Wired Read Online Free PDF

where I had left them. For a few minutes I stood in the bright sunshine beside my own skis. The mountain-side and the green of the spruce trees were above. Skiers laughed and shouted all around me like they didn’t have worries.
    But I did.
    After a few minutes of standing and doing nothing but thinking, I realized something. Cassie had been the first person down the hill after I had nearly hit the wire. She knew the snowboarder with the blue hat. She had stolen snowboards with him.
    If they were such good friends, maybe it wasn’t an accident that she showed up after I had fallen. Maybe she was looking to see if the wire had hurt me.
    I wanted to smack my head. It didn’t make sense. If she knew about the wire, then why did she run into it herself? If she was part of it, she would have known the wire would be there.
    I stood in the sunshine a few more minutes.
    I thought of something. Two weeks ago, after Garth hit the wire, our coach had found him knocked out. Our coach had not seen the wire himself. Someone must have taken the wire away before he got there. That meant that someone had been waiting beside the wire, ready to untie it, probably with pliers, right after Garth fell.
    And if that was true for Garth’s accident, then someone must have been waiting beside the wire during my run too. That someone was probably Sid. But because I ducked in time and then went back up the hill, Sid had to jump on his snowboard and get away instead of untying the wire.
    All of this would explain Cassie. If she were part of this, she would also think that Sid had pulled down the wire right away. That would explain why the wire surprised her!
    I spent a few more minutes in the sunshine thinking about Cassie. I remembered that I had asked Cassie if she was a tourist here on vacation. I remembered that she had not answered my question. I remembered that she had told me her name instead. Did that mean she didn’t want me to know why she was at Big Bear?
    I thought of the way she spoke, like she was from New York. If she was a tourist, she was probably staying at the resort hotel right here on the slopes.
    I had an idea.
    I walked toward the front desk of the Big Bear Hotel. My ski boots clunked on the floor. That didn’t matter. A lot of people wore their ski boots inside the hotel.
    I stopped beneath a stuffed moose head above the front desk. I looked across the desk at a short guy with red hair and lots of freckles.
    â€œNathan,” I said to him with a grin. “Do you remember the day I fixed the bindings on your skis?”
    â€œSure do,” Nathan said. “I still owe you a big favor for that.”
    â€œHow about now?” I said. “Can you see if someone named Cassie Holt is staying here?”
    Nathan frowned. “We’re not allowed to give out room numbers to anyone.”
    â€œI’m not asking for her room number,” I said. “I just want to know if she is staying here.”
    He kept frowning.
    â€œNathan,” I said, “if someone called the hotel and asked to speak with Cassie Holt, what would you do?”
    â€œI would look her up on the computer and put the call through to her room.”
    â€œWhat if she wasn’t staying here?” I asked.
    â€œThen I would tell that person she wasn’t at the hotel.”
    I grinned. “Should I go make that phone call? Or can you tell me right now?”
    He grinned back. “I’ll look it up.”
    He typed some letters into his computer keyboard and checked the computer screen.
    â€œNope,” he said. “No Cassie Holt.”
    â€œNuts,” I said.
    â€œHold on,” he told me. “There is a John Holt. He has two rooms booked. Do you think one of the rooms is for her?”
    â€œMaybe he is her dad,” I said. “Where are they from?”
    â€œCome on, Keegan,” he said. “This information is supposed to be private.”
    I kept grinning. “Remember how