J.M.J.
A/N: Thank you for continuing to read! Thank you especially to everyone who has left reviews since I posted the last chapter: EvergreenDreamweaver, Drumboy100, max2013, Candylou, angelicalkiss, Cherylann Rivers, and ErinJordan! Your feedback and support is very much appreciated!
Chapter VII
"Should we tie him up and just make a break for it?" Joe asked, looking down at the gunman sitting on the floor in front of him.
"If we want to enjoy our newfound freedom for only a few minutes, after which I and possibly you will meet our immediate and painful end, yes," Illya said.
"Then what should we do?" Frank couldn't keep annoyance out of his voice. "You know, if it had been up to us, we wouldn't have tried to escape in the first place. Now you've only gotten us all in even more danger."
"Only if we're caught," Illya reminded him. "We'll tie this one up securely and hide him, but not before we take his clothes and mask. I'll put these on and carry the gun. That way, we may be able to get past any of his compatriots we come across."
"Why can't one of us wear his clothes?" Joe asked.
"These people aren't so stupid that they would be fooled by someone who can't even speak out language," Illya replied.
"Fair point," Joe admitted begrudgingly.
"We'd better hurry," Frank said.
While Illya was putting on the disguise over his suit, Frank and Joe bound the prisoner hand and foot. Then they locked him in the nearest storage closet.
"Where should we go?" Joe asked. "It's not like we have a way out or a plan or anything like that."
"Okay, maybe not," Frank said, whose logic was beginning to outweigh his frustration with Illya, "but that doesn't really matter now. We need to move on from where we're at, not where we wish we were."
"Exactly," Illya agreed. "Our first order of business should be to find the Pendant."
"Hold on a second there," Frank said. "Our first order of business is to either help the police get inside or help the hostages get out. Unless you've changed your tune and you'd let us exchange the Pendant for the lives of everyone in the museum."
"I can't do that," Illya told him. "I can't do that any more than you could surrender your Declaration of Independence to such people."
Joe rolled his eyes. "You know, even if this was National Treasure gone wrong and an evil Nicholas Cage was holding everybody hostage in the Smithsonian unless we handed over the Declaration of Independence…"
Illya's look of utter confusion persuaded Frank to interrupt his brother. "I can completely understand you wanting to protect one of your national treasures. I really do. But we're talking about people's lives here. That has to take first priority."
Illya gave a sort of shrug. "Human lives are only temporary, anyway. For all we know, any of these hostages could die in some other way next week. But the Ruby Pendant is irreplaceable."
"And that's why your country has problems like this right there," Joe said. Illya's attitude was beginning to make him fume even more.
Illya sighed and gave a slight shake of his head, but he didn't seem in the least convinced.
"It doesn't really make any difference, anyway," Frank said in an attempt to keep the peace. No matter how much they dislike Illya at the moment, they still had to work with him. "We don't have any leads to the Pendant anyway. Getting everybody out safely is maybe more than we can do as it is, but there's nothing we can do at all about the Pendant."
"Except I know who stole it," Illya said.
"You do? Who? How could you know that?" Frank asked.
"It was the woman whom you were talking with when the excitement started," Illya explained.
"Sonja whatever-her-last-name-was?" Joe asked. "And you let her go? But I thought…That doesn't make any sense with your whole 'the Pendant is more important that everyone' mantra."
"It's very simple," Illya told him. "My priority is to keep the Pendant safe. It's safer with Sonja than with those lunatics. If I didn't help her escape, they might get their hands on it. They can't now. However, if we can track down Sonja before she leaves the museum, we could recover the Pendant ourselves."
Frank rubbed his temple. "We still need to focus on getting the people out safely, but since we don't have any ideas on that yet…I guess if we meet up with the girls in the security booth – if we can find it – we could figure out where Sonja is pretty quick."
"I think I know where it is," Illya said. "Come with me."
They hurried down one hallway, and then turned down another. As they made a third turn, they saw three figures ahead of them: Vanessa, Kristen, and Mr. Byron.
Kristen let out a long, loud scream when she saw them. Vanessa and Mr. Byron wavered from one foot to the other as they tried to decide whether to stand their ground or run.
Frank glanced at Illya, who was indistinguishable from the gunmen in his mask. "It's okay. It's just us. This is just Mr. Láska."
Vanessa heaved a sigh of relief. "I thought we were all done for for a second there."
"We may still be if those terrorists heard her screaming." Illya nodded toward Kristen.
Kristen's cheeks reddened. "I'm sorry."
"We'd better go," Frank said.
The six of them started down the hallway once again, dreading the appearance of one or more of their captors at any moment. They hadn't gotten far when they were startled by Illya's phone ringing.
"I believe it's an American number," he reported as he looked at the screen.
Joe looked over his shoulder. "That's Iola's number. But how would she know yours, unless…" He swallowed hard instead of finishing the sentence. The thought of the girls being captured was too much.
Illya answered the phone with a curt "Hello."
"Hello, there," a female voice replied. "This is Sonja. I know you remember me. We just talked a few minutes ago. Sorry for pretending I couldn't speak English back there. I think it would be best if we keep on speaking English now, though. Also, you should put your phone on speaker. I know the Hardys and their little school friends you just met up with will want to hear what I'm saying."
Wordlessly, Illya took the phone from his ear and pressed the speaker button. Sonja's voice came through clearly.
"I'm prepared to offer y'all a deal," she went on. "See, I'm not out of thw oods on this whole problem just yet and I think we can help each other. Before those goons grabbed me, I stashed the Ruby Pendant so they couldn't take it from me. You find it and return it to me, and I'll not slit the throats of these two charming American teenagers. Everybody happy."
There was a tense pause as the impact of these words sank in for everyone.
"We need proof that you haven't hurt the girls already." Frank made an effort to speak calmly despite his hammering heart.
"Fair enough." Sonja's voice sounded almost careless.
A moment later, Iola's voice came over the phone. "Joe? Frank? Can you hear me?"
"Are you okay?" Joe asked.
"Yes," Iola replied. "She hasn't hurt either me or Callie."
There was a pause as Sonja took the phone back. "Yet. I haven't hurt them yet. Here's how this is gonna work. I can see just about every move you make. I'll tell you where to go and where to look and how to avoid the bad guys. You get your friends back when I get my super valuable necklace back. Deal?"
"We can't…" Illya started to say but Joe cut him off. "Deal."
"We're not in any position to make any such deal," Illya told him, switching the speaker phone off so that Sonja wouldn't be able to hear him. "If and when we recover the Pendant, we will be obliged to return it to the government."
"But I'm sure youre government would much rather see two American citizens returned unharmed than risk an international incident," Mr. Byron pointed out. "Even if it does mean putting the Pendant at risk."
Illya sighed, but he had to admit that the teacher was right. He turned speaker phone back on and said, "Very well."
"Now that that's settled, let's get to work, shall we?" Sonja replied. "The first thing you should do is contact your other two escaped friends and loop them in on what's happening so we can help them keep from being recaptured, even though I don't have to help them. See? I'm a nice girl."
"Who is she talking about?" Joe asked.
"Chet and Marius, I guess," Vanessa told him.
"Who's Marius?" Joe asked.
"He helped us break out," Vanessa explained. "He said he's a contractor who's been working on the restoration program. He knew about a secret passageway that leads out of the castle and that we were trying to get to. He and Chet are still trying to find it."
"A contractor," Frank repeated. "That's interesting."
"How so?" Illya asked.
"It's just very convenient that he would know a way out of the castle." Frank didn't want to say what he was thinking in front of everyone; it would be much better to discuss it with just Joe. To divert the conversation, he nodded at the old-fashioned walkie-talkie in Mr. Byron's hand. "Does that thing actually work?"
"I believe so," Mr. Byron said. "Chet and Marius have the other one, so we should be able to contact them over it."
He spoke over the radio and after a few tense moments, Chet's voice came back in reply. "What's going on, Mr. Byron?"
Mr. Byron explained the situation, including the predicament that Callie and Iola were currently in. His story was met with momentary silence. Then Marius's voice replied, "Even if you return the Pendant to that woman, she will not release your friends."
"How can you be so sure?" Mr. Byron asked.
"Well, she is a thief, is she not?" Marius replied. "She is most certainly not worthy of trust."
Frank asked Mr. Byron if he might take the radio. Knowing that the Hardys had more experience in this arena than he did, Mr. Byron handed the walkie-talkie over.
"Marius?" Frank said into the radio. "My name is Frank Hardy. I'm an amateur detective, and I've dealt with situations like this before. You could be right that Sonja won't release the girls even if we carry through our end of the bargain. However, because she's a burglar rather than an armed robber, she might be content to make an exchange."
"She is not," Marius said simply. "You must believe me on that point."
Frank caught Joe's eye, and Joe nodded slightly to him. Marius's certainty on this was a little strange.
"How do you know?" Frank asked.
"I…just do," Marius said.
Frank paused for a moment, but then he decided that he could find out whether Marius actually knew what he was talking about or not later. For now, there were more urgent things to worry about. "Okay. You could be right, and believe me, I want to play this as safely as possible. But we're short on options. Our best chance is to play along for now."
"Very well," Marius agreed reluctantly. "You say she will help us not to get captured, at least as long as it's useful to her?"
"Right," Frank said.
"You done talking yet?" Sonja broke into the conversation. "The biggest drawback of speaker phone is that it is kind of hard to hear what people are saying if they don't talk slow enough. Anyhow, now that you've contacted your buddies and had enough time to tell them what's going on, you'd better tell them to get moving. There's some bad guys headed straight for them. The rest of you might want to start going, too, before I start feeling impatient."