‘S6 is a chocolate chip? Maybe we have got this all wrong,’ said CC.
‘We can’t have.’ EJ looked closely at the chip. ‘It has to be something else as well. Something hidden maybe.’
‘We need to be hidden as well,’ said CC quickly. ‘I can hear something else, and it’s not rabbits.’
‘I can’t hear anything,’ said EJ, wondering if agents in the surveillance division had to have really good hearing.
‘Trust me, EJ!’ whispered CC. ‘Quick, up here.’
EJ followed CC as the nimble girl climbed up over the boxes and down over the other side next to the rabbits. Just before EJ jumped down she took her cupcake charm and twisted it. ‘This should help us,’ she whispered as she removed the cherry camera and placed it on the top of the highest box, looking down over the large table. Now she could hear something too. Footsteps. And the door opening.
The light went on. Both girls held their breath.
Behind the boxes, both girls took out their phones and pressed the SHINE Chat app. Using SHINE Chat they could text each other. EJ activated cupcake-cam and they watched the screen showing Madame Ombre come into the room. She was carrying a baking tray of cakes and what looked like a paint tin and brush. She put both on the large table. Carefully Madame Ombre took one of the cupcakes on her tray and sliced off the peaked top of the cake. The girls watched as she then took a small scoop out of the middle of the cake and looked around.
‘Now, where are my chips?’ she wondered aloud.
EJ froze and quickly wrote a message:
A second later a message from CC appeared on EJ’s screen.
‘Ah, there they are.’ Madame Ombre saw the opened box on the end of the table. ‘Yes, let me check. Final S6, the choc-chip microchip.’ Madame Ombre dropped the chip into the centre of the cake, placed the top of the cake back on and then seemed to paint something brown over the top.
‘The icing on the cake, chocolate icing,’ Madame Ombre said chuckling to herself. ‘A little icing seals the cake and the chip inside. Madame, you are indeed a master chef!’
CC sent EJ another text.
EJ smiled. It was fun having a mission partner for a change.
The two agents continued to watch on cupcake-cam as Madame Ombre inserted a chip into each cake on her baking tray, replacing the top and icing them over. She put one into each of the packing trays and, with the pack complete, she sealed the packs.
‘One more batch of cakes and all the packs will be completed. SHADOW will have their cakes and I have my flakes. I will soon have enough to begin my ultimate creation.’
EJ sent CC a text.
Madame Ombre got up from the table and moved to the other side of the room. There, in the corner, was a large safe. EJ and CC hadn’t noticed it in the dark but now they watched as Madame Ombre keyed in a code and opened a thick black door. Madame Ombre took out a gold box, almost cradling it as if it were a baby.
‘My beautiful gold flakes,’ said Madame Ombre, gently lifting out what looked like thin gold paper. ‘Soon I will have enough for the golden chocolate cake that will make me the most famous chef in the world. But enough chitty chatty, I must check my final delivery of flakes has arrived, and I need more cakes. I must have them all finished before I have to go back to those pesky kids and watch their no doubt awful decorating work.’
And with that Madame Ombre left. EJ and CC heard the door shutting and then footsteps walking away.
The girls climbed back out over the boxes, EJ picking up the cupcake-cam cherry as she did.
‘She’s crazy,’ said EJ. ‘Helping SHADOW so she can make a cake? But she is clever. There are six components to make one S6 and she is hiding one component in each cake. A full tray of cakes makes one S6.’
‘Let’s make sure,’ said CC and they broke open one of the cupcakes. Then another, and another until they had opened all six cupcakes in a pack. ‘Yes! Look, there is a small part in each cake but you would never know it was there if you didn’t know what to look for. It just looks as if a pack of chociced cupcakes are being delivered. And they are delicious,’ she added, taking a pinch of cake.
‘They are,’ agreed EJ, also taking a pinch. ‘We thought the ‘6’ just stood for the six words, SHADOW Secret Scramble Send and Spy System, but it also means it comes in six parts.’
‘And she is sending out all these trays,’ said CC, indicating the piles of cupcake trays on the table. ‘That’s a lot of SHADOW agents.’
‘We need a plan to stop these cupcakes going out,’ said EJ.
‘And quickly,’ replied CC. ‘Madame Ombre will soon be back with the last batch of cakes and then they’ll be sent out. Let’s call SHINE.’
EJ had barely finished keying in the number when A1 answered. EJ quickly told her what she and CC had learned.
‘You have done well, girls, but we still have a bit to do. We need the S6 but we also need to see where it is being delivered. CC?’
‘Yes A1?’
‘You need to bring us S6. Our chopper will be waiting for you on the roof of the bakery. Use the escape route.’
‘Check,’ replied CC confidently.
‘EJ,’ said A1, ‘you need to stay there for just a little longer. You can’t suddenly leave. It will look suspicious if you don’t compete in the final. We also need you to do a few more things. First, we need you to put the cherry on top of Madame Ombre’s cupcakes.’
‘Pardon?’ asked EJ, confused.
‘The cherry from the cupcake-cam is also a homing device. If you can put that on a cupcake containing S6 we will be able to follow the delivery truck as it leaves the bakery.’
‘I can do that,’ said EJ, just as confidently as CC. ‘I can do it now with a pack here. What next?’
‘This one might be a bit harder. We need the gold flakes that SHADOW is paying Madame Ombre with. SHADOW stole them from the Institute of Cookery and we should return them.’
‘Okay,’ said EJ, sounding a little less sure. That would be harder. She would have to wait for the new delivery and then get the box of flakes out of the safe, a safe that could only be opened with a code. A code she didn’t know.
‘And EJ?’ continued A1.
‘Yes A1,’ said EJ. There can’t be more, can there? she thought.
‘Good luck for the final. Good luck to both of you. SHINE out.’
EJ carefully unsealed one of the packs of cupcakes and slid out the tray. She took the cherry from the cupcake-cam and placed it on a cupcake before re-sealing the pack. She then put a couple of other packs on top of the pack.
‘No one will ever know it’s there,’ she said to CC. ‘ SHINE will be able to follow the delivery truck all the way to SHADOW.’
‘Good job, now let’s go EJ,’ said CC grabbing the one complete pack of cupcakes. ‘We need to go to the toilet!’
‘I don’t think I need to,’ replied EJ.
‘No, not for that,’ said CC, giggling. ‘The escape route is in the toilet.’
‘Right,’ said EJ, feeling a little embarrassed. ‘Let’s go then.’
EJ should have known. One way or another, she always seemed to spend some mission time in the toilets. The girls ran quickly down the corridor and into the toilets. While CC checked that no one else was there, EJ turned on the hand-dryers. CC went into the last cubicle on the left.
‘Come on,’ she called to EJ. ‘In here!’ EJ followed CC in.
‘Okay, this is the escape route. Look up, there’s a ventilation fan. I am going to remove the fan and climb up through the hole, then crawl through the ventilation shaft and up onto the roof. The SHINE helicopter will pick me up from the roof.’
‘Cool, CC,’ replied EJ, ‘Hey, CC with cc!’
‘Pardon?’ said CC.
‘CC with cupcakes,’ replied EJ.
‘You code girls think too much!’ laughed CC. ‘Hey, you do have a rope-climbing charm don’t you?’
‘Only a glow-rope, I think,’ said EJ, quickly checking her bracelet.
&n
bsp; ‘Okay, wait for me to climb up and then you can borrow mine. You’ll need to escape this way once you have the gold.’
CC took a charm from her bracelet, twisted it, and was soon holding a rope with a hook on the end. She stood up on the toilet cistern and pushed the fan out with the toilet brush holder.
‘It’s glamorous this spy business isn’t it?’ said CC as she threw her rope up through the fan hole. She heard the hook catch, gave the rope a tug to make sure it was firmly in place, and then began to climb up the cubicle wall. Once up through the hole, she stuck her head back down and held out the rope charm to EJ. ‘Here’s the charm. Good luck, EJ12.’
‘You too, CC12. See you soon,’ replied EJ.
CC put the fan back over the hole and was gone. EJ flushed the toilet, just in case anyone was coming in, opened the cubicle door and walked out of the toilets. She checked the time on her phone. She had been gone for nearly an hour. The film would soon finish. EJ needed to hurry.
EJ sneaked back into the theatrette, sitting down just as the film was ending. Madame Ombre appeared at the door. That was close, EJ thought.
‘And so,’ Madame Ombre cried, ‘let the finals begin. To the Choc Chef kitchen!’
She led EJ and the three other finalists back into the kitchen where their cakes were laid out ready for the final. At the back of the kitchen a TV crew was setting up their equipment.
‘And so,’ said Madame Ombre, ‘you have just thirty minutes to decorate your cakes and arrange them on the display. I will then decide who will be the Junior Choc Chef, live on TV.’
The girls looked at each other, smiling.
‘Your time starts now!’
Madame Ombre went into her office and came out holding a package. She then left the kitchen.
That could be the gold, thought EJ. She’s taking it to add to the box in the safe. I need to deco rate these cakes and get back there too. But when?
She started on her cakes but had no time to worry about what they looked like. EJ quickly iced the cakes with the chocolate icing on the table and began almost throwing decorations onto them—sprinkles, snakes, chocolate stars, anything.
Madame Ombre returned to the kitchen and began pacing the workstations. She glanced at EJ’s cakes and frowned. She then looked at EJ and frowned again.
Somehow I don’t think I am going to win, thought EJ, but she wasn’t worried, she had her mind on a much bigger prize.
Madame Ombre returned to her office and picked up her phone. EJ switched on the choc charm receiver. The transmitter was still in Madame Ombre’s office.
‘Yes, rubbish disposal? Make sure you take the rabbits when you clean tonight. I will leave them in the corridor. What to do with them? I do not know what to do with them. I am a baker not a rabbit farmer. I needed them to model for Easter bunnies and now I don’t need them anymore. Take them away! Au revoir.’
EJ could hear Madame Ombre slam her phone down. How could she simply throw out the rabbits? They were live animals, not rubbish. EJ couldn’t let that happen and started to think of a rescue plan as she placed the cakes on the tiered display plates. Then she felt her phone vibrate. Pretending to look for something in the cupboard, she checked her phone. It was a message from SHINE.
Just as Madame Ombre opened the door of her office to leave, the phone rang again. She shut the door and turned towards the phone. EJ knew that Emma Sekac’s time in the Junior Choc Chef finals was up. She ran.
As fast as she could, EJ ran back to the storeroom and opened the door with her skeleton key. The door opened and she rushed over to the safe. Next to the safe was the package she had seen Madame Ombre take out of the kitchen. It was empty. I bet she has put whatever was in there in the safe, thought EJ. I need to open this safe.
She had little time as she knew Madame Ombre would be looking for her. The safe had a keypad, a simple letter–number pad like a phone, on which to enter a code to open it. But there were thousands of possible combinations.
Think, EJ, think, she said to herself. And then she remembered that she and CC had watched Madame Ombre keying a code on cupcake-cam.
That’s it! thought EJ to herself. I can watch it again on playback. Maybe I’ll be able to see the code she keyed in?
She took out the cupcake-cam and pressed rewind. When she found the right footage, she pressed slow motion playback. At the same time she zoomed in on Madame Ombre’s fingers as she keyed in the code.
Aarrghh, thought EJ, I can’t see it, it’s too blurry. She pressed back, and played it again. She still couldn’t see what Madame Ombre had keyed but she could see that she keyed in eight numbers. Eight numbers, but which ones? EJ didn’t have a lot of time for guesses: Madame Ombre would find her any minute.
Just then EJ’s phone vibrated. It was a text from Isi.
Isi, you are a genius, thought EJ. Madame Ombre keyed in letters, not numbers. ‘Chocolate’ is what she keyed in—what else would Madame Ombre have as a code?
EJ began to key in the letters but nothing happened.
Dumb! C-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e. That’s nine letters and the code is eight so that can’t be it.
Then EJ heard footsteps, hurried footsteps that were getting louder. She heard Madame Ombre shouting in French.
French, EJ thought, that’s it! Wouldn’t Madame Ombre do her code in French? What is chocolate in French? What had Madame Ombre said when she greeted them? Was it chocolat? But how did you spell that in French?
EJ quickly opened the translator app on her phone and keyed in chocolate. She smiled as she saw the answer.
Chocolat. No ‘e’ and that makes it eight letters. Yes! Or should that be Oui!
EJ keyed in C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T and tried the handle. The safe door opened. EJ reached in and grabbed the small gold box and opened it. It was filled with gold—gold flakes.
‘Gotcha’ said EJ.
But then she heard the footsteps again and this time they were really close. EJ hid behind the boxes, holding her breath. She waited for the door to open.
It didn’t. The footsteps went straight past the storeroom.
EJ was relieved but knew it wouldn’t be long before Madame Ombre checked the storeroom. EJ needed to get out quickly but she couldn’t leave without the rabbits. She looked at the bunnies huddled in the cage and knew she couldn’t abandon them to be put out with the rubbish. But how was EJ going to carry six rabbits? There had to be something in the room that she could use to carry the them. EJ scanned the room. Flour. Of course a bakery had flour and what did flour come in? Bags. Big bags and they were all stacked up in the corner next to the rabbit cage. There was only one problem, the bags were, not surprisingly, full of flour.
EJ didn’t have much time. She quickly flicked through her charms for something that would open the bags. Crocodile repellent, no, penguin food, no. Maybe this, she thought as she saw the hook from CC’s rope charm. That might work. EJ quickly twisted the rope charm. Once it had enlarged, she grabbed the hook and thrust it into the corner of a flour bag and pulled it back towards her. The bag ripped open and flour spilled out. EJ shrunk the rope back to its charm size, then tipped the bag upside down and, as even more flour went everywhere, she opened the rabbit cage and gently lifted each now rather white rabbit into the bag.
‘Don’t worry, little ones. You won’t be in there for long,’ said EJ.
‘Non, not long at all,’ said a voice behind EJ. A French voice.
It was Madame Ombre.
EJ, with the box of gold flakes in one hand and a sack of rabbits in the other, froze in front of a very cross and now quite scary-looking Madame Ombre. ‘I’ll take the gold box, Emma Sekac, or should that be EJ12?’ snarled Madame Ombre. ‘You won’t be going anywhere.’
‘It’s too late, Madame Ombre. SHINE already knows about SHADOW and S6.’
‘Do you think I care about SHADOW and their silly S6? Non, just give me my gold flakes. Now,’ said Madame Ombre, glaring threateningly at EJ.
EJ looked straight at Madame Ombre and sa
w the ‘First comes chocolate’ on her jacket. She will do anything for her chocolate cakes, realised EJ, and that gives me an idea. She put the rabbit bag down gently and opened the box of gold flakes. She held up some of the fragile flakes.
‘You mean these?’ asked EJ.
‘Be careful, you fool. They will fall out. Do you have any idea how rare edible 24-carat gold flakes are?’
EJ took out some more. She could see how much this was worrying Madame Ombre. She wanted her gold flakes a lot more than she wanted a pesky SHINE agent.
She blew some of the flakes out of her hand. Madame Ombre dropped to the floor and picked them up. ‘Don’t do that again, you fool, you will ruin them. Now give them to me.’
‘What, like this?’ This time EJ turned away from Madame Ombre, then grabbed a whole handful of flakes and threw them high up into the air, hoping her plan would work.
It did. Madame Ombre moved like a shot from the door past EJ to where the flakes had fallen at the back of the room. She dropped to her knees to pick them up. As she did, EJ took another handful of gold, put the lid on the box, picked up her bag of bunnies and sprinted for the door.
But would she make it to the escape route?
‘Come back with my gold!’ yelled Madame Ombre.
EJ had never run so fast and, as she ran, she scattered more handfuls of gold flakes on the floor.
That should slow her down, she hoped.
EJ reached the toilets. She turned back and could see Madame Ombre behind her but the chef kept stopping to pick up the gold. EJ pushed open the toilet door, went straight to the last cubicle and climbed up on the toilet. She pushed the fan out of the way with the toilet brush and threw the box up into the shaft. EJ re-activated the climbing rope charm then threw the climbing hook through the opening, just as CC had, and pulled on it to check it had caught. Quickly but carefully tying the other end of the rope around the rabbit bag, EJ pulled herself up into the shaft. Thank goodness for gymnastics, EJ thought. I need every arm and tummy muscle I’ve got.
Choc Shock Page 5
