Training School

by Andrew Cope

Star shuddered. ‘They’re keeping us in too.’

  ‘It’s almost like we’re prisoners,’ agreed Spud, looking at the flashing alarm wired to the front door. ‘And why do I get the feeling we’re being watched?’

  ‘Pups, I smell a rat,’ woofed Lara. ‘From now on, I think we need to keep a very special eye on Special Agent Brad Onkers.’

  8. Stake-out

  Brad Onkers drove away from the safe house, turned a corner and came to a stop. Chad stepped out from the shadows and climbed into the passenger seat.

  There were six screens on the limo’s dashboard, each showing a different room in the FBI safe house. Five of the screens showed the Cook family as they warily explored their home for the night. The sixth screen showed Lara, Spud and Star standing with their heads together in the hallway.

  ‘Are you sure they’re up to it?’ asked Chad, studying Spud and Star. ‘They just look like –’

  ‘– a pair of mucky pups,’ finished Brad. ‘I agree. But you should’ve seen them today, Chad! They have the skills to steal the Janus mask for us tomorrow night, no problem at all.’

  ‘But how do we –’

  ‘Make them steal it?’ Brad gave an evil laugh. ‘They’ll do anything we ask if it means keeping that black and white mutt and those annoying kids safe.’

  ‘So, if we put the mutt and the kids in danger, then –’

  ‘– the pups will steal the Janus mask to save them,’ finished Brad.

  The brothers shared an identical evil smile.

  ‘What’s the plan?’ asked Chad.

  ‘Tomorrow, Chad, you’re going to be a second me,’ said Brad, pulling an FBI badge from his inside pocket and handing it to his twin. The badge was an exact replica of the one which hung around his neck.

  ‘What’s my mission?’ asked Chad, rubbing his hands together as he thought of all the fun he could have, posing as an FBI agent.

  ‘You’re taking the mutt, the annoying kids and their parents sightseeing,’ said Brad.

  Chad pulled a face. ‘What? But I hate sightseeing. And I hate kids! Especially that one.’ He pointed to one of the screens, which showed Ollie sledging downstairs on a tea tray.

  ‘Count yourself lucky,’ said Brad. ‘I have to spend the day with those pesky pups!’

  ‘But what am I supposed to do with them?’

  ‘I don’t care,’ said Brad. ‘As long as you make sure they’re in the Central Park Zoo after closing time tomorrow tonight.’

  ‘Why the zoo?’ asked Chad.

  ‘A zoo can be a very dangerous place.’

  Chad’s face lit up. ‘That’s more like it!’

  ‘Here’s the plan,’ said Brad, leaning closer to his twin.

  Brad talked and Chad listened, and the dashboard screens lit up their identical faces like a pair of Hallowe’en masks.

  9. The Great Escape

  Ollie’s eyes were shining as he swung his lightsabre at the head of the stormtrooper. The man ducked and lowered his own lightsabre, which was just what Ollie wanted. He darted in while his enemy’s guard was down and drove his lightsabre under the man’s breastplate.

  ‘Oof!’ said the stormtrooper. He staggered backwards and fell over.

  Quick as a flash, Ollie pointed his weapon at the man’s throat. ‘Victory is mine!’ he yelled, planting his foot on the stormtrooper’s chest.

  ‘Nice one, kid!’ said the stormtrooper, scrambling to his feet and removing his helmet. He winked at Ollie before turning to the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight. ‘And our realistic lightsabres are on special offer today, folks! Only twenty dollars each!’

  ‘Did you see that?’ cried Ollie, running across to Lara and the Cook family. ‘I fought a stormtrooper! This is the best toy shop in the whole world!’

  Ollie dashed off to wrestle with a life-sized stuffed gorilla at the front of the store. The Cooks followed, but Lara stayed and watched Brad Onkers take Spud and Star into the secret elevator behind the saxophones. The FBI agent had collected them all from the safe house after breakfast and had outlined the plans for the day while he drove them to the toy shop. Spud and Star were to spend the day training in the underground FBI field office while he, personally, took Lara and the Cooks sightseeing. ‘It’s the least I can do to make up for my rude behaviour yesterday,’ he had said, with an apologetic smile.

  Lara frowned. Brad had seemed genuinely sorry, but she was suspicious of his sudden change of heart. She waited until the shelves slid shut again before she turned and trotted after the Cooks.

  Spud and Star will be safe inside the FBI field office, she thought. Whatever Brad Onkers is up to, he can’t hurt them if he’s spending the day with us – and when he comes back, I won’t be taking my eyes off him for a second!

  From his hiding place behind a Wookie, Chad Onkers watched Lara hurry past. Once she was safely out of sight, he checked his appearance in a nearby mirror. Before they left their house that morning, he and Brad had made sure that they were dressed identically. They had even used the same aftershave. He was confident that he could pass himself off as Brad.

  A mutt, some kids and their parents? No problem, he thought, adjusting his FBI badge and stepping out from his hiding place. ‘OK, folks,’ he said, striding towards Lara and the Cooks. ‘That’s the pups settled for the day. Time to go sightseeing!’

  The real Brad was still in the underground complex. He had taken Spud and Star to an office and given them a laptop each.

  ‘What do you think we’ll be doing, bro?’ yapped Star, her eyes shining with excitement as she watched the FBI logo appear on her screen. ‘Hacking into criminal organizations? Listening in on top-secret meetings?’

  ‘Maybe we’ll be translating coded messages!’ woofed Spud as the FBI logo was replaced with a document full of symbols and numbers.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said Star, frowning at her screen. ‘Those aren’t coded messages. That’s a –’

  ‘Maths test,’ said Brad. ‘I want to assess your intelligence, so you’ll both be doing maths tests all day while I take your mum and the Cooks sightseeing.’

  Spud and Star stared at Brad in horror.

  ‘All day? No way!’ yapped Star.

  ‘If you think we’re doing maths tests, you’re more bonkers than we thought, Bonkers!’ woofed Spud.

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Brad, pretending to be concerned. ‘You don’t look too happy about that. Tell you what, I’ll throw in some algebra tests too, just to mix things up a bit.’

  Spud jumped down from his chair and marched to the door of the office. ‘I’m out of here,’ he barked. ‘Come on, Star. We’re off to find Ma and the Cooks. There’s a pastrami-on-rye sandwich out there with my name on it!’

  ‘And I’m booking in for some window-shopping on Fifth Avenue with Sophie,’ yapped Star, joining Spud at the door.

  ‘Hold on, pups,’ said Brad. ‘What’s the problem?’

  Star jumped back on to her chair and began typing. WE CAME HERE FOR SOME STREET TRAINING AND BIG CITY SPYING!

  Brad smiled inside as he read Star’s message. This was exactly the reaction he had hoped for! ‘We-ell, I suppose I could take you out on the streets,’ he said, with fake reluctance. ‘Show you a typical day in an FBI agent’s life …’

  ‘That’s more like it!’ yapped Spud, wagging his tail furiously.

  ‘But when we’re out there, you have to promise to do exactly what I tell you, however crazy it sounds.’

  WE WILL! Star typed.

  Brad pretended to be thinking about it. ‘OK,’ he said finally. ‘I’ll go and tell the Cooks they’ll have to see the sights without me. Listen up; while I’m doing that, you can be completing your first test. The door at the end of this corridor leads to the FBI underground garage. I want you to sneak out of here through the garage, without being detected. I’ll meet you outside. If you fail, it’s back to the maths tests for you. Agreed?’

  Spud and Star both nodded excitedly and raced off along the corridor. Brad smiled as he w
alked to reception, swiped his FBI card and stepped into the elevator alone. Perfect. Now, as far as his office was concerned, he had left the pups to their maths tests and gone to work. There was nothing to link him to their unauthorized exit from the building.

  ‘Why do you think he wants us to sneak out?’ whispered Star as she eased open the door to the underground garage.

  ‘It’s our first test,’ hissed Spud. ‘If we get out of here unseen, we’re in, sis! Proper FBI work! Maybe Onkers isn’t so bad, after all.’

  Star paused with her paw on the door. ‘But remember what Mum said?’

  Spud heard Lara’s voice in his head. We need to keep a very special eye on Special Agent Brad Onkers. He shook the thought away. ‘Even Ma can be wrong sometimes.’

  Star hesitated, but a day filled with adventure was too good to resist. She opened the door a bit further and they slipped through into the underground garage. It was a grey, concrete space, filled with lines of parked FBI cars. There was a ramp rising from the garage to the street outside. Two armed FBI guards in bulletproof vests stood on each side of a barrier at the bottom of the ramp. They were stopping and checking every car.

  ‘How do we get past the guards?’ whispered Star once they had found cover behind a nearby concrete pillar.

  ‘Let me think.’ Spud thought so hard, his head began to hurt, but no bright idea came to him. He was about to admit defeat when the door behind them was pushed open. ‘Quick! Under that car!’ he yapped.

  The pups ran to a low, black saloon car and scrambled underneath. Footsteps tapped across the concrete, coming closer and closer. They kept still, waiting for the footsteps to pass them by, but the footsteps stopped right beside them!

  There was a beep and the car doors unlocked with a thunk. The driver’s door was pulled open and then the chassis sank towards them as someone climbed into the driving seat. Spud looked up to make sure they weren’t about to be crushed. He froze, staring at the underside of the car.

  ‘We have to make a run for it!’ gasped Star. ‘If we’re still here when this car drives off, those FBI guards will spot us.’

  Spud stayed where he was, staring upwards. ‘Star? Remember how we hung from those pipes on that army assault course? The sergeant major said we both had really good muscles.’

  ‘We don’t have time for fond memories now!’ yapped Star, bracing herself to run when the car engine started.

  ‘Look up,’ said Spud. ‘See those metal rods? Think you could hang on until the car reaches the top of the ramp?’

  Star rolled her shoulders and shook her paws like an athlete at the start of a race. ‘I think so,’ she yapped.

  They each stretched up, grabbed a metal rod in their jaws, wrapped their front paws round it and then swung up their back legs too. The engine started and the whole car began to shake, but they hung on, keeping their tails well out of the way of the exhaust pipe.

  The car reversed out of the parking bay and then rumbled towards the barrier. The shaking grew worse, and the exhaust pipe between them was getting very hot. Spud’s teeth began to rattle and his jaws ached from holding on so tightly. Star sent him a desperate look as the two guards walked round the car. I’m not sure I can hang on!

  Hurry up! thought Spud, willing the driver to get a move on.

  But the driver was chatting happily with one of the guards while the other guard popped open the boot and checked inside.

  Spud felt his back paws slipping. His bum dipped nearer to the concrete.

  HURRY UP!

  Finally, they heard the whine of the barrier being raised. Star nearly lost her grip as the car bumped over the hump at the bottom of the ramp. She let out a strangled squeak, but managed to scrabble back into position.

  Hang on, sis! Nearly there!

  The car drove up the ramp and stopped at the top, waiting for a gap in the traffic. Spud and Star dropped from the chassis and lay on their backs under the car, with all their muscles burning. Suddenly, the car roared out into the street, leaving them in the open. They scrambled up and jumped into a hedge, expecting to hear a shout from one of the FBI guards, but nothing happened.

  ‘I think we made it, Spud,’ yapped Star after a few minutes. ‘The great escape!’

  Spud peered out of the bush. He spotted Brad Onkers waiting by a subway sign further down the street. ‘There he is,’ he yapped. ‘I wonder what he has planned?’

  ‘Whatever it is, it has to be better than maths tests,’ said Star as they scrambled out of the bush and trotted trustingly towards Brad. ‘You never know, bro. We may be in for one of the most exciting days of our lives!’

  10. Canine Criminals

  ‘See that guy walking down into the subway?’ Brad Onkers muttered from the corner of his mouth. ‘Red hair, grey suit, leather briefcase? He’s a jewel thief.’

  Spud and Star stared at the red-haired man, eyes wide.

  ‘He looks like a baddie,’ growled Spud. ‘Shifty eyes.’

  ‘You’re right, bro,’ yapped Star. ‘I bet that case is full of diamonds!’

  ‘Let’s see how good you pups are at tracking,’ said Onkers.

  Spud and Star looked at one another, hardly daring to believe what the FBI agent was saying.

  ‘U-us?’ yapped Star, pointing at herself and Spud.

  ‘Don’t worry. This guy isn’t a dangerous criminal,’ said Agent Onkers. ‘If he thinks he’s being followed, he’ll just make a run for it. Your job is not to let him see you. And remember, no need to buy tickets or stop at barriers. I’m making you associate agents for the day. You’re with the FBI now!’

  Spud and Star hesitated. They didn’t know New York at all. How would they find their way back to the FBI field office?

  ‘I’ll be right behind you,’ said Onkers. ‘Your job is to stay right behind him. Now go!’

  Spud and Star raced down the steps into the subway station.

  ‘He’s gone for the left-hand turnstile!’ yapped Star, spotting the red-headed man.

  They scrambled on to the ticket office counter, jumped across to the top of the turnstile barrier and then raced down the escalator into the subway.

  Agent Onkers smiled as he followed, filming them on his mobile phone. The red-haired man was an innocent traveller, not a jewel thief. The only criminals in that subway station were Spud and Star, and he had footage of them jumping the barrier without paying. What was more, he planned to film them breaking the law many more times before the day was over.

  ‘Intelligent Spy Dogs? I don’t think so.’ He sniggered. ‘They don’t even have the sense to see that I’m setting them up!’

  ‘That was such fun!’ gasped Star, twenty minutes later, as they stood in front of Madison Square Garden waiting for Agent Onkers to catch up with them.

  ‘The look on that ticket collector’s face when you shot between his legs!’ yapped Spud.

  ‘And what about that woman who screamed “rat!” when you ran along the back of the seats in the subway car!’ Star laughed.

  Spud nodded, but his tail drooped a little. He felt bad about the woman. Star had been ahead of him. She had not seen how scared the woman was, or how she had spilt her coffee all over her new coat.

  Onkers sprinted up the subway steps and hurried across to them. ‘Where did he go?’

  Spud and Star both pointed at the offices where the red-haired man had finished up. Onkers nodded seriously and wrote down the address in his notebook. ‘Good work, agents. Follow me. I’ll show you your next mission.’

  They hurried after Onkers into Madison Square Garden. An ice hockey game was under way and the roar of the fans echoed through the corridors of the complex. Agent Onkers led them to a door marked staff only and they followed him into a space under the stands. A few metres away, beyond a barrier, they could see the New York Rangers on the ice.

  Spud and Star crept up to the barrier and watched the game through the criss-cross bars. The teams wore helmets with metal grids on the front. Their skates sliced across the ice l
ike knives and their protective padding made them look like giants. Star winced as two players slammed into the barrier and then tore off again, chasing a brightly coloured disc.

  ‘That disc is called the puck,’ Brad explained, shouting to be heard above the roar of the fans. ‘Do you think you could steal it for me?’

  Spud stared at Brad. Are you bonkers, Bonkers? One wrong move and we’d be sliced and diced by those blades!

  Star wrote with her paw in the dust. WHY STEAL?

  ‘A gang of criminals are making a lot of money betting on these games,’ Brad lied. ‘They seem to know which team will win. We think they might have done something to the puck, perhaps put a radio-controlled chip in it. The trouble is, if an FBI agent gets involved, the gang will know we’re on to them. But if a couple of pups steal the puck for us …’

  Star nodded to show she understood. ‘What do you think, Spud?’ she yapped, watching the teams race after the puck. ‘Could we nab it?’

  Spud’s tail began to wag. ‘If it’s going to stop a crime, I think we could do it.’

  ‘Let’s go then!’ yapped Star.

  ‘Geronimo!’ woofed Spud as they scrambled over the barrier, jumped on to the ice and skidded towards the puck on their backsides. Behind them, Agent Onkers lifted his mobile phone and started filming. The crowd roared even louder at the sight of two pups joining in the game. Then one of the ice hockey players gave the puck a backwards swipe, and the game changed direction. Suddenly, six beefy men were heading straight for them.

  ‘Yikes!’ barked Star, braking with her back paws. ‘We’ll be squished!’

  11. Flying Fish

  The puck sailed past them, heading for the barrier. They scrabbled around and ran after it, slipping and sliding. Spud glanced behind him. The hockey players were nearly on top of them! He flung himself on to his belly and sledged across the ice. Star did the same, snatching up the puck with her teeth. The men were close behind. Star didn’t dare look, but she could hear their blades cutting into the ice. Just before the pups were about to crash painfully into the barrier, they scrambled to their feet and clawed their way over the top. They landed on the concrete on the other side and without stopping to look back, raced down the players’ tunnel to the fire exit beyond.