by Andrew Cope
She leant a bit further, her whole body dangling over the water, her arm sweeping the tank. Traces of blood started to appear in the water as she clasped the bag. ‘Got it!’ She tried to back out of the tank, but the chair wobbled and fell away beneath her. She plunged into the water with a muffled shriek and the fish couldn’t believe their luck. The jewel thief’s face appeared through the glass, eyes wide in horror, hair swirling in slow motion. The fish darted towards her, hungry for their lunch. Tony Jewell looked away.
Spud couldn’t bear it. Think quickly. Think like a spy pup. She’s a thief, but nobody deserves to be eaten by piranhas! He bounded on to the table and picked up a glass paperweight in his mouth. ‘Out of the way!’ he woofed from the side of his mouth. The puppy hurled the paperweight as hard as he could. It hit the tank and the glass cracked. The pressure of the water did the rest as the aquarium exploded into a thousand pieces and the room was flooded with a tidal wave of water and wriggling fish, their teeth snapping in the fresh air.
The cat was away. He liked a fish supper, but these were just too dangerous to eat. Tony Jewell stood, eyebrows drenched, frozen with cold water and fear. Clarissa White stood, sodden but triumphant, the black bag clasped in her good hand.
‘Oh, no you don’t,’ woofed Star as she lined up her collar. She pressed the button and the lady felt a pinprick on her neck. Her eyes widened and she took on a confused look. The professor’s truth drug, lady. Confess, thought Star, pointing the collar camera at the diamond thief.
‘You poor fish,’ said Miss White, and she started rescuing the flipping piranhas, placing them into a small fish bowl on the sideboard. ‘I bought you with stolen money. And I’m such a naughty criminal! Oh, my goodness, all those gems I’ve stolen! All those people I’ve threatened. And that time I cheated at Cluedo! Can someone find me a pen and paper so I can write it all down?’
Curtis the bodyguard was off, running for the door. ‘My go,’ woofed Spud, lining up his collar. The dart hit the man’s left buttock, but he kept running. Spud gave chase. They galloped down the stone stairs. ‘Another direct hit,’ the puppy barked as dart number two found the opposite cheek. The burly man opened the door … and there was Professor Cortex.
‘Who are you?’ demanded the scientist.
The bodyguard looked puzzled. ‘Do you know what,’ he began, ‘I’m not entirely sure.’ He pushed past the professor and jumped into Tony Jewell’s car. He turned the key and the engine roared into life. Spud and the professor watched as the confused man looked at the dashboard. ‘So many buttons,’ he said. ‘And why have I got three pedals when I’ve only got two feet?’
Professor Cortex walked over to the car. ‘If you’d just come with me, sir, I can explain everything. Believe me, next week, everything will make a lot more sense.’
Spud yapped excitedly. ‘Mission accomplished!’
18. Meddling Pups
The family gathered at Partington Manor for the ceremony. Lord Partington smiled at the dogs as he approached the microphone. ‘Ahem,’ he coughed. ‘Thank you all for coming here today.’
No problem, sir, wagged Spud. Please keep the speech short and let’s get to the buffet.
‘We are gathered here today …’
Oh crikey, thought Spud, it’s going to be a long one.
‘… to thank the Cook family, especially their children. And their wonderful dogs. In particular, the puppies, Spud and Star.’
The crowd broke into warm applause. Lord Partington held up last week’s newspaper. ‘I’m sure you’ve all read about the crime and how they solved it?’
More applause. Come on, man, sniffed Spud. I can smell sausage rolls.
‘The police have told us that the circus gang had been operating for a year. They’d amassed several million pounds’ worth of gems.’
Lara nodded to herself.
‘They were highly organized,’ the lord continued. ‘The parade through town was a means of eyeing up the biggest houses. A monkey would then be sent over the wall to disable the CCTV cameras.’
‘Hey,’ said Ollie, ‘I saw a monkey do that at this house.’
‘Exactly,’ hissed Sophie. ‘Duh!’
‘Then it was the same routine every time. Mr Jewell would always give free closing-night tickets to the … erm … wealthiest families in town, thereby guaranteeing that their homes would be empty on the evening of the final performance. The gang would sneak off and carry out the robbery, arriving back just in time to perform. The perfect alibi. The contortionist would get through the smallest of holes, either a bathroom window or a cat flap.’
‘Hey,’ said Ollie again, ‘I saw him getting through the –’
‘Shush,’ hissed his sister again. ‘He’s explaining how the pieces all fit together!’
‘Next, the alarm would be expertly disabled and the team would get started on the safe. The gang was so well trained that often the owners didn’t realize anything was missing until weeks after the circus had left town.’
The dogs puffed out their chests. Star and Spud were proud of their crime-fighting powers and Lara was proud of her puppies.
‘But there was more to one of the criminals than met the eye. Mrs Jewell, the costume maker, hid the gems from her husband, sewn into the performers’ costumes. Little did the circus staff know that their sparkly outfits were indeed worth millions!’ Lord Partington held up one of the puppies’ cloaks. ‘This small garment alone is worth half a million.’
Phew, thought Star. I’d have taken better care of it if I’d known!
‘But these fabulous little dogs saved the day,’ continued Lord Partington, sweeping his hand towards the proud puppies. ‘In fact, they even risked their lives. They walked a tightrope, fought off a lion and took part in a daring car chase.’
Didn’t actually fight it off, thought Spud modestly.
And it was an ice-cream van, actually, thought Star, not a car chase. But I get your point.
‘The remaining gems were supplied to a lady called Clarissa White. Nasty piece of work. Theft, kidnapping, torture … she’s wanted in just about every country in Europe. The circus had been losing money for some time and they needed a loan. Miss White lent Tony Jewell a huge sum that he could never pay back by legal means, so she devised this get-rich-quick scheme. Clarissa White was the brains behind the whole caper. But I believe that the puppies even saved her from being fish food!’
And we helped save the fish afterwards, wagged Star. In fact, not a single fish was hurt in the making of this adventure! And all the circus animals have been rescued too. The lion now has all the space in the world, without a hot dog in sight, and the elephant’s peanut-eating days are over.
‘Miss White confessed to every crime she’s ever committed! Numerous robberies, smugglings, kidnappings and general nastiness. Apparently, she even cheated on her maths GCSE! She can expect a very lengthy stay at her Majesty’s pleasure.’ Lord Partington waited for the applause to die down. ‘So, it’s with great delight that I ask the Cook children, Professor Maximus Cortex and his secret agent spy dog, GM451, to come up on stage to be presented with their medals.’
Retired secret agent spy dog, sir, corrected Lara as she stood proudly to receive thanks.
The children bounded up, led by Ollie, waving overenthusiastically to the crowd. Lara felt another rush of pride as a medal was placed round her neck. She winked at the puppies. You next, she thought.
‘But, ladies and gentlemen, please reserve your biggest round of applause for the puppy heroes who risked their lives to thwart the evil criminals. I cannot thank these young dogs enough, not only for recovering my family jewels, but for being such heroes. The so-called “Roving Robbers” are now safely behind bars, apart from the monkeys, who are being safely looked after in a sanctuary with the other animals. So please put your hands together one more time for Spud and Star, our very own Spy Pups!’
Applause, whistles and cheering greeted the puppies as they bounded onstage. Medals were placed round t
heir necks, after which Professor Cortex presented the pups with an ice cream each. Spud’s disappeared in one gulp, but Star was determined to savour the moment. She looked at the crowd. It’s such a proud day. Flashbulbs made her blink, which helped hide the tears.
Spud noticed his sister’s glistening eyes. ‘What’s up, Star?’ he asked.
‘It’s all too much,’ she woofed.
‘No problem, I’ll help you out,’ barked her brother, swallowing his sister’s ice cream in one.
‘Not the ice cream, silly, the emotion,’ she woofed. ‘This is the proudest moment of my life. Do you think we’ll ever feel this good again?’
Spud considered for a moment. Solving a major crime, getting a medal and scoffing two ice creams? ‘This is a tough one to beat,’ he wagged, ‘but I reckon we can give it another go, don’t you?
PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
puffinbooks.com
First published 2010
Text copyright © Andrew Cope, 2010
Illustrations copyright © James de la Rue, 2010
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-141-33208-6
* Small print … OK, admittedly Andrew does have a pet dog called Lara. And she’s black and white, a bit like the one in the Spy Dog books. And the dog in the books is also called Lara. But that could just be a coincidence. And the sticky-up ear is just a random coincidence too. Apart from those similarities, the books have no connection with the dog at all. Andrew also has a puppy called LJ. And the dogs in this story are called Spud and Star so that settles it. Even the names are different. So there! And another thing, the dogs in the book are dead clever. And Andrew’s dogs are really stupid. They have no talent whatsoever. This is how daft they are: if he tells them to sit, they lie down. And if he tells them to lie down, they shake a paw! Duh! And they haven’t got mobile phones or gadgets. None of his dogs can drive a car or send emails. They don’t go on adventures and have never actually caught a baddie (although Lara did nip the postman once, but I don’t think he’s a baddie). And the dogs absolutely cannot beat Andrew at computer games. Ever! Got it? So, please don’t keep asking if the Spy Dog or Spy Pups books are based on his actual dogs. I mean, if you wrote a book called Spy Guinea Pig, wouldn’t you get sick of people coming up to you and saying, ‘Hey dude, is this story based on your real guinea pig?’ Cos you’d roll your eyes and go, ‘As if. My guinea pig isn’t a spy. He’s actually an evil baddie called Jeremy who wears small leather gloves on his tiny piggy hands and he cackles with an evil laugh and is going to destroy the world.’ And your mates would go ‘No way,’ and you’d go ‘Yes way,’ and you’d probably go and write a story about it. But that wouldn’t make it real. Just like J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter. That’s not real (J. K. is but Harry isn’t). It’s just a story. In the same way that Spy Pups Circus Act is just a story. Have I made myself clear? Great. Phew! What a relief. I just thought I’d get this off my chest. I can’t believe that you actually bothered to read this small print! Haven’t you got anything else to do? Please get on with the story …