Bang-bang-bang!

Andy’s heart thumped in his chest. This couldn’t be happening. Beard Dude and Bald Guy—they were in his bedroom doorway, guns raised, shooting at him!

Bang-bang-bang!

Andy jolted awake, panting, pulse racing. With a start he realised the banging was just someone knocking on his bedroom door. The real noise had become part of his unreal nightmare.

‘It’s Daniels,’ a voice said. ‘Wake up.’

Officer Jake Daniels worked with Andy’s dad. The young policeman swung open the bedroom door and turned on the light.

Sitting up in bed, sandy hair all over the place, Andy blinked in the glare.

‘What’s happening?’ Dylan murmured from the floor, reaching for his glasses. ‘What time is it?’

‘Nearly seven,’ said Daniels. ‘Andy, your dad’s been trying to call you. You need to get on the phone to him. He said it’s urgent.’

Andy nodded. If his dad had been at LAPD headquarters all night and was calling urgently, he hoped it could only mean that Beard Dude and Bald Guy had been caught and were behind bars.

‘I’ll call him,’ Andy said. ‘OK if I go to the toilet first?’

Daniels nodded. ‘Sure, but make it quick.’

As Andy went down the hall, Dylan sat up, stretched and yawned. Blinking and bleary-eyed, he unrolled his phone and scrolled to the Games Thinker website.

The timer had reset while they’d slept.

‘Wonder what happened to the First Sign,’ Dylan muttered sleepily. ‘Events for you as blah, blah, blah.’

‘Guess you guys won’t know?’ Daniels interrupted Dylan’s musings.

‘Know what now?’ Dylan asked, looking up at the frowning policeman.

‘About Egypt,’ the policeman said glumly. ‘Someone blew up a big pyramid and a huge boat sank in the Suez Canal.’

‘What?’ Dylan said.

Daniels nodded. His patrol radio crackled and he stepped into the hall to answer it.

Dylan’s eyes flew to his phone. He had missed several calls overnight. There were also texts from JJ and Isabel. He scrolled to JJ’s, fearing it would be terrible news about Yasmin. But it wasn’t. Even with Egypt in chaos, JJ was still worried about decoding the First Sign? But Dylan’s blood ran cold as what he read sank in.

Barely able to believe what he had just seen, Dylan scrolled to Isabel’s message.

‘What’s going on?’ Andy asked when he returned to the bedroom and saw Dylan’s shocked expression.

‘Quick,’ the Aussie barked. ‘Turn on the news!’

‘Holo on,’ said Andy. The bedroom’s HoloSpace came to life. ‘News.’

Horrified and fascinated, the boys watched as jet fighters circled the pyramids and soldiers with guns surrounded the Sphinx. A news ticker brought them up to speed in short, sharp sentences:

‘Man, this is bad,’ Andy said. ‘I hope Yasmin’s all right.’

‘Me, too, but it gets worse,’ Dylan said with an audible gulp. ‘While we were asleep, the other guys figured out that if you put all the symbols and numbers of the First Sign together, it’s a …’

‘A what?’

‘A prediction. “The First Sign” predicted what was going to happen in Egypt!’

Andy’s jaw fell open.

‘The timer counted it down exactly!’ Dylan added.

Andy shook his head. ‘You’re kidding, right?’

‘Check your messages,’ Dylan urged. ‘See for yourself.’

Grabbing his phone, Andy sat on the edge of his bed. After reading for a few moments, he looked up with wide eyes. ‘This is crazy.’

‘We’ve got to call the others,’ Dylan said. ‘And we’ve got to find out where Yasmin is in all of … that chaos.’

‘Andy!’ said Daniels, reappearing in the doorway. ‘You gotta call your dad. That was him on the radio. He sounds …’

‘Sounds?’

‘Angry.’

‘Huh? Sure, OK, Daniels.’

Andy was starting to get a bad feeling about the day. His normally sunny face clouded over as a heavy dread settled in his stomach.