Deep Waters (3 page)

‘I know. It's 10.43am now, which only gives you 23 hours to stop the
Sea Devil
diving. You can't waste a second, Zac.'

‘I'm on it,' said Zac, hanging up the SpyPad.

But however much of a hurry Zac was in, he knew he'd be going nowhere if he didn't figure out how to work the amphibious submersible first. He fished the instruction manual out of the bin.

He'd have to read it after all!

CHAPTER FOUR

Zac looked up from the instruction manual.
The forward momentum and downward
lift of the wing allows your Personal
Amphibious Submersible to literally fly below
the water's surface
, he read.

He checked his watch.

It'd taken him more than two hours to figure out how to pilot the submersible properly. No wonder his eyes were watering.

Just then, Zac's SpyPad beeped again. It wasn't the usual beep though. This beep was much louder. The SpyPad only made this kind of beep when there was a special emergency message being broadcast to everyone in the area, not just GIB spies.

Zac grabbed his SpyPad.

TO ALL VESSELS IN
THE WEST SEA AREA

A small plane has
crashed into the sea.

Two passengers need rescuing.

If you can assist, go immediately
to the crash zone at
72 degrees north north-east.

MESSAGE FROM
WEST SEA OCEAN RESCUE

If Zac didn't head for the Safe Talker straight away, he'd fall seriously behind on his mission. And he couldn't fail – not on his first solo mission.

But, then again, wasn't his spying job with GIB really all about helping people? And there were two people whose lives were in danger right now.

The crash site was in the opposite direction to the Safe Talker. But Zac had no choice. He changed the coordinates in his GPS system.

He was going to the crash site.

At top speed, Zac raced off in the amphibious submersible, sticking close to the surface. He needed a good view of what was going on.

Zac pressed the ‘Up Periscope' button on the dashboard. The periscope poked through the water.

Through it, Zac could see what was happening up above. Straight away, Zac saw the plane wreck in the distance. Both wings were broken in half, and Zac could just make out a man and a woman, hanging on as tight as they could.They were waving desperately for help.

But the worst thing was, the plane wreck had just caught fire!

Zac had to get there and save those people before the fire took hold. If the fuel tank caught fire, the plane would explode.

The amphibious submersible flew through the water. But still it seemed too slow! Was he going to make it in time?

Zac checked the periscope.

He was almost there!

‘Help us! Somebody! Help us!' yelled the woman.

Zac steered the submersible upwards until it broke through surface of the water. He opened the hatch on the very top of the submersible and stuck out his head.

‘Don't panic!' he called to the couple. ‘I've got everything under control.'

But Zac knew that he didn't really have everything under control.

He couldn't just jump out of the amphibious submersible and swim over to the plane wreck to help the people. For a start, he couldn't possibly carry the man and the woman by himself. And what if the plane's fuel tank did explode? Then he'd be killed too.

Zac scanned the cabin for safety gear. Besides Zac's own life jacket, there was only a weird kind of gun with an enormous loop on the end of the barrel. Beside that was a bottle of liquid labelled ‘RescueBubble'.

Could this be what he thought it was?

There was only one way to find out!

‘Jump!' he yelled to the passengers.

The woman jumped into the water.

But the man was shaking his head. ‘No, you come here!' the man yelled desperately. ‘I can't swim!'

‘I can't come any closer! You'll have to jump!' cried Zac.

Behind him, the angry orange flames roared. They licked their way up both wings, higher and higher! They'd be at the fuel tank any second now.

‘Now!' yelled Zac.

The man screwed up his face. With a terrified yell, he jumped into the sea.

Zac snatched up the gun and the bottle of RescueBubble.

Zac hoped that the RescueBubble worked a bit like the bubble blowers he'd had as a kid. He poured the RescueBubble liquid into a hole on the top of the gun and aimed it at the people. He squeezed the trigger.

Just as he thought! A great big bubble formed. It shot towards the couple, who were thrashing about in the sea. The man looked like he was about to drown. The bubble drifted down and swallowed up the people. Instantly, the bubble hardened.

A fireball shot hundreds of metres into the air. The plane exploded!

But inside their giant rescue bubble, both the passengers were safe.

The force of the explosion sent the bubble flying towards Zac, who was hanging out of the hatch on top of the amphibious submersible. Expertly, he caught the bubble.

Zac switched his SpyPad to laser mode and a bright red beam shot out. With one swift movement, Zac sliced the bubble open and freed the people inside. With all his strength, he dragged the man and woman through the hatch and into the amphibious submersible.

‘You saved our lives!' said the man, panting. ‘And we don't even know who you are.'

‘I'm Power. Zac Power,' said Zac, putting out his hand.

CHAPTER FIVE

‘Angela Blythe-Jones,' said the woman. ‘And this is my husband, Charles.'

‘We were flying from our country estate to our beach estate,' said Angela.

‘And doing some squid-spotting on the way,' said Charles. ‘It's a little hobby of ours. There are quite a few giant squid in the area, you see.'

Angela looked at the wrecked, burning plane. ‘Next time we go squid-spotting, we'll charter a Learjet,' she said.

In all his time as a spy, Zac had never met anyone like the Blythe-Joneses. They must be millionaires.

Or maybe even billionaires!

‘How can we repay you for saving us?' asked Angela, her huge diamond ring catching the light as she smoothed her shiny blonde hair.

‘You don't need to repay me,' said Zac.

All the same, he wondered what kind of awesome present the Blythe-Joneses might give him.

A dune buggy? A trip into outer space?
A personal robot?

Zac was too busy thinking to notice Charles taking something out of his pocket and writing on it.

‘At least let us take a photograph of us all together,' said Charles. He took his top-of-the-range digital camera from its waterproof case.

Zac posed as the Blythe-Joneses stood around him. Charles slipped something into Zac's pocket as they smiled for the camera. Zac didn't notice.

Then Zac got his SpyPad out and switched it to Digital Camera mode.

‘Take one on mine?' he said, handing the SpyPad to Charles.

Charles snapped away. ‘I should send these into the newspaper,' he said. ‘You'll be a hero, Zac.'

A hero!

The words rang in Zac's ears. He'd always hoped that one day he'd be famous for his spying exploits. But he couldn't allow his photograph to be published. He'd never be able to go under cover again.

‘Thanks, Mr Blythe-Jones, but I can't,' Zac said. Really, he wanted to say the opposite.

Zac caught sight of the clock in the dashboard.