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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] "Okay, okay," snapped Trask. "How's this?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of bills. Slowly he peeled them off and dropped them into von Reich's waiting hand. First hundred-dollar bills, then fifties, then twenties. Trask stopped with over half the roll still in his hand. "That's all?" demanded the doctor. "I got other expenses," Trask said quickly. He stuffed the roll back into his pocket, but not before Frank and Joe caught a glimpse of the top one. It was a single. The boys exchanged glances. They both realized that the bankroll had big bills on top, but the bulk of them were small. It looked as though Trask had a cash- flow problem. The doctor, though, seemed satisfied. "Okay, for now we are back in business. I will go back to my work." 99 Page 38 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html "First I got some more of my work for you. A couple of new patients, sons of Mr. Hardy," Trask said. "They need treatment real bad." "Treatment A or Treatment B?" asked the doctor, a hint of a nasty smile edging across his thin lips. "'treatment A," said Trask. "We'll save B for the big moment." With guns leveled at them, the Hardy boys followed Dr. von Reich out of Trask's headquarters. They were escorted down a short corridor and into a room filled with laboratory equipment. "You first," the doctor said to Frank... "Lie down on the table." Frank glanced at the gun trained on him. He shrugged and then obeyed. Furtively Joe looked sideways at the gun trained on him. He couldn't make a move. One of the phony cops strapped Frank down on the table, then stepped back. Meanwhile the doctor had filled a hypodermic I with a solution drawn from a tube stored in a refrigerator. Both Hardy boys knew what the solution was. Despite himself, Frank grew pale. The doctor, smiling with evident enjoyment, held the instrument in front of Frank's eyes for a moment so that Frank could get a good, long look at it. "What's the matter, little boy, afraid of a tiny needle?" the doctor asked mockingly. "Do not 100 worry. You will hardly feel it. And then, I promise you, you will feel nothing at all." Before Joe's horrified eyes, von Reich plunged the needle into Frank's arm. Almost instantly Frank's eyes bulged with shock and then closed just as fast, his face and body going slack. "Just lay him on the floor. It will not bother him in the least," the doctor told one of Trask's men. Two minutes later Joe was the one strapped on the table. He steeled himself so he wouldn t flinch when the doctor gave him a close-up of the needle. But he couldn't help shuddering inwardly when he heard the doctor's words: "As the saying goes, young man, like father, like sons." 101 Chapter 12 BLACKNESS. That was all Joe saw. But he was sure he was awake. He was sure he had his eyes open. Maybe this was what Virus A did to you, he thought. Maybe it took away your sight and made you think you were conscious when you were really still knocked out. Was he running a fever? He didn't think so. But to make sure, he put his hand on his forehead. Or at least he tried to. He couldn't move. He seemed to be tied up hand and foot, lying on what felt like the concrete- floor of a pitch-dark room. But he had no idea what kind of room he was in. Then the total silence was broken as he heard footsteps moving toward him. He tensed. He felt 103 Page 39 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html a foot collide with his side. Next a hand felt his face, forehead, nose, gagged mouth. "That you, Joe?" It was Frank's voice that was whispering. Joe felt the gag being taken out of his mouth. Before Joe could say anything, Frank said hoarsely, "Keep your voice way down. This place might be bugged." "Always playing it cautious," Joe teased softly. "See if you can untie me." Frank untied Joe's wrists, then the rope around his ankles. "Easy as pie," whispered Frank. "Whoever tied us up was never a Boy Scout. I think this underground living is getting to Trask's boys. They're getting sloppy." "You were tied up too?" Joe asked. He tried to rub the circulation back into his wrists and ankles. "How did you get loose?" "When I came to, I rolled along the floor, hoping I'd run into some luck," said Frank. "And I did. I hit a wall. Then I made my way along the wall until I reached a doorway. The door was locked, but it was set far enough into the wall to leave a hard edge exposed. I used the edge to saw through the ropes around my wrists. The rest was easy." "Do you think Dad is tied up in here?" wondered Joe. "I doubt it. I covered a lot of territory in here before I found you." 104 "How long do you figure we were knocked out?" asked Joe. "No idea," said Frank. "That Virus A is strange. It put me out like a light, but now I don't feel bad at all. How about you?" "All I feel is starved," said Joe. "We're really in the dark about everything," mused Frank. As if in answer to this, light from an overhead bulb flooded the room. . In that first flash of light Joe and Frank stared at each other. Their faces were streaked with grime, their hair was dusty, their clothes looked like dirty rags, but no one else was in the dusty concrete room. They didn't have time to talk. Without saying a word, they gave each other a nod, then dashed toward the door. There they pressed themselves against the wall on either side of the doorway. Just then the door swung inward. The two fake cops entered. "Hey, where did those-?" was all the first one had a chance to say before Frank leaped on him from the rear. Joe took on the second man. Three minutes later the Hardy boys had the unconscious men tied up and gagged. "Quick!" said Frank. "Let's get out of here!" They left the room, closing the door behind them, and found themselves in a dimly lit corridor that seemed familiar. "I think the lab we were given the shots in is 105 down there," Frank said. They headed toward where Frank was pointing. "This looks like it," said Frank as he and Joe stood facing the closed door. Joe took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing," he said as he pushed the door open. We've hit the jackpot, was Frank's first thought when he looked inside. Inside the room, Dr. von Reich was without bodyguards, though he was not alone. Sitting in a chair, looking pale but wide awake, was Fenton Hardy. Page 40 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html The doctor was standing with his back to the boys in front of Mr. Hardy, a hypodermic in his hand. He was poised, ready to give the injection. Mr. Hardy was not tied up, but he was making no move to stop the doctor. Frank ran across the short distance and grabbed von Reich's wrist, forcing him to drop the needle to the floor. Joe, meanwhile, wrapped one arm around the doctor's neck and pressed his other hand across the doctor's mouth. "Make a sound, and listen to your neck snap," Joe threatened. Frank closed the lab door and quickly returned to the doctor and frisked him. "He's clean," Frank said, hurrying to his father's side. "No funny business or we'll lay you out," Joe warned. Then he released the doctor. "Dad, are you okay?" Frank asked. He had reason to be concerned. Fenton Hardy 106 had remained sitting in the chair. There was an expression in his eyes that his sons had never seen before. A bewildered, confused look. "Okay? Yes, I'm okay," he said, but his voice was not reassuring. It was low, indistinct, as if he were having trouble getting his words out. "It must have hit him harder than it did us," said Frank. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |