Deep Waters (6 page)

The man coughed.

Zac jumped into the air with fright but the man didn't turn around.

Dropping to all fours, Zac crept into the room. Now he could see the screen perfectly.

On it, he saw a scan of himself.

Underneath he read:

CHAPTER TEN

Power? Zac
Power
?

A spy?

In a flash, it came back to him. Marine Tech wanted GIB's Safe Talker! And the only way to stop them was to sabotage the
Sea Devil
's test dive.

Zac crawled out of the office.

Then, all of a sudden, the floor began to tilt.

A computerised voice said over the PA system, ‘200 feet'.

The dive had just begun! And the computerised voice was counting the depth as the
Sea Devil
descended.

Zac held onto a nearby table leg to stop himself sliding. He needed a plan.

Then, Zac heard a surprised yell coming from the office.

‘Ah ha!' came the man's voice. ‘That kid is Zac Power, after all!'

Oh no! He'd seen the email!
Zac was so busy remembering his mission that he hadn't thought to delete it. Zac raced out of the galley just as a siren began wailing.

Captain Stewart's voice boomed over the loudspeaker. ‘Attention all personnel! If you see Zac Power, alias Zac Blythe-Jones, capture him. Use whatever force necessary. He is a spy.'

Zac tore away down a long, winding corridor, breathing hard. He had no idea which way to go!

‘300 feet…400 feet,' came the computerised voice over the loudspeaker.

At the end of the corridor, there were two doorways. Which one should he take?

Zac grasped the right hand door. He hesitated.What if he opened this door and found it was full of Marine Tech henchmen? He'd be captured straight away.

He turned to the door on the left. Again, he stopped. What if this doorway led straight to Captain Stewart?

‘500 feet...600 feet,' said the loudspeaker.

Zac heard a sound coming up the corridor behind him. Footsteps! And they were getting louder and louder.

He couldn't turn back now. He had to choose one of those doors.

‘700 feet.'

Zac grabbed the left door handle. He plunged through the door and slammed it shut behind him.

He was in a storeroom. It was filled with rows and rows of torpedoes.

‘800 feet…900 feet…1000 feet.'

Zac had an idea!

He tore off his digital watch. He was no techno geek, but you couldn't get through basic spy training without learning how to make a bomb timer.

‘1100 feet.'

Zac's ears were beginning to pop. The deeper the
Sea Devil
dived, the more his head throbbed with pressure. It hurt, but Zac couldn't stop now.

Hurriedly, he fiddled with the wires from inside his digital watch.

Red over blue.

A twist here. Another there.

That was it! He had it.

Running to the nearest torpedo, Zac attached the timer. He should have been freaking out, but he wasn't. He had a plan and he was sticking to it, even if it was incredibly dangerous. Zac felt more in control than he had the entire mission.

He set the timer for 60 seconds.

He ran, slamming the storeroom door behind him. He had to get back to his submersible before the
Sea Devil
went much deeper. If things went according to Zac's plan, he was going to destroy the whole storeroom of torpedoes!

Zac looked around. He didn't know for sure, but this part of the submarine looked familiar. Yes! He was at the door leading into the loading bay.

‘1200 feet,' said the loudspeaker.

Beside the door was a digital security panel.

‘Prepare for retina scanning,' said a computerised voice.

Leon would've known how to cheat a retina scan and get that door open without force. But Zac didn't have time to call his brother. He took a run up and rammed his shoulder into the door. It sprang open. And right there, where he'd left it, was his amphibious submersible.

‘1300 feet…1400 feet.'

Zac tried the hatch of the amphibious submersible. It was open! He jumped in and slammed the hatch closed.

‘1500 feet…1600 feet.'

Fear clutched Zac's stomach. He had a feeling this might happen. His amphibious submersible couldn't go deeper than 1500 feet. And the
Sea Devil
was already deeper than that. Would his submersible make it?

But no sooner had Zac thought this than he heard voices at the loading bay door.

‘Stop right there, Zac Power!' yelled

Captain Stewart.

‘1700 feet…1800 feet.'

Captain Stewart practically flew across the loading bay towards the amphibious submersible. She was closing in on him!

‘1900 feet.'

There must be some way Zac could stop her. He scanned the cockpit for ideas.

His iPod!

Should he? Of all his gadgets, his iPod was his favourite.

But he had no choice!

‘2000 feet.'

Zac opened the hatch. With perfect aim, he threw his iPod through the air like a frisbee. It smacked Captain Stewart in the head. She dropped to the floor.

Then…

The storeroom of torpedos exploded. In a shower of white-hot sparks, the thick metal walls of the loading bay ripped open like foil. And a split second later, Zac zoomed through it and away into the open sea.

Zac turned the speed dial up as far as it could go. He shot upwards. He couldn't tell how fast – his speedometer had shattered!

The same pressure twisted Zac's brain in his skull. He pinched his nose and breathed out hard. Hopeless! He couldn't clear his ears that way, not at this depth.

His head was going to explode any second! And so was the amphibious submersible!

Great cracks in the glass appeared from nowhere.Water gushed into the cabin.The lights flicked on and off. The submersible veered left. It swung right.

The GPS screen was down!

So was the autopilot.

Zac jammed on manual steering. He had to keep going! But it was like trying to ride a wild bull.

He checked his rear-view mirror. He was drenched. But he was almost at the surface.

There was a loud bang. The amphibious submersible's glass top shattered altogether. Zac took an enormous breath and jumped through the ragged hole.

He'd have to swim the rest of the way!

Zac kicked as hard as he could. His head was spinning. He needed air! He was doing to die!

Then…

He burst through the surface.

He gasped. At last! Air!

There was a loud buzzing sound overhead. Zac looked up. Hovering just above him was a Learjet with a rope ladder dangling from it. A tiny figure waved from the doorway.

Zac grabbed the rope ladder. He was exhausted but he hauled himself up it. In a few seconds, he was lying on his back on the floor of the jet, coughing up water.

‘Zac?' It was Leon. And he was standing with Charles and Angela Blythe-Jones.

‘We were in the area, squid-spotting in this chartered Learjet,' said Angela, ‘when Leon contacted our pilot, wanting to know if we could help with this last tricky stage of the mission.'

‘Of course, we said yes,' smiled Charles.

‘I've still got that money you gave me,' said Zac. ‘We're not allowed to keep any money we get on missions.'

‘Well, how about just a small reward for completing your first solo mission successfully?' said Angela.

She handed him a box. It was a brand new iPod. A top-of-the-line model.

With video.

Leon called Mission Control. He needed to send in a team to tow the
Sea Devil
to shore and arrest everyone on board.

‘Hey, Zac?' said Leon, when he'd finished the call. ‘There are some messages here for you,' said Leon. ‘Big Turtle wants to know if the amphibious submersible's still in one piece.'

Zac was silent.

‘And Agent Bum Smack…er…I mean, mum…says you've got to come straight home. You've got a test on the life cycle of coral tomorrow.'

But Zac wasn't listening. He felt like he was floating. The bingled submersible aside, his first solo mission was a success. And he had a brand new video iPod.