Big Brother by Susannah McFarlane Page B

nostrils again and pricked her earsand then turned sharply off to the right. Her pace quickened and she weaved between trees. She headed straight towards a large mass of thick bracken.
    â€˜Whoa,’ said EJ. ‘Not through those bushes, Lucinda.’
    But the old bay persisted. EJ and HJ ducked as the horse pushed on.
    â€˜She’s heard something else,’ said HJ. ‘Look, her ears are twitching again.’
    Now both agents heard what Lucinda was hearing. It was an awful sound, a panicked whinnying; the sound of a horse in distress. Lucinda pressed on and then stopped. Now EJ and HJ could hear something thrashing around in the bushes ahead. EJ took out her torch and shone it in front of them.
    â€˜Trojan!’ cried EJ and HJ at the same time.
    The dark horse was jerking her head wildly as she tried to untangle the lead rope that had become caught in the bushes. She looked around at them,her eyes wide with fright, and stood breathing hard.
    â€˜The poor thing,’ cried HJ. ‘We need to carefully untangle her.’
    HJ climbed down from Lucinda and walked slowly towards Trojan. For a few minutes she just spoke softly to the horse and then slowly began to untangle the lead. Lucinda whinnied quietly and Trojan quietened and her breathing slowed. It was as if she understood that they were all there to help her and, soon, HJ had Trojan freed from the bushes.
    â€˜Now we have to get the spy-flies out of her coat!’ said EJ.
    â€˜But I can’t see anything,’ said HJ. ‘How will we find them?’
    â€˜With this,’ said EJ, taking off her brush-scan charm and twisting it. ‘Here, HJ, I think you should do it.’
    HJ took the brush and slowly, gently, began to stroke Trojan’s coat. As soon as she did, the brush-scanner beeped and HJ stopped and gently removed a robotic fly from Trojan’s coat. The horsestood completely still and didn’t protest at all. Isi had been right: HJ was perfect for the Animal Training Division.
    â€˜I can’t find any more,’ said HJ. ‘I think she’s clear now. We can send the data to SHINE .’
    EJ took the brush and plugged her phone into a small socket on its side. SHINE would now receive the results of the scan and be able to analyse the flies. She had just removed the brush when her phone sent an alert.

    There was a message on EJ’s phone, another message intercepted from SHADOW .

    EJ quickly converted the pig Latin and looked atthe jumbled letters on the screen.

    EJ tried writing it backwards again but that didn’t work. It’s still a mess, thought EJ. Hey, hold on, is that it? Is it is a mess, are the words all messed up? Can I un-mess the letters?
    EJ easily picked out some of the jumbled words: EJ12, AND, OUT, THE. The longer words took a little more time but soon EJ cracked the code.

    It was the last line that scared EJ.
    â€˜The foals!’ she cried. ‘They’re taking the foals. That’s what the “pick up” of the last message was about. Well, they’re not taking them! And what havethey done to Agent GG22?’
    EJ spoke into her spy-talker in her helmet.
    â€˜Agent GG? Come in, this is EJ12!’
    There was no answer.
    â€˜I have to get back to the CAT, HJ,’ said EJ. ‘GG is in trouble and the centre is in danger.’
    â€˜So GG isn’t a double agent?’ said HJ.
    â€˜No,’ confirmed EJ. ‘I was wrong about that, but someone there is and I’m guessing it is HH33 and II44. I need to get back there to stop them.’
    But then HJ cried out in pain. She dropped the four spy-flies as they began to buzz furiously and self-destruct in her hand. Sparks flew to some dried leaves on the ground and EJ saw them catch alight. She leapt off Lucinda and stamped out the fire.
    â€˜They’ve set off the self-destruct on the spy-flies,’ she said. ‘They could start a fire at the CAT and everyone is still in bed. It