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  She launched herself into a spinning kick, throwing her entire weight into it. Her heel rocketed towards the dinosaur—

  07:40 And slammed right into the side of the monster’s head.

  As soon as she hit the ground she scrambled to get out of its range …

  But it didn’t try to stop her. It was unconscious.

  Kelsey stared at the collapsed dinosaur. Her foot was killing her, but her plan had worked. The creature had never hunted prey that knew kung-fu. She might have fractured its skull.

  06:30 It took her a moment to realise that List’s phone was ringing. She answered. ‘Lenova?’

  ‘No, it’s Mercer,’ her handler said. ‘The team can’t get to the bomb.’

  ‘What?!’

  ‘They scanned the volcano. The explosive charges are buried deep, and it’s too hot down there. They don’t have fire-proximity suits. They came prepared for bullets, not lava.’

  Terror rose in Kelsey’s chest. It had all been for nothing. The world was going to end.

  05:55 The venator stirred. Kelsey crept away.

  Mercer still didn’t sound frightened. ‘Given where the bomb is, List’s people can’t trigger it in person. So there must be a radio detonator somewhere. If you can find it, you can still prevent the explosion.’

  ‘What does it look like?’

  ‘It’s just a transmitter,’ Mercer said. ‘It could look like anything.’

  05:30 Kelsey’s hope flickered and died. She couldn’t search the whole island for something that looked like anything. Not in the next five minutes.

  ‘Can you blow up the island?’ she asked. ‘That would destroy the detonator, wherever it is.’ She would die, along with the doctors and all List’s staff—but seven billion other lives might be saved.

  ‘No,’ Mercer said. That could easily trigger the volcano. You have to find that transmitter.’

  05:10 ‘But it could be anywhere!’ Kelsey cried. ‘How am I supposed—’

  She stopped. There was at least one person on this island who knew where the detonator was.

  She hung up on Mercer. ‘List!’ she shouted. ‘I’m ready to make a deal!’

  There was no response. Kelsey started to run back to where she had last seen List.

  03:15 She found him standing on the other side of the laser trip-wires. She couldn’t hear the humming—they were still switched off.

  ‘So who are you really?’ List asked. ‘CIA? ASIO? Mossad?’

  He was stalling. She would have to trick him into trying to set the bomb off early. He would need the detonator to do that.

  02:05 ‘It’s over,’ she said. ‘My colleagues are inside the volcano. They’ll have the bomb disarmed inside of a minute. If you give yourself up, they won’t have to destroy the dome as well.’

  ‘Very well,’ List said. ‘I’ll call them right now and turn myself in.’

  He held out his hand for his phone.

  He hadn’t fallen for her ploy—but nor had she fallen for his. He was desperate for his phone …

  Because his phone was the detonator!

  Kelsey pulled out the phone and started scrolling through apps. ‘I’ll call my colleagues,’ she said. ‘To discuss the terms of your surrender.’

  Again, she saw the app marked RADIO. Mercer had said the detonator would be a radio transmitter.

  01:00 She opened it.

  List saw what she was doing. ‘No!’ he roared.

  He lunged at her, crossing the laser line. She darted backwards, still fiddling with the phone. The app had opened up. There was a countdown—forty-five seconds—and a button marked ABORT.

  She pushed the button.

  A password window popped open.

  ‘No!’ she cried. She didn’t know the password, and there was no way List would tell her.

  00:40 List tried to snatch the phone out of her hand—

  And the venator clamped its jaws around his head.

  Kelsey hadn’t heard it sneaking up on them. The beast ignored her completely as it dragged List into the jungle, his terrified screams muffled by the inside of its throat. After years of taunting from beyond the laser beams, the dinosaur finally had its prey.

  Kelsey dived back across the laser line to safety. But what did it matter? In eighteen seconds the bomb would go off and the world would end. List was dead. No-one else knew the password.

  Or did they?

  00:20 Kelsey remembered watching him punching the code into the keypad to gain entry to the dome. Six digits. Lots of people used the same password for everything—perhaps he was one of them. He was so overconfident he didn’t even lock his phone.

  Fingers shaking, Kelsey typed in the code: 277363.

  A new message popped up.

  Transmitting abort code … But the countdown kept going.

  00:04.

  00:03.

  00:02.

  The countdown stopped.

  00:10 Detonation aborted.

  Kelsey almost fainted with relief. She had done it.

  The phone buzzed in her hand. She dropped it and then caught it again before it hit the ground.

  She answered. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Kelsey.’ It was Mercer. ‘We rescued the doctors. Did you find the detonator?’

  She had outwitted a megalomaniac, saved the world and survived a kung-fu fight with a dinosaur. It was all in a day’s work at SPII school.

  00:00 ‘Found it, turned it off,’ Kelsey said. ‘What’s next?’

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Andrew Berkhut, Sarah Hatton, Tiffany Malins, Angie Masters, Cassandra Rathbone, Candace Stuart and the rest of the team at Scholastic who have made the last few years so much fun.

  My amazing agent, Clare Forster at Curtis Brown. Paul Kopetko for his feedback and encouragement. All the people whose names I borrowed, and all the enthusiastic kids who loved 300 Minutes of Danger so much—and the wonderful people of the CBCA, who listed it as a notable book and who do so much for young readers.

  JACK HEATH is the award-winning author of seventeen action-packed novels for young people, including 300 Minutes of Danger and the Scream series. He lives in Canberra with his wife and their son, where he’s currently working on another Countdown book.

  Published by Scholastic Australia

  Pty Ltd PO Box 579 Gosford NSW 2250

  ABN 11 000 614 577

  www.scholastic.com.au

  Part of the Scholastic Group

  Sydney • Auckland • New York • Toronto • London • Mexico City

  • New Delhi • Hong Kong • Buenos Aires • Puerto Rico

  First edition published by Scholastic Australia in 2016.

  This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited, 2016.

  E-PUB/MOBI eISBN: 978-1-760272-01-2

  Text copyright © Jack Heath, 2016.

  Illustration and design copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2016.

  Additional illustrations: Poster lettering © DesignSensation, iStockphoto.com; Grunge Border © Rochakred, Dreamstime.com; metal plate © phichit, iStockphoto.com; glacier, snake and island icons © Aaltazar, iStockphoto.com; bus icon © Smitt777, iStockphoto.com; sinking ship icon © Mr_Vector, iStockphoto.com; mosquito icon © RedlineVector, iStockphoto.com; crushing and fire icons © Ecelop, iStockphoto.com; army tank icon © lushik, iStockphoto.com; Jack Heath photo credit: Ash Peak, 2013.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, unless specifically permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 as amended.

 

 

 
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