Blockbuster by H. I. Larry Page A

to see what hovered in the sky above him.

    It was an enormous, shiny gold blimp. Across the side, in giant black letters, were the words, Covert Operations . This bling-covered blimp must be Zac’s transportation to Hollywood!
    How am I going to get up there, though? he wondered. But before he could blink, a red velvet rope swung down from the blimp’s cabin.
    Zac grabbed the rope. His feet lifted off the ground.
    He was headed for Hollywood!

CHAPTER TWO
    It seemed slightly weird to Zac that GIB would send a flashy gold blimp to pick him up. Normally GIB was paranoid about being noticed.
    But Zac didn’t dwell on his doubts for too long. The blimp was even cooler inside than it looked from the outside!
    The cabin was carpeted with white fluffy rugs. Chocolate frogs were heaped into crystal bowls dotted around the cabin.
    And although the blimp could have carried lots of people, it looked like Zac was the only passenger.
    A woman in a long, white apron appeared. Zac had never seen her before. Strange, he thought. He knew pretty much all the local GIB staff. Maybe she’s from the Hollywood office?
    â€˜Please make yourself comfortable, Mr Power,’ she said smoothly.
    Zac’s reclining seat was soft and wide. He had never travelled in such comfort!
    â€˜You can access all the latest movies here,’ explained the woman, pointing to a massive plasma screen. ‘And this’, she continued, as a machine sprang out of Zac’s armrest, ‘is your personal popcorn popper.’
    The trip was ten hours, which wasn’t long enough to enjoy everything on the blimp. First, Zac watched a movie.Then he had a foot massage and head rub. Then he discovered the in-seat virtual reality roller-coaster rides.
    He was still riding Iron Gutz , the world’s first virtual reality roller-coaster, when suddenly he felt a bump for real.
    Zac checked the time on his SpyPad. It was 3.03am – nearly time to touch down. Perhaps the bump Zac felt was just the blimp coming in to land?
    Then – EURGH!
    The blimp lurched sideways, leaving Zac’s stomach behind. This is no ordinary landing! Zac thought, worriedly.
    He rushed to the window. Below, the lights of Hollywood lay spread out like Christmas lights. Mansions clung to the steep cliffs, a shimmering aqua swimming pool in every yard.
    But none of it explained why the blimp was flying so crazily all of a sudden.
    Inside the cabin, crystal bowls smashed on the floor, scattering chocolate frogs everywhere. The lights flickered. What’s going on? Zac hoped they weren’t about to crash.
    Zac scanned the skies for an answer. Then he saw it. A chopper was weaving in and out of the blimp’s flight path!
    What kind of idiot would fly so close to another aircraft? Zac thought furiously. The chopper’s blades, whizzing so fast they were a blur, would slice through the blimp’s outer lining in a flash!
    Zac looked closely at the chopper. Inside the cabin sat a woman with blonde hair piled high on her head. A hairless dog with bulging eyes and a diamond collar lay curled in her lap.
    The woman waved her fist in Zac’s direction. Zac noticed the sharp red nails, like claws, at the end of her fingers.
    The woman looked an awful lot like Chrissie L’Estrange, the Hollywood actress. Everybody knew her – it was impossible not to. Chrissie and her little dog Poppet were on the cover of every magazine. Zac hated her movies.

    Zac looked again. Now Chrissie was screaming something in his direction!
    Zac was glad of his lip-reading training. He could understand her perfectly.
    â€˜GET OUTTA MY WAY, JERK!’ she screeched. ‘DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?’ Her chopper swooped in front of the blimp.
    Inside the blimp, Zac heard an announcement:
    â€˜This is your captain speaking.
    We apologise for this unexpected turbulence.
    The chopper will land on the helipad
    on top of the Hotel Deluxe.
    We will land there