The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper's Nest Read Online Free PDF Page B

She flipped the phone shut, her face flushed.
    "Well, then, happy news! Hakuna matata and all that," Ian said cheerily. "We'll rest and have a fine dining moment while we wait." He looked around at the various airport fast-food choices. "Well, er, we'll rest..."
    "Three hours --here?" Natalie pulled on her starched collar. "Yesterday it was Tokyo, Paris, Vienna, Seoul, Sydney, and Java. I had such respect for the Cahills' location scouting. But --oh, honestly, Mother, that bumpy little puddle jumper to ... P-Peo --" Her face turned green. "Excuse me, I'm not feeling well."
    Ian watched her run off. "She has a point."
    "Complaining about a location?" Isabel spun on her son. "When those children evaded us in Indonesia--twice? What does that tell you, Ian?"
    "That they're lucky?" Ian guessed.
    "Those children," his mother said, "are our only worthy adversaries."
    Ian barked a laugh. "Good one, Mother!"
    "Are you laughing at me, Ian?"
    "No." Ian dropped the smile. "Then is it possible, Mother, that they have flown somewhere else?"
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    "Remember who is leading them," Isabel replied. "That nose-ringed nanny grafted to an iPod. It's a wonder they ever make a flight on time. No, Ian, we will not panic. They will be on the next flight they can manage to book. Remember, by our little arrangement with Bae Oh, we have taken out Alistair. Here in Peoria, they will be alone. To eliminate them, there must be no variables -- that is the lesson of Indonesia."
    Ian nodded. Do not question her, he told himself. Not when she is in a state like this.
    Still, it was a pity to attack them with such force. Especially the girl, Amy. He'd never met anyone like her. Shy. Gentle. With an exciting edge of hostility. So unlike the girls back home, who flung themselves at him so often that his chauffeurs traveled with first-aid kits.
    Doesn't she know better? Isn't she smart enough to stop the hunt?
    It was the boy and the au pair. He was a pint-sized hothead. She was a collection of piercings and piggish-ness. If only Amy and Dan had stayed trapped in the cave in Seoul, at least long enough to get discouraged. Why did they antagonize Mother?
    They don't know what it's like to live with her.
    "Right you are," Ian said. "They're asking for it. Heaven forbid they listen to the brains of the outfit."
    "And that would be --?" Isabel said
    Ian looked away. "Well, the sister, I'd say. Amy."
    He felt a smile inching across his face.
    "Ian?" His mother grabbed his wrist. "If you are
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    having the inkling of a shadow of a thought..."
    "Mother!" Ian could feel the blood rushing to his face. "How could you suspect for a moment...?"
    "Mother! Ian!" Natalie was racing out of the bathroom now. She looked even sicker than before. "I just got a text message from Reagan Holt!"
    Isabel Kabra looked aghast. "You texted a Tomas?"
    "No! She hacked into my mobile." Dismayed, Natalie looked at the screen in her hand and began reading. "Thanks, Nat. We managed to pick up Dan and Amy's next loction from your phine' -- oh, good grief, the spelling! -- 'location from your phone. We are on their tail, and if we smell a Lucian, WATCH OUT. ttfn, Reagan.'"
    Ian groaned. The Holts were one of the more unpleasant aspects of this hunt--nasty, brutish, and dull. "So much for the Cahills being alone."
    "Perhaps we can put a 'Tomas-Free Zone' sign on the landing strip," Natalie said. "That will confuse the dolts --sorry, Holts -- for a day or so."
    "Those dimwits," Isabel said with a calm smile, "may be good with a paraglider, but they will not stop us from isolating Dan and Amy here. And once we have them, we'll have some fun with this."
    She pulled out a glowing green vial from her shoulder bag.
    Ian swallowed hard.
    "It's the liquid we snatched from the Cahills in Paris!" Natalie said. "Mother, you've made a mistake!"
    Isabel glared at her daughter. "As Ian no doubt realizes,
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    this vial is a fake. Inside it is a poison. After we administer this, they will experience a slow