Big Brother (8 page)

The sun was now fully up and the sky was clear. The fire had been put out before it had a chance to spread and the horses were all washed, brushed and fed and put safely back in their stable boxes. EJ had brushed down Lucinda while GG took extra-special care of Trojan. The poor joey was sent off to be cared for at the
SHINE
marsupial CAT nearby. A1 had also arrived and completed her tour of the horse CAT. Some fencing around the stables had been destroyed but otherwise they had been lucky. And with the horses fed and watered, all the agents were now enjoying their own breakfast of pancakes, strawberries and
maple syrup.

‘It could have been a lot worse,' said A1 grimly. ‘If you hadn't called us so quickly, EJ, who knows what might have happened with those winds.'

‘And if they'd gotten hold of so many of
SHINE
's CHARMs,' GG added.

EJ shuddered. She hated to think.

A1 put her knife and fork down and stood up from the table. ‘I think now is the perfect time for the presentation.'

‘Absolutely,' said GG.

The animal training division agents lined up outside their horses' boxes. A1 stood at the head of the stable yard and addressed them.

‘You have all done outstandingly,' she told the group. ‘You stayed calm and looked after your horses with exceptional care in an emergency. It looks like one day you might be as mission-ready as EJ12 here.'

EJ blushed. HJ and EL beamed at her.

‘I will now present you with your achievement
badges,' said A1. She walked up and shook each of the agents by the hand as GG presented them with their horse trainer badges. They had all earned them.

It was EJ's turn to smile broadly when HJ12 and then EL12 were presented with theirs.

‘Way to go!' mouthed EJ to her two friends.

‘And we have one more badge to award,' said A1. ‘EJ, will you step forward, please?'

EJ blushed again as GG presented her with her badge.

‘Good job, EJ12,' said Agent GG22. ‘It seems you are a horse person after all.'

EJ smiled. Maybe she was but she wasn't sure that she deserved an award. After all, they still didn't really know who was behind the
SHADOW
spy-flies.

The trainees boarded the bus that would take them home.

‘Come with us, EJ,' said A1, climbing into the campervan. ‘We will drop you home. I need to discuss something with you.'

EJ and A1 sat at the campervan table. A1 was examining a spy-fly.

‘We were able to re-build it from the bits you sent,' said A1. ‘It's ingenious really. They work like real insects. They are planted somewhere, like on poor Trojan, as eggs. They can be pre-set to hatch at a specific time when they then grow like flies embedding their audio-visual bugs into pretty much anywhere. And you can monitor them on a phone. It really is quite brilliant.'

‘Who at
SHADOW
could invent something like this?' wondered EJ. Then EJ had a brainwave, or at least part of one. ‘Adriana was the original inventor of Eco-Deco when she worked at
SHINE
, wasn't she?'

‘Yes …' said A1.

‘Could she be involved with this?'

‘I don't see how she could do it from inside
SHINE
Detention,' said A1.

‘Maybe because she had HH33 and II44 on the outside to help her,' said EJ. ‘But who is HH33?'

‘I think I know,' said A1. ‘HH is Harriet Hill. She is …'

‘Caterina Hill's sister?' asked EJ, her eyes widening.

‘I'm afraid so,' said A1. ‘Your rosette-cams got a visual this morning and we cross-checked against our records. Harriet is definitely Caterina's sister.'

‘And you think she is working with Adriana?'

‘I do, and possibly with Caterina as well.'

‘Wow,' said EJ. ‘Sisters … And I thought brothers were bad.'

A1 smiled at that. ‘We need to keep a close eye on my sister. And I think I'll take a good look at her drawings. Good work, EJ!'

‘But it's not over yet,' said EJ.

‘It is for today, EJ,' replied A1. ‘We'll work it out. We—and you—always do. For now, at least, everything is secure—and we are arriving at the end of your street.'

But is everything secure?
wondered EJ. She remembered about Bob and his remote-controlled car.

‘He doesn't know anything, EJ,' A1 reassured her. ‘Well, besides where you kept your midnight feast and about your truth and dare games.'

EJ blushed. It was a little embarrassing A1 knowing her agents had midnight feasts and made up toilet dares.

‘How do you know he doesn't know anything about
SHINE
?' she asked.

‘SJ45 did some gentle interrogation,' explained A1. ‘Our secret is safe.'

‘All the same, A1, can I keep one of these flies?'

A1 smiled. ‘Okay, EJ, but it mustn't leave your house.'

‘Oh, it won't,' said EJ as she got out of the campervan.
I have a little test of my own,
she thought as she walked up the front steps of her house.

When Emma got on the school bus the next morning, Elle, Isi and Hannah were already on, sitting together down the back. Emma smiled and joined her friends. Elle and Isi gave Em a big hug.

‘WTG, Em!' cried Isi. ‘Han's been telling us all about it. And can you believe about Eve?' she whispered. ‘WK?'

‘Who knew?' guessed Emma. She was getting good at this now. Then again, she'd had enough practice the last couple of days.

‘I have to say, I was a bit suspicious,' said Elle. ‘She has been away from school a bit.'

‘Imagine what I thought when she got on the bus?' said Han.

As if on cue, Eve got on the school bus.

‘Hi, Eve,' called Hannah. ‘Come and sit with us.'

Eve came down the aisle and sat down next to Hannah. The five girls couldn't stop grinning.

‘We have to have a giant sleepover,' decided Emma. ‘Then we can talk properly. I've got a great secret language to teach you all. Yarpou warpill larpove arpit!'

‘But what about Bob?' asked Elle.

Emma smiled. ‘Don't worry, he won't bother us.'

‘Don't be too hard on him,' said Isi.

‘Is!' cried Emma. ‘Whose side are you on?'

‘Yours, Em, but he was pretty cool standing up for you on the bus yesterday.'

‘He was?'

‘Everyone was talking about middle names and Nema started making fun of yours.'

‘Again?' groaned Emma. ‘She really needs to get new material.'

‘Yeah, well apparently Nema has two middle names,' said Isi.

‘That figures,' said Emma. ‘What are they?'

‘The initials are D S but when we asked her what they stood for, she wouldn't say—except, that they were SO much better than your middle name. Anyway, Bob must have heard because he walked right up to Nema and told her it was a family name and if she didn't have anything nice to say, perhaps she should keep her mouth closed and stop being mean to you.'

Emma blinked. ‘Bob said that?' she asked. ‘To Nema?'

‘Yep, and you should have seen Nema,' said Isi. ‘She just stared at Bob. She didn't say another word.'

Emma had to admit that was pretty cool of Bob and, she remembered, if it wasn't for him she might not have figured out what
SHADOW
was doing. Maybe brothers had some uses after all—not that she would ever tell Bob that.

That evening, as the cool change finally came and a lovely breeze blew through all the open windows in the house, Emma was reading on the sofa in the living room with Beret sitting on her lap. The puppy barked as Bob walked in.

‘Excellent warning skills,' whispered Emma to her puppy. ‘Hey,' she said to her brother.

‘Yeah, hi,' said Bob walking on to the kitchen, his favourite place in the house.

‘Um, Isi saw you on the bus yesterday,' said Emma.

‘Oh yeah? Right,' said Bob.

‘Thanks,' said Emma.

‘For what?' asked Bob, surprised.

‘You know,' said Emma. ‘Anyway, thanks.'

Bob smiled a little as he headed into the kitchen. Emma smiled too. She was surprised but happy that her big brother had stood up for her but that wasn't going to stop her getting Bob back for spying on her and her friends.

‘I'll show him how it's really done,' said Emma to herself as she took a quick look in the kitchen. Bob's head was nearly in a bowl of instant noodles. She knew nothing would distract him from those. Quickly and quietly she crept up the hallway and into Bob's room. His car was on his desk and Emma carefully opened the recording device and removed one of the components. She then re-sealed the device.

‘Step one complete,' she said to herself, grinning.

Next she carefully placed a small fly behind Bob's desk lamp.
At the rate he cleans his room,
thought Emma,
he'll never find it.

Emma thought she might be able to handle her big brother after all—with a little help from EJ12!

Emma Jacks and EJ12 will return in

find out more at

ej12girlhero.com