Tomb of Doom by H. I. Larry

CHAPTER
ONE
    Sometimes, thought Zac Power, being a spy isn’t as cool as it sounds .
    Right now he was on a camel in the middle of the desert. Zac knew that this might sound good to another kid. But it really wasn’t.
    For one thing Zac’s camel kept spitting gross stuff onto his sneakers. Then there was the heat. The sand was so hot that if you were dumb enough to walk on it without shoes your feet would melt up to your ankles – just like butter on hot toast.
    The heat was terrible for Zac’s hair, too. He had already used half a tube of Super-Strength Hair Gel.
    The other reason this trip wasn’t cool was that his entire family was here too. Everyone in the Power family was a spy, even Zac’s geeky brother Leon.
    They all worked for the Government Investigation Bureau, or GIB for short. Zac had been on some awesome missions, but this family holiday wasn’t one of them.
    Zac tried to pass the time by playing the latest game on his SpyPad.
    SpyPads look like game consoles. But they are actually mini-computers, with a mobile satellite phone, a laser and a codebreaker too.

    Zac was usually excellent at electronic games, but this one had him stumped.
    It was called Pyramid Panic . Whenever he reached the treasure room in the middle of the pyramid he was ejected out through a hole in the roof. Zac’s highest score so far was 2000. One player called A.T.S. had the top score of 200,000! Dumb game, thought Zac, as he deleted it from his SpyPad.
    The tour guide on the front camel was droning on.
    â€˜We are now entering the desert region of the Amber Sands. The famous Vanishing Pyramid which is the tomb of the Golden Sun King is said to be located here,’ he said. ‘It’s the only pyramid never to be looted by tomb raiders.’
    â€˜That’s because it’s guarded by GIB,’ Leon whispered to Zac. ‘Apparently it’s stuffed full of treasure.’
    â€˜According to legend,’ continued the guide, ‘if the Vanishing Pyramid is ever broken into terrible earthquakes will shake the Amber Sands. The locals call the pyramid the Tomb of Doom ...’
    As he spoke something really strange happened. The earth began to tremble.
    RRRRRRUMMMMBLE!
    The tour guide went pale.
    â€˜Let’s all stop here,’ he said nervously. But Zac’s camel wouldn’t stop. With a snort it turned and galloped away from the group.
    â€˜Bye, sweetie!’ called his mum. ‘Don’t forget to wear your hat!’
    The camel galloped faster and faster. And faster. And faster! It went so fast that smoke started streaming out of its nose.
    Smoke? thought Zac. That can’t be right…
    Then he noticed a metal plate attached to the camel’s neck, hidden by fur.
    CAMELTRONIC 9000.
    Zac had heard about the this from Leon. It was a state-of-the-art robot with ten gears and airbags. Zac wished he’d realised this earlier – the CAMELTRONIC had a drinks dispenser in its hump!
    Had GIB arranged for this camel to take him to his next mission? There was nothing Zac could do but wait and see ...
    On and on the camel ran until finally they reached an oasis. The camel groaned and collapsed in a heap beneath a palm tree. Zac quickly jumped off and looked around. There was nothing there except a pond and the palm tree.

    Zac had been hoping that he was about to be sent on some cool mission. But that was clearly a false alarm. Disappointed, Zac kicked the palm tree.
    â€˜Stop that,’ said the tree, crossly.
    Zac looked closer and saw that the tree was actually GIB Agent Peterson in disguise. Agent Peterson shook one of his leaves and a date fell onto the sand.
    â€˜Eat that,’ he commanded.
    Zac bit carefully into the soft flesh. He suspected that this wasn’t a normal date. Sure enough, his teeth hit something hard. Zac spat out a metal disk.
    All right! His next mission!
    Zac loaded the disk into his SpyPad.
    ...loading...
    CLASSIFIED
Mission