Mummy Madness (7 page)

It was a few minutes past midnight, but
London was still buzzing although the museum was in darkness. ‘There should be
nobody in there,' said the professor, ‘except two security guards. This
security card and eye will give us access to the CCTV control room. And from there
we can monitor the whole building. If Big is going to break in, we'll be able
to track his every move and corner him as soon as he's got hold of the mummy.
He'll be caught red-handed! And, even better, we'll have him on
film.'

The professor approached the back door
of the museum. He looked around nervously as he inserted the security card into the
slot. A green light lit up and the lock was deactivated. Lara nosed the door open
and the professor was just about to follow her inside when three children
emerged from the shadows.
‘Don't forget us,' piped up Ollie, scampering towards the open
door. The professor nearly dropped the card in surprise. ‘Oliver,' he
began. ‘And Benjamin and Sophie. What on earth are you doing here?'

‘What do you think?' beamed
Ollie. ‘Ben says you're having an adventure. And we always share
adventures with you.'

‘Well, you jolly well can't
share this one,' hissed the scientist. ‘It's top secret. And
dangerous. And your mother would kill me if she found out.' The professor was
sweating. He couldn't let the children into the museum. But it was equally
dangerous to lock them out and let them wander the streets of London with Mr Big on
the prowl.

‘Mum won't find out,'
said Ben. ‘We know the plan. We're better spies than you think! All we
want is to stay hidden in the CCTV room while you and the dogs catch the evil Mr
Big.'

‘He's our family's
worst enemy,' reminded Sophie. ‘He even shot our dog. So it's only
right that we should watch him being recaptured.'

Lara was listening intently, her
sticky-up ear standing tall. She watched shadowy figures walk past the museum.
The streets of London are
surprisingly busy at night
, she thought.
No
place for children. Maybe the high-security CCTV room is the best place for the
kids to be. And there's no time to waste
, she thought.
Mr Big
might already be here!
Lara decided to take a calculated risk. She tugged
Ben by the coat and ushered him through the door.

‘See,' smiled the boy,
‘Lara thinks it's all right.'

The professor chuntered under his breath
as Sophie and Ollie came in too. ‘I hope you know what you're doing,
GM451,' he huffed as the door shut and the small gang was locked in the
museum. The professor fumbled for his tablet computer. He switched it on and the low
glow lit up the hallway. He clicked to the diagram of the museum. ‘We're
here,' he said, tapping the blue dot. ‘And the security room is here. So
it's this way,' he said, his finger pointing up some stairs.
‘First floor, next to Neolithic man.'

The professor, children and dogs tiptoed
up the stairs, the tablet providing the only light. At the top of the stairs the
blue dot showed they needed to turn left. Ben fumbled in his backpack for a torch.
He clicked it on. He shone the light on an exhibit and Sophie stifled a squeal.

Yikes
, thought Lara.
That
caveman exhibit is very realistic!

 

 

‘Looks a
bit like Dad,' suggested Ollie. ‘And that one looks like Grandma
Edith,' he said, pointing at a Neolithic woman with sunken eyes and a
beard.

The posse made its way to the security
room. ‘Let's see if we can get in,' said the professor, handing
the computer to Ollie. He rummaged in his pocket and held up the security card in
one hand and the glass eye in the other. ‘Wish me luck!' He swiped the
card against the lock. The light went green. ‘Retina scan required,'
purred an electronic voice. A small screen lit up, at the professor's eye
level. ‘Here goes,' he said, holding Terror Thomas's eye up to the
screen.

‘Scanning,' announced the
electronic voice. ‘Thomas approved.' The door clicked open and Lara
nosed her way into the security room.

Ben punched the air in delight.
‘Great plan, Lara,' he said. ‘We're in!'

‘There are no windows so we can
switch the light on,' said the professor. ‘Only Terror Thomas ever comes
in here so we're safe.' Ben and the professor switched on every CCTV
monitor and black and white images lit up the screens.

‘There's one of the
guards,' said Sophie,
pointing to a
screen. The professor tapped a button and the camera zoomed in to get a closer look
at a man asleep on a sofa.

‘Sleeping on the job,'
mumbled the professor disapprovingly. He started to make a note in his book.
‘You just can't get the staff nowadays.'

‘He's not sleeping,'
said Ben. ‘He's unconscious. Look at his hands. He's handcuffed to
the sofa!'

Oh deary me
, thought Lara as
she spotted the other guard. She tapped a screen to her right and everyone looked.
It was quite a dark image, but they could make out another unconscious man lying on
the floor.

‘He's asleep as well,'
gasped Sophie. ‘And he's stripped down to his vest and
boxers!'

‘I don't think he's
asleep,' shrugged the professor. ‘Mr Big's coshed him and stolen
his uniform. Which suggests our arch-enemy is in the building.' He mopped his
brow before tapping a few buttons on the control panel. He zoomed in on a shadowy
figure making its way along one of the museum corridors. ‘Exhibit A,' he
said. ‘There's our man!'

Lara felt a chill.
I've
encountered him several times. I even have a bullet lodged in my side from an
earlier meeting. And a bullet-holed
ear!
She looked round at her pups and the children.
My priority is to
keep you guys safe
,
she thought.
But hang on
 … Lara
looked round the room again. She poked her head under the table.
Not there
either
. Lara sniffed the air.
Even his smell is absent.
‘Where's Ollie?' she woofed to Star and Spud. Lara's heart
rate increased as she realized the youngest member of the Cook family was missing.
His coat was abandoned on a chair. Lara picked it up and woofed for attention. The
room fell silent and all eyes fell on the family pet.
Ollie's coat
,
she thought, jabbing a paw.
But no Ollie. Anyone got any ideas?

 

 

‘That's Master
Oliver's coat,' observed Professor Cortex. ‘So what,
GM451?'

It's not
about the coat
, thought Lara, jabbing her paw harder.
It's about
the owner!

‘Where's Ollie?' said
Sophie, scanning the room for her baby brother. The next five seconds of silence
seemed an awful lot longer. All eyes followed Lara's gaze.

CCTV top row, third from left!

The sixth second brought a stifled gasp
from Sophie. ‘He's wandered off.' The grainy screen showed a black
and white image of a little boy strolling through the Second World War exhibition.
He was on a direct collision course with Mr Big.

‘It's vitally important
that nobody panics,' panicked Professor Cortex, reaching for his heart pills
and struggling with the childproof cap. ‘A clear mind is a sharp mind,'
he stammered, pulling the cap off so hard that forty-five pills leapt from the tub
and scattered across the room. ‘Don't eat them!' he yelled,
falling on to all fours and sweeping the pills up with his hand.
‘Everything's under control.'

Lara looked around. She was the
world's first-ever qualified Spy Dog.
Trained for missions. Primed for
danger
,
she thought.
But that was so long ago! If ever I needed to
remember my training, it's now!

Ben and Sophie were making for the door.
Lara stood tall and blocked their escape. She held her paw out, ordering them to
stop.

‘We need to
rescue Ollie,' gasped Sophie. ‘What if he bumps into that evil
man?'

‘And it's all my
fault,' wailed Ben. ‘It was me who bugged your meeting and found out
your plan.'

Was it indeed?
thought Lara,
shooing the children back into their seats.
We will rescue Ollie, but we need a
plan.

‘What shall we do, Mum?'
yapped Star.

Lara took a deep breath.
The
professor's right about staying calm
, she thought as she watched him
scuttling under a table in search of his pills.
He's already lost the
plot. I have to keep Sophie and Ben safe. And we need to get to Ollie before he
bumps into the ultimate bogeyman
. The retired Spy Dog glanced at the bank
of CCTV screens again. Ollie was skipping along a dimly lit corridor. Mr Big was on
screen 18, limping slowly and purposefully towards the Egyptian Room. Lara noticed
he had a small computer in his hand.
Presumably he has the layout downloaded and
is following a path. Think, Lara, think!

‘What shall we do, Mum?'
yapped Star again impatiently. ‘Ollie's on a collision course with
someone you wouldn't want to bump into down a dark alley.'

Thanks for
reminding me
, thought Lara. ‘Spud,' she barked. ‘Log on
to the central computer and find a floor plan of the building. Beam it on to the big
screen so we can all see.'

‘Already on it, Ma,' replied
the puppy, tapping at a computer screen with a pencil, his tail wagging
uncontrollably. ‘We're here,' he said, jabbing at the screen.
‘So we're quite near to the mummy. In fact, Ollie's nearly in the
mummy room.'

‘And Big's here,'
woofed Star, her tongue lolloping in excitement. ‘He's on the ground
floor so has got to go up two flights of stairs. Why don't me and Spud go and
delay him while you rescue Ollie?'

Professor Cortex was back on his feet,
his face red after the exertion of crawling on the floor. He popped three pills into
the palm of his hand and threw them into his mouth. ‘GM451,' he began,
‘I think I'd like to put you in charge of this mission.'

Lara raised an eyebrow.
Nice one,
Prof
, she thought, nosing Ben's mobile phone towards the scientist.
Call for help, please.

The man nodded vigorously. ‘No
need for that,' he frowned. ‘Time to put titchology into
practice.' Professor Cortex extended the thumb and
little finger of his right hand. ‘Nine nine nine,' he said, exaggerating
the numbers so they were crystal clear. All eyes were on the professor as he waited.
‘It's ringing,' he mouthed, pointing his left hand at the hand
phone. ‘Police, please. And, er, ambulance and fire brigade too, I think. And
have you got anyone else? How about MI5? A helicopter would be nice. Have you got
one of those yellow ones …?'

 

 

Lara's
sticky-up ear stayed alert to the professor's phone call while the rest of her
attention was devoted to the puppies. ‘Good idea, Star,' she said.
‘We have to delay Big from getting to the Egyptian Room.'

‘I'd like to report a
robbery at the British Museum,' explained the professor. ‘The big one.
In London. You know, the one that has pillars on the outside and it has a nice
little cafe where you can buy flapjacks and Earl Grey. And the cheese toasties are
rather yummy too, but you probably don't need to know that. It's all a
little bit complicated so let me explain. We've broken in. Well, when I say
“broken in”, I don't really mean “broken in”.
We're not the problem, you see. It's not really us you need to arrest,
although I do see how you might think breaking into the museum is actually a little
big naughty. It's a bit sort of delicate …' jabbered the old man,
his immense brain struggling in the heat of the moment.

Ben snatched at the professor's
hand and held it to his own mouth. He felt dreadful for dragging his brother and
sister into this adventure. ‘Please send the emergency services at
once,' he said calmly. ‘There is a break-in involving
the world's most evil criminal. He's going
to steal a dead body. Oh, and if that isn't bad enough, there are children
involved.' He glanced at the CCTV screen. ‘One of them is very young.
We're at the British Museum. We need help. And we need it now.'

Nice one, Ben
, thought Lara.
That's how to stay cool under pressure!
‘Pups, go and delay
Mr Big. The children and I will find Ollie. The police and ambulance are on their
way. Meet you back here when the mission is complete.'
They know the
drill, they'll be fine
,
worried Lara, watching her pups getting
into action mode.

Star was already out of the door. Spud
was taking one last look at the computer screen, memorizing where Mr Big was.
It's a huge museum
, he thought.
On three floors. Direction is
as important as speed
. ‘Wait for me,' he yapped as he tore
after his sister. ‘We can cut him off at Ancient Greece.'

Mr Big was pleased with his progress.
He'd visited the museum several times and done his homework. The two night
guards had been easy to take out. He wasn't as quick on his feet as he used to
be – not since his little ‘accident'.
If falling from a plane could be described as an
accident. ‘That dog. And those awful kids,' he snarled, limping towards
the Ancient Greece exhibition. ‘They're the reason I've got a
metal leg. And they're the ones I will track down and eliminate, just as soon
as I've got my hands on the Nile Ruby.'

Star was waiting at the bottom of the
stairs and her brother had positioned himself at the top. He was in the Chinese Room
on the second floor. He'd had to be creative with weapons. The only things he
could find in the China section were vases.
So many vases!
I'm not sure who Ming was, but he sure churned out some pottery.
Let's hope they won't miss a few old vases
, he thought as he
lined them up. The puppy waited, chest heaving.

Mr Big came into view, limping heavily,
his bionic knee joint squeaking. ‘Needs oiling,' he muttered to himself
as he approached the stairs. He was concentrating on following the map on his tablet
computer. He didn't see a small dog peeping from behind a statue.

‘Now,' woofed Star.

Mr Big was startled. He looked round in
the direction of the barking. As he did so, an
avalanche of vases cascaded over the balcony. The first
clonked him on the head, sending him reeling. Two more shattered at his feet. He
looked up and a Ming vase hit him full in the face, gashing his head. Mr Big was
dazed. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he recognized a dog bark when he
heard one. Nightmares rushed into his head.

 

 

Can't be
, he thought,
looking up towards the bombardment. He stepped back as another vase crashed over the
balcony.

Mr Big had time on his side. If the
stairs were blocked, he'd find another way into the Egyptian Room. He grabbed
a sword from one of the exhibits. There was a saying running through his head about
there being lots of ways to skin a cat.
But
, he thought, running his thumb
along the edge of the blade,
that also applies to dogs.