The Case of the Vanished Sea Dragon by Gareth P. Jones Page B

machine, rubbed his eyes and looked again to find the bus still there but the dragon and the girl gone. Deciding that exercise clearly didn’t agree with him, he went downstairs to the kitchen, where he found a large tub of strawberry-cheesecake-flavoured ice cream and a big spoon.
    When the bus stopped outside the Global Sands laboratory, Dirk flew over the silver gates and landed on the flat roof of the lab. He poked his head over theedge and looked through the window at the office.
    â€˜It’s empty,’ he said.
    Holly checked her watch. ‘It’s almost time,’ she said.
    Dirk got into position and pulled out a black sphere about the size of a golf ball from behind his right wing.
    â€˜Hold this,’ he said, handing it to Holly.
    â€˜What is it?’ she asked, inspecting it.
    â€˜It’s a retroreflective camera-neutraliser. It sends invisible infrared lasers to block the security cameras.’
    â€˜Where did you get it?’
    â€˜I found it,’ he replied, flicking out the claws on his right paw, checking the sharpness of each on his teeth, then plunging them into the roof. With the claws on his left paw he began to cut a hole.
    â€˜Mr Buchanan said nothing could cut through this roof,’ said Holly.
    â€˜Buchanan has obviously never come across a dragon claw,’ said Dirk.
    Once he had made the hole, he pulled the piece of roof away. The polystyrene ceiling of Brant Buchanan’s office was divided into square metres. Carefully he lifted one away, revealing the room below.
    â€˜What time are we on?’ he asked, taking the black sphere off Holly.
    â€˜Thirty seconds,’ replied Holly. ‘I’ll see if he’s there.’
    She crawled to the edge and looked over. In the alleyway, a man in a baseball cap was standing in front of the back door to the lab. The man checked his watch and swizzled his baseball cap around, revealing the well-worn face of Ladbroke Blake, the private detective who had once been hired to follow Holly and, ever since, helped her out whenever she most needed him. The baseball cap replaced his usual wide-brimmed hat. In place of his trench coat was a lurid red puffa jacket and in his hands was a large pizza box. He glanced at his watch, chucked a piece of gum into his mouth and pressed the intercom buzzer at precisely 19:45.
    â€˜Aye?’ Hamish’s voice came through the Intercom.
    â€˜Free pizza,’ said Ladbroke, chewing the gum, speaking in a strong cockney accent.
    â€˜Ah didn’t order a pizza.’
    â€˜Nah, mate, it’s part of a promotional campaign. It’s free, ain’t it.’
    â€˜Ah can’t go opening this door for a free pizza. Ah’ve got my job to think about here, laddie,’ said Hamish.
    â€˜Fair enough, mate. I’ll see if anyone else wants this free haggis pizza, then.’
    â€˜Did you say haggis pizza?’ said Hamish, suddenly sounding interested.
    â€˜Yeah, it’s one of our specials, sounds disgusting if you ask me.’
    â€˜Ah’ve never had a haggis pizza.’
    â€˜Whatever,’ said Ladbroke.
    â€˜Well, Ah am a wee bit peckish. Stay there, Ah’m coming now.’
    Ladbroke glanced around him. On the phone Holly hadn’t told him where she would be or why she needed him to act as a distraction, and he hadn’t asked. Holly always got the feeling that Ladbroke Blake had seen a lot more of the world than most people.
    She nodded at Dirk and he dropped the camera-neutraliser into the room, waited for a second of two, then jumped in after it.
    Dirk landed in a crouching position and quickly took in the layout of the office. Behind him was the glass desk. In front was the purple sofa. There was a door to his right, and on the ceiling were three cameras. He hoped the camera-neutraliser was working, otherwise the security guard was in for the shock of his life when he looked at the monitors only to find a dragon creeping around