Base Camp

BASE CAMP
BY
H. I. LARRY

ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ANDY HOOK

Base Camp
published in 2008 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
85 High Street
Prahran, Victoria 3181, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without
the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

Text, illustration and design copyright © 2008 Hardie Grant Egmont

Cover and illustrations by Andy Hook
Typeset by Pauline Haas

Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER
ONE

‘Ha! You're out, Power!'

It was lunchtime, and Zac Power was playing handball with his school friends.

He walked out of the square, pretending to be disappointed. Pretending he hadn't just got out on purpose.

If he'd wanted to, Zac could have beaten all his friends with a blindfold on
and
one hand tied behind his back.

But none of them were allowed to know that. None of Zac's friends could ever find out that he was really a highly trained secret agent for the Government Investigation Bureau, or GIB for short.

So Zac left the court and walked to the end of the line to wait for his next turn. He looked up and saw his teacher, Ms Tran, walking towards them.

‘Zac,' she said. ‘Mrs De Souza wants to see you in her office.'

Mrs De Souza was the principal of Zac's school.

‘It wasn't me!' said Zac, without thinking. He hated getting in trouble.

Ms Tran raised an eyebrow.

‘I mean,' Zac said quickly, ‘what does she want to see me about?'

‘Your uncle is with her,' said Ms Tran. ‘He's picking you up early today. Go and get your things.'

‘Oh, OK,' said Zac, dashing off to get his bag.

But there was something a bit odd about all of this. For one thing, Zac didn't
have
an uncle.

Moments later, Zac was outside the principal's office, wondering what was going on. He knocked.

‘Come in,' Mrs De Souza said from inside the office.

Zac pushed open the door and froze.

Sitting in a chair across from Mrs De Souza was the last person Zac ever expected to see at his school.

Agent Big Boss. The head of GIB.

‘Sir!' said Zac. ‘What are you –'

‘Well,' said Agent Big Boss loudly, cutting Zac short. ‘If it isn't my favourite nephew!' He winked at Zac.

‘Oh, uh, yeah!' said Zac, playing along. ‘Hi, Uncle! What are you doing here?'

What
was
Agent Big Boss doing there?

‘Your uncle has come to pick you up early today,' said Mrs De Souza, not looking very happy. ‘A family matter, is it?'

Agent Big Boss nodded.

For a second, Zac was worried.

‘Are Mum and Dad OK?' he asked.

Zac's parents and his brother Leon worked for GIB, too.

‘They're fine,' said Agent Big Boss quickly. ‘Leon, too. But I have something to discuss with you.'

‘I hope this is important,' said Mrs De Souza. ‘We don't like pulling our students out of school unless it's absolutely necessary.'

‘Mrs De Souza,' Agent Big Boss said firmly, ‘this is more important than you could possibly imagine. Come on, Zac, the car's waiting.'

And with that, Agent Big Boss stood up and walked out of the principal's office.

With an awkward look back at Mrs De Souza, Zac followed him.

‘What is it?' said Zac as soon as the office door closed behind them. ‘What's going on?'

‘Not yet,' said Agent Big Boss in a low voice. ‘Wait until we get into the car.'

Zac nodded.

Agent Big Boss stopped at the side of the road and stuck out his hand. A black limousine with tinted windows pulled up from around the corner.

The door opened automatically and Zac and Agent Big Boss climbed inside.

Zac was amazed. This limo had everything! A popcorn-maker, a mini-fridge, a stereo system and an enormous flat-screen TV! There was even a metal door in the floor labelled ‘Foot Spa'.

This is better than my house!
thought Zac, getting comfy in the plush leather seat.

He wished he had time to test it all out. But Agent Big Boss was staring at him with a strange look in his eye.

Time to focus,
Zac told himself.
Popcorn can wait.

‘Agent Rock Star, I've got a mission for you,' began Agent Big Boss, putting on his seatbelt. ‘BIG is planning something, and I need you to stop them.'

BIG was the most evil spy organisation in the business, and GIB's greatest enemy. But Zac wasn't worried. Thwarting BIG's plans was what he did best.

‘No worries,' he said coolly. ‘The usual, right? 24 hours to save the world, and –'

‘No,' said Agent Big Boss, shaking his head.‘Not this time. This time we're dealing with something much, much bigger.'

CHAPTER
TWO

‘So what is it?' Zac asked. ‘What's BIG doing that's so, er, big?'

‘The head of BIG has just received a powerful new weapon,' said Agent Big Boss. ‘It's the most dangerous piece of technology they've ever gotten their hands on.'

‘What kind of weapon is it?' Zac asked.

‘Well, we're a bit short on details,' Agent Big Boss admitted. ‘But it appears to be a highly advanced Tech Blaster.'

Zac had heard about Tech Blasters. They were high-tech weapons that were harmless to humans, but would fry any nearby electrical devices. ‘So BIG wants to destroy some of our gadgets?' he asked.

‘No,' said Agent Big Boss. ‘BIG wants to destroy
all
of our gadgets. If this weapon is activated, it will set off a chain reaction powerful enough to wipe out every single piece of GIB technology in the world.'

‘When you say every piece,' Zac began, ‘do you mean…'

‘Everything,' Agent Big Boss finished. ‘Every gadget, every vehicle, every SpyPad, every computer. All of it, everywhere. Gone. GIB would be completely shut down in less than three minutes.'

Zac stared at Agent Big Boss. ‘How much time have we got?'

‘Our sources tell us that BIG plans to activate the Tech Blaster this Sunday at midnight,' Agent Big Boss answered.

Zac did a quick calculation in his head. It was Wednesday today, so that gave him about four and a half days.

‘OK,' he said. ‘What's the plan?'

‘Well, we still don't know where the weapon is being kept or what it looks like,' Agent Big Boss said.‘But we do know who's going to activate it.'

‘Who?'

‘Someone we've never met before. From what we can tell, he's new to BIG.'

‘What's his name?' Zac asked.

‘It's a bit strange,' said Agent Big Boss, ‘but he doesn't seem to have one.'

Zac blinked. A mystery weapon and an enemy agent with no name. GIB wasn't exactly giving him a lot to work with here. ‘So where is this mystery agent now?'

‘I'll show you,' said Agent Big Boss, handing Zac a small electronic earpiece. ‘Here, put this on.'

Zac slipped the earpiece over his ear.

‘Six hours ago,' Agent Big Boss went on, ‘we received this message from our remote base camp in the Black Jungle.'

GIB 'EAR' Electronic Audio Receiver

He hit a button on his armrest and the recording began to play through Zac's EAR. It was full of static and kept breaking up.