what it could be. Then Bill relaxed. "Don't worry," he said. "That will be Jimmy leaving with the last batch of fake diamonds. That's one less person around here to worry about, at any rate." Now that Bill had pointed it out, they recognised the drone as that of a small aircraft taking off as the noise faded away.

"Silly Billy, Silly Billy," chimed in Kiki.

"Yes, thank you Kiki," said Bill. "I know I must look very silly." Philip was busy giving Bill bushy eyebrows and a moustache. Despite their situation they were all quite enjoying themselves.

"You will have to say you have just washed your hair, Bill," said Dinah when they had finished. "It looks all wet." Philip handed Bill the dark glasses and he put them on and stood up.

"How do I look Lucy-Ann?" he asked. Lucy-Ann turned around from the door and burst out laughing. The others had to shush her.

"Oh Bill, you look so funny," she said. "Not funny as in comical, you just look so different from you."

"That's good," said Bill. "There is a mirror in the bathroom, I'll just go and have a look at myself." He soon came back. "Well done everyone. Even I think I look quite different. Dinah, you've given my hair a different style, it's good."

"It will probably be quite dark too," said Jack. "So hopefully Big Charlie won't even recognise you."

"I'll also put on an accent I think," said Bill.

"Bill, I've just thought of something," said Philip looking worried. "Even if Big Charlie doesn't know who Rob is, there might be a co-pilot who probably does, what will you do when he doesn't recognise you?"

"Don't worry, I'd thought of that," said Bill. "I'll tell Big Charlie I'm Rob and I'll tell anyone else we see that I'm a friend of Robs, as he wasn't feeling too well and so asked me to step in for him."

"Oh okay," said Dinah. "I was worried then for a moment."

"I doubt there will be a co-pilot anyway," said Bill. "These people are trading in fake diamonds, they're not going to be bothered about following proper flight protocol. But if there is one, he will probably get a little suspicious when I try and land the plane in the wrong place. But I found some sleeping tablets in the bathroom, so I think I could offer this co-pilot a cup of coffee and add a couple of tablets to it when we are up in the air."

"Really Bill, you think of everything," said Lucy-Ann with a grin.

"How much time have we got until the real Rob is supposed to get here?" asked Jack.

"Gosh, only fifty minutes," said Bill startled. "We'd better get a move on. First I must telephone my team again and let them know where I am planning to land the plane so they can send another troop there to pick up Charlie. Then you lot must all hide. Then I must go and find Big Charlie and say I'm here early and so why not go." Bill picked up the telephone again and was barely on it two minutes before he hung up. "Everything's arranged," said Bill. "Now I want you lot to go back to that shed and hide. I've told me team where to find you, now go quickly."

"All right Bill," said Philip. "Good luck."

"Thanks," said Bill. "Here, take my clothes, I don't want to leave them here." He threw his clothes to Dinah and then they both parted and went their separate ways, each wishing the other luck.

"Is it all over now do you think?" asked Lucy-Ann as they all made their way cautiously back to the shed.

"Over?" said Philip. "It's only just beginning."

They unlocked the shed and went inside. Dinah found the food bag and handed round some biscuits. It was the last of the food. They sat down on blankets and looked at one another.

"I feel so tense," said Lucy-Ann.

"And me," said Jack. "It's so unlucky that there aren't any windows in this shed. I really want to see what's going on."

"Yes," agreed Philip. Then his face took on an expression of alarm. "Say, what if Big Charlie sees through Bill's disguise? Bill could be in trouble."

The others all sat up straight. "Big Charlie might shoot him!" cried Lucy-Ann.

"Pop goes the weasel," said Kiki. "One, two, three, GO!" Her noise like a starter pistol followed, and they all jumped.

"Kiki, honestly!" said Jack.

"Oh, I can't bear not to know!" said Philip. "If Big Charlie realises, he could do anything, and Rob will be along in half an hour or so, and they'll fly Bill off somewhere."

"We'd never find out where!" cried Lucy-Ann, who was getting quite upset.

"Wait, wait," said Jack, holding up his hands to tell everyone to calm down. "It's a good disguise, you said so yourself Lucy-Ann. I don't think that we need to worry, but just in case we could go and spy out the situation, and make sure that Bill pulls it off."

"Oh yes, let's," said Dinah. "I would feel so much happier then."

"Right, we need to be careful," said Philip.

Dinah snorted. "Don't state the obvious Philip. We're all quite aware of how serious the situation is."

Philip looked like he was about to retort, but he didn't. "Where shall we hide then?" he asked, deliberately not looking at Dinah.

"We'd better go and have a look," said Jack.

They headed back out of the shed, leaving it unlocked in case they had to rush back to it. "We could hide in these trees," said Dinah. "They overlook the hangar and the runway."

"But if anything happened inside the hangar, we wouldn't know," Jack said. "Do you think we can get back behind those oil drums where we hid before?"

"Too risky," said Philip, shaking his head. "We would have to cross the hangar, and Bill and Charlie could be anywhere."

"I'll just have a peek in the door then," said Jack. Philip frowned but didn't say anything. They all jogged over to the door that led into the hangar. Jack opened it the smallest crack and peered inside. He pulled away quickly. "They're crossing the hangar floor to the plane!" he said. "Nothing looks wrong, I think I heard Bill talking in a Yorkshire accent. I think he's okay. Come on, let's hide in the trees and watch the plane take off."

Before they could move, a loud screeching grating sound made them jump violently. "It's the hangar door rolling open," shouted Philip over the noise. "Quick!"

They ran to the cover of the trees near the shed. Looking back, Dinah saw that the large hangar door was half open. She could hear the drone of the aircraft's engine faintly in the background. So Bill had the plane started then. Good.

They looked quickly for suitable trees to climb. They were all used to climbing trees and got up into some sturdy branches without too much trouble, and settled themselves comfortably in places that allowed them a good view of the runway. "Hey, look!" cried Lucy-Ann suddenly. She was looking away from the hangar, and could see right to the bottom of Windy Top. A car could be seen at the bottom, heading up. "Bill's friends are here! Maybe he won't need to be the pilot after all!"

Jack looked at his watch and frowned. "It's too early. There's over an hour before they are due to be here."

Dinah gasped. "What if it's Rob? He's early! Bill won't have taken off!"

"You might be right," said Philip, looking worried. "Is there any way we can warn Bill?"

"Not without ruining his disguise," said Jack, thinking hard. "And I don't want to do that, Charlie is probably armed and we know he won't hesitate to shoot."

"But we've got to do something!"

"We'll have to distract Rob, head him off," said Philip. "He doesn't know who we are, does he? I doubt these men are as bad as Charlie and his gang, they just help him transport the diamonds. We'll just have to pretend we're lost."

"Who looked at the map in the car?" asked Jack.

"I did," said Dinah.

"Well, did you notice any villages around here, that we could pretend we came from?" Jack asked.

"Yes, I think there was one, called Ternwood," said Dinah slowly.

"Right, we come from there," said Jack, looking anxiously at the car that was fairly near by now. "We have to not let him get into the hangar until the plane has taken off."

"And we've lost our dog," suggested Philip. "He's young, and not trained to stay to heel yet."

"Good plan," said Jack, swinging himself out of the tree and running into the open. The car was just coming over the top of the hill. It stopped a short distance from the hangar as Jack ran almost into the side of it. Philip quickly ran to join him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jack was saying. Philip noticed in dismay that there were two men in the car. He hoped they could keep them both distracted, and that they wouldn't hear the faint drone of the plane running. "We've lost our dog," Jack explained to the men, who had got out of the car.

"He won't be around here," said one of the men shortly.

"Well, you see, we think he is, because he ran this way," Jack said, trying to smile and be friendly so as not to do anything to turn the men nasty.

"He's only young," put in Philip. "We're trying to train him, but he still doesn't understand about staying to heel."

"Where you from?" asked the man.

"Oh, the village just over the way," said Jack, indicating vaguely with his hand, and hoping he wasn't pointing in completely the wrong direction. "Ternwood."

"What kinda dog is he?" asked the second man. He was leaning against the side of the car, and didn't seem to be in any hurry, Philip noticed thankfully.

"A retriever," said Jack, just as Philip had been about to say terrier. He shut his mouth quickly and hoped that the men hadn't noticed.

"Hey, that a parrot?" said the first man suddenly.

"Pretty Polly, pretty Polly," said Kiki, raising her crest proudly. She felt that she hadn't been paid nearly enough attention recently.

"Well, would you look at that, Rob!" said the first man. "What an amazing thing. Did you have to train it to do that?"

"No, she just picks up words she likes the sound of," said Jack, scratching Kiki's feathers. "She likes rhyming words best. Kiki - dusty!"

"Dusty, musty, fusty," said Kiki, delighted at being asked to perform. "Dusty, musty, fusty!" Jack exchanged a glance with Philip as the men looked admiringly at Kiki. It seemed to be going well. If they could only keep the pair talking.

"Well, well!" laughed the men. Rob thought for a moment, then said, "door, floor."

"Wipe your feet and shut the door," cried Kiki.

The men laughed uproariously. "Good one, good one," laughed the first man. "What an amazing bird."

"Kiki, choo choo," said Jack, proud as usual of the praise Kiki attracted. Kiki swelled up her chest and let rip the deafening noise of an express train in a tunnel.

"Brilliant!" said Rob. "So, you've lost your dog? What's he called?"

"Silly Billy, silly Billy!" squawked Kiki.

"Bill?" said Rob slowly. Jack and Philip exchanged a panicked look.

"No, he's called Jasper," said Philip quickly, but the men had obviously heard the name Bill before, and weren't to be distracted.

Ron took a threatening step forward, his face no longer smiling, but just as the boys took a step backwards the drone that had been just on the verge of hearing suddenly became louder, and looking over their shoulders the boys saw the plane taxiing out of the hangar.

"Hey!" shouted Rob, and he and his friend ran off towards the tarmac.

"I hope he takes off straight away," said Jack anxiously. "Well done Kiki," he added, giving her a sunflower seed from his pocket.

Thankfully, Bill accelerated the plane forwards without hesitation, and the wheels had left the ground before Rob and his friend had reached the runway. Jack let out a sigh of relief. He looked over and saw Dinah and Lucy-Ann watching, and gave them a thumbs-up. They had obviously decided to stay out of the way while the boys seemed to be handling things.

Then the men turned back. Philip caught the look on Rob's face and it looked furious. "We'd better run," Philip suggested to Jack. "I think they've worked out something's amiss!"