H. I. Larry - Sand Storm

SAND STORM

BY H. I. LARRY

ILLUSTRATIONS BY CAL BENNETT,
DAMIEN HOLDER & ANDY HOOK

Sand Storm
published in 2009 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 copyright 2009 H.I. Larry
Illustration and design copyright 2009 Hardie Grant Egmont

Cover design by Damien Holder
Illustrations by Cal Bennett, Damien Holder & Andy Hook
Typeset by Ektavo
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
ONE

The early morning sun streamed in through Zac Powers bedroom window. He squeezed his eyes shut and rolled over in his warm bed. He didnt want to think about getting up for school.

What should I have for breakfast? Zac wondered. Maybe a bowl of Chocmallow Puffs.I wonder if Mum bought any chocolate milk

Zac, are you awake? asked a voice from the doorway.

No, Zac mumbled sleepily. Come back later.

Sorry, kiddo, said the voice. I need you to get up now. Zac felt a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him. Thats it, said the voice. Rise and shine.

Zac yawned and sat up. Whats going on? he muttered.

Then he opened his eyes and almost fell off the bed in shock. Grandpa?

Good to see you, kiddo! said Grandpa, tossing Zac his backpack. Youd better get packing. Were leaving in two minutes!

Zac caught the backpack and grinned at Grandpa. Zac hadnt seen him for months. Grandpa worked for the Government Investigation Bureau, GIB for short, in their Invisibles Department.

Grandpas work was so top-secret that almost no-one knew about it except for Zac and his family, who also worked as spies for GIB. They were allowed to live at home, though. Zac was already one of the best spies in the agency. But he had to balance being a spy with going to school like a normal 12-year-old.

The last time Zac saw Grandpa, theyd busted out of an enemy moon base together and saved GIB from being destroyed by a super-advanced android. Whatever his grandpa was here for this time, Zac knew it had to be something just as important.

Zac jumped out of bed. He suddenly felt wide-awake. He picked up his SpyPad (the hand-held mini-computer that every GIB spy used), and glanced at the clock on the screen.

Whats going on? he asked as he threw some clothes into his backpack.

Ill explain after take-off, Grandpa said. Right now we need to get moving. He headed for the door.

Get moving where? Zac asked, zipping up his backpack and following him out of the room.

Weve got a mission from GIB, said Grandpa.

What about your Invisibles work? Zac asked as they reached the top of the stairs.

The main job of the Invisibles was to sneak GIB agents into an enemy agency called BIG so that they could gather intelligence.

There are more important things than that right now, said Grandpa, taking the stairs two at a time.

Zac stared. BIG was the most evil spy agency on the planet! What could be more important than bringing BIG down from the inside?

Zac and Grandpa reached the bottom of the stairs and hurried outside. There was obviously no time for breakfast. Grandpa ran out onto the front lawn.

HISSSSSS!

Zac looked around to see where the loud hissing sound was coming from.

A door had just slid open in front of them, floating in mid-air.

It took Zac a second to realise what was going on. A cloaked vehicle was parked on his front lawn. It was Grandpas invisible jet! Zac had never been inside it before.

Grandpa leapt up through the door and reached out a hand to help Zac aboard.

Zac climbed into the jet, and the door slid shut behind him. When he stood up, he found himself inside a sleek, blue-grey cabin with a cockpit at one end and a living area at the other. A giant TV screen on the wall showed a satellite feed of a sandy desert.

OK, said Zac, dropping his backpack on the floor. Now are you ready to tell me whats going on?

Its nothing too extreme, said Grandpa, grinning at Zac.But how do you feel about a quick race around the world?

CHAPTER
TWO

Ready for take-off? called a voice from the front of the jet.

Zac looked up and saw Leon, his geeky older brother, sitting at an enormous control panel crammed with glowing buttons and dials. Leon worked on gadgets and vehicles in the GIB Tech Labs.

Grandpa nodded. Lets go.

Zac jumped into the co-pilots seat. He and Leon got to work at the controls, steering the invisible jet out onto the street. As they picked up speed, Zac could see the houses rushing past the window, faster and faster.

Zac still had no idea where they were going, but at least it meant he got to miss out on school!

The course is plotted, said Leon, tapping a few final buttons. Auto-pilot on.

ZZZOOOOOOM!

The jet lurched forward and rocketed into the early morning sky.The force threw Zac back against his chair. After about 30 seconds, the jet levelled off and started flying towards the ocean. The city was far below them now, a sea of tiny buildings. Zac and Leon undid their seatbelts and stood up from the control panel.

When will we get to the Amber Sands? Grandpa asked Leon.

In about four hours, Leon replied.

Why are we going to the desert? asked Zac. Hed visited the Amber Sands before, on another mission. That was the first time hed ever met the BIG agent Caz. Caz was his worst enemy.

Weve got some treasure-hunting to do, said Grandpa. He pulled something round and shiny from his pocket and handed it to Zac. It looked like a standard-issue GIB mission disk, but it was jet-black instead of silver.

Zac slipped the disk into his SpyPad. A message popped up on the screen.

ACCESS DENIED

Level X security clearance.
Retinal scan required to verify identity .

It looked like the security on this mission was super tight! Zac held the SpyPad up to his face. A laser shot out from the screen, scanning his eye.

The SpyPad beeped, and then Zacs top- secret mission loaded onto the screen.

HIGHLY CLASSIFIED
LEVEL X SECURITY
ACCESS ONLY

A Data Orb containing a top-secret
G.I.B. map has been stolen by B.I.G.
Commander Agent Blackwood. The map
leads to four pieces of a highly
dangerous device, code-named IRIS.