afterwards.â
Zac thought he heard the captain mutter, âEven though we were here first.â
A few minutes later, the blimp touched down on the helipad. Chrissie LâEstrange was already there, surrounded by fussing personal assistants.
Iâll just go over there and clear things up , thought Zac to himself. But as soon as he took a step in Chrissieâs direction, flashbulbs exploded in his eyes.
âWho are you? Are you Chrissieâs latest boyfriend?â someone cried out of nowhere.
âWhatâs your name? Whoâs your agent?â
Zacâs mouth dropped open. The paparazzi!Where did they come from?
âHeâs no-one,â Zac heard one of them say. âLetâs follow Chrissie.â
And with that, the photographers and reporters scattered from the helipad.
Iâm not no-one , Zac wanted to reply. Iâm a top spy here for a big premiere!
Zac turned back to the blimp. But in the commotion, it had flown off without Zac noticing. Zacâs backpack lay on the helipad. All of a sudden, he was alone in Hollywood â the strangest of all strange places.
CHAPTER THREE
Zacâs ears popped as the super-fast lift swept him up to his penthouse on the fifty-first floor of the Hotel Deluxe. The doors opened directly into the suite, which was equipped with an ice-cream machine and a wide-screen cinema.
Zac dumped his backpack on the king-sized bed. He clicked on the remote control and a giant TV screen dropped down from the ceiling.
An announcer with a stiff wave of blonde hair was beaming at the camera.
âStay tuned for a Channel One exclusive report into spying in the modern age,â she was saying. âWe reveal how spy agencies are looking for ways to make their investigations quicker and more efficient.â
Leon would probably watch that, the big nerd, thought Zac, smiling to himself.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Someone was knocking at the door of his suite â loudly!
âRoom service!â called a voice.
Zac got up and opened the door.
âHot dog?â said the pimply guy standing in Zacâs doorway. He held out a tray of hot dogs zig-zagged with yellow mustard.
âEr, I didnât order a hot dog,â said Zac.
âTake one, theyâre delicious!â said the guy, and then he leant in closer.
âIâm a GIB agent,â he muttered. âWe tracked your arrival in the blimp. Weâve actually been trying to get in touch with you since yesterday, but it seems the lining of the blimp interfered with your SpyPad receptor, and blocked all incoming messages.
âNo-one at GIB knows why youâre in town,â he added, âbut youâve got a new mission. Now take the hot dog.â
He handed Zac a hot dog and left, singing, âhave a nice day!â as he went.
Zac stared after him, feeling confused. Why didnât GIB know why Zac was in Hollywood? After all, it was GIB who invited him to the Covert Operations premiere! And if they didnât, who did?
I guess Iâd better find out what my mission is , thought Zac as he checked out the hot dog. There was a sticker on the bun, so tiny he had to squint to read it. It said âFTP enabledâ.
The mission must be a file inside the hot dog! But there was a problem. How was Zac going to upload a mission into his SpyPad from a hot dog ?
Without smearing mustard on the casing, Zac held the hot dog up to his SpyPad. A green light flickered on. His SpyPad was bluetooth compatible...and so was the hot dog. The mission was uploading wirelessly!
CLASSIFIED
FOR THE EYES OF ZAC POWER ONLY
MESSAGE RECEIVED
SATURDAY 4:54AM
Cinemania, a Hollywood film studio is spending millions on a mysterious invention called ThoughtVision.
In fact, theyâre spending more than they do on producing films. This may be innocent, but GIB is suspicious.
YOUR MISSION
⢠Work out what ThoughtVision does and locate a prototype for GIB.
MISSION TIME REMAINING
12