Blockbuster by H. I. Larry Page B

afterwards.’
    Zac thought he heard the captain mutter, ‘Even though we were here first.’
    A few minutes later, the blimp touched down on the helipad. Chrissie L’Estrange was already there, surrounded by fussing personal assistants.
    I’ll just go over there and clear things up , thought Zac to himself. But as soon as he took a step in Chrissie’s direction, flashbulbs exploded in his eyes.
    â€˜Who are you? Are you Chrissie’s latest boyfriend?’ someone cried out of nowhere.
    â€˜What’s your name? Who’s your agent?’
    Zac’s mouth dropped open. The paparazzi!Where did they come from?
    â€˜He’s no-one,’ Zac heard one of them say. ‘Let’s follow Chrissie.’
    And with that, the photographers and reporters scattered from the helipad.
    I’m not no-one , Zac wanted to reply. I’m a top spy here for a big premiere!
    Zac turned back to the blimp. But in the commotion, it had flown off without Zac noticing. Zac’s backpack lay on the helipad. All of a sudden, he was alone in Hollywood – the strangest of all strange places.

CHAPTER THREE
    Zac’s ears popped as the super-fast lift swept him up to his penthouse on the fifty-first floor of the Hotel Deluxe. The doors opened directly into the suite, which was equipped with an ice-cream machine and a wide-screen cinema.
    Zac dumped his backpack on the king-sized bed. He clicked on the remote control and a giant TV screen dropped down from the ceiling.
    An announcer with a stiff wave of blonde hair was beaming at the camera.
    â€˜Stay tuned for a Channel One exclusive report into spying in the modern age,’ she was saying. ‘We reveal how spy agencies are looking for ways to make their investigations quicker and more efficient.’
    Leon would probably watch that, the big nerd, thought Zac, smiling to himself.
    THUD! THUD! THUD!
    Someone was knocking at the door of his suite – loudly!
    â€˜Room service!’ called a voice.
    Zac got up and opened the door.
    â€˜Hot dog?’ said the pimply guy standing in Zac’s doorway. He held out a tray of hot dogs zig-zagged with yellow mustard.
    â€˜Er, I didn’t order a hot dog,’ said Zac.
    â€˜Take one, they’re delicious!’ said the guy, and then he leant in closer.
    â€˜I’m a GIB agent,’ he muttered. ‘We tracked your arrival in the blimp. We’ve actually been trying to get in touch with you since yesterday, but it seems the lining of the blimp interfered with your SpyPad receptor, and blocked all incoming messages.
    â€˜No-one at GIB knows why you’re in town,’ he added, ‘but you’ve got a new mission. Now take the hot dog.’
    He handed Zac a hot dog and left, singing, ‘have a nice day!’ as he went.
    Zac stared after him, feeling confused. Why didn’t GIB know why Zac was in Hollywood? After all, it was GIB who invited him to the Covert Operations premiere! And if they didn’t, who did?
    I guess I’d better find out what my mission is , thought Zac as he checked out the hot dog. There was a sticker on the bun, so tiny he had to squint to read it. It said ‘FTP enabled’.
    The mission must be a file inside the hot dog! But there was a problem. How was Zac going to upload a mission into his SpyPad from a hot dog ?

    Without smearing mustard on the casing, Zac held the hot dog up to his SpyPad. A green light flickered on. His SpyPad was bluetooth compatible...and so was the hot dog. The mission was uploading wirelessly!

    CLASSIFIED
FOR THE EYES OF ZAC POWER ONLY
    MESSAGE RECEIVED
SATURDAY 4:54AM
    Cinemania, a Hollywood film studio is spending millions on a mysterious invention called ThoughtVision.
    In fact, they’re spending more than they do on producing films. This may be innocent, but GIB is suspicious.
    YOUR MISSION
    â€¢ Work out what ThoughtVision does and locate a prototype for GIB.
    MISSION TIME REMAINING
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