by Rob Stevens
‘Where’ve you been?’ Barney asked Archie, his mouth full of cheese sandwich. ‘I thought we were going to play chess. Lunchtime’s nearly over.’
Archie sat opposite Barney. Resting his elbows on the table he leaned forward. ‘I’ve been talking to Gemma,’ he whispered, glancing both ways to check they couldn’t be overheard.
‘Why? What’s up?’
‘Miss Toogood,’ Archie stated.
‘Oh, right.’ Barney nodded knowingly, then his eyebrows dipped. ‘What about her?’
‘In class earlier she said she liked your story about rescuing the Prime Minister from an evil mastermind’s submarine.’
‘So?’
‘You’d never mentioned anything about the sub.’
Barney’s mouth fell open. ‘So how did she know about it?’
‘At first I thought she must be part of MI6.’
‘Good call.’
‘Gemma checked.’ Archie shook his head. ‘She’s nothing to do with the Secret Service or any government organisation.’
Deep in thought, Barney sank his teeth into his sandwich. ‘So she must have been bugging us throughout the whole op?’ he concluded, spraying Archie with wet crumbs.
‘That’s not all.’ Archie removed his glasses to wipe them and slid them back on. ‘Toogood told us Moore the Bore had broken her arm so I asked Gemma to check the local hospitals.’
‘And?’
‘No hospitals have any record of Miss Moore being treated for a broken arm. In fact none of her friends have heard from her in over a week. Her house is empty.’
‘She’s missing!’ Barney yelped, then lowering his voice he asked, ‘Do you think Miss Toogood is involved?’
Archie nodded slowly. ‘It’s too much of a coincidence,’ he whispered. ‘I have no idea what she’s up to but I think our friendly supply teacher is simply Toogood to be true . . .’
According to his file Rob Stevens lives on the Dorset coast with his wife and two young sons. He grew up in Bournemouth before studying Engineering at Cambridge University – a notorious MI6 recruiting ground. Government documents list his occupation as ‘Airline Pilot’, which would be the perfect cover for, say, a spy undertaking frequent foreign assignments. MI6 denies that he is a Secret Agent – which is exactly what you would expect them to say.
Also by Rob Stevens
S.T.I.N.K.B.O.M.B.
The Mapmaker’s Monsters:
Beware the Buffalogre!
The Mapmaker’s Monsters:
Vampanther Attack!
First published 2012 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2012 by Macmillan Children’s Books
a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
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ISBN 978-1-4472-1326-0 EPUB
Text copyright © Rob Stevens 2012
Illustrations copyright © Aaron Blecha 2012
The right of Rob Stevens and Aaron Blecha to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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