Undercover

by Jacqueline Harvey

  ‘That’ll be Curtis from next door. He’s taking us on a tour of the area,’ Max said. ‘Is that okay?’

  Song nodded. ‘Of course. I suspect he will be an excellent guide.’

  ‘Have you been spying on the neighbours already?’ Max chuckled.

  Song raised his eyebrows. ‘Really, Master Maxim, what do you take me for?’

  Kensy ran to open the door. ‘Hi,’ she said, finding Curtis peering at the fingerprint door lock. He had changed out of his school clothes and was wearing khaki shorts and a matching shirt. Coupled with hiking boots and a small backpack, he looked as though he was about to lead them on a bush trek, not a quick trot around the neighbourhood.

  ‘This is seriously cool. I’ve come up to have a closer look at it every now and then, but I’ve never seen it in action. You’ll have to give me a demonstration later,’ Curtis said, his words flying a million miles a minute. He stepped around her and darted into the entrance hall. ‘I can’t believe I’m finally inside! I’m almost tempted to call off our expedition and stay here. Oh wow, that’s such a cool painting!’

  Kensy grinned. The boy’s unbridled enthusiasm was endearing. She followed him and, in a heart-stopping moment, realised that the lampshade below the painting was sporting something that shouldn’t have been there. Her last throw had been wilder than she’d thought. ‘Curtis, have you met Song yet? Max, hurry up!’ she called, adding a note of desperation in her voice that she hoped her brother would detect.

  Curtis turned and thrust his hand into Song’s. ‘Pleasure to meet you, Song.’

  ‘Likewise, Master Curtis,’ the man replied with a grin.

  Max dashed back in from the kitchen to see Kensy gesturing wildly to the knife handle that was poking out of the lampshade. ‘Hey Curtis! Let’s get going. I’m sure you’ve got heaps to show us,’ he said, gently coaxing the boy out the door.

  ‘Oh, okay,’ Curtis said, encouraged by the lad’s interest.

  ‘What’s our first stop?’ Kensy asked, pulling the front door closed behind them.

  ‘The ferry wharf – one of my favourite spots.’ The lad handed them each a photocopied map and suggested they keep it in their pockets until they were familiar with the peninsular. Kensy shot her brother a wry grin, but Max just nodded and said thank you.

  They turned right and headed down Waiwera Street, then left into East Crescent. Curtis pointed out various houses and announced who lived in them. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he leapt behind a bush that was protruding from one of the front gardens into the path. He grabbed Kensy’s arm and hauled her in beside him. Max, wondering what on earth was wrong, ducked in too.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Kensy hissed.

  Curtis unzipped his backpack and pulled out a pair of binoculars, training them on the house diagonally across the road. He fished out a notebook and pen and handed them both to Max. ‘Quick, take this down,’ he said. He glanced at his watch, which looked like one a diver would wear. ‘Seventeen hundred hours. Suspect sighted outside premises. Wearing suit and tie. Retrieving large box from Mercedes boot with the letters “LVMH” printed on the side. Entered house via side door at seventeen-oh-three.’ Curtis turned to Max. ‘Did you get all that?’

  Max shook his head. ‘Sorry, I think your pen’s broken.’

  ‘Oh, right, I should have told you it has invisible ink.’ Curtis pressed the side of the lid, activating a blue light, and scribbled in the notebook. ‘Okay, we can go,’ Curtis said as he packed away his things.

  Kensy and Max exchanged quizzical glances. ‘What was all that about?’ Kensy asked.

  ‘I can’t tell you,’ Curtis replied seriously. ‘If I did, I’d have to kill you.’

  Kensy giggled, then stopped when she noticed Curtis frowning. Without another word, Curtis picked up his backpack and led the children down an alleyway to a flight of steps. The ferry wharf was just across the cul de sac below. They walked back the long way so he could show them the park on the peninsular at the end of Blues Point Road.

  ‘Where did you live before here?’ Curtis asked.

  ‘Um, Thredbo,’ Kensy said, hoping that was going to be Max’s answer too. There was no reason to say they’d been in England.

  ‘Nice.’ Curtis nodded. ‘We went skiing there in July. But the snow wasn’t that great. ‘Was your dad a teacher in Jindabyne?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Max said. He was mindful of Fitz’s advice to keep it simple, but he felt rude offering the lad such short answers. He scratched around for something to ask in return. ‘How long have you lived here?’

  ‘Oh, all my life,’ Curtis said. ‘Which isn’t really that long – haha! And what about the house – did your dad buy it?’

  Max shook his head. ‘We’re just renting.’

  ‘That makes sense because we didn’t see it come up for sale. Mum’s pretty sure it’s still owned by Dame Cordelia Spencer and she’s in England. Her parents used to live next door a long time ago, but they got run over by a bus,’ Curtis prattled. ‘Can you believe that? What a horrible thing to happen. Mum says that Dame Spencer is mega rich and she owns a newspaper called the Beacon. Do you know her?’

  Kensy and Max shook their heads.

  ‘So you’re renting it through an agent then?’ Curtis asked.

  The boy was relentless. He was just about the most curious person they’d ever met. Fortunately, as they walked back up the hill, a silver Jaguar four-wheel drive roared past. Curtis stopped and waved, but the boy in the front passenger seat turned his head and the girl in the back ignored him too. The woman driving smiled and raised her hand.

  ‘That’s Mrs Chalmers. She’s super nice,’ Curtis said as he resumed walking. ‘Van’s such a dreamer – he never sees anyone when he’s in the car.’

  But Kensy thought that was a lie. Van had been looking right at them and turned away the second Curtis waved.

  ‘Where do they live?’ Max asked.

  ‘I’ll show you,’ Curtis said, and turned right into Warung Street. They caught sight of the silver Jaguar disappearing into an underground garage. Curtis pointed at a palatial pink pile which sat high into the hill, surrounded by lush gardens and mature trees. There were several balconies at the front and huge picture windows facing the harbour.

  ‘Wow, that place is huge,’ Kensy said.

  ‘Yeah, it’s one of the biggest houses around here, that’s for sure.’ Curtis nodded. ‘At least that’s what my mum says.’

  ‘So, are you friends with Van and Ellery?’ Max asked.

  ‘We see each other every day on the ferry,’ Curtis said with a shrug. ‘But we hang out with different people at school.’

  The children heard Ellery bellowing at the tops of her lungs from somewhere inside the property. ‘Mum! Curtis Pepper is spying on us again. You have to call his mother. He’s such a snoop!’ The last word echoed into the street.

  Curtis’s face fell. He stood as still and quiet as a statue.

  Kensy touched his arm. ‘Come on, you haven’t even shown us the walkway around to Luna Park yet.’

  The lad’s face brightened ever so slightly. ‘Oh, okay. Are you sure you want to go? Because we don’t have to if you’d rather not.’

  ‘Of course we do,’ Max said. ‘You’ve been an amazing tour guide so far.’

  ‘Well, there’s this really cool garden on the way,’ Curtis said, smiling. ‘It was built by a lady called Wendy who was married to a famous artist. Before she started fixing it up, it was like a harbourside jungle and now it’s gorgeous.’

  Curtis set off with Max beside him while Kensy stared up at the Chalmers’ house for a few moments longer. She could see Ellery looking back at her and gave a half-hearted wave. The way the girl had yelled just then had made Kensy feel sick to her stomach, but she had to somehow look past it for the mission. She and Max had to befriend those kids in order to get to their mum, who was supposedly about to spirit them off somewhere. Still, Kensy hated the way Ellery had embarrassed Curtis. So what if he’d done a couple of st
range things this afternoon? He was kind and friendly. Kensy had been to enough schools around the world to know that not everyone was. Even if Curtis had an odd habit of closely monitoring his neighbours, she had a gut feeling that he was a good kid, and good kids weren’t always easy to come by.

  Max sat down at his desk and smiled to himself. The irony of his and Kensy’s life and that of their new neighbour had not been lost on him. Curtis, the amateur spy, had to be one of the most interesting kids he’d met in a long time, which was kind of comforting, given their other friends were so far away. His mind wandered to London and the bombing and whether his grandmother had any leads yet. It seemed that whoever was responsible was hiding in plain sight, which was disturbing to say the least. Just thinking about it made him wince, although maybe that was the residual pain from the gash in his forehead.

  Max opened his laptop and was about to start on a comprehension passage when a call came through. It was Carlos. He hesitated, remembering what Granny had said about not letting anyone know their whereabouts. Surely, he could talk to his friend. He just wouldn’t mention a word about the mission or where they really were – the only thing was, lying wasn’t Max’s strongest suit.

  He hit the button to accept the call and Carlos appeared on the screen looking as if he were in the middle of getting ready for school. His shirt was buttoned, but his tie was hanging loosely around his neck and it didn’t look as if his dark curls had seen a brush yet. He peered into the camera.

  ‘Dude! Are you okay?’ Carlos asked. ‘Magoo said there’d been a gas leak at your house and you and Kensy were in hospital. I went by yesterday to have a look and – WHOA – your place is a wreck!’

  ‘Um, yeah,’ Max said. ‘We’re getting better. I had a piece of glass in my head and Kensy’s got a few bruises, but we’re fine.’

  ‘Which hospital are you in?’ Carlos asked. ‘I’ll come and see you.’

  Max shook his head. ‘We’re not allowed visitors at the moment – Granny’s orders. She wants us to rest.’

  Carlos craned his head, as if he were trying to see past Max. ‘That’s a pretty nice hospital room.’

  Max kicked himself for not being more careful. ‘Um, sorry, I think I can hear one of the doctors coming. I’ll talk to you soon.’

  Carlos frowned. ‘Sure … Hey Max? Are you really okay?’

  Max nodded and quickly closed the laptop.

  Meanwhile, next door, Kensy had taken a call from Autumn.

  ‘Your house is a mess!’ the girl exclaimed. ‘It’s all boarded up at the front. I can’t believe it was a gas leak.’

  ‘Me either,’ Kensy said, concentrating hard on not giving anything away, even though she was bursting to tell her everything.

  Autumn eyed her friend warily. ‘But it wasn’t a gas leak, was it?’

  ‘Of course it was. What else could it have been?’ Kensy said, trying to sound bright and upbeat.

  ‘Seriously, Kensy, you’ll have to improve your acting skills if you’re going to get something past me,’ Autumn said. ‘In the short time I’ve known you, you’ve evaded a couple of kidnappers – thanks to me and Carlos – you’ve escaped from a nutter in a taxi, you’ve survived a high-speed crash in Esmerelda that no one has ever properly explained, you almost set the school on fire and on the weekend your house exploded. I might have only been in training for a few years, but if I were you, I’d think someone was trying to kill me.’

  ‘Clearly,’ Kensy said with a sigh.

  ‘So which hospital are you in?’ Autumn asked. ‘I hope there are guards on the door.’ Before Kensy could reply, Autumn peered more closely at the screen. ‘Are you wearing a uniform?’

  Kensy shook her head far too quickly and tilted the screen so that only her head and neck were showing.

  ‘Yes, you are! What’s goi–’ Autumn’s eyes widened and she placed a hand over her heart. ‘Kensington Grey, I can promise you that I am not on Team Kill Kensy and Max, so you’d better tell me where you are and what’s really going on.’

  ‘Granny said we weren’t allowed to,’ Kensy said weakly.

  ‘Well, by the light in the room, I can tell you’re somewhere sunny,’ Autumn said. ‘And it’s bucketing down in London, so it’s pretty obvious you’re not here.’

  ‘We’re in Sydney,’ Kensy said.

  Autumn’s perfect eyebrows jumped up in surprise. ‘As in Australia?’

  ‘It was Granny’s idea,’ Kensy said. ‘Anyway, we’re both fine. You wouldn’t even know that Max had a great big chunk of glass in his forehead. It’s healed up already and he won’t have a scar.’

  Autumn’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh no – are you sure?’ she gasped. ‘Poor Max. That must have been so scary.’

  ‘He’s fine,’ Kensy said. ‘And I am too, thanks for asking.’

  ‘Sorry.’ Autumn grinned. ‘Why Australia? And when are you coming back?’

  ‘I’m not sure. We’re on a mission,’ Kensy said. Now she’d really spilled the beans. If her grandmother ever found out, she’d never be trusted again.

  ‘Wow, that’s huge!’ Autumn said, sitting back in her seat. She looked like she’d had the wind knocked out of her. ‘I assumed you were there because Dame Spencer thinks someone is trying to kill you.’

  ‘Yes, that’s one reason, but you can’t say a thing to anyone – not even Carlos. Granny will kill me herself if she finds out that I’ve told you all this,’ Kensy said, her stomach turning at the thought.

  ‘Okay, but call me if you need anything. Carlos and I can do some homework about the house explosion too, if you’d like. I’d better get going. There’s an early lesson with Vanden Boom. We’re getting new Pharos-issue running shoes this morning,’ Autumn said, grinning at the screen. ‘Apparently, they have many uses apart from sport and every pair has been tailor-made so we don’t look like a bunch of dorks in the same trainers.’

  Kensy pouted. ‘That sounds brilliant. All I have to look forward to is choir practice first thing in the morning.’

  ‘Choir practice?’ Autumn frowned. ‘You?’

  ‘I know – it’s not by choice, trust me,’ Kensy said, rolling her eyes.

  Autumn laughed. ‘Good luck with that. I’ll talk to you tomorrow and, don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.’

  Kensy gave her friend a wave and closed her laptop just as Song’s voice drifted up the stairs, calling the children to dinner. The twins ran down to the kitchen and sat at the table. Fitz was there, helping to serve.

  ‘We found out where Van and Ellery live,’ Kensy said, snatching up a snake bean. ‘The mother sounds really lovely – at least Curtis said that she was – so why we’re here to protect them is a total mystery.’

  ‘Looks can be deceiving, Kens,’ Fitz warned. He placed a ramekin of soy sauce and a jar of chilli oil onto the table. ‘Remember the charming Sister Maria Regina?’

  ‘How could I forget? I’m scarred for life.’ Kensy shuddered at the memory of the nun gouging at the side of her face and removing a very convincing latex mask.

  Fitz went to place the first bowl of Song’s famous dumplings in front of Max but misjudged the distance due to his big belly and it almost toppled off the table. Max caught it just in time.

  ‘Sorry, mate,’ Fitz said. He leaned over further to make sure he didn’t miss with Kensy’s. ‘Honestly, this gut has a life of its own.’ He patted his stomach and sat down.

  Song brought the other two bowls over.

  ‘How was your day, Fitz?’ Max asked.

  The man ran his hand over the top of his bald head. ‘Exhausting. On top of all my regular classes, I’ve landed myself a role as assistant coach of the first eleven, and they have a match tomorrow afternoon and then some super-important game on the weekend. Heaven help me, I haven’t played cricket since I was a teenager and I must admit that I haven’t watched it much over the years either. I’m going to have to read up on the rules tonight.’

  ‘You’ll be okay, Fitz – we all have to fake it till w
e make it this time,’ Kensy said, grinning.

  Max picked up his chopsticks and was about to tuck into his first dumpling when he realised the top of the lighthouse ornament that sat on the kitchen bench had begun to glow and the light was spinning. ‘Um, what’s that?’

  Song hopped up and pressed the door at the bottom of the lighthouse. ‘Good evening, ma’am.’

  ‘Hello Song,’ the woman said cheerfully. ‘I don’t suppose I’ve caught you during dinner?’

  ‘Hi Granny!’ Max and Kensy called in unison.

  ‘Hello darlings, I miss you,’ she said. ‘Are you feeling better, Max?’

  ‘I’m fine, thank you,’ he replied. ‘There’s a bit of a pain now and then but no scar.’

  Kensy was itching to ask her about their mission, but she decided to heed Fitz’s instructions that any discussion about it was off limits.

  ‘The builders are starting at the house next week, so things will be shipshape in no time,’ Cordelia said. ‘With regards to the incident, we’re following every possible line of enquiry. When I find out who was responsible, they are going to wish they’d never crossed paths with Cordelia Spencer. No one threatens my family and gets away with it.’

  ‘You sound fierce, Granny,’ Max said.

  ‘Fierce doesn’t even come close,’ the woman replied.

  The twins both swallowed hard, having just given away far more to their friends than they’d meant to.

  ‘Love the wardrobe in the main bedroom,’ Fitz said.

  ‘I thought you might,’ Cordelia said, her voice softening.

  Max arched an eyebrow at Kensy. He’d been meaning to ask about the building materials Curtis had mentioned earlier.

  ‘I hear you’re looking particularly handsome at the moment, Fitz,’ Cordelia said, a smile in her voice.

  Kensy giggled. ‘Only if fat and hairy is your cup of tea.’

  ‘His chin wobbles when he talks,’ Max said. ‘It’s hypnotic.’

  ‘Why, thank you, Master Maxim,’ Song said, his eyes creasing into happy half-moons. ‘I am rather proud of my masterpiece.’