Free Frozen Fear by H. I. Larry Page A

kidnapping me. Things might be OK.
    Foxed coughed importantly and read on.
    â€˜We wish to inform you that your summer holidays have been cancelled, starting from now.’
    In that case, things are definitely not OK! Zac had been looking forward to summer holidays for ages.
    â€˜Got a jumper, Zac?’ Fox was saying. ‘It’ll be cold on this mission.’
    â€˜Why? Where is it?’ asked Zac, crossly.
    â€˜The Great Icy Pole. Know anything about it?’
    â€˜No, said Zac, feeling very grumpy.
    And he didn’t want to, either.

CHAPTER
TWO
    In a matter of minutes, the petrol station and Zac’s family were just a speck in the distance. And so were his summer holidays.
    â€˜Here,’ Fox said, handing him a disc.
    â€˜Your mission.’
    With a deep sigh, Zac loaded the disc into his SpyPad.
    â€¦loading…

CLASSIFIED
    MISSION RECEIVED 2.54PM
    Suspicious activity has been
recorded in the Great Icy Pole.
Our surveillance tells us that
lots of extra planes and boats
have been coming and going,
seemingly with no good reason.
    YOUR MISSION
    â€¢ Go to the Great Icy Pole.
    â€¢ Investigate suspicious activity.
    â€¢ Report back to GIB Mission Control within 24 hours.
    END

Zac’s shoulders slumped. ‘Lots of planes? So what! You could be talking about any airport in the world,’ he said.
    Fox stared at Zac.
    â€˜Have you got absolutely no idea what the Great Icy Pole’s like?’ Fox blurted out.
    Zac shrugged.
    â€˜It’s the remotest, least explored place on earth,’ Fox said. ‘It gets down to minus 40 degrees there in winter. If you so much as go outside without the proper gear on, your eyes will freeze solid in their sockets and your fingers will snap off!’
    Now Fox had Zac’s attention. Maybe this Great Icy Pole place would be kind of cool after all.
    â€˜Two, maybe three, boats per summer go to the Pole,’ said Fox. ‘They deliver food to the scientists who live at the research station there. But in the last few weeks there’s been a couple of planes a day, as well as lots of boats.’
    Zac had to admit it did sound suspicious.
    â€˜So why’s GIB sending me?’ asked Zac. ‘Can’t they check out what’s going on using WorldEye?’
    WorldEye is GIB’s whizz-bang satellite. It’s so powerful it can read a newspaper headline from 500 kilometres up. Normally, WorldEye is invaluable for surveillance work.
    â€˜The Great Icy Pole is so remote, it’s out of satellite range. There’s no coverage down there,’ Fox explained.
    â€˜Does that mean – ’ Zac began.
    â€˜Yes, I’m afraid so.
    Your SpyPad won’t work down there.
    You’ll be completely uncontactable.’
    No relying on his satellite GPS navigation software for directions!
    No ringing Leon for help with technical questions! No clues from Mission Control during the mission!
    This was going to be tough.
    â€˜Since you’ll be out of contact, we need to arrange a pick-up time once your fact-finding mission’s complete. A GIB transport team will be back to get you exactly 24 hours from the time I picked you up. That’s 2.05pm tomorrow.’

    â€˜What if we miss each other?’ asked Zac.
    â€˜That can’t happen,’ said Fox sternly. ‘For safety reasons, air traffic is only allowed around the Great Icy Pole during summer. It’s almost winter down there now. The cut-off date for air traffic is tomorrow.’
    â€˜So, if I don’t catch the helicopter tomorrow – ’
    â€˜You’ll be frozen in down there for months,’ Fox said, butting in. ‘You’ll have no food and no way to let us know where you are.’
    â€˜Right,’ said Zac. ‘I’d better be ready then, I guess.’
    Zac stared out the window, thinking about the mission ahead. Then he noticed a cruise ship sailing in the sea below. And closing in fast behind it was