High Stakes Read online

  HIGH STAKES

  BY H. I. LARRY

  ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDY HOOK

  High Stakes

  published in 2008 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  85 High Street

  Prahran, Victoria 3181, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

  Text, illustration and design copyright © 2008 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Cover and illustrations by Andy Hook

  Typeset by Pauline Haas

  Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  MISSION UPDATE

  CLASSIFIED

  In MOON RIDER, Zac's mission to

  rescue his long-lost grandpa

  took him all the way to a

  secret BIG base on the moon.

  Zac found Grandpa...but

  BIG has captured both agents

  and thrown them in prison!

  Meanwhile, the ZacBot is on his way

  back to Earth, armed with a

  Tech Blaster powerful enough

  to wipe out all of GIB's

  vehicles and gadgets...

  CURRENT TIME:

  SATURDAY 12:47 PM

  CHAPTER

  ONE

  Zac Power struggled against the weird plastic wrap that clung to his body.

  He needed to find a way to get free. Or at least do something besides lying on the floor of his BIG prison cell, counting down the hours until his spy agency was wiped out.

  But even if I do somehow get free of this plastic wrap, Zac sighed to himself, I still have to get past that security force field.

  Plus he’d have to hide his escape from the security cameras in the ceiling.

  Zac looked over at his grandpa, lying in the next cell. He expected Grandpa to look scared or angry.

  But Grandpa just grinned and winked back at him, as though being thrown in prison was all part of the plan.

  There was a single prison guard standing at a control station in the centre of the room. He walked over and leant against the wall next to Grandpa’s cell.

  ‘Back so soon, Agent High Pants?’

  ‘What can I say?’ Zac’s grandpa replied with a smile. ‘It’s not often I get the chance to come by for a visit.’

  The guard chuckled. ‘Fair enough.’

  Zac raised an eyebrow. Grandpa and the BIG guard were acting like friends! Why were they being so polite to each other?

  ‘How’s the wife?’ asked Grandpa.

  ‘She’s doing well,’ said the guard, nodding. ‘Loving her new job.’

  Grandpa nodded. ‘We’re all very grateful for the work you two are doing.’

  Zac stared at the two men. What was Grandpa talking about? Why would he be grateful to someone who was holding him prisoner?

  Then something on the ceiling caught Zac’s eye. He looked up. All the security cameras had just stopped moving.

  A voice echoed out of the BIG guard’s walkie-talkie. ‘Security systems disabled, sir.’

  ‘Right,’ the guard replied. ‘Nice work, Agent Checkmate.’

  Huh? Zac’s mouth dropped open. Checkmate was a GIB agent. Zac knew he was supposed to be away on holiday! What was he doing talking to a BIG guard on the moon?

  ‘You’ve got about four minutes till they realise what’s happened and switch the cameras back on,’ said Checkmate through the walkie-talkie.

  ‘Got it,’ said the BIG guard. ‘Thanks.’ He dropped the walkie-talkie back into his pocket.

  Zac’s grandpa spoke up. ‘So, how would you feel about letting me and my grandson out of here?’

  The BIG guard stroked his beard thoughtfully. ‘OK,’ he smiled. ‘Sure, why not?’

  Zac watched, totally confused, as the guard turned back to his control station and deactivated the force fields guarding the two prison cells.

  Then the BIG guard dashed into Grandpa’s cell and cut him loose from the cling wrap. After helping Grandpa to his feet, the guard ducked across to the next cell and released Zac.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Zac asked. ‘Why…’

  ‘I’ll explain later, kiddo,’ said Grandpa. He turned to the guard. ‘Get the Bruiser.’

  The guard reached down under the control station and pulled out a hand-sized gadget. It looked like a silver ball cut in half.

  GIB 'BRUISER' False Contusion Applicator

  ‘They’re onto us,’ said Checkmate’s voice from the guard’s pocket. ‘Thirty seconds more and the cameras will be back online.’

  ‘What do you reckon?’ the BIG guard asked Grandpa. ‘Shall I put it on my face this time?’

  ‘Probably the most convincing,’ said Grandpa with a nod.

  The guard pressed the device against the side of his face. A moment later, he pulled it away, revealing a huge purple bruise.

  ‘Ready?’ said Grandpa, as the security cameras whirred back to life.

  The guard nodded.

  Suddenly, Grandpa drew back a fist and threw it into the side of the guard’s face, right on top of the bruise.

  The guard fell to the floor. With surprising strength for an old man, Grandpa picked up the BIG guard and dumped him into a prison cell.

  He then ran across to the control station and activated the force field.

  ‘Grandpa, he was helping us!’ said Zac, his mind reeling. ‘Why did you –’

  ‘Not now,’ Grandpa said. ‘We need to get out of here.’

  He grabbed Zac’s hand and pulled him out of the room.

  CHAPTER

  TWO

  Zac and his grandpa raced down a dark, empty corridor. The row of blue lights along the walls cast shadows all around them.

  Grandpa skidded to a stop in front of a door marked ‘Maintenance’. He threw the door open and pulled Zac inside.

  Behind the door was a tiny room with a computer station and a table covered with tools. Zac’s grandpa picked up a wrench and smashed the security camera down from the ceiling.

  ‘OK,’ Grandpa said, sitting down at the computer station. ‘Now we can talk.’

  ‘What was all that about back there?’ Zac asked. ‘That prison guard –’

  ‘Is a GIB agent,’ his grandpa finished. ‘He’s one of three GIB moles currently working undercover at this base. His wife is here, too. And Agent Checkmate.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Zac. That explained why Grandpa had pretended to punch the prison guard out. It had to look like they’d escaped on their own, or else BIG would have known that the guard was a mole.

  ‘Hang on,’ said Zac. ‘If we’ve got moles working inside BIG, why haven’t I ever heard about them?’

  ‘No-one knows anything about us,’ said Grandpa, typing something into the computer in front of him. ‘The whole operation is top-secret.’

  ‘Then how do you know about the moles?’ Zac asked.

  ‘Because I’m the one who sent them here in the first place,’ said Grandpa.

  ‘Is that what you’ve been doing in the Black Jungle all this time? Sending GIB agents to work undercover?’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Grandpa with a nod. ‘We’ve been gathering intelligence on BIG’s operations, trying to find a way to brin
g them down from the inside.’

  ‘Have BIG ever suspected anything?’ asked Zac. ‘Have any of the moles ever been caught?’

  ‘No,’ said Grandpa, shaking his head. ‘We’ve been very lucky.’

  ‘I still don’t get why you never contacted us,’ said Zac. ‘You were gone for seven years. Couldn’t you have called us or written a letter or something?’

  Grandpa shook his head sadly and pointed to the eye symbol stitched onto his white uniform. ‘The Black Jungle project is part of GIB’s Invisibles Department.

  All of us were sworn to the highest level of GIB secrecy. No-one else was allowed to know where we were, or what we were doing. Not even our families.’

  Zac stared at him. He’d always known that Grandpa was strong and brave. A hero, even. But he’d never realised just how much Grandpa had sacrificed in the last seven years. His friends, his family, his whole life…Agent High Pants had left it all behind to fight against BIG.

  ‘Anyway,’ said Grandpa, ‘enough about all of that. Time for us to head home.’

  ‘Can you find us a shuttle?’ Zac asked.

  ‘Finding a shuttle will be easy,’ said Grandpa, his fingers flying across the keyboard. ‘Flying it out of the base might be a bit harder. It looks like all the shuttles have been locked down.’

  ‘So how do we unlock them?’

  ‘We need the go-ahead from a high-ranking BIG agent,’ said Grandpa. ‘And I think I know just the man…’

  CHAPTER

  THREE

  Moments later, Zac and Grandpa were running along another gloomy corridor, their feet echoing against the steel floor.

  ‘We need to find Silas Grift,’ Grandpa said as they rounded a corner.

  ‘But he’s not even a BIG agent,’ said Zac. ‘He’s just the guy they hired to design the ZacB –’

  THWACK! THWACK!

  Suddenly, there were two BIG agents lying on the ground. Grandpa had leapt into the air, flung out his arms and karate-chopped the pair of them. All before Zac even knew they were there.

  Whoa, thought Zac.

  ‘The ZacBot wasn’t Grift’s only project,’ said Grandpa, jumping over one of the fallen agents. ‘After you destroyed BIG’s old Central Command, they got Grift to do a complete update of their security systems.’

  On one of Zac’s recent missions, he’d gone to the BIG volcano base and blown it up. Nice work, Zac, he thought to himself with a smile.

  THWACK!

  With a perfect spin kick, Grandpa took care of another guard.

  Show-off, thought Zac with a grin.

  ‘However,’ said Grandpa, ‘Grift isn’t entirely loyal to BIG.’

  ‘Who is he loyal to?’ Zac asked.

  ‘Whoever offers him the most money,’ said Grandpa. ‘At the moment that’s BIG, but lately I don’t think they’ve been treating him too well.’

  Zac squinted in the dull blue light, trying to make out the time on his watch.

  ‘Hey, you got the new Inflato-Watch!’ said Grandpa, peering over.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Your watch,’ said Grandpa. ‘It has a built-in escape balloon that inflates out of the watch-face when you press those two buttons together.’

  ‘Leon forgot to mention that,’ said Zac.

  Grandpa froze suddenly. ‘Shh!’ he said. ‘Listen.’

  There were raised voices coming from a room up ahead.

  ‘What do you mean he’s not responding to orders?’ Caz was shouting.

  ‘It’s only a small malfunction,’ Grift replied. ‘I’m not too worried about –’

  ‘I’m warning you, Grift,’ interrupted Caz. ‘If this operation falls apart because your android won’t do what it’s told –’

  ‘This is exactly what I warned you about when you first hired me!’ said Grift angrily. ‘I told you an android mind this complex would be highly unstable!’

  ‘You told us you could control it!’ said Caz.

  ‘I can control it!’ Grift snapped.

  ‘Ha!’ Caz sneered. ‘From day one, that thing has been making its own rules, chasing after Rock Star when it should have been kidnapping Agent High Pants from –’

  BOOM!

  With a single, well-aimed kick, Grandpa sent the door flying.

  He dashed inside, running straight at Caz. Before she had a chance to react, Grandpa shot out a hand and grabbed the Wrap Launcher from the holster at her hip.

  WHUMP!

  Looking furious, Caz fell to the floor bound up in sticky plastic.

  At the sight of Zac and his grandpa, Grift had leapt into a storage cupboard and shut the door behind him.

  Zac walked over and hammered on the door. ‘Get out of there!’

  ‘Go away!’ said Grift.

  Are you kidding? thought Zac, throwing open the cupboard door.

  ‘Don’t shoot!’ Grift pleaded, shaking in the corner of the cupboard.

  ‘Why would we do that?’ Zac grinned. ‘You’re the one who’s going to get us out of here.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You heard the boy,’ said Grandpa. ‘We need you to override the shuttle lockdown.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ said Grift, straightening up. ‘And who says I can do that?’

  ‘You’re the one who designed the system,’ said Grandpa. ‘Do you really expect us to believe that you can’t get around your own security?’

  ‘OK, fine, I can,’ said Grift. ‘But why should I help you? What’s in it for me?’

  ‘You seem to be in almost as much trouble as we are,’ said Grandpa. ‘From the sound of that argument, I don’t think BIG are too happy with you.’

  ‘I can take care of myself,’ said Grift.

  ‘Really?’ said Zac. ‘That’s pretty big talk from someone who took one look at us and hid in a cupboard.’

  Grift shuffled his feet, looking nervous.

  ‘Come on,’ said Grandpa. ‘We should all get out of here before BIG gets really angry.’

  Grift let out a long sigh. ‘Yeah, all right,’ he said.

  ‘Excellent,’ said Grandpa, heading for the door.

  ‘Hold on!’ said Grift. ‘I’m not going out that way!’

  ‘Do you have a better idea?’ Zac asked.

  Grift stepped out of the cupboard and knelt down next to a wall. ‘As a matter of fact, I do.’

  Grift heaved open a panel in the wall, revealing a long, narrow tunnel.

  ‘Maintenance shafts,’ he explained. ‘They lead all through the base. Here, you can be navigator.’

  Grift tossed Zac a tiny compass.

  ‘Hey,’ said Zac, ‘this is a GIB gadget!’

  ‘I stole it from the last GIB agent I ran into,’ said Grift. ‘It’s the only one I’ve found that works properly up here.’

  ‘Whatever,’ said Zac, rolling his eyes. ‘Let’s go.’

  CHAPTER

  FOUR

  North, west, north, north, west, north.

  For almost half an hour, Zac clambered through the maze of cold steel tunnels. Grandpa and Grift were right behind him. Finally, Grift grabbed Zac’s foot, signalling him to stop.

  Zac looked back over his shoulder.

  Grift raised a finger to his lips, then pointed to a vent in the side of the tunnel.

  Zac peered through the vent. He could see a huge room filled with BIG shuttles. The roof was covered almost entirely by an enormous metal door.

  Zac carefully slipped the vent out of the wall and the three of them crawled into the room.

  ‘The command code for the shuttles is 6-6-6-5-3-9,’ whispered Grift, looking nervous. ‘It spells M-O-N-K-E-Y on the keypad.’

  Grandpa raised an eyebrow at Grift.

  ‘Hey, don’t look at me,’ Grift hissed. ‘That’s the password Blackwood ordered.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said a cold voice.‘And I’m not about to let a slimy two-faced coward like you use it against me.’

  It was Agent Blackwood. Behind her, BIG agents emerged from behind power generators. They circl
ed Zac, Grift and Grandpa, their Launchers raised.

  ‘Have you come to say goodbye?’ asked Zac with a smile.

  ‘I don’t think so, Rock Star,’ said Agent Blackwood, stepping forward. ‘And you, Grift! What do you think you’re doing, you worm?!’

  ‘Sorry, Blackwood,’ said Grift. ‘Got a better offer. No hard feelings, right?’

  ‘You’re not going anywhere until you finish the work we hired you for,’ growled Blackwood.

  ‘Yeah, about that,’ said Grift. ‘Probably wasn’t a good idea for you to pay me in advance, was it?’

  As they argued, an agent at the far end of the room caught Zac’s eye. It was Agent Checkmate! He was standing at the edge of the circle, pretending to be just another BIG agent.

  An escape plan was beginning to form in Zac’s mind, but he needed to get a message across to Checkmate.

  He thought back to his spy training, trying to remember all the secret hand signals he had been taught. Unfortunately, GIB didn’t have a signal for Get me out of this moon base.

  Zac would have to improvise. Using the tiniest movements possible, he put his hands together, then pulled them apart. Open.

  He raised one finger up to the ceiling. That door.

  He held up two fingers. Two minutes.

  Agent Checkmate nodded and backed quietly out of the shuttle bay.

  Did he understand me? Zac wondered, tuning back into the others’ conversation.

  ‘Nowhere to run, boys,’ Blackwood was snarling. ‘Either come along quietly or…’

  FWOOSH!

  Zac pressed down the two buttons on his watch. Almost instantly, a giant silk balloon inflated at his wrist. The balloon pulled Zac into the air with surprising speed. Grift and Grandpa grabbed onto Zac’s legs, just as the BIG agents began firing their Wrap Launchers.

  Sheets of sticky plastic flew through the air. But Zac and the others had already soared too high.