Club Dread (3 page)

FRANK

A woman's scream ripped through the air behind us, and both Joe and I leaped into action. Years of ATAC training had conditioned us to react quickly in an emergency.

Joe spun around to the left. I spun around to the right. And the kayak spun around, sending us both into the thick black water of the swamp. As I descended deep into the muck, I heard a third splash somewhere behind us, which I guessed was Matthias. I made a mental note to recommend to Dad when I got back home that they give ATAC agents more aquatic training.

I wondered who the mysterious screamer was. Maybe it was some sort of tropical bird that just sounded like a terrified woman. But I was certain I had caught a
glimpse of someone with long reddish hair in a kayak behind us, right before Joe and I flipped over. I hoped Matthias was all right, and Joe. Joe is a better swimmer than I am, but he can lose his head sometimes, and this was not a good time for that.

Quickly, I stopped thinking about the screamer and Matthias and Joe, and started thinking about the water. More specifically, how I was going to get out of it. I thought I was swimming upward, but I hadn't broken the surface yet. The water was so choked with algae that I couldn't tell for sure which way was up. I hadn't had a chance to take a deep breath before I went under, and already my lungs were starting to burn. I thought about turning and swimming in the other direction, but what if
that
was the wrong way? I had to keep going, and if I hit the bottom, then I would turn around. I just hoped I had enough air.

Finally, I hit the surface—and one of the kayaks. My head slammed into the fiberglass body so hard, I saw stars, and I slipped right back under the water. My hands felt heavy, and I couldn't move my arms and legs in a coordinated way to swim. I had just enough time to realize I was sinking, and in serious trouble, when I felt a hand grab mine. I put all my energy into holding on as the mysterious screamer pulled me out of the water and across the bow of her kayak. I coughed up algae and water. My mouth tasted the way old socks smelled.

When my lungs were clear, my rescuer helped me turn over onto my back. At first, she was just a blur of red hair and blue eyes.
I was right, I had seen a red-haired woman
, I thought. Then my eyes focused and I realized who it was.

“Nancy Drew?”

“Frank Hardy?”

“What are
you
doing here?” We said it at the same time. I couldn't help laughing, even though it hurt a little to do so.

Girls made me kind of nervous at times, but Nancy's mind seemed to work the same way mine did. We were always saying the same thing at the same time, or realizing something together. She was maybe the only girl I didn't become a total idiot in front of. She was staring at me in disbelief, waiting for me to say something.

“You—I mean, we…uh, that is…” I coughed up some more water. Maybe it was an exaggeration to say I didn't become a total idiot in front of Nancy. I became half an idiot. I tried to speak again. But what was I going to tell her? It was odd that we were even out in the swamp in the first place. Matthias had insisted we take the kayaks out. We'd been at the Wetlands for three days and we hadn't found a lead yet.

Then I realized I didn't see Matthias anywhere—or Joe!

“Joe! Where are Joe and Matthias?” I stared down
into the water, looking for signs of motion, but it was still.

“Matthias? Is he the guy who was trying to kill you?” Nancy asked.

“Trying to kill us? What are you talking about?” Joe said. He and Matthias had swum up behind us while we were talking, and now they hung off the side of the kayak. Joe seemed unsurprised to find Nancy here. He was always trying to act smooth around girls. And this wasn't the first time we'd started an investigation only to find Nancy Drew in the middle of it.

“He had his paddle raised like a baseball bat,” Nancy said. “It looked like he was about to take a swing at your head, Joe. That's why I screamed.”

“Oh,” said Joe. “That's not possible. Matthias is—
ow
!”

Behind my back, I hit Joe's arm to cut him off.

“Matthias is a good friend of ours,” I said.

Joe can be a little loose lipped at times. Nancy already knew we were in ATAC, but I didn't feel right giving away another agent's identity. And I didn't want the rest of ATAC to find out that we'd blown our cover.

“Yes,” added Matthias. “Joe and Frank and I go way back. Who are
you
?”

Matthias was smiling, but he definitely seemed irritated. Probably because he was soaking wet.

Nancy gave him a hard look. Then she seemed to soften.

“Nancy—Nancy Drew. I'm friends with Joe and Frank too. I'm staying at the Wetlands for the week. I'm sorry I screamed. It just…it looked strange.”

“I can imagine it did,” said Matthias. “She's right. I did have my paddle raised in the air. I was trying to knock a water snake off it. They're rare, but some of the ones around here can be pretty poisonous. Which reminds me—we should get out of the water and head back to the resort.”

We all got back into our kayaks and started paddling home. Joe, Matthias, and I were soaked to the skin. I could tell from the look on her face that Nancy wanted to ask us questions, but she held back—probably because Matthias was around.

“Are you here by yourself?” Joe asked Nancy. He was trying to be smooth again. He'd been crazy about Nancy's friend Bess since we all met at the Rockapazooma concert.

“No, George and Bess are here too. It's our all-girl vacation, since my dad couldn't come,” Nancy said. “What about you guys?”

Joe didn't answer. I stuttered, not sure what to tell her. I didn't want to lie to her, but I couldn't tell her the truth. Not with Matthias around, anyway. I could give her the same cover story we gave Mom, about winning the essay contest, but if Nancy saw us working at the hotel, she'd know it was a lie.

For our cover, Joe and I were working as busboys in the various resort restaurants. The robberies were most likely an inside job. Matthias had already checked on the repeat guests—no guest had been at the hotel at the time of every single burglary. Matthias wanted us to keep our ears open among the staff and see if anyone said anything suspicious.

After a moment, Matthias spoke up. “They wanted to see the Everglades. Since I've worked here for a while, and we needed some extra help, I talked one of the managers into hiring them for a few weeks.”

“Oh, that's cool,” said Nancy. I could tell she didn't believe him for a second.

We got back to the dock and tied up our kayaks. Thanks to the heat, we'd pretty much dried out already, but I couldn't wait to get back to my room and take a shower. I could feel the swamp muck drying in my ears.

“I'm supposed to meet George and Bess for dinner, but do you guys want to meet tomorrow during the day?” Nancy said when we were done with the kayaks.

“Sure,” Matthias answered, before Joe or I could say anything. I saw a flash of irritation on Nancy's face, but she covered quickly.

“Great. Let's meet at the Courtyard Café at noon.” With that, she was off down the path toward the resort.

I started to head back to our room, but Matthias stood in my way. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he tapped his foot angrily.

“So is she another ATAC agent?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “But she is—”

“A good friend,” Joe said, cutting me off.

“Yeah. And also—oof!” This time, Joe elbowed me in the side.

“And also, Frank's got a total crush on her,” said Joe. “See, he's blushing.”

I
was
turning red, but it was because Joe had knocked the wind out of me. I coughed, and Joe continued talking. “Don't worry about her, though. She won't be in the way. You know girls—she'll probably be down at the beach for the rest of the time she's here.”

Yeah right!
I thought. Once Nancy catches wind of a mystery, she isn't one to back down. It's one of the things I like about her.

Matthias uncrossed his arms, seeming satisfied.

“Well,” he said. “I look forward to meeting her friends tomorrow. But you two had better get back to your room—you're working the dinner service tonight.”

Matthias took off at high speed.

“Wow,” said Joe. “He's a bit of a freak, isn't he?”

“He's an ATAC agent, Joe. He's just a little high-strung.”

“Yeah. That's an understatement.”

Joe had a point. Matthias was a little weird. But ATAC had put him in charge. Although, so far, all he had us doing was working for the hotel. The most interesting thing we'd investigated so far was a clogged drain.

“Come on—we need to get changed into our uniforms.”

Joe groaned. “Don't remind me. Couldn't they have made us lifeguards? Or something a little cooler? All we do all day is run back and forth with trays of food.”

It was true—all day, every day, all we heard was, “Order up!” and, “Clean that.” Yesterday, I'd spent four hours carrying boxes of dishes out of the hotel's basement and stacking them in the attic. Then Matthias told us the management had changed their minds, and had Joe move them back to the basement.

Joe was right. Our cover was the worst.

“We're only here for another four days,” I said. “If we don't find out some information soon, we're going to have to come up with a new plan of attack.”

“Yeah. Maybe Matthias can have us mow the lawn to see if there are any clues hiding in the grass.”

I would have laughed, but it seemed possible that we'd be doing just that tomorrow.

NANCY

“Frank and Joe Hardy are here?” Bess said, lying on the cloud-shaped sofa in the main room of our suite. “I think they must be stalking you, Nancy.”

George laughed. I tossed a pillow at the two of them, but she just laughed harder. After our long afternoon exploring the area around the resort, we'd come back to the suite to shower and crash for the night. It had been a busy day, and we were pretty tired. We'd all changed into our complimentary Wetlands robes—made of recycled, environmentally friendly fabric, of course—and I was filling them in on what had happened while I was in the swamp.

“Very funny. They're obviously here on some case
for ATAC. I don't know what it is, but I think I know who their main suspect is.”

This got Bess's and George's attention. They stopped laughing and leaned in closer.

“Who?” said George.

“This Matthias guy. When I came across Frank and Joe in the swamp, I was pretty sure he was about to hit them with his oar.”

“What?” George stood up, her hands in fists. She's one of the most loyal people I've ever met, and she likes Frank and Joe a lot. I'd hate to be the person who messed with one of her friends.

“They're all right. But I definitely want to keep an eye on this guy. They said he was an ‘old friend,' but they were careful not to mention ATAC in front of him. I told them we'd meet them for lunch tomorrow. Matthias weaseled his way into joining us, but I bet we can get them alone and get the real story. They're posing as hotel employees, so whatever is going on, it's got something to do with the hotel itself, not the guests.”

“Well, Thatcher told me some things while we were at the beach,” Bess said.

“Yeah?” said George. “Like his phone number?”

This time it was Bess's turn to blush and throw the pillow.

“No! From what Thatcher said, most of the employees
love working here, and a lot of them are immigrants that Mr. Thorton helped to set up and get them visas, like Thatcher. If this place closes down, they'll be out of a job—and maybe out of the country. I doubt many of them would do anything to hurt the hotel.”

“Well,
I
found out that the hover boats are totally awesome,” said George. “They run on giant fans, and they just barely skim the surface of the water. I took the safety course, so now I can take them out whenever. You know, if there's any sleuthing we need to do in the swamp or something.”

“Well, we'll see what Frank and Joe have to say tomorrow,” I said, yawning. It was getting late. “Between the five of us, I'm pretty sure we can handle any sort of mystery. But right now, I want to get to bed.”

“Agreed,” said George.

 

The next morning we all called our parents to let them know we'd made it safely. I felt a little bad not mentioning the case to my dad, but I figured nothing had happened yet, so I didn't have anything to tell him. Hannah told me again to make sure we all put on suntan lotion before we went outside. I was surprised she didn't try to pack sandwiches in my luggage.

It was cloudy, so we decided to stick around the hotel for the rest of the morning, instead of heading out to the beach. There was a lot of other stuff to do, anyway.
The Wetlands was like a cross between a hotel and an amusement park. There was a movie theater, a bowling alley, and an arcade in the basement, as well as a gym and a spa in other parts of the hotel. My favorite part of the whole place, though, was the garden.

The entire roof had been converted into an organic farm. They grew everything from flowers to oranges to sugarcane, almost all of which the resort used in their own restaurants. Guests could walk through the garden, or if they wanted, they could learn how to grow some of the food. The hotel even had it's own beehives from which it got honey. All the paths on the roof were solar paneled, to collect energy from the sun and turn it into electricity, which powered the hotel. At the end of our tour, we got to taste little bits of everything.

“This is amazing,” I said, biting into a section of the sweetest, freshest orange I'd ever had in my life.

“Try some of this,” said Bess, holding out a long slice of golden fruit. It was juicy and delicious.

“What
is
that? It's incredible.”

“Mango,” she replied.

It was the best food I'd ever had. And most of it was just simple fruits and vegetables, straight off the vine. I was in heaven. Even the gardens couldn't distract me completely from the case, though. I kept my eye out for unhappy employees or anything out of the ordinary,
but it was just as Bess had said: Everyone seemed pretty happy.

I must have checked my cell phone every five minutes, waiting for noon to roll around. If there was a mystery here, I wanted to be involved. Finally, it was time to meet up with Frank and Joe.
And Matthias,
I thought unhappily.

Joe and Frank were waiting at a table when we got to the café, but we were in luck—there was no sign of Matthias.

“Hi, guys. Cute uniforms,” Bess said as we sat down.

Frank and Joe were wearing the standard Wetlands outfit: a green polo shirt with brown shorts and a brown baseball cap. Frank blushed a deep red and mumbled something into his plate.

“Thanks,” Joe said. “And I think Frank says thank you too. But he might have been talking to his lunch.”

Bess laughed, and even Frank had to smile at the sound of it. No guy can resist Bess's laugh.

“You look awful,” Frank said. “Nice! I meant, nice. You look
awfully nice
.”

This time we all laughed, but I worried that Frank might not open his mouth again for the rest of lunch. However, once I asked him the real reason they were at the Wetlands, he seemed to forget his embarrassment.

“There's been a string of robberies in the last six months. Recently, they started turning violent. A few
weeks ago, one of the guests, a singer named Jasmina, was robbed and left in a coma. Apparently, the Wetlands has been losing business ever since.”

“I remember when that happened!” said Bess. “We were supposed to go to her concert in River Heights, but it was cancelled. It was all over the news. Her jewelry was rumored to be worth millions.”

I remembered that case too. No wonder ATAC had been called in—she was a pretty big name.

“So Matthias is one of your suspects?” I asked.

“No,” said Joe. “He's another ATAC agent.”

I was shocked. Matthias, an agent? He seemed so untrustworthy. If he gave me four quarters for a dollar, I'd count the change. Twice. Maybe I'd misunderstood the situation in the swamp, but I still didn't get a good vibe from him.

“Where is he now? Investigating? Do you have any leads?” If we were going to work on this as a team, I wanted to know what was up.

“Actually, I don't know where he is,” Frank said. “But we didn't tell him about you. Or that you knew about ATAC.”

“Yeah, some of the other agents aren't as cool as we are about these things,” Joe added.

“You mean you don't want anyone to know that we totally figured out about your secret club?” George couldn't resist rubbing their faces in it a little bit.

Frank and Joe had tried to hide ATAC from us at first, before they realized how useful we could be. I can understand why, though. If everyone knew about ATAC, they'd never be able to solve any crimes.

“We do want your help on this,” Joe continued, ignoring George as best he could. “The only lead we've gotten so far is that Jasmina spent a lot of time at the hotel spa. Like, every day. Since our cover has us being busboys, we don't have a way of getting in there. Do you think you three could go check it out for us?”

“Could we ever!” said Bess.

The spa at the Wetlands was a five-star destination in and of itself. Guests came from around the world just to go to it. From the photos we'd seen in the brochure, it looked like a tiny palace hidden in the middle of a jungle—all inside the hotel. Bess had been dying to go to the spa ever since she'd first heard we were coming to the resort. I had to admit, I was a little curious too. And if we could pick up some clues while we were there, all the better.

“Great!” said Frank. “No one seems to have gotten to know Jasmina, and the official police investigation turned up nothing. It was the most recent—and the most violent—of the break-ins, so finding out what happened to her is our best shot at figuring out who's behind all of this.”

“I might skip out on that, if you guys don't mind,” said
George. “I want to take one of the hover boats out.”

“Excellent!” A new voice came from behind my back. “Then I can take you out. You must be one of the lovely friends of Ms. Drew that Frank and Joe told me so much about.”

When I turned around, Matthias was there smiling, his hand extended to shake George's. I wondered how much he had heard of our conversation. Even knowing he was an ATAC agent, I found it hard to like him.

“Matthias Dunstock,” he added. “Swamp tour guide, friend of Frank and Joe Hardy, and very late for lunch. My sincerest apologies. So, what are you skipping so you can go out with me in a hover boat?”

Phew.
So he hadn't heard much of our conversation. George looked at me and I nodded. She reached out to shake his hand.

“I'm George. I'd love a tour. I took the safety course yesterday, but I haven't taken one of the boats out yet.”

Matthias smiled. He couldn't take his eyes off George. I still didn't like him, but if George went with him, maybe she could learn some more information about the case. Something had certainly put him in a much better mood today, so maybe we'd just gotten off on the wrong foot.

“Bess and I are heading to the spa,” I told Matthias. “Frank and Joe, we'll see you later tonight?”

They nodded as we got up from the table.

“We have to get back to work anyway,” Joe said.

As they started to get up, Matthias handed Frank and Joe a set of ID badges with their pictures on them. He explained that they were to wear them at all times, on and off duty. “Wetlands policy,” he said.

George and Matthias made plans to meet up in an hour down by the hover boats. Only as we were leaving did Matthias acknowledge Bess and me. He seemed to have eyes only for George. The three of us headed back to our suite to get changed.

“I think Matthias has a crush on someone,” Bess whispered loudly as we got into the elevator. Without looking, I could feel George's face turn red. She leaned back against the mirrored wall and tried to play it cool.

“He's just doing his job. And anyway, I figured if I went out with him, I could maybe get some information,” George said. “And I didn't want to go to the spa. And—”

“Suuure,” said Bess. “Sounds like a lot of excuses to me.”

“We're just teasing you, George. You should go with Matthias. Just be careful.” I didn't want to say anything, but I still had a strange feeling about him.

Suddenly, the elevator opened on our floor. Right away, I could tell something was wrong. I was the last one out when we left this morning, and I'd closed the
door. Now it was hanging open by a few inches.

I put my finger to my lips and pointed to the door. George and Bess went silent, and we crept slowly forward. Bess took her cell phone out of her pocket and started dialing—hotel security, I was certain. George slipped off one shoe and held it above her head like a club.
One,
I mouthed to the girls…
two
…we all took a breath.
Three!

I swung open the door and my mouth gaped open at the sight in front of me.

Our beautiful suite had been torn apart!