Free A Game Called Chaos by Franklin W. Dixon

terrible to him.”
    â€œAnd you’ve actually . . . seen this ghost?” Frank asked.
    â€œOnly once,” McLean said quietly. “After she died on St. Cecile.”
    Just then Chelsea returned with the building security guard. He took custody of McLean and escorted her into the building to wait for the police.
    â€œSo,” Joe said watching her go, “do you think she did something to Royal?”
    Frank shook his head. “I doubt it—though I couldn’t rule it out. I think it’s more likely that she had something to do with Sakai’s death. She confessed to being on the island around the time of Sakai’s plane crash.”
    â€œDo you think Sakai took that fatal plane trip to get away from her?” Joe asked.
    â€œCould be,” Frank said. “We know McLean followed Sakai all the way to the Caribbean. What we don’t know is, why? Is she just a crazy fan, or was she trying to get in good with Royal? Maybe she sabotaged the plane somehow. With Sakai out of the picture, the Chaos series is all Royal’s.”
    â€œOh!” Chelsea said. “That’s one of the things I came out to tell you. This business with McLean had me so rattled, I almost forgot.
    â€œYou asked about Sakai’s heirs the other day,”she continued. “I checked and she did have one heir, Regina Cross. Sakai’s proceeds from the Chaos games go to Cross Enterprises in Switzerland. She has a piece of all three games, but I’m not sure about the new game.
    â€œThat’s the other thing I needed to tell you. Dave turned up something funny in Royal’s contract. Just a few weeks ago Royal had a minor change made.”
    â€œWhat change?” Frank asked.
    â€œWell, on the last contract anyone who helped Royal with the programming for the game was paid directly by Viking Software. Now, though, Royal is the only one we pay, and then he pays anyone who works under him. Since he didn’t have any collaborators, our lawyers didn’t think it was a big deal to change it.”
    â€œNo collaborators that you know of,” Joe said, frowning.
    â€œCan you find out if Sakai’s heir, Cross, has a stake in the new game?” asked Frank.
    â€œSure,” Chelsea said.
    â€œWe’d better get going,” Joe said. “It’ll be dark by the time we get back.”
    Frank nodded and both of them headed toward the van. “We’ll keep in touch,” he called back. Chelsea waved as she walked back into the building.
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    Three hours later the Hardys pulled off the main road and onto one of the trails crisscrossing Kendall State Park. The man at the gatehouse couldn’t tell them where to find the cave. He said that many people had searched for it before, but never found it. Personally, he thought it was just a myth. He wished the brothers well and gave them a map of the park.
    Getting some help from Chelsea on their car phone, the Hardys picked a parking spot in a location that seemed to match the geography of the Chaos games.
    â€œYou know,” Joe said as he got out of the van and hefted his backpack, “I wish I’d played Forest of Chaos. It might have helped now that we’re in the same woods.”
    The two of them consulted their map and picked a trail that would take them by the Kendall River. “There was a river in the game,” Joe said. “It flowed through the cave. It’s not much of a lead, but it may be our best shot.”
    â€œAny monsters in the river?” Frank asked.
    â€œYeah. Some kind of cave octopus thing.”
    â€œWell,” Frank said, adjusting his backpack, “let’s hope we don’t run into it.”
    â€œYou know, if we can find an eagle head-shaped rock we should be able to find the cave—” He stopped abruptly to glance back toward the parking lot.
    â€œWhat is it?” asked Frank.
    â€œI thought I saw another