Somehow Sid, Eric and Gertrude had stumbled across a deadly Nazi plot. At a guesthouse. In Bognor Regis.

“This is big!” said Sid, having to sit back down to take it all in. “This is bigger than big. This is the biggest. Kill our prime minister? Without Churchill, the Nazis would be sure to win this blasted war.”

“What can we do?” asked the boy.

“We need to get out of here. Pronto. We need to find a telephone. We need to call Ten Downing Street and warn them. Call the police. Call the army. Call Bessie. Call anyone we can!”

“Will they believe us?”

“They’d better believe us, or the world will be in even bigger trouble than it already is!”

“Look!” exclaimed the boy. “More flashes! Dot. Dot. Dash. Dot.”

As Eric spoke, Sid scribbled down the letters to form words. After a while, they had a few.

F. L. U. S. S. T. H. E. M. S. E.

B. O. M. B. E.

S. I. E. G.

The pair pondered the list for a moment. Even Gertrude leaned in to take a look, before becoming distracted by a cockroach crawling across the floor.

SCUTTLE! SCUTTLE! SCUTTLE!

She chased it under the bed. It would make a tasty snack, with those biscuits having been thrown out of the window.

“Fluss?” said the boy. “What is ‘fluss’?”

“Well, ‘Themse’ sounds like ‘Thames’, so maybe ‘fluss’ is ‘river’.”

“River Thames! There was a huge map downstairs in the library.”

“Interesting,” mused Sid, stroking his beard. “Very interesting.”

“Bombe! Well, it’s pretty obvious what that means! But what about ‘sieg’?” asked the boy.

“‘Sieg Heil!’ Those Nazis chant it when they give their salute. It means ‘Hail victory!’”

“So ‘sieg’ means ‘victory’?”

“Yes!”

The boy took a deep breath. This was thrilling and terrifying all at once. “So, what we have is ‘kill Churchill, River Thames, a bomb and victory’.”

Just then the door swung open.

CREAK!

The twins were standing in the doorway, brandishing machine guns.

“So, you didn’t drink the tea we prepared for you? What a pity,” purred Bertha.

“It would have been such a quick and easy death for you. But, no, you had to choose the hard way,” added Helene.

They pointed their guns straight at Sid and Eric.

“PREPARE TO DIE!” said Bertha.

Just then Gertrude looked up from under the bed with a cockroach in her mouth.

CRUNCH!

The twins looked terrified.

“UH! What is that great big monkey doing here?” demanded Bertha.

“She’s not a monkey – she’s an ape!” exclaimed Eric.

“Great big ape, then!”

“Gertrude is a gorilla we rescued from LONDON ZOO!”

“What a shame that she will die too!” remarked Bertha.

The pair cocked their guns, ready to fire.

CLICK! CLICK!

“I wouldn’t shoot us if I were you. You need to keep us alive. We know all about your Nazi plot,” said Sid.

“You know nothing!” snapped Bertha.

“Less than nothing!” mocked Helene.

Lightning and thunder struck outside.

“Is that so?” said Sid. “I was in the army in the First World War. I know Morse code.”

The twins shared a look of deep concern.

“We’ve been spying on you for some time,” piped up Eric. “That’s why we came here to Seaview Towers in the first place!” he lied.

The boy crossed his arms together for emphasis. Gertrude copied his pose and let out a smug sound.

“HUH!”

“I say we kill them,” said Helene. “We kill them right now! Starting with the monkey!”

“APE!” exclaimed the boy.

Helene pointed her machine gun at Gertrude. Eric took a step in front of his friend to protect her, and Sid took a step in front of him. Then Gertrude came round the back and stood in front of both of them. It was like a game of musical chairs.

“KEEP STILL!” ordered Bertha, a troubled look on her face. “I need to think!”

“You need to think,” taunted Eric, “because you don’t know what we know! And that radio downstairs in the living room! Who might we have called on it and told all about who you are plotting to kill?”

“Mr Churchill himself, perhaps?” added Sid.

The twins’ faces soured. They snapped at each other in German, talking over each other at lightning speed. Neither Sid nor Eric (nor indeed Gertrude, who looked mightily confused) could make out a word of what they were saying. But Eric knew they had spooked the two.

“YOU ARE COMING WITH US!” barked Bertha. “IN TIME, WE CAN TORTURE YOU AND FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT YOU KNOW! NOW WALK!”

The pair pointed their machine guns towards the bedroom door. Sid and Eric took one of Gertrude’s hands each and led her past the twins, out of the room. However, as soon as they were through the door, Eric slammed it shut in the twins’ faces and shouted, “RUN!”

RAT-TAT-TAT!

A hail of bullets ripped through the bedroom door, narrowly missing them.

Our heroes sped down the stairs to the front door. Eric turned the handle, but it wouldn’t budge.

“LOCKED!” he exclaimed.

Just then the twins opened the bullet-ridden bedroom door.

CREAK!

They stood on the landing, taking aim at the trio below with their machine guns.

“I have the key!” cried Bertha. “You are TRAPPED!”

“Gertrude!” hissed the boy, miming putting his shoulder up against the door.

The gorilla instantly knew what to do. She nodded her head and charged at the door. Using all her might, she smashed it off its hinges.

BASH!

The door crashed to the ground.

BANG!

The three dashed out as a hail of bullets exploded all around them.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

Holding on to Gertrude’s hands, they raced down the path. A series of police vehicles were speeding to a stop on the road below.

As the policemen leaped out, Eric spotted that with them were Sir Frederick Frown, Corporal Batter and the zoo’s deadly vet, Miss Gnarl.

“GRRRR!” she growled.