‘There may be a perfectly innocent explanation,’ said Lara firmly the next day. ‘I agree it’s a bit surprising for a man like Stanley Strange to have a Santa outfit, but it isn’t against the law! And by the way, I don’t approve of you two climbing all over his car like that. Just because he was rude to us doesn’t mean you have to behave badly too.’
Spud and Star hung their heads. ‘Yes, Mum. Sorry, Mum,’ they muttered.
‘Now, I’m going to London today with the family and you’ll be staying here with Gran, so I want best behaviour from both of you, please. We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. I hope you can stay out of mischief till then!’
The children’s gran often looked after the pups and her house was a home from home for them. ‘I’m making sausage rolls,’ she said kindly. ‘You can help me if you like. You never know, there might be a few spare ones for you to try!’
That was enough for Spud. He loved his food, and Star always liked staying at Gran’s because she had a great collection of jigsaws. They waved the family off and followed Gran happily into her kitchen.
The Cook family and Lara travelled by train to London and then made their way to the MI6 offices where the professor was having his meeting.
‘Wow, it’s amazing!’ gasped Ben, staring up at the huge green-and-white building with its rows of windows overlooking the river. ‘It looks like a cross between a castle and an ocean liner.’
Right on time Professor Cortex came hurrying out of the main door to greet them. He was looking unusually festive in a red bow tie.
‘So this is where it all happens?’ said Mum. ‘The headquarters of the Secret Service!’
‘It’s not very secret, is it?’ snorted Ollie, who always spoke his mind. ‘Not if everyone knows where it is.’
‘I suppose not,’ answered the professor, smiling, ‘although no one knows what happens inside – and, of course, there could be other places too …’
Just then a car with blacked-out windows stopped beside them, leaving its engine running.
The professor passed Ben a copy of a London guidebook, saying loudly, ‘Well, it was very nice to see you all.’ He added in an undertone, ‘I think you might find page forty-three particularly interesting, Ben’. Then he opened the door, climbed into the back seat and the car disappeared into the traffic.
‘What’s going on?’ said Ollie. ‘I thought we were going to the pantomime!’
Ben turned hastily to page forty-three. A piece of paper had been pasted into the book with a map and some special instructions for him to follow. Ben’s eyes shone with excitement. ‘Spy stuff! This is going to be fun!’ He studied the map for a few seconds. ‘OK, everyone, follow me,’ said Ben as, with Lara beside him, he led Mr and Mrs Cook, Sophie and Ollie away from the river, under a bridge and into a quiet side street where there was a long row of terraced houses. Glancing at the book again, Ben went up to one of the doors and rang the bell.
A plump, middle-aged woman in a pink cardigan opened the door and immediately threw her arms round Ben.
Ben looked at the note in the book once more. ‘Auntie Marion!’ said Ben, his voice a bit smothered in the hug. ‘I’ve brought the family to see you.’
‘You’re very welcome,’ said the woman. ‘Come in, come in, I’ll put the kettle on.’
I recognize ‘Auntie Marion’ from the old days, thought Lara, She’s a brilliant doctor of physics – specializing in laser technology. But Lara knew better than to react in any way. I’m just an ordinary family pet on an ordinary family visit, she said to herself. After all, you never know who might be watching.
They all went into the house. A flight of stairs led up in front of them and a small front room led off to one side. The television was on and a fat tabby cat was snoozing beside a tinsel Christmas tree.
‘Is she our auntie, Dad?’ said Ollie, who was understandably confused. ‘Why haven’t you told us about her?’
‘Never seen her before in my life!’ chuckled Dad. Then he pointed to Ben’s guidebook and gave Ollie a wink. ‘Spy stuff,’ he mouthed.
‘Erm, Auntie …’ said Ben, glancing again at page forty-three. ‘I wonder if Ollie could use your toilet?’
‘But I don’t …’ started Ollie, who was still finding it hard to understand what was going on.
‘Sssh, Ollie,’ hissed Sophie. ‘Yes, you do!’
‘It’s in here,’ said the woman, opening a door under the stairs. ‘I’ve just had it redecorated. Why don’t you all have a look?’
Sophie and Ben couldn’t help giggling as all the family, including Lara, piled into a very tiny downstairs toilet. It was a bit of a squash to say the least, especially when ‘Auntie Marion’ shut the door firmly on them from the outside.
‘What happens now?’ whispered Sophie.
Ben pulled the chain and, as the sound of running water filled their ears, so the whole room started to sink, slowly and smoothly downwards. It stopped gently, the door opened and there was the professor, smiling.