39 Clues - 05 - The Black Circle Read Online Free PDF

thirty-six hours wouldn't be anywhere near enough
    time to visit all the places on the list, and they only had twenty-nine hours left. He
    didn't want to admit it, but they needed help.Amy seemed to get what he was doing.
    "It's a list of places, see," said Amy to Hamilton, taking the parchment from Dan. She
    was careful not to turn it over and reveal the picture of her parents or the note from
    NRR. "And Dan already unscrambled the letters."Hamilton looked at the parchment
    suspiciously."Here's the thing," said Amy. "We can't visit all these places alone, and
    neither can you. What if we were to split them up? You go one way, we'll go the other,
    and we'll share what we find?"Hamilton Holt's gelled slick of blond hair seemed to
    quiver as the gears in his brain started turning. He propped himself up on his elbow,
    and the look he gave Amy was almost imploring."And you can trust us," said Amy.
    "We're giving you the next place we're supposed to go. See that right there?" asked
    Amy, holding the parchment closer to Hamilton's face. "That's where we'll pick up the

    trail. In Omsk, Siberia."Right beside the words Dan had added: "Next, at the crossroads
    of Y and Z." It made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but it sounded good, and
    Hamilton fell41for it without hesitation. Dan figured he could give Hamilton the real
    instructions later, after he'd had more time to examine the treasure in his
    pocket."Here's what we're going to do," said Amy.Amy told Hamilton to visit both
    Siberian outposts while she and Dan focused on the closer places. That left Moscow,
    Yekaterinburg, and St. Petersburg for Dan and Amy. They exchanged cell phone
    numbers and e-mail addresses."We'll swap information as we go and beat the pants off
    everyone else!" Dan hooted."That's if we don't kill ourselves getting down from here
    first," said Amy.42CHAPTER 5Ian Kabra had been in the back of a limousine hundreds
    of times but never when covered in meat pies."The Holts are barbarians," he said
    disgustedly. He was sitting in the backseat, wiping beef stains off his
    five-thousand-dollar Armani suit."Here comes Hamilton!" said Natalie. She had fared
    better in the parking lot fight, retreating into the car at the first sign of flying food. She
    was never one to risk her Gucci."Driver, follow that piece of junk," said Ian. He pointed
    to the beat-up white van that Hamilton Holt had just dove into. The van rumbled to life
    and tore out of the lot.Ian dialed his cell phone. The mere mention of the competition
    heading into Russia at such a sensitive juncture had sent his father into a panic. Now
    was not the time to take chances."What do you want?" The voice on the other end of
    the line belonged to Irina Spasky, the only Russian43citizen on any of the teams. She,
    like Ian, was part of the Lucian branch. One rung under Ian and Natalie's parents, a
    fact that had long infuriated her."I don't know how you managed to let everyone into
    your country," said Ian. "But it's making my father nervous. And when he's nervous, I'm
    nervous. My father will have both our heads if we let another team capture one of our
    clues.""They will not get anything!" snapped Irina. "It will be for them a wild geese chase."Ian smirked. He could picture her eye twitching, as it always did when she was
    angry."I don't like all this activity so close to some very important secrets. It's your
    country. Deal with it.""I suggest you hold your tongue. The line is not secure," said
    Irina."You follow Dan and Amy Cahill. I think they're on to something," Ian ordered.
    "We'll stay with the Holts.""Agreed. You babysit the idiots. I will get the real work
    done."* * *Irina clicked off her cell phone and brooded in the backseat of a dingy
    Volkswagen van, the very one Dan and Amy had ridden from the airport. The bearded
    Russian was on the Lucian payroll, like hundreds of other informants spread across the
    homeland.44Who's helping Dan and Amy Cahill? she wondered. Could there be a
    double agent within