Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Charlie, Mohsen, Wogan and Flora shot through the open gate and towards the Van der Gruyne Industries building. 'Which way?' shouted Charlie, relieved to be human again, the lingering taste of egg sandwich in his mouth a reminder of how close he had come to getting stuck as a pigeon forever. Wogan pointed. 'That's the front door, but it's probably locked. If we go round the back, though, there's an entrance into the basement that we might be able to sneak in through.' His three friends turned to look at Wogan. 'And how on earth do you know that?' asked Flora, eyes narrowed with suspicion. 'Because I came here a couple of years ago on a school trip,' said Wogan matter-of-factly. 'You've been here on a school trip?' said Flora, staring at Wogan. 'And you didn't think of mentioning that before now?'

'I didn't think it was important,' protested Wogan. 'You didn't think it was important?! Sometimes I– Never mind. Let's go!' They skirted round the building until they found some stairs, which led down to a door. 'You don't think the door will be alarmed, do you?' asked Mohsen nervously. 'Definitely not,' replied Wogan, pushing it open. An ear-splitting alarm shrieked through the whole building. Wogan shrugged. 'It was a guess, OK?' he yelled above the noise. 'Not the best guess, I admit.' 'Charlie? Can you do something?' shouted Mohsen, hands over his ears. 'What do you mean, can I do something?' bellowed Charlie. 'What?' replied Mohsen. 'TAKE. YOUR. HANDS. OFF. YOUR. EARS.' 'WHAT?' 'I said,' replied Charlie, pulling Mohsen's hands away from his ears, '"What do you mean, can I do something?"'

'You know, change into an animal and stop the alarm?' 'What sort of animal?' asked Charlie incredulously. 'An alarm-fixing zebra?' 'OK, fair point, I guess not.' And then, just as suddenly as the alarm had started ringing, it stopped. 'Wow, that is SUCH a relief,' said Wogan. 'Isn't it? I thought my head was going to explode,' said Charlie, grinning. 'What?' said Wogan. 'You can take your fingers out of your ears now, Wogan.' 'But why would the alarm just switch off like that?' asked Flora. 'No idea!' said Charlie. 'Maybe it ran out of batteries.'

'Maybe…' Flora didn't sound particularly convinced. 'Where are we?' The four looked around. They were in a dark low- ceilinged basement. Huge banks of computers snaked round the room, all glowing and humming. Some tinsel hung limply on the walls. 'Oh!' said Wogan. 'I remember this room. These are the servers for Van der Gruyne Industries– the computers that store all the important information for the company.' 'OK, then we know where we are, but where do we go?' Flora said. 'I don't know. Wherever they keep their safe, I suppose,' Charlie replied. 'Their safe?' asked Mohsen. 'Well, where else do you think they'd keep the gold?' 'I guess,' Mohsen agreed. 'And how on earth are we going to break in to a safe if we do find it?' 'Charlie's just going to have to use animal strength to bust it open,' Flora replied. 'And my theory is they'd keep a safe in Dylan's dad's office.'

'You're probably right,' agreed Charlie. 'But where is that? Wogan– don't suppose you know, do you?' 'No. Sorry,' said Wogan. 'Then we'll just have to search the building,' said Flora. Mohsen gasped. 'The whole building?' he said. 'That'll take forever! This place is huge!' 'Well, we don't have a choice, do we?' snapped Charlie. 'So let's just get going.' 'Or we could look at the map,' suggested Wogan. Once more, the others turned to Wogan in unison. 'What map?' asked Flora, eyes narrowed again. 'I forgot to say I googled Van der Gruyne Industries yesterday and found a floor plan on the council website, so I printed it out.' His three friends stared at Wogan in wide-eyed silence. 'What?' said Wogan. 'Why are you all staring at me like that?' 'Un-be-liev-able,' said Flora. 'Is there anything else you'd like to tell us that you might have forgotten?' she asked. 'How am I supposed to tell you if I've forgotten?' Even Flora couldn't argue with that logic. 'Well, if anything else important pops into your head–' 'Actually, there is one other thing,' said Wogan. 'What?' asked Charlie. 'I need a wee.' Flora put her hands on her hips. 'Really? Now?' Wogan nodded.

'Can't you wait?' asked Charlie. 'It's just things are a little urgent right now. What with us being in the middle of a robbery.' 'I guess…' said Wogan, sounding very unsure. 'OK, great then,' said Charlie. 'Now, get your map out. Which way?' Wogan examined the map, and pointed to the door they had just come through. 'That way!' 'What?' said Mohsen. 'Back outside? You sure?' Wogan looked at the map again. 'Sorry!' he said, turning the map the right way up. He pointed to a different doorway, which seemed to lead into a long corridor. 'The president's office is on the top floor. The lift is this way.' They ran down the corridor, and then down another, while Wogan looked at his map and called