Sam and the Spies

Chapter 6

Sunday, September 1st 5:00

It's only a short flight to Australia from New Zealand, and we left the airport a couple hours ago, with Tyler hiring a large van and driving us to McDonald's for a treat.

We nibbled at some burgers and gulped down multiple cans of Coke until Tyler suggested we leave and head for the meeting place. Quite quickly, we were packed up and back in the rental van. I squeezed myself in the backseat with Lana and Jayden, and for once, none of us said a word.

It was a short drive to wherever we were going, and I jumped out of the van, finding myself looking at a crumbly, abandoned brick-building with a slanted, mold-covered roof and a dust-covered doormat, that had clearly been trampled on multiple times. There was dust floating around in the air, turning my eyes red and making me cough violently.

After my crazy, spastic coughing fit, Tyler led us to the front porch and knocked on the door. A fit and young woman with a head of red hair and a solemn expression opened the door and looked straight at Tyler.

"Welcome. Please follow me." Her voice was calm but demanding...almost robotic. Tyler whispered to Josh and he stifled a laugh, crinkling his eyes and grinning mischievously.

The interior of the house felt very warm and felt musty. We walked down a short hallway before she turned left and walked us into the kitchen. "Please take a seat children." I pull up a seat next to Jayden and Lana sits on the left of him. Tyler, Josh and Jazz take their seats on the far end of the table.

She pulls out something pink (that resembles a rubber) from out of her pocket and squeezes it tight. A small red light on the eraser thing can be seen illuminating her finger. "As you well know, the DICE is a very top secret organization and I will have to talk very quickly. In precisely thirty seconds, you will go through that cupboard," she gestures at the floor-to-ceiling pantry cupboard door, "and you will find in there a key to a car that is in the garage. The switch to open the garage door is on the wall to your right as you enter the garage. The car is bolted with a lock and the location of the key to the padlock is written in the CODE that you have learned at DICE on a piece of paper in the window-wipers. The GPS has been set to another remote location, of where you will be taken to another destination where the stationed DICE agents will escort you to our DICE headquarters. You have ten minutes before this building self-destructs. Good luck." She lets go of the eraser thing and the red light stops flashing. In about a second it disintegrates and Jayden, Lana and I are left with our mouths hanging open.

She gets up out of her chair, walks out of the kitchen and I can hear only her footsteps walking away as I try to figure out what just happened. Jazz goes into immediate action and races into the pantry cupboard. I hear a lot of shuffling and a thump, with a string of curse words following. She's in there for a half minute or so and then she comes racing out with a car key attached to a key ring, swinging it around her finger.

"Great job Jazz," says Josh.

"The garage, come on!" cries Tyler, beckoning us to hurry. We follow him out of the kitchen and he flails for a bit before calming his nerves and finding the door to the garage. The bitter cold prickles my skin and I breathe out heavily.

I see a red and black car with the words 'Discovery' written in thick bold, black writing on the front.

"That's a beaut. New Land Rover Discovery Sport, looks like," states Jazz.

There's a chain around all the handles, wrapped around tight so you can't open them. A thick padlock is hooked around the chain so you couldn't pull it out. Jayden rushes over to the windshield and pulls the piece of paper out of its place between the windscreen and the window-wipers. He shows the paper to Josh, Jazz, and Tyler, and they all seem to pause. Time is ticking and I want to make sure that I'm alive for my first day as a spy.

"Got it!" cries Josh. He races over to a cupboard in the far corner of the garage, opens up both doors and scans the shelves. The whole cupboard is full with junk: trinkets, batteries, screwdrivers, tools, books, old toys, dog food, board games, and a whole heap of other discarded things. He stops at the third shelf from the top and it's just the right height for him to stick his arms through and rummage around. He falters for a bit, scattering bits of paper and plastic containers to the ground as he desperately searches for the key.

It feels like forever, but soon enough, a face of pure delight washes over him and he pulls the key out of an empty Matryoshka doll. He unlocks all four handles and pulls out the chains. We jump inside and the waft of new car fills my nostrils. (I bagsed the window seat in the second row.)

"Shotgun," cries Jazz, sliding into the passenger seat.

"Dang, Jazz!" cries Tyler as he slides into the driver's seat.

"What about me? Can't I drive?" asks Josh, standing outside the driver seat door.

"No," states Tyler and Jazz simultaneously.

"On our trip to the beach last hols, you nearly drove us into a pole!" cried Tyler.

"That was one time!" replies Josh in a pleading tone.

"Come on guys, did you not hear the lady, we're gonna blow up soon!" I cry, interrupting their little banter session. "Josh, why don't you jump in the back?" I say, gesturing with my thumb.

He sighs and crams his way into the backseat. Lana takes her place in between Jayden and me, and Tyler starts the car.

"Wait, we need to open the garage," I state, and jump out of the car to flick the switch. Slowly the garage door chugs open and you can see spider webs splitting apart as it does. I leap back into the car and shut the door with a loud thud. Tyler starts the car and we're off.

"You're on the fastest route to Finnfield Point Farm and should reach your destination in 3 hours and 27 minutes," states the GPS lady.

We drive on down the dusty roads and a couple minutes later, we hear a loud explosion, indicating that the bomb went off and that that house is probably in pieces right now.