Free The Ghostwriter Secret by Mac Barnett Page A

pool once again. The siren wasclose. The police would be here any second.
    A path ran from the pool past a wing of the hotel and down to the beach. Steve immediately took off toward the sea. Dana didn’t follow. Steve stopped and turned around.
    Dana gave Steve a look that meant,
What are you doing?
    Steve gave Dana a look that meant,
What are
you
doing?
    Dana stomped his right foot, which meant,
I’m staying here.
    Steve nodded his head toward the beach and gave Dana a look that meant,
Come on, man, you need to trust me here. We’ll lose hours explaining to Chief Clumber why a man was shooting at us. And then lose more time explaining to our parents why we aren’t in San Diego at a debate tournament. We can’t afford that time, not when MacArthur Bart is being held by those guys, who are obviously homicidal maniacs. Now hurry up.
    Steve wasn’t sure all that got through, but when Dana rolled his eyes, he knew his chum had gotten the gist of it. Steve started running. Dana ran too. They sprinted past a sign that read NO HOTEL TOWELS ALLOWED AT THE BEACH and onto a vast stretch of golden sand.

CHAPTER XXVI
THE BEE SYNDICATE
    A FTER A LIFEGUARD untied their towels (Steve invented a cover story about a game of cops and robbers, but the lifeguard didn’t seem interested), Steve and Dana walked for miles along the beach. They stopped near a rock jetty that jutted into the ocean. Nearby, a teenage couple sometimes looked seaward and sometimes looked at each other but never once looked at Dana and Steve.
    Steve and Dana hadn’t spoken while they were walking, but now Dana turned to his friend and shouted, “We could have died!”
    (Even now, the couple did not look over.)
    Steve nodded gravely. “I knew this would get dangerous. But I didn’t know how dangerous. Dana, this is big. MacArthur Bart has been kidnapped by the Bee Syndicate.”
    Dana, who was flushed and angry, paused. “What’s the Bee Syndicate?” he asked.
    Steve took out
The Bailey Brothers’ Detective Handbook
. It was soggy, and the pages turned in chunks. Steve found the entry he was looking for and laid the book down on the sand. “Look,” he said to Dana, pointing to the handbook.
    Dana crouched down to read a section called “Crime Syndicates—the Methodical Mayhem of Organized Crime.”
    Shawn and Kevin always say, “One no-goodnik is bad enough, but a gang of them is positively rotten!” Crime syndicates are groups of criminals who have banded together to break as many laws as possible. Syndicates usually have lots of cash (which they often call dough) and tons of burly rascals eager to get in fistfights with detectives. Shawn and Kevin have spent a lot of time busting up crime syndicates, so they know a thing or two about them.
    Three Fun Facts about Dangerous Crime Syndicates:
    â€”They’re usually headquartered in run-down warehouses, ramshackle cabins, or secret rooms off the back of ethnic restaurants.
    â€”Their favorite crimes include smuggling, counterfeiting, automobile theft, blackmail, kidnapping, and stealing gold from honest miners’ claims.
    â€”They always name themselves after a fierce and dangerous animal, like the Rattlesnake Posse, the Hyena Gang, or the Chupacabra Cartel.
    â€œYou can stop there,” said Steve.
    â€œSo we’re up against the Bee Syndicate?” asked Dana.
    Steve nodded. “That’s right.”
    â€œThat’s not the fiercest animal name.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” said Steve. “Bees sting people.”
    â€œRight, but a bee sting just hurts a little bit.”
    â€œNot if you have allergies.”
    Dana shrugged. “I guess.”
    Steve knew Dana knew Steve was right.
    â€œI wonder what MacArthur Bart did to make these guys angry,” said Dana.
    â€œMaybe,” said Steve, “they’re holding him for ransom.”
    â€œBut then wouldn’t there