The Fate of the Irish Treasure: Ireland Read online

  Chapter 3

  Mr. Pink

  Jack and his brother, Max, were secret agents for the Global Protection Force, or GPF. Almost nightly, they were sent on missions around the globe to battle evil villains and protect the world’s most priceless treasures.

  Normally, the boys would receive their assignments while at home. Each of them had a miniature globe in their room that gave them the location of their next mission. They also had a Magic Map that transported them there.

  But on rare occasions, the GPF needed to send an agent somewhere close to where they already were. In these cases, the GPF sent a “handler.” The handler’s job was to take the agent from their current situation and deliver them to their mission location.

  The text Jack had received said:

  Mr. Pink is on his way.

  Mr. Pink was Jack and Max’s handler. Jack and Max had met Mr. Pink before at a top secret GPF orientation. The thing that Jack remembered most about the man was that he didn’t like being touched.

  As Jack looked out the window, he saw a strange-looking person walking toward the hotel.

  The man was wearing a finely tailored black suit and shiny brown shoes. His hair was slicked back with gel, and his face was chiseled and serious. Covering his eyes were dark sunglasses. But these weren’t ordinary sunglasses. These were the GPF’s “Camera Shades.”

  The GPF’s Camera Shades could take photos or videos of unsuspecting people. The files could be downloaded to an agent’s Watch Phone. Or, sent directly to the GPF. Jack had no doubt that the man wearing the Camera Shades was Mr. Pink.

  Mr. Pink entered the hotel and made his way to Ms. Humphries. She was scolding poor Daniel again, so her back was turned. Mr. Pink announced his presence by clearing his throat. Ms. Humphries didn’t appreciate the interruption.

  “Can I help you?” she hissed, turning around.

  “I’m here to collect my children,” he said in a wooden voice.

  Jack and Max wanted to laugh. There was nothing cuddly about Mr. Pink.

  Ms. Humphries’s eyebrows furrowed. Her lips pursed.

  “And who are your children?” she asked.

  Jack decided to help him out.

  “Hi, Dad,” said Jack, giving Mr. Pink a friendly smack on the back. Mr. Pink winced.

  “Whoops,” thought Jack to himself. He’d forgotten about Mr. Pink’s little issue.

  “Hello,… son,” said Mr. Pink through gritted teeth. He smacked Jack on the back, shoving him a few feet forward.

  Ms. Humphries’s eyes narrowed. She looked from Mr. Pink to the boys and back again. The man looked nothing like his “sons.” He didn’t even look like a typical dad.

  “Our dad works for the government,” said Max. “That’s why he’s a bit serious.”

  “I see,” said Ms. Humphries. “This is all so sudden.”

  “I’m sorry for that,” said Mr. Pink. “Their mother has taken ill.”

  Jack and Max knew this wasn’t true, but they decided to play along.

  “Is it serious?” said Jack, wringing his hands.

  “Is she going to be all right?” said Max, pretending to tear up.

  Both boys had done at bit of acting at school. In fact, they were pretty good at it. Seeing Jack’s and Max’s reactions, Ms. Humphries’s became much more sympathetic.

  “Is there anything I can do?” she asked.

  “I’ll need to take the boys,” said Mr. Pink. “I’ll send someone by later to collect their things.”

  Ms. Humphries quickly grabbed a clipboard from her bag.

  “You’ll need to sign this,” she said. It was a parent’s sign-out sheet.

  “Certainly,” said Mr. Pink. He pulled a pen from the inside of his jacket and put an “X” on the dotted line. He handed the clipboard back to Ms. Humphries.

  She stared at the odd signature for a few moments.

  “I guess—uh—this will be fine,” she said.

  Ms. Humphries bent over to put the clipboard away. By the time she looked up again, the boys and Mr. Pink were gone.

  Chapter 4

  The Investigation

  Jack, Max, and Mr. Pink crossed the road and headed to the Trinity College Library. The female reporter that Jack had seen on the TV was still out front reporting the news. Blue and white “crime scene” tape had been placed around the building. Mr. Pink quickly unlocked a nearby car and pulled out a couple of Watch Phones and Book Bags from the back seat. He gave them to Jack and Max, who strapped them onto their bodies. Mr. Pink pushed a couple of onlookers aside as he led the boys underneath the tape and through the front door.

  As soon as they entered, a short bald man with large front teeth rushed over to greet them.

  He extended his hand to Jack and Max and shook theirs so enthusiastically that he rattled both of their bodies.

  “Thanks for coming,” he said.

  Mr. Pink slinked out of the library and left.

  “I’m Killian Doyle, the director of the library,” said the man. “I’m so glad that you’re here,” he added, nearly out of breath. “The police and I are absolutely baffled.”

  Mr. Doyle hurriedly motioned for Jack and Max to follow him. He led the boys from the entrance and into the library’s “Long Room.” This was the main room of the library. As soon as they saw it, the brothers’ mouths gaped open. It was absolutely beautiful.

  The Long Room was more than 200 feet long. Hundreds of thousands of books were stacked on wooden shelves two stories high. Busts of famous thinkers flanked the main walkway, and dark wood paneling covered the arched ceiling above. In the middle were a series of glass cases that showcased some of the most famous literary works in the world.

  Mr. Doyle led the brothers to one in particular. Two police officers—one man and one woman—were standing over the case. There was nothing inside. The man was dusting for fingerprints. The woman was looking over his shoulder.

  “This is where the Book of Kells was kept,” said Mr. Doyle.

  The top of the case had been sliced off. Jack and Max surveyed the cut. The lines weren’t jagged. Instead, they were smooth.

  “Looks like the thief used some kind of a laser,” said Max.

  Mr. Doyle nodded in agreement.

  “That’s what the police think,” he said.

  As they were talking, the male officer turned to the female one.

  “Nothing here, boss,” he said.

  “Let’s take it back to the lab anyway,” said the woman.

  The two officers left. Mr. Doyle let out a big sigh.

  “That probably means the crook wore gloves,” he said, lifting his eyes in exasperation.

  “Tell us about your security,” said Max. In addition to codebreaking, Max had an interest in hi-tech security systems.

  “Every night before I leave,” said Mr. Doyle, “I do a sweep of the library to make sure there aren’t any stragglers.”

  Mr. Doyle carried on.

  “Then I turn the motion sensors on,” he said. “They cover every inch of the floor. If anyone were to set foot in the library at night, the alarms would go off and the police would be immediately notified.”

  “Did any of them go off last night?” asked Max.

  “Not a one,” said Mr. Doyle.

  Max noticed the 360-degree security cameras mounted to the second-floor railings. They rotated like eyeballs to film everything from the floors to the windows to the ceiling. Max pointed to them.

  “What about those?” asked Max.

  “They didn’t see anything,” said Mr. Doyle. “But from five thirty to five forty-five a.m. the filming was interrupted.”

  Jack and Max looked at each other.

  “That must have been when the crook stole the Book of Kells,” said Jack.

  According to Jack’s Watch Phone, it was 8:45 a.m.—three hours since the theft.

  Max looked to the windows on either side of the Long Room.

  “Are your windows armed?” asked Max.

  Mr. Doy
le nodded.

  “But nothing was tripped last night,” he said.

  Jack scratched his head. He was stumped. He couldn’t figure out how the thief had stolen the Book without opening the windows or doors and walking on the floor. That was, until he spied a small skylight high up on the ceiling.

  Mr. Doyle caught Jack staring at it.

  “I doubt the crook came in that way. It’s one hundred feet off the ground!”

  “You’d be surprised,” said Max, who was now studying the skylight, too. He turned to Mr. Doyle.

  “Have you ever seen Mission Impossible?” he asked.

  Mr. Doyle stared at him blankly.

  In the movie, the main character steals a top-secret document from a vault by lowering himself down by a rope and never touching the floor.

  Jack and Max had an idea how the thief got the Book of Kells. Now, they just needed to prove it.

  “How do we get onto the roof?” asked Jack.

  “This way,” said Mr. Doyle, leading the boys towards a nearby hallway.

  He unlocked a chunky wooden door with one of the thirty keys dangling from a chain on his trousers. Once through, the trio climbed a twisting set of stairs to a metal door. Mr. Doyle opened it and they stepped on the roof.

  Jack and Max zeroed in on the skylight and knelt down next to it.

  “It’s bigger in person,” said Jack.

  “Definitely large enough for a man to fit through,” said Max.

  Mr. Doyle leaned over the boys’ shoulders and watched them do their work.

  Jack and Max slipped on their GPF Investigation Gloves. These thin white gloves allowed agents to touch things without leaving their prints.

  Jack pried open the hatch.

  “Look,” said Jack, pointing to some deep grooves and scratches on the edge of the frame. “It looks like the thief attached some sort of winch.”

  “That would explain the marks,” said Max.

  “It would also explain how he managed to lower himself down and up,” said Jack.

  “Using a rope,” added Mr. Doyle. “Just like in the movie.”

  “And I bet he used a scrambling device,” said Jack, “to interrupt the security camera signal.”

  “The question is,” said Max, “which way did he go after he took the treasure?”

  Jack and Max gazed across the roof.

  There, in the dust was a set of footprints. One was coming toward the skylight. The other was heading away.

  Jack and Max followed the prints until they stopped at the walled edge of the roof. They looked over it. On the other side was a fire escape ladder that led to an alleyway below.

  Jack radioed the GPF and asked them to pull camera footage from the alley. Then he told them to come and analyze the footprints on the roof.

  Although the Irish police had a team of their own, the GPF had a device that could scan and analyze footprints. They could compare the marking from the roof with the thousands of prints in its database and identify the shoe’s size, as well as its brand, in minutes.

  Jack turned to Mr. Doyle.

  “A team of GPF investigators will be arriving soon,” said Jack. “Can you be here to greet them?”

  “Sure,” said Mr. Doyle. “But where will you two be?”

  Jack and Max smiled.

  “Catching the crook,” they said together, as they stepped over the wall and disappeared to the other side.

  Chapter 5

  The Escape

  After scrambling down the ladder, Jack and Max found themselves in a dead end alley. Behind them was the ladder. In front of them was a cobblestone lane of shops, pubs, and restaurants.

  “The crook could have easily blended into the streets of Dublin from here,” said Max.

  The boys looked around for clues. On the ground near Jack’s foot was a single tire track heading out of the alley and into the lane. Jack bent down to get a better look.

  “It’s fatter than a bicycle tire,” said Jack. “This looks like a motorbike tread.”

  Besides the tread, Jack noticed something else. There was a CCTV camera mounted on the brick building opposite the fire escape.

  This time, Jack contacted the GPF’s surveillance team. He asked them to tap into the camera footage from the alley around 5:45 a.m. and try to isolate the crook.

  It took the surveillance team ten minutes, but when they called back, they had helpful news. A masked figure dressed in black was seen leaving the alley on a black motorbike at 5:50 a.m. From there, he drove north. The GPF knew this because other cameras in the city had been able to track his movements too. The last time the masked thief was seen was at 7:30 a.m. near the Ha’Penny Bridge.

  Chapter 6

  The Bridge

  “Do you think he’s still there?” asked Jack.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” said Max, tapping the Map Mate app on his Watch Phone.

  Max input the name “Ha’Penny Bridge” and waited as the app drew a map of Dublin with directions. A green dot marked their start point. A red dot marked the end.

  “It’ll take twenty minutes to walk,” said Max.

  “We don’t have the time,” said Jack.

  There was only one way the boys could get there quickly, and that was with the GPF’s Flyboard. The Flyboard was a skateboard with two hydrogen-powered jets at the back. Since there were cobblestone streets in their way, the brothers activated the “air” feature. Their Flyboards rose a foot off the ground.

  Jack and Max put a floppy piece of plastic on their heads and waited as their GPF Noggin Molds hardened into helmets. Once they were ready, they hopped on their Flyboards and set off into the streets of Dublin.

  Chapter 7

  The Surprise Attack

  Using their bodies to navigate, Jack and Max veered right from the lane and headed north. After Westmoreland Street, they hung a left. In less than five minutes, they were facing Ha’Penny Bridge.

  Ha’Penny Bridge was a white-painted bridge that crossed the River Liffey, one of Ireland’s biggest rivers. Every day, tens of thousands of people used the Ha’Penny Bridge to get from one side of the river to the other.

  Jack and Max hovered on the western side. They surveyed the top of the bridge and the structure underneath. As far as they could tell, there was no sign of the crook anywhere.

  It was then that Max spotted a black motorbike parked on the opposite side of the river. Directly below the bike was a series of steps leading to a blue-and-white boat docked in the water. The GPF surveillance team had seen a motorbike leaving the scene.

  “Do you think that’s his hideout?” asked Jack.

  Max pulled out his Google Goggles.

  “Let’s find out,” he said. The GPF’s Google Goggles were hi-tech binoculars that could see far distances and through walls. Max scanned the outside of the boat.

  “There’s no sign of the thief on deck,” he said.

  Max changed the setting to “X-Ray.” His vision zoomed to the inside of the boat. As soon as it did, he saw the crook. Just like in the surveillance video, he was dressed in black and wearing a black mask.

  Normally in a situation like this, the boys would call for reinforcements. But there was no time. The thief was strapping a backpack to his back and standing up from a chair.

  “He’s getting ready to leave!” said Max.

  The boys flew into action. They quickly sailed over the bridge, put away their Flyboards, and pulled out their GPF Tornadoes. The GPF Tornado was a gadget capable of catching up to three villains at a time. All they had to do was push a button and a rope would come out, wrapping the thief up like a sausage. With a Tornado in each of their hands, there was no way the crook could get away. Rather than wait for the thief to come out, the brothers decided to burst inside. That way, the element of surprise would be on their side.

  But as soon as they opened the door to the cabin, they were sprayed with a toxic substance that blinded them and made their eyes feel like they were on fire.

&
nbsp; “Yoooowwwww!” said Jack as he squealed in pain.

  “Noooo!” hollered Max as he tried to rub the sting out.

  While Jack and Max fumbled around, the thief snatched the boys’ Tornadoes and ripped their Book Bags off their backs. Their Watch Phones were cut from their wrists and they were dragged to the upper deck. The next thing they knew, Jack and Max were shoved from behind and into the river below.

  SPLASH!

  Chapter 8

  The Paddy Boat

  Jack’s head broke above water. He was gasping for air.

  “Max?!” he cried out.

  There was no answer.

  “Are you okay?” yelled Jack.

  He couldn’t see anything, but he could hear the sound of splashing nearby.

  “I’m all right!” hollered Max. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” responded Jack.

  Thankfully, the water from the river was lapping at their eyes, slowly helping their vision come back.

  “We have to get back to the boat!” cried Jack. Not only did they have to catch the thief, they had to get their top secret Book Bags and gadgets.

  The brothers started to swim for the boat. But almost as soon as they did, the boat peeled away from the dock. It sped off in the opposite direction. Jack tried to swim faster. But it was no use. The only way to catch up to the thief was to get a boat of their own. Unfortunately, there were no available boats in sight.

  Just then, they heard a loud rumbling sound coming from behind. It was a powerboat. Thinking fast, the boys waved furiously, trying to flag it down. The driver saw them and pulled up alongside Jack and Max. He was a middle-aged man with a cheery face and dark brown hair.