I ran back, looking around for Miguel, tripped over a carton of frozen fish and crashed through the freezer door just as a side of beef slid aside and an enormous figure appeared outlined against the light.
It was wearing a bloodstained white coat over a pink jump suit. It looked like a man but in place of a head there was a black cylinder with a black window in the front . . . a welder's mask. A large gloved hand shoved the mask up to reveal a close-cropped, bullet-shaped head with a wide jaw on a thick neck. I couldn't see the eyes. They were hidden by a slot of black light that writhed as if there was something inside trying to get out. I shivered, and not because I was cold. It looked like a cartoon. I searched for a more descriptive word . . . Alien.
'I - I was looking for the checkout?' I stammered hopefully.
Murga was twice my height and three times heavier but he moved toward me like a dancer. 'Zo, Ziff Dion,' he hissed ominously. Timing ist sehr goot*.' (*Sehr = very, in German).
I darted for the door but he swept me up, like a doll, in a bear hug. It was not a friendly gesture. His huge head loomed above me and there was a stench of rotting fish. And then, something weird happened. The front of my brain clicked and tingled inside my skull and in some strange way I felt as if Murga was tossing me into the air.
But he grunted in surprise and tightened his grip as I slid up . . . through his arms. My brain slowed down as my head came level with his round ball-like face. Then I did what my soccer coach taught me. I slammed the top of my forehead into his nose, hitting just below the black slot. There was a crunching sound as his head snapped back, his grip slackened and I fell to the floor.
I must have been stunned for a moment but something made me turn my head. Centimetres from my nose was the ugliest face I had ever seen. It was black and hairy with a flat turned-up snout and two wicked looking fangs . . . No! Tusks. The wide spaced eyes gazed at me with amused indifference.
Murga puffed smoke into my face and my body began to feel numb, I could move only with great effort . . . and then I couldn't move.
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YOU ARE READING
UNDERCOVER on the TITANIC (book 1)
AdventureMom and Dad have disappeared in China and my Uncle Dunc is a talking, break-dancing Canada goose. Time Agent Triple Oh has been assigned to protect me from Murga and I am stuck with my grumpy Grandma. What else could go wrong? Well, my new schoo...
