by Justin D'Ath
The FoxPhone was in one of his pockets.
‘No way!’ said Ella. ‘My parents will kill me if they find out I went riding on Banjo.’
‘How will they find out?’ Jordan asked. ‘Those guys could have driven in and stolen him from your place.’
Ella shook her head. ‘The front gate was locked and so was Banjo’s yard. Only someone with keys could have got him out.’
‘Who’s got keys?’ Harry asked.
‘Only Mum, Dad and me,’ Ella said. ‘They’ll know I did it. We’ve got to get Banjo back in his yard before my parents get home from work.’
9
Swooped!
Harry parked the FoxMobile halfway between two guard dog signs.
‘This looks like a good place,’ he said.
Jordan didn’t think any place looked good, but he didn’t say anything.
Ella gazed up at the wall. ‘Can you guys fly or something?’
‘I wish!’ said Jordan, who was afraid of heights.
The wall was about four metres high. It looked impossible to climb.
‘Pass me the FoxHook please, Agent J,’ said Harry.
Jordan burrowed into the FoxPack and pulled out a coil of rope. On one end was a large hook with three big prongs. He gave it to Harry.
‘Do your stuff, Agent H.’
Harry had spent hours practising with the FoxHook on the clothesline at home. He twirled it like an aeroplane propeller – whoosh, whoosh, whoosh – then threw it up and over the wall. The hook snagged on the bricks at the top. Harry tugged on the rope to make sure it was safe, then turned and grinned at Ella.
‘We can’t fly’, he said, ‘but we can climb.’
Thirty seconds later, Harry was sitting on top of the wall.
Jordan wished his twin brother wasn’t such a show-off. It made Jordan look bad. He was awful at climbing.
‘You go next,’ he said to Ella.
‘What about Myrtle?’ she asked.
‘Myrtle is backup’, Jordan explained. He patted the dog’s huge, shaggy head. ‘You stay here and look after the FoxMobile, Agent M’.
Ella took twice as long as Harry to climb the rope, but she was still pretty good. A minute later, she was sitting next to Harry.
‘Your turn, Agent J,’ Harry called softly.
The climb took Jordan twice as long as Ella. That was four times as long as Harry.
Ella made room for him next to her. She could see how scared he was.
‘Don’t look down, Agent J,’ she whispered. ‘I used to be scared of heights, too.’
‘How did you get over it?’
‘Horse riding,’ she said. ‘When you get on a horse the first time, it feels really high. But you get used to it pretty quickly.’
‘I don’t think I’d be brave enough,’ Jordan said.
‘Shhhh!’ said Harry.
He pointed up the hill at the Bonwicks’ huge house. If anyone looked out a window, they would see the twins and Ella sitting on top of the wall.
Luckily, no one was looking.
But an animal was. A big brown horse stood under a tree, watching them.
‘Is that Banjo?’ whispered Jordan.
Ella shook her head. ‘It’s Queenie’, she said. ‘Banjo’s grey. He must be in the stable’.
There was a long, low shed just down the hill from the house, with white fences all around it. A big green truck was parked out the front.
‘Is that the robbers’ truck?’ Jordan asked.
Ella nodded.
‘Let’s get moving before someone sees us,’ whispered Harry.
He pulled the rope up the outside of the wall and dangled it down the inside. Then he slid down it like a monkey.
Ella went next. She took longer than Harry, but not much.
Now it was Jordan’s turn. He lay down on top of the wall, then slowly swivelled on his stomach until both legs were dangling on the inside.
Suddenly – WHAM! – something struck him on the back of his head, knocking off his Mission Fox cap and sunglasses. They tumbled down the outside of the wall and landed next to Myrtle.
Jordan got such a fright, he nearly fell, too.
‘Yikes!’ he cried.
‘Shhh!’ hissed Harry. ‘It was just a swooping magpie.’
It was easy for Harry to say Just a swooping magpie. He was safe on the ground. And he wasn’t the one being swooped.
Jordan glanced over his shoulder. A magpie was perched in the tree above Queenie. It glared at him. Next to it was a nest with two fluffy magpie chicks in it.
‘Nice magpie!’ Jordan said softly. ‘I’m not after your babies.’
He knew all about swooping magpies from BRAIN, a special app on the FoxPhone that stood for Bird, Reptile and Animal Identification Network. It said magpies swooped people to protect their nests.
Usually they just flew close to people and clicked their beaks, but sometimes they actually pecked them.
Nice magpie, Jordan said to it again, but not out loud this time.
When the twins were little, Jordan used to pretend he could talk to animals using his thoughts. He called it Pet Whispering. It was just a game. But sometimes the animals (and birds) acted like they could understand him.
Not this time, though. The magpie went on glaring at him. Jordan glared back. On BRAIN it said magpies usually didn’t attack if you were looking right at them.
But it was impossible to look at the magpie and climb down from the wall at the same time.
‘Tell me if it’s coming’, Jordan said to Harry and Ella.
Then he slid slowly down the rope and landed safely next to them. The magpie didn’t attack, and it was nice to be back on the ground, but something was worrying Jordan.
‘Agent H,’ he whispered. ‘How are we going to get out again?’
His brother pointed at the rope. ‘The same way we got in.’
‘What about Banjo?’
Harry scratched his head. He turned to Ella. ‘How high can he jump?’
‘Even the best show jumper in the world couldn’t jump that high,’ Ella said.
10
Love You to Bits
Something else was worrying Jordan. The guard dogs from the signs. His eyes darted left and right. But apart from Queenie, and the magpie in the tree, the coast was clear.
Maybe the signs were just to scare people away, Jordan thought. He crossed his fingers.
They crept up the hill towards the stable. Queenie walked just behind them. She seemed friendly, but Jordan felt nervous. He had never been so close to a horse before. Queenie was huge.
It was a long way to the stable. Jordan didn’t know where to look – ahead at the house, which looked bigger and scarier with every step they took. Or behind, at Queenie and the magpie.
It was a relief to reach the horse yards near the stable and slip in through the rails. Queenie couldn’t follow them and the magpie was miles away. Best of all, they could no longer be seen from the house – the stable was in the way.
But what if someone was in the stable? Jordan thought.
Harry must have been thinking the same thing, because he slipped through another fence and hid in the shadow of the truck. Jordan and Ella followed him. The truck was backed right up to the stable doors. The doors were wide open.
‘Wait here,’ Harry whispered.
He took off his hat and glasses, and wiggled along the ground under the truck until he was looking into the stable. His head swivelled from side to side, then he turned and gave Jordan and Ella a thumbs-up sign.
‘AIl clear’, he whispered. ‘And I can see Banjo!’
As soon as he said that, Ella was on her feet and running – around the side of the truck, through the doors and into the stable.
By the time Jordan and Harry got inside, Ella was down the far end. As they approached, she opened a little gate and slipped into a narrow stall. A tall grey horse greeted her with a low whinny. It looked even bigger than Queenie.
‘Banjo, I am s
oooooo glad to see you!’ Ella said, kissing it on the nose.
Then she turned to the twins.
‘Thank you, thank you, thank you, guys!’ she whispered. ‘I love you to bits!’
Harry and Jordan didn’t go any closer. She looked like she was going to kiss them too!
11
Mission Impossible
‘How will we get him out?’ Jordan asked.
‘I’ll ride him,’ said Ella. A saddle and bridle hung on a rail outside the stall. She grabbed the bridle and started putting it over Banjo’s head.
‘But what about the wall?’ whispered Jordan.
‘Can’t you guys get the gate open?’ she said.
‘It’s got an electronic lock,’ said Harry.
Ella picked up the saddle and lifted it up onto Banjo’s back. ‘So there must be a switch or something.’
Harry looked at Jordan. ‘Where do you think it is?’
‘Probably in the house’, Ella said, busily doing up the saddle straps.
The twins shared another look. A worried one. There were people in the house. Horse thieves.
And there could be guard dogs, too.
‘We’re Mission Fox,’ Jordan said. ‘Not Mission Impossible’.
Ella sighed. ‘If it’s impossible to rescue Banjo, then why did we come here?’
It was a good question.
‘Um’, said Jordan. He couldn’t think of a good answer.
‘I’ve got an idea,’ Harry said. ‘Come with me, Agent J.’
‘What do I do?’ asked Ella.
‘Get on Banjo and wait till we call,’ Harry said. ‘Then ride like mad. Don’t stop for anything.’
‘What about the gate?’ she asked.
‘Leave the gate to us,’ Harry said confidently.
He led Jordan outside.
‘Who needs a gate switch when you’ve got a truck?’ he whispered.
Jordan’s mouth dropped open. ‘But we can’t drive!’
‘We don’t need to drive’, Harry said, pointing at the truck. ‘Look how it’s parked.’
The truck was parked at the top of a long, steep driveway. It was facing downhill. At the bottom of the driveway was the Bonwicks’ gate.
‘Genius!’ said Jordan.
Harry raced round to the driver’s door and pulled it open. He climbed up and released the handbrake. Then he quickly jumped out.
The truck didn’t move.
‘It might need a push,’ Jordan said.
The twins hurried round to the back of the truck.
‘On the count of three,’ Harry said. ‘One, two, three, HEAVE!’
12
Lift-Off
Nothing happened.
The twins pushed and pushed until they were red in the face. Their special Go-Faster sneakers (with X-tra traction non-skid soles) dug into the gravel.
But the truck stayed put.
And no wonder. It weighed four tonnes. Jordan and Harry weighed 39.2 kilos each.
That was 78.4 kilos versus four thousand kilos. No contest.
But it was a contest! They were Mission Fox! Mission Fox never failed!
And the truck was parked on a slope.
‘Push harder!’ Agent J said through gritted teeth.
‘HEAVE!’ puffed Agent H.
They did push harder. They did HEAVE. And …
Click!
It was only a tiny noise, but both agents heard it. It sounded like the noise two tiny rocks make when they rub together.
Jordan and Harry pushed even harder.
There were more tiny clicks. They grew louder.
Click, Click, Click, Click!
Then the clicks became a crunching sound, like tyres turning very slowly on gravel.
And the truck started to move.
With a final, gigantic shove, Jordan and Harry set the truck rolling.
Puffing and sweating from their nearly-superhuman effort, the two Mission Fox agents watched the truck roll slowly down the hill.
With every turn of its wheels, it went faster. When it reached the halfway mark, the truck was going about thirty kilometres per hour.
When it reached the bottom, it was flying.
But nobody was steering. Just before the gate, the truck veered off the driveway!
Instead of crashing through the gate, it went straight into the brick wall.
SMASH!
Windscreen glass flew everywhere, water squirted out of the radiator, and the front of the truck got squashed in like a pug’s nose. But the wall stood firm.
‘So much for my brilliant plan,’ Harry said, looking a bit disappointed. But he wasn’t totally disappointed – it was a wicked crash.
Jordan stood staring down the hill. Slowly, a big smile spread across his face.
‘Look!’ he pointed.
There was a rumbling sound. Where the truck had rammed into the wall, a spider web of cracks zigzagged along the bricks in both directions.
Then – RUMBLE! CRUNCH! – a huge section of wall collapsed. All that was left was a pile of broken bricks, and a gap wide enough for Banjo and twenty other horses to ride through.
Harry punched the air. ‘Mission Fox to Base,’ he said, making his voice go deep like a Space Traffic Controller. ‘We have lift-off!”
That was when the guard dogs started barking.
13
German Shepherds
Jordan turned back to the stable. Banjo stood in the doorway, with Ella in the saddle. She must have seen everything that had happened. And heard the dogs.
The barking came from behind the stables. It sounded like it was coming from some very big dogs.
And it was getting louder.
‘Let’s get out of here!’ Harry cried.
Ella nudged Banjo with her heels and the big grey horse shot forward. He thundered past the twins and went galloping off down the driveway towards the gap in the wall.
The twins raced after him.
But they didn’t get far.
Two big German shepherds came tearing around the side of the stables.
‘Stop running, Harry!’ Jordan hissed.
He knew a lot about dogs. On BRAIN it told you what to do if one chases you.
‘Stand still,’ Jordan whispered. ‘Don’t look at them.’
Jordan and Harry took BRAIN’s advice. It was scary, but it worked. The German shepherds raced past the twins and went flying down the hill after Banjo and Ella (who weren’t taking BRAIN’s advice).
In next to no time, horse, rider and both dogs had disappeared through the gap in the wall.
‘Can we move now?’ Harry asked.
Jordan nodded. ‘Now we run!”
Harry started running.
‘Not that way!’ Jordan cried. ‘The dogs might come back!’
Instead of going towards the gap, Jordan and Harry raced down across the wide, grassy hill to the place where they had climbed the wall. The FoxHook and rope were still there.
But so was the magpie.
SWOOSH!
It nearly took Jordan’s head off!
He ducked, tripped and fell flat on his face.
There was the sound of pounding hooves. Jordan looked behind him. Queenie was galloping down the hill towards them. Behind her, two men came running around the side of the stables.
‘OY! WHAT’S GOIN’ ON? WHAT AVE YER DONE TO THE BOSS’S TRUCK, YER FILTHY LITTLE MONGRELS?’ yelled one of them. It sounded like Tosh. ‘WAIT TILL I GET ME HANDS ON YERS!’
Jordan wasn’t going to let that happen. He jumped to his feet and went racing after Harry.
Harry had reached the wall and was halfway up the rope. He looked over his shoulder and yelled something at his brother. But Jordan didn’t hear, because he was listening to something else.
Howling dogs.
14
Jordan’s Only Hope
The guard dogs were back. Ella and Banjo had got away and the German shepherds were really mad about it. They weren’t going to let Jordan and Harry get aw
ay, too. Harry had nearly reached the top of the wall. But Jordan was still a long way from the rope. The two dogs came charging after him, howling like wolves.
Jordan knew he wasn’t going to make it. And he didn’t think BRAIN’s advice would work this time – the dogs sounded pretty angry. So he changed direction. Instead of heading for the rope, he swerved towards the magpie’s tree. Could he make it?
He almost didn’t. The leading dog nearly got him. But at the very last moment, when the big brown-and-black German shepherd was about to sink its teeth into Jordan’s backside, Queenie arrived.
Queenie wasn’t chasing anyone – she was just joining in the fun. Everyone else was running, and horses love running. But they’re much bigger and faster than dogs and humans, and they can’t change direction that quickly. So when Queenie caught up, she nearly flattened everyone.
The dogs jumped one way, Jordan jumped the other.
Luckily, Jordan’s jump took him in the right direction. He flew right under a droopy branch hanging down from the tree. His hands shot up. He grabbed it.
Jordan was scared of heights, but he was more scared of big, angry dogs. He swung himself up onto the branch, higher than the dogs could reach.
But he wasn’t out of everyone’s reach.
SWOOSH!
This time Jordan couldn’t duck.
SNAP! went the magpie’s powerful beak. Right on Jordan’s ear.
‘Owww!’ he cried. It really hurt!
Leave me alone, Maggie! he said, using his silent Pet Whisperer’s voice. I’m not going to hurt your chicks!
But Maggie wasn’t listening.
SWOOSH! SNAP!
This time she got him on the back of his head. It felt like being jabbed with the pointy end of a pencil.
Jordan nearly fell out of the tree.
It was lucky that he didn’t because the German shepherds were just below him, snarling and showing their teeth.
Help! he thought.
Suddenly, the dogs cleared out. A big brown shape took their place. It was ten times bigger than a German shepherd. It was tall enough to reach Jordan.