by Andrew Cope
15. Fire!
Mum and Ollie had reached the head of the queue. Ollie was bursting with excitement – at last he was going to meet Santa Claus! They went into the gingerbread house and through a little wooden door into a room filled with shiny Christmas decorations. There was an enormous Christmas tree and a very good imitation of a crackling log fire. Santa was sitting on a large, wooden rocking chair in the middle of the room with his sack of presents beside him. He was dressed as Ollie expected in a bright red outfit trimmed with white fur, a black belt and big black boots. He had a fat tummy and a long curly white beard and moustache. Yet something wasn’t quite right. Above the whiskers, Santa’s eyes looked anything but merry and twinkling; instead they darted from side to side, looking shifty and tense.
The elf took Ollie’s hand and led him to Santa’s side, then she moved away. Ollie stared up at those pale blue eyes. He had the oddest feeling that he’d seen them somewhere before.
‘Right,’ said Santa in an off-hand way. ‘What’s your name and what do you want for Christmas?’
Ollie hesitated. This wasn’t what he’d expected at all. He looked hard into Santa’s face. ‘My name’s Ollie,’ he said at last. ‘What’s yours?’
Strange gave a guilty start, then he turned on Ollie angrily. ‘What kind of a question is that?’ he snapped, in a voice quite different from the one he’d used before. ‘I’m Santa Claus obviously, you stupid boy. Here, take your present and get out of here before I lose my temper. Go on – scram!’
‘I knew it!’ said Ollie. ‘I’ve heard you say that before! You’re not Santa at all. You’re that horrible man from the village – the one who hates children!’
Strange leapt to his feet, his face white with anger. He couldn’t believe he’d been recognized! It was a disaster. His whole plan hinged on the fact that he was wearing the perfect disguise. That way no one would ever know who he was.
‘You little liar!’ he said in a menacing voice that sent shudders down Ollie’s spine. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never seen you before in my life!
But in his rage Strange had knocked his false beard sideways – his whole face could suddenly be seen.
‘Get security quickly,’ called out one of the elf helpers. ‘That man isn’t our Santa at all. He’s an imposter!’
Strange knew the game was up. Even if he managed to steal the money now, the police would know who he was.
But the thought of all that cash was just too much for him. He decided to go ahead with his plan and take his chance. I’ll be out of the country in hours, he thought. They’ll never track me down.
Pushing Ollie roughly out of his way, Strange ran from the grotto, past the startled queues of waiting children and parents. ‘Go home, the lot of you! Christmas is cancelled!’ he yelled. Everyone watched in astonishment as Strange sprinted to the top of the escalator. He looked around, his evil mind weighing up the options. He was on the top floor of the store. The imposter Santa peered down over the balcony to all the floors below. He saw a security guard talking into his walkie-talkie. Another guard saw Strange and pointed. Two more were making their way to the escalator – they were closing in. Strange needed to act fast. He pulled out the big box of matches that Star and Spud had seen in his sack, struck one and put it back into the box. The flame from the match set light to all the other matches inside and soon the whole box was on fire.
‘Oh, whoops!’ laughed Strange as he hurled the box over the balcony into a huge display of Christmas crackers on the ground floor. ‘I seem to have started a … FIRE!’
Within seconds the whole display was alight. The air was filled with the sound of hundreds of tiny explosions as all the crackers exploded, one by one, hurling little plastic toys – whistles, compasses and rubber dinosaurs – out into the shop.
Straight away the fire alarms began to ring. A few people screamed; others urged them to keep calm. Everyone began hurrying towards the exits, anxious to get as far away from the flames as possible. The security guards forgot about Strange and started to help children and the elderly out of the building instead.
Up on the top floor, Mum and Ollie joined the crowds making for the stairs. ‘It’s all right, Mum,’ said Ollie. ‘I know what to do. The firemen who came to our school said if there’s a fire, you’ve got to “Get out, stay out and call the fire brigade out!”’
‘That’s absolutely right, Ollie,’ said Mum, holding his hand tightly. ‘And luckily, the smoke hasn’t reached this part of the building yet. We’ve just got to get downstairs as fast as we can.’
The noise of the fire alarm reached every corner of the store. In the stockroom it was loud enough to make the real Santa stir.
Thank goodness, he’s coming round, thought Star. She licked his face and hands and yapped in his ear, hoping to bring him back to consciousness. Soon the old man was sitting up, rubbing the lump on the back of his head and feeling very confused.
‘Where am I? What happened?’ he muttered. ‘The last thing I remember, I was just about to start my day’s work …’ He looked down at the torn ropes and gag lying beside him on the floor. ‘What’s all this? And where did you come from, doggie?’ he said. ‘And what on earth is that terrible noise?’
Star had never heard a fire alarm before. At first all she knew was that it hurt her sensitive doggie ears, but then she started to smell the smoke. We’ve got to get out of here, she thought, jumping and scratching helplessly at the locked door.
The department store was in chaos. Crowds thronged towards the exits. The security guards and staff members were trying to stay calm. People came rushing out of changing rooms in their underwear and from the shoe department in their socks. Everyone had the same idea. They just wanted to get out.
But one person had no intention of leaving the building. Stanley Strange was pleased with his handiwork. Once the fire had started, he’d taken advantage of the confusion and made a dash into one of the offices on the fourth floor.
‘Ha! Just as I’d planned!’ he laughed. ‘Things are starting to go my way again.’
The woman who worked in the office had left her desk in a hurry. She hadn’t stopped to turn off her computer. It was still switched on, and still linked to the shop’s main network.
Strange’s eyes lit up and he grinned his first genuine smile of the day. ‘I can get to work straight away!’ He sat down on the swivel chair and began to tap on the keyboard, first slowly and then much faster. An eerie calm came over him as he stared unblinkingly at the lit screen. He didn’t hear the sound of the fire alarm or the clatter of people evacuating the building. He didn’t hear the barking puppy in the stockroom or the real Santa shouting for help. Strange was far, far away, in a happy, peaceful place, wrapped in his own little cyberworld. In ten minutes, he would be a multi-millionaire.
16. Lara to the Rescue!
Lara arrived at the entrance to the store just as the fire alarm began to ring. Spud was waiting at the doorway. He had never been so glad to see her.
‘What’s that terrible noise, Mum?’ he asked, covering his ears with his paws. Before Lara could answer, they heard someone shouting inside the shop. ‘There’s a fire on the ground floor! Everybody leave the building!’
Spud leapt away from the door. ‘That’s got to be something to do with Stanley Strange,’ he barked. ‘I bet that’s why he had the box of matches.’
‘I think Mum and Ollie are inside!’ gasped Lara, ‘And Star – did you say she was locked in a stockroom?’
‘Yes, she’s with the real Santa,’ replied Spud, ‘on the fourth floor, near the grotto.’
By now there was a steady stream of people leaving the shop; soon it would be a torrent and then a flood. Lara tried hard to contain the rush of anxiety that was racing through her body. Keep calm; remember your training.
She pointed to a spot across the road, in sight of the shop but a safe distance away. ‘Wait over there an
d look out for Dad, Ben and Sophie. They’ll be here soon. I’m going in.’
‘But Mum …’ said Spud. He too remembered what the firemen had told Ollie’s class at school. ‘Get out, stay out, call the fire brigade out.’
‘I’m a Spy Dog, Spud. I’m trained for emergencies. You take care of the family and let me take care of secret Santa.’
‘But Mum,’ whined Spud. ‘It’s dangerous.’
Lara looked her puppy in the eye. ‘Sometimes a Spy Dog has no choice,’ she woofed. ‘Try not to worry.’ Spud watched as his mum bounded into the store.
It was chaos! Hundreds of people were hurrying down the shop’s staircases as Lara fought her way up. Some of them tried to push her downwards with them. One man actually grabbed her collar and forcibly dragged her down several stairs.
Sorry, I know you’re trying to help, thought Lara as she bared her teeth in a snarl that made him let go of her collar instantly. The noise of the fire alarm was hurting her ears. People were screaming, children crying and all the lights had gone off.
As Lara reached the second floor, she heard a familiar voice.
‘Lara! Have you come to rescue us?’
It’s Ollie – and there’s Mum too, thank goodness!
Ollie threw his arms round Lara’s neck and gave her a hug, ‘It’s OK, Lara, we’ll be out in a minute and then the fire brigade will come.’
No, Ollie, it’s not OK. Star is trapped in a locked room. I’ve got to rescue her.
Lara pulled herself away, gave Ollie a quick lick and pushed on upwards past a very large man in a ski jacket.
Ollie couldn’t understand what she was doing. ‘Lara!’ he bellowed, turning back to try and get a glimpse of her as she disappeared into the crowd. ‘Lara, come back!’
Mum couldn’t understand it, either. ‘We can’t stop, Ollie. Lara must have her reasons. We’ve got to keep going!’ Ollie’s eyes filled with tears but he knew his mum was right. They hurried down the last flights of stairs and out into the cold fresh air.
By the time Lara reached the third floor, the last few people were hurrying downwards. Soon the staircase was deserted. With her heart thumping and her mouth dry, Lara carried bravely on up to the fourth floor alone.
The toy department was deserted. An empty buggy stood in the middle of the floor and some abandoned shopping bags lay on their sides beside the till. It was clear that everyone had left in a hurry. Lara looked round quickly. Where’s Santa’s Grotto?
She raced over to that corner of the department and into the warren of offices and stockrooms behind. The fire alarm was still making a terrible noise but she thought she could hear the faint sound of barking and shouting through the clamour. As Lara passed an open office door, she stopped suddenly. Someone in a red coat was sitting with his back to her, in front of a computer.
It’s Santa! But is it the real one or Stanley Strange in disguise?
The man was muttering quietly to himself. ‘OK, I’ve disabled the sprinkler system so the fire can really get going. No chance of the fire brigade getting up here for a good while yet … Now on to the next part of my plan.’
It’s Strange. He must be mad! Doesn’t he want to be rescued? thought Lara, but there was no time to worry about that now. She had to find the others. It wasn’t hard. The real Santa was beating his fists on the stockroom door and shouting, ‘Help! Help! Get me out of here!’ at the top of his voice. Star was barking along with him and scratching at the door. Lara had to bark her loudest to make herself heard.
‘It’s Mum, Star. Don’t worry, I’m here and I’m going to get you out!’
She quickly examined the lock. Oh no, it’s high security. I can’t pick it. It needs a special swipe card. If only I had more time …
But Lara knew she had hardly any time at all. I’ll have to break the door down.
She ran back to the office where Strange was still bent over the computer, deep in concentration. There was a small metal filing cabinet on wheels just by the door.
This will do! Lara began to push it out into the corridor. Don’t look round, please don’t look round! She didn’t need to worry. Strange was still far away in his own little world, muttering about passwords and bank account numbers.
‘Stand away from the door, Star. Get Santa away too,’ barked Lara. ‘Be quick! Tell me when you’re ready.’
Now it was Star’s turn to think fast. How can I get him away from the door? He doesn’t understand me and he’s desperate to get out!
As Santa stood hammering on the door, Star picked up one of Strange’s ropes in her mouth and looped it quickly round his ankles. Then she gave a short, sharp tug so that the old man overbalanced and fell sideways to the floor.
‘What on earth?’ he exclaimed. ‘I thought you were helping!’
‘Ready!’ barked Star to Lara. ‘But be quick!’
Lara had lined the filing cabinet up with the door some distance away down the corridor. She started to push it along, running behind, then ran faster and faster and, as it gathered speed and momentum, finally sent it flying straight into the door.
Crash!
It worked! The force of the heavy metal cabinet had burst open the lock. The door flew open, narrowly missing Santa and Star, and the cabinet rolled in, closely followed by Lara.
‘Goodness gracious me!’ said Santa. ‘We’ve been rescued, my little puppy friend, by a dog who looks just like you!’
Lara led the way to the emergency exit. Santa jogged after her, carrying Star. By now most of the floor below was filled with smoke and flames, and smoke was beginning to billow up to the fourth floor too, but the emergency stairway was still clear. It was getting hot and Santa was sweating.
Go straight down, barked Lara. If it gets smoky crawl on the floor – there will be more air there. You should be OK – but hurry!
Santa didn’t need to be told. He was surprisingly nimble for an old man and disappeared down the stairs at top speed, holding Star tightly in his arms.
Lara was left standing alone at the top of the stairs as the whole building began to fill with fire.
17. The Great Escape
It was decision time for Lara. She knew that the fire would soon engulf the shop, and a very big part of her longed to follow Santa and Star down the stairs to safety.
Stanley Strange is a baddie, she thought. But should I risk everything to capture him? Even the professor would understand if I failed to make an arrest in this life-threatening situation.
Yet still Lara hesitated. She knew there was something even more important to consider. Baddie or not, Strange is in danger too. I can’t save myself and not him. Somehow I’ve got to get us both out of this building – and alive!
Lara bounded back towards the office where she’d last seen Strange.
The toy department was filling with smoke, so she slammed the fire safety door, hoping to buy a few minutes from the flames. Phew! Luckily, the offices and stockrooms are still clear. She hurtled into the office and skidded to a halt. He’s disappeared!
Lara looked around wildly and then began a quick but thorough search of all the other rooms. Nothing! At the end of the corridor she noticed a small flight of concrete stairs. A door at the top of the stairs was partly open and Lara could see blue sky and feel a rush of cold air. Those stairs lead to the roof. It was then that Lara heard an almost deafening engine noise – a helicopter was hovering just above the building.
Oh no! So that’s why he didn’t mind about the fire, thought Lara. He’s got an accomplice to airlift him from the roof!
Now Lara was filled with rage. Strange didn’t care about the poor old man he left unconscious in that locked room. He didn’t care about all the people working and shopping in the store. He didn’t care about the fire officers risking their lives to put out the blaze. No. He knew he’d be nice and safe in his helicopter and all he cared about was the stolen money in his bank account!
Lara had done a lot of running that day but this time she ran faster than ever before. The helicopter was hovering over the building with a rope ladder dangling from its door. As Lara reached the roof, she saw Strange, still dressed as Father Christmas, climbing on to the first rung of the ladder.
She threw herself towards him, barking and growling. If only I can reach him in time. I’ll grab his leg and pull him down!
The helicopter pilot had seen her and began to lift up and away from the roof with Strange still climbing the ladder. He was almost out of reach. Maybe I can still get him. It was a risky move but Lara decided to give it a go. Imposter Santa was dangling dangerously on the ladder. He swooped by and Lara leapt. She grabbed a boot and hung on. She felt Strange kicking at her nose but her teeth gripped tighter. I’ve got you, you evil man.
‘Oh no you don’t, poochie,’ laughed Santa Strange. The helicopter rose higher and she winced as Strange kicked off his black boot and Lara fell to the roof with a thud. She lay on her side, winded, the boot still firmly in her jaws. The helicopter was rising quickly now. Lara righted herself and watched as one-booted Santa climbed up the ladder and into the helicopter. She growled angrily as Strange blew her a kiss. I hate it when baddies get away!
Strange was relieved. Things hadn’t gone entirely according to plan but he was still a multi-millionaire. The store’s Christmas takings had been successfully transferred to his account. He looked out at the furious barking dog on the roof. He supposed she must be a police dog, although he’d never seen quite such a funny-looking one before. Well, she was too late now and she wouldn’t be able to get downstairs in a hurry. The fire would have reached the stairways by this time. The dog was doomed.