Big Brother (6 page)

It was still dark a few hours later when EJ woke to the sound of Trojan whinnying loudly. BJ1 gave a little yip.

‘Shhhh,' whispered EJ.

She didn't dare risk being seen by looking over the hay bales so she watched the rosette-cam monitor. In the dim light, she could see two people stopping outside Trojan's box and unbolting the door. Trojan neighed again and kicked the wall of the box.

‘Shut up, you dumb horse,' whispered a woman's voice. Then she hissed to the other person.
‘Don't just stand there. Hold her halter while I get them.'

She must be talking about the flies,
guessed EJ.
But where are they on Trojan?

The first woman had some kind of bar that she was now trying to wave over Trojan. EJ could see that it was a security scanner.

Is that the same scanner as the one GG22 used when I arrived?
wondered EJ.
Does that mean that it is GG down there with Trojan? And is that HH with her?
thought EJ.

‘This is so fiddly,' whispered the woman. The voice was too low for EJ to recognise. ‘We'll have to mention that in the test report.'

‘But otherwise they've been invaluable. We've learnt a lot about the horses, and
SHINE
, using them,' said the other woman.

‘I've only got two,' said the first woman. ‘How many were there?'

‘Thirty,' said the other woman. ‘But some of them have flown off. They aren't as easy to control
as we hoped.'

‘Then let's just take the horse somewhere safer and we can dump her later.'

‘You're right. We don't have time for this.'

Dump Trojan?
EJ was horrified. She watched as one of the women pulled sharply at the horse's halter and clipped on a lead. By then Trojan had clearly had enough. She began to whinny and snort and kick her back legs against the stable box.

‘Hold her still!' hissed one of the women.

‘I'm trying to!' cried the other.

Now Trojan raised herself up on her hind legs and slammed her front feet down on the floor, knocking the woman holding the lead rope over. The other woman fumbled to shut the stable door but Trojan beat her to it. The horse pushed through and bolted out of the stables, the rope streaming behind her.

‘What do we do now?' asked the woman by the door. ‘Should we push the destruct button?'

‘Not yet,' said the other as she got up. ‘If we
monitor the flies on her, we might be able to tell where she is.'

‘Okay, then let's get out of here. We have to get ready.'

EJ tracked through the cameras, watching the two
SHADOW
agents run out of the stables. She scooped up BJ1 and climbed down the haystack but she was too late. The two women had disappeared. Where had they gone? What were they getting ready?

EJ rushed to Trojan's empty box. BJ1 ran in after her and started sniffing furiously, her tail wagging wildly. She pawed at the hay.

‘What have you found, BJ?' asked EJ, taking out her torch. BJ pushed around the hay with her nose and as EJ peered down, shining her torch, she saw something glittering. She picked up what looked like a fly, a stainless steel fly with a black sucker-like stick protruding from its base.

‘Is it a robotic fly?' wondered EJ, turning the bug around in her hand. When she touched the head
there was a buzzing noise. A red light went on in the fly's ‘eye' and the ‘fly' flew out of EJ's hand. EJ shone her torch after it and watched it fly out of the stables and land on a gum flower.

BJ ran out after it but then stopped and started growling at the gum flowers on the ground again.

EJ walked over to BJ and picked up one of the bristly red flowers. She saw a black stick protruding from the centre of the flower. EJ peeled back the petals and saw that the robotic fly had buried itself in the flower.

‘They're bugs,' guessed EJ, ‘listening and watching devices hidden like the ones Bob used to listen in on my sleepover. Spy-flies!' And now EJ remembered where she had seen the word ‘Trojan' before. Bob had called his spy video ‘Operation Trojan'.

‘Why?' wondered EJ.

She opened her phone and keyed in ‘Trojan' and pressed search. It was worth a try. The first entry that flashed up on her screen was for ‘Trojan Horse'.

Now EJ understood.
SHADOW
had used Trojan as a Trojan horse! They had planted the flies on the poor thing and abandoned her near the horse CAT because they knew
SHINE
would take her in. The double agents were in place to monitor the spy-flies.

EJ was about to send a message to A1 when she noticed that the red light on the spy-fly was flashing, just like on Bob's camera. With a gasp, EJ realised what was happening—she was looking straight into the lens of a camera being monitored by a
SHADOW
agent. And then the bug in EJ's hand started to make strange noises.

There was a fizzing noise and the fly in the flower started to glow in EJ's hand.

The agents who were trying to take the flies off Trojan mentioned a destruct button
, remembered EJ.
It's like the
SHINE
Eco-Deco. This fly is self-destructing.

Sparks jumped from the fly and it became hot, too hot for EJ to hold. She dropped the flower on the ground as the bug sparked again, then burst into flames. EJ stamped it out with her boot before it burnt her.

But BJ1 wasn't so lucky. The puppy yelped in pain.

‘BJ1, what's wrong?' asked EJ anxiously. The puppy ran whimpering to EJ and started licking her feet furiously. EJ looked at her paws: the pads were red-raw, burnt.

‘Were you pawing one of the flies, BJ? Poor you! We need to get those paws treated.'

EJ didn't waste any time. She picked up BJ1 and what was left of the spy-fly and sprinted towards the back door of the office. She opened the door. Quickly she put BJ1 back in the pet carrier, took the picture down and re-entered the number code. The door opened. EJ opened the disc on BJ's
SHINE
collar tag and put in one of the spy-flies. It couldn't hurt BJ1 any more but it could help
SHINE
work out what it was. She gave the puppy a kiss on her fluffy head.

‘You've done a great job, BJ1,' she said. ‘Give this to A1 and I'll see you at home soon.'

EJ closed the carrier and put it in the Mission Tube. As she shut the door, she heard the whoosh of BJ1 being returned to HQ. She sent a message to A1.

Then EJ slipped out the back door of the office and locked the door.

‘BJ1 will be fine now but what about Trojan?' she wondered. ‘Is that why she was so difficult, because the flies were hurting her?' EJ remembered the sores on the horse's coat.
They must be burns.
EJ wondered how
SHADOW
, how GG, could do that. Somehow EJ couldn't imagine GG letting a horse be harmed, she had seemed so passionate about keeping the horses safe. Yet, it seemed that it was true.

‘I need to find Trojan and remove those flies in her coat before they hurt her. But how am I going to find her?'

EJ looked down at her CHARM bracelet and noticed the horse-heart CHARM. She twisted it and as she did, an inscription appeared.

‘I need a lot more than encouragement to help me,' said EJ grumpily.

Then, from behind, EJ heard a snort and then a loud whinny in the dark. She turned around. There was another whinny and EJ walked towards the sound. Then she heard a snort close by. EJ took out her torch and was staring into a pair of large brown eyes. It was Lucinda; she must have jumped the fence. EJ looked at Lucinda. Lucinda looked at EJ, pawing her hoof. Then EJ understood.

‘I actually need to get back on the horse! I need to ride a horse into the bush to find Trojan. Maybe we can find Trojan together?'

EJ thought she might just be able to ride Lucinda to look for Trojan but what would she do once she found her? She knew her nerves and the horse's fear meant she would be unlikely to catch the horse and she could end up even making things worse for Trojan.

‘I need someone I can trust,' said EJ. ‘I need someone that Trojan will be able to trust, someone who is good with animals, someone patient, someone kind …'

EJ smiled. She knew exactly who could help her.

‘Of course!' she said. ‘Han.'

EJ took out her phone and sent a text to HJ12.

EJ didn't want to take any risks, which is why she had worked out passwords. Hannah would be the only person at the CAT who would know what to say.

EJ heard footsteps. She listened carefully. It was only one person approaching. EJ checked the rosette-cam monitor and smiled. HJ12, helmet on, walked around the back of the stables and came down towards the mounting yard. EJ waited for the password.

‘Fluffy 13,' whispered HJ12. ‘Fluffy 13?'

‘HJ, over here,' whispered EJ.

HJ walked over and the two friends hugged.

‘You got my message,' said EJ.

‘I've done my basic training,' said HJ. ‘I know we need to keep our phones on at all times.'

‘Good work, HJ,' said EJ. ‘I need your help but I have to warn you, it's a little above basic training.'

‘I'm ready, Em, I mean, EJ,' said HJ.

EJ explained what had happened while HJ saddled up Lucinda. She expertly pulled the girth tight and adjusted the stirrups. EJ put on her riding helmet.

‘Now we're ready, EJ,' said HJ. ‘I'll hold Lucinda while you get on.'

EJ put one foot in the stirrups and swung the other leg over Lucinda. HJ passed her the reins. EJ put out her hand to HJ who pulled herself up and swung behind EJ, putting her hands around her friend's waist and taking the reins.

‘Put your hands over mine,' she said. ‘See how your hands need to be soft? You hold the reins firmly but not too tight. Okay, you have a go now and give her a kick so she knows we're ready.'

EJ felt confident with her friend behind her and they walked out of the mounting yard and onto the moonlit track leading to the drive.

Then a loud voice shattered the silence.

‘EJ12!' shouted GG22. ‘What are you doing back here? Who's that with you? Where are you going?'

It was GG22. Had she been watching them on the spy-flies? EJ couldn't stay to find out. Instinctively, she gave Lucinda a sharp kick. HJ leant into EJ as Lucinda broke into a gallop and they raced down the drive away from the CAT. Away from GG22 and, they hoped, towards Trojan.