Tomb of Doom (4 page)

Zac knew that a spy must always trust his gut instincts. He picked up a rock and rolled it into the middle of the room.

ZZZZZZZAPPPPPP!

A zap of light shot out of the cat's eye and blasted the pebble into a smoking pile of dust.

Being careful not to step any further into the room Zac held up his torch and took a better look at the painting. Over the cat's eye was something that looked like a glass marble cut in half.

An ancient magnifying lens!
thought Zac.

He was pretty sure he knew what was going on. But he wanted to check. He rolled another rock into the room and watched carefully. When the rock fell into the cat's path a lever behind its eye flipped up. This allowed a ray of sunlight to come through a hole behind the eye. When the sunbeam hit the magnifying glass, it acted like a laser beam. Anything that crossed its path would be instantly destroyed.

Zac was impressed. Of course, during the night it wouldn't work at all. But during daylight it was deadly.

Zac couldn't resist trying the laser out one more time. He took off his hat. It was the one his mum always made him wear in the sun. It was totally ugly and scratchy too. Zac flicked the hat into the room.

Pfffffft!

It disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Excellent!

After seeing the rocks and the hat blasted away there was no way Zac was going to risk walking in there. He needed a way of covering the cat's eye.

Zac felt in his pocket. He had a couple of paint bombs that would do the trick. But they would also wreck the wall-paintings and he didn't really want to do that. The paintings were old and faded but they were kind of cool too. Plus his mission was to
repair
damage, not make more.

So Zac pulled out some chewing gum and a rubber band instead. Perfect! Zac quickly chewed the gum into a ball and then flicked it across the room with the
rubber band.

Keeeeeeeee-
SPLATTTT!

Bullseye! The gum was now covering the magnifying lens. But Zac didn't have time to feel pleased with himself.

Every second counted.

He had to keep moving.

CHAPTER
SIX

Zac quickly walked through the Cat Room and out another door on the far wall. The passage continued for a bit and then Zac found himself in another room.

Cool! The Mummy Room.

Lying on a table in the middle of the room was a golden sarcophagus. Zac knew that this was a kind of coffin mummies were kept in. The room was cold. And really dark. In fact, it was kind of creepy. But Zac wasn't the type of kid who got scared. He especially wasn't the type to be scared of some old, dead mummy.

Suddenly Zac heard a banging noise.

It seemed to be coming from inside the sarcophagus! Most kids would probably have run away screaming at this point. But not Zac.
There must be a simple explanation,
he thought.
I'll just open up the sarcophagus and see what's inside
. But all the same his heart was beating hard as he walked towards the noise.

Crrrreeeak!

The sarcophagus was very heavy to open. Inside was a figure about the same height as Zac, wrapped from head to toe in bandages.

Its arms rose up from its sides, like a zombie, and it moaned as it took a step towards him.

It can't really be a mummy,
thought Zac.
I need to get those bandages off and see what – or who – is underneath
.

He reached into the Pyramid-Pack and his hand closed around something that felt like a can of fly spray. That wouldn't be much use. Zac checked the label.
Bandage- B-Gone,
it said.
Super strength instant bandage remover
. Leon had thought of everything when he put this Pyramid-Pack together!

Just as the mummy lurched towards him, Zac sprayed the figure with the Bandage-B-Gone.

A massive cloud instantly billowed up in the air as the bandages dissolved. Zac heard coughing coming from inside the cloud.

‘Who's there?' he asked, sharply. ‘Show yourself.'

‘It's Agent Track Star,' came the reply. Zac was puzzled. Agent Track Star didn't sound how he was expecting him to sound.

When the cloud cleared Zac gasped at what he saw. He now knew why Agent Track Star sounded different.

Agent Track Star was a girl!

‘I got caught in a booby trap,' explained Agent Track Star when she stopped coughing. ‘One minute I was walking along and the next thing I knew I was wrapped up in bandages inside that sarcophagus. Thanks for rescuing me. You must be Zac Power. I'm Caz.'

Zac looked at her suspiciously.

‘What are you doing in here anyway? You were supposed to be guarding the pyramid from the outside,' he said.

‘I thought I heard tomb raiders inside,' replied Caz. ‘I decided to go in and save the Golden Sun Diamond.'

Suddenly Caz's eyes filled with tears. For a horrible moment Zac thought she might cry.

‘But I can't do it on my own,' she said. ‘I need help.'

‘I'll help you,' said Zac. ‘We're both GIB agents after all. We're
supposed
to help each other.' Caz smiled gratefully.

‘Cool. Follow me,' she said. And she took off down a corridor.

Zac had little choice but to follow her.

There wasn't much time left.

He hoped Caz knew what she was doing. She led him down winding passageways and in and out of rooms, all at a really fast pace.

‘You know your way around here pretty well,' Zac said. He was getting puffed trying to keep up.

‘I'm the top scorer on
Pyramid Panic
,' said Caz proudly. ‘I know this place backwards.'

Finally Caz stopped.

‘This is the Treasure Room,' she said.

Zac gasped. Around the walls were piles of gold coins and sparkling jewels. Right in the middle was a giant statue with a lion's head. And in its hands was the biggest jewel Zac had ever seen. It was easily the size of a basketball.

‘The statue is the Golden Sun King,' whispered Caz.‘And in his lap is the Golden Sun Diamond.'

‘It's amazing it's never been stolen,' said Zac. Caz nodded.

‘Yep, apparently there's some curse protecting it from thieves,' she said. ‘It's said to be guarded by a huge army of scorpions…'

Just then, the floor rumbled again.

RRRRRRUMMMMBLU!

This time it wasn't just pebbles that fell from the ceiling. It was rocks the size of Zac's fist! It felt like the pyramid was beginning to collapse.

‘We've got to leave,' yelled Zac above the noise.

‘No!' yelled back Caz. ‘The diamond isn't safe in here. We must take it back to Headquarters.'

Zac looked at Caz. Although she was supposed to be a top spy she seemed like a little kid to Zac.
She doesn't even look strong enough to lift that diamond
, thought Zac. But she also seemed pretty stubborn. He could tell there was no way she was leaving without it.

‘Let me get it,' Zac said, taking a step towards the statue.

Caz grabbed his arm.

‘Look out!' she cried, pointing downwards. In front of Zac was a wide trench. Out of it was coming a strange hissing sound. Then a giant cobra, thicker than Zac's leg, rose up out of the trench. It stared at him with its black, beady eyes.

Seconds later another one appeared beside it.

Then another.

And another.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Zac stood very still. He knew that the slightest movement would cause the cobras to strike. But the snakes hadn't seen Caz. She was hidden behind Zac.

‘Caz,' Zac whispered. ‘Get my iPod out of my Pyramid-Pack.' He felt Caz reach into the Pyramid-Pack and pull out the iPod.

‘Now, find the album called
Music for Soothing Savage Beasts
,' Zac said, ‘and plug it into my SpyPad so it plays through the speakers.'

‘Which song?' whispered Caz.

‘Track seven,' Zac replied. At least he
hoped
it was track seven. He held his breath.

For a terrible moment he thought the iPod's batteries had gone flat. But then the track started.

Phew! It was the right track after all: ‘Snake Charming Song'. The moment the cobras heard the music they began swaying backwards and forwards, like fans at a rock concert.

‘Nice work, Zac!' said Caz, looking impressed. ‘Now, grab the diamond.'

Zac jumped across the cobra pit. The snakes paid no attention to him at all. Zac reached out to pick up the diamond. But then he stopped. He remembered what Caz had said about the curse. He didn't believe in that stuff, of course. All the same though, he couldn't help feeling that something wasn't right. But there was no time to worry about it.

Zac grabbed the diamond. Underneath was a big dark hole. Zac froze, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did. Zac relaxed. The curse was obviously just made up to scare people.

‘Caz,' called Zac. ‘I can't jump across the pit with this – I'm going to throw the diamond across. Do you think you can catch it?'

Caz nodded. So Zac threw the diamond. To his surprise Caz had no trouble catching it. In fact, she caught it with one hand and then twirled it on one finger. Then she shoved the diamond in her backpack.

‘Thanks Zac,' she grinned. ‘I'm off to HQ.'

‘Hang on,' said Zac. ‘We can go there together.'

Caz seemed different all of a sudden.

She laughed. It was a nasty laugh.

‘Oh, I'm not going to GIB's HQ,' she said. ‘I work for BIG now. And I'm going to get a massive promotion when I come back with this diamond.Thanks for helping me steal it.'

BIG! Zac had heard about them. They were the most evil and devious spies in the business. Now it all made sense.

‘You're a double agent!' exclaimed Zac.

‘That's right,' smiled Caz. ‘I've been pretending to work for GIB while all along I was spying for BIG. Well Zac, it's been fun but now I'm going to have to leave you alone with these snakes.'