Rocky Road Read Free

SHINE HQ and other locations. The access points had to be somewhere that the agent often went and somewhere that it would be reasonable and easy to go to without attracting attention. When you thought about it like that, the girls’ toilets at Emma’s school made perfect sense—but it didn’t make it any less embarrassing.
    Emma walked into the toilets and checked to see if there was anyone else there. There wasn’t, thank goodness. With the room clear, she headed for the last cubicle on the right and pushed the door open.She went in and locked the door. Emma put down the toilet seat, and sat down and flipped open the toilet roll holder. There, if you knew what to look for, was, besides toilet paper, the SHINE Mission Tube access socket. Emma pushed her phone into the socket and waited. There was a beep then Emma entered her pin code and removed her phone. Another beep and then the usual message flashed up on her phone screen.

    The wall behind the toilet spun around, with the toilet and EJ12 still attached. The toilet then tipped slightly and EJ slipped off the toilet seat and onto a beanbag at the top of what looked like a giant tunnel slide. A protective shield came over the back of the beanbag, covering EJ. The wall then spun back and EJ could hear the click as the toilet door unlocked on the other side. A locked toilet door with no onein the cubicle would raise suspicions and SHINE didn’t want that. On her side of the wall, EJ was ready, she keyed ‘go’ into her phone and...

    EJ travelled down the tube that led away from her school and into the SHINE tube network, whizzing around corners at high speed. As she travelled, EJ could hear music piped through the Mission Tube. That’s new, nice touch, she thought. Soon however, just in the middle of one of her favourite songs, EJ came to a stop at a small platform with a keypad and screen. The protective shield over the beanbag flipped back and EJ again entered her pin code in the keypad and waited. The security check was about to commence.
    The check changed each time. Sometimes it was an eye scan, sometimes voice recognition. It was different every time to prevent anyone breaking into the SHINE network.
    â€˜Please sign your autograph on the screen pad,’ requested a digital voice.
    Cool! thought Emma as she signed her name on the screen. Emma liked signing her name and was always trying to write it in a new style. This time, however, she decided she’d better write normally.

    There was a short sharp flash.
    â€˜Handwriting check complete. Handwriting quite messy but agent identity confirmed. Please drop in, EJ12!’
    There was another beep as the platform beneath her opened up and EJ, still on her beanbag, dropped gently down into the Code Room. There was nothing in the room but a table, a chair and a clear plastic tube protruding from the ceiling. SHINE liked their tubes. EJ moved to the chair and waited. She heard the familiar whizzing noise, put her hands out under the tube and caught a little capsule that popped out of it. EJ opened the capsule and took out a small piece of paper and a pen. It was an intercepted code and Emma read it.

    The first thing that caught EJ’s attention was the picture of the mobile phone. That had to mean something, but what? Then she noticed something else about the message: there was no number higher than nine. That had to tell her something too. Hmmm. EJ took out her phone and as soon as she saw the keypad, something clicked in her mind.

    EJ was now pretty sure she knew how to crack the code.
    It’s a mobile text code, she thought. If I match the numbers to the ones on the phone keypad, I think I will get words, just like a text message. Let’s test it. EJ keyed the first set of numbers into her phone. As she did, the letters appeared on her screen and EJ wrote them down under the coded message.

    Then the next set.

    Pink Shadows? The band, Pink Shadows? Why were they in