Blockbuster (3 page)

‘Poppet L'Estrange?' repeated the guard.

‘Er, yes,' said Zac, uncertainly.

‘What time is your appointment?'

Zac checked his watch. It was 5.37am.

‘Six o'clock,' Zac said, sounding more confident than he felt.

‘It's that trailer over there,' said the guard finally, opening the gates. The guard shook his head in pity. ‘You're Poppet's fourth stylist this month,' he added.

I guess nothing's too weird for Hollywood
, Zac thought.

Zac headed in the direction of Poppet L'Estrange's trailer to avoid suspicion. All the stars (and their dogs) had their own luxury trailers to sit in between filming scenes. The more famous the star, the bigger the trailer.

That must be someone really important
, Zac thought as he passed a silver trailer the size of a road train, complete with a satellite dish on top. There was a name on the door in a star-shaped tag that said ‘Caroline'.

I wonder who that is?
thought Zac.

Then Zac noticed a golf cart puttering to a stop nearby. A woman got out, yakking into her mobile phone.

‘We aim to supply each unit with a camera by next year,' she said. ‘It will cost a lot at first, but think of the savings later on.'

The woman was so wrapped up in her conversation, she left the keys in the golf cart's ignition as she walked off.

Seizing his chance, Zac jumped into the golf cart and sped off. Now he could search Cinemania properly!

Zac was flying over a speed bump when the golf cart's radio crackled to life.

‘Attention all security units. A golf cart has been stolen. Suspect has cool hair, repeat cool hair. Likely identity: Zachary Power.'

Ah-ha! Cinemania was definitely not a genuine movie studio! Otherwise, how would they know his name?

Suddenly, Zac heard a weird crunching sound behind him. There, not ten metres away, was a security guard in a golf cart, cracking his knuckles!

The guard's neck was as thick as a power pole. He looked more machine than human. And he was heading in Zac's direction – FAST!

Zac slammed his foot on the accelerator. His cart shot forward, but not fast enough. The guard was closing in!

Zac sped towards what looked like the Wild Wild West. It was an old film set, cluttered with horse troughs and abandoned mine shafts.

Desperately, he wove between the obstacles. This was harder than
Mario Karts
! And if he crashed, Zac knew he couldn't just start all over again.

Zac slammed into a barrel and sent it flying. The cart flipped. Zac flew out and…

KER
-
RUNCH
!

He landed flat on his face. The barrel slammed into the guard's cart, knocking him over like a skittle.

Zac jumped up and ran for it.

Gotta hide
, he thought. His face stung from where he'd landed on the gravel.

Up ahead, Zac saw a haunted house set from a horror movie. The windows were boarded up, the door nailed shut.

Perfect…if I can figure out how to get in.

Frantically, Zac rattled every board on every window.

RIIIIIP!

A board came loose and Zac wriggled through the window. Velvety darkness swallowed him up instantly.

Blindly, he felt his way further inside the house. All of a sudden, Zac went cold.

What was that sound?

Footsteps!

‘Zac Power!' thundered a voice.

The room flooded with yellow light.

Zac's eyes throbbed. He'd been caught!

Standing in front of him was the guard from before! Hang on, hadn't Zac left him behind outside?

Wait…
thought Zac.
What's that weird
lump on his neck?

An ON button! No wonder this guard looked like the one from the cart.
And like
the one at the front gate,
Zac realised.

The guards were all androids!

A new GIB ruling required all spies to wear PitStink capsules under their arms in case of android attack. When broken, the capsule releases a vile stink from the armpit.

As hard as he could, Zac pumped his right arm up and down three times until he felt a blast of gas.

‘Halt, Zac Power,' boomed the android, lumbering towards him.

Zac lifted his right arm. Powerful stink waves wafted out – a cross between rotting meat and dog farts.

‘Halt, Zac Pow – errrrgh!' screeched the android. It dropped to the floor, holding its nose. Smoke curled from its ears. The PitStink had short-circuited its wiring!

Hastily, Zac stepped over the android. He had a sense that somewhere in this building there was a clue about ThoughtVision.
Why else would it be guarded so closely?
Zac thought.
And by fierce, ruthless androids?

CHAPTER FIVE

In one corner, Zac spotted an old staircase.

Could lead to an attic,
Zac thought, placing a sneaker on the first step.
That's
the perfect place to hide information about
ThoughtVision.

Suddenly –

Ffffffffft
f
t
f
tftftftftftft!

A flock of bats appeared from nowhere and flew straight at Zac's face!

Zac's heart pounded, but he pushed the bats aside and reminded himself that he was in a haunted house. The bats were on strings. They were made of rubber!

Just part of the film set,
Zac reminded himself, breathing quickly.

He kept climbing the stairs. At the top was a very small door. Zac firmly pushed it open.

What lay behind was no dusty old attic! Instead, there were rows and rows of high-tech laptops. Zac's spy senses tingled. He was onto something!

Zac raced to the nearest computer and selected
Display Recent Documents
. There it was –
ThoughtVision_Blueprints.doc!

Zac double-clicked. The screen filled with diagrams. On the left, Zac saw a picture of a movie camera. A bunch of wavy lines labelled Thought Waves wiggled towards it. Labels and arrows pointed in all directions.

Zac's brain hurt trying to understand it all. He needed Leon's help. He plugged his SpyPad into the laptop, uploaded the diagrams then punched in Leon's number.

He glanced at his watch. 7.47am – Leon would be up by now. But when Zac tried to call, there was no signal!

Gotta get outside,
Zac thought. He ran in the direction of the stairs, but then changed his mind.
The android might have rebooted his
system by now
, he thought.

During his GIB Spy Academy training, Zac had learnt heaps of tricky escapes. Now was the time to try one out!

Zac jumped onto a chair and punched out a skylight overhead. He was going to attempt a Multi-Storey Roof Jump, an escape reserved for the bravest of spies.

Zac wriggled through the skylight and onto the roof. As he looked over the edge, he heard a noise on the staircase inside. The android was back!
Good thing I didn't take
the stairs
, Zac thought.