4 A sinister plot

Chapter Four A SINISTER PLOT "How are we going to find our way back to the Beagle?" Kiki asked. "The rainforest is amazing, but without the GPS on my camera, I don't have a clue where we are!" Ollie took out the map and compass he'd found in the Beagle's equipment locker. "Ever done orienteering before?" "Never," Kiki admitted.

"Then this is the perfect time to start!" Kiki watched Ollie take bearings with the compass and draw pencil lines on the map. "I'd say we're about… here," he said, pointing to where the lines met. "Wow!" said Kiki. "We've come a long way from the landing strip. I wonder what those buildings are?" They soon found out. As they hiked through the rainforest, Ollie caught sight of a row of tree trunks, all the same distance apart. That was strange. He beckoned Kiki over to where the oddly neat trees began.

"Oh, no!" he said, as he figured out what they were looking at. "It's a palm oil plantation—like Jamal told us about." Row upon row of oil palms stood lined up like soldiers ready for inspection. Ollie felt shocked to see how different it was from the rainforest. Only oil palms grew here, without any other plants. There was no diversity, and hardly any sign of animals. The word for that was monoculture. The rainforest had been a great, glorious mess, like a carnival bursting with life. There was something sad about these quiet, orderly rows of oil palm trees growing where the rainforest had once been. This must be why the animals they'd seen had had to be moved to the nature preserve. At the edge of the plantation, a row of bright yellow bulldozers had been parked,

facing outward. Kiki and Ollie headed over to get a closer look. That was when Ollie heard voices. "Get to cover, quick!" he hissed to Kiki. They hid behind the nearest bulldozer, crouching down next to its muddy caterpillar tracks. Two men and a woman came into view. The woman held a tablet. One of the men carried a clipboard, and the other a phone. He wore dark glasses and seemed to be the leader. He barked questions at the other two as they walked between the oil palms.

"And you're quite certain we will be ready to start by six o'clock tonight?" "Only one more set of papers to sign," said the clipboard man. "Get it done. Now, is the expansion zone clearly marked? Signs posted? I don't want the men cutting down the wrong trees. It would be all over the newspapers." "Taken care of," said the woman with the tablet. "Cheer up, boss. You're looking at a fifty percent increase in palm oil production. You'll be rich!" "I'm already rich," sneered the plantation boss. "And I'll celebrate when this project is

complete, not before!" Ollie and Kiki traded horrified glances. "They're going to cut down even more of the rainforest!" Ollie whispered. "And they're starting today!" "We can't let them do that," Kiki said. "We've got to stop them!" "Yes! But… how?" "This is going to take more than just us," Kiki said. "We need all of the Secret Explorers to help with this one." Ollie nodded in agreement. "Let's get back to the Beagle, and fast!" Luckily, the plantation boss and his two employees were starting to walk away from them in the other direction. At least we won't be spotted, Ollie thought. He took out the compass so he could find the route to the airstrip.