Free The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers Book 2: A King's Ransom by Jude Watson Page A

Hamilton scooped up Nicole’s heavy suitcase from her open trunk. He slammed the trunk shut and trudged back toward the car. Nicole was checking it out, circling around it with little coos of admiration. She ran her hand along the fender. “Eet is so
formidable,
zees car.”
    “Why don’t you get into the backseat, Hamilton?” Jonah suggested. “Nicole, do you like music? Are you a hip-hop fan?”
    “I like
la musique, oui
,” Nicole said. “
Le jazz
.”
    “I can be mad jazzy,” Jonah said.
    Hamilton was stuffed into the tiny backseat with Nicole’s suitcase. Even her purse was too big for the front seat. Instead, it sat on his lap.
    A bee buzzed into the open window of the car, and, without pausing in her conversation with Jonah, Nicole grabbed it in its midair flight. She crushed it in her fist, then flicked the carcass out the window.
    Whoa,
Hamilton thought. Even models could have amazing reflexes.
    “Tell me the story of your life and I’ll tell you mine,” Jonah said to Nicole. “But first, are you sure you don’t recognize me?”

    “Is this place real?” Dan asked, looking up at King Ludwig’s castle. “Or am I in Disneyland?”
    Up the winding trail through the pines loomed the castle, a folly built by a mad king, all turrets and windows and gables and peaked roofs and windows wink- ing back in the slowly sliding sun. The castle was situated on a high, rocky cliff, with snow-capped Alpine mountains rising around it. It overlooked a sparkling, deep blue lake. Isolated and yet proud of its grandeur, this castle flaunted the crazy.
    The Nazis had crammed millions of dollars of looted treasure in that magnificent castle. Jane Sperling had come in 1945, maybe on a misty day like this one. She’d found her old enemy here. Amy was sure of it.
    “Actually, the castle was used as the model for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland,” she said. She checked her cell phone again, but there were no messages. No calls. “Where
are
they?”
    She’d left messages for both Jonah and Hamilton. They hadn’t checked in with Attleboro, either. She was starting to worry.
    She punched in the Attleboro number. “Are you having any problems with
Gideon
?” she asked. “We still haven’t heard from Jonah and Hamilton.”
    “Satellite in the mountains can be iffy, even for the
Gideon,
” Evan reassured her. “Give them more time.”
    “Did the GPS map come through?” Ian asked.
    “Check,” Dan said, glancing at his wrist. “I’ve got a bead on a room down in the tunnels.”
    “That’s the room where the ERR kept its records,” Ian said. “We think you should start there. That would have been the first place Jane would have gone to look for evidence of the de Virga.”
    “If they don’t show up in twenty minutes, we’re going in without them,” Amy said.
    “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Ian put in. “Just fridge yourselves, as Jonah says.”
    “Dude,” Dan said. “Do you mean
chill
?”
    “Precisely. Just what I said.”
    “Give me the phone, Ian.” Evan took the phone off speaker. “Listen, I know it’s hard to wait. But I don’t like you going in without backup.”
    “I’ll give them ten more minutes,” Amy said.
    “I’ve got a stubborn girlfriend.”
    “You’re just realizing that, huh.”
    Amy cut the connection and drew her jacket closer around her. It was cool under the pines. Dan sat on the side of the road, leaning against his pack and drinking one of the six-pack of soda he’d bought in the village. Amy could picture Evan’s half smile, the way his mouth curved on one end. It was as though she could
feel
it, the warmth in his eyes when he looked at her.
    Just then she felt a buzzing in her jacket pocket. Vesper One. She signaled to Dan.

    Sightseeing? The Alps are so lovely this time of year. But don’t forget I’m waiting for the arrival of the next package! If you need some incentive, I’ve got seven ideas. Just let me know!

    Vesper