39 Clues - 05 - The Black Circle (4 page)

breath, but his path to the top was way easier than Hamilton's.The two-way radio was

going off like a dinner bell, Eisenhower Holt screaming about the Kabras and

demanding to know why Hamilton had disappeared.Dan was only three switchbacks

from the head of The Motherland Calls when he looked back. He couldn't see

Amy."Amy! Are you down there?"Dan's voice echoed through the open air. No

reply."Amy! Answer me! How far behind are you?""You don't have to yell. I'm right

here.""No way!" said Dan, a huge smile lighting up his face. Amy had quietly caught up!

She was only two switchbacks behind Dan and quickly coming even with Hamilton Holt,

who had stopped moving."Double no way!" Dan heard Hamilton mutter. Hamilton had

clearly had enough of climbing up the center beam. Thin support rods ran twenty feet

away from the beam and connected to the catwalks, and Hamilton grabbed one as Amy

walked past. The radio was turning to static, and the calls for updates were garbled at

best.38"Hurry, Dan!" said Amy.Hamilton swung along the steel support rod, his feet

dangling over a hundred and fifty feet of open air. It didn't take long for him to reach

the catwalk and swing his massive frame up and over. The first thing he did when he

got there was turn off the two-way radio.Dan knew he had to hustle. He raced to the

end of the final beam, where the cable ran straight into a ladder leading into the head

of The Motherland Calls."I'm heading into the brain!" yelled Dan. "Wish me luck!"At the top of the ladder, Dan found a platform big enough for several people to stand on. Two

thick streams of light poured into the head from outside. It was eerie, as if Dan really

were inside someone's head, digging around in the dust for a hidden memory."There!"

whispered Dan. A small cylinder wrapped in paper and tied with twine was tucked into

the corner of one of the eyes. On quick examination, Dan saw that the top of the rough

paper was stenciled with three letters: ST. P.St. Petersburg!Dan jammed the object into

his pocket for safekeeping."I'm coming up," said Amy, reaching the bottom of the

ladder."How far back is he?" asked Dan, pulling his gasping sister onto the

platform.39Amy looked down at the catwalks below. "He's moving pretty slowly. I'd say

three or four minutes." "Perfect. I've got an idea."* * *It was a ful five minutes later

before Hamilton arrived in the head of The Motherland Calls and flopped down in the

center of the platform. His chest heaved in and out, and a giant ring of sweat

surrounded his neck."Dude, you look like a fish out of water," said Dan. "Speaking of

which ..."Dan dug around in the backpack. Among the smashed candy bars and bags of

chips were a few cans of Coke. He pulled one out, popped the top, and fizz shot all over

Hamilton."Oops," said Dan, but Hamilton didn't seem to care. He sat up and guzzled the

whole can, then tossed the empty over the edge. They all listened as the can pinged

and echoed all the way to the bottom."We're way, way up here," said Amy, her face

draining of color as it seemed to dawn on her for the first time that they'd have to get

back down."I found a lead," said Dan, putting his plan into action. "And not only that, I

solved it."Hamilton perked up."Lemme see," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow

with a swipe of his arm.40Dan pulled out the piece of parchment they'd gotten from the

locker, the one with the scrambled words of all the places they were to visit. Dan had

figured out, all on his own, that thirty-six hours wouldn't be anywhere near enough

time to visit all the places on the list, and they only had twenty-nine hours left. He

didn't want to admit it, but they needed help.Amy seemed to get what he was doing.

"It's a list of places, see," said Amy to Hamilton, taking the parchment from Dan. She

was careful not to turn it over and reveal the picture of her parents or the note from

NRR. "And Dan already unscrambled the letters."Hamilton looked at the parchment

suspiciously."Here's the thing," said Amy. "We can't visit all these places alone, and

neither can you. What if we were to split them up? You go one way, we'll go the other,

and we'll share what we find?"Hamilton Holt's gelled slick of blond hair seemed to

quiver as the gears in his brain started turning. He propped himself up on his elbow,

and the look he gave Amy was almost imploring."And you can trust us," said Amy.

"We're giving you the next place we're supposed to go. See that right there?" asked

Amy, holding the parchment closer to Hamilton's face. "That's where we'll pick up the

trail. In Omsk, Siberia."Right beside the words Dan had added: "Next, at the crossroads

of Y and Z." It made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but it sounded good, and

Hamilton fell41for it without hesitation. Dan figured he could give Hamilton the real

instructions later, after he'd had more time to examine the treasure in his

pocket."Here's what we're going to do," said Amy.Amy told Hamilton to visit both

Siberian outposts while she and Dan focused on the closer places. That left Moscow,

Yekaterinburg, and St. Petersburg for Dan and Amy. They exchanged cell phone

numbers and e-mail addresses."We'll swap information as we go and beat the pants off

everyone else!" Dan hooted."That's if we don't kill ourselves getting down from here

first," said Amy.42CHAPTER 5Ian Kabra had been in the back of a limousine hundreds

of times but never when covered in meat pies."The Holts are barbarians," he said

disgustedly. He was sitting in the backseat, wiping beef stains off his

five-thousand-dollar Armani suit."Here comes Hamilton!" said Natalie. She had fared

better in the parking lot fight, retreating into the car at the first sign of flying food. She

was never one to risk her Gucci."Driver, follow that piece of junk," said Ian. He pointed

to the beat-up white van that Hamilton Holt had just dove into. The van rumbled to life

and tore out of the lot.Ian dialed his cell phone. The mere mention of the competition

heading into Russia at such a sensitive juncture had sent his father into a panic. Now

was not the time to take chances."What do you want?" The voice on the other end of

the line belonged to Irina Spasky, the only Russian43citizen on any of the teams. She,

like Ian, was part of the Lucian branch. One rung under Ian and Natalie's parents, a

fact that had long infuriated her."I don't know how you managed to let everyone into

your country," said Ian. "But it's making my father nervous. And when he's nervous, I'm

nervous. My father will have both our heads if we let another team capture one of our

clues.""They will not get anything!" snapped Irina. "It will be for them a wild geese chase."Ian smirked. He could picture her eye twitching, as it always did when she was

angry."I don't like all this activity so close to some very important secrets. It's your

country. Deal with it.""I suggest you hold your tongue. The line is not secure," said

Irina."You follow Dan and Amy Cahill. I think they're on to something," Ian ordered.

"We'll stay with the Holts.""Agreed. You babysit the idiots. I will get the real work

done."* * *Irina clicked off her cell phone and brooded in the backseat of a dingy

Volkswagen van, the very one Dan and Amy had ridden from the airport. The bearded

Russian was on the Lucian payroll, like hundreds of other informants spread across the

homeland.44Who's helping Dan and Amy Cahill? she wondered. Could there be a

double agent within the ranks of the Lucians? The idea had crossed her mind before,

but with the death of Grace Cahill, her suspicions had grown. There were secrets in

Russia -- secrets that had to be protected at all cost. Dan and Amy had stumbled into a

hornet's nest."They're on the move," said the bearded Russian in the front seat."Follow

them," ordered Irina.The driver merged into traffic and tracked a blinking dot on his

screen."He's pretty good on that bike," said the driver, laughing despite the

ultra-serious agent sitting in the backseat of his van."I do not pay you for small talk,"

Irina fired back.The bearded driver clammed up, and not another word was spoken

during the drive through Volgograd. Irina felt the twitch in her eye return, soft at first

but growing more violent. Twenty minutes passed before the driver spoke

again."They've stopped. We're near the train station.""Let me out," said Irina. A wad of bills rolled past the driver and landed at his feet."I may need you again," said Irina as

she opened the door. "Keep your phone on and don't leave the city."The driver nodded.

He leaned down and picked the roll of bills off the floor. When he turned around again,

Irina Spasky was gone.45* * *"Are you positive we're going to the right place?" asked

Amy."Yup," said Dan. Amy sighed, still not convinced they should have boarded the

high-speed train. But Dan had been adamant about keeping the lead he'd found hidden

until they were safely out of town. He was learning to be careful about who might be

watching."Let's have a look at it," said Amy. "You've been holding out on me long

enough."Dan pulled the object he'd found in The Motherland Calls out of his front

pocket. He glanced both ways down the center aisle of the train, then held it out to

Amy."You can do the honors," said Dan. "I'm too tired to open it up."Instead, he fished around in the backpack for some chips and pulled out Amy's Russian guidebook."This

thing is crushing my snacks."He set the book between them, cracked open a bag of

pulverized Doritos, and disgusted his sister by tipping his head back and pouring the

broken chips into his mouth.Amy rolled her eyes and got back to the cylinder. It was

wrapped in a tremendous amount of twine, so it was awhile before she finally parted

the paper and held the secret object in her hand. It was a tiny statue intricately carved

out of a hard orange substance,46showing a bearded monk with wild eyes, standing

with his arms folded in front of him.Amy brightened. "I think I know who this is!""It's

that dude who got us the motorcycle!" said Dan, peering over. He frowned. "Or maybe

it's his brother."Amy wasn't sure what to do with the precious carving. She was itching

to refer to a certain page in the guidebook, but if she gave the carved monk to Dan,

she worried he might drop it."Hold this," she said, succumbing to her desire for

information. "And be careful. It's fragile.""Got it covered," said Dan, snatching the carving from her and holding it up to the light."It's almost see-through," he said as Amy

riffled through the book. "And there's something hidden inside.""What?" asked Amy,

reaching out for the carving."Whoa, there! Take it easy. This thing is fragile,

remember?""What's in there? What do you see?""It's one of those pop-top games. I'm

good at these. There's a little shoe, then two letters, a V and an A, then a

heart.""Shoevaheart," said Dan. "Is that something you've heard of?"47Amy shook her head no, but something about the word tugged at her. She thought for a minute, but

nothing crystallized, so she showed Dan the picture she'd been looking for in the

guidebook."It's Rasputin," said Amy. "I'm sure of it."Dan looked at the photo, a grainy black-and-white of a man with furious eyes."Boy, these monk people sure get angry,"

he said. Amy knew he was thinking back to the mob of monks who had chased them in

Austria. "Why so sure it's this guy?""Rasputin wasn't any ordinary monk. He was said to

be almost impossible to kill. Doesn't that sound like something a Cahill would be?

Un-killable?"48Dan's eyes widened."Rasputin worked his way into the inner circle of the

most powerful Russian families ever: the Romanovs. They were royalty, like Princess

Diana in England.""Keep it coming, but no more princesses. You're starting to bore

me.""Rasputin was a real charmer. He convinced the royal family he had supernatural

healing powers, and the evidence seems to suggest that he actually did.""You're

kidding," said Dan, looking almost as excited as when he realized his teacher was

wearing a toupee."He was especially close to the heir to the throne, Alexei, and his

sister Anastasia. She was amazing, trust me, but Alexei was constantly sick. He had

hemophilia."Dan pulled back. "Isn't that, like, something on your butt?""Gross! Not

hemorrhoids, Dan! Hemophilia is a blood disorder. If Alexei got even the smallest cut, it

wouldn't stop bleeding. So imagine like, I don't know... like if you fell off your

skateboard and skinned your knee and it just bled and bled and bled until all your blood

spilled out.""Cool!" said Dan."Not cool! If it hadn't been for Rasputin, Alexei would have bled to death before he was ten. But that's not the most interesting part. There were a

lot of nobles49who didn't like the power Rasputin had over the royals, so they plotted

to kill him.""Okay, now this is getting good.""Wait until you hear this," said Amy. She scanned the next part of the guidebook and put things into her own words. "On

December 16, 1916, Prince Felix Yusupov invited Rasputin to a dinner party. First he

fed Rasputin poisoned wine and cake, but that didn't seem to bother Rasputin at all.

Rasputin figured out they were trying to kill him, so he ran for the door. Then Prince

Felix shot Rasputin in the back.""End of Rasputin. Too bad -- I was starting to like the

guy.""Wrong! Rasputin kept on going, right up the stairs and out of the house. The

prince's men shot him a few more times in the front yard, but Rasputin wouldn't die.