H. I. Larry - Overdrive

OVERDRIVE

BY H. I. LARRY

ILLUSTRATIONS BYDAN McDONALD

Overdrive
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 & illustrations by Dan McDonald
Typeset by Ektavo
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER
ONE

This isnt a school musical, Zac Power fumed to himself. This is a crime against my ears!

It was the final dress rehearsal for Zacs school musical and he was listening to the school choir practise. Opening night was only 24 hours away.

The choir needs 24 years to practise, not 24 hours, Zac muttered to himself. He was standing backstage, waiting for his turn to go on. Theyre so terrible theyd shatter glass in Siberia!

The theme of the musical was protecting the environment. It was a good cause, but Zac was dreading the show.

Zac had a leading role and that meant he had to sing a solo! The song was called Im an Okey-Dokey Oak Tree.

It was 7.06 p.m. almost time for Zacs solo.

Zac was dressed in his costume, a huge head-to-toe oak tree. It was decorated with acorns and a fake possum. Zacs face poked through the front of the tree trunk. His Rapido X-Fire sneakers stuck out underneath. But the absolute worst part was that the suit pinned Zacs arms to his side. He couldnt even scratch his nose.

This is so embarrassing! Zac thought. I am a top international super spy, after all.

Zac was twelve, and he had an awesome job with the Government Investigation Bureau (or GIB for short). His code name was Agent Rock Star. Zacs mum and dad were spies too. Even his big brother Leon worked for GIB. Leon worked in the Tech Support and Gadget Design Division.

Leon was doing sound and lighting for the school musical. But right then, he was backstage next to Zac, flipping through a newspaper.

Some miners have struck a massive gold deposit in a town called Monteforte, Leon said, holding up the paper. It says here that all the banks are absolutely stuffed with gold.

Isnt Monteforte where the Formula One Grand Prix is held? Zac asked.

Leon nodded and went back to reading.

On stage, the choir got louder and louder. It could only mean one thing the choirs song was almost over.

At last, Zac whispered to Leon as he got ready to walk on stage. My eardrums were about to explode!

Just then, something thumped the back of Zacs tree costume.

Zac couldnt see what it was, but he wasnt bothered. Guess the teachers are checking that the pulleys working.

The school hall had a pulley hanging down from the ceiling. It clipped onto a special loop on Zacs costume. When Zac finished his solo, he was going to be raised up off the stage. It was supposed to look like the oak tree was being uprooted.

Fa-la-la-LA-la-la-la! Zac sung to himself under his breath.

Got to warm up my voice, he thought. If Im singing a solo, I want to sound decent.

WHOOSH!

HEY! Zac yelled, as he was suddenly lifted off the ground. Whats going on?

Zac sped towards the ceiling. Leon! he called. The lift shouldnt happen until after my solo!

But Zac was already too high in the air.

Leon couldnt help him.

A second later, a freezing wind slapped Zac in the face. Zac twisted his neck around and looked up. It was tough to see in the tree suit. But Zac could tell that he was outside! He had been pulled through a skylight. And he wasnt hanging from the pulley in the school hall. He was dangling from a massive yellow crane!

The crane groaned into gear, swinging Zac over towards the school gates. And it was moving fast!

Zac swung back and forth as the crane picked up speed. He tried desperately to wriggle free of the oak tree costume. But that only swung him around more.

Zac started to feel sick from all the jolting around. But even though he felt queasy, his spy brain was whirring.

When GIB want me for a mission, they sometimes come and grab me unexpectedly, thought Zac. But still, I usually travel in style!

Zac thought of all the stealth jets, super bikes and cool high-speed vehicles hed travelled in.

Ive never, ever travelled in a crane, Zac thought grimly. A crane doesnt seem like GIBs style.

That left Zac with a big question.

If GIB didnt bust me through the school halls roof, who did?

CHAPTER
TWO

The crane suddenly stopped moving. It was lowering Zac down.

Dangling from the crane, Zac twisted around in his tree costume to get a better look.

A logging truck was parked just outside the school gates. It was piled with chopped-down trees.

Looks like Im the next tree to be loaded, thought Zac. Then he heard a soft click.

WHOOSH!

The crane released Zac ten metres from the ground!

Zac let himself go floppy, like hed learnt in spy school. A split second later, he landed on the truck, flat on his back. His stiff tree costume smacked down hard on the pile of logs.

OOOOF!

Zac felt the logging truck rumble to life and take off. Zac had no idea where he was going. All he could see was the starry sky above him.

Id better call Leon for help, thought Zac.

Zac needed to use his SpyPad to call Leon. SpyPads were the powerful minicomputers that all GIB spies carried. As well as having high-tech spy programs, SpyPads had a mobile phone function. Plus they had loads of cool games. F1 Legends was one of Zacs favourites.

Zac moved to grab his SpyPad from his pocket, where he always kept it. But he didnt get far. Thanks to his tree costume, his arms were pinned to his sides.

Zac groaned. For once in his spy career, he was helpless. It was the worst feeling in the world. There was nothing to do but lie there like a lump of wood.

The truck ride seemed to last forever. At one point, the truck drove inside somewhere, and Zac thought it had finally stopped. All he could see was a black roof above his head. But even though the truck itself wasnt moving, it still seemed to rock from side to side.

Its exactly like being at sea,