Free The Hollywood Mission by Deborah Abela Page B

childbirth just for you.’
    â€˜At least when I was born my mother had something to celebrate.’ Toby grinned.
    â€˜Maybe her tears of joy were really tears of despair.’ Max smiled wickedly, but Toby wasn’t beaten.
    â€˜At least they had no trouble telling I was a boy.’
    Linden smiled and turned again to Max. For an instant he thought he saw her falter but she came back more strongly than ever. ‘Did it take you long to have that thought or did you have it shipped in specially?’
    â€˜It popped into my brain. That’s a small grey organ you may not be familiar with.’
    â€˜I know what a —’ but Max’s response was interrupted by a knock at the door.
    â€˜Max, open up. It’s Ben and Eleanor.’
    Ben and Eleanor! They couldn’t know about Toby, at least not until Max had worked out an explanation for how he’d appeared there. ‘Coming,’she shouted in a slightly too-sweet voice as she shoved Toby towards the wardrobe. ‘Get in there,’ she hissed.
    â€˜You really don’t take losing very well,’ Toby struggled to say as he was being forced into a pile of white, fluffy dressing gowns and spare blankets.
    â€˜In case you’ve forgotten, no one knows you’re in here,’ Max answered. Then she added forcefully, ‘And I didn’t lose.’
    She slammed the wardrobe door before giving the nod to Linden to let her uncle and aunt in.
    â€˜Were we interrupting something?’ Eleanor inquired as she stepped gingerly into the room.
    â€˜Nothing I can’t tell you about later,’ Linden joked as Max shot him a prickly glare. ‘I mean, no.’
    Eleanor wasn’t convinced. She passed a quick eye over the room before making her way to the lounge and taking out her palm computer.
    â€˜How was your day?’ asked Max, doing a terrible job of trying to appear normal.
    â€˜Interesting,’ said Ben as Eleanor logged on. ‘We met with Harrison to show him the new Time and Space Machine, but we were interrupted by Steinberger who had some disturbing news about a mission.’
    â€˜A mission?’ Max perked up at the word.
    â€˜And lucky for us, it’s here in Hollywood.’
    â€˜Where’s Harrison now?’ Max asked, keen to see the head of Spyforce again.
    â€˜He returned to London to organise the logistics of the plan,’ Ben explained.
    Steinberger appeared on the screen of the palm computer. ‘Max, Linden. How good to see you again and how lucky you’re there. Here at Spyforce, we’ve uncovered a fiendish plot within the film industry and we’d like you two to head the mission to stop it. In fact, with Ben and Eleanor there to offer backup, we couldn’t think of a better team for the job.’
    Linden shot Max a sideways smile she quickly returned.
    â€˜We’re not sure of all the details yet and will be in touch in a few days to tell you more,’ Steinberger continued. ‘We do know that someone within the movie industry is using the studios for evil means and we need you to find out as much as you can about how the movie business works and who the big movers and shakers are. Which isn’t a bad job. I love the movies. Why I even …’
    Suddenly Steinberger seemed to be gasping for air.
    â€˜Steinberger? What’s wrong?’ Eleanor watchedas the agent grabbed his chest and tried to suck in great clumps of air. ‘Steinberger?’
    She was about to contact other Spyforce personnel to help the ailing agent when the reason for his discomfort appeared on the screen.
    â€˜Hello, Steinberger.’
    It was Frond, the head of the Plantorium at Spyforce. Using only plants for her ingredients, she could make any potion from invisibility cream to anti-sag buttocks lotion and was the only known cause of breathlessness in Steinberger apart from a good bout of jogging.
    â€˜I got here as soon as I could.’ She noticed