Christmas Countdown

by Susannah McFarlane

  ‘Thanks, KM. You too,’ said EJ. ‘And merry Christmas.’

  KM grinned. ‘You too, EJ.’

  KM flew off and EJ walked towards the vent pipe on the roof. She knelt down and took out her tool kit from her backpack. She undid the screws around the ventilation grid, removed the grid and put it to one side. She looked down in to the shaft—it was narrow. No wonder A1 wanted someone from the under-twelve division on this mission. EJ put on her head torch and lent over the shaft. She could see that it dropped down into another shaft. Checking the building plans on her phone, EJ could see that that shaft ran all the way to the front of the building, towards the Christmas windows. That was the one she needed to take. Once at the front, there should be another access vent down into the vault room.

  EJ lowered herself down and began crawling along the shaft. Immediately she felt the cool air of the air conditioning. She took out her phone to activate her GPS position to the building plan. She could now see exactly where she was in the shaft. EJ edged along until she was directly above the vault room. Shining her torch on the shaft base, there was, as shown on the plan, another access grid. Again EJ carefully unscrewed the grid and put it to one side. She could see the room below. It was dark except for rings of red light. They were the lasers. EJ shone her torch down into the room and could see that they ringed a glass column that ran from the roof to a metal block in the middle of the room. And on the block were diamonds, a mountain of diamonds—it was the Aurora collection. EJ texted A1.

  EJ sighed. It looked like this was going to be her quickest mission yet. Had SHINE got it wrong? Then her phone vibrated. It was a message from A1.

  EJ scrolled through her phone, looking for the diamond test app. She found it and tapped. She didn’t like what she saw on the screen.

  Had SHADOW somehow scrambled the app or was it just an error? Either way, it was bad news. What am I going to do now? wondered EJ. Then her phone vibrated again. It was another text.

  Backup? thought EJ. I wonder who A1 will send? Her phone vibrated again.

  Isi, I mean IJ, is coming? thought EJ with a smile. She shone her head torch back down the shaft and could make out the outline of her friend crawling towards her.

  ‘Hi, EJ,’ whispered IJ. ‘A1 thought someone from the science and invention division could be useful and my test app is fully loaded and operational. She also thought you would make a great spy buddy for my first mission!’ IJ beamed at her friend.

  ‘It’s so cool to have you OM, IJ,’ said EJ, ‘but I don’t think there is much of an M. Look down there, the diamonds are in their display surrounded by laser beams. They’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘Hmmm,’ said IJ. ‘I wonder. We need to get down and take a closer look.’

  ‘Okay,’ said EJ. ‘We’ll have to lower ourselves down far enough to swipe the security card on the glass box. That will turn off the lasers and lower the glass. But we mustn’t touch any of the lasers on the way down or we’ll trigger the alarm.’

  ‘Check, EJ,’ said IJ. ‘Maybe you go first.’

  EJ nodded, took her rope charm and twisted it, releasing a black rope. She then tied it to a bolt on the wall of the shaft in a slipknot and pulled. It held. EJ then slowly lowered herself down into the vault room to the left of the diamond case and lasers. She was pleased her arms were strong from all her gymnastic training. In seconds, she touched the floor. She looked at the glass tower containing the diamonds and saw the electronic swiper on the side of the metal base. There were two laser beams close to it, one above, one below.

  ‘IJ, once I swipe the security will be deactivated but we will have just fifteen minutes to check the diamonds,’ said EJ. ‘Swing down as soon the lasers are off. Okay, here we go.’ Slowly, carefully, EJ took out the security card and stretched her arm between the two laser beams, reaching out for the swiper. She swiped the card. There was a beep and the lasers vanished. The glass around the diamonds retracted from the roof into the metal base.

  ‘Now, IJ!’ whispered EJ.

  IJ swung down from the roof, landing on the floor next to EJ. Quickly she took her phone and keyed in a code. The phone glowed and IJ began to wave it over the diamonds.

  EJ saw her friend’s normally happy face crinkle into a frown.

  ‘What’s wrong? Isn’t your app working either?’

  ‘That’s not the problem,’ said IJ. ‘A1 was right to be suspicious.’

  ‘She was?’

  ‘Yep. This diamond is a fake,’ explained IJ. ‘It’s just glass, cheap glass.’ IJ scanned her gadget over more of the diamonds. ‘They’re all fakes, all except for this one on the top. It’s real.’

  ‘That’s weird,’ said EJ. ‘One real one left. So where are the other ones and who’s taken them?’ Then she checked the time. ‘Hurry. We only have five minutes before the security lasers go on again.’

  Then they heard a noise outside the vault. Footsteps. Footsteps that were getting louder and were coming towards the vault room.

  ‘Make that no time,’ whispered EJ. ‘We need to get out of here now!’

  ‘What are we going to do?’ asked IJ.

  EJ scanned the vault room. She needed a plan. Fast. ‘We can’t go back up, there isn’t time,’ she whispered. She took her rope and gave it a tug, releasing the rope.

  IJ did the same. ‘But where are we going to go now?’ she asked, sounding panicked.

  ‘Trust me, IJ,’ said EJ.

  They had just seconds before the door would open.

  The footsteps were getting louder and now that they were closer EJ could hear that there were two people approaching.

  ‘Step back, IJ,’ whispered EJ, swiping the card again.

  The glass walls shot back up to the roof, there was a beep and the red lasers switched on. The security was now reset.

  ‘Where are we going to hide?’ whispered IJ desperately.

  EJ grabbed her spy buddy’s hand and rushed for the door that was built into the side wall of the vault. She had spotted it even though it was hard to see, being the same colour and material as the wall. She tried the handle. The door opened to reveal a cupboard that was large but, rather oddly, empty. EJ didn’t think about that. She only saw that the cupboard was just large enough for the both of them to fit.

  ‘Quick,’ she said to IJ. ‘In here. Don’t make a noise.’

  The girls squeezed in and EJ shut the door behind them. As she did, the door to the vault opened. Silently, EJ took out her spy-pad charm and activated it. The pad was like a digital notebook and had an X-ray vision app; EJ wanted to see who had entered the vault. She held the pad to the door of the cupboard and pressed the X-ray button. The app also cast a dull glow so EJ and IJ could just see each other’s faces. EJ held her finger to her lips. It was critical that they were completely silent. They looked out through the spy pad and could now see two women, one tall and one short, standing with their backs towards the cupboard, facing the diamond display. Or was it a woman and a girl? The tall woman had long, wavy red hair and was wearing a white coat with a black skirt and black stiletto shoes. The other person was much shorter and had black hair in a ponytail. She was wearing red stockings with pointy black shoes with a little bell on each toe, green shorts and a red and gold tunic. On her head was a Santa hat with a gold bell on the end—she seemed to be dressed as a Christmas elf. EJ also noticed that the girl flicked her fringe back a lot while the taller woman talked.

  ‘Aha, you see,’ cried the taller woman. ‘My inspired plan has worked perfectly. This is the last diamond to be replaced. Oh, I am sorry—I mean cleaned.’

  EJ and IJ exchanged glances as the tall woman held a single, large glittering diamond up and out in front of her. It was exactly like the last real one on top of the diamond collection. EJ could also now see that she was wearing a ring with an enormous cluster of diamonds set into it.

  ‘I am,’ the woman continued, ‘I think it is fair to say, a genius. Yes, Tiffany Glass, Diamond Polisher and Genius. I may get a business card wi
th that on it. Now, Agent N, deactivate the security alarm.’

  EJ and IJ watched as the elf-girl took a swipe card, just like the one EJ had, from a little pouch on her belt and swiped it in the slot under the display box. Again, the lasers turned off and the glass case retracted.

  ‘Display case deactivated, Ms Glass,’ said the elf girl.

  EJ and IJ looked at each other again. The voice seemed very familiar. EJ was sure now it was a girl as her voice was much higher but EJ was also positive that she knew that voice. She wished the girl would turn around so she could see her face.

  ‘Excellent,’ said Tiffany. ‘You’re new aren’t you, Agent N?’

  ‘Yes, I’m still in training,’ said the girl.

  ‘Well keep going and you just might make a fine agent like me. Now let’s make the final swap.’

  The girls watched as Tiffany took the diamond from the top of the display and replaced it with the diamond in her hand.

  ‘There,’ she said, ‘no one will ever know.’

  ‘Will I be using the tunnel to deliver it?’ asked Agent N.

  ‘No, this one I will take myself,’ said Tiffany. ‘In fact I may even have it added to my ring. I have been thinking it is a little on the small side. Now reactivate the security alarm while I lock the cupboard—we won’t be needing it anymore.’ Tiffany then took out a remote from her pocket and clicked it.

  EJ and IJ heard a lock click in the cupboard door in front of them. Ms Glass clicked again and EJ and IJ heard the same click but this time behind them.

  ‘Right,’ said Tiffany. ‘Let’s get back to work. We have a lot to do to be ready for the parade. We’re nearly done—and not a sign of SHINE. Those idiots! They can’t even see what’s in front of them—it’s like taking candy from a baby!’

  And with that, Tiffany burst into a cackle of a laugh as she and Agent N walked to the door. She was still laughing as she opened the door and they both left, all without turning around once. EJ and IJ still didn’t know who they were. But they did know one thing: they were trapped, locked inside the cupboard.

  EJ waited until they could no longer hear the footsteps and then tried to push the cupboard door open but it didn’t budge.

  ‘What do we do now?’ asked IJ.

  ‘We need to get out somehow,’ said EJ. ‘Tiffany has been replacing the real diamonds with fake ones and we need to find where she’s keeping them. I should be able to use my skeleton key charm but I can’t see a lock on this door.’

  ‘That’s because it’s a not a key lock,’ said IJ glumly. ‘The remote Tiffany used released small bar-locks all along the door. A key won’t open it.’

  ‘But hold on,’ said EJ. ‘What was it they said? When she locked the cupboards?’

  ‘“We won’t be needing that anymore”?’ remembered IJ.

  ‘Well what did they use this cupboard for?’ Asked EJ. ‘Look, there’s nothing in it.’

  ‘A tunnel?’ suggested IJ. ‘Remember, Agent N talked about a tunnel.’

  ‘She did!’ said EJ excitedly. ‘And then Tiffany talked about locking the cupboard. There has to be a link. And, we heard a click at the front and the back, so what’s behind us?’

  EJ took the X-ray app and this time held it up against the back of the cupboard. Sure enough, they could see a corridor.

  ‘Good work, EJ,’ cried IJ, impressed. ‘But how do we get through? This wall is made of metal.’

  ‘I have just the CHARM for that,’ said EJ taking the diamond charm. She twisted it and a sparkling ring with a pointy, sharp tip appeared. EJ twisted the diamond and a sparkling blade appeared.

  ‘Of course,’ said IJ. ‘A diamond ring, a diamond-cutter ring. Diamonds can cut through anything and that point will make it super-sharp.’

  EJ put on the ring and pushed it hard against the wall of the cupboard and pulled down. As she dragged the ring down the metal back, there was a ripping sound as the diamond cut through.

  ‘It’s working,’ said IJ.

  And it was. EJ worked the ring around in a big circle and then pushed in the centre of the cupboard. The circle she had cut fell out on to the other side into the corridor.

  ‘Let’s get out of here, IJ,’ said EJ.

  ‘But where does the tunnel lead?’ asked IJ.

  ‘We’re about to find out but it’s somewhere someone didn’t want us to find. Turn on your torch,’ said EJ, smiling as she climbed over the edge of the hole and out into the narrow corridor.

  EJ and IJ crawled out into the corridor and found they could stand up. They also noticed there were small lights along the wall.

  ‘This is easy,’ said IJ. ‘We don’t even need our torches.’

  ‘Yes,’ said EJ. ‘Someone has made it very easy.’

  The two girls began to walk quickly, almost running down the corridor. They were going so fast that they didn’t notice that there was another small door in the wall on the right or that in a corner of the ceiling was a micro security camera, its little red light flashing.

  After a few minutes, IJ stopped and took out her phone. She pressed the GPS app. ‘Look, EJ,’ she said showing her screen to EJ. ‘We’re under the main street, right in front of Delia Stones. The cupboard in the vault room must have been made to hide an escape tunnel to—’

  ‘To steal the diamonds,’ cut in EJ. She knew exactly what her friend was thinking. ‘Tiffany got a job as the diamond cleaner but has slowly been replacing the real diamonds with fake diamonds and using this tunnel to escape.’

  ‘But why was Agent N in an elf costume?’ wondered IJ.

  Their thoughts were interrupted by a noise above, a lovely noise. It was singing.

  ‘Can you hear that?’ said EJ. ‘People are singing Christmas carols. Maybe there are carollers outside the Christmas windows? The store must have opened.’

  ‘Maybe. Let’s keep going,’ said IJ. ‘This corridor can’t go on forever.’

  ‘You’re right,’ said EJ. ‘In fact, it’s not going on at all. Look, it seems we’ve come to a dead end.’

  And, as the voices above sung ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’, IJ sat down, not looking very merry at all.

  ‘Cheer up,’ said EJ. ‘I only said it seems like a dead end. I learnt a few things in Egypt on my last mission; one was that doors are not always doors and dead ends are not always dead ends. I think there’ll be a secret latch somewhere here. We just have to find it.’

  EJ felt around the wall, running her hands along the edges. She felt a little bump. I wonder, she thought as she pushed down on the bump. The wall slid back and the girls stepped out into a forest, a snow-covered forest of Christmas trees with birds chirping from the branches. They looked down at their feet in the white snow. Surprisingly, they didn’t feel cold. It was weird.

  ‘Snow?’ said IJ. ‘Here? In the middle of December?’

  EJ scooped up some snow from the ground. ‘It’s fake snow.’

  ‘And look over there,’ said IJ, pointing through the trees. ‘There are people ice-skating in shorts and t-shirts!’

  ‘I know where we are,’ said EJ. ‘We’re in Christmas Wonderland—and that means the Aurora diamonds are too!’

  EJ and IJ walked through the ‘forest’ until they came to the ice-skating rink. There were people skating along holding hands, falling over and laughing, falling over and not laughing and people trying to do tricks. Everyone was having fun but EJ and IJ had work to do.

  ‘See the giant Christmas tree on the other side of the rink,’ said EJ. ‘I bet that’s the centre of the park. We’ll be able to get our bearings from there.’

  ‘The rink’s huge,’ said IJ. ‘It’ll take ages.’

  ‘Not with our shoes,’ said EJ, smiling at her buddy. ‘See that little dial on the side of your shoe? Spin it until you see the ice-skate symbol, then press the button.’ EJ leant down and demonstrated on her own shoe. An ice-skate shot out from under the trainer. EJ did the other shoe while IJ changed her shoes too. In seconds they were skating across the ice to
the other side. Once off the ice, they simply spun the dial back to start and their trainers became trainers again. They were walking towards the giant Christmas tree when EJ received a text.

  ‘Who’s CC12?’ asked IJ.

  ‘Another spy-buddy,’ answered EJ. ‘She’s in the surveillance division and is excellent at finding hiding places from which to observe SHADOW agents. She is sometimes a little too excellent at hiding so A1 has given us a clue.’

  ‘Okay,’ said IJ. ‘Let’s look for that statue.’

  They came up to the enormous Christmas tree surrounded by a white fence decorated with candy canes. EJ and IJ stood there looking around. There were people everywhere. People laughing and shouting, people carrying Santa balloons and eating fairy floss as they moved around the park, going from one attraction to the next. That made the girls hungry and EJ remembered she hadn’t had breakfast and now it was nearly lunchtime. They bought a toasted sandwich and went looking for a bin to put their wrappers in.

  ‘There,’ said IJ. ‘Next to the statue.’

  ‘The statue!’

  And there, to the left a bit, off the path, was a rubbish bin and a stone statue of a Christmas elf on a plinth holding a Christmas stocking. But EJ and IJ couldn’t see CC.

  ‘Where could she be?’ wondered EJ. ‘This is the only statue here.’

  ‘Knock, knock.’

  EJ looked at IJ. ‘IJ, we don’t say the password until we find CC!’

  IJ looked puzzled. ‘I know. I didn’t say anything. I thought it was you.’

  ‘Knock, knock.’

  There it was again, a little more impatient-sounding this time. EJ and IJ looked around, a bit bewildered. No one had stopped nearby.

  ‘Knock, knock.’ The voice was almost grumpy now.

  EJ said, ‘Who’s there?’ not really knowing who she was saying it to.

  ‘Mary.’

  ‘Mary who?’

  ‘Mary Christmas! Guys, I’m up here!’