by H. I. Larry
Anyway, he had a feeling they would meet again.
CHAPTER
NINE
The scorpions were close behind … and were getting closer with every second! But Zac managed to stay just ahead of them.
A few bounces later he was back in the Treasure Room. Zac opened Caz’s bag and yanked out the diamond.The statue was still a couple of leaps away, and the scorpions were closer than ever.
Zac skidded to a halt.
Blocking his path was the trench.
The cobras!
The iPod had stopped playing and one look at the snakes told Zac that they were no longer in a trance. In fact, they looked nastier than ever.
Zac thought fast. I’ll have to throw the diamond back over the snake pit and into the statue’s lap. I’ll just pretend I’m playing basketball.
Zac was an excellent basketball player. But this was a high-pressure shot. Zac kept imagining Caz laughing at him. You’ll never make it, she was saying in his mind.
But Zac ignored the voice. He had to make this shot. Sure, being a spy was a drag sometimes. But like it or not Zac Power was a GIB agent and he had a mission to complete. He took a deep breath and lined up the shot. Then he threw the diamond at the statue of the Golden Sun King.
From the moment it left his hands Zac realised he’d made a mistake. He’d thrown it way too hard! Of course, if he had been on the GIB basketball court this wouldn’t have mattered. It would have just hit the backboard and bounced in but today there was no backboard for the diamond to bounce off.
There was just the statue’s head.
CRRRRACKKK!
The diamond hit the statue right in the face. Zac held his breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
As if in slow motion the diamond rolled down the statue and into its hands. It wobbled there for a long moment. Zac could hardly watch. Would it stay put or would it end up rolling into the pit?
Finally, the diamond stopped wobbling. Zac leapt up in the air. Awesome shot! He just wished there was someone around to high-five.
The moment the diamond was safely back in its place the cobras disappeared into the trench and the scorpions ran straight past Zac and back down the holes in the walls. Zac wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. But he couldn’t just yet. He had to check that the statue was OK.
From a distance the statue looked perfect. He put ‘Snake Charming Song’ back onto repeat and jumped over the pit. Up close Zac could see that there was a huge crack all the way around the statue’s neck. When he pushed the head it fell off into his hands. Oh no! I must have broken it with the diamond!
Another earth tremor forced Zac to jump out of the way of the falling rocks. Zac coughed. His lungs were filling up with dust. He knew he should be finding a way out. But he didn’t want to leave before he fixed the statue. It was going to be hard enough to explain to GIB about letting Caz escape. He didn’t want to tell them that he’d wrecked this statue too.
Zac tipped his Pyramid-Pack upside down and shook it.
This was his last hope. Perhaps there was something in it that would be perfect for instantly fixing a broken statue.
The only thing to fall out of the bag was Zac’s Super Strength Hair Gel.
Zac felt his hair. It was still in perfect condition; even after all he’d been through. The hair gel was really strong stuff. But is it strong enough to fix a 2000-year-old statue? There was nothing for it but to try.
Zac quickly squeezed the tube of Super-Strength Hair Gel onto the statue’s neck. Then he squished the head back on top.
To Zac’s relief the gel set instantly.When he checked the head a moment later it was firmly stuck in place.
Zac smiled. There hadn’t been a hair crisis yet that this gel couldn’t solve!
The SpyPad beeped a warning.
Zac had seven minutes to get out. He turned around, ready to run for the door. But before he had a chance to escape, the pyramid shook again and a huge pile of rocks and sand came crashing down in front of him.
CRrrrAaAShHHhHh!
When the dust cleared Zac couldn’t see a tunnel any more.
He was trapped!
CHAPTER
TEN
There was no time for Zac to dig his way out. He was totally stuck! Unless there’s another way out? thought Zac.
In a flash he remembered something else about Pyramid Panic.Whenever he played the game it was always the Treasure Room that he was ejected from.
He frowned, thinking hard.What caused him to be ejected? The only thing that he could remember was that he always seemed to trip over just before he found himself flying through the air.
The SpyPad had begun a warning countdown. Zac started pacing quickly around the room, looking for a clue.
Then suddenly he found himself sprawled on the ground. He’d tripped, just like when he played Pyramid Panic!
He looked down and saw two footprints carved into the stone he’d tripped on. The stone looked a bit like a welcome mat. But Zac knew that it was more like an unwelcome mat.
Zac jumped on the stone and put his feet onto the carved footprints.
Immediately a panel in the ceiling creaked backwards and a light streamed through. It was so bright that at first Zac couldn’t see anything.
Where was that light coming from? Then he realised. It was sunlight! This must be a tunnel leading up to the tip of the pyramid!
The stone beneath Zac’s feet started pulling back slowly into the ground. Then suddenly it shot forward again, shooting Zac up into the air. Zac pressed his arms to his sides as he flew into the tunnel above his head. He couldn’t stop smiling. This was wicked! He felt like a ball in a pinball machine.
When he opened his eyes again he was out in the sunshine, high above the pyramid.
Zac looked down at the pyramid. Was it going to collapse? That would be really annoying after all the effort he’d put into saving the statue.
The seconds ticked past but the pyramid didn’t collapse. In fact, it remained as solid as it had for centuries. He’d made it out just in time!
The pyramid was saved!
Then Zac looked down again.
Uh oh! He remembered that what goes up, must come down. He was now hurtling towards the ground.
He could see his dune buggy far below him, looking like a toy. But it was getting bigger by the second. If he kept falling like this he was going to end up squashed like a bug on the windscreen.
Zac quickly thought back to what he had learned in Spy School about crash landing. He tucked his head down into his knees in the brace position.
Then he heard a strange noise. It was like a bird trying to flap its wings. It was coming from his Pyramid-Pack! There was the sound of ripping material and suddenly Zac wasn’t falling any more.
In fact, he was gliding. Zac looked over his shoulder and smiled. There had been one last thing in his Pyramid-Pack that he hadn’t noticed. A paraglider! The chute had opened up automatically as he started plummeting towards the ground.
Now I can enjoy myself, thought Zac. He did a couple of loop-the-loops and circled the pyramid below him before guiding the glider down towards the dune buggy. He pulled up in a perfect 10-point move and dropped right into the driver’s seat.
Zac checked the solar power levels.The battery was completely charged again. He had more than enough energy to get back to base camp and meet up with his family. In fact, there was probably enough power to take the long way home and jump a few more sand dunes!
But there was one last thing he had to do. Zac untied the knot in the beetletorch and let the scarab beetles out. In a flash they jumped off the buggy and burrowed down into the sand.
As Zac watched them disappear, the SpyPad’s satellite phone rang.
‘It’s Agent Bum Smack here,’ said a very familiar voice.‘Where are you, Zac? There’s a big pile of dishes here at base camp. And according to the roster it’s your turn to wash them.’
Zac sighed. It looked like the sand dunes would have to w
ait.
‘OK, mum,’ he said. ‘I’m on my way.’
THE END
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