The 39 Clues [Cahills vs. Vespers] 05 - Trust No One (21 page)

At around 7:15, Jake called room service and ordered a bacon cheeseburger. There was a brief scare when he was told it was too early in the morning. A considerable tip to be shared between the manager and the kitchen staff resulted in the production of the burger.

When it came up to the room, the smell of it almost made Dan sick.

And I used to love bacon cheeseburgers,
he thought.

“What’s with the cheeseburger?” Jake asked. “From what you’ve said about Isabel, I’d have thought she’d ask for champagne and caviar.”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Atticus said.

Dan hadn’t shown the video to anyone else.
What’s the point,
he thought,
we can’t do anything about it, and this way nobody else needs to feel as bad as I do right now.

He glanced over at Amy for the thousandth time. She was sitting in a corner chair, her head down. Since their arrival in New York, she had remained in sleepwalk mode — there, but not quite all there. Dan had tried everything to break through the invisible wall that seemed to be surrounding her. He felt his guts twisting slowly and helplessly whenever he looked at her.

Dan tried calling Hamilton and Jonah yet again. Every time, the connection went straight to voice mail. He was desperate for them to uncover something that might give them an idea of what the Vespers’ plan was — something the Cahills could use against them.

8:00
A.M.

His heart thudding, Dan began to prepare for the drop. They had already bought a book bag at the hotel gift shop. Atticus held it open while Dan put in the folio and the cheeseburger, wrapped in a napkin.
Now for the hard part,
he thought.

He crossed the room to the corner.

“Amy,” he said, “I need your watch.”

Amy jerked her head up like a wild animal on alert. She clamped her right hand over the watch, her eyes wide with alarm.

“No,” she croaked hoarsely. “Grace trusted me.”

Dan clenched his fist in a tiny gesture of triumph.
If she knows that much, she’s still with me. . . .

“We have to,” he said gently. “Nellie. And Fiske, and the others.”

Amy lowered her head and peeked at the watch under her hand, then shook her head violently.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “Grace . . .”

Dan looked into her eyes. “Amy,” he said, “Grace would have understood.” He reached for her wrist.

“NO!”

Amy drew up her knees and backed herself farther into the chair, turning sideways and shielding the watch with her body. For a moment Dan wondered if she was going to bare her teeth at him.

Dan found himself trembling. He took a deep breath.
No more Mr. Nice Guy.

“Amy,” he said, his voice firm and loud enough that out of the corner of his eye he saw both Jake and Atticus stiffen. “I need your watch. I promise I’ll get it back for you if I can. But you have to give it to me.”

One more breath.

“Give it to me NOW.”

He was almost yelling at her, and the pain in her eyes was killing him.

It worked. She went limp and held her left arm out weakly toward him. He knelt in front of her, unstrapped the watch, then circled her bare wrist with one hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

She lowered her other hand to his shoulder, and for a few moments, they both held on tight.

Dan stood with one hand on the doorknob, the book bag over his other arm. It had been decided that he would make the drop on his own. Jake would stay at the hotel, keeping Atticus out of harm’s way.

Dan . . . going to meet the Vespers by himself . . .

From somewhere deep inside Amy, words struggled to the surface and broke through. “I’m going with you.”

Part of her was surprised to hear her own voice. It was almost as if she were outside her body, observing herself.
Scared Amy and Safe Amy,
she thought.
Safe Amy doesn’t want any part of this. She’s just watching Scared Amy, who can’t let Dan go alone.

“It’s okay,” Dan said at once. “We’ve done this before — it’s only a drop. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I wasn’t asking,” Amy said.

All three boys stared at her. She glanced down at her wrist and remembered, with a shock like a jolt to her heart, that her watch was no longer there.

She walked past Jake and Atticus, past Dan, and out the door.

Strawberry Fields was on the west side of Central Park. It was a memorial to the great musician John Lennon, who was once a member of the Beatles and then a celebrated solo artist. The memorial was a circular mosaic embedded in the pavement, with the word
Imagine
— the title of one of Lennon’s most famous songs — in the center. “Imagine” was a song about world peace, and the memorial was both a designated quiet zone in the park and a peace garden.

Amy and Dan stood side by side near the mosaic, nervous and watchful. The park wasn’t crowded, but there were still plenty of people walking the paths.

Amy could feel Dan looking at her every few seconds while at the same time trying to hide his anxiety.

He’s worried about me,
thought Scared Amy.

Don’t think about anything. Just get this over with,
responded Safe Amy.

“Goldilocks,” Dan muttered. “I guess that means it will be somebody blond.”

Of course, as soon as he said that, it seemed like most of the people they saw were blond. But blond or not, everyone walked past them without a glance.

They had arrived a few minutes early. Amy knew from past drops that the Vesper pickup was nearly always right on time. But 8:35 came and went with no one approaching them.

8:36.

8:37.

8:38.

If I have to wait one more minute, I’m going to go crazy,
Amy thought.
Or maybe I already am. . . .
Automatically she began picking at the blister on her neck again.

Just then, a big dog came up to Dan and sniffed him politely.

“Hey there,” Dan said and dropped to one knee to pet the dog.

It was a beautiful golden retriever, with a perfectly shaped head and a thick coat of the fur “feathers” characteristic of the breed. Amy bent over to pet the dog, too. Its fur was so soft, its warmth so comforting, she wanted to bury her face in its neck for a good cry.

The dog accepted their greetings, then whimpered gently.

“What is it, girl?” Dan asked quietly.

Amy looked around. “Where’s her owner?” she wondered.

The dog nosed the book bag hanging from Dan’s arm.

“She smells the cheeseburger,” he said. “Sorry, girl, wish we could give you a bite, but the Vespers —”

Amy made a strangled sound as her breath snagged in her throat. They looked at each other and then at the dog.

Dan fumbled for the bone-shaped metal tag that dangled from the dog’s collar. He flipped it over and his jaw dropped. “‘Goldilocks.’”

Incredulous, he held out the bag. The dog nosed it again, but was definitely not pawing or ripping into it in search of the cheeseburger.

“She’s been really well trained,” Dan said, his voice edged with anger.

Goldilocks was now trying to put her head through the handles of the bag.

A wave of bitterness washed over Amy.
It’s sick. Using this beautiful, intelligent dog for such evil ends . . .

She put both handles over the dog’s head and adjusted the bag so it hung in front. Goldilocks gave a single bark and then trotted out of the park.

A sob tore its way out of Amy’s throat.

Grace, I’m sorry, I’m so so, sorry. . . .

Unable to stop herself, she stumbled a few steps in the direction taken by Goldilocks. But Dan was right beside her, his arm around her shoulders, holding her back and holding her up at the same time.

Amy felt like she might have stayed frozen there forever if her phone hadn’t rung.

It was Jonah — finally.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Amy almost screamed into the phone.

Dan snatched the phone away from her. “Amy,” he said,
“chill.”

He spoke into the phone. “Jonah, are you somewhere where you can Skype? Okay, we’re gonna go back to our hotel now. We’ll Skype you in, like, ten minutes. Right. Good.”

He gave the phone back to Amy.

Amy said nothing. Together they walked out of the park, with Amy casting a few desperate glances toward where Goldilocks had disappeared.

Dan gave Jake and Atticus a quick summary of the drop. Then he logged in to Skype, holding his breath as he made the connection.

Please let them have found something. For Amy’s sake. Something that will tell us what the Vespers are up to — or at least a clue to where the hostages are. Please please please . . .

Jonah and Hamilton appeared on the screen sitting next to each other. “Hi, guys,” Dan said, making a supreme effort to stay calm. “What happened? We kept calling you but your phones —”

“Yeah, I know,” Jonah said. “Our phones were — well, I guess you could say they were out of commission —”

“What he means,” Hamilton said, “is we were
in jail.
”

“What!?”

“Why?”

“What happened?”

“Whoa,” Jonah said, holding up his hands. “We’ve got some important stuff to tell you, so we’ll just give you the short version for now. We weren’t exactly in jail, but we were at a police station, and they took away our phones.”