Dirk Daring, Secret Agent
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About this ebook
Helaine Becker
Helaine Becker has written over seventy books. She attended high school in New York before graduating from Duke University. She is married with two sons and is an active swimmer, runner and cyclist, as well as being a compulsive read-aholic. She has an orange belt in karate and is contemplating going for her grapefruit belt. Her award-winning non-fiction includes Counting on Katherine, Worms for Breakfast and Zoobots, and she has written many picture books and young adult novels. She also writes for children’s magazines and for children's television.
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Dirk Daring, Secret Agent - Helaine Becker
Copyright © 2014 Helaine Becker
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 or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Becker, Helaine, 1961-, author
Dirk Daring, secret agent / Helaine Becker.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4598-0683-2 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-4598-0684-9 (pdf).--
ISBN 978-1-4598-0685-6 (epub)
I. Title.
PS8553.E295532D57 2014 jc813’.6 c2014-901582-8
c2014-901583-6
First published in the United States, 2014
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014935380
Summary: The spy missions of Darren Dirkowitz (aka Dirk Daring, Secret Agent) are interrupted when his stepbrother gets hold of his top-secret notebook.
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
Design and illustrations by Jenn Playford
Author photo by Karl Szasz
www.orcabook.com
17 16 15 14 • 4 3 2 1
9781459806849_0163_001Table of Content
Preparatory Training Mission 56: Case Report X34S1SD2 De-encrypted.: Do-Overs Are for Dead Men.
Notes from Conversation with Civilian Code Name T-Bone.: X3432ASXZC4 De-encrypted. 11/03.: And So It Begins...
Mission 1: Case Report SC4532167 De-Encrypted. Animal Morphology
Notes from Conversation With Civilian Code Name T-Bone. X3432ASXZC4 De-Encrypted. 11/04
Mission 2: Case Report FG1512XCV45B001 De-Encrypted. Springing the Trap
Notes from Conversation With Civilian Code Name T-Bone. X3432ASXZC4 De-Encrypted. 11/06
Mission 3: Case Report X3432ASXZC3 De-Encrypted. Bug Infestation
Notes from Conversation With Civilian Code Name T-Bone. X3432ASXZC3 De-Encrypted. 11/08
Mission 4: Case Report X79XYXYSXZ44 De-Encrypted. Double Cross. ****Super-Top-Secret File Folder—Location 34—For My Eyes Only****
Notes from After-School Flyer Blitz With Civilian Code Name Jewel. 72–X1X3265HB3 De-Encrypted. 11/10
Notes from Parent Council Meeting. RBS93451E1E1E45 De-Encrypted. 11/10 19:30:42
Report of Proceedings In Miss Templeton’s Grade 5 Class. M871234G934R2D2CP3O De-Encrypted. 11/12 09:32:12
Debriefing of Agent Code Name T-Bone. LALA63GHB7767 De-Encrypted. 11/12 16:32:08
Mission 5: Case Report YZ1Bh3462922SKIDOO De-Encrypted. Special Delivery
Notes from Document Transfer 3242hut. De-Encrypted. 11/16 09:48:27
Re: Document Transfer 3242hut. Transcript of De-Encrypted Message Code Name Birdy Birdy
Notes from Conversation With Civilian Code Name T-Bone. YA45321123CU De-Encrypted. 11/17 16:58:34
Mission Interruptus. 11MAMA0 De-Encrypted. 11/17 19:58:33
Notes from Conversation With Agent T-Bone. RK76456SD5135&C(&! De-Encrypted. 11/18 16:55:32
Mission 6: Case Report 650FGx1010b77RX12 De-Encrypted. 11/19 12:32:12. Ambush
Mission 7: Case Report X3X23II1683j87R2D2 De-Encrypted. 11/19 16:00:06. Confession
Notes Post Conversation With Waldo. De-Encrypted. 11/19 16:38:19
Notes from Conversation With Agent Code Name Jewel. 5678369B57BSJ6RJGN1 De-Encrypted. 11/20 10:14:16
Mission 8: Case Report 76T De-Encrypted. 11/20 12:30:19. T-Bone Stake. Surveillance Mission #1—Lunchtime
Notes from Strategy Session. 767GF78SFN45BF144 De-Encrypted. 11/22 15:55:06. War Games
Notes Detailing Significant Events of 11/23. COMA5-9034CCS De-Encrypted
Mission 9: Case Report 3498123G54523jj De-Encrypted. 11/23 10:45:12. Doo Doo Ops
Notes from Detention Session. OYW8W8W8W8W8 De-Encrypted. 11/23
Notes from D-Day. VCB)(<3X49d6581 De-Encrypted. 11/24
Notes from Suspended Animation. 12X12144C0DZZZ De-Encrypted. 11/25
Notes from Return of the Living Dead. ARBZMTBSKROSHNB De-Encrypted. 11/30
Notes from Morning Recess. L34326YZC3 De-Encrypted. 11/30
Notes from Afternoon Recess. MTWTF1130 De-Encrypted. 11/30
Mission 10: Case Report 3498123G54523jj De-Encrypted. Tuesday 12/01. Fat Cat
Darren’s Daily Journal. CV761DD9010SZCX!D De-Encrypted. 12/01
The Final Mission. jg76LKJvx3256BC3 De-Encrypted. Go Fish
Mission 11: Case Report 3232981FG7Kni5dD2 De-Encrypted. ****Super-Top-Secret File Folder****
Acknowledgments
9781459806849_0163_001The alley was narrow—dark and narrow. It stank like rotted vegetables and cat pee, the signature reek of demoralization and despair.
I flattened myself like a tortilla against the bricks. I had just one task now—to melt into the wall. To become the wall.
I shifted my eyes. Left right, left right. There was nothing to see, nothing to fear. Not unless you counted the rats that squeaked behind the Nino’s Pizza dumpster.
I was safe, so far.
Time to plan my next move. Just one chance to get it right. In this business, there are no second chances.
The city’s shopping district seemed deserted. But nothing is as it seems in the shadow world. I knew the forces of darkness were on the move. Watching, waiting. And they were hunting for me. Dirk Daring, Secret Agent.
Nevertheless, my stone-cold heart never changed its rhythm. Tha-dump, tha-dump. Just five impossibly slow beats per minute. Letting adrenaline seethe into your blood leads to mistakes. Rookie mistakes. And mistakes are for corpses, not master spies like me.
I darted around the corner onto Macpherson Street. Slipping from shadow to shadow, I covered the last few blocks without breaking a sweat.
There it was, the safe house. 10 Harrow Lane. To the civilian eye, a perfectly ordinary house. But to me, a beacon of hope. A promise of safety. hq.
Had I been followed? No.
I slipped around the building to the kitchen.
I slid my key silently into the doorknob and placed my hand on the sensor pad—it was cunningly disguised as a plain green shingle. Only once my unique handprint was read and identified would my key be enabled.
As I waited for clearance, I attuned my highly trained senses to the surroundings. I heard nothing but the wind whispering in the maple trees. The single woof! of a dog let out to do his business.
And then I detected the scent of something hearty cooking on the safe-house stove. Searing meat. Melting cheese. A hint of onion…
I heard the click that meant my clearance had been approved.
Eagerly, I turned the key in the lock.
Darren?
my mom called. That you?
Yeah,
I shouted back. I got the burger buns.
Mission accomplished.
9781459806849_0163_0019781459806849_0163_0019781459806849_0163_001You are so not a real secret agent,
Travis said. Before you bug out on me totally, let me remind you that you are Darren Dirkowitz, an ordinary fifth-grader and all-around butt. And you don’t have a government commission, a tippity-top-secret clearance or a hotline to Her Majesty the Queen.
¹
Thanks for the vote of confidence,
I replied. So, okay. 9781459806849_0014_001 Just playing a silly game up till now. But not anymore. Waldo asked to see me.
Uh-oh.
Travis’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat like an escapee from a Halloween party.
Waldo, you see, is my crazyman stepbrother. Archenemy number 1 through 101. His real
name is Jason, but I gave him this totally perfecto code name because you can never find him when it’s time to do the dishes. (Where’s Waldo? Where’s Waldo?) He’s about 200 times worse than Travis’s brother, Conner, who’s certifiable (but that’s another story). Conner sometimes fakes being nice, but Waldo doesn’t even try to hide his affiliation with the Organization of Evil Dinks. On the fateful day he and his dad moved into our house, Waldo grabbed me by the collar, shoved me up against the wall and warned me that if I even so much as infringed on his territory
—his bedroom—he’d give me such a bad wedgie my eyes would turn purple. And then he’d hang me by said wedgie from the flagpole in front of our school.
Needless to say, I haven’t even breathed in the general direction of Waldo’s room since then. Not once. A smart spy knows when to lay low.
9781459806849_0012_002Until last night, that is,