One False Step (12 page)

Now that Joe was free, he set about untying Frank. Serge had done more than just tie the rope around Frank's waist so he could be pulled into the helicopter. Frank's feet and hands were tied too. Still, Joe managed to free his brother by working carefully with the knots.

Finally, both Hardy boys were upright in their seats and ready to find out their fate.

Frank was sure he could see boat traffic below. They were over water. Where were they headed? Just then Joe felt the helicopter bank, and he knew they were starting to descend. Within minutes, they had landed.

“We're going to get in that panel truck over there,” Serge said. “Don't try anything. If it hadn't been for the baron's daughter, you'd already be at the bottom of the Atlantic.”

Frank shuddered. He realized now that they had actually flown out of Philadelphia, across New
Jersey, and over the Atlantic, but that evidently Elisabeth had radioed the pilot at the last minute to bring the Hardy boys back. He couldn't imagine why, but he was glad. He was sure that Serge and Piet would have enjoyed shoving them out of the helicopter into the ocean below.

“I've already untied my brother,” Joe said brazenly. “I thought that would make it faster for us after we landed.” Serge gave him a funny look but didn't say anything.

The Hardy boys followed Serge and Piet out of the helicopter and then ran, bent over to avoid the whirling blades, toward the panel truck.

There were a couple of men waiting for them in the back, but they said nothing as Serge and Piet and the Hardy boys jumped inside. When they were all in, one of the men shut the sliding door, and they were enveloped in total darkness.

The panel truck sped away, leaving Frank to wonder where in the world they were headed. They had escaped a watery death by moments, so he didn't believe they had been saved only to die some other way, but with criminals like the Aérocirque gang, no one could be sure of anything.

Joe could tell from the speed and from the way the panel truck was riding that they were now on an expressway. Where they were headed, though, he could only guess.

Frank figured they had been in the panel truck
for about thirty minutes when they exited the expressway, stopped, then slowly made their way along surface streets. Then the vehicle dipped down as though they were headed into a tunnel of some kind. Once again he had a strange feeling in his stomach, as though maybe they had been saved from the ocean only to be subjected to something even more horrendous.

Joe had just shifted a little so he could lean over and whisper to Frank when the panel truck finally stopped. One of the men said, “We're going to blindfold you and tie your hands now, so don't try anything.”

“Okay,” Frank said.

“Okay,” Joe repeated.

This wasn't the time to try to escape, Frank decided. What he was hoping was that their captors would lock him and Joe together in a room somewhere so they could make plans.

Once the Hardy boys were blindfolded, the sliding side door of the panel truck opened. Someone took hold of each of their arms and led them across cement.

Joe could smell exhaust fumes. They must be in an underground parking garage, he decided.

Frank heard a dinging sound, and he knew that they were standing in front of an elevator. He was proven right when he recognized the sound of elevator doors whooshing open.

For some reason
, Joe thought,
elevators smell the same all over the world, and after the doors close, you feel as though you're in a soundproof room
.

From the rapid ascent, Frank was sure that this was a private elevator that only stopped at the top floors of the building. He wondered what kind of building they were in. Was it the headquarters of some company, or was it one of the high-rise apartment buildings in downtown Philadelphia? It occurred to him that they might soon be involved in another robbery.

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Joe felt a hand on his back push him out. Once again someone grabbed his arm and led him through wherever they were.

Frank knew they were standing in front of a door and that someone was using a key. In his mind he wondered if they were about to meet someone even higher up than the baron.

When the door opened, the Hardy boys were pushed inside.

“Take off your blindfolds,” a man said.

Joe was stunned. He recognized the voice. The last thing he wanted was to take off his blindfold and look at the person standing before them.

Frank slowly removed his blindfold and blinked. As his eyes focused, he said, “Why did you do it, Mario?”

Mario Zettarella gave him a steely stare. “For the
money,” he said. “Why else do people break the law?” He shook his head. “Yesterday, I told the baron that he had to cut me in on his operation or I'd send him to prison. When he agreed, I knew I had to find a way to get rid of you two, because you were getting too close to the truth.”

Yesterday?
Frank thought.
That means this whole operation today was a setup!

Joe angrily removed his blindfold. “You're sworn to uphold the law!” he shouted at Mario.

Mario snorted. “Don't give me platitudes,” he said. “People don't respect the police. We can't make a decent living.”

“Our father trusted you,” Frank said.

“Well, that's too bad,” Mario said. He shook his head. “If it hadn't been for Elisabeth, you two would be at the bottom of the Atlantic, but she managed to convince her father to countermand my orders, and now—well, here you are, and I have to figure out another way to deal with you.”

“I'm sure you'll think of something,” Joe said sarcastically.

“Oh, yes, I'm sure I will,” Mario said. “This will be the final case for the Hardy boys.” He stood up. “I've got some other business to take care of. Enjoy your last few hours.”

“Greed,” Joe said after Mario was gone. “It's all about greed.” He shook his head in disgust. “We could sit here all day and analyze the reasons why Mario really did this, Frank, but we'd better focus on finding a way out of here,” he said. “We probably don't have long. I'm sure Mario is just trying to figure out some way to get rid of us that won't tie him to the crime.”

“It's Elisabeth who puzzles me. For some reason, she convinced the pilot to fly us here,” Frank said. “I wonder why.”

Joe walked over to the window and looked out. “Frank! Come here!”

Frank joined Joe at the window. “What's the matter?” he asked.

“Does any of this look familiar?” Joe said.

Frank looked at the buildings across the street, then he said, “Joe! We're in Elisabeth's apartment building!”

“I think we're probably in her
apartment”
Joe said. “I remember smelling something familiar when we got here, and I think it was her perfume.”

“It's all right! My father wants me to talk to them!”

A girl's voice had come from the other side of the door, and the Hardy boys immediately recognized it as Elisabeth's. There was a click, and the door opened. Elisabeth stood there, a scowl on her face. Behind her was a burly guard. “Don't worry. They're not going anywhere,” Elisabeth said. “I just want to find out what they know.”

At that, Elisabeth stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her. She immediately put a finger to her lips, letting Frank and Joe know that they shouldn't say anything. It also told them that maybe, just maybe, they had a chance to escape.

“Well, well, I guess the mighty Hardy boys have met their match,” Elisabeth said melodramatically, and loud enough for the guard to hear her.

But Frank could see in Elisabeth's eyes that she didn't mean a word of it.

When she got to Frank and Joe, she whispered, “I'm sorry, and I'm going to help you get out of here, but it's not going to be easy.”

“Did you really radio the pilot to bring us back here?” Joe asked.

Elisabeth nodded. “Nobody was supposed to get hurt. It was only about robbing people's apartments,” she said. “Not murder!”

“If you help us escape, Elisabeth, well make sure the police know what you did,” Joe said, encouraging her. She was clearly their last hope. “It'll make a difference.”

Elisabeth shook her head. “This just all got out of hand,” she said. Now there were tears in her eyes.

“How did Mario get involved?” Frank asked.

“He's shrewd. He's very shrewd,” Elisabeth said. “He suspected Aérocirque after the first robbery in New York, so he watched us carefully here in Philadelphia, and late yesterday he told my father what he wanted.”

“Blackmail,” Joe said.

Elisabeth nodded.

“Is everything all right in there?” the guard called.

“Yes, yes, it's fine,” Elisabeth shouted back, in a tough, angry voice. “I'm getting what I need for my father. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself.” Under her breath, she added, “We need to hurry.”

“Just tell us how we can get out, and we'll do it,” Joe said. He hesitated. “Why don't you come with
us? When they find out what you've done, there's no telling what they'll do to you.”

“I've got this all planned out. They'll never guess that I had anything to do with it,” Elisabeth said. “You're going to walk a rope to the building across the street.”

Frank and Joe looked at each other.

“Are you serious?” Joe said. “That's your plan?”

“You did it once, and there's no reason why you can't do it again,” Elisabeth said. “It's the only way out. There are guards everywhere, but they'll never suspect this.”

“Why wouldn't they?” Frank said. “You said it yourself. We did it once, so why wouldn't we do it again?”

“That's just the point. I overheard Mario talking to my father. He didn't think you'd make it across the first time,” Elisabeth said. “When you did, he was sure you'd fall the second time. I don't think anyone will expect you to try it a third time.”

“When we saw Mario here, I just didn't want to believe that the whole thing was a setup,” Frank said. “It's just too . . .
evil.”

“Mario thought it would be an easy way to get rid of you without anyone suspecting the truth,” Elisabeth said. “He was sure that the daring Hardy boys would go along with it, thinking it was the only way to make sure the Aérocirque acrobats
were caught so the robberies would stop.”

“Mario gave us a little black wire to communicate with him so that he would know which apartment was going to be robbed. The plan was for him and his officers to be there to catch the acrobats when they came across the rope,” Frank said. “So something else I already suspected must be true: That wire was a phony. We were just supposed to
think
we were communicating with him.”

Elisabeth nodded. “That was an added incentive. If you believed you were in contact with Mario, you'd be more likely to walk the rope,” Elisabeth said. “When you both fell, as Mario was sure you would, he would have been a witness to the bravery of the Hardy boys as they tried to solve another baffling case.”

“Frank and I were concerned about all the noise—that it would keep Mario from learning our position,” Joe said, “when all along he knew where we were headed.”

“I dropped the radio after we jumped from the helicopter, but Mario and his officers showed up anyway,” Frank said. “At the time, it seemed a little strange, but Mario had an explanation for it—so we shook it off.”

“I'm sorry,” Elisabeth said. She looked nervously toward the door. “You have to go now!”

Frank looked at Joe. “It's the only way out,” he said. “We have no other choice.”

Joe nodded. “You're right,” he said. He turned to Elisabeth. “Serge used a small rocket launcher to get the rope to the other building,” he told her. “How are we going to do that?”

Elisabeth smiled. “Where do you think they store all of their equipment?” she said.

She walked over to the bookcase, removed a large volume from one of the shelves, and stuck her hand through the space where the book used to be. Within seconds the bookcase opened, revealing a large walk-in safe.

“If this were a movie, I'd have expected something like this,” Joe said. “I guess this whole thing from beginning to end's been like a movie, though, so I'm not surprised!”

Elisabeth opened the thick door, turned on a light, and Frank and Joe followed her inside.

There were small rocket launchers, piles of rope, and grappling hooks stacked all over the floor.

“Why so much?” Frank asked.

“When they were in a hurry to get away with what they stole from the different apartments, the acrobats had to leave their equipment behind,” Elisabeth explained. “It can't be traced, so that's no problem, but we had to keep them supplied. My father's job in the plan is to take what they'll
need to each performance, so they'll have it.”

“Does Mario know about this?” Joe said.

“He knows about the equipment, certainly, but he doesn't know about this room,” Elisabeth said. She smiled at them. “He'll have no idea how you were able to escape.”

“What about your father? What will he do when he finds out we've escaped?” Frank asked. “Will he suspect you?”

Elisabeth hesitated for a moment, then she said, “My father has already left the country. He flew out on his private jet to an island in the Caribbean a couple of hours ago. No one knows he's gone. Mario thinks he's with the Aérocirque acrobats, planning another robbery for tonight.”

Joe frowned. “And you stayed behind?” he said. “Why?”

“I told you,” Elisabeth said. “Murder was never a part of this plan.”

“If you can sacrifice your safety for us, we can do our part to make sure these people are brought to justice,” Frank said. “Joe and I'll get out of here, and since I don't know who in the Philadelphia Police Department we can trust, we'll bring back the FBI—but I want you to leave the apartment as soon as you can.”