Frozen Fear (2 page)

Zac's shoulders slumped. ‘Lots of planes? So what! You could be talking about any airport in the world,' he said.

Fox stared at Zac.

‘Have you got absolutely no idea what the Great Icy Pole's like?' Fox blurted out.

Zac shrugged.

‘It's the remotest, least explored place on earth,' Fox said. ‘It gets down to minus 40 degrees there in winter. If you so much as go outside without the proper gear on, your eyes will freeze solid in their sockets and your fingers will snap off!'

Now Fox had Zac's attention. Maybe this Great Icy Pole place would be kind of cool after all.

‘Two, maybe three, boats per summer go to the Pole,' said Fox. ‘They deliver food to the scientists who live at the research station there. But in the last few weeks there's been a couple of planes a day, as well as lots of boats.'

Zac had to admit it did sound suspicious.

‘So why's GIB sending me?' asked Zac. ‘Can't they check out what's going on using WorldEye?'

WorldEye is GIB's whizz-bang satellite. It's so powerful it can read a newspaper headline from 500 kilometres up. Normally, WorldEye is invaluable for surveillance work.

‘The Great Icy Pole is so remote, it's out of satellite range. There's no coverage down there,' Fox explained.

‘Does that mean – ' Zac began.

‘Yes, I'm afraid so.

Your SpyPad won't work down there.

You'll be completely uncontactable.'

No relying on his
satellite GPS navigation
software for directions!

No ringing Leon for
help with technical questions! No clues from
Mission Control during the mission!

This was going to be tough.

‘Since you'll be out of contact, we need to arrange a pick-up time once your fact-finding mission's complete. A GIB transport team will be back to get you exactly 24 hours from the time I picked you up. That's 2.05pm tomorrow.'

‘What if we miss each other?' asked Zac.

‘That can't happen,' said Fox sternly. ‘For safety reasons, air traffic is only allowed around the Great Icy Pole during summer. It's almost winter down there now. The cut-off date for air traffic is tomorrow.'

‘So, if I don't catch the helicopter tomorrow – '

‘You'll be frozen in down there for months,' Fox said, butting in. ‘You'll have no food and no way to let us know where you are.'

‘Right,' said Zac. ‘I'd better be ready then, I guess.'

Zac stared out the window, thinking about the mission ahead. Then he noticed a cruise ship sailing in the sea below. And closing in fast behind it was another, much smaller, ship.

Fox looked over Zac's shoulder at the two ships below.

‘The big one's a luxury cruise ship,' Fox explained. ‘Rich Americans seal-spotting and looking at the icebergs.'

‘And the smaller ship?'

‘Pirates, probably,' said Fox.

‘Pirates!' said Zac, disbelieving.

Pirates wore eye patches and flew the skull and crossbones. Pirates belonged in children's storybooks, not in real life.

‘I know it's hard to believe, but there are modern-day pirates in this area. They storm aboard tourist ships and steal watches, jewellery and cash. Sometimes tourists get even get killed,' said Fox.

‘There must be something we can do!' said Zac.

‘This area's so remote, it's pretty much impossible to enforce the law,' Fox said.

Zac stood up.

‘What are you doing?' asked Fox, looking alarmed.

‘I've just had an idea,' said Zac.

CHAPTER
THREE

Before Fox could stop him, Zac had pulled on a jumpsuit and strapped on his parachute gear. Lastly, Zac strapped a wakeboard to his feet and tied the tow rope firmly to the helicopter's door handle.

‘Zac! What about the mission?' said Fox, getting angry.

Zac checked his watch.

It was still only 6.43pm.

What was Fox talking about? He had plenty of time to complete the mission before the team came to pick him up!

‘It's not safe!' said Fox, sounding a lot like Zac's mum.

But Zac wasn't listening. Whether it was good or bad for the mission, Zac couldn't just watch pirates terrorise innocent people.

Zac opened the helicopter door. A gust of cold sea air blew in. Zac took a deep breath.

And then he jumped.

Freefall! No matter how many times Zac jumped from planes and helicopters, his heart always ended up in his mouth.

A few seconds later, Zac pulled his ripcord and his chute opened.

Relief!

But Zac knew sky-diving was the easy bit. Tackling the gang of pirates would be much tougher!

With a big splash, Zac's wakeboard hit the water. The helicopter hovered high overhead, dragging him along behind it.

Zac signalled to the helicopter to move closer to the pirate ship. Fox understood him and flew the helicopter closer and closer to the ship.

One of Zac's rules for living was

So, even though he was in the middle of the sea, speeding towards a pirate ship, Zac had packed his iPod.

He held onto the tow rope with one hand. With the other, he pulled his iPod out from his pocket. He scrolled through his music collection.

Yes…there it was!
Maria Vendetta Sings
Italian Opera Classics.

Zac kept a couple of really embarrassing tracks on his iPod in case they ever came in handy on missions. Like today!

In his other pocket, Zac had Leon's latest and coolest invention – Assault Speakers. Loud enough to pierce the eardrums of anyone they're aimed at, according to Leon.

Even at a normal volume, Maria Vendetta has a piercing voice. Zac thought she sounded like a cat whose tail had been stood on, a million times in a row.

The Assault Speakers come with a pair of soft earplugs to protect the ears of the operator. Zac squashed them into his ears. Then he hit play on his iPod.

Zac turned up the volume on the Assault Speakers. He aimed them at the pirate ship.

‘Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!' sang Maria.

Zac's eyes watered. The Assault Speakers vibrated.

And then Zac turned the volume up one more notch!

‘OH, MAMMA

MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIA!' Maria screeched.

The sound was unbearable!

Zac grabbed his SpyPad and popped up the in-built telescope. On the deck of the pirate ship, a collection of rough-looking men were fighting over who would be lucky enough to escape below deck first. Every single one of the pirates had his fingers jammed in his ears.

Obviously the pirates felt the same way about Maria Vendetta as Zac did.

Up ahead, the tourist boat was gunning its engines. It sped away from the pirate ship as fast as it could. The decks were lined with wrinkly men and white-haired women dripping with diamonds. Zac waved up at them. They clapped and cheered. They were saved!

Zac knew he'd done the right thing, jumping from the helicopter and stopping the pirates. But as Fox hauled him up by the tow rope, Zac couldn't help having a good, long think about the mission ahead.