The Mission to Find Max: Egypt (4 page)

A few months ago, Jack had received a note saying that his brother, Max, was in danger and that only Jack could save him from whatever peril he was in.

As soon as Jack had received the note, he had joined the secret agent organization his brother was working for, the Global Protection Force (or GPF), and set about trying to find clues to his brother's disappearance.

The GPF refused to tell Jack a thing, but on two previous missions, he had collected clues that pointed to Max being somewhere in Egypt. His brother had also sent him a coded typewritten note that Jack had deciphered into the words ‘Thebes' and ‘Tutankhamon'.

Jack knew that Thebes was the ancient name for the city of Luxor in Egypt and that Tutankhamun was the name of the famous boy king who had ruled Egypt from 1333 to 1324 BC.

But what he didn't understand was why his brother spelled King Tut's name with an ‘o' instead of the usual ‘u'. Or why he had used an old-fashioned typewriter instead of a computer. Plus, what was Max doing in Egypt in the first place?

Whatever the reason, Jack figured that Max's mission was important. After all, the GPF had faked a school in Switzerland for Max to go to. In the history of the GPF they'd only sent three agents, including Max, away from their families for an extended period of time.

Mary Biden had been sent to the Amazon rainforest to live with the natives and spy on some nasty oil companies that were making the water toxic and the villagers sick. The information she returned with two months later led to a lawsuit that had closed the companies down.

Jeremy Bradford was sent to the Bermuda Triangle to discover the whereabouts of some missing ships. He was probably still there because nobody had heard from him since.

For everyone else, being away for a long time wasn't necessary. The GPF could send you on a mission and return you to your home one minute after you'd left. Time travelling was a way to keep kids happy and their parents in the dark.

As soon as Max had left for ‘school', the GPF started sending notes from ‘Max' to Jack's parents. The letters were supposed to be in Max's handwriting, but Jack knew they had been forged by Louise Persnall, the secretary to the Director of the GPF. That's because Jack had used the Signature ID to identify her. The Signature ID was a GPF gadget that used a worldwide database of handwriting samples. He'd also used the Signature ID to confirm that Max had indeed sent that coded note.

Looking at King Tut's chair in the glass case, Jack started to wonder whether Max's mission had something to do with the treasures of King Tut. Maybe Max was protecting King Tut himself. Now that would be a mission, thought Jack.

Unfortunately, the only way Jack was going to answer that question was to actually go to Egypt. But he couldn't very well jump on a plane. He didn't have enough money to buy a ticket, and he couldn't leave home without scaring his parents silly. He was going to have to wait until a stroke of luck opened a door of possibility.

Just then, a voice interrupted Jack's thoughts.

‘Find anything?' yelled Richard.

‘No,' said Jack. ‘Not yet.'

‘Me neither,' said Charlie from the other side of the room.

Jack turned back to the glass case with the chair. Next to it was another case containing four small jars. He walked over to it and noticed that there was a sign beside them:

‘I've got something!' Jack shouted to his friends.

Richard and Charlie rushed over.

‘Brilliant!' said Charlie, clapping Jack on the back. He quickly wrote the answer ‘Hapi' on the page. ‘You did it. Let's get going.'

Richard and Charlie started running as another group rushed out of the room too. Jack was about to join them when something to his right caught his attention. It was a photo on the wall of a crown with a vulture and cobra at the top. Underneath, there was a story about it:

Jack finished reading the sign and gasped. Rachel Newington was the name of the lady he'd met on a mission in Cambodia. Mrs Newington had been kidnapped by a man with gold teeth who was seeking the power of an ancient Khmer necklace. Jack had worked with her daughter, Kate, to locate Rachel and stop the man from taking the necklace away.

After Jack saved Rachel's life, she'd given him a clue about his brother: Max had been helping her protect something in Egypt, but one day both the object and Max disappeared. Soon afterwards, Rachel had been sent to Cambodia.

After reading this, Jack was pretty sure that his brother had been involved in protecting the diadem. After all, the facts of the story seemed to fit. Plus, it was the kind of job that a GPF agent would be asked to do.

‘Jack,' said a voice from behind him. It was one of the parent helpers. ‘Mr Marshall wants everyone downstairs.'

‘OK.' Jack hurried down the stairs and back to the lobby. When he got there, he saw one of the teams waving a fancy book in the air. Richard and Charlie stood beside them with sour looks on their faces.

‘I guess we didn't win,' said Jack, walking over to his friends.

‘It's all because of you,' sulked Richard. ‘Mr Marshall said that we had to return as a team. If you'd been here, we would have won.'

‘Sorry,' said Jack. ‘I got distracted.'

Charlie and Richard stomped off. Richard looked over his shoulder at Jack and shouted, ‘Hope it was worth it!'

‘It was,' Jack whispered to himself.

Richard, Charlie and the rest of the class headed for the outdoor courtyard. Mr Marshall was busy organizing the kids and the parent helpers.

‘Everybody gather together!' he said. ‘The bus leaves in two minutes.'

As Jack made his way over, he noticed a crowd of people to his right. They were standing in front of a large oak tree, pointing up at one of the branches. Jack craned his neck up, and saw a beautiful bird of prey perched on one of the limbs. Since there was a bit of time to kill, Jack went over. He could hear the people chatting.