‘Ah, so that’s what this is about,’ said Sorrentino.
‘What’s your involvement, Sorrentino?’ said Dirk, thick clouds of smoke gushing from his nose.
‘Your fire don’t scare me, Mountain Dragon,’ said Sorrentino, moving so he was within spitting distance of Dirk’s face.
Dirk could hear a bubbling noise coming from his throat.
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ said Sorrentino. ‘Is he loaded with his day’s poison? And to tell you the truth, I’ve kind of forgotten myself, but being as Desert Dragon poison is the most deadly in the world, you’ve got to ask yourself a question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you? Do you, Dirk?’
‘You watch too many movies, Mo,’ replied Dirk. ‘If you killed me here, you’d have to dispose of the body and I’m guessing you could do without that kind of hassle. Where’s the film?’
‘Ah, who cares? I got paid already,’ replied the Desert Dragon. ‘I sold it, so what?’
‘Sold it? What do you think you’re playing at, Sorrentino? Do you want to start a war?’
‘A war?’ sneered Sorrentino. ‘Come on, if you knew humans like I do you’d know they’ve caught weirder things on tape.’ He laughed. ‘This isn’t the Middle Ages. People don’t believe in us any more. One little film ain’t gonna change that.’
‘Who did you sell it to?’ said Dirk.
‘You just watched them drive away. They paid well too, more than I was expectin’ to get. Go ahead and get it back if you want, but I’d hurry, if I were you.’
Dirk snarled. He ran to the edge of the car park and looked down. The yellow van had left the car park and was waiting at the lights.
‘This isn’t the last you’ve seen of me,’ he said to Sorrentino.
‘Do me a favour, call my receptionist and make an appointment next time,’ replied the Desert Dragon.
Dirk sent an angry burst of fire at Sorrentino and flew down to a nearby building.
Jumping over roofs, he followed the van across town. It was making slow progress with the rush-hour traffic, but after a while, the van turned off the main road, took a right, then a left, turning up a winding private road, which had a sign that said ‘Sands Mansion’ – with a logo that Dirk recognised at once as belonging to Brant Buchanan’s company, Global Sands.
‘Super-rich rats,’ Dirk swore.
A row of security cameras lined the top of the gate. Dirk could go no further.
Had Dirk been able to follow the van into the grounds of Sands Mansion he would have seen Brant Buchanan lead Hunter and Frank into a cylindrical building surrounded by scaffolding.
‘Nice library, man,’ said Frank. ‘You having work done?
‘I’m having some extra security measures put in,’ replied Buchanan, striding across the room and reaching for a book on a high shelf with a red spine and a tiny speck of white at the bottom.
‘Hey, I recognise that spine,’ said Hunter, pulling out his own copy from his jacket pocket. ‘It’s Dragonlore by Ivor Klingerflim.’
‘Indeed,’ said Brant Buchanan, tilting the book. ‘Except that this is just the cover.’
Four shelves of books on the other side of the wall flickered and disappeared. What had looked like a row of book spines revealed itself to be a projection on a TV screen. The screen went blank.
‘Man, that’s neat,’ said Frank.
Weaver stepped into the room and handed Mr Buchanan a disk from his pocket. ‘I’ve transferred the tape,’ he said.
Buchanan reached down and found a book spine by an author called David Player. He pressed a hidden button on it and a drawer slid open. He inserted the disk, the drawer closed and all the letters lit up on the author’s name except for the a and i in David.
‘Hey, DVD player. That’s clever, man,’ said Hunter.
‘One of Weaver’s little jokes,’ said Buchanan. ‘Now let’s see what we’ve got, shall we?’
A desert appeared on the screen. The sound of whistling wind filled the room. The shot panned across a desolate landscape dotted with strange trees with thick twisted branches. ‘That’s nice. Hold that,’ said a voice on the tape and the camera stopped moving. ‘Go in a little,’ said the voice. The camera zoomed in. Something moved in the shot. It was as though two of the strange trees were shifting in the distance. ‘What’s that?’ said the voice. The camera zoomed in again. The picture fell out of focus for a moment and then refocused on the hazy horizon, where two cactus-like creatures were fighting.
‘What do you think?’ asked Hunter excitedly.
‘Yeah, what do you think, man?’ said Frank enthusiastically.
As usual, Brant Buchanan chose his words carefully. ‘It’s a bit blurry, isn’t it?’ he said.
‘Blurry?’ exclaimed Frank, leaping in front of the screen. ‘We bring you never-seen-before footage of two Desert Dragons filmed yesterday and you call it blurry?’
‘Calm down, man,’ said Hunter, anxious not to upset the billionaire.
‘I am calm. I just think he should appreciate what we’ve got here. This is solid-gold proof, man.’
Buchanan laughed. ‘Gentlemen,’ he said, ‘I thought I made it perfectly clear when I employed you that I have no doubt of the existence of dragons. None whatsoever. Please don’t get me wrong. This footage will serve its purpose but, you see, I do not need further proof.’
He swapped the DVD with another from his pocket and the desert footage disappeared and was replaced by a map of the world.
‘From Ivor Klingerflim’s book we know that there are dragons in every corner of the earth. Varieties of the Desert Dragons you showed me exist not only in California, but in the Sahara, the Arabian, the Gobi … In fact, they reside in every great desert of the world.’
As he spoke, the map lit up the world’s deserts.
‘There are Mountain Dragons wherever there are mountains.’
This time mountains of the world lit up.
‘The oceans are full of Sea Dragons and other even more fantastic beasts. The forests and jungles are alive with as many varieties of Tree Dragon as there are varieties of trees. The Arctic and Antarctic are rich with Snow Dragons. The sky itself is littered with sublimated Sky Dragons hiding amongst the clouds.’
By the time he had finished speaking the entire map was lit up. It was so bright that Hunter and Frank had to shield their eyes.
The screen went blank.
‘There are even a few urban-based dragons,’ said Buchanan.
The screen showed a dragon creeping around an office.
‘Woo, man,’ said Frank.
‘You got an extreme close-up,’ said Hunter, running his fingers through his greasy hair.
‘But if you got stuff this good, why do you need us?’ said Frank.
‘I have employed you because I need more information. Dragonlore is not enough. I want to know everything there is to know about dragons,’ said Buchanan.
‘OK, but can I ask why, man?’ said Hunter.
‘Because, shortly, I intend to catch one,’ replied the billionaire.
Chapter 18
As a thank you for the long day of filming, World Studios had given all the extras from the school concert scene free VIP passes to the movie theme park next door.
Mr Bigsby and his wife had dropped Holly and Archie at the gates and gone shopping, saying they would pick them up in time for dinner at Brant Buchanan’s mansion in the evening.
The theme park was brilliant. All of the rides were based on films. There was loads to do and it was all free. Even better, the VIP tickets meant that wherever there was a long queue, Holly and Archie could jump it and whenever they fancied a snack they didn’t have to pay.
‘This is the best holiday ever,’ Holly said as they entered an open-air walk-through jungle full of moving models of dinosaurs called Dinoworld.
‘I’m here in the jungle with the lesser-spotted Holly Bigsby,’ said Archie, using the ice cream he was eating as a microphone. ‘Holly, tell me what it’s like being a VIP.
’
‘I think it’s very V to be a VIP,’ said Holly.
‘So you’re saying that it’s V V to be a VIP?’
‘If not V V V,’ replied Holly, laughing.
‘This model represents a dimetrodon,’ said a young American boy with an extremely large head and an annoyingly loud voice, pointing at a plastic lizard beneath a plant. The lizard scuttled unconvincingly across the rock. ‘Interestingly, although it looks like a dinosaur it is actually an ancestor of the mammals,’ continued the boy with a self-satisfied smile.
Holly and Archie moved quickly to the next section, but the boy followed them. ‘We’re now entering the Triassic period, in which dinosaurs first appeared,’ he said.
A long-necked dinosaur loomed over them, its neck moving mechanically and a strange roaring coming from a speaker by its side.
‘This is a plateosaurus,’ said the boy, who was beginning to get on Holly’s nerves. ‘And over here is the pterosaur, a flying reptile. And here is a … oh, that’s not right. This isn’t a dinosaur.’
Holly and Archie looked at the model the boy was pointing at.
‘Dinosaurs don’t have smoke coming out of their noses and they certainly weren’t red and green.’
Holly gasped and Archie almost dropped his ice cream. Standing frozen to the spot, moving his head robotically, was Dirk.
‘How do you know what colour they were?’ said Archie. ‘They could have been bright pink for all anyone knows. All they’ve ever found is bones.’
‘Well, that’s not a dinosaur. It’s a dragon and that’s stupid because dragons don’t exist,’ said the boy, stamping his feet.
Dirk paused then moved to look at the boy. ‘No one likes a know-it-all. Beat it, kid,’ he said.
‘Th … th … that’s so rude,’ stammered the boy, bursting into tears and running away.
‘Dirk!’ said Holly, throwing her arms around his neck.
‘And you’re right, Archie, some of them were pink,’ said Dirk.
‘You remember dinosaurs?’ said Archie.
‘I’m not that old,’ replied Dirk, ‘but I once met a dragon that claimed to have kept a pink tyrannosaurus rex as a pet. It was very loyal apparently but it did bite.’
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Holly.
‘Buchanan’s got the film,’ said Dirk.
‘Buchanan?’ said Holly.
A group of Japanese tourists entered. Dirk froze and went back to his small robotic head movements.
‘Ooooh!’ they said, seeing him. ‘Will you take a photo of us?’ said one of the tourists, handing a camera to Holly.
‘Sure,’ she said.
They gathered around Dirk, and Holly took the photo, but instead of taking a picture, she pressed the off button.
‘That’s a good one,’ she said, handing the camera back to the grateful tourists, who thanked her and moved on.
‘So Buchanan is involved,’ said Holly.
‘Seems so. Sorrentino sold him the film,’ said Dirk.
‘Who’s Sorrentino?’ asked Holly.
‘He’s a dragon who hires himself out to humans to solve their problems.’
‘It sounds like what you do,’ said Holly.
‘Yeah, except he doesn’t mind people getting hurt … oh, and he’s got a receptionist.’
‘You’ve got Mrs Klingerflim,’ said Holly.
Dirk laughed then froze again as a mother and her two children walked past. Once they had gone, Holly continued, ‘You think Buchanan knows about you and me? I mean, Dad hasn’t exactly been busy since he’s been here. If Buchanan suspects I know a dragon, he could be using me to get to you.’
‘We’ll need to be extremely careful,’ said Dirk, ‘but I do need to get that film back.’
‘The mansion’s covered in cameras,’ said Holly.
‘Even the security cameras are watched by security cameras,’ added Archie.
‘We’re going round for dinner,’ said Holly. ‘We could find out where he’s keeping it.’
‘Good,’ said Dirk, ‘but be cautious. No blending. We can’t take any risks if there’s the slightest possibility that Buchanan suspects that you have a connection to me.’
‘OK,’ said Holly.
‘And if I’m going to find a way in, I could do with some details about the mansion,’ said Dirk.
‘Buchanan gave Big Hair that book about its history,’ said Archie.
‘Great. I’ll come and see you later tonight at your house to pick up the book,’ said Dirk. ‘In the meantime I’m going to keep an eye on the two guys he’s got working for him.’
‘We’ll find the tape,’ said Holly.
‘Good work, but don’t let him find out what you’re doing. Make it look like a game,’ said Dirk. ‘Now, I’d better get out of here. I’ll see you tonight.’
Holly squeezed his right paw. ‘Bye, Dirk,’ she said.
‘Hey, little lady, no touching the exhibits,’ said an official in a T-shirt with ‘Dinoworld’ written on the front. ‘Some of them might bite,’ he added, with a false laugh. ‘No, but seriously, you really shouldn’t touch them … Hey, I don’t remember this fella.’ He looked at Dirk. ‘This fella’s more like a dragon than a dinosaur, isn’t he?’ He reached up and pinched the skin on Dirk’s cheek. ‘How do they make them so realistic?’
A low growl came from Dirk’s throat.
‘I thought you said no touching,’ said Holly.
‘You’re quite right, little lady,’ said the man, moving his hand away.
‘Can you show us the way out?’ asked Archie. ‘We’re lost.’
‘Sure, follow me. It’s right out of Triassic, past Jurassic and you’re into the canteen where you can feast on one of our terrific dinoburgers. Don’t worry, they’re not made from real dinosaur,’ he said, sounding like he was reading from a script.
Dirk waited until they were out of sight before jumping up to the roof of the Haunted House.
‘Look, Mum, a dragon,’ said a little girl holding a lollipop.
‘Yes, lovely, dear, you’ve seen all sorts of things today, haven’t you?’ replied her mother.
Chapter 19
At dinner at Brant Buchanan’s that evening Holly tried hard to be on her best behaviour. She managed to be polite as they arrived at the mansion and as they took their places around the impressive table in the centre of the cavernous dining hall. A waiter brought in the starters and announced that everyone would be eating foie gras except for Holly, who was a vegetarian and was served asparagus.
Archie found it funny the way the waiter said foie gras in a French accent and asked, ‘What’s fwa grar then?’
‘It’s a kind of pâté,’ explained Mr Buchanan. ‘It’s made from a duck’s liver that has been enlarged by force-feeding the animal before slaughter.’ The billionaire scooped up a bit on a wafer and ate it. ‘Delicious,’ he said.
‘That’s so cruel,’ exclaimed Holly, unable to contain herself. ‘Only a monster would do something like that.’
‘Holly,’ said her father, glaring at her.
‘It’s fine, Malcolm,’ said Mr Buchanan. ‘We are all entitled to our opinions. Some do find the process rather barbaric, but then, I say, why is it any worse than wringing a chicken’s neck? In which case, are you saying that all meat eaters are monsters?’
Holly looked at Archie, who had a piece of the pâté held up to his mouth. She scowled at him.
He put it back down guiltily.
Holly turned back to Mr Buchanan. ‘It’s worse because you’re not just killing the animal, you’re torturing the poor thing first. It’s as bad as the experiments you do on animals.’
‘So, I hear Global Sands stock went up this morning,’ said Mr Bigsby, trying desperately to change the subject.
‘Yes, it’s been a good day for us,’ replied Mr Buchanan.
For the rest of the meal, the adults went on about inflation and real estate and emerging markets and all the other boring things that adults talk about. Holly
and Archie talked amongst themselves. After dessert, Mr Buchanan suggested that they retire to the lounge for coffee.
‘Can we go and look around?’ asked Holly.
‘Feel free,’ said Buchanan. ‘I’m afraid that having no children myself I have no toys or computer games but I’m sure you can find some way to amuse yourselves.’
As they left the room and headed up the stairs, Archie said, ‘That was easy.’
It was a huge mansion. They took one room each, trying to make it look like they were playing a game of hide-and-seek, searching for places to hide. The rooms were stylishly but sparsely decorated, which made them quick to check, and it wasn’t long before they were heading back downstairs. But the search downstairs proved equally fruitless.
‘The problem is we’re looking for a reel of film but it could be anything by now – a DVD, an MP3, anything,’ said Archie.
‘I know but we’ve still got to try,’ said Holly.
‘Where’s left?’ asked Archie.
‘The library,’ said Holly.
They found their way out of the main building, across the floodlit courtyard to the cylindrical building surrounded by scaffolding.
They pushed the tarpaulin back and found that the door was unlocked. Holly stepped inside and looked up at the night sky, through the glass ceiling. Archie flicked the light switch on, illuminating the curved walls of books.
‘Have you noticed something odd?’ said Holly, looking up.
‘What?’
‘There are no cameras.’
Archie saw she was right. Unlike every other room in the building there wasn’t a single security camera.
‘But didn’t he say that it was full of expensive books? Why wouldn’t he have cameras?’
‘Because he’s got something to hide,’ replied Holly. ‘Look for a clue.’
There were books on everything from fly-fishing to fencing, histories of every country in the world, biographies of great leaders, explanations of astrology, astronomy, mythology. In fact, every subject in the world. Then something caught Holly’s eye. It was a red book spine with a small triangle of white at the bottom. It was sticking out slightly on a high shelf just out of reach.
The Case of the Stolen Film Page 8