LONGMAN ORIGINALS Stage Two
Series editor: Robert O'Neill
PROJECT)
|- OMEGA-|
Elaine O’Reilly
Dlustrations by Mike Brownlow
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Longman ceLongman Group UK Limited,
Longman House, Burnt Mill, Harlow,
Essex CM20 2jE, England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
@ Longman Group UK Limited 1992
All rights reserved; no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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without the prior weitten permission of the Publishers.
First published 1991
Third impression 1993
Set in 12/14pt Melior, Adobe /Linotype (postscript}
Produced by Longman Singapore Publishers Pte Ltd
Printed in Singapore
ISBN 0 582 06451 1Proj. utr, Meiduh GEZICI
S.U. Veteriner Fakiltesi
CHAPTER ONE 42075 Kampils - KONYA
A millionaire disappears
Charles Hatfield Baker III was a very rich
man. There wasn’t a richer man in all! of
New York City. He was the head of a
large number of important companies. He
had and and buildings and houses in the
country. He had boats and horses and an
aeroplane. But he was a simple man. He
liked the simple things of life: a good cup
of coffee, a kiss from a pretty girl, a walk through the
park on a fine autumn day.
He had all these things on this Wednesday morning.
He drank two cups of very good Italian coffee for
breakfast. His daughter, Julia, kissed him goodbye.
“Have a nice day, daddy,” she said. And he left his
apartment to walk to his office. He always walked
through Central Park to his office on Columbus Avenue.
He took the elevator down forty floors to the street door.
“Good morning, Mr Baker,” said Angelo the doorman.
“Have a good day,”
“Thank you, Angelo. You too,” he answered. “See you
this evening.”
But Angelo didn’t see him that evening. In fact, he
never saw him again. Because Mr Baker never arrived at
his office. Between the south-east entrance to Central
Park and the offices of Hatfield International
Investments, Charles Hatfield Baker III simply
disappeared.val
The police tried to find him. They looked for him in
every corner of the park. They moved every stone and
every brown and yellow leaf, but there was nothing.
They couldn't find anything. They gave three big police 9°
dogs his old blue sweater. The dogs smelled it once or
twice, then they raced across the street to Central Park.But inside the entrance, they stopped. They ran up and
down, up and down, this way and that way. Again,
nothing.
Detectives went to the airports, to the train stations, to
the bus stations. They showed photographs. “Have you
seen this man? A tall man with white hair. He was
probably wearing an expensive grey suit. Did he come
through here last Wednesday or Thursday?”
“No,” they all said. “I don’t remember a man like that.”
The detectives asked Julia, the grey men at the office,
the secretaries and the doormen the same questions again
and again: “Where do you think Mr Baker is? Why did he
isappear? Perhaps he wanted to disappear! Why?”
The answer was always the same: “I don’t know. I don’t
understand. I can’t explain it.”
There were telephone calls between the United States
FBI and Scotland Yard. In the end, they all said the same
thing: “Kidnappers! That must be it! He’s a very rich
man, you know. They've kidnapped him to get money.”
They waited and waited. They expected a message or a
letter or a telephone call.
“The kidnappers will probably ask for millions of
collars,” they said.
Nothing came. Not a word.
The newspapers were ready to pay $10,000 for
information.
Nothing happened.
Julia sat near the telephone all day and all night. She
never went out. She didn’t cry: she wasn’t that kind of
person. But she grew thinner, and her eyes were red
because she needled sleep. She loved her father very
dearly. In her heart, she knew that he was alive.
“Is his disappearance a message to me?” she thought.
“But what does it mean? What is he trying to tell me?”CHAPTER TWO
Julia takes charge
For days, and then weeks, Julia hoped for
news. But there was no news of Charles
Hatfield Baker II. After a time the
newspapers were tired of the
disappearance story. Their reporters
wrote about other things. The police
stopped asking questions.
The weeks passed. The months came
and went. Julia saw the first snow of winter through the
windows of the twelve-room apartment that she called
home. In one hour Manhattan was white with snow —
white and quiet like a mountain village.
“But it’s New York,” she thought. “It’s not usually
quiet like this. I know New York. It’s my home. ’m
eighteen, and I’ve lived here all my life.”
Julia’s life was like the lives of other rich men’s
daughters. She could read and write, and dance, and
play a little Chopin on the piano. She spent money in
the best stores, and she ate chocolate cake in expensive
cafés. She travelled through the city streets in shiny
bullet-proof cars.
She knew nothing about the real New York, and she
knew less than nothing about the people who lived in
it.
She moved from the window to the big mirror beside
it. The mirror showed her a tall girl with dark hair andgreen eyes. The face was good-looking but not pretty: it
was too strong to be pretty.
“Look,” she said to the Julia in the mirror. “You know
your father isn’t coming back. Why are you sitting here
and waiting? Who’s going to help you? Grow up! Take
charge of things! I think that’s his message. You are
Julia Ann Hatfield Baker — the first!”
She put on her coat, her hat, her boots, and went out —
in clothes that cost thousands of dollars.
For the next three hours, Julia travelled through those
streets of New York that she didn’t know. She didn’t go
in any of the shiny bullet-proof cars that belonged to her
father, She took taxis, and she walked. She looked at
buildings, and she looked at people. She looked into
windows, and she saw people in their cold rooms — ,
people who didn’t have enough food on the table for
their evening meal. She looked at women in the streets.
Their faces told her about hungry children in their
homes. She looked at men — men without a job and
without hope. :
She saw all this, and she slowly understood.
“t know now,” she thought. “I know some of the
things that I must do with my father’s money.”
Next morning, she arrived at the offices of Hatfield
International Investments at exactly nine o’clock.
“T want to see the directors of the company in the
boardroom at ten o’clock,” she said to Miss Bentley, her
father’s secretary.
At ten, she looked at the five grey men around the
shiny boardroom table.
“I know these men,” she thought. “I probably pulled
their noses when I was a baby. I danced with them at
Christmas when I was a little girl. Yes, | know them. Or
do I? Perhaps they think they know me. They're going
to be surprised.”rer ————————
es
10
She looked around at them again. Their faces told her
nothing.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” she said. “Gentlemen,
you're probably surprised because T’ve asked you to
come here.”
Yes, they agreed, they were surprised — very surprised.
“1 think you know that 55 per cent of all Hatfield
International shares are mine.”
Yes, they knew. But they weren’t very happy to say so.
“Well, T want to make some changes. But first | would
like to see all the company accounts. { want to look at
all the books, the accounts of money coming in and
money going out. I want to see the files about all our
investments, and, very important, about our plans for
the future.”
The eyes of the grey men met.
Then, slowly, they pushed buttons and spoke to
secretaries and accountants.
“Miss Baker would like to see all our accounts.”
“But why?” they all wanted to know. “What changes
does she want? Why does she want to know our plans
for the future? What does she know about business?”CHAPTER THREE
Power
For two days, Julia looked at long lists of
figures and read long reports. The figures
were in thousands and millions, and the
reports were heavy and full of facts.
Julia learnt a lot. She learnt that
Hatfield International owned great parts
of the world: cattle ranches in Texas,
sheep farms in Australia, diamond mines
in Africa, oil wells in the Arctic, pine forests in
Canada... She learnt that Hatfield International had very
great power ~ almost unbelievable power. .
“This power,” she thought, “is enough to turn great
deserts into rich farmlands. It’s enough to make
wonderful changes in people’s lives, enough to give
them machines to work the land, enough to give them
hospitals, schools, teachers.”
But she saw, too, that Hatfield International had the
power to do other things — wrong things. And
sometimes they used this power to get more power.
This was the great company that her great-grandfather,
her father’s grandfather, started.
“And now I have to take charge of ali this,” Julia
thought.
Julia’s mother died when Julia was only a baby. She
didn’t remember her, but she knew from old
photographs that she had her mother’s dark hair and
green eyes.
Dr. Memduh GEZICI
i .0. Veteriner Fakiliesi
42075 Kampiis - KONYAShe had her father’s wonderful head for business. Julia
understood money. Some people understand art, or
music, or plants. These things are simple for them. For |
Julia, money was simple. She spent two days with the
accounts and reports of Hatfield International, and they
taught her a lot. They were two very interesting days for . '
her.
Outside, winter held New York, and the air grew
colder and colder. Inside the Hatfield building, Julia sat
and read — words and figures, words and figures. People
came and went, but she saw only the papers in front of
her.
Late in the afternoon of the second day, she came to
the last file on the table. It was a red file, The covers of
the files were of different colours. Red files were all
about future plans — projects for the future.
On the cover of this red file Julia read: project OMEGA.
Julia opened it. It was empty. But on the inside of the
cover, in the left-hand corner, there was one word:
‘Never!’
It was her father’s writing. She pushed a button and
put the telephone to her ear. After a moment, a voice
answered. Julia said, “Miss Bentley?”
“Miss Bentley has gone home. They’ve all gone. Can I
help you?” it was a girl’s voice.
“1m looking for the papers about Project Omega.”
For a few seconds the girl’s voice said nothing. Then:
“I - I’m sorry —I don’t know anything about it.”
It wasn’t true. It was clear to Julia that the girl was
lying. She was afraid of something.
Julia put down the telephone. She walked along to
Miss Bentley’s office.
A girl was still standing near the telephone there. She
was about Julia’s age, small and pretty. Julia could see
that she was frightened.
12“T want to see the papers about Project Omega,” Julia
said.
“?’m sorry, Miss Baker. I don’t know anything about
it — really I don’t.”
Julia read something in the girl's frightened eyes. And
she heard more than the words when the girl spoke.
There was something in the eyes and in the voice — in
the breaks between the words. Was it the beginning of
her father’s message to her? She still didn’t understand
it, but she began to see that there was a connection
between his disappearance and Project Omega.
“But what is the connection?” she thought. “Am I
building too much on the word ‘Never!’ and the eyes
and voice of a frightened girl? - No! There is a
connection.”
1415
CHAPTER FOUR
Danger
Julia stood and looked at the girl.
Suddenly she felt very tired.
“Tt doesn’t matter,” she said. She was
sorry for the unhappy — and clearly
frightened — girl. “Those papers probably
belong to an old file. I’m sorry if 1 -”
“Is something wrong, Julia?” It was Mr |
Berger. He was one of the grey men, a
director of her father’s company — one of his partners.
“Did I hear you say ‘Project Omega’?”
Julia turned. “How long has he been here — in this
room?” she thought.
“Yes, Mr Berger. I said | wanted to see the papers from
the Project Omega file.”
“Did you really, Julia?” He laughed — a false laugh,
Julia thought. He had a smile like a kind uncle — like
Father Christmas ~ but his eyes were cold. He said,
“Why are you worrying about Hatfield’s problems, my
dear? You shouldn’t let them enter your pretty head. Do
you need money? Just ask, and you can have all the |
money you want, Why not? You’re Charlie Baker’s |
daughter.”
Julia was so angry that she could only be polite with
difficulty.
“I’m not only Charles Baker’s daughter, Mr Berger. I
own 55 per cent of all Hatfield International shares.
And now I must tell you: I want to see those papers!”“But of course, my dear.” He turned to the girl and
said, “Miss Harper, please get the papers that Miss
Baker wants to see. They’re in the safe.”
Miss Harper said nothing, but she went to one wall of
the office. There was a large picture there of Julia’s
great-grandfather. Miss Harper moved the picture.
Behind it, there was a small, very strong metal door. Her
lips moved to shape the numbers, and her fingers
turned a small wheel on the door. The safe opened.
“Here you are, Miss Baker,” she said. She didn’t look
at Julia, but turned back to close the safe and move the
picture back.
Julia took the papers, put them in her briefcase, and
left the office. The door of the elevator was closing
when she heard Mr Berger’s voice. He was beginning to
shout at Miss Harper.
She went home in a taxi.
The apartment was warm and quiet. She sat down in
her father’s favourite chair, and opened her briefcase.
“No,” she thought. “I must have some food first.”
She put the file on the floor and went into the kitchen.
She expected to find a meal ready there, and she saw it
ona tray on the kitchen table. Usually she didn’t eat
very much, but tonight she was hungry. There was a
nice-looking soup, some chicken, a fruit salad. She
tasted the soup. It was cold, of course, but very good.
And it was her first real food for almost two days.
She didn’t carry the tray into the living room, but sat
down at the kitchen table. She finished the soup, and
she was starting on the chicken, when the telephone
rang. There was a telephone in the kitchen, and she
went to it.
“Yes?” she said.
“Julia — I mean Miss Baker?” It was a girl’s voice. Miss
Harper. “Please don’t be angry with me. I had to call
16
ayou. Please listen to me. You're in terrible danger.”
“Miss Harper? Is that you? What do you mean?”
“They don’t want you to know about
Project Omega. I think they —
they’re going to — I think they’re
going to kill you! Oh, please,
you must believe me!”
“But who? Who wants to kill
me? — Miss Harper? Are you
still there?”
No sound came from
the telephone.
The line
was silent.
Julia sat with
the telephone in a
cold hand. At the other
end of the line, there was
silence. A terrible silence
that meant danger.
“What has happened?” she thought. “What has
happened to that poor little Miss Harper? Has
Project Omega brought danger to her?”18
CHAPTER FIVE
An evil plan
Julia put the telephone down. For the
first time, she felt very lonely. She wasn’t
frightened, just lonely.
“I haven't been lonely before,” she
thought. “Alone sometimes, yes. But not
lonely. Not without a friend to be there in
a time of difficulty or danger. I haven’t
really known danger. What does ‘danger’
mean? My life has been so safe that the word doesn’t
mean anything.”
She thought about Miss Harper.
“Miss Harper said that they’re going to kill me. Who
are ‘they’? Did ‘they’ kill my father? What is Project
Omega, and why don’t ‘they’ want meto know about
it?”
She went back to the living room. The file of papers
was still on the floor. She sat down and began to read.
She read to the end, and then she closed the file. She
was trembling.
“It’s terrible!” she thought. “Terrible!”
Project Omega was a plan to get millions of dollars. To
make it possible, millions of people had to lose their
freedom. It was a plan to buy great power in other
countries — in countries with free people. Project Omega
would rob them of their freedom. The plan was to give
Hatfield International more power than any other great
company — more power than the governments of a lot ofcountries had. But it was a cruel plan, the plan of men
without a heart. There was only one word for it: evil. It
was a truly evil plan.
‘They’ were the other directors of her father’s
company. She had to stop them.
In the beginning — was it really only two days ago?
—Julia had a plan for her father’s money. She wanted to
help the poor people of New York. She wanted to give
them better homes, more jobs, a happier life.
“T went to Hatfield’s offices to do that,” she thought. “I
never expected to find something like this. What must I
do? How can I stop it? — I must tell the police ~ and the
newspapers. I have to tell the world about Project
Omega. Yes, tell the world. That — and only that — will
stop it. I must do that — in the morning.”
Julia was soon asleep. For the first time, she dreamed
about her father. They were in a small boat in terrible
weather. They were in great danger. But he put his arms
round her.
“It’s all right,” he said in her dream. “I’m here. You
mustn’t be afraid. We must be brave. We weed courage,
that’s all.” |
When Julia woke up, she felt strong after her sleep.
She remembered her dream very clearly.
“Perhaps daddy is dead,” she thought, “but he’s still
with me. I believe the power of good is stronger than
the power of evil. In my dream daddy said that we
needed courage. So that’s all right.”
Julia had courage — a lot of courage.
She heard Clara in the kitchen. Clara was the woman
who looked after the apartment. She looked after Julia,
too, and Julia loved her. Clara was like a mother to her.
Julia walked into the kitchen, and into a rich smell of
fresh coffee.
“Good morning, Clara.”
19“Morning, Miss Julia. Your coffee is ready. It’s cold
outside — very cold. You’ll be surprised. Only a week to
Christmas! I hope you're not going to spend the holiday
here, alone! A young girl like you should have friends
of the same age.”
“Dear Clara. She’s worried about me,” Julia thought.
She said, “I’ll think about Christmas later, Clara. This
morning, there's something I must do — something that
can’t wait.”
She got dressed very quickly. Then she put the Omega
file in her briefcase, and hurried out.
She opened the elevator door — and screamed. There
was no elevator there. Only cold, black nothing. Only
death — death was waiting for her forty floors down. She
was falling.CHAPTER SIX
A friend
Julia didn’t fall. Two strong arms took
hold-of her, and pulled her back from
dark death — back to life.
For a few-seconds, she lay there, on the
floor, outside her apartment. She could
still smell Clara’s coffee, She could hear
her heart; it was racing. She knew she
was trembling. She could see only a blue
jacket.
“Thank you,” she said to the blue jacket.
The man in the blue jacket helped her to get up.
“You're very welcome. I’m glad I play a lot of football
and so I can move fast. I'd like to move like that on the
football field. Then I’d be a top player.”
He was young, maybe about twenty-five. His face was
open and friendly.
“My name’s Julia Baker. You saved my life.” an
“Oh, I do that kind of thing when I get the chance,”
laughed the young man. “I’m Edward West.”
“Well, how can I thank you, Edward? Why don’t you
come in and have some coffee? I think I need a cup too,
after that.”
They went into the apartment. Clara brought them two
cups of coffee ~ very good Italian coffee.
“The elevator,” Julia said. “It wasn’t there.”
“T know.”
“But you were there. Was that by chance?” |
a1Edward looked at her. She saw that he was thinking.
“Yes,” he said slowly. “I think it was.”
“I think they broke the elevator door.”
“Yes. That’s clear.”
“You don’t think it was an accident?”
“No, [ don’t think so.”
Julia drank the hot, sweet, black coffee. When she put
the cup down, she began to cry. For the first time in her
eighteen years of life, she knew she needed a friend.
She knew it because she was with this young man — this
young man with the clear, friendly eyes.
“It’s all right,” he said. “You’re safe now.”
“No, I’m not,” Julia answered. “I’m in terrible danger.”
And she told him the story — every part of it, from her
father’s disappearance to Miss Harper’s telephone
call. She told him about Project Omega. “So you
see,” she ended, “I really am in danger, and there’s
a connection between Omega and the elevator.”
He said again, “It’s all right.” And, “I’m here
now.” Just like her father in her dream.
“I can help you. There are two
of us now. We’ll let the
world see the
Omega file. We'll
take it straight to
the New York
Times.I've got some friends who work there. We’ll stop this
evil plan. Don’t worry.”24
Julia now knew she had a friend who was ready to
help her. It was like a return to a warm room after hours
in the cold air outside, alone.
“Yes,” she said. “We'll take the file to the newspaper.
I'll get my briefcase, It has all the Omega papers in it.”
But where was the briefcase? It wasn’t in the
apartment. It wasn’t between the apartment and the
elevator. She looked for it. Clara looked for it.
“Tt has disappeared,” Julia told Edward at last. “And
now I don’t have anything to show to the newspapers.
There’s nothing to prove that there is a Project Omega.
Who will believe that it’s so evil? They won’t believe it
if I can’t show them the papers.”CHAPTER SEVEN
Betrayed i
“What are we going to do?” Julia asked.
She was glad — so glad — that she could
say ‘we’.
“We have to get another copy of the
file,” replied Edward.
“Of course. But how? I don’t want to go
back to Hatfield and ask for one. Wait...
Miss Harper!”
“Could she get us a copy?” vil
“Tt’s our only hope.” Julia went to the telephone. |
“Good morning. This is Julia Baker. I’d like to speak to
Miss Harper.”
She listened for a minute. “I see. Thank you.” She put
down the telephone and walked over to the window. In 1
a very small voice she said: i
“She didn’t come into work this morning. Edward... i
she has disappeared. Just like my father. Oh, Edward!
You don’t think they have...”
Edward went to Julia and put his arm around her.
“No, No, I don’t think they’ve done anything to Miss
Harper. She’s a clever girl. She has probably gone away.
She’s safe, I’m sure of it. Now come and sit down.”
Edward and Julia sat down on one of the long white
sofas. He took her hand. I
“Julia, I want you to believe in me.”
“What else can I do?” thought Julia. “I believe in you,”
she said.
25“We have to work together. I think you should go to
Hatfield’s offices. Ask to see other files. They must
think you've forgotten about Project Omega. Or that you
jidn’t understand. Or that you have nothing against it
... anything. But you must go back there and try to get
another copy of the Omega file.”
“Yes,” said Julia. “I'll go now.”
“Tl call you every hour, just to see that you’re OK.
And don’t worry. Nothing can happen to you. I'm here.”
Julia arrived at Hatfield International half an hour
later. All morning she looked through personnel
reports. She looked at Miss Harper's file and saw that
her family lived in Atlanta. “I’m sure she has gone
home to her parents,” she thought. “She’l] be all right.
They can’t do anything to her there.”
All morning Julia waited for a chance to be alone in
the office. She knew where she had to look. She knew
that they kept all the future project files on a shelf near
the door.
At one o’clock, Edward rang for the third time.
“Meet me in ten minutes at the entrance to the
building,” he said. “And please don’t be late. It’s very
important.” °
Ten minutes later, Julia was waiting outside the front
entrance on Columbus Avenue. The streets were full of
people. It was nearly Christmas, and the people looked
happy and busy. Julia remembered Christmas the year
before. She was with her father then, and...
Two very tall men were coming through the crowd.
They had the long red coats of Father Christmas, and
they were calling:
“Happy Christmas to you all! Happy Christmas!”
Suddenly they were beside her. They took her arms
and hurried her across the sidewalk.
“What are you doing?” she shouted. “Take your hands
26off me! No, no!”
A car door opened, and they tried to push her inside.
Strong arms took hold of her arms. She tried to scream,
and as she fought she hit her head on the car door. Her
world began to go dark...
She remembered one last thing. There was an arm
round her. It was an arm in a blue jacket.
“Edward West — Edward West has betrayed me!” |
27CHAPTER EIGHT
Father and daughter
Julia opened her eyes. The world was
going round and round. And there were
noises in her head.
No. Not in her head. The noises were
engine noises. She was on a plane.
Edward was beside her.
“Edward, I trusted you!”
“And you were right to trust me. I’ve
saved your life again, I’m glad to say.”
“You've done what?”
“Mr Berger and his friends planned another little
‘accident’ for you. I had to get you away from New
York.”
“Where am [?” .
“Now? Well, we're probably flying over Florida. We're
on our way to a small island off the coast.”
Julia looked round. “But this — this is my father’s
plane. What are you doing with my father’s plane?”
“It’s a long story. Give me time and I'll explain it all.”
“Start now.”
“First, I think you need a drink.”
“{ don’t want a drink. I want an explanation.”
Edward smiled. “That's the sad thing about rich girls.
They always want everything on a silver plate ~ at once.
Oh, OK.”
He started to explain. Julia listened and watched his
face.
28“I wasn’t wrong,” she thought. “He’s a good person.
He’s good-looking, too.”
“First,” he said, “I must tell you that I work for your
father. I’ve watched you all the time since his
disappearance. He was very worried about you, so he
told me that I must look after you. He told me to guard
you, but that you mustn’t see me.”
“Where is my father?”
“Tl tell you that in a minute. First you must know
that your father had to leave New York in a hurry. He
learnt about Project Omega, and he wanted to stop his
partners. They tried to kill him. Twice. He had to
disappear.”
“My father knew about Project Omega? So why didn’t
he do the thing that we planned to do? Why didn’t he
let the world know about it?”
“He knew that it would be the end of Hatfield
International. It would finish the company — your
company. ‘It isn’t fair to do that to her,’ he told me. ‘If
she wants to finish it, then that’s different.’ So you
make your future; he doesn’t make it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He knew you would learn about Project Omega,
sooner or later. He told me to wait and help you, when
that time came.”
“OK. Maybe I believe you. But where are you taking
me?”
“To your father. He’s waiting on the island. Oh, and I
found Miss Harper. She’s safe. She’s staying with her
aunt outside Atlanta.”
“Oh, I’m glad about that. I was worried about her. She
‘was very brave.”
“Brave and clever! She has another copy of the Omega
file!”
The small plane landed on a narrow runway in the
29middle of a thick forest. Edward opened the door, and
jumped down. Julia followed him. It was hot, and she
could smell the flowers and trees. Such a long way from
winter in New York!
Then she saw him. A tall man with a lot of white hair,
his face brown from the sun.
“Daddy!”
Later that evening, they sat out in a garden, under a
big silver moon. They talked about the future.
“You know, Julia my darling, I don’t want to go back
to New York. I think I'd like to be poor here in the sun,”
said Charles Hatfield Baker III. “I enjoy this life.”
Julia smiled at him, her eyes full of understanding and
love. “Perhaps when I’m seventy, I'll come and enjoy it
with you. But at the moment I’ve got too much to do.
Hatfield International is going to disappear, but there’s
still an awful lot of money. I want to make that money
work for good projects. Projects to help people.”
She looked at Edward. Edward looked at her.
“Td like to help you with that,” he said.
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READING ACTIVITIES
Before reading
1 Look at the pictures on pages 4/5 and 13. Where and when
do you think this story takes place? What makes you think
this?
2 Project Omega is the business plan for an important
company. Can you think of three important companies in
your own country and what they produce?
While reading
1 You are a newspaper reporter. Write the story of Charles
Hatfield Baker [il’s disappearance. Begin your story “Last
Wednesday morning...” Describe what Charles Baker looked
like and where he went. Give your story a title.
2 Rewrite the following sentences with the correct
information.
Chapters 1-2
One day Charles Hatfield Baker Ii, the richest man in the
world, was kidnapped.
His seventeen-year-old daughter, Julia, called a meeting of
the six directors of Hatfield International.
Chapters 3-4
After Mr Berger got the Project Omega papers for Julia, she
put the papers back in the safe.
Later that evening Julia telephoned Miss Harper.
Chapters 5-6
Project Omega was a plan to help the poor people of New
York find better homes, more jobs and a happier life.
Julia fell forty floors down the broken elevator.
Chapters 7-8
‘Two men dressed as Father Christmas took Julia on a plane
to see her father.
Miss Harper was waiting for Julia on the island.‘After reading
1 Which character says the sentences below?
a) “I’m eighteen, and I’ve lived here all my life.”
b): “Just ask, and you can have all the money you want,”
c) “Please listen to me. You're in terrible danger.”
d) “We must be brave. We need courage, that’s all.”
e) “A young girl like you should have friends of the same
age.”
f) “Ican help you. There are two of us now.” |
g) “I don’t want a drink. I want an explanation.”
h) “I think I'd like to be poor here in the sun.”
2 When Julia leaves the office in Chapter 4 with the Omega
file, she hears Mr Berger shouting at Miss Harper. Write
down their discussion, then act it with a friend.
3 Imagine Charles Baker writes a letter to Edward West just
before he disappears with his final instructions about Julia.
Write this letter.
4 “Ll want to make that money work for good projects. Projects
to help people.”
Imagine that you are Julia in charge of Hatfield
International’s money. What are the three most important
projects you would choose? Discuss with a group of friends.
Material devised by Anne Collins and Jean Greenwood
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