The Monster Within by Darrell Pitt Read Free Book Online Page A

parked,’ Mr Doyle said.
    ‘I’m MI5,’ Fleming said. ‘We’re supposed to know things like that.’
    They boarded the airship and took off. John Fleming settled next to a window in the
main cabin with Jack and Scarlet. Jack had read a book recently about MI5 and was
dying to ask Fleming all about it.
    ‘Being an MI5 agent must be an interesting job,’ he said.
    ‘It is.’
    ‘How did you get involved? Did you find a secret message under your door? Or in your
teapot?’
    ‘No, there was an advertisement in the paper.’
    Jack laughed. ‘That’s funny. What really happened?’
    ‘No,’ Fleming said. ‘There was an advertisement in the paper. I sent off and applied.’
    ‘That’s amazing. So did you have to swear a blood oath?’
    ‘Not really a blood oath. It was more like signing a piece of paper.’
    ‘And have you ever shot anyone?’
    ‘I’ve only fired my gun once.’
    ‘That must have been exciting.’
    ‘I went hunting as a boy with my father and shot a duck, but I never did it again.
I don’t like killing things.’
    None of this was what Jack had expected. ‘And what about following people?’ he asked.
‘Surely you’ve tortured someone for information?’
    ‘Only Mrs Blemms.’
    ‘Mrs Blemms?’
    ‘She owns the corner shop. She is very slow at telling me the prices of things and
I get a bit snappy.’ He thought for a moment. ‘That probably doesn’t count as torture,
though.’
    ‘Probably not.’
    Scarlet dived in. ‘We’ve had some experience with MI5,’ she said. ‘I expect there’s
a file on us.’
    ‘There is,’ Fleming said, nodding. ‘I’ve seen it.’
    Scarlet beamed. ‘I dare say it makes for interesting reading,’ she said. ‘Lots of
details about our adventures.’
    ‘Actually, there isn’t much there.’
    ‘What? How much, then?’
    Frowning, Fleming said, ‘About a page. Maybe a little more.’
    ‘A page?’ Scarlet looked insulted. ‘There’s only a page about me? After all our amazing
adventures?’
    ‘Oh no,’ he said. ‘There isn’t a page on you .’
    Scarlet looked relieved. ‘All right.’
    ‘You have a paragraph,’ he said. ‘And the same for Jack, too.’ Then he saw the outraged
expression on Scarlet’s face. ‘If it’s any consolation,’ he added, ‘it’s a big paragraph.’
    Before Scarlet could explode with indignation, Fleming burst out laughing. ‘I must
apologise,’ he said. ‘Actually, there’s rather a large file on your team, but I’m
not allowed to say more than that.’
    Scarlet was mollified. ‘A large file,’ she said. ‘Well, that’s all right…’

CHAPTER EIGHT
    After Mr Doyle set the steering of the Lion’s Mane to automatic, he joined Jack,
Scarlet and Fleming for a cup of tea.
    ‘I was looking at one of the guidebooks last night,’ Jack said. ‘I didn’t know the
Islamic faith had had such a big influence on Spain.’
    ‘I probably should have given you a potted history of the country,’ Mr Doyle said.
‘Several early peoples populated Spain prior to the Common Era. The Roman Empire
eventually took over the country and controlled it for six centuries, naming it Hispania .
The Visigoths—Germanic tribes—took over most of the peninsula. Then the Arabs invaded
in the eighth century and held power until the marriage of Isabella of Castile and
Ferdinand of Aragon. This heralded a new era of expansion for the Spanish empire.’
    ‘So how did Alhambra get built?’ Scarlet asked.
    Fleming took up the story. ‘It began as a small fortress in the ninth century, and
was rebuilt in the eleventh century as a palace, and in the fourteenth century it
was expanded once again.’
    ‘Where does the name come from?’ Scarlet said. ‘It’s quite lovely.’
    ‘Alhambra means red castle in Arabic.’
    The airship continued south-west over the country, where giant crops dotted the crimson
earth: olives, figs and nuts as big as cricket balls, and tomatoes and lettuces the
size of watermelons. The fields