Help me gather information discreetly and you will be handsomely rewarded.â
Frank put the photos down. âYeah, well, I could be wrong about the cats, I suppose,â he said.
âYou want stuff on dragons?â said Hunter.
âYes, I want stuff on dragons,â replied Buchanan.
Chapter 9
For Holly and Archie it didnât seem quite real. Weaver had driven them to Heathrow Airport, where, without delays or queues, they boarded a luxury private jet, which took them to America.
After take-off, Holly and Archie spent the first couple of hours running around the plane, looking at all the cool stuff. When Hollyâs dad told them to sit still, they played computer games then decided to watch a film.
âI could get used to this,â said Archie.
âIt certainly beats being stuck inside that house,â said Holly, lying back in her comfy bed, with her head on the soft pillow. The film was one she had really wantedto see but she only managed to watch the opening credits before her exhaustion caught up with her and she was asleep.
When she awoke, the captain was announcing that they would be landing shortly in Los Angeles, where the local time would be 5 a.m.
âIf you look over to your right, you can see the deserts of California,â he added.
Holly looked out of the window sleepily. The sun was rising in the sky, reddening the barren landscape. She thought about Dirk. She would phone him when they arrived and tell him where she was.
When the plane landed, there was no messing about with customs or passports. They simply went straight through to the car park, where a black stretch limo was awaiting them.
âYouâll be staying in the Hollywood Hills,â said Weaver.
âWhere they make all the films?â said Holly.
âYou wonât be far from the major studios,â he replied matter-of-factly.
Big Hair could barely contain herself.
âWow, this is real star treatment,â she squealed.
The limo took them to the city. Seeing a street sign saying âHollywoodâ, Holly was surprised to see that, inspite of the palm trees that lined the roads, the area actually looked quite ordinary and grubby.
âHey, youâre Holly in Hollywood,â said Archie.
Then they headed up a winding road and the houses got bigger and more how Holly had imagined Hollywood would look. They came to a set of gates, which opened automatically. At the end of the driveway was a large white house with columns along the front and an upstairs balcony.
âThis is where youâll be staying during your time here,â said Weaver.
When the car stopped, Holly and Archie burst out and ran to the house. It looked like part of a film set â too new and clean-looking to be a real house. Weaver opened the door. Inside, a central staircase led to a landing and four large rooms, all of which had doors that opened on to the balcony.
Archie pushed one wide open and stepped out. The vast city was laid out before them, bathed in the soft early morning light.
âNice view,â he said.
âTry this one,â replied Holly. She was standing at the corner of the building looking the other way, up the hill. Archie joined her and saw what she was looking at.
Above them were nine giant letters set in the hills that spelt HOLLYWOOD.
âI imagine this sort of thing happens to you all the time,â said Archie.
âOh, every day,â replied Holly.
âI may have to call my agent about my latest role,â said Archie.
âMe too. I need a much bigger part,â said Holly.
âHey, I wonder if weâre next door to anyone famous.â
They tried to see into next doorâs garden but the houses were designed so you couldnât see in from the balcony. Archie suggested they try looking from one of the trees next to the fence.
As they ran downstairs into the garden, they passed Big Hair who shouted, âStop running around, this isnât a
Cara Shores, Thomas O'Malley
Newt Gingrich, Pete Earley