The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles) Read online

  ‘Disgusting,’ said Jules, wiping the soggy lumps from her jumper.

  Theo took a few quick swigs of orange juice and got up, beckoning for Jules to follow him.

  ‘Bye, Mrs Sheridan,’ Jules called out as she followed Theo up to his room.

  ‘See you later,’ replied his aunt.

  Theo had already powered his computer on when Jules arrived and was waiting for it to start up, twiddling his thumbs anxiously. At last the main screen appeared, so he quickly opened his email and clicked on the message. Jules read through it carefully.

  Theo pointed to the screen. ‘Look at the link, Jules, Mental Chains. Remember that ad from the paper?’

  ‘Oh of course, I noticed that,’ said Jules.

  ‘Of course you did,’ said Theo sarcastically.

  ‘Whatever, we won’t know ‘til we click on it, will we? Come on, let’s go for it.’

  ‘Here goes,’ said Theo and clicked on the link.

  The screen went blank for a few moments and then turned black. For what seemed like an age, nothing appeared on the screen. Then a small, grey box appeared in the centre, with a prompt:

  Please enter Logon ID:_

  Submit

  (Not case sensitive, no spaces allowed)

  Theo stared at the screen, then looked across at Jules, puzzled. ‘I don’t remember being given a Logon ID.’

  ‘Go back to that email,’ said Jules. ‘There must be something in there.’

  Theo flicked back to the email, which was still open, and they both read it again.

  ‘Can’t see anything,’ said Theo.

  Jules continued to study the email and then looked back at Theo.

  ‘Me neither. But then this is your world, isn’t it mate? I mean, the Internet and all that.’

  Theo stared at the screen for a moment, bemused.

  ‘Mmmmmm, well I suppose I could just try a few things,’ he said finally.

  Then he typed:

  theo

  and clicked Submit. Instantaneously, a reply came back:

  Invalid User ID. Please try again:

  ‘Genius,’ replied Jules. ‘Now what have you got up your sleeve, Einstein?’

  ‘Like you said mate, it’s my world.’ He continued typing:

  theol

  The same response came back:

  Invalid User ID. Please try again:

  He continued with as many combinations of his name as he could think of:

  theojl

  theologan

  theojameslogan

  theopolis

  theopolislogan

  theopolisjameslogan

  But each time, the same reply came back.

  ‘Doesn’t look like it’s anything to do with my name, does it?’ said Theo. He stared at the screen for a moment, deep in thought. ‘OK, let’s try something else.’

  mentalchains

  Invalid User ID. Please try again:

  ‘What about Juanita?’ said Jules.

  Theo typed it in quickly, but the same response came back. He looked around the room as if searching for inspiration. Then he noticed the newspaper lying on his bed, grabbed it and quickly flicked to the ad. He then began to type:

  reachforthesky

  Still the same reply. He read through the ad again. He knew it didn’t have to be a word or phrase; instead it could be a number. The only number on the ad was the phone number, so he entered that:

  01456555635

  Invalid User ID.

  ‘Where’s that letter?’ said Jules.

  Theo picked up the letter from his bed and passed it to Jules.

  ‘What about Amistad?’ she said as she read the letter.

  Theo quickly typed it in, but the invalid user id message came back.

  ‘What about a friend?’ said Jules.

  He tried it, but the response was the same.

  ‘Well I don’t know about you, but I’m rapidly running out of ideas,’ said Theo. ‘I mean, we can’t even crack it between the pair of us.’

  ‘The pair of us?’ said Jules.

  ‘Yes,’ said Theo. ‘The pair of us. I don’t see anybody else here.’

  ‘No, I mean, the pair of us. I’m not sure it’s….’

  Jules thought for a moment.

  ‘Of course, the pair of us. The two of us chasing breadcrumbs.’

  She looked across at Theo and smiled. He smiled back and they both repeated together:

  ‘HANSEL AND GRETEL’

  Theo’s hands began to shake as he typed it out, minus the spaces.

  ‘Is that spelt correctly?’ he said, not daring to click on Submit.

  Jules opened the book and looked at the contents page.

  ‘Yeh, that’s right.’

  ‘OK then, here goes,’ said Theo as he clicked on Submit.

  For a moment, the screen didn’t change and he thought it was going to reply with the familiar Invalid User ID again. But then the screen went blank before displaying another prompt in a grey box:

  Password:_

  Submit

  You have eight attempts before account lockout

  (Not case sensitive, no spaces allowed)

  ‘YES,’ Theo shouted excitedly.

  ‘OK, calm down,’ said Jules, ‘We’ve got to concentrate now.’

  ‘Yeh I know,’ said Theo. ‘We’ve gotta get this right in eight tries or we’re stuffed. Think hard Jules, what’s it gonna be?’

  ‘Well I am thinking something to do with Hansel and Gretel.’

  ‘Aint necessarily so,’ said Theo.

  ‘Well I think it is,’ said Jules.

  ‘Since when did you become a top hacker, Jules?’

  ‘Well I’m not, but I’m sure that whoever set this up at least wanted us to have a fighting chance of getting in. Otherwise, what would be the point of leaving this trail?’

  ‘Mmmmmm, maybe.’

  ‘What about Breadcrumbs?’

  ‘Worth a go,’ said Theo as he typed it out.

  He placed his mouse pointer over the Submit button.

  ‘Shall I go for it?’

  ‘Yeh mate, do it.’

  He clicked the mouse. The response came back quickly:

  Invalid Password. Please try again.

  Password:_

  Submit

  You have only seven attempts before account lockout.

  ‘Damn,’ cried Theo. ‘We’ve gotta think harder.’

  They both thought for a minute.

  ‘Try Juanita again,’ said Jules.

  Theo typed it in and clicked Submit, but the same answer came back:

  Invalid Password. Please try again.

  Password:_

  Submit

  You have only six attempts before account lockout.

  Theo thought hard. Surely it couldn’t be that simple? He quickly typed Theo and then hit Submit:

  Invalid Password. Please try again.

  ‘Only five left,’ said Jules.

  ‘Well I aint gonna try all the combinations of my name again cos that’ll use up too many guesses. If we’re being given a chance, it’s gotta be easier than this.’

  ‘What about that phone number? You tried it for the login. What about for the password?’

  Theo typed in the phone number, but still the invalid password response came back.

  ‘Only four attempts left. What about reach for the sky?’ said Jules.

  Theo typed it in:

  Invalid Password. Please try again.

  Password:_

  Submit

  You have only three attempts before account lockout.

  ‘We aint gonna crack it,’ said Theo angrily. ‘It’s too hard.’

  ‘No come on Theo, we can do it. Let’s try something different.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Theo.

  ‘Well, who are Hansel and Gretel? I mean, what do they have?’

  ‘Well they’re brother and sister and they have bread.’

  ‘No, I mean in this case, whoever set this up mu
st have thought of the both of us, because we’re Hansel and Gretel chasing breadcrumbs. So what have we got?’

  ‘A newspaper, a letter? I don’t know.’

  ‘No I don’t mean a thing, I mean what are we to each other?’

  ‘Well mates I suppose,’ replied Theo.

  Jules stared at Theo, her eyes wide with excitement.

  ‘Friends Theo, friendship. Try it.’

  Nervously, Theo typed it in and clicked Submit:

  Invalid Password. Please try again.

  ‘We aint got a chance, Jules. Nothing’s working. That Juanita has led us on a wild goose chase.’

  Jules turned and looked Theo directly in the eye.

  ‘Juanita, friendship. Do you remember?’

  ‘AMISTAD!’ cried Theo excitedly.

  ‘Amistad,’ repeated Jules, grinning.

  Theo typed it in, placed his mouse pointer over Submit and squeezed his eyes shut. Then he clicked the mouse button. His eyes were still closed when he heard Jules cry out.

  ‘THEO.’

  He opened his eyes and looked at the screen. It had gone blank and for a few moments there was nothing to see. Then another message appeared:

  Wanna take a ride?

  There were no icons or buttons to click on, but Theo knew what to do. He quickly pressed Y on the keyboard. Then another message appeared:

  Thank you. Further instructions will be emailed to you within the next 24 hours. Please follow these instructions carefully.

  Well done agent. You have now been logged off the system and your account is no longer active.

  ‘Another email to wait for – is this never going to end?’ said Jules.

  ‘Oh, I’ve got a feeling we’re near the end now,’ said Theo.

  ‘I do hope so,’ said Jules. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of following clues.’

  ‘Yeh me too,’ said Theo.

  ‘Let’s go for a walk,’ said Jules. ‘It could take a while to get that email and I’m fed up of staring at that computer screen.’

  Theo glanced back at the screen. The message had disappeared, to be replaced by a new one:

  Page cannot be displayed

  Theo switched off the monitor, picked up his mobile phone and stood up, ready to leave.

  ‘Shame I haven’t got one of those smart phones so I can get my emails anywhere,’ he said as he looked at his years-old phone handset with its big fat buttons and tiny display.

  ‘Leave it out,’ said Jules as she yanked him by the arm towards the door. ‘I’d never get you off the damn thing.’

  *

  Later that day, after their walk, Jules went back home for her dinner and Theo returned home on his own. Excitedly, he ran up to his room and switched on the computer screen. In the bottom right hand corner he could see an envelope icon—the email:

  Sender: Prize Draw 5066351 User Admin:

  Subject: You are a winner

  Hello Agent Logan,

  I am happy to announce that you have won first prize in our competition for a luxury weekend break.

  The tickets for your prize can be picked up between 8.30pm and 9pm on Friday 9th December.

  Your prize reference is: 52:94:93, 23:49:92.

  You’ll know where to find us.

  Well done agent and good luck.

  It took only a moment for Theo to realise what the prize reference was. It was a map reference. Quickly, he opened up an Internet map website and typed the reference numbers into the location field. A few seconds later, a familiar map appeared on the screen. It was an aerial view of Lower Pinton, with the cross hairs focussed on the edge of the Junior School sports field. He knew the spot well. It was less than a mile from his home, just off a path running down the back of a row of houses. A wry smile crept across his face. On Friday the 9th of December, he knew where he had to be and when. The only question now, was why?

  Chapter 3 – A letter of Condolence

  Theo awoke refreshed the next day, and immediately, as he opened his eyes, he could feel the excitement in the pit of his stomach. He sat bolt upright and looked at his watch. Eleven o’clock, Sunday morning. It was late, even by his standards, and he had no doubt that his auntie had already tried to wake him several timesas she always did when he lay ineither by repeatedly yelling up the stairs, or by deliberately banging the vacuum cleaner against his bedroom door as she hoovered. But Theo had slept soundly and nothing short of a thunderstorm would have woken him.

  He swung himself out of bed, walked over to the sink and splashed some water on his face. Then he quickly brushed his teeth, threw on some clothes and wandered downstairs. His aunt had long since eaten her breakfast, cleared the table and was well into preparing a roast dinner. She looked quite annoyed when Theo wandered into the kitchen.

  ‘Finally,’ she said as he walked in. ‘You’ll have to sort yourself out for breakfast because I’m busy.’

  ‘No probs,’ said Theo.

  His aunt looked at him, surprised at the lack of irritation in his voice.

  ‘You sound a bit happier today.’

  Theo stretched out his arms and let out a slow, lazy yawn. ‘Yeh I guess,’ he replied. Then he wandered over to the kettle, switched it on, and pushed two slices of bread into the toaster.

  ‘Toast again?’ said his aunt.

  Theo stared back at her. ‘What’s wrong with toast?’

  ‘Oh nothing, I just thought ….oh never mind.’

  Theo didn’t answer his aunt because she was, after all, right for once. He was indeed feeling happier – or at the very least distracted from his problems – and instead of sarcastically answering her back, he just sat down at the table in silence, deep in thought. So many questions had been on his mind ever since he’d received the email. What was actually going to happen on Friday the 9th? Who was he going to meet? And if he did end up going away somewhere for the weekend, as the email seemed to suggest, how could he explain it to his aunt? After all, she would never let him go if she knew the truth. If only there was somewhere he could tell her he was going—somewhere she wouldn’t dare question, yet would let him go without her.

  For several minutes, the possibilities raced around Theo’s mind. Then a thought occurred to him. There was somewhere. Whether or not it was right to use it as an excuse for being away for the weekend, he wasn’t sure. But something about it made sense. Somehow it seemed to fit. For a start it would be too sensitive for his aunt to question him about. And he would certainly have a good reason for going there – if he could make up a convincing enough story. But he would need to find an address. And he would need to do it without his aunt getting too suspicious. That was assuming she even knew it.

  Theo sat in silence as a plan slowly formed in his mind. Then he turned to face his auntie who was busy chopping vegetables.

  ‘Auntie?’ said Theo.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Can I ask you a question?’

  ‘If you want.’

  ‘Well, erm...’

  ‘Come on, Theo.’

  ‘Well, I want to ask you about my erm…’

  ‘Spit it out, Theo.’

  ‘Well, my mother.’

  His aunt paused for a moment, put the knife down and looked at the chopping board, clearly annoyed. Then she took a deep breath and looked back at Theo.

  ‘Yes,’ she replied sternly. ‘What do you want to know about her?’

  ‘You make her sound like a monster. She wasn’t that bad, was she?’

  ‘Mmmmmm….’ said his aunt, about to answer truthfully but then thinking better of it.

  ‘Well, what was she like, you know, as a person?’

  ‘Well I guess she was pretty clever. Very driven, but quite selfish and a bit cold.’

  ‘Cold?’

  ‘Yes, you know, didn’t talk about her feelings much. I suppose you’re a bit like her in some ways.’

  ‘I know grandpa didn’t have much time for her.’

  ‘Yes, well I’m with him there.’
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  ‘But I mean, she can’t have been all bad, can she?’

  ‘No I suppose not. But she wasn’t the motherly type. You know, it suits some people to be parents. But it’s not for everybody. Not for her. Some of us would’ve loved the chance to…’

  ‘But she cared about me, didn’t she?’ interrupted Theo. ‘Loved me and all that?’

  ‘Yeh, I guess. As far as it goes.’

  ‘What do you mean, as far as it goes?’

  ‘Well do you see her around here anywhere? Do you get any letters from her? Any Christmas or Birthday cards?’

  ‘Suppose not.’

  ‘Well there you are then. Anyway, what’s brought this on? You’ve never asked about her before. Has something happened? Has she been in touch?’

  ‘No, it’s just...well, I suppose I’ve been thinking about her a bit lately. You know, since grandpa died,’ said Theo truthfully.

  ‘Do you want to see her – is that what this is about? Do you want to get in touch with her?’

  ‘No, not really. It’s just, I never really understood why grandpa didn’t like her. I mean, he was always gentle and never seemed to hate anybody. Except her.’

  ‘He didn’t hate her Theo and neither do I. It’s just, she left you. She left at the worst time. But dad and me always knew she would. She always acted like she wanted to be somewhere else. You know, head in the clouds.’

  Theo thought back to school and what his teacher had said to him. Perhaps he was a bit like her after all.

  ‘Mind you,’ his aunt continued, ‘it was probably for the best. She was in a real state when she went. She was no good to anybody.’

  ‘Did she have a breakdown or something?’