Free Blue's Revenge by Deborah Abela

as Steinberger reappeared on the screen. ‘Is he really dead?’
    â€˜It does appear so.’ He seemed as perplexed as they were.
    â€˜I’m not sure about you, Steinby, but there’s something about this brave death I don’t buy,’ Ben snarled.
    â€˜We’ve been in contact with the Blacksea wardens, who have told us the fire happened exactly as the news reported. They’ve confirmed that Blue died and his body is lying in their morgue.’
    Ben, Eleanor, Max and Linden all knew what they’d seen and heard but they also knew that when it came to how Blue operated, what you saw was rarely what you got, and they weren’t quite ready to believe the story just yet.
    Max slowly pulled the blanket higher under her chin and sank lower into the soft cushions of the lounge. As the news of Blue’s death circled in her head, she could think of only one thing.
    â€˜If Blue is dead, who kidnapped my mother?’

As the burnt orange light of sunset faded and the street lights flickered into life, Quimby turned her small red hatchback into her quiet leafy street and sighed. It had been a long day. She loved her work as Spyforce inventor but this was the part of the day she loved most. Driving home and seeing Millie, her cat, parading along the windowsill like she was a model on a Paris catwalk.
    â€˜You scamp,’ Quimby whispered affectionately as she pulled up in front of her house.
    She walked up the stairs and tapped on the window beside the door. ‘Hello there. Doing a bit of styling for me then?’
    Millie mewed and rubbed her body into the white curtains so her fur became a ruffled mess.
    Quimby pushed her dark, tumbling hair out of her eyes, trying to tuck it under her bright red scarf with one hand, while fumbling through her bag for her keys with the other. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you,’ she said excitedly to Millie. ‘One that’s going to make you love me even more.’
    She found her keys beneath a muddle of papers, mints, Plantorium lip balm and various wires, diodes and transistors, but as she put her key in the door, a bullet splintered into the wooden frame near her hand.
    Millie leapt from the windowsill out of view as Quimby stopped still, the smell of burning wood and hot metal itching her nose. She gulped short sharp breaths as her hand sat frozen on the key. She tried to make it move so she could get inside as another shot was fired and whistled towards her. Quimby ducked as a bullet drove a hole all the way through her front door.
    This time her hand worked quickly. Turning the key, she opened the door and slipped into the hallway, crouching down just before another bullet shot past and lodged firmly in the wood of her fourth stair.
    Keeping low, Quimby kicked the door shut and crawled into the lounge room beneath the window. She rose slowly upwards, hiding behind the curtain, inching her way into a position where she could just see the street.
    It was then she saw him. A man in black leather sitting on a motorbike. He was staring straight at her. He revved the bike twice before it screamed into life and tore down the street in a black blur.
    Quimby slid back to the floor, her heart beating so hard it hurt. She flinched when she felt Millie’s fur against her limp hand.
    â€˜Millie, darling,’ she breathed in relief.
    She lifted the frightened cat into her arms. Millie mewed again and snuggled into Quimby’s embrace.
    â€˜It’s okay,’ she said in a quivering whisper as she stroked Millie’s head. ‘It’s over now.’
    Â 
    Professor Plomb, the Spyforce explosions expert who had a terrible fear of loud noises, adjusted his ear muffs and walked into the supermarket carpark, weaving carefully through the aisles of cars. Two kids behind him pointed and laughed at his unusual ear-wear, but he didn’t hear any of it.
    As he approached his car, he deactivated the alarm with a wheep wheep he also