The third VENUS SPRING – STUNT GIRL book, VENUS SPRING – STAR TURN is being published in September 2007, but if want to get a flavour of it before it hits the shops, here’s an exclusive sneak preview…
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The cobbled alleyway was lit up by narrow shafts of moonlight. The unmarked van purred to a stop. In the back were the country’s top ten, teenage military cadets – five girls and five boys. They sat in absolute silence, their eyes locked on Corporal Adam Lester. He glanced at his sleek, silver watch and eased open the back doors of the van.
‘GO!’ he hissed.
Swiftly and noiselessly the ten combatants streamed out of the van, their guns pressed close to their chests, their legs gliding over the ground. The future of the entire country rested on how well they performed in the next thirty seconds. But as they sprinted through a narrow alleyway their movements were suddenly and abruptly halted.
They completely froze in mid-stride.
Stunt co-ordinator, Ed Fry, flicked a switch on the DVD remote and the pictures of the ten teenage soldiers vanished from the screen.
‘That’s where you come in,’ he said, pointing at a large diagram tacked to the wall with five red circles highlighted.
‘From that second on, you lot are in the frame - just as we’ve been rehearsing - two of you to each circle, everyone running in unison. You take the corner and head for your positions on the barracks. Are there any questions?’
Fourteen-year-old Venus Spring looked around at the four girls and five boys sitting on the stage next to her and had to suppress a squeal of excitement. She was in a central London warehouse as a bona fide, paid-up, member of the stunt community! At three thirty that afternoon, her school had broken up for autumn half-term. She’d said goodbye to her mates and headed straight over here.
Venus had dreamt of doing real film stunts ever since her stuntman Granddad, Dennis Spring, had started teaching her stunt skills, three years ago.
What had started off as a wish to spend parts of her school holidays on film sets with Dennis, had turned into a desire to acquire as many stunt skills as possible as the precursor to forging a career in the stunt profession. She’d even attended Dennis’ stunt camp in the summer holidays to gain further stunt abilities, but had ended up thwarting a plot to poison the local countryside, with the plotter dying in a plane explosion and Venus thinking she’d killed the plotter’s son.
Franco.
That one word sent shivers down her spine. Contrary to her initial conclusions, he was still very much alive, and he’d warned Venus he was on her case.
Venus tried to put all thoughts of Franco out of her mind and thought back on her stunt education. In the past when she was on film sets with Dennis, she’d only been allowed to do stunts when there was a break in filming and the set was in ‘dead time.’
Yet here she was going over the final preparations for the real thing – her first action movie stunt. She and the nine other teenage stunt artists had been rehearsing this ‘storming the barracks’ segment of the film, from five ‘til ten p.m.
Tomorrow was the shoot.
Ed Fry was the film’s stunt co-ordinator and he was directing the film’s ‘Second Unit.’ This was the team responsible for filming all of the stunt scenes in AS 2, and there were plenty. Fry was a very experienced stunt co-ordinator and was a good mate of Dennis. Dennis had been stunt co-ordinator on AS 1 and had been asked to do the sequel. But he had other commitments. So Fry got the gig.
And Venus was here because of Elliot Nevis.
Elliot Nevis was Venus’s estranged father. He’d shown up on a Sunday night seven weeks ago. Venus had just returned from a posh, girls’ boarding school where she’d been acting as a body double for an up and coming Hollywood starlet called Tatiana Fairfleet. They’d both been kidnapped but thanks to Venus’ stunt skills, they’d both escaped unharmed.
Venus had just walked into Dennis’ apartment, when a figure emerged from the kitchen…..
………‘I’m Elliot Nevis. I’m your dad.’
Those six words made Venus feel like she’d just been punched in the solar plexus. The air seemed to drain out of her. Her head was filled with a mesh of emotions; anger, fear, elation and confusion. This was the unravelling of the central mystery in her life? This man with short blonde hair and almond-shaped green eyes was her father?
She turned shakily to Dennis for confirmation.
He nodded uncomfortably.
‘Look Venus,’ said Elliot softly, taking a step towards her, ‘there’s a lot to explain and.….’
But before he could finish his sentence, Venus took a step back and found her voice.
‘How dare you use the word Dad?’ she snarled, her brain threatening to go into meltdown. ‘You walked out on me and Mum when I was THREE MONTHS OLD! What sort of a Dad does that?’
Her body shook with years of pent-up rage. This was the man who’d deserted her and Gail. He was the one who’d deprived her of having a two-parent childhood. How many hours had she spent wishing that he’d never left them?
‘What the hell makes you think you can just suddenly turn up in my life and ‘explain’ everything?’ she snarled, ‘it’s way too late for that!’
‘You only know part of the story,’ said Elliot.
‘Ok then, tell me the rest of it,’ snapped Venus, ‘but it had better be good or I’m straight out of here.’
Elliot sighed heavily. ‘I will tell you everything,’ he nodded, ‘just not yet.’
‘You’ve been in touch with him haven’t you Granddad?’ said Venus suddenly turning to face Dennis.
Dennis blushed, a real rarity for him. ‘It’s been very hard Venus, we’ve always had to think of you.’
‘Think of me?’ snorted Venus with derision. ‘No one seems to have thought of me. I’m the one who’s been kept in the dark.’
Dennis reached out and put his arm on her shoulder but she flicked it away and turned back to Elliot.
‘Alright then,’ she seethed, ‘put me out of my misery. Tell me the truth.’
‘It’s long and complicated Venus,’ Elliot replied, ‘and I will fill you in on the details. But for now, I want you to know, that I didn’t just walk out on the two of you – I had my reasons, very good reasons; in fact staying was impossible.’
‘Why?’ demanded Venus. ‘What was so impossible? Was having a baby too overwhelming for you? Couldn’t you bear the sleepless nights or something? You must have really hated Mum and me to do that to us.’
Elliot shook his head. ‘No Venus, I didn’t hate either of you, quite the opposite in fact, but things elsewhere in my life had spiralled out of control and things became too…..difficult.’
Venus took a deep breath and changed tack. ‘Does Mum know you’re here?’
‘No,’ Elliot replied, ‘and at this stage I’m not going to tell her. The split was very traumatic for both of us.’
‘Traumatic!’ shouted Venus. ‘You ran back to America, left her with a tiny baby and never got in touch again! That doesn’t sound very traumatic for you!’
Tears streamed down Venus’ cheeks. She’d waited so long for this moment but now it was here, it wasn’t the sunny reunion image she’d dreamt about. It felt twisted and uneasy. Why has he appeared like this? Doesn’t he realise how angry I am with him?
‘It wasn’t like that,’ Elliot replied, his voice breaking.
‘Well, what was it like?’
Elliot sighed heavily. ‘I’ve tried to contact Gail many, many times over the years,’ he explained, ‘but each time, she’s told me stay away from both of you.’
Venus was bewildered by this. Her mum had always said that Elliot just suddenly dumped them and then completely vanished from their lives.
Has he really tried to contact us over the years or is this just part of some charm offensive?
She stole a glance at Dennis.
‘It’s true,’ Dennis whispered, his face shadowed by emotion, ‘it’s true and like Elliot said, it’s very complicated.’
‘Well why are you seeing me now?’ Venus asked, turning back to face Elliot, her voice losing a sliver of its edge, ‘what’s changed?’
‘I’ve stayed in touch with Dennis throughout these last fourteen years,’ Elliot replied. ‘I had to. Your mum wouldn’t see me or speak to me, but Dennis kept the channels of communication open. He’s kept me posted about how you’re getting on. I’ve wanted to see you so many times before, but I’d promised your mother I’d leave it. However, two weeks ago, I was asked to come to London for a special assignment. I haven’t been back in all this time but I decided I’d reached a turning point. Venus is fourteen now, I told myself. I’ve respected Gail’s wishes for all this time, but now Venus is old enough to make her own decision about whether or not she wants to know me.’
Venus was completely floored by this speech. It felt like her whole world had just been fractured. Her temples throbbed. She massaged them to try and dislodge the hammering pain inside them.
‘Well what kind of work is it?’ she asked guardedly. She wasn’t going to let him off without telling her why he’d left, but she was intrigued by why he was over here.
‘It’s connected to the film industry,’ Elliot replied.
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The First MAX FLASH book isn’t published until September 2007, but if you want a sneak preview, check out the first two chapters…
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Max Flash, struggled desperately with the metal chains wrapped tightly round his upper body. They dug into his ribs and pinched at his back. Water gushed all around him. It was already up to his waist and rising fast. If he didn’t get out of here in the next minute, his whole body would be submerged.
He twisted to the left and then abruptly to the right. One of the chains uncoiled and fell down into the water. He allowed himself a tiny spark of satisfaction, but still the water rose. It was now halfway up his chest. He yanked his right elbow violently backwards and another chain came free. He tried the same move with his left elbow but the next chain remained in place. He cursed under his breath and slammed his left fist forward and backwards in a fast jerky motion.
The third chain slipped off.
The water continued its rapid ascent, sweeping against his chin.
Come on, come on! Get the fourth chain off!
A sluice of water trickled into his mouth and Max spat it out violently. He shook his torso and brought his elbows crashing together. The final chain disconnected and fell into the liquid depths. As water started to snake up his nostrils, Max reached out and grabbed the ledge above him. He dragged himself upwards, scrambling over the lip of the tank and landing on the hard wooden floorboards with a squelchy thud.
He bent double, resting the palms of his hands on his thighs, and trying to get his breath back.
‘Pretty good!’ nodded Max’s dad, walking towards him and turning off the tap that had been flooding the tank with water ‘but it was a close call. You could do with being five seconds faster.’
CHAPTER 2
Max’s parents Montgomery and Carly Flash were stage magicians. They’d been performing their magic act for over thirty years. Montgomery’s stage name was The Great Montello, while Carly was known as Mystical Cariba. They were both exceptionally accomplished illusionists and their ‘magic’ took in even the most hardened cynics.
Max had grown up backstage, in the wings of theatres and arts centres, watching his parents’ performances and a host of other magic acts. He’d watched fascinated as they performed dazzling tricks and feats, then he found out how they worked, and tried them out himself. He practised and practised until he got every single one down to perfection.
But Max wasn’t just good at doing magic tricks.
Max had been born with an amazingly rare, double-jointed ness, which made his body remarkably flexible and bendy. He was the kid at school who could slide through the narrow park railings. He was the one who was never found during games of ‘Hide and Seek’ because he could squeeze into the most impossibly tiny spaces.
His parents had been aware of these skills his whole life and incorporated him into their act as soon as he showed a serious interest in magic.
Now, several years later, the combination of his remarkable bodily abilities and his dedication to perfecting tricks, meant that he was a first class escapologist, contortionist and creator of illusions.
So being tied up in chains and escaping from a tank of water in the living room was nothing out of the ordinary. It was a new part of the stage act – based on a feat performed by Max’s all-time hero – Harry Houdini.
After he’d changed out of his wet clothes, Max sauntered into the living room. The tank stood in the corner, now empty of water. His parents were by the window conducting a hushed conversation.
‘Er, excuse me,’ Max announced, ‘are you going to let me in on the secret?’
His mum and dad spun round. They both looked on the edge.
‘What’s going on?’ Max demanded.
His dad gave him a guilty-looking smile.
‘There’s something we need to show you,’ said his mum.
Max watched as they walked out of the room. His mum then unbolted the door that led down to the cellar.
He frowned.
They hardly ever went down to the cellar; it was dark and cramped.
‘Don’t worry,’ said his dad with a reassuring smile, ‘it’s nothing to be scared of.’
As Max reached the cellar, his eyes adjusted to the dim light and he made out old tins of paint, mounds of yellowing newspapers and bits of an old motorbike strewn across the cellar floor.
He watched his dad step over to the wooden workbench by the far wall, and feel for something behind it. To Max’s utter astonishment, the workbench then began to slowly move. It swivelled round ninety degrees and stopped when it was pressed against the cellar’s left wall. His dad walked over to the space where the bench had been and slid open a floor panel.
‘Er…is this part of a new trick?’ asked Max, his eyes widening with surprise, ‘because if it is, it looks pretty cool.’
His mum shook her head. ‘Come and see for yourself,’ she said.
Max watched as first his dad and then his mum, lowered themselves through the opening and began climbing down a flight of echoey metallic stairs. Max walked over and stared through the opening. It was so dark down there he could only just make out the shapes of his parents. Where did these steps lead? What exactly was down there?
He hesitated for a few seconds.
Then he took a deep breath and lowered his legs over the side.
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