39 Clues - 05 - The Black Circle (2 page)

gadget."Amy moved back into the flow of oncoming people with Dan close behind. She

swept quickly across the wide corridor and dropped the phone into a passing14baby

stroller, then ducked into a bookstore and opened the first book she could find. The

stroller was attached to a mother who was clearly late for a flight, parting traffic as she

ran for her gate.The Kabras were so intent on watching the screen on Ian's phone that

they walked right past Dan and Amy, then broke into a run themselves."Nice play!" said

Dan. "I hope that kid drools all over their expensive technology before they get it

back."Amy shot Dan a triumphant smile. Clearly, outsmarting the Kabras -- especially

Ian -- had put some Cahill sizzle back in her step."Let's find that locker," she said.* *

*The locker wasn't very big, about one foot square. But it was plenty full. There were

three items inside, which Amy removed one at a time."This looks like a paperweight,

don't you think?" she asked, holding a honey-colored glass ball in the palm of her

hand."Let me see," Dan said, reaching out to grab it."No way! Knowing you, it'll get

dropped on the floor and smashed into a thousand pieces. Let me have a look first."Dan

didn't protest. He had already imagined what a marble that size would look like rolling

down the long airport corridor.15"Try holding it in the light a little more," said Dan.Amy

squinted up at it. "It looks like a room, and there's a mother inside, sitting on a

chair.""How do you know it's a mother?" asked Dan. "She's holding a baby, stupid."

Amy looked closer."There are three letters on one of the walls -- TSV-- and ew! I think

that's an eye staring back at me from another wall.""Creepy," said Dan.Amy held out

the glass paperweight and told Dan to put it carefully in the backpack for future

investigation. He hated it when she treated him like a three-year-old, and the

temptation to roll the honey-colored ball down the airport corridor returned. He held it

in the light again instead."Did you see the key?" asked Dan."What key? What are you

talking about?""On the bottom," said Dan, rolling the paperweight over. Under the floor

of the room there was a small key hidden in the glass. "When the time comes, I get to

bust it open.""The paperweight was holding something down," said Amy, lifting out a

thin piece of parchment about the width and length of her own hand. It was filled with

ornately drawn letters, numbers, and lines.16"It looks like someone spent a lot of time

misspelling words," said Dan. Something about the way the letters were grouped

looked oddly familiar to Dan, but he couldn't pinpoint what. Especially with his stomach

grumbling."Is there any food in that locker? I have got to get something to eat. Brain ...

needs ... candy."Amy ignored her brother and reached one last time into the small

space. At the very back of the locker there was a ten-inch-square box."I hope it's full of

Rice Krispies Treats," said Dan, yanking the box out of Amy's hands."Hey! Be careful

with that."Dan looked like he wanted to give Amy a wedgie, but she was quick to calm

him down."Sorry, okay? I'm just nervous. Open it up."Dan removed the lid, riffled

through the contents, and then busted out laughing."Check me out! I'm a

nineteen-year-old beatnik from San Francisco!"17Dan held out the first of two

passports, expertly forged with Dan's name. The photo showed Dan with a goatee and

mustache, along with John Lennon glasses."Let me see the other one," Amy said. Dan

flipped open the second passport and nearly fell over."You really need to fire whoever's

cutting your hair."Amy grabbed the passport from Dan. In it, she was wearing a short

black wig and stylish red-rimmed glasses."I'm twenty!"Dan had already pulled out each

of the parts to make his disguise and begun putting them on, setting Amy's wig and

glasses aside as he went.At the bottom of the box, under the wig, Amy spied an

inch-thick paperback. Dan knew it was love at first sight."A Russian guidebook! And it's

well worn, like someone already used it on a long trip," Amy exclaimed. "Looks like

dullsville to me.""What if it's another guidebook Grace used?" Dan knew better than to

get his hopes up. "Still dullsville."But Amy was instantly captivated. It was her favorite

kind of book: weathered so she didn't need to take special care of it, with a story of its

own because it had been in the possession of who knew how many travelers before

her. As she flipped through, she came upon two tickets tucked between the pages

about a certain city.18"Two airline tickets for Volgograd, Russia, with our names on

them," she said. Amy looked at her watch. "Leaving in one hour. Why would anyone

think we're stupid enough just to hop on a plane to Russia?""Check this out!" said Dan.

There was one more thing at the bottom of the box, and as far as Dan was concerned,

it was the best item of all.He held up a shiny new Visa gold card with his name on

it."Peace, love, and a Visa card! YES! It's GOLD! Let's go get some doughnuts! Let's go

get some video games! Let's go get some computers!""Calm down, Dan! You're scaring

me."Amy put on her dark wig and tucked in her natural reddish-brown hair. She stuck

out her tongue. With the red glasses on, she was virtually unrecognizable."You look

weird," said Dan."Speak for yourself." Amy laughed. "You've achieved total dweebdom

in that getup." "Thank you."Dan had the piece of parchment in his hand and turned it

over. His heart flipped. He looked up, no longer goofy and excited."Amy...""Dan? What

is it?"Amy reached for the parchment, but Dan instinctively pulled it close. This was a

treasure he never intended to let go. He looked at his sister."We have to catch that

plane."19CHAPTER 3When Amy Cahill dreamed of traveling the world, she'd never

pictured herself sitting next to a pint-sized John Lennon."I don't think we're going to

find doughnuts in Russia," she muttered, staring at her brother's goofy round

glasses."Not to worry! We're covered," Dan answered. He was staring into a bottomless

pit of snacks. Their backpack was loaded down with candy bars and bags of chips,

purchased by Dan with help from his new best friend, the Visa gold card. Dan opened a

bag of Doritos and leaned back in his seat.Amy was more focused on what they should

be doing than stuffing her face with junk food. She'd finally convinced Dan to let her

hold the parchment so he wouldn't cover it in Doritos dust, but staring at it only

heightened her concern. The telegram they'd gotten that morning was from someone

who called himself NRR, which meant nothing to Amy or Dan.20Worse was the fact that

Nellie's phone was dead, so they couldn't reach her."Do you think we can trust NRR? I

mean, we're on our own here. Nellie can't protect us this time. This whole thing could

be an elaborate setup.""All I know is four hours on a plane with this mustache is going

to kill me. It itches like crazy.""Can't you be serious for one minute? We're on our way

to Russia. Russia, Dan. Do you get that? Without Nellie or Saladin."Amy knew Dan

loved Saladin and couldn't bear the idea of being away from him for very long. And no

Nellie? She wasn't their mom, not even close, but she was a pretty good stand-in given

the crazy situation they were in."Let me see that thing again," said Dan, snatching the

note from Amy's fingers.He held the parchment in his hand and looked at the scrambled

letters, then he reverently turned it over. Amy knew it was the photo on that side that

most intrigued him. She watched as he looked at it, his attention riveted on the

black-and-white image of a couple, young and clearly in love, standing in front of the

American embassy in Russia."It's really them, isn't it?" asked Dan."You bet it is," Amy answered.In Paris, Dan had lost his only picture of their parents and Amy knew what

having a new one meant to him. But it had also sent them both into a tailspin.21Mom,

Dad, what were you doing in Russia?Amy hesitated. "It's amazing seeing them like this,

so young and happy. I mean, it's the perfect bait. How horrible would it be if someone

was using this picture to manipulate us?""I get what you're saying," said Dan. He ran

his finger along the edge of the photo, touched his mom's face, gazed into the eyes of

a dad he could barely remember. "But if there's a chance to find something out..."Amy

knew how Dan felt because she felt exactly the same way.There was a message in

script below the picture, and Dan read it aloud for about the hundredth time, trying to

make sense of it:The clock is ticking. Find me in thirty-six hours or the door to the room

closes forever. Come alone, as your parents did, or don't come at all. Trust no one.

NRRDan flipped over the parchment to look at the scrambled letters again. He stared at

them all the way through takeoff while he munched through a second monster bag of

Doritos. It wasn't until the beverage cart arrived and he guzzled an entire Coke that

Amy could see things were starting to click.22"Where did you say we were flying to

again? Volvoflurb?""Volgograd," Amy replied."Riiiiight. Give me that envelope the

bellboy handed you this morning. I have an idea."Amy was using the envelope as a

bookmark. She pulled it out and gave it to Dan, curious about what he was up to."This

should do it," said Dan. He ripped a page out of an in-flight magazine and pulled out a

pen, writing down one of the word combinations.RGOLGOVAD"That was the problem,

the missing letters. It was confusing me. But they come from the envelope -- this one's

VOLGOGRAD, see?"Dan took the underlined L from the envelope into the mix and

unscrambled all the letters. Amy flipped to a page in the guidebook listing cities in

Russia, and a few minutes later Dan and Amy were staring at a list of six. RGOLGOVAO

-- VolgogradOCOSWM -- MoscowENBIRGKRUYEAT -- YekaterinburgGBSUXRTEPRETS2

-- St. Petersburg X 2DNAGABERSAMIAI -- Magadan, SiberiaBAERMKSISOI -- Omsk,

Siberia"Yekaterinburg," said Dan. "Sounds like a place where they throw up a lot. Can

we skip that one?"23Amy didn't bother commenting. She had already figured out

something else."We have a leftover X and a 2 with the St. Petersburg one," said Amy.

"I bet that means X2. St. Petersburg, times two. It must mean there are two things we

have to discover there."Dan nodded. "Now we just have to figure out what we're

supposed to do in all these places.""Volgograd is where this plane is headed, so it has

to be the first place we're supposed to search. It's also shown in this paperweight," said

Amy."How do you figure?" asked Dan.She held the heavy glass ball out where Dan

could better see it."The letters on the wall -- TSV -- those stand for Tsaritsyn,

Stalingrad, and Volgograd. According to the guidebook, they've renamed the city

twice.""The Russians can't make up their minds?" asked Dan.Amy ignored her brother's

question and leaned in closer. "I think I know what we're looking for once we

land.""You've been holding out on me!" said Dan, wiping his salty fingers on his

goatee.Amy tapped the cover of the book she'd found in the locker. "These things are

full of answers. You just have to open one up once in a while."24When Dan saw Russia

for the first time, he choked on a corn chip and coughed it up onto the airport

sidewalk."Ew! Seriously, you will never have a girlfriend," said Amy."Like I'd want

one!"Dan considered a sneak attack on his sister, but just then all his senses fired.

Every sign was a collection of strange and swirly letters, impossible to read. The air was

thick with flavors yet to be tried, red-and-yellow buses lumbered by, and everywhere

Dan heard the sound of a new, exotic language.They glanced back and forth outside

the Volgograd airport terminal looking at the jumbled lines of dirty taxicabs. Neither one

of them was sure someone else could be trusted driving them, especially after the GPS

snafu in Cairo."What about that guy?" Dan asked through a mouthful of Kit Kat. It was

his third candy bar in as many hours, and his voice was coming out a little jittery."Don't

let him catch your eye," said Amy. "He'll never leave us alone."But it was too late. The

driver was already blasting across four lanes toward them. Dan had a feeling about the

bearded Russian with the Volkswagen van.25It suited his beatnik style to ride around in

a vintage 1960s peacemobile."No worries. I speak this guy's language.""Is wearing that

mustache making you dumber or something?" Amy asked.The van veered wildly across

the road and skidded to a stop in front of Dan and Amy."We want to rent our own

ride," said Dan. "Can you help us out?"What?! Amy mouthed. Rent a car? Who was

going to drive it?"You want car of your own? I know guy. Best deal in Volgograd."Dan

had never driven a car, but he was pretty good on a dirt bike. He flashed the Visa gold

card, then slid it back into his pocket."Can you get us a motorcycle? We like the open

air."The bearded Russian winked, and less than an hour later, Dan was pulling out of a

back alley with Amy jammed into a sidecar beside him. It was a vintage Russian military

bike, army green with a kick start."Are you sure you can handle this thing?" asked Amy,

clutching her guidebook."Hold on! This is going to be a bumpy ride," said Dan. The grill

of a delivery truck blasted by, then Dan veered out of the alley and gunned it."Slow