Christmas Countdown (6 page)

EJ looked at her handcuffs and smiled. ‘Tiffany isn't quite as clever as she thinks she is,' she said. ‘We'll be out of here in no time. Watch this.' EJ leant down to the bar where her hands were and, with her teeth, she took her skeleton key charm from her bracelet and put it between her fingers. With the index fingers of both hands she twisted. A key appeared.

Her friend was impressed. ‘Way to go, EJ!! But how are you going to unlock … oh I see.'

EJ had picked up the key again in her teeth and then put it in the lock of the handcuffs. There was a click then a clunk and the handcuffs fell to the floor. She rushed over to IJ and untied her rope.

‘No wonder you have so many Shining Star points,' said IJ.

EJ went to the door that Tiffany had left through but there was no lock. ‘It's like the one in the vault room,' she said, ‘so my key won't work. How will we get out? We have less than two hours before the parade and we still don't know where the diamonds are.' Then EJ jumped back. She had heard footsteps. ‘Quick, IJ. Get back on your chair and put your hands behind your back. Someone's coming!'

EJ grabbed the ropes and quickly re-tied IJ before jumping back into the sleigh and re-cuffing herself. They would have to start all over again but they had no choice. They held their breath as the door opened. It was Tiffany Glass.

‘Still here?' she said. ‘You're even more hopeless than I thought. But don't mind me.' Tiffany walked over and opened a storage cupboard. She took a small teddy bear out and shut the door. ‘Wouldn't you like to know?' she cried as she returned to Wonderland, slamming the door locked behind her.

EJ removed her handcuffs and untied IJ again, who took out her spy pad and began to scan the room with the X-ray app.

‘I was just thinking about these cupboards,' said IJ. ‘This door having the same lock as the one in the vault makes me wonder.'

EJ immediately understood what IJ was thinking. ‘Another corridor connected to this room?'

‘Could be,' replied IJ as she continued to scan. ‘Bingo!' she cried.

EJ went over and looking through IJ's pad she saw that, sure enough, there was another secret corridor. She opened the cupboard and kicked the backboard with her foot. The backboard splintered, revealing a corridor just like the one that led from the vault room.

‘Let's go,' she cried.

‘One more thing,' said IJ. She took a charm from her bracelet and twisted and a camera appeared. ‘Can you just get back in the sleigh for a quick photo?'

‘IJ,' said EJ. ‘I'm not sure this is the time.'

‘It's insta-cam,' said IJ positioning the camera on a shelf and sitting back on the chair with her hands behind her. ‘Okay, here it goes, now don't smile!'

EJ obliged and frowned and the camera flashed. She was still frowning as IJ waited for the photo.

‘IJ!' she said. ‘We've got to go!'

‘Yes but we don't want Tiffany to know that and look up there on the top of the shelf.'

EJ looked up and spotted the micro-camera, its red light flashing.

‘Good thinking,' she cried as her friend placed the photo in front of the camera.

‘Now, I just need to adjust the distancing mechanism of the camera,' said IJ. ‘Tiffany can check as often as she likes and she'll think we are still tied up here. There done.'

‘Good work, IJ. Now let's go! We're running out of time!'

The two girls climbed through the hole at the back of the cupboard, closing the cupboard door as they did. They then ran down the secret corridor. EJ checked the time. There were only ninety minutes left until the parade started.

The corridor turned and EJ recognised where they were—back in the same corridor that led from the vault. EJ stopped and looked up; she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

‘IJ, hold on a minute,' she cried. ‘Look up! It's one of Tiffany's spy cameras.'

They dropped down and crawled along the ground on their stomachs, keeping low until they were out of the camera's range.

‘There'll be another one somewhere in the forest,' said EJ. ‘We need to watch out for it.'

They reached the end of the corridor and, once again, activated the door. They were back in the Christmas tree forest. They again dropped down to their stomachs and looked up, looking for the red flash of a camera.

‘There,' said IJ, pointing at a small model bird.

‘IJ, that's a bird,' said EJ.

‘Look in the middle of the robin's chest,' IJ said.

Then EJ saw the red flashing light in the middle of the bird's red chest feathers. ‘Good work, IJ!'

EJ slid around to the other side of the tree and then pulled herself up on the branches. Once she had climbed up to the branch the ‘robin' was on, she turned it off. ‘I think we should take this one back for research,' she told IJ as she put it in her backpack. ‘Perhaps you can make a kookaburra version!'

IJ laughed. ‘Good idea.'

EJ climbed back down.

‘Well done,' said IJ.

But EJ didn't think she'd done well on this mission. She had allowed her junior spy-buddy to be captured, she had been captured and, even though they were free, she was still no closer to finding the diamonds. Things weren't working out at all. It was time to contact
SHINE
. She reluctantly took out her phone and sent an update.

EJ hoped A1 would not be too disappointed.

 

Piinngg!

‘IJ,' asked EJ, ‘do you know what the DDD team is?'

‘No idea,' said IJ. ‘But one of those Ds has to stand for diamonds.'

Then they heard a bark. Then more barks. EJ turned to see a husky and a Labrador puppy running towards them. It was EJ's dog Pip, or PJ2 as she was OM, and she immediately recognised Blackie from the
SHINE
training camp.

‘Pip! Blackie!' cried EJ.

‘BJ!' cried IJ.

‘BJ?' asked EJ.

‘BJ1. He's been in mission training with me,' explained IJ.

‘So the other D must mean dog and …

 

Piinngg!

 

It was another text from A1.

‘What is it, EJ?' said IJ.

‘It's from Agent BRK9,' said EJ. ‘The dogs have their own charm bracelets!'

EJ and IJ leant down and activated the dogs' collar tags as the dogs leapt all over them. As the tag was activated there was a beep and the dogs sat down immediately, waiting. A screen appeared on the tags.

EJ and IJ scrolled through the first options and both pushed gems.

There were three beeps and the dogs stood up.

‘Go!' instructed the girls.

The dogs began to sniff and sniff. The girls followed them as they sniffed their way through the Christmas tree forest. As the trees began to thin, EJ could again see the giant Christmas tree. Were the dogs going there? Had the girls missed the diamonds?

But the dogs didn't head towards the tree. They veered right, getting more and excited and now EJ could see where they were heading.

‘Look, IJ,' she said, pointing to a large old-fashioned wooden cottage with snowflakes on the windows like one you might find in a fairy tale. Even from a distance you could see there was a large S carved into the door.

IJ checked the map. ‘Santa's Workshop,' she said. ‘The S is for Santa.'

‘At least that's what
SHADOW
wants us to believe,' said EJ.

EJ and IJ peered through a window into the workshop, being careful not to be seen. Inside were girls dressed in elf costumes, all loading toys on to a huge Santa sleigh in the middle of the room. There were hundreds of toys: teddy bears, wooden airplanes and cars, dolls, skipping ropes, basketballs—every toy you could imagine being on a Christmas wish list.

‘They're just packing the sleigh for the toy parade,' said IJ in a low voice.

‘So why have the dogs brought us here?' said EJ. ‘We know something is happening with the parade. We just need to know what it is.'

‘Look, Tiffany Glass has arrived!' said IJ.

The two girls ducked down and using their phones' listening devices, listened through the wall.

‘All elves outside, now!' shouted Tiffany. ‘It's time for the final run-through!'

‘We're nearly finished, Ms Glass,' said a girl.

‘It's the same voice that was in the vault room,' whispered EJ and she quickly but carefully looked up and in through the window. But she was too late. All she could see were the backs of the elves' heads as they went outside for the practice, whatever it was they needed to practise.

‘We have to get in there while they're out. Let's use the diamond cutter.'

Again, EJ took her diamond charm and twisted. Within minutes she had cut a small hole in the corner of the workshop, just large enough for the girls, and the dogs, to crawl through. As soon as the dogs entered the workshop, they went crazy, their tails wagging and their noses sniffing furiously.

‘The diamonds must be here, IJ,' said EJ. ‘You keep guard at the door—we don't have long.'

Now BJ and PJ were pawing at the toy sacks. As they did, toys tumbled out on the floor. Pip picked up a brown teddy bear wearing a red Santa hat in her mouth. She brought it to EJ, dropped it in front of her and sat down.

It's a teddy bear not a diamond,
thought EJ. But clearly, PJ thought she had done her job so EJ gave the husky a pat. ‘Good girl, PJ,' said EJ, picking up the teddy. Then EJ turned the teddy around and noticed an S sewn on the sole of its foot. She checked some of the other toys from the same sack. They all had an S on them somewhere. EJ looked back at the teddy. She squeezed it. It was then that she felt something, something hard, very hard. EJ took out her cutter again and cut a small hole in the teddy. She put her fingers in and felt around in the stuffing. There, in the middle, she felt the hardness and pulled out an enormous diamond. ‘Look IJ! A diamond!'

IJ checked out the window, then turned and rushed over. She took out her phone and keyed in a code. The phone glowed as she scanned the diamond.

‘Bingo!' she whispered. ‘Not only is it absolutely a diamond but it's part of the Aurora Collection. My diamond app can match any stone to known collections.'

EJ picked up a basketball with an S sewn into its stitching. She cut into it and, again, pulled out a diamond. She passed it to IJ.

‘Another one from the collection,' confirmed IJ.

‘It will be the same with every toy that has an S, I reckon,' said EJ. ‘The S isn't for Santa, it's for
SHADOW
and this is
SHADOW
's workshop!'

Pip and Blackie began to growl.

IJ rushed to the window. ‘And the
SHADOW
agents are coming back!' she cried. ‘We need to get out of here.'

In a flash, IJ dashed to the sacks and threw the toys back in. EJ grabbed the teddy and sprinted to the hole. IJ went through first then BJ and PJ. As EJ climbed through, she moved a toy box in front of the hole. It wasn't much of a cover up but it would have to do.

EJ, IJ and the dogs ran back into the Christmas tree forest. When they were far enough way from the workshop, they stopped to catch their breath.

‘What now?' asked IJ.

‘Well we know who, what, where, how and when,' said EJ proudly. ‘Tiffany Glass with her team of
SHADOW
elves has stolen the Aurora Diamond Collection by stealing them, one by one, from the vault room. By pretending to be a diamond cleaner she has had daily access. She built those secret corridors between the vault room and Christmas Wonderland so she could move the diamonds from Delia Stones to the workshop where they would be hidden in the toys. They now plan to smuggle the diamonds out in the toys when the toy parade leaves Christmas Wonderland.

‘You have to admit, it's pretty clever,' said IJ. ‘Who would ever suspect Santa and his elves? But does that mean all of Christmas Wonderland is a
SHADOW
operation?'

‘Maybe,' replied EJ. ‘It's never been here before and once the parade leaves, it packs up and is finished.'

‘So how do we stop that parade?' asked IJ.

‘We don't need to stop the parade,' said EJ. ‘We just need to make sure it goes where we want it to go and not where Tiffany Glass wants it to go'.

‘Oh, that's all,' said IJ, laughing. ‘That should be easy!'

‘Actually,' said EJ, fiddling with her snowman charm, ‘I think it might be.'