H. I. Larry - Thrill Ride

THRILL RIDE

BY H. I. LARY

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDY HOOK

Thrill Ride
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 Andy Hook
Illustrations by Andy Hook
Typeset by Ektavo
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

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CONTENTS

WHYS THE MUSIC SO LOUD? yelled Leon, jamming his fingers in his ears.

Zac Power and his brother Leon were front row at the Axegrinder concert. Axegrinder was Zacs favourite band.

Sounds like a cat with its tail jammed in a door! whined Leon, but Zac could hardly hear him above the music.

If only Zacs mum hadnt made Leon come to the concert too

AXEGRINDER ROCKS! Zac yelled.

Zac didnt normally have time to do stuff like this. Although he was only twelve, he worked as a top-secret spy for GIB (or Government Investigation Bureau). Missions and training kept him super busy.

Last holidays, hed spent two entire weeks doing GIBs Fear Management course. Not that he had any fear to start with! His mum and dad were GIB spies, too. Fearlessness was in his blood.

Even Leons not afraid of being too geeky, Zac thought, laughing to himself.

Leon worked for GIB Tech Support. He designed gadgets and operated GIBs super-computers. Leons code name was Agent Tech Head.

The chorus of Axegrinders latest hit was playing. Zac was singing at the top of his voice, rocking out. He strummed his air-guitar wildly.

Then someone tapped him on the back.

What kind of moron would interruptAxegrinders best song? fumed Zac, turning around.

It was Angus Poulter from school. He was eight and thought Zac was really cool. Angus didnt know Zac was a spy that was top secret. But Angus copied Zacs hairstyles and backpack anyway. He even wanted to change his name to Zac!

Are are you here by yourself? Angus stammered.

Zac pointed at Leon and shook his head.

I brought my mum, said Angus.

A woman in a pink tracksuit waved at them. Angus blushed.

Angus makes Leon look cool! Zac thought. And thats saying something.

Do you would you Angus began.

Suddenly, Zac felt sorry for Angus. He couldnt help being shy.

Wanna come to my ninth birthday party tomorrow? Angus blurted. Its at 12 oclock.

Er OK, said Zac, not knowing what else to say.

Hed be by far the oldest at Anguss party. Imagine if he had to play musical chairs! But there was no way out now. If Zac didnt show up, Angus would be crushed.

Great, see ya! said Angus, smiling happily. The huge crowd swallowed up Angus and his mum. In fact, the crowd was cheering and going crazier than ever.

Whats going on? Zac wondered. Then he noticed an Axegrinder fan. The kid was standing on the barrier in front of the stage. He was about to jump! Zac watched as he dived and was caught by the crowd below him.

Awesome! Zac thought. He had always wanted to stage-dive.

Zac elbowed through the crowd and jumped onto the barrier. In front of him, the crowd was a sea of faces and waving arms. The floor looked a long way down

The crowd chanted,

JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!

What if they dont catch me? Zac worried for a moment. But he quickly squashed that thought. A spy feels no fear!

He took a deep breath and

WOOO-HOOOO! Zac yelled, sailing through the air. For a moment, he was flying!

Then Zac noticed a burly man dressed all in black pushing through the crowd, as if in slow motion. He looked like a typical bouncer.

Hes standing right where Im going to land! thought Zac, hurtling towards the man. And hes shoving everyone out of the way!

Youre coming with me, the man barked, catching Zac before he hit the floor.

Easy, Meat Head, Zac muttered. I know stage-divings against the rules. But theres no need to chuck me out.

Gripping Zac tightly with his meaty hands, the man dragged Zac through the crowd towards the exit door. Zac couldnt escape. The man was practically carrying him.

Zac looked at the mans T-shirt.

The bouncers have all got CROWDCONTROL printed on their T-shirts, Zac realised. But this mans T-shirt is blank. Hesnot a real bouncer!

Zac kicked and struggled. But the fake bouncer held on tight. He dragged Zac all the way around to the back of the stadium.

Zac had no idea what was about to happen. Then he caught sight of a silver bus with monster truck wheels, parked just behind the stadium.

Huh? Zac thought. That looks likeAxegrinders tour bus!

GIB MOBILE TECHNOLOGY LAB

(Axegrinder Tour Bus Disguise)

At last, the fake bouncer let go of Zac.

Agent Clawhammer, GIB Mission Control, he said, shaking Zacs hand. We disguised the mission vehicle as a rock stars tour bus. Didnt want to stand out too much at the Axegrinder concert.

Thats a cool bus, Zac admitted. But why pretend to be a bouncer, Agent Clawhammer? I thought I was being kidnapped!

Clawhammer coughed. HQ believed leaving the Axegrinder concert for a mission would displease you.

They got that right, thought Zac grumpily, climbing aboard the bus.

The fit-out on the mission vehicle was awesome. Unlimited snacks. A library of all the latest movies on blu-ray. Plus a fullsized spa to watch them in!

Before Zac could enjoy any of it, Agent Clawhammer handed him a mission disk. Zac put it into his SpyPad, the minicomputer all GIB spies carried.

CLASIFIED

MISSION INITIATED: 12.04PM

GIB has learnt that BIG is holding its
annual conference at Shark Park
24 hours from now.

Shark Park is a new 24-hour theme
park on the north coast. It is home to
the world's scariest roller-coaster,
the White Pointer.

YOUR MISION:

A simple intelligence-gathering
operation: Bug the conference facility,
disguising yourself as Captain Tentacles
the Happy Octopus.

Remember, BIG agents have already
begun arriving at Shark Park,