The Pursuit of the Ivory Poachers (8 page)

Figuring he couldn't do any more on the case until tomorrow, Jack climbed onto the bed and got out Max's note. He looked at the uppercase letters again and thought about how to decipher the code. In his training, the GPF had taught him how to unscramble an “anagram.” Anagrams were jumbled letters that when put back into the right order spelled a word.

He wrote out the letters again:

ABTMNNHTAUSOEETKH

Figuring the first thing Max would want to tell him was his location, he thought about places in Egypt where mummies could be found. There was the Valley of the Kings, but the letters in that word didn't match Max's code. He then thought about Thebes, where the Valley of the Kings was located. Sure enough, those letters were there. He crossed them out one by one.

Then he took the letters that were left and wrote them out again:

AMNNTAUOTKH

Now, Jack reckoned, there was a pretty good chance that what remained spelled the name of the mummy close to where Max was working. Jack tried to remember all the tombs found in the Valley of the Kings. There was the tomb of Seti and Siptah. Then there were at least seven tombs belonging to Ramses. But, those names didn't crack the code. And Jack couldn't remember any more. The only way Jack could solve this riddle was to look through his ancient Egypt book, which unfortunately was at home.

Knowing he couldn't do anything else, Jack put his brother's letter back in his Book Bag. Popping one of the GPF's Micro Brushes into his mouth, he swirled it around, letting it brush his teeth. When it was finished, it dissolved in his mouth. Since he didn't have any pajamas, Jack decided to sleep in his normal
clothes. He kept his Book Bag on for safekeeping.

After setting his Anti-Intruder Alarm, Jack crawled under the covers and lay on his side. Once he was comfortable, he closed his eyes and let his mind drift off to sleep. After all, he had some bad guys to catch in the morning.

Sometime in the early morning, Jack was woken by a strong vibration on his wrist. Uh-oh, he thought. It was his Watch Phone's Anti-Intruder Alarm. It was telling him that there was somebody in the room.

Jack lay completely still and made sure his breathing was steady and slow.

Because it was dark and he couldn't see, the only senses he had were hearing and smell. He made use of both – as best
he could – and tried to figure out who was sneaking around inside his tent.

Oddly enough, whoever it was, barely made a sound. Usually if someone was there, you could hear them breathe. Or smell their perfume. But there was no obvious scent. There was however a gentle noise. It sounded like it was coming from above Jack's head.

Ssssssss.

Ssssssss.

It was coming closer.

Ssssssss.

Ssssssss.

Thinking he had an idea of what it was, Jack slowly rose to a kneeling position, turning on his Everglo Light. Even though it looked like a small part of his Watch Phone, the Everglo Light could send a bright beam for at least fifteen feet.

At first he couldn't see anything because the intruder was the same green color as the tent, and Jack's eyes were getting used to the bright light. But when they did, he nearly jumped from the shock.

It was an African boomslang, one of the deadliest snakes in the world, and it was lowering itself down from a light in the ceiling, towards Jack on the bed below.

Before Jack could do anything, the snake had coiled itself to within three feet of his face. As Jack looked up, he stared into the snake's eyes. They were black and cold. Boomslangs were hemotoxic, which meant they could inject a poison that could make you bleed to death. And they were aggressive – one move from Jack and the snake would strike.

Since boomslangs were tree-dwelling snakes, the only way Jack could save
himself was to pretend he was a tree. He slowed his breathing down and sat totally still.

Closing his eyes, Jack waited. The first thing he felt was the snake's cold body brushing against his nose. Then he felt it slide across his face. Slithering over his right shoulder, the snake made its way around his Book Bag and down the length of his back. Although it was travelling fairly quickly for a boomslang, it wasn't quick enough as far as Jack was concerned. It took all of his energy and concentration not to move. But he had to remain still, or the snake would bite.

Finally, Jack felt the snake slide off of him and onto his mattress. As soon as he heard its heavy body thump onto the floor, he opened his eyes and looked around. The flap to his tent was wide open. The snake being in his room was no accident – somebody put it in there.

He looked over his shoulder and spied the snake's tail going under his bed. Thinking this was a perfect opportunity to escape, Jack carefully stood up and, using the beam from the Everglo Light, leaped as far as he could away from the bed. He hurried to the opening of the tent and stopped to look back. The boomslang was coming out from under the bed. Not wanting to come face-to-face with the creature again, Jack quickly headed out through the tent flap.

Now that he was outside, Jack decided the safest place for him was the lodge. Although the tents were dark, the main lodge was lit throughout the night. With the beam of his Everglo Light guiding him, he made his move. Just to his left, he could hear hippos burrowing themselves into the bank. From somewhere above came the strange sound of an unknown animal. Jack reckoned he'd seen enough of the local wildlife for one night, and hurried towards the main building as quickly as he could.

“Jack!” said a voice from up ahead. Thanks to the glow of his torch, Jack could see that it was Jasper Kendall heading towards him. “What are you doing here?” he asked, seeming surprised. “It's a bit early to be out and about, isn't it?”

Yeah, right, thought Jack, who was thinking it was more than a coincidence that Jasper was up this early, too. Maybe he was the one who had put the snake in Jack's tent. Not wanting to let him in on
his private thoughts, Jack just shrugged. “I wanted to use the lights in the main lodge to do some work.”