Mind Games Read Online Free Page A

money rolling in, thought Zac, they need to keep kids addicted to their games.
    Computer games were definitely fun, but there was also something a little bit creepy about the way they sucked you in.
    Suddenly, Zac noticed something strange.When a kid made a very high score, a man in a black suit and dark sunglasses would appear from nowhere. The man would whisper something in the kid’s ear and the two of them would disappear through a door.
    As Zac watched, it happened at least three times.
    Where were the men taking the games champs? And what were they whispering?
    Zac dug out his trusty SpyPad. He switched it on and stuck in a pair of headphones. The SpyPad had a high-powered multi-directional microphone feature. Zac could hear almost anything, even the softest whisper, from about 50 metres away.

    Sneaking closer to the MindLab display, Zac pointed his SpyPad at one of the men in black suits. The man leant down towards a kid on one of the computers.
    â€˜Hey, you’re pretty good at that game,’ the man said. The kid hardly looked up.
    â€˜My name’s Mr Tait,’ said the man, sticking out his hand. ‘How’d you like a job with MindLab? We’re hiring champion gamers for an interesting project we’re working on. We pay good money.’
    That got the kid’s attention. He nodded, stood up and walked off with Mr Tait.
    Zac followed along behind, as close as he dared. Mr Tait and the kid disappeared through a door that said, ‘Private’.
    Zac crouched down behind a pot plant and listened closely. The SpyPad’s microphone was so powerful, Zac could hear everything the man said, even through a closed door.
    â€˜MindLab is so much more than a gaming company,’ Mr Tait was saying. ‘The technology we invent for games, we also use for much bigger things. Like satellites.’
    Satellites! Zac’s face flushed with excitement. He was about to crack this case, he could feel it.
    â€˜At the moment, we’re trying to discover how a particularly powerful satellite called WorldEye works,’ Mr Tait said. ‘Since you’re so good with the MindLab 3000, we thought you’d be able to help. We use the same controls for our WorldEye project, you see.’
    So the kid on the other side of the door would be joining a group of kids recruited by MindLab to hack into WorldEye using the MindLab 3000. The hackers Zac followed in the karaoke bar were too!
    The plan was ingenious. Develop top-level hacking technology and disguise it as an ordinary games console. Then, recruit the best gamers and pay them lots of money for their silence.
    No-one would ever suspect kids would be the brains behind a plot as big as hacking into WorldEye.
    Just then, the kid on the other side of the door asked Mr Tait a question.
    â€˜I thought that satellite belonged to someone else,’ the kid said. Zac held his breath. What would Mr Tait say to that?
    There was a long silence. Then Zac heard the faintest sound. Even with the powerful SpyPad microphone, it was almost too quiet to hear. It was a cross between a sob and a whimper of pain. Zac’s blood ran cold.
    Zac heard Mr Tait’s cruel voice. ‘When you work for MindLab, you don’t ever ask questions. Now you know why.’
    Pins and needles prickled Zac’s legs. He was going to cramp up if he didn’t move soon. He shifted a millimetre to his left. But it was enough. A voice called out.
    â€˜Over there! Behind the pot plant!’
    Oh no! One of the kids from the karaoke bar had spotted Zac.
    Before he could run, Zac was surrounded. Zac recognised the man from the front entrance, the one who’d forced him to enter the games comp. He saw all the kids from the karaoke bar. As well as those kids, there were a whole lot of goons he hadn’t met yet.
    There was no escaping this one!
    â€˜I know someone very keen to meet you,’ said the man from the front entrance in his creepy voice. He grabbed