Grk Undercover Read Online Free Page A

mind, he heard Natascha’s voice, shouting at him down the stairs. “Tim! We’re late! We’re going to miss the train! What are you doing down there?”
    Tim glanced at the clock on the wall and realized she was right. Unless they left now, they would never get to Paris. He dropped the pen on the table and ran up the stairs.
    The front door was open. Natascha was pacing impatiently up and down the street, glancing at her watch and worrying about the time. As soon as she saw Tim, she said, “What have you been doing? Don’t you care about finding Max?”
    “Of course I do,” said Tim. “Sorry I took so long. Sorry I wasn’t ready quicker. Sorry I didn’t answer you when you shouted at me. Sorry I had breakfast.”
    “Stop apologizing so much,” said Natascha. “You’re wasting time and we don’t have time to waste. Let’s just go to Paris!”
    She turned round and hurried along the street. Grk trotted by her side with his nose in the air, sniffing all the fascinating smells that the street had to offer.
    Tim closed the front door. As the lock shut with a loud click, he remembered he hadn’t brought a key. If they missed their train, they wouldn’t be able to get back into the house. They would have to wander the streets till his parents got home from work.
    There was no time to worry about that now. Natascha was already halfway down the street. If he didn’t start moving now, she’d go to Paris alone and he would be left in London. He ran after her.

Chapter 10
    They turned left, then right, and came to the main road.
    A bus was approaching the bus stop.
    “Run!” shouted Natascha. “If we miss this, we’ll have to wait hours for the next one!”
    They sped down the street. Grk darted ahead of Tim and Natascha, his tail wagging and his nose in the air. For the first time that day, he was having fun.
    They reached the bus and hopped aboard. Tim and Natascha pressed their fare cards onto the reader.
    The driver looked down his nose at Grk and said, “Will that dog behave himself? I don’t want any muck on my bus.”
    “You don’t have to worry about that,” said Tim. “He’s completely house-trained.”
    “And bus-trained,” added Natascha.
    “He’s a very well-behaved dog,” said Tim. “He’s not going to pee on the floor.”
    “He’d better not.” The driver glared at Grk.
    Grk glared back. He didn’t like people who didn’t like him.
    The two of them could have stayed like that for hours, glaring at one another, but farther down the bus, people had already started grumbling. They were wondering what was taking so long. No one wanted to be late for work. The driver must have heard their grumbles, because he pressed a button to close the doors and said, “Go on, then. Get inside. Just remember what I said. No muck on the bus!”
    As Tim, Natascha and Grk hurried down the aisle to find a seat, the driver pressed his foot on the accelerator. The bus jerked forward and joined the stream of traffic.
    Five minutes and three stops later, Natascha, Tim and Grk jumped out of the bus, ran along the pavement and darted into the underground station.
    Tim looked at a map on the wall to check their route. Natascha picked up Grk. As you probably know, dogs aren’t allowed to stand on the escalators when they travel on the London Underground. They might get their claws stuck in the gaps. If that happened, they would lose their claws and possibly much more.
    Tim and Natascha pressed their fare cards on the reader, pushed through the ticket barrier and went down the escalator. When theyreached the end of the escalator, Natascha put Grk on the floor and they hurried along the corridor to the platform.
    There was a train waiting. It was packed with commuters. Natascha, Tim and Grk shoved themselves through the door and squeezed into the forest of satchels and suitcases and briefcases and backpacks and backs and bellies and knees and elbows. There was hardly enough room for them, but they didn’t want