Free Thick as Thieves by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

raised the special binoculars to Joe's eyes. Joe could make out a life raft, barely visible against the ocean. A man was in it. Yes, it was Chavo, all right.
    Chavo, the man who had killed his brother. Joe knew this might be his only chance to make his brother's murderer pay for that crime.
    Carefully he took aim at the raft.

Chapter 13
    WHAT AM I DOING? Joe thought with a jolt just before he pulled the trigger. He was about to kill a man, and killing wasn't his style. He wanted to bring Chavo to justice, real justice.
    That's what Frank would have wanted, he told himself.
    He lowered the nose of the flare gun as he fired. An arc of flame shot across the night and exploded in fire and smoke on the ocean. In the blaze, he could no longer see the tiny life raft.
    Jolly raised the binoculars to his eyes. "As near as I can tell, a perfect hit." He set them down and patted Joe's shoulder while the others cheered. "Welcome back, Kid. Now we've got to prepare for the main event. The world, as they say, is ours."
     
    ***
     
    Something burst on the ocean.
    Frank raised his head in alarm, to see that the sea was on fire just behind the raft. "What was that?" he asked.
    Chavo ignored it. "Flare. We were the target. Let's use it to our advantage, as cover for an escape." He took one of the oars from Frank and began paddling. "So that's how he's going to do it."
    "You mean the Director? You've figured out the caper?"
    "Si," said Chavo. "Puerto de Oro is a self-contained island. It has few police and few buildings. If one were to take, say, the gas stolen from the naval base, and flood the buildings with it, then—"
    "Then once you've knocked everyone out, you could wander through the buildings at will and take whatever you wanted," Frank continued. "Everyone would be dead. No witnesses."
    "And they'll have plenty of time to leave the island without anyone contacting the mainland police. It's the perfect crime."
    "Good thing you waited to figure this out until there's no possibility we can get help," Frank said with more than a hint of sarcasm.
    "I'd hate to think we might need some backup to invade an island that's entirely cut off from the outside world and might be controlled by criminals."
    "When we reach Puerto de Oro," said Chavo, "there I will get help."
    "Chavo," Frank asked, "can I ask you a question?"
    "Go ahead."
    "Are you really a cop, or what?"
    A burst of laughter erupted from the Mexican, and he said nothing else the rest of the way.
    "Welcome to Puerto de Oro," Chavo said as they stepped onto the land ahead of the group on the barge. They had left the life raft in a massive harbor filled with private yachts and walked the rest of the way to the beach. Frank marveled at the sight of casinos and hotels styled like medieval castles, yet gleaming white, even at night. Electric lights made the streets of Puerto de Oro almost as bright as day.
    But there was no one on the streets.
    "This way," Chavo said, motioning down a street. "We must reach the police station and warn them. There's a radio, too. Men are waiting on the mainland for my orders."
    As he ran, Frank's feet slid and skidded across cobblestones moistened by the sea air. Which men did Chavo mean? Was he really going to call the Federales, or did he have some gang of his own stashed in Tijuana, waiting to come and horn in on the Director's master plan?
    Frank resolved he would not turn his back on Chavo until he had the answer.
    The police station was plainer than the other buildings, a simple box of stucco and stone. There were bars on all the windows. From inside came the tinny sounds of a mariachi band, played either on an old record player or a cheap radio. It seemed as peaceful and quaint as the rest of the island.
    Chavo knocked on the door, yelling something in Spanish. From inside, a voice yelled, "Que desea us ted?" Chavo shook his head.
    "He asked us what we want," Chavo said.
    Frank pushed past him. "Your problem is that this is a resort that caters to