H. I. Larry - Foul Play

FOUL PLAY
BYH. I. LARRY

ILLUSTRATIONS BYCAL BENNETT

Foul Play
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 Cal Bennett
Illustrations by Cal Bennett
Typeset by Ektavo
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
ONE

Zac Powers class was playing a game of soccer in PE. Zac was really good at soccer but he had to pretend he was hopeless.

One of his classmates had just kicked the ball right at him.

Come on, Zac, yelled Mr Kane, his PE teacher. Go for the ball!

Zac jumped up to hit the ball with his head. But he made sure he missed. Then he pretended to trip over, and crashed headfirst into one of his classmates.

OOF!

The boy hed crashed into looked annoyed, and some of the other players laughed. Zac said sorry, but he knew he hadnt hurt his classmate.

I thought youd been practising, Zac, said Mr Kane, jogging over.

I have been, sir, said Zac.

If only I could show him what a fantasticplayer I really am, he thought.

Zac Power actually loved soccer. In fact, he loved most sports. He was a spy for the Government Investigation Bureau (GIB), so he had sharpened his strength and fitness on lots of dangerous missions. A GIB spy had to be ready for anything.

But no-one was allowed to know that Zac was a spy, so he had to pretend to be bad at sport.

Zac sighed as the game started again. He wished the class would hurry up and end.

Everyone at school had been crazy about soccer for the past few weeks. The National Soccer League grand final between the Superstars and the Sharks was that weekend. Zac wanted the Superstars to win. They were his favourite team.

The ball was kicked to Zac again. He kicked it badly on purpose.

SMACK!

The ball shot off his boot like a rocket, but it didnt go anywhere near the goal. It flew out of bounds and landed in some thick bushes. Mr Kane sighed and shook his head.

Sorry, said Zac, his cheeks burning.

Im glad I signed you up for the special training session after the big game tomorrow, said Mr Kane. Remember to meet me at the stadium at 3 oclock. Youll learn a lot from training with the Superstars players.

Zac groaned. He would have to pretend to be a terrible player again. This time would be worse though, because hed be in front of his favourite team!

Mr Kane blew his whistle. Thats enough for today, everyone, he called. Back to the classroom! Off you go!

Finally, thought Zac. He headed towards the school building.

Just a minute, Zac, called Mr Kane.

Zac stopped and turned back to his teacher.

Please find that ball you kicked into the bushes, said Mr Kane. Hurry up, the bells about to go.

All right, sighed Zac. His class and Mr Kane walked back inside. Zac was alone on the sports field.

What a horrible day, he thought. Whycant I be called away on a cool secret missionright now?

Zac walked over to the bushes. He couldnt see the ball anywhere. Suddenly, a strong wind whipped across the grass and around him. It sounded like thunder in his ears.

Zac looked up and saw a gigantic helicopter in the sky. It was hovering above him. Its blades were a blur, spinning like a giant fan. The helicopter was brightly painted and covered in neon lights, music speakers and fireworks launchers.

Zac grinned. Maybe his day was about to get better after all.

The helicopter landed on the grass near Zac. The door slid open and Zacs older brother Leon leant out.

Hey, Zac, Leon shouted above the noise. GIB sent me to pick you up. They need you for a mission.

Leon was a GIB spy too, but he hardly ever went on missions. He worked in the Tech Support and Gadget Design Division. Leon was a bit of a nerd and he made awesome gadgets.

Excellent! said Zac. Maybe he would get out of the training session the next day after all!

Zac ducked his head under the spinning blades and ran towards Leon.

Hey, said Zac, climbing on board. Whats with the fireworks and lights on this thing?

Its a Hypercopter, answered Leon. Youre going to make an entrance that no-one will forget on this mission.

Sounds like fun, said Zac.

He couldnt wait to find out what sort of mission needed a fireworks-launching chopper!

CHAPTER
TWO

Leon took the Hypercopters controls, and the chopper rose into the air again.

WHIRRRR

The blades whipped loudly above Zacs head. He looked out the window, watching his school oval get smaller and smaller as they took off.

Grab your SpyPad, Leon said, once they were flying.

Zac pulled it out of his back pocket. He carried his GIB SpyPad at all times. It was like a phone and computer rolled into one. Zac had loads of cool games on his.

Leon handed him a small silver mission disk with the GIB logo on it. Zac slid it into his SpyPad.

CLASSIFIED - FOR THE EYES OF AGENT ROCK STAR ONLY

MISSION INITIATED: 3.00PM
CURRENT TIME: 3.17PM

The National Soccer League grand final is on tomorrow between the Superstars and the Sharks. There is a huge cash prize for the winning team and they'll also appear on TV to encourage kids to play sport.

But GIB suspects that the Sharks will cheat their way to the prize.

Your mission is to go undercover as a Superstars player and investigate. Stop the Sharks from cheating before the grand final ends at 3pm tomorrow.

MISSION TIME REMAINING:
23 HOURS 43 MINUTES
END

Is this for real? Zac asked Leon. His stomach started doing crazy flips. Im actually going to play on a National League team?

Definitely, smiled Leon. Playing for the Superstars is the best way to get close to the Sharks without anyone suspecting.

Awesome! said Zac. He felt so excited, even though he knew it was a serious mission. So where are we going?

The media are holding a big event at Bladesville Stadium this afternoon, said Leon. Everyone playing in the big game will be photographed and interviewed.That includes you. And afterwards, youll have to do a training session in the stadium.