Patrick Carman - The Black Circle - 39 Clues 05

"This round goes to Hamilton and Madison. Nice job on the switchback."Mary-Todd Holt pulled out a well-worn pocket-size journal and made a notation."You're falling behind in the standings, sugar maple. You can do better."Eisenhower had flopped down on all fours, his usual move when he'd lost the flag. Hamilton, Reagan, and Madison jumped on board.

When Eisenhower stood up again, he shook with all his might until his children fell off in a pile at his feet."I keep telling you," fumed Reagan, "you need to be quieter. We'll never catch up if you can't learn to stalk like a cat."

"Look at the size of these guns!" yelled Eisenhower, pointing to his preposterously bulging biceps. "It ain't easy keeping these guys still. They like to fight."

"My dad is a dork," said Reagan. "Someone help me, please."Eisenhower pulled Hamilton aside, threw an arm around him, and began walking. The father and son were like two buildings, big and solid."Did you hear from them yet?" asked Eisenhower.

He knew it was past time for a father-son chat, but somehow they never went quite as planned."Just a few minutes ago," said Hamilton. Already the boy was looking defensive. "They told me where to go. I think we're getting close."

"We're putting an awful lot of trust in you on this deal. It would be a monumental disappointment if they were tricking us.""No way, Dad. This is the real deal. I'm sure of it.""You better be. You fail, the whole family fails. And you know how I feel about failure."They walked a little farther and Eisenhower slapped his son on the back."You do realize we'll have to double-cross them in the end.

We can't risk falling behind here. If a clue comes our way, we need to keep it for ourselves. And don't think for a second they won't do the same to us given the chance. They're no better than their parents were in that department.""Dad ... I was thinking. We've got a lot more stuff to find before this is over," said Hamilton, tension visible in his shoulders. "Maybe a partnership makes sense?"

"You going soft on me?" asked Eisenhower. "This is a competition, not a playdate. When the time comes, we cut the cord and leave them behind. End of discussion.""But, Dad-"

"I said END OF DISCUSSION! Don't overstep your pay grade, young man. Just get the job done and leave the rest to me."Hamilton's shoulders slumped, and deep in Eisenhower's chest, his heart squeezed. But there was a chain of command that had to be followed.

Or else people got hurt. Even killed."My dad was bigger than me," said Eisenhower, his eyes on his own family. "A mountain of a man."Eisenhower fell silent as they walked back toward the twins, thinking about his father.

Eisenhower's mother had died really young and it had been just the two guys living together. A lot of sports. Not a lot of anything else. And that had been fine. Just fine."Fall in, team!" cried Eisenhower. "New orders!"

"We can't seem to shake those Kabras," said Mary-Todd, thumbing her hand behind her.

A black Land Rover had pulled into an alley, where it sat idling, spewing exhaust."We'll deal with them soon enough," said Eisenhower. He looked at his son with a mix of admiration and concern, which was the closest thing to praise he knew how to give.

"Tell us where we're going, Ham. And make it snappy!"* * *"

I have a hunch about something else," said Amy. "Do you want to hear it?"They were sitting in the St. Petersburg airport, awaiting instructions, and Dan was itching to hit the magazine stand for some junk food."Can it wait until I refill the backpack with provisions?"Amy rolled her eyes.

As they walked, Amy laid out her idea. "Everything we've found has been carved or sculpted, right?

First it was the little room in the paperweight, then the Rasputin figurine, then the coat of arms carved into wood and painted, and finally the stone with the broken bones. They're all intricately made pieces of art."They entered the store and Dan started perusing the shelves."And we keep getting this recurring color-- orange, like honey," said Amy. "The paperweight was a murky orange. Rasputin's model, it's the same. The snake was orange, the stone is orange.

At first I thought it was just a Russian thing, but I'm starting to think it means something else.""Uh-huh," said Dan, barely paying attention as he grabbed a handful of candy bars. "So what's it mean?"

His arms were overflowing with bags of chips, gum, and candy, which he dumped onto the counter.Amy leaned in to whisper, "I think when NRR talks about 'the room,' he's talking about the Amber Room.""What's that?" asked Dan."Nine hundred rubles," said the lady at the cash register.

They paid, dropped most of the snacks in the backpack, and continued walking. Amy started into a chocolate square while Dan devoured a Kit Kat bar. "It's a room made out of amber."Dan looked blank, so Amy continued.

"You know, that stuff they got the dinosaur DNA from in Jurassic Park. This room was absolutely amazing.

Wall after wall of intricately carved images. It's a priceless treasure. And guess where it was?

At Catherine Palace in the royal village."Half the Whoppers crammed into Dan's mouth sprayed out. "We were just there! Why didn't you tell me? We could have stopped in and found something important."

"It would have been a waste of time. The Amber Room was stolen by the Nazis in World War Two. And then it disappeared. No one knows where it ended up, but some think it secretly made its way back into Russia after the war.""How do you lose a room?"

"It's over a hundred and fifty feet of walls, to be precise. And they used six tons of amber," said Amy, switching over to the bossy teacher voice that grated on Dan's ears.'Tm guessing the Amber Room, if that really is the room we're after, is either in Moscow or Yakville," said Dan."Yekaterinburg," corrected Amy, popping another square of chocolate into her mouth."Whatever.

Let's just hope it's not in Siberia with the Holts."* * *

Bzzzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzz.Amy and Dan had both fallen asleep in the airport while Nellie's phone vibrated. On the fourth vibration, Dan woke up. The phone sat between them on the backpack.

"Hello? That you, Hamilton?""Wooooooohoooooooo!" sounded a voice from the other end. Dan held the phone away from his ear and Amy stirred awake, rubbing her eyes."We fell asleep," she said."No, duh," said Dan. "I think I've got Hammerhead on the line.

He's in high spirits.""Hamilton here! My dad just took the wheel. We're taking turns with this thing. It's amazing!""What are you talking about?" said Dan.113"Dude, we're driving a KAMAZ truck down the Road of Bones! This thing is like a tank!""NO WAY!" howled Dan.

"A KAMAZ truck? Are you kidding? That's a classic!""What's a KAMAZ truck?" asked Amy, listening in."It's the Godzilla of all Hummers! The Russian Monster Truck! Plus, it's a Transformer ... sort of ... I mean, they use the same giant mother of a chassis and build a monster anything on top --dump trucks, army trucks, all-terrain buses -- the KAMAZ is an all-weather, twelve-gear hunk of metal! How could you not know about this?!"

"Okaaaaaaaaay," said Amy."That should be me driving!" Dan yelled into the phone."Eat your heart out," said Hamilton. Amy grabbed the phone. "What's going on? Where are you?""We're heading back.

Already made it to mile fifty-two WAY ahead of the Kabras. They bottomed out ten miles back. Reagan wanted to help 'em out when we passed by, but Dad said, 'Let 'em call a tow truck.' Dude! It's a KAMAZ!"Dan plugged his ears.

He couldn't stand the sound of Hamilton Holt having so much fun while he sat bored in an airport. Amy grabbed the phone."What did you find? Hamilton? Are you there?"

The line was

loaded with static, cutting in and out as the truck passed over the Road of Bones."Hamilton, listen to me. I can barely hear you. What did you find? We're running out of time here!""Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! It wasn't hard to see once we got there, I'll tell you that. The thing was just sitting there on the side of the road."Dan could tell Amy was about to blow a gasket while Hamilton stalled.