Blockbuster (5 page)

‘You can trust me,' the man sitting in the chair said. He sounded like he was about to cry.

Then Zac noticed a screen above the man's head. As soon as the man said anything, the screen displayed different words above his head.

‘I would never betray BIG,' the man stammered. But the screen said:

I HATE BIG
.

‘I know what you're
really
thinking!' said a girl from behind the camera.

It sounded like Caz. And she was obviously using a ThoughtVision camera.

What evil technology! A camera that read thoughts as it filmed. But why would BIG want a camera like that?

Suddenly, the pieces dropped into place in Zac's mind. BIG's profits were down.

And that news report, back in the hotel, had said spies needed quicker ways to work!

Questioning people with a camera that read minds would be
the
quickest possible way to find out all sorts of secrets. It would be way more reliable than any truth serum or special investigations.

A movie studio would be the perfect front for an operation like ThoughtVision. BIG probably invented Cinemania to cover its tracks.

That explained why the films Cinemania made were so terrible. A movie like
Short
Fuse
, where a kid wrestled a bear, would be box office poison!

‘Soon we'll have people working these cameras full-time,' Caz crowed. ‘We can't afford to waste our own good people on boring work like that.'

‘I see,' said the man in the chair. But the screen displayed his true thoughts:

I HATE YOU!

‘We're going to brainwash enemy spies, including that loser Zac Power,' said Caz, starting to giggle. ‘Zac Power's going to work for BIG!'

CHAPTER EIGHT

At that moment, all Zac wanted in the world was to yank Caz's bushy pigtails.

How would BIG try to brainwash him? And more importantly, how dare Caz call him a loser?

He was furious, but he took some deep breaths.
Stay calm
, he told himself,
she's
about to spill the beans on her evil plan
.

‘Using Cinemania Studios as our front, we've shot a new spy movie,
Covert
Operations
,' said Caz, sounding thrilled with herself. ‘It's
packed
with subliminal messages.'

Subliminal messages?
thought Zac. He knew they were words or pictures in a film that flashed up too fast for you to notice. Subliminal messages could convince you to do things against your will.
Things like
working for BIG!

Suddenly, he heard something.
Beep!
Beep!
It was getting louder.

Annoyed, Caz looked up from the ThoughtVision camera. ‘What is it, G5-382?' she snapped.

There was the clank of metal. Zac peered out from behind a stack of boxes.

Another android security guard!

‘Heat sensors engaged,' said the android in its dull robotic voice.

‘What?' asked Caz, irritably.

‘Human heat detected in north-east quadrant of the room,' droned the android.

Oh no! Zac was busted!

The ThoughtVision camera was so close and bringing back that prototype
was
an essential part of his mission! But if Zac didn't scram right that very second, Caz and BIG would get him for sure.

I'll have to capture the camera some other
way
, Zac thought grimly.

He scanned the room for ways to escape. But Caz had blocked one door, and the android was guarding the other!

There was an air vent high up on the wall. Zac lunged onto a wobbly stack of packing crates. He leapt at a pipe running along the ceiling. Then, swinging like a monkey along the pipe, he kicked in the air vent.

Now to wriggle through the hole…

‘It's Zac Power!' Caz squealed. ‘You androids are supposed to be saving us money. Now show me you're worth it! Get him!'

It was a squeeze, but Zac was just small enough to slip through the vent.There was no way the massive metal android could follow him!

Zac popped out the other side, Caz's furious screams ringing in his ears.

Zac spotted a brand-new black Harley Davidson parked nearby. He grabbed his GIB skeleton key and started the ignition. The Harley rumbled to life.

Zac's SpyPad bleeped an alarm.

It was 1.33pm. Zac still had time to stop the premiere, and capture the ThoughtVision camera. Zac realised Caz would be at the premiere, and she could lead him to the prototype.

Zac tapped ‘Nightshade Theatre' into his SpyPad's GPS system, and roared out of the studio lot.

His mind was racing as fast as the bike. There'd probably be a red carpet at the premiere, and paparazzi taking photos.

Zac checked his outfit. Skate shoes, sweaty T-shirt, dirty jeans. His hair product had long since melted away.

He couldn't turn up to a red carpet event looking like that. A spy has standards!

CHAPTER NINE

Zac needed a cool new suit. Not too formal, maybe a scruffy jacket and skinny trousers, like rock stars wear.

But where would I get something like that?
Zac wondered.

‘Turn left here for the Hollywood Walk of Fame,' said the computerised voice of the SpyPad in his pocket. ‘Shopping mall and the Nightshade Theatre.'

Just what Zac needed!

With a screech of tyres, Zac took a sharp left onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He pulled up outside a shop called Leroy's Outfitters to the Stars.

The shop was packed with amazing clothes. One wall was full of T-shirts, another of motorbike boots. He'd never seen so much cool stuff in one place before. He just couldn't leave without trying a few things on. Surely he had time…

A few outfits later, the sound of the radio snapped him back to reality.

‘Another sunny day in Hollywood. The time is 3.00pm.'

Zac raced out of the shop with his new suit on. He'd wasted too much time! He had to get to the Nightshade Theatre.

Zac was concentrating so hard, he didn't notice a shadowy figure behind him –

Ugh!

Someone shoved him in the back!

Zac tumbled forward, his hands out in front of him to break his fall.

But it wasn't hard concrete he felt as he fell. It was something squishy.

WET CEMENT!

Zac was on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where stars left their handprints in the cement. And someone had replaced the ordinary footpath with the quick-drying kind. Zac was stuck fast!

He looked around for help, but everyone was busily rushing into shops. Joggers wearing sweatbands jumped over him and glamourous mothers pushing prams swerved around him.

Time raced on. 3.17pm. 4.06pm. 4.45pm! But Zac wasn't going anywhere.

Until he remembered something.

Leon made him keep a DynaWrite pen in his pocket at all times. ‘You might need it to do Sudoku puzzles,' he'd said. ‘The explosive device hidden inside could be useful, too.'

If Zac could detonate the DynaWrite pen, he could explode the cement around his hands and escape.

But how am I going to get the pen out of
my pocket when my hands are stuck fast?
Zac wondered.

Zac was no gymnast, but his spy training had kept him strong and flexible. If he could get upside down, the DynaWrite pen might drop out of his pocket.

He launched himself skywards. Kicking his legs wildly, he held the handstand. But the explosive pen stayed in his pocket!

Zac wiggled his body. He felt the pen moving. He wiggled a bit more.

At last! The DynaWrite pen fell out onto the cement.

Now, to detonate!
thought Zac, kicking his legs down.

He didn't know the rules on detonating an explosive device with your nose. Perhaps there weren't any?

Hardly daring to breathe, Zac tapped the red button on the end of the pen with the tip of his nose. He leant back as –