The Hollywood Mission by Deborah Abela Page B

since it happened.’
    Ben ran the Securicore over everything, checking for bugs and looking for any signs of tampering, while Eleanor took a small metal globe from her pocket. As she lifted it into the air, it lit up like a sparkler and she drew a wide sweeping arc that left a glowing green curve around them.
    â€˜What’s that?’ Linden was impressed by the flickering dome shape.
    â€˜A Shush Zone,’ Eleanor explained as she logged onto Steinberger. ‘It creates a restrictive sound field that stops anything we say leaving this area.’
    â€˜No bugs, Steinby.’ Ben dropped his apple core in a bin as Eleanor prepared to take notes.
    â€˜Excellent. Glad to see you all again. And Max,I’m sorry to hear about your fall, but I, like Eleanor, think that it was no accident.’
    Max trembled at the memory. Linden saw her worried face and gave her a nudge — one he hoped reminded her of their pact to look out for each other.
    â€˜In your parcels you’ll find all you need for your mission. Your pack doubles as a Personal Flying Device, and I know how much you loved the PFD on the last mission, Max.’
    Max groaned. Using the PFD hadn’t come very naturally to her.
    â€˜Inside the packs are a Danger Meter, which, as you know from your first mission, is to be worn beneath your clothes and vibrates when danger is close. You’ll also find a torch, a knife, a laser and a pair of heat-sensitive, X-ray glasses. Not only will they find concealed objects, but they can pinpoint the location of a human in dark or hidden places by emitting a red pulsing glow. Finally, there’s one of Plomb’s dustless, soundless bombs and detonator. You of course have your palm computers with the built-in locator and other equipment will be given to you by a secret contact we have specially placed in the studio since the attack on Max.’
    He went on to explain the mission. ‘An eminent scientist has been kidnapped. He wasworking on a part-time basis for Spyforce. He never was a man to sit still too long, so he worked for us whenever he was in the country.’
    â€˜He’s an adventurer?’ asked Max.
    â€˜No, he’s one of the world’s most accomplished walking champions. He’s won medals for it in almost every country. Not for me, all that hip swinging and feet to the floor at all times. In my younger day I could have —’
    â€˜What do we know about the kidnap?’ Max interrupted before they were all forced to take a trip down Steinberger’s crowded memory lane.
    â€˜We know he was kidnapped because his home was left in a mess. He is a meticulous man who breaks into a sweat if anything is untidy for even a few minutes. There was an unmade bed, and eggs that had been boiling on the stove long enough to make them bounce when they were thrown against the wall.’
    â€˜How do you know that?’ asked Linden.
    â€˜One of the agents tried it out.’
    Max and Linden were curious why the agents had nothing better to do in the face of a kidnapping than throw eggs around, until Steinberger continued.
    â€˜They did this to estimate the time the eggs had been cooking and hence how long our scientist hadbeen gone. Estimated kidnap time was three hours fifteen minutes and forty seconds earlier. We knew then that Dr Fartie was in trouble.’
    Because they were in the middle of a mission briefing, Ben and Linden did all they could not to laugh at Dr Fartie’s unusual name.
    â€˜We’re not sure who kidnapped Biggus or what they plan to do with him, but we think it has something to do with the work on encoding he was doing for us. Or it could be his study of methane gas emissions, we’re not positive yet.’
    Linden sat on his hands and Ben squeezed his lips between his teeth. A laugh as full as a belly after Christmas was trying to wiggle its way out of both of them.
    Linden wanted to make sure he had things straight. ‘So