Before the Storm by Sean McMullen Page A

well be dead.’
    â€˜You said you can’t go to their shop because you stole ten shillings when you went there last month and the fishmonger said he would wring your neck if he ever caught –’
    â€˜Enough!’ cried Emily. ‘Barry Porter, swear that you accept my position as Deputy Battle Commander, or I shall empty your bag onto the dining room table in front of my mother and father.’
    â€˜Oh shit, no, no, that’s got all me artistic postcards, an’ special keys, and, er, rubber medical devices of a highly personal nature, and –’
    â€˜Swear!’
    â€˜Swear? Er, wot ya mean? Shit? Bugger? Friggin’ ’ell?’
    â€˜Barry, just say “I swear”,’ advised Daniel.
    â€˜I swear,’ said Barry.
    â€˜Splendid,’ said Emily, turning to Daniel. ‘Daniel Edward Lang, unless I have your sworn word that you accept my position as Deputy Battle Commander, I shall go straight downstairs, present this book to Mother and Father, and open it at page thirty-seven.’
    Once again Daniel and Barry exchanged worried glances, this time augmented by hopeless shrugs.
    â€˜I swear,’ said Daniel.
    â€˜Good,’ said Emily. ‘Now I am going to impound this book and bag at least until tomorrow evening, when BC is awake again. Until then, you two will obey my orders, just as if I were a captain in an army, and you were common soldiers.’
    As she returned to her room, Emily was certain that her shame of earlier in the day had been wiped out. She might not be able to command the loyalty that people gave BC, and she certainly did not have his charisma, but she definitely had ways of getting people to do what she ordered. If she were not able to lead BC’s squad against whoever the enemy might be, she would certainly hand it back to him intact and ready for action.

4
SPY
    It was the following morning, over breakfast, that Emily made her announcement. Daniel had made the mistake of allowing himself to feel a little relaxed. After all, his sister was in charge now, so when they were caught and put on trial he could blame her for blackmailing him with A Scientific Guide to Human Reproductive Biology . Mrs Lang had just proposed that Fox be invited over for dinner that night when Daniel noticed his sister smile ominously for a moment, then relax her face into a perfect blank.
    This is it. I know that look. Page thirty-seven is about to cut off my pocket money forever and get my bottom caned until it glows in the dark, thought Daniel.
    â€˜Did you know that one of Fox’s officers is in Melbourne?’ asked Emily.
    â€˜An officer?’ exclaimed Mrs Lang at once. ‘Do you think he might come to dinner as well?’
    Daniel sagged with relief, and did not spare a thought for Emily’s possible motive for telling her mother about BC. Page thirty-seven was not going to be mentioned, nothing else in all the world was as important as that.
    â€˜Fox says that he is not very well, that he was injured in some fight with mutineers.’
    â€˜Oh dear, is he confined to bed?’
    â€˜Fox did not say, but he will be working at the grocery store today, so I can ask him after school, when Martha is walking me home.’

    It was not often that Daniel looked forward to going to school, but on this particular Tuesday he could not get out of the house fast enough. Barry was at the railway station, taking one of his frequent days off from his own school.
    â€˜I’m mindin’ BC an’ all,’ he muttered conspiratorially through the ticket window grille. ‘Foxy Boy has gone early to deliver for Aitkinson.’
    â€˜So BC is still alive?’ asked Daniel.
    â€˜Warm and breathin’, reckon that’s alive. Lor, but I feel naked wi’out me bag.’
    â€˜Emily seems to have kept the bag and the book hidden so far. You had better really look after BC, so he can take over again and we can get everything