Big Brother (4 page)

‘Approaching drop off, A1,' came LP30's voice over the intercom.

‘There's one more thing, EJ,' said A1. ‘The new Animal Training Division recruits are also at the centre and we need to make sure they are safe. They are not yet mission-ready.'

EJ looked at her horseshoe CHARM as she attached it to her bracelet. HJ12 would be in that group. She felt a lot of responsibility.

‘Horseshoes are thought to bring good luck, you know, EJ,' said A1 reassuringly.

‘I hope that's true,' said EJ.

The campervan slowed and the door slid open. EJ held on to the handle at the side and then jumped, her boots kicking up the red dust of the dirt road. The campervan drove on, leaving her to look around. Checking the compass on her phone, she turned to head north. The air was filled with the sweet smell of gum trees and the buzz of cicadas. EJ looked up to see a white cockatoo screeching from a branch. Further along the road she saw a flock of pink and grey galahs pecking at seed at the side of the road. Just past them was a white-painted wood fence and a sign.

EJ walked through the gate and down the drive. It was, as A1 had said, a wide dirt track with white wooden fences and gum trees on either side. In a short while EJ came to the two paddocks. The right paddock was dry dirt raked in a neat circle. EJ guessed it was a practice ground. There were poles laid out in a line and then a large circle of higher jumps made out of gates, and poles laid across barrels and tractor tyres. On the other side of the path was a field of green grass being watered with large sprinklers. As EJ walked past, a refreshing spray of water hit her cheek. In the corner, nearest the drive, was a large flowering gum tree with huge white, twisting, leaf-filled branches stretched out and up providing a welcome canopy of shade for three horses, a bay, a white horse and a grey.

EJ walked up to the fence, not far from the horses.
They must be the retired horses
, she
thought.
They look quiet but I think I'll stay on this side of the fence all the same.

When EJ was on mission in Africa, she had learnt it was a good idea to stay quiet and still with most wild animals if you didn't want to alarm them. She didn't know much about horses but she expected they were the same. ‘Hello,' she said in her softest, calmest voice. ‘I'm EJ.'

The grey horse looked up and then walked away from the tree. The white horse followed but the tall brown horse with a black mane continued to look at EJ.

‘You must be Lucinda,' said EJ. ‘A1 said you would help me.'

The horse came towards the fence and looked at EJ quizzically. EJ could see the white socks on Lucinda's legs and she looked straight into the horse's large brown eyes. As Lucinda turned away, EJ saw a yellow button on the side of the horse's halter. She watched as the horse moved closer to the tree and began to rub the side of her head
against it, as if she were trying to scratch something. EJ saw the button was now glowing and realised Lucinda must have been setting off an alert.

‘Nice work, Lucinda,' said EJ.

Lucinda snorted.

EJ waited and saw a tall woman walking towards her. The woman wore her hair in a bun under a black riding hat and was dressed in the same riding uniform as EJ.
She must be GG22
, thought EJ, but she began the secret password exchange just to make sure.

‘What types of horses only go out at night?'

‘Nightmares,' the woman replied.

‘Agent GG22?'

‘Affirmative, EJ12,' said GG22. ‘Welcome to the
SHINE
horse CAT. I hope you will enjoy your training. I see you've met Lucinda. Do you know she was A1's horse if she ever needed to ride OM? She's retired now but she runs our visitor alert system. You can't keep a good agent down, can you, girl?' said GG as she reached over the fence
and offered Lucinda a piece of apple.

‘Now EJ before we go down to the centre, I just need to complete a security scan. We need to check everything brought into the centre,' said GG22. ‘It's standard procedure for anyone entering the CAT. Please stand with your legs apart and stretch out your arms. It won't take long.'

EJ did as she was told while GG22 waved a wand-like bar up and down and around her.

‘So,' said GG22, ‘I can see your binoculars, helmet and torch in your backpack. Ah …'

‘What's the matter?' asked EJ.

‘Are they new horse CHARMs on your bracelet?' asked GG, glancing at EJ's wrist. ‘I expect A1 will issue mine soon.'

EJ looked up at GG. ‘How do you know that they're horse CHARMs?'

‘We helped develop them,' went on GG. ‘We tested the prototypes here at the centre. I am
very keen to see them. But, now, let me show you around,' said GG as she pressed a button on the scanner. The bar shrank and GG22 clipped it back on her bracelet. ‘We train all the horses here from foals to fully grown mares and stallions,' she explained. ‘We break the horses in …'

‘You break them?' interrupted EJ, looking worried.

GG laughed. ‘Break them
in
. It means to get them used to humans and to allow us to care for and ride them. Once we can do that, we move them on to more advanced horse agent training. Not that all the horses make it to that stage. Some remain as transport horses and we simply work on their speed. Other horses are trained for jumping, search and rescue, endurance riding, precision riding like dressage and even polo—you never know what sort of undercover disguise might be needed. And here,' said GG as they turned left down the path towards another white wooden gate, ‘are some of our youngest horse agents.'

In this smaller grassed area, sprinkled with daisies, with stables at the back, were five foals, two chestnuts, two whites and one dark brown. There were two agents in the enclosure, one working with a foal and another watching, taking notes. One of the chestnuts, on seeing GG, trotted up to the fence. GG fed her some apple and the foal nuzzled at her hand as GG gently stroked her.

‘She is SO cute,' cried EJ softly. It wasn't very secret-agent like but EJ couldn't help herself. ‘Her legs look too long for her! Can I give her some apple too?'

GG laughed. ‘She'll grow into them and of course, here you go,' said GG passing EJ an apple slice. ‘Apple is her favourite, isn't it Lightning?'

‘Is she called that for the white strip on her forehead?' asked EJ.

‘The blaze is one reason,' said GG, ‘but also because Lightning is fast, really fast. There are no flies on you, are there, Lightning?'

EJ started at that.
The
SHADOW
agent who
sent the message used the expression ‘no flies on me'
, remembered EJ. She looked up at GG22.
Is it just a coincidence she used the same expression?
EJ wondered.

‘For now we're just teaching the foals to be calm when they're with people,' continued GG22. ‘We catch them so we can groom them and give them their vet checks. They just wear a halter when they are little.'

‘A halter?' asked EJ.

‘A halter is like a bridle,' explained GG, ‘but it's simpler and softer and there's no bit. It lets us attach a lunging lead so we can begin training. See what Agent LG12 does with Honeycomb.'

EJ watched as an agent with strawberry blonde hair and wearing pink jodhpurs slowly approached the honey-coloured palomino foal. Taking slow steps towards it, LG12 stretched out her hand and offered a piece of apple. When it was taken, she then stroked the foal's forehead and slipped a head collar rope around her neck. Honeycomb didn't
move away and seemed completely calm as LG continued to stroke her neck, whispering to her all the time. She then attached a halter, fastened the straps and clipped a thick rope onto it. Then she began to walk Honeycomb around the yard, all the time talking soothingly.

‘LG12 is one of our best horse whisperer students. She comes here after school to work with the foals. Agent HH33 over there is taking notes to record our sessions with foals.'

EJ looked across to a tall woman with blonde, almost white hair, tied up in a tight bun under a black riding hat. She looked vaguely familiar.

Have I seen her before?
wondered EJ.
And I'd like to see the notes
. EJ was starting to feel suspicious about everything. ‘How many agents are here at the CAT?' she asked.

‘We have a regular team of dedicated horse care agents at the centre but Animal Division agents also come to earn their horse-trainer badges. There's a group here now but they're out on a bush ride.'

Agent GG and EJ walked to a covered walkway with stable boxes running down each side. EJ smiled when she saw all the horses hanging their heads over the stable doors. There were black ones, brown, cream, chestnut, piebald, skewbald, grey and white. And coming in and out of the stable boxes, carrying saddles, or leading horses were agents in their
SHINE
-issue jodhpurs and shirts.

‘There are so many horses,' exclaimed EJ. ‘And so many agents working in the stables.'

‘We keep busy,' agreed GG22. ‘There's a lot to find out here.'

‘Find out?' repeated EJ.

‘You know, learn,' said GG22.

EJ looked at GG22.
Was that a slip?
she wondered. Was there a lot for EJ to find out or did GG mean she was finding out a lot about
SHINE
?

For the second time, something Agent GG22 had said had made EJ start. She was starting to feel a little uneasy about Agent GG22.

‘What's that smell?' asked EJ, scrunching up her nose and waving some flies away as they walked into the stable yards.

‘Well horse, hay and what Agents MY12 and VS12 have on their garden forks right there,' answered GG. ‘Every horse's box needs to be mucked out each day.'

EJ watched as the two agents worked with large garden forks lifting the horse poo and dirty hay from the stable box into a wheelbarrow with flies buzzing around it. They then swept out the box floor, collected fresh hay bales from the hay store at the
end of the boxes and re-laid the floor with fresh hay. Meanwhile more agents were grooming the horses. WN10 was brushing a beautiful dappled-grey horse with black spots and a blonde agent wearing purple jodhpurs, ESJ13, was using a mane comb to tease the knots from a chestnut quarter horse's mane. EJ watched as the horse's tail swished at the flies buzzing around its rear.

‘Why can't all these horses be out in the paddock like Lucinda?' asked EJ.

‘Lucinda doesn't need to work any more,' said GG. ‘These horses spend a lot of time in training and need a lot of care so it's better for them to be in here. They get plenty of exercise outside though, don't you worry. Each horse has its own stable box—you can see the name card on the door, along with the rosettes the horse has won in shows or for mission work.'

‘And here is one of the horse's tack box,' said GG opening the door to a wooden cupboard to the side.

‘Tack?' asked EJ.

‘Horse equipment,' explained GG. Inside the
box was a halter, bridle, saddle rug and saddle as well as various horse brushes and combs. ‘This is everything we need to look after and ride the horses, plus a few
SHINE
-issue extras. For example, look closely at the saddle. Do you see the three lights down the side of the pommel?'

‘The pommel?' asked EJ wondering if normal words were ever used to describe horse things.

‘The top of the saddle, here,' said GG. ‘They allow us to monitor the health of the horse. There is one for body temperature, one for heart rate and one for breathing rate. Every
SHINE
saddle has them and they are an important part of our speed training. We don't want to over-work our horses.'

They moved down the stables meeting the horses, Willow, a white Shire horse, Nutmeg, a large black and white Clydesdale and a tall, graceful-looking grey horse called Bonita.

‘Bonita is a Lipizzaner. You may have heard of the world-famous Spanish Riding Schools, where the horses are highly trained to perform the most intricate
of dressage manoeuvres. They use Lipizzaner horses like Bonita. An interesting thing about the Lipizzaner horses, EJ, is that they are born black but become lighter and lighter as they grow up.'

EJ thought about that, a horse that was dark changing to light. For a moment, oddly, she thought of Nema, could people also change, from bad to good? And then she looked at GG22. Could people also change from good to bad? Her thoughts were interrupted by GG22 continuing the tour.

‘And, here are our ponies.'

EJ looked at the next box where a much smaller, shorter and chunkier brown and white skewbald with a thick mane was standing. EJ had to peer over the gate to see it.

‘She's tiny,' said EJ. ‘Is she a foal?'

‘No, she's a Shetland pony,' said GG. ‘Ponies are smaller than horses and this breed, the Shetland pony, is particularly small. You can see MN6 riding one over in the practice paddock. They are perfect for our younger agents—although they can be a bit stubborn.'

‘Oh,' said EJ. She didn't like the sound of that.

‘Most of our other horses are out on the bush ride with Agent II44,' said GG. ‘She and the Animal Division trainees will be returning later this afternoon.'

EJ couldn't help but smile. It would be great to see Hannah, HJ12, in
SHINE
uniform. However her smile vanished when she noticed the black horse in the last stable box. This horse looked different to EJ, not as well cared for as the others. Its coat was patchy, its eyes were dull and you could see its ribs under its skin. EJ looked at its card.

‘I thought you said that the Lipizzaner horses were always grey,' said EJ.

‘They are, usually,' replied GG. ‘A few, however, never change colour.'

Hmmm,
thought EJ.
Maybe that's Nema.

‘Traditionally,' GG continued, ‘the black ones are considered a good luck charm. Whoever had this one clearly didn't think so though. We found her abandoned and starving on the dirt road near the centre.'

‘What are those marks on her coat?' asked EJ.

‘They're sores,' said GG. ‘We don't know how she got them. The only thing we know about her is her name because it was on her halter.'

‘
Trojan
, that's a funny name,' said EJ, trying to remember where she had heard it before.

‘Is it?' asked GG. ‘I hadn't thought about it. You mustn't go near Trojan while you are here, EJ,' said GG. ‘She's very skittish and only the more senior trainers are allowed in with her. HH33, who you saw with the foals, has also taken a special interest in Trojan. She joined us the same time as II44.
Oh, here she is now.'

EJ looked up as Agent HH33 approached Trojan's horsebox.

‘HH33, this is EJ12,' said GG.

‘Hello,' replied HH. ‘I have heard a lot about you. No flies on you!'

EJ started. There was that expression again.

HH33 entered Trojan's box and the horse stamped its feet. As HH began brushing her coat, the horse became more agitated and began to whinny and snort.

‘Let's leave them to it,' said GG quickly, taking EJ by the elbow and leading her out in to the mounting yard. ‘We need to start your lesson. I think AN12 has been preparing your horse.'

A girl with curly black hair springing out from under her riding helmet was leading one of the dapple grey Shetland ponies into the mounting yard. She stopped in front of EJ. ‘This is Misty,' she said. ‘She's a little stubborn but she's quiet.'

‘Thank you, AN12,' replied GG.

There was a ping and GG took out her phone.

‘The trainees are returning early from the bush ride,' she said to AN12. ‘You and Agents WN10 and MN6 will need to make sure the boxes are ready for the horses.'

‘Yes, GG,' replied AN12. ‘We're on it.'

‘Right,' said GG, turning back to EJ. ‘Helmet on and let's get you on the pony.'

EJ gulped as she took her helmet from her backpack. She strapped it on and looked at Misty. ‘Um, GG, there's no saddle.'

‘No, it's better to start bare-back,' explained GG. ‘It allows you to feel the horse and get your balance. Let me give you a leg up.'

GG held EJ's left foot and pushed her up as EJ swung her right leg up and over Misty's back. All her gymnastics meant EJ had good balance and she sat straight on Misty's back but she still felt as if she could slip off at any moment.

‘Good work, EJ,' encouraged GG. ‘Now you can hold the horse's mane for reins. Keep your heels
pointing down and give Misty a short, sharp kick so she knows you want to move.'

I'm not sure I want to move
, thought EJ but she gave Misty a touch with her feet. Misty didn't move. ‘Maybe I'm just not a horse person,' said EJ.

Misty snorted and shook her head at the flies buzzing around her head.

‘Come on, EJ12, give her a real kick,' instructed GG, ‘with both feet. You won't hurt her but you do need to show her who's the boss!'

EJ tried another kick, this time firmer than before but, again, Misty didn't budge.

‘I think she's the boss,' concluded EJ.

‘Only because you are letting her think that,' said GG. ‘Give a sharp kick now.'

EJ kicked again, hard this time and with both feet. The pony moved forward quickly, a little too quickly down the path from the mounting yard and out towards the paddocks. EJ almost slipped off but she managed to pull herself back to centre.

‘That's it. Hands down on the mane, back
straight, EJ. Pull her back,' cried GG.

Misty lifted her head up and started to trot. EJ was caught by surprise. She bounced along uncertainly. She looked back and saw that Agent GG was talking to Agent HH33 as she looked across to EJ and Misty. GG then did something with her phone.

A moment later, she called out to EJ. ‘That's good work. Now grip with your knees and raise yourself up and down on her back. Feel the rhythm of the trot and try to take control. That's it, good work. Now, to stop, pull her mane to make her turn.'

EJ tried and after a couple of attempts Misty turned to the right and then stopped. EJ was relieved but still a bit shaken. She was trying to think of an excuse to get off and walk Misty back to the stables.

Saved by the phone.