Free Danger Zone by Franklin W. Dixon Page A

Then he sprang into action, darting across to the front of the trailer. He reached out to test the doorknob.
    It clicked open. Frank climbed inside and shut the door behind him.
    He scanned the shelves along the wall, which contained neat stacks of kitchen whites, lab coats, and janitor uniforms. Then his eyes fell on a heavily starched and folded guard uniform.
    He picked up the shirt, letting the sleeves drop down. It looked as if he was in luck - it was about his size, maybe a little big. The right sleeve was - ripped!
    And the uniform was green.
    Green cotton twill. Frank smiled. He had found Aunt Gertrude's "forest ranger." So one of the guys who kidnapped his mother worked at the Center for Experimental Research.
    Quickly Frank changed into the uniform, stashing his jeans, T-shirt, and jacket in a large plastic hamper.
    He stepped out of the trailer and walked to the front of the building. Just as Frank had hoped, Muldoon was hard at work on a crossword puzzle. Without looking up he grunted a greeting as Frank walked by.
    Walking quickly and purposefully through the lobby, Frank headed for the elevator and pressed the up button. Behind him a few workers crossed from one hallway to the next. Frank paced back and forth, stealing a glance into the office next to the elevators, the room from which the security chief had emerged the day before. On the door were the words "Security/K. Straeger."
    Just as he was about to peer in, the elevator door opened. Frank took a second to look inside the office: - no one was there. He glanced over his shoulder. The lobby was empty, too.
    Silently he slipped into the security office. Maybe there he could find answers to some of his questions - like what kind of organization the center was and where Brewster fit into it.
    He found himself in a small outer office with a bulky wooden desk and four tall filing cabinets. Behind the desk was a locked door, probably leading to an inner office. He opened a file cabinet at random and began leafing through a folder marked "Correspondence." The first letter he saw was pretty boring: something about a service contract for an alarm system. As he put it back his eyes swept across the letterhead: Straeger Security, Subsidiary of MUX.
    Frank's jaw dropped open. The name MUX was all too familiar. He hadn't expected to encounter that organization again - at least not with the same name. It had been a multinational front for a band of technology pirates in New York City, and he and Joe had sent them packing. The last Frank had heard, the leaders had been exiled overseas.
    Now they were back, their tactics slimier than ever.
    The click of footsteps on the marble lobby floor alerted Frank to someone approaching. He tucked the letter back into the file cabinet, closed it, and dived under the desk.
    Frank could see two pairs of shiny black shoes enter the room. They stopped at the door, and Frank heard it click shut. Then he heard the unmistakable voice of Karl Straeger: "If all continues to go well, we'll achieve our goal this evening."
    "But what about Hardy?" a younger man's voice piped up. "You told me he wasn't cooperating."
    "Fenton Hardy will have no choice, of course. Matyus is giving him a chance to stew a little, to think about the consequences of his stubbornness, to imagine the horrible things that might be happening to his beloved wife. I think he'll cooperate very soon. I've decided the raid is to be at three o'clock at Prometheus - with or without Hardy's help."
    "I don't think it's a good idea to wait. What if he goes after Matyus?"
    "I'm sure he's spent every waking hour trying." He chuckled. "But his chances of finding the Iron Maiden are slim, and even if he did, its defenses are state-of-the-art."
    The Iron Maiden. Frank had no idea what Straeger was talking about, but if he could call his dad.
    "So where do I fit in?" the younger man queried.
    "You are to lead the raid at Prometheus at precisely three o'clock. By that time I'll have flown to