Turkey Trouble on the National Mall Read Online Free PDF

here,” she said. She looked at the vice president. “Could it work?”
    “Let’s back up a minute,” Mary Kincaid said. She took the e-mail from Yvonne. “It says here that Ms. Le Roi would e-mail her brother on Friday. That’s tomorrow. Won’t he think it’s strange if she e-mails him today, a day early?”
    KC had already thought about that. “Maybe the message we send could say she’s in a hurry to get the feathers,” she said.
    “But what if she e-mails him tomorrow like she said she would?” Marshall asked.
    “By then it will be too late,” KC said, grinning. “We’ll already have the turkeys, and he’ll be in jail!”
    “So if we’re going to pull this off,” the vice president said, “we have to do it today!”

8
Operation Turkey
    In his office, President Thornton listened, then spoke to KC and Marshall and the vice president. “I like it,” he said. “I hope Cloud appreciates what you kids are doing for him. He’s one lucky turkey!”
    The vice president looked at her watch. “It’s nearly four o’clock here, so it’s ten at night in France,” she said. “I hope Leroy’s sister goes to bed early. We don’t want her calling him tonight!”
    The president read the e-mail again that Yvonne and the vice president had written.
    Bonjour, mon frère
. Change of plans. Too difficult to send birds here. I have a buyer in USA. His name is Arnold. He will come to your shop atten o’clock tonight. He will give you $50,000 in exchange for the live turkeys. Arnold will send me 1,000 feathers and sell the rest. Urgent: do not call or e-mail me. Make the exchange and I will call you tomorrow morning.
A bientôt. Votre soeur
, MLR.
    The First Lady walked into the room. “Mr. Smiley is here,” she said, and the FBI director followed her into the president’s office. He was carrying a metal briefcase.
    The president and Mr. Smiley shook hands. “Who do I give this to?” asked Mr. Smiley. “Fifty thousand dollars makes me nervous, even if it is fake money.” He used a key to unlock the case, and it popped open. The president’s desk lamp shone down on packs of hundred-dollar bills.
    Marshall let out a gasp, and everyone laughed.
    The president grinned. “Where did you get the counterfeit money?” he asked.
    “That’s a secret,” Mr. Smiley said. He put a finger to his lips.
    KC stared at the green bills. She had never felt so nervous. Her hands and fingers were cold, as if she’d been outside building a snowman.
    “And we want it all back,” Mr. Smiley went on, “after you’ve caught your turkey thief.”
    “What happens if Arnold gets to Mr. Leroy’s shop at ten and Mr. Leroy isn’t there?” KC’s mom asked.
    “Then it’s over,” the president said. “That means he didn’t believe our e-mail, or he got tipped off somehow. We’ll never see him or the turkeys again.”
    “Is Arnold ready?” the vice president asked.
    The president nodded. “Ready andexcited,” he said. “His brother, Dez, will be with him, and two FBI agents will follow as backup.”
    Mr. Smiley closed the briefcase and handed the key to the president. “Keep me in the loop,” he said. “And now I’m going home to eat Thanksgiving dinner.”
    They watched the FBI director leave the room.
    “It’s almost time for our dinner, too,” KC’s mom said. “Your parents will be here soon, Marshall. You kids want to wash up first?”
    “What’re we having?” Marshall asked.
    KC’s mom winked. “That’s a secret,” she said.
    Ten people sat around the president’s dining room table—Marshall and his parents, Arnold and his brother, Yvonne, the vice president, KC and her mom, and the president. Everyone had the jitters because the shiny metal briefcase holding the fakemoney lay on a table in the corner.
    KC’s mom and Yvonne carried trays into the dining room. “Yvonne and I decided to serve our favorite foods,” the First Lady said.
    She and Yvonne set down steaming bowls of tomato soup.