The Mystery of the Emerald Stone: Australia (A Secret SPY Agent adventure Book 2) Read online

  Kathryn took a deep breath and blurted out, “It’s a baby kangaroo!”

  Isabelle closed her eyes and counted to ten before she asked, “So, where did you find him? Why are you carrying him?”

  “He is lost, Issy! I am taking care of him until we find his owner!”

  “He looks like an escaped fugitive,” grumbled Isabelle. “How do you know the authorities are not after him?”

  “I don’t know but he looks like he needs protection!” protested Kathryn, giving her sister an extremely sad look as she cuddled him.

  Isabelle surrendered. She could see her sister wasn’t going to give up on the baby kangaroo.

  It looked like the little joey was going to stay with them for a little while … well, at least until they found a home for him.

  Chapter Five

  Great Barrier Reef

  “This really is an amazing car,” praised Dr. Peter.

  The Jones sisters and Dr. Peter were at the Great Barrier Reef. Isabelle was driving their super-cool, multi-functional S.P.Y. car which could hover on the ground, go as fast as a sports car on land and travel underwater like a submarine. They had been searching the Great Barrier Reef for a few weeks but had not yet found any trace of the Emerald Stone.

  “Did Jack or Don give you any other information about where they threw the pieces of the Emerald Stone?” Isabelle asked Kathryn.

  “Only the general coordinates,” replied the younger sister. “I ran all the simulations in the computer, after taking into account the underwater currents over the past few years, the weather and the changes in the reef. There are several possible locations where the Emerald Stone might be located but we have searched most of them already. This is the last place — hopefully it will be here.”

  “Keeping my fingers crossed,” Isabelle grinned as she drove their underwater car past a large shark.

  “Try that area,” Dr. Peter suggested as he pointed to a heart-shaped multi-coloured coral reef that was teaming with small fish and other oceanic life.

  “We will have to search for it using our dive suits,” Isabelle instructed the team.

  They left the S.P.Y. car on the surface, put on their equipment and dived into the water. Schools of colourful fish swam past them.

  When they reached the target area, Isabelle gave them the signal to split up. Kathryn went towards the right, while Dr. Peter went left and Isabelle went straight ahead. It wasn’t too dark but they used their underwater flashlights to sweep the area, hoping to see a spark from the Emerald Stone.

  “It is beautiful down here,” said Kathryn into her microphone.

  “Did you know that the Great Barrier Reef is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms? This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps,” Dr. Peter told them. “The coral gets its beautiful colours from the algae that clings to its polyps. The coral provides a home to the algae and helps the algae convert sunlight to food that it uses.”

  “Wow, you really know a lot about the coral reef!” exclaimed Kathryn. “Do you think I will get to see a sea turtle? I read that all seven species of sea turtles are endangered and one of the largest green sea turtles ever recorded lived in California’s San Diego Bay for about 40 years. She weighed about 250 kilograms. Maybe we will see an even bigger one here!”

  Isabelle snorted into her microphone, “Kathryn, I know we are looking for something green but it has to be the Emerald Stone, not a sea turtle.”

  Kathryn was about to snap back but Dr. Peter quickly stepped in and distracted them with new information. “Sadly, the changes in climate and pollution are threatening the health of the Great Barrier Reef.”

  The Jones sisters fell silent as they contemplated the potential loss of the natural beauty before them. It would be a terrible thing to happen.

  “Come on, everyone,” Isabelle reminded them. “We have to keep on looking. We have only two hours of air left.”

  They spread out.

  Intent on her search, Kathryn didn’t notice that she had lost sight of the other two.

  Suddenly she heard Isabelle scream over the microphone, “Kathryn!”

  Chapter Six

  Underwater Fight

  Kathryn quickly swam back to her sister. She found Isabelle struggling with a diver dressed entirely in black, with the sign of The Claw on his arm. They were furiously fighting over a piece of green stone Isabelle held tightly in her left hand.

  On the other side of the coral reef, Dr. Peter was in a tussle with two divers wearing black suits identical to the other diver, as he tried to prevent them from attacking Isabelle.

  “Don’t worry about me!” Dr. Peter shouted into his microphone when he saw Kathryn starting to swim towards him. “Help Isabelle! She has found the Emerald Stone!”

  Isabelle’s opponent was so much bigger and stronger than her. Kathryn saw that she was slowly being overpowered by him. Fear for her sister pierced her heart.

  Kathryn tried to grab the diver in black but he quickly pulled out a knife from the sheath on his thigh and slashed her. She flinched when the knife cut her arm. It was a deep cut but she ignored the pain and grabbed a tube leading to the diver’s face mask. He slashed at Kathryn again but before the blade could cut her, she yanked the tube out and disconnected his air supply.

  Bubbles started to float upwards. The diver panicked and backed away. He clutched frantically at his equipment as he tried to reconnect his oxygen supply. He failed.

  Kathryn watched him warily, afraid that he would attack again, but he did not have enough air. He left her and quickly swam up to the surface.

  She turned around and found Isabelle clutching the Emerald Stone.

  “Is that the only piece of the Emerald Stone you found?” asked Kathryn.

  “Yes,” confirmed Isabelle. “I don’t know where the other half is.”

  “That is not good,” worried Kathryn. “How are we going to find the other half?”

  Isabelle was about to answer when she noticed the cut on Kathryn’s arm. It was bleeding badly. That was not a good sign. There were sharks in the water and she did not want to draw any of them there.

  “Are you ok?” Isabelle frowned as she reached over to check the wound.

  Kathryn flinched and pulled away from her sister’s touch. When she saw the worried look on Isabelle’s face, she quickly replied, “It is only a scratch. Don’t worry.”

  Isabelle wanted to nag her sister when Kathryn suddenly cried out, “Dr. Peter! We have to help him.”

  They turned to get him but it was too late! All they could see in the distance was his unconscious figure being dragged away by the divers in black. He had been captured by agents of The Claw!

  “After them!” Kathryn yelled. She felt very guilty for not helping him earlier. Now he had been taken prisoner. She had to rescue him.

  “No!” Isabelle stopped her sister. Blood was still oozing from Kathryn’s wound. It had attracted a Great White Shark, which was heading their way.

  The girls were good swimmers but there was no way they were going to out swim the six-foot long shark. It could sprint through the water at speeds of 56 kilometres per hour, seven times faster than the best Olympic swimmer.

  Kathryn applied pressure to her wound, hoping to stop the blood from coming out. Maybe a miracle might happen and the shark would find some other prey.

  That did not look like it was going to happen.

  The great white shark glided past them, way too close for their liking. The Jones sisters got an up-close and personal look at its sharp teeth and powerful jaws.

  It got ready to attack.

  It turned and started to swim towards them.

  Anyone else would have been terrified but they were S.P.Y. agents, trained to handle fear.

  Just as it was about to attack, Isabelle hit the shark right in its nose with a powerful punch.

  Dazed, the shark tried to swim away but Isabelle caught hold of the fin on its
back, grabbed Kathryn with her other hand and together, they rode the shark away from the coral reef. When they were near the surface, they let go and swam up.

  The deeply insulted shark swam away and chased a school of large fish — much easier prey than the Jones sisters. It grabbed one fish and it was gone in two gulps.

  That made the shark feel a little bit better after losing the battle to the Jones sisters.

  “Come on, Kathryn,” ordered Isabelle as she swam towards their S.P.Y. car. She did not like giving up the chase on Dr. Peter but the odds were against them catching up with the bad guys. They were long gone. The Jones sisters also had to get their half of the Emerald Stone safely away from The Claw’s men. Kathryn wanted to scream in frustration but she reluctantly obeyed her sister.

  “What do we do now?” Kathryn asked.

  “First, a visit to the hospital to get you stitched up, then we have to figure out how to get Dr. Peter back,” decided Isabelle. “We will worry about the Emerald Stone after that.”

  Chapter Seven

  Hospital

  “Excuse me,” a young teenage boy interrupted Isabelle who was busy pacing up and down the hospital corridor. Kathryn had chased her out of the waiting room. She didn’t want to hear Isabelle nag her while she was getting stitched up by the doctor. “Are you Ms. Jones?”

  “Yes,” acknowledged Isabelle irritably. She wanted to be in the room with Kathryn, not waiting outside.

  “This is for you,” he said as he handed her a white envelope.

  It was unmarked and sealed.

  Looking up, she wanted to question the boy but he had disappeared.

  She hurriedly tore it open. Inside, written on a plain white card was:

  “Sydney Opera House. Monday. 5 PM.

  Give me Jack and Don or Dr. Peter dies.”

  It was from The Claw.

  Isabelle rushed over to where Kathryn was about to get stitched up by the doctor. She found Kathryn sitting on the hospital bed with an extremely annoyed look on her face.

  “Ouch!” Kathryn yelled, as the doctor stuck a needle into her arm.

  “It is only an injection so you won’t feel the pain,” explained the doctor.

  “I know, I know,” grumbled Kathryn while the doctor cleaned her wound.

  “You will need to sit still when I sew up your wound later,” advised the doctor. “No moving around!”

  “Yes, yes, yes, I know,” snapped Kathryn unhappily. “It is not my first incident.”

  Isabelle laughed at her sister who looked so miserable as she waited for the doctor to get the needle and thread ready. She remembered the first time her sister had to get stitches, back when they were still in school, after a bad fall on the slippery washroom floor. Her sister had the same unhappy look on her face.

  “This is exactly why I didn’t want you in here with me!” Kathryn complained.

  “I still don’t understand it after all these years,” Isabelle said as she shook her head at her younger sister’s frown. “You battle evil villains, unafraid and all ready to punch their lights out. Even the knife didn’t scare you but a tiny needle still makes you go ‘ouch!’”

  “I don’t like needles,” Kathryn sulked as she glared at her sister. “You know that!”

  “Well, the needles are not going to hurt you. Don’t be a baby!” Isabelle scolded her sister.

  “I am not a baby,” Kathryn protested.

  “Do you want me to call mom? I can ask her to come and hold your hand,” Isabelle threatened her sister.

  “No way! She will give me a long lecture on staying safe and being careful. I have heard it far too often. ‘Watch where you are going. Pay attention to where you are walking. Please be careful. I do not like to see you getting hurt,’” Kathryn made a funny face as she imitated their mom.

  Isabelle tried very hard to control her laughter as she continued teasing her younger sister, “I think I should call her. Maybe you need to hear her nag you.”

  Kathryn rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Isabelle.

  She didn’t notice it since she was so annoyed at Isabelle for making fun of her but the doctor had already finished stitching up her arm.

  “There, you are done!” The doctor announced as he put the needle, thread and scissors away.

  “So fast?” Kathryn exclaimed in surprise.

  The doctor, who had his back turned away from his patient, gave Isabelle a small wink. He knew exactly what the older sister had been doing. Her little distraction had worked.

  Isabelle smiled.

  “Try to keep the stitches dry until they heal up completely. If you do accidentally get them wet, dry them as soon as you can using a clean piece of gauze,” instructed the doctor as he put a small dressing on the wound. “Come back in a week and we will take the stitches out.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” Isabelle said politely. “I will make sure ‘Grumpy’ here comes back in a week to get the stitches removed.”

  “What is that in your hand?” Kathryn asked abruptly as she tried to change the subject. Her older sister was having too much fun at her expense.

  “Oh yes! How could I forget?” Isabelle exclaimed. “The Claw wants to do a prisoner exchange at the Sydney Opera House.”

  “Such important news and you nearly forget to tell me,” Kathryn scolded her sister. “This reminds me of the time I was kidnapped in Paris and you came to rescue me. We should plan a similar surprise for The Claw.”

  “We definitely need a plan,” agreed Isabelle.

  “Have you told Father?” asked Kathryn.

  “Not yet,” said Isabelle. “He is not going to like the idea but if we want Dr. Peter back, we will have to do the exchange.”

  “Jack and Don are not going to agree to this,” Kathryn frowned.

  “They don’t have to like it but they will have to do what we say or else our agreement to protect them is over!” countered Isabelle.

  “That is true,” agreed Kathryn as she grabbed her jacket. “Let’s go break the bad news to them.”

  Chapter Eight

  Sydney Opera House

  “These fish and chips are awesome!” exclaimed Kathryn.

  Isabelle gave a snort of disgust. It still amazed her how her sister could eat at a time like this. She was nervous enough that food was the furthest thing from her mind but Kathryn had insisted on trying out the famous Australian fish and chips while they were waiting.

  The Jones sisters were standing on the quieter eastern side of the Monumental Steps, a great stairway nearly 100 metres wide, which led up to the two main halls of the Sydney Opera House. They didn’t bother disguising themselves as tourists. The Claw already knew who they were.

  Isabelle fidgeted with her new S.P.Y. communicator’s earpiece. It was designed to let her hear instructions from S.P.Y. headquarters and exchange messages with other agents. Kathryn had a similar device in her right ear.

  “It is already ten past five,” worried Isabelle. “There is still no sign of The Claw or Dr. Peter.”

  “You worry too much. They will be here. Ivan wants to get his hands on these two villains,” replied Kathryn as she glanced behind them. Jack and Don were sitting on the steps with unhappy looks on their faces. The two villains hated the idea of the prisoner exchange, but they had no choice. They had to do what the Jones sisters told them to do.

  Maybe The Claw suspected the sisters were planning a trap for him.

  He is not that far from the truth, thought Isabelle. There were S.P.Y. agents all around them — either in hiding or disguised in plain sight — ready to spring into action and help capture the evil villain on her signal.

  “Any sign?” came Father’s voice over the S.P.Y. communicator.

  “Nothing yet, Father,” replied Isabelle softly.

  “This is ridiculous!” burst out Jack as he stood up in anger. “He is not coming. Let’s go. We are like sitting ducks out here.”

  “We are going to wait.” Kathryn said firmly. She stared coldly at
Jack until he cursed and reluctantly sat down again.

  Isabelle scanned the crowd, trying her best to spot if The Claw was hiding amongst the many tourists walking around the area. He was nowhere in sight.

  She checked her pocket to see if the piece of the Emerald Stone she had found earlier was still there. She was afraid to leave it anywhere else. It would not be safe.

  Her inspection was interrupted by a loud vvvrrrrrrroooomm as a powerful cruiser boat pulled up at the Sydney Opera House Wharf. At the bow of the boat was Dr. Peter, with his hands bound behind his back. He looked pretty beaten up. He had obviously put up a fight while being held hostage. The Claw was holding on to his captive’s arm tightly with an evil grin.

  “Jones!” shouted The Claw when he saw Isabelle watching them from the steps. “Did you bring them?”

  “You will have to come up here and see for yourself,” Isabelle told him. “Bring Dr. Peter with you or else the deal is off!” She needed to draw him away from the boat if they were to have any chance of catching him.

  The Claw chuckled. He wasn’t worried. The S.P.Y. agents couldn’t do anything to him. They couldn’t even catch him, not with his power to disappear.

  He untied Dr. Peter and shoved him onto the dock. Dr. Peter landed on his feet and tried to run away but The Claw jumped after him and caught hold of him.

  “Naughty, naughty,” he shook his head disapprovingly. “Still trying to escape from me? It is not going to work, as Jack and Don will soon find out.”

  He dragged Dr. Peter up the steps where he found Isabelle and Kathryn standing behind Jack and Don. They were waiting a safe distance away.

  “I wish we had both pieces of the Emerald Stone right now,” whispered Kathryn.

  Isabelle nodded her head in agreement but there was nothing they could do about that now. They only had half of the Emerald Stone.

  “Send them over,” The Claw instructed as he gestured at Jack and Don.