Free Capture the Flag by Kate Messner Page A

nodded to the first guard. “I’ll run this downstairs, and you start over there.” He nodded off to the side, where it looked as if all of the group’s instruments had been stacked — no, it looked as if they’d almost been thrown into a big lumpy mountain of music. “They’ll check all that stuff down below. The rest of this group’s baggage — a few bigger pieces, I guess — is buried too deep in the suitcases to bring it out now, but they’ll go through that when the plane gets to Vermont. If there’s enough evidence for arrests, the authorities there will be ready.”
    Hammurabi’s nails scratched wildly at the bottom of the cage as the man bounced him down the hall. They disappeared behind a door that said AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY .
    Sinan’s eyes pooled with tears.
    Anna bit her lip.
    José patted Sinan’s shoulder.
    â€œYou know,” Henry said, “I got this game called Jailbreak where you’re a bank robber and you gotta break your accomplice out of his cell so you can find the hidden money and go to Argentina. We could sneak into baggage claim and bust Hammurabi outta there and then get on a plane to … I don’t know … Mexico or someplace.”
    â€œHenry! This is serious. Innocent people are in trouble.” Anna took a deep breath. When innocent people got in trouble on TV crime dramas, there was only one way they ever got out of it. The real bad guys had to be uncovered. They needed to find out for sure if Snake-Arm was part of that international art-theft gang.
    â€œLook.” She pulled them into a tight circle, out of the way of the rolling luggage and the coffee line. “It’s late, and there’s no way our plane is getting out tonight anyway, so here’s what I think we should do. We take Sinan to his parents and head back to B-16 so our parents” — she looked at Henry — “and your flight attendant lady don’t freak out. We try to sleep. And in the morning, we head straight to Pickersgill Diner. Maybe Snake-Arm will be back for the breakfast rush, and we can see what he’s up to. If we stay on his tail long enough, he might lead us to the flag. It’s worth trying at least, isn’t it?”
    â€œI don’t know,” José said. “Maybe we should let all this go. I know my mom didn’t have anything to do with the flag’s disappearance.” He looked at Sinan. “And I know your parents didn’t, either. If we let the police and everybody figure that out on their own, won’t it all blow over without us getting involved?”
    â€œDude!” Henry looked at José incredulously. “You’re already involved. Hasn’t your mom spent, like, her whole life trying to protect stuff like this flag? And didn’t she spend the last … I dunno … six months or something fixing it? And now some bunch of creepy snake-men stole it, and she’s getting blamed? Doesn’t that make you mad?”
    â€œWell …” José pushed up his glasses. “Well, yes, but …”
    â€œCome on!” Henry paused for a moment; then he made his voice deep. “The test of any man lies in action.”
    José’s mouth dropped open. “You read Pindar?”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œPindar, the Ancient Greek poet. You just quoted him!”
    Henry shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I’ve never heard of that guy. I was quoting Maldisio. He says that thing about action right before he takes the crown in the game.”
    â€œNo. That’s from Pindar,” José insisted. “‘I will not steep my speech in lies; the test of any man lies in action.’”
    â€œYeah, well, maybe your Pinhead guy stole it from Maldisio. Anyway, his point was you can’t just talk about stuff all the time. Eventually, you have to do something.”
    José nodded slowly. “Okay,” he