Mummy Madness (8 page)

Lara tore through the museum corridors
at top speed. ‘Hiya, girl,' cooed Ollie as she careered round a corner.
‘I've been doing a bit of exploring. This place is so cool!' he
said, his eyes saucer-like with excitement. ‘I've found a room full of
ancient mummies!'

Ben and Sophie caught up and slid to a
stop. ‘We've been worried sick,' gasped Sophie. ‘This is
exactly where Mr Big is heading for.' The children and Lara looked round at
the Egyptian exhibition. There were ancient artefacts everywhere. Jugs, cups,
paintings and old scriptures. There were pictures of men with dogs' heads and
plenty of pieces of sone. But the items that drew their attention most were the
various mummified remains of Egyptian pharaohs.

Ollie approached
a glass case and pointed at one. ‘Why's he so small?'

‘He's a child,' said
Ben, reading the information. ‘Akhtishu, the boy king. It says he died when he
was eleven. And here he is, three thousand years later, in all his mummified
glory.'

‘And why are mummies men?'
asked Ollie. ‘Shouldn't they be called “daddies”?'

‘It's creepy,'
shivered Sophie. ‘Glass cases full of dead bodies.'

Professor Cortex arrived on the scene,
but was struggling to speak. He put his hands on his hips and sucked his cheeks in,
swallowing lungfuls of air. ‘Oliver! You're safe,' he wheezed at
last, removing his glasses and dabbing his eyes. ‘And, if the pups have
delayed Big, we have a few minutes to make the mummy safe too,' he puffed.
‘Here, Benjamin, help me find Qua'a. We can swap him for another mummy
and Big will steal the wrong one. Genius idea or what?'

Lara stood guard while Ben and the
professor got to work. Qua'a was lying in a wooden coffin, his arms crossed on
his chest. There was no glass case so he was easy to get to. It was a delicate
operation. Ben took the head end and
the
professor the feet. They lifted Qua'a out of his wooden coffin and lugged his
bandaged body to another part of the exhibition. They laid him on a bench.

 

 

‘Now what?' hissed Ben.

Lara started growling. ‘That means
Big's near,' panicked Ben. ‘If he discovers the mummy is missing,
there's no telling what he'll do!'

Lara's growls became more
menacing.
Quick, guys
, she thought,
I can hear the sound of Big's
metal foot clomping along the corridor.
The puppies had forced Mr Big to
come the long way round,
but he'd
made it and here he was, face to face with the dog that had put him behind bars.

He stopped at the end of the corridor
and gawped at Lara. ‘Spy Dog!' He'd come to the museum to steal
the world's most precious gem and he couldn't believe his luck. Now he
could kill the dog too!

Sophie peered out of the Egyptian Room
and squealed. ‘It's him,' she squeaked. ‘He's got a
sword. I don't think Lara will be able to hold him off for very
long.'

‘OK, Benjamin,' said the
professor. ‘He's not after you or your brother or sister. I mean,
he's evil and all that, but I doubt you're top of his list. I'd
guess that he wants the ruby first and revenge on GM451 and myself second; after
all, I made her into the superagent that she is! There's no way out except the
way we came in. If Big catches me, I'm a goner,' gulped the professor.
‘I need to hide.'

Ben was way ahead. He'd opened the
first-aid kit that was hanging on the wall and was unwrapping the bandages.
‘Five extra-large bandages,' he said. ‘Professor, you will have to
be the mummy.'

Ben got to work, starting at the
professor's
feet and working his
way up. Outside in the corridor Lara was buying them some time, barking her loudest
barks and growling her fiercest growls. Her hackles were raised, teeth bared and
adrenaline rushing through her veins. ‘Two more minutes, Lara,' shrieked
Sophie as her brother started on the fifth bandage.

Mr Big had stopped a few paces from
Lara.
Why is he smiling?
she thought.
This is deadly serious and
he's enjoying himself!

Mr Big waved his sword in the air.
‘Found it in the Roman section,' he said. ‘Belonged to a famous
gladiator who used it to slay his enemies.' He swished the sword again.
‘So I thought it would be perfect.'

I'm no match for a man with a
sword
, thought Lara. She assessed the situation, the safety of the children
at the forefront of her mind.
Spud and Star are yapping behind him and I'm
guarding the entrance to the Egyptian Room.
Lara spied a fire-alarm button
at the far end of the corridor. ‘Hit it, Spud,' she barked.
‘Let's make some noise.'

Spud jumped but couldn't reach.
‘You do it, sis,' he yapped. ‘It needs teamwork,' he added,
crouching beneath the fire alarm. Star knew what to do. She sprinted at her brother,
jumped
on to his back and leapt into the
air. She reached out and smashed her paw against the glass, a piercing alarm adding
to the panic. Mr Big knew he didn't have long. The police would be arriving
very soon. He decided to be bold. He stepped forward five paces. Lara held her
ground, her lip curled and teeth bared. He swished the sword, cutting the air
menacingly.

‘Chop-chop, poochy,' he grinned.

Star couldn't contain her anger.
She leapt at the man's ankle and tried to sink her teeth in. Mr Big calmly
bent down and plucked the snarling puppy from his metal leg. ‘Titanium,
darling,' he smirked, dangling Star by her collar. Her legs were kicking, but
her snarl was cut short by lack of oxygen. ‘The harder you struggle, the more
strangled you'll get.' Lara watched as Star kicked bravely. Spud
sprinted to his mum, hiding close to her furry tummy.

‘And now I have a hostage,'
snarled the master-criminal. ‘That gives me the upper hand. One false move,
Spy Dog, and Scrappy Doo here gets it.' He dangled Star at arm's length.
‘Got it?'

 

Lara's growling ceased
. I
don't have much choice
, she thought, casting a glance at the
professor and the children. Ben gave his dog the thumbs up and Lara backed off,
allowing Mr Big into the Egyptian Room.

Professor Cortex was bandaged very
tightly. His body lay in Qua'a's coffin, hardly breathing. Mr Big
continued to hold Star at arm's length; her eyes were bulging and her kicking
had stopped. He opened one of the glass cases and ushered the growling Lara and
yapping Spud inside. He threw Star's limp body in after them and slid the door
closed. He wedged the glass shut with a dagger and the barking was muffled. Star was
sitting up, getting her breath back. Lara was barking fiercely and Spud was throwing
himself at the glass, but it was no good.

Mr Big waved at
the dogs. ‘I'll deal with you later,' he yelled above the noise of
the alarm. ‘I have one more thing on my “to do” list,' he
snarled, turning to the children.

Ben stood bravely to the fore, his
sister and brother hiding behind him. ‘Whaddaya want?' he asked.

‘Some help,' said Mr Big,
giving a politician's smile. ‘We need to play “find a
pharaoh”. And the clock's ticking. If you and these meddling dogs have
taken the trouble to find me, I'm guessing you know which mummy I'm
after?'

‘Qua'a,' blurted Ben.
‘Because you know about the legend of the Nile Ruby.'

‘I know the
truth
of the
Nile Ruby,' purred Mr Big, walking through the exhibition, peering at the
information above each mummy. He stopped at the bandaged professor, his eyes
shining. ‘Qua'a!' he exclaimed. ‘You're everything
I'd hoped for.' He bent down and touched Ben's hastily wrapped
bandages. ‘You've aged so well.' He looked up at the children, who
were hardly daring to breathe. ‘Where are the adults?' he snarled.
‘Mum and Dad?'

‘It's just us,' said
Ben, sweeping his arm round the room. ‘Lara knew you'd be here. I
guess she wanted a final showdown. We
just followed her. There are no adults.'

‘What about that nutty
professor?'

‘He's a mummy …'
began Ollie.

‘His mummy,' interrupted
Ben, ‘is poorly. So he's looking after her,' he said, nudging his
little brother in the ribs.

Mr Big knew he didn't have time
for any more questions. The emergency services had arrived and he could hear distant
shouting above the sound of the piercing alarm. He eyed the gladiator's sword
and then the mummy. ‘I don't need the whole thing,' he snarled.
‘The gem's in the head. I just need the head!'

Ben could have sworn he heard the mummy
gulp. He thought quickly. ‘I've got an idea,' he said, calm on the
outside, heart pounding in his eardrums. ‘I can help you escape. But
you're going to need the whole mummy. The best plans are always simple, right?
This place will be swarming with paramedics. So we lay the
prof … 
pharaoh
 … Qua'a … on a
stretcher and walk out of the front door.'

Lara had calmed Spud and they watched
the silent action from behind the glass. Her sharp eyes saw the mummy's chest
collapse with relief
as the baddie laid
his sword on the floor. Mr Big grabbed Sophie by the scruff of the neck and
approached the glass cabinet. He waved his sword towards the dogs.
‘Sit,' he ordered. ‘And shut up!' He opened the glass case
and bundled Sophie and Ollie into the display. Mr Big slid the door shut and rammed
the dagger in place, sealing them in, in silent terror.

‘Here, you grab his legs.'
Mr Big and Ben heaved the bandaged scientist from the display. ‘Crikey, the
old pharaoh's a lot heavier than I expected,' said the baddie.
‘Here, stick him on this Egyptian rug and we'll use it as a
stretcher.' Sophie and Ollie watched in disbelief as the professor was rolled
on to a rug. Mr Big started dragging the rug out of the room. ‘Come on,
boy,' he yelled, ‘get a grip!'

 

 

The professor's bandaged frame was
hauled along the museum's polished floor. They reached the lift and Mr Big
jabbed impatiently at the button. ‘Come on, come on,' he muttered as the
doors pinged open and they dragged the mummy inside.

Mr Big eyed Ben as the lift descended.
‘I'll do the talking,' he warned. ‘You play
along … or else,' he said, running his finger across his throat.

‘Ground floor,' announced
the lift. ‘Doors opening.' The silver doors parted and Ben and Mr Big
stood either side of the mummified professor. The professor couldn't see a
thing, but he could hear the commotion. The fire alarm had finally been switched off
and the
museum entrance was swarming
with the emerg-ency services. Police were running here and there. The fire brigade
were mob-handed.

‘Over here!' yelled Mr Big
to a paramedic in a green outfit. ‘Injured man. Get me a stretcher.'
While the chaos continued, Professor Cortex was loaded on to a stretcher and carried
to an ambulance.

‘Looks bad,' said the medic.
‘What happened to him?'

‘Fire,' blurted Ben, looking
terrified as he remembered the finger across the throat.

‘Fell down the stairs,' said
Mr Big at the same time. ‘Er, there was a fire and then he sort of fell down
the stairs,' he said, glaring at Ben.

‘Sounds like he's had some
bad luck. Let's get the poor fella into the ambulance and we'll check
him out on the way to the hospital.' The professor was loaded aboard. The
medic had trained to be one because he was a good man: trusting, kind and
helpful.

‘There's a kid too,'
snarled Mr Big. ‘Third floor. He needs urgent assistance. I'll wait with
this one while you fetch the poor little wounded orphan,' he said, overacting
terribly.

The medic nodded and was off, sprinting
back into the museum on a wild goose
chase. Mr Big was delighted that the driver only required one punch. It was a matter
of seconds before he'd secured Ben and the mummy in the back of the ambulance
and himself in the front seat. He checked the controls, hit the siren button and
screeched the vehicle on to London's night streets.