The 39 Clues Turbulence Read Free Page A

window cast a strange shadow on his face. He walked over to the discarded lightsaber and picked it up, holding it out in front of him like an archaeologist examining a relic from another era. “I know they are,” he said, without facing her. “But there’s nothing we can do.” He turned around and walked slowly out of the room.

     
    The vast backyard was dark and still. He knew from hacking into her bank account that the girl had spent almost half a million dollars on security. Between the electric fence, motion sensors, and body-heat detectors, there hadn’t been so much as a squirrel on the grass in six months.
    But he was no squirrel.
    The searchlight beam passed over the yard like a great white shark gliding lazily over the ocean floor.
    He smiled as he stepped under the shadow of a large oak tree, and looked up at the light shining faintly from the third-floor window. According to the surveillance footage, Amy often spent the night in her command center trying to gain information about her new enemy. And yet she had found nothing.
    Vesper One turned around and began walking through the darkness, guided by the low drone of the electric fence. When he reached the edge of the lawn, he removed a small device from his pocket, held it against the barrier, and pushed the button. There was a loud buzz, then silence.
    Vesper One scaled the fence with ease, landing noiselessly on the other side. He’d already arranged for Vesper Six to take care of the children.
    In the distance, he heard a crash, followed by a chorus of laughter and angry shouts.
    Or perhaps they’d save Six the trouble and remove themselves from the equation.
    Either way, he had other business to attend to.
    As he stepped forward, a black car pulled up to the curb as if he’d conjured it from the shadows. Vesper One slid into the backseat and closed the door. “Boston.” There was one final item to attend to before he could put his plan in motion. It was time to eliminate the last Guardian.

     
    The next morning Jonah Wizard arrived fresh off his concert tour via helicopter at six a.m. and landed on the front lawn, triggering the alarm system. By the time Amy had convinced the Attleboro police department that everything was under control, the other Cahills had gone back to bed and slept through the tumbling lessons. Most of them came down in time for jujitsu training, but once it became clear that Madison’s idea of a “light tap” could knock out a linebacker, the crowd began to dwindle.
    The worst part of it was that every time Amy tried to get their attention, they ignored her. It didn’t matter that she’d spent months arranging for expert linguists and champion martial artists to come to the house. Every time she raised her voice loud enough to make them look at her, she blushed and began to stutter. Yet it wasn’t the wasted time or money that bothered Amy. It was the fact that these people weren’t strangers. They were her family. She’d thought that, after everything they’d gone through, they’d be excited to work together. But it was as if the events of last year had never happened.
    At least the skydiving trip seemed to be working out. The Holts were excited to go, and everyone else had been too tired to argue. The bus Amy had chartered was silent as they drove through the Bristol County countryside toward the private airstrip. Everyone was asleep except for Amy and Jonah, who had been oddly quiet since his arrival that morning.
    Amy was sitting in the row behind Jonah and watched as he pulled out his iPhone and turned to face the window. He fiddled with it for a moment, and the glow from the screen illuminated his famous face. The phone remained lit just long enough for Amy to see the corner of Jonah’s mouth droop before the phone went dark. He sighed softly and put the phone away.
    Amy reached forward and tapped him on the shoulder. “Are you okay?”
    He turned toward her. “A-Dawg. I didn’t know you were