Christmas Countdown by Susannah McFarlane Page B

she had done her job so EJ gave the husky a pat. ‘Good girl, PJ,’ said EJ, picking up the teddy. Then EJ turned the teddy around and noticed an S sewn on the sole of its foot. She checked some of the other toys from the same sack. They all had an S on them somewhere. EJ looked back at the teddy. She squeezed it. It was then that she felt something, something hard, very hard. EJ took out her cutter again and cut a small hole in the teddy. She put her fingers in and felt around in the stuffing. There, in the middle, she felt the hardness and pulled out an enormous diamond. ‘Look IJ! A diamond!’
    IJ checked out the window, then turned and rushed over. She took out her phone and keyed in a code. The phone glowed as she scanned the diamond.
    â€˜Bingo!’ she whispered. ‘Not only is it absolutely a diamond but it’s part of the Aurora Collection. My diamond app can match any stone to known collections.’
    EJ picked up a basketball with an S sewn into its stitching. She cut into it and, again, pulled out a diamond. She passed it to IJ.
    â€˜Another one from the collection,’ confirmed IJ.
    â€˜It will be the same with every toy that has an S, I reckon,’ said EJ. ‘The S isn’t for Santa, it’s for SHADOW and this is SHADOW ’s workshop!’
    Pip and Blackie began to growl.
    IJ rushed to the window. ‘And the SHADOW agents are coming back!’ she cried. ‘We need to get out of here.’
    In a flash, IJ dashed to the sacks and threw the toys back in. EJ grabbed the teddy and sprinted to the hole. IJ went through first then BJ and PJ. As EJ climbed through, she moved a toy box in front of the hole. It wasn’t much of a cover up but it would have to do.

    EJ, IJ and the dogs ran back into the Christmas tree forest. When they were far enough way from the workshop, they stopped to catch their breath.
    â€˜What now?’ asked IJ.
    â€˜Well we know who, what, where, how and when,’ said EJ proudly. ‘Tiffany Glass with her team of SHADOW elves has stolen the Aurora Diamond Collection by stealing them, one by one, from the vault room. By pretending to be a diamond cleaner she has had daily access. She built those secret corridors between the vault room and Christmas Wonderland so she could move the diamonds from Delia Stones to the workshop where they would be hidden in the toys. They now plan to smuggle the diamonds out in the toys when the toy parade leaves Christmas Wonderland.
    â€˜You have to admit, it’s pretty clever,’ said IJ. ‘Who would ever suspect Santa and his elves? But does that mean all of Christmas Wonderland is a SHADOW operation?’
    â€˜Maybe,’ replied EJ. ‘It’s never been here before and once the parade leaves, it packs up and is finished.’
    â€˜So how do we stop that parade?’ asked IJ.
    â€˜We don’t need to stop the parade,’ said EJ. ‘We just need to make sure it goes where we want it to go and not where Tiffany Glass wants it to go’.
    â€˜Oh, that’s all,’ said IJ, laughing. ‘That should be easy!’
    â€˜Actually,’ said EJ, fiddling with her snowman charm, ‘I think it might be.’

‘I’ve got a plan, IJ,’ said EJ, ‘but we’re going to need help. A1 said there were SHINE agents deployed in the park and we’re going to need them all.’
    â€˜What are we going to do?’ asked IJ.
    â€˜We’re going to take over the Christmas Wonderland Toy Parade.’
    â€˜How?’
    â€˜Tiffany’s whole plan is that she will be able to march right out of here with the diamonds,’ explained EJ. ‘No one would guess that the toys have the stolen diamonds in them.’
    â€˜I get that,’ said IJ. ‘So what’s the plan?’
    â€˜She is counting on everything being normal so if we do something that isn’t normal, I’m thinking, or at least I’m hoping,