(Frank's POV)
"This better be good, Frank," I hear Rose say.
I turn from the computer monitors and see her, Oscar and Carrie enter HQ.
"Yeah. Why did you call us in so early?" Oscar asks, yawning.
"Team, you've being given a special assignment," I tell them. "You'll be working as bodyguards to a member of the Royal Family."
"No way!" Carrie squeals. "Who is it? I bet its Kate and Wills. Or is it Prince Harry?"
"Maybe its Charles and Camilla," says Oscar.
"Or maybe it's the Queen!" says Rose.
"Actually, it's none of the above. You've been enlisted to keep an eye on… Nigel Forrester!" I say.
Rose, Oscar and Carrie stare at me in confused silence.
"I'm sorry, who?" says Carrie.
I turn on the middle computer monitor, showing a photo of the eighteen-year-old brown-haired, blue-eyed Royal. "Nigel Forrester is the 9th Duke of Lessex and a distant cousin to Princes William and Harry. He is the son of Captain Henry Forrester of the Royal Navy, the 8th Duke of Lessex and Lady Imogen Waverly. Ten days ago, Captain Forrester and Lady Waverly received an anonymous letter." I hold up the letter and pass it over to young spies.
"'I demand the sum of £2 million in cash to be paid. If you fail to pay, I will kidnap your son'," Oscar reads.
"A demand letter," says Rose.
"Why is the letter crumpled up?" Carrie asks.
"Thinking that this was someone's idea of a joke, Captain Forrester scrunched up the letter and threw it away. Then five days later, he got another letter," I say, handing the second letter to Carrie.
"'Unless you pay, your son will be kidnapped'," Carrie reads.
"And yesterday they received this." I hand the third letter to Rose.
"'You have not paid. Your son will be taken from you tomorrow, the 30th. It will cost you £3 million to recover him'," Rose reads.
"The 30th is today!" says Oscar.
"So where will the Duke be for us to protect him?" Carrie asks.
"Chief Agent Stark, who is in charge of this mission, has arranged for the family to visit St Hope's so it'll be easier for us to keep an eye on the Duke," I say.
"Great, Chief Agent Stark. That's all we need," Carrie says gloomily, crossing her arms over her chest.
My mobile rings. I pull the mobile out of my pocket and glance at the caller ID. "Good morning, Chief Agent Stark," I answer.
"London, we've got a problem," says Stark, not bothering to say good morning back.
"What is it?"
"I received a call from Captain Forrester this morning. Lady Waverly has been poisoned..."
"Poisoned?!"
"Frank, what's go–?" Rose begins.
"Ssh," I say, flapping my left hand to hush Rose.
"Sorry, I mean mildly poisoned," says Stark. "She was admitted to hospital last night. The doctor has told the Captain that there is no danger, but it would be a day or two before Lady Waverly would be able to get about again."
"So what's gonna happen now?"
"Today will still go ahead as planned. I'm gonna take all due precautions and have some of my best agents come down to St Hope's and guard Captain Forrester and his son."
"Very well, sir. We'll see you in a few hours." I hang up and let out a sigh.
"Frank, what's happened?" Carrie asks.
"Oh, erm, Chief Agent Stark called. He's told me that Lady Waverly has been mildly poisoned," I say.
"Poisoned? What with?" Oscar asks.
"Mildly poisoned. And I don't know what. All I know is that she won't be coming to St Hope's."
"Maybe the poison was for the Duke but Lady Waverly was poisoned instead," says Rose.
"You don't suppose that the would-be kidnapper and poisoner is someone within the Forrester household?" Carrie questions.
"You mean like a butler or a maid?" says Oscar.
"That is something worth checking out," I say.
"I could check out the Forrester household to see if any of the domestic workers left any clues," says Oscar.
"And I could check out the list of former employees of Captain Forrester and Lady Waverly to see if they left on bad terms and want revenge," says Rose.
"But that'll leave me keeping an eye on the duke," says Carrie.
"I've got something that'll help." I pull out a little black box from my pocket and I open it, revealing black heart-shaped stud earrings. "These are Hologram Projecting Earrings. These earrings have remote micro-projectors in them, allowing you to project highly realistic holographic images."
"Ooh. Very delicate and utterly delightful," says Carrie, taking the earrings and putting them on. She tugs the earring and a holographic image of Carrie appears. "Wow!"
"That's amazing!" Rose and Oscar say in unison.
"As well as retaining memory and physical appearance, the hologram has the ability to interact directly with the world, meaning it can touch and feel and communicate," I say.
"Well, let's give it a whirl," says Carrie. She extends her hand. "Hello."
"Hi!" says Holographic Carrie, shaking the real Carrie's hand.
"This is incredible!" says Rose, completely gobsmacked.
Carrie tugs the earring again and Holographic Carrie disappears. "Best gadget ever!"
"Indeed," I say. "Now let's get up there and prepare for the Duke and Captain Forrester."
Rose sits at the computers and starts typing away, and Oscar, Carrie and I leave HQ via elevator.
(Jenny's POV)
"I'm sorry, Nigel who?" I ask.
Aunt Hermione sighs as we drive to school. "Nigel Forrester. He's the 9th Duke of Lessex and he's visiting St Hope's today along with his father, Captain Henry Forrester of the Royal Navy as well as the 8th Duke of Lessex and his mother, Lady Imogen Waverly," she says.
"But why? I mean St Hope's is not exactly the best school in the country… or the worst, it's actually second to worst, but still why would the Duke and his family wanna visit a dump like that?"
"Who cares? Anyway, it'll be nice for the school to get some good publicity."
"I can only imagine the person who's responsible for ensuring the Royal visits thought that the Windsor family were far too important to visit a place like St Hope's because they did their research, so they passed it on to someone who's not even a first cousin to Princes Wills and Harry."
"Hey, that's enough out of you."
While we sit quietly for the rest of the journey, I look out the window, at the bleary trees and house wondering out of all the (best) schools, why would this Duke of Lessex guy wanna visit the second worst school in the country. We pull up to the school car park and I follow Aunt Hermione into the brick building.
As Aunt Hermione and I walk down the wide, noisy corridor, I can feel all the kids stare at me with confused curiosity. I can see heads together and fingers pointing as they talk about me. There's a reason for this. Because of our special VIP, Aunt Hermione told me to dress… appropriately for this occasion. So instead of my usual trendy attire, I am now (smartly) dressed in a classic white short-sleeved shirt paired with a sleek black pencil skirt with a black cinch belt and black suede strappy platform peep-toe sandals with leopard print on the heels. The finishing touches include a red leather handbag, a pair of black horn-rimmed cat eye glasses and my hair done in a French twist. I look like a secretary working for some high-powered studio executive or worse… a young Aunt Hermione!
I don't recall getting into Mr. Flatley's office, but there he is, clearing off his oversized desk while he hastily finishes a conversation on the phone.
"Ah, good morning, Mrs King and…" Mr. Flatley pauses as he sees me. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Mr. F –" I whip off my glasses – "it's me, Jenny."
"Oh, Miss Brownstone. I hardly recognised you in those clothes. You look… different."
"She looks elegant. Classy. She looks… like a real teacher," says Aunt Hermione, admiring my ensemble. And for the next six hours, that is exactly what I'll be.
"By the way, Miss Brownstone, this came for you." Mr. Flatley pulls out a small white envelope from his pocket and hands it to me.
As he talks to Aunt Hermione about the Duke's mother not being able to attend the visit, I open the envelope and pull out a small, black electronic cat head-shaped device – the cat-tracer. I stare at the tracer wondering why Zeke would send me this (I mean, who else?).
I place the cat-tracer back into the envelope and place the envelope in the handbag, and I leave the office, weaving through the swarms of pupils heading to their classes to the stationery store room. Once in, I lock the door and fish out my mobile from my handbag, and dial Zeke's number.
"Ah, good morning, Miss Moneypenny," says Zeke, in a Sean Connery does James Bond voice.
"Oh, ha ha!" I say sarcastically. "That was so funny I forgot to laugh. Now how about explaining the cat-tracer you had sent to the school… Ezekiel."
I hear Zeke shudder down the phone. "I take it you were told about the 9th Duke of Lessex visiting St Hope's today?"
"Yeah. Aunt 'Mione told me about it on the way. What I don't understand is why this Duke guy would wanna visit a school whose extra-curricular activity is detention. You would have thought the Lawrence Sheriff School in Warwickshire would have been the best choice."
"Maybe that was the tactic used to confuse the kidnapper."
"Kidnapper?"
Zeke sighs. "You're kidding, right? Haven't you been reading the papers these last few days?"
"Unless it's about our feline, crime-fighting friend the Cat, I don't give two monkeys. But pray tell, what have the papers been saying?"
"For several days there have been rumours of someone wanting to kidnap Nigel Forrester. The family have been receiving anonymous letters threatening to take the Duke unless the sum of two million pounds has been paid."
I nod. "I think I get the picture. My task is to place the tracer on the Duke so if the kidnapper succeeds in snatching him, you'll be able to track him."
"Well, yeah. That and to keep an eye on him so if the kidnapper tries to take the Duke, you can fend him off."
"I'm sorry, keep an eye on him? I'm a crime-fighter, Zeke, not a babysitter."
"Did I forget to mention that Chief Agent Stark and his merry men of MI9 agents will be at St Hope's to try and protect the Duke?"
"Really?" I say in a sly voice, raising an eyebrow. "Well, in that case, I would love to play bodyguard to our little Duke of Lessex."
"There's a love."
"Well, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, Z," I say. I hang and unlock the store room door, exiting the room. But as soon as I close the door behind me, something solid crashes into me and send me landing on my bottom. "Ouch!" I say, rubbing my sore bum.
"Sorry, are you all right?" says a voice.
I look up to see Frank, his hand stretched out to me. I take it feeling my hand enclose in his warm grasp as he hauls me upright.
"Thanks, Frank," I say, dusting the back of my skirt.
He stares at me. "How d'you know my name?"
I stop what I am doing. "Really, Frank?" I push my glasses onto the top of my head. "Don't you recognise me?"
He still stares at me, a little confused for a few moments. He blinks a few times, finally recognising me. "Jen?"
"Hi." I smile.
"You look… oh. Wow. Erm, you look…"
"Like a teacher?"
"Yes. No! I mean, you look… incredible."
I feel my cheeks burning. "Well, don't get to use to this. It's only for the one day. Aunt Hermione told me that I should dress smart for our special guest."
"Oh yeah. That Duke geezer. Yeah, Mr. F has got me laying out the red carpet for him," he says, nodding at the rolled up carpet leaning against the store room door.
The school bell rings.
"I better get to class." I flip my glasses down onto my nose. "Talk to you later, OK?"
Frank gives a nod and I walk past him down the corridor, very aware of my body movements. My pencil skirt figure is sashaying and my breasts bouncing draw the usual stares. I wonder if Frank is watching me walk. Duh! Of course he is. I smile to myself as I strut into the classroom to start the lesson.
(Frank's POV)
"Find anything interesting so far?" I ask Rose as I enter HQ.
"No. All former employees of Captain Forrester and Lady Waverly all left with excellent references," she replies.
"Any word from Oscar?"
"No, not yet."
I sit next to Rose by the computers, where she's in deep thought, elbows propped on the table, chin resting on hands, eyes lowered and her face unmoved.
"Care to share with the rest of the class?" I joke.
"I don't get it," says Rose.
"Don't get what?"
Rose lifts her head and looks at me. "Why wait until now to try and kidnap the duke? The kidnapper could have taken the Duke when he was a baby or when he was five-years-old. Instead, the person waits eighteen years."
Rose stands up and stretches, her bones cracking and retreats to the lab to get herself something to eat or drink. I lean back on my chair, thinking about what Rose said. She's right, though. Why wait all these years to want to kidnap the Duke? I look at the computer screen in front of me and see CCTV footage of three cars pulling up in front of the school gates. Two black unmarked cars with a black limousine sandwiched in the middle.
"Rose, they're here," I say, not taking my eyes of the screen.
I hear Rose come up beside me as we watch Chief Agent Stark and the other MI9 agents climb out of the unmarked cars and greet Mr. Flatley and Mrs King, who have being waiting outside by the entrance of the school building. Finally, the driver of the limo hops out and opens the door for the Duke and his father. They climb out of the limo and greet Mr. Flatley and Mrs King.
"You better get up there and keep your eye on the Duke," I say. "I'll stay here and monitor any suspicious activities or individuals."
"OK. Call me if you hear from Oscar," says Rose.
Still not taking my eyes off the screen, I nod in agreement as I hear Rose's footsteps leave HQ.
It's gonna be a long day.
(Jenny's POV)
"They're coming, Jen!" says Davina, entering the music room.
"OK everyone, get into positions," I say, sitting at the piano.
The class gather together and form a chorus line by the whiteboard next to the piano.
"All right, everyone, this is just like we practised. Keep calm and focus," I say. "Embrace your inner Glee."
I play the opening notes to the song that everyone in class practised. As the door opens and Mr. Flatley, Aunt Hermione and the guests enter, the class begin to sing.
"When Britain first, at heaven's command,
Aro-o-o-ose from out the a-a-a-zure main,
Arose, arose, arose from out the a-azure main,
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian A-a-angels sang this strain:
"Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the waves. Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the waves.
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
"The nations, no-o-o-o-ot so blest as thee,
Must i-i-i-i-in their turn, to ty-y-yrants fall,
Must in ,must in, must in their turn, to ty-y-rants fall,
While thou shalt flourish, shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and e-e-e-e-nvy of them all.
"Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the waves.
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the waves.
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves."
When they finished, there's applause. I raise my right hand and give the class the thumbs-up sign. They sang it good. Not good, brilliantly, not a word wrong.
"That was excellent, guys. Well done," I say. I stand up and walk over to Mr. Flatley and Aunt Hermione. "Good morning, Mr. Flatley. Mrs King." That feels weird calling Aunt Hermione that.
"Good morning, Miss Brownstone," they say in unison.
"Miss Brownstone, let me introduce to you Captain Henry Forrester of the Royal Navy and the 8th Duke of Lessex and his son, Nigel Forrester, the 9th Duke of Lessex," says Aunt Hermione.
Captain Forrester is big with board shoulders, muscular arms, and a wide neck. He has straight black hair with white ends that's swept straight back off his square forehead, and small, round blue eyes. He's dressed in his Navy uniform – a double-breasted, navy blue jacket; matching trousers; white shirt and black tie; peaked cap; and black leather shoes.
His son, Nigel, on the other hand is slender but quite tall. His eyes are very blue, almost turquoise, and his skin is very pale and clear. His hair is chestnut brown and wavy, worn in a quiff. He's wearing a black and white slim-fit woven suit, a white shirt and blue satin tie, and black brogues.
"How do you do?" Captain Forrester extends his right hand.
My fingers close around it. "How do you do?" I say. I shake the Duke's hand. "It's nice to meet you. I hope you enjoyed the song the class sang, Captain Forrester. It seemed appropriate for someone who is in the Navy."
"My son and I enjoyed it very much." He places his hand on the Duke's shoulder. "Didn't we, Nigel?"
As Captain Forrester touches the Duke's shoulder, the Duke jumps – he looks so nervous.
"Oh yes. Very good," the Duke says quickly.
I give a little nod. "Well I'll hope you'll stick around to hear the class singing God Save the Queen."
"Well, I suppose –" Captain Forrester begins.
"Maybe later," Aunt Hermione interrupts. "Right now, there are still parts of the school that the Captain and the Duke have yet to see – like our new equipment for the Science department."
I watch Aunt Hermione escort Captain Forrester and the Duke out of the classroom, followed by Mr. Flatley. I wait until I hear the door close for me to turn to the pupils.
"Great job, guys. Great job," I say. "Now how about we sing some real music?"
The class cheer and we spend the rest of the lesson singing and dancing to PSY's Gangnam Style.
xxoOoxx
"I'm bored bored bor-r-r-r-r-r-ed," I say to myself, as I wander down the corridors.
Break time has finished and I've been wandering the corridors for the last ten minutes, bored out of my skull. Normally on a day like this, after I've finishing teaching for the day, I would do one of the three things: hang out with Frank, go into town to window shop and have lunch or save London from SKUL or other criminals. But since my mission is to protect the Duke of Lessex from being kidnapped, I have to stay at school and I am not finding this fun at all.
"Man, this is boring," I say again.
As I go round the corner of the corridor, I see Chief Agent Stark coming out of a room yelling at three MI9 agents, "How did you manage to lose the Duke? Huh?!"
"Sorry, sir," the agents mumble, their faces red with embarrassment.
"Sorry?!" Stark screams. "You were supposed to protect the Duke! Follow him everywhere he goes! Even if it's the boys' toilets!" He points at the door he came out from.
"W-we thought that he wanted a bit of privacy…" says a dark-haired male agent.
"Well you thought wrong! What am I gonna tell Captain Forrester?"
As much as I enjoy taunting MI9, I can't help but feel sorry for them – especially the ones who have to work with Stark. Who'd wanna take orders from that arrogant smeghead?
"Idiots." Stark scowls and marches off, the agents following behind. Stark nearly bumps into me as he goes. "Had a good look, did you? Why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer!" he says, pushing me out the way. "Nosy little busybody."
"I would take a picture, but you're stupid, ugly face would probably break the lens of the camera," I whisper. I wish I said this out loud but I don't want to get into a shouting match with him. I stick my tongue out at Stark, who's still walking away, and I walk off to see if I can find the Duke before he does.
Nearly forty-five minutes later of searching the school, I find myself in front of a doorway of the one place no-one in the entire school, besides Rose and Aunt Hermione, would want to be in – the library. The only place in the school that the Duke has to be in. I silently slide into the room. Inside, I see that the school library is similar to a public library in that they contain books, DVDs and videotapes, CDs and cassettes, periodicals and other formats all stacked neatly on their own bookshelves in parallel to each other with merely enough space between to allow of the passage for anyone. There's a reference desk by the entrance of the library that has a grey-haired old woman, the librarian maybe, behind the desk (slowly) organising books. She's short, and looks about eighty, and thin like a pencil. She's wearing round glasses with thin gold frames. She has a lean face with pronounced wrinkles in her face and intense dark brown eyes, exaggerated by the eye-glasses. Her hair is in a tight bun and her clothes look dull and old. She's dressed in schoolmarm clothes, which goes well with the image. I take a few steps further into the library. To my right is the computer area, where there's a row of computers standing on tables and to my left is the reading area, where in the far back corner of the reading area… is the Duke.
I make my way over to the Duke, being careful not to make a sound in this calm and tranquil sanctuary that is the library. As I reach the Duke's seat, I pull out the cat-tracer from my bag and carefully place it in the outer pocket of his jacket. I take a step back and look at the book that the Duke has settled down with – J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
"I prefer the film to the book," I say, standing by his chair.
The Duke gasps in surprise and shuts the book up quickly, clasping it in his hands.
"What are you doing here? Are you trying to frighten me?" he hisses.
"Hey, sorry." I hold up my hands in mock defence. I take a seat across the Duke. "So you decided to avoid the MIBs?"
The Duke looks puzzled. "The MIBs?"
"The Morons in Black who've been keeping their beady eyes on you and your dad, mostly you, all morning."
"Oh, MI9. Yeah. I had to get away. All of them just literally breathing all over me. So while those three MI9 agents were waiting for me outside the boys' toilets, I snuck out of the window. I came back into the school and wandered through the corridors, being careful not to run into any agents, and here I am!"
"Isn't it a bit dangerous for you to go wandering around all by yourself considering that there's someone who wants to kidnap you?"
He hesitates and nods. "I suppose. But you're here with me, so I'm not alone."
"Well that's true. Just as long as you don't sneak away from me."
"You got it, Miss Brownstone."
"It's Jenny. Jenny or Jen, not Miss Brownstone."
"OK… Jen. And you can call me Nigel."
"Cool… Nigel."
I hear the door to the library open. I look up and see what must be one of Stark's agents coming up to me and Nigel. He's quite good-looking with dark eyes and long, floppy hair.
"There you are, Your Royal Higness. We've been looking everywhere for you," he says.
"Yeah, sorry about that," says Nigel.
"No matter. What's important is that you're safe. Anyway, we have to go. Your father is waiting in the foyer."
"OK." Nigel places the book on the small, round table by his chair and stands up.
"No, wait, I'm coming to," I say, standing up.
"Oh, you don't have to come…" says Nigel.
"No, I want to. I want to see the look on those Suits' faces when I explain to your dad that you weren't kidnapped." I turn to the floppy-haired agent. "No offence."
"Oh… well… OK," Nigel says reluctantly.
As I lead Nigel and the MI9 agent out of the library and to the foyer, I wonder why Nigel looked uncomfortable when I insisted that I wanted to come with him. What is he so nervous about?
When we near the foyer, I fling open the entrance doors and enter the foyer.
"Captain Forrester, I present to you your son – safe and sound!" I exclaim as I bow my head.
Silence.
I lift my head and see that there is no-one in the foyer.
"What the hell is going on?" I say. I turn to Nigel and see that the floppy-haired agent isn't standing with him. "Nigel, what's going on?"
"I'm sorry, Jen," he says.
I stare at Nigel, confused. "What have you got to be sorry abo–?"
A pair of hands grabs me. I turn and see it's the floppy-haired agent… or at least I thought he was an agent. I try to wriggle free, but he's too strong. I feel him put a cloth over my mouth and I immediately find myself in a world of darkness…
xxoOoxx
"Jenny! Jen, wake up!"
I groan. I can smell ammonia filling my nostrils.
I open my eyes. I can see Frank pulling away a small blue bottle from my nose while looking down at me with relief.
"Welcome back," he says.
"W-what happened?" I ask as I start to sit up.
"I was about to go for an early lunch when I found you lying unconscious. It's a good thing I always carry smelling salts with me."
I start to get up, but my legs feel shaky. Frank helps to keep me steady, allowing me to lean on his arm. "I'm OK. Really," I insist. I look around the foyer and find that it's only me and Frank in the room. "Where's the Duke?"
"The Duke?" Frank asks.
"He was here when I… oh, no." It dawns to me. "Frank, they've taken him. They've taken the Duke!"