Day of Doom (5 page)

“That’s awesome, Amy,” Hamilton

said.

She heard Hamilton say something to

Jonah and the international superstargrabbed the phone from Hamilton.

“Amy, is it true? Is Phoenix reallysafe?”

Amy heard Jonah’s fab voice crackand she could almost feel the waves ofemotion across the ether.

“He really is, Jonah. You’ll be able to see for yourself soon.”

She heard a little sob escape from Jonah and he said, “Thanks.”

Hamilton came back on the line. “Okay, Amy. We’ll be ready to go right away.”

“When we’re done in DC, we’ll fly out there. Phoenix will lead you to the location of the hostages. Do whatever you can to rescue them and stop the Vespers. We’ll meet you there as soon as

possible.”

She clicked off and looked at the

others. Dan was watching her with a dark expression.

“It’ll be too late, Amy,” he said accusingly.

“I don’t think so. If Vesper One believes he’s won, he’ll have a false sense of security. And if we can capture Isabel in DC, we’ll have a hostage that we can bargain with. I’m tired of Vesper One holding all the cards.”

Dan shook his head stubbornly. “But why would Vesper One give up anything for Isabel? According to you they’re probably competing for the top spot of global megalomaniac.”

“Because she might have valuable information about Vesper One that he

won’t want us to learn. And Isabel has resources we don’t. If we can force her to

work with us, we can employ some of those assets to help us.”

“I still think you’re wrong,” said Dan hotly.

“Fine. Do you want to lead this operation?” Amy said, staring at him.

Under her gaze Dan finally looked down. “I just hope you’re right.”

“Me, too,” Amy said under her breath. “Me, too.”

The plane ride was incredibly turbulentand Ian, Evan, and the rest of thepassengers on the flight, and maybe eventhe pilots, probably thought they wereactually going to crash. When theyapproached the airport, the turbulencebecame so severe that several passengersfainted while others grabbed barf bagsand filled them up with their stomachcontents. When the plane finally bounced

down on the runway and stayed there, everyone cheered.

Ian and Evan looked at each other, their faces pale and their bellies wriggly.

Ian said, “If we survive the Vespers, perhaps we can drive back East. I don’t think my stomach can manage another jaunt like that one.”

“Yeah,” said Evan, holding his stomach. “It must be really windy today. Only reason why it would be so bumpy.”

They hustled toward the exit with their bags. When they got outside of the airport they found, to their astonishment, that it was calm and sunny with not even a slight breeze. As they looked around they noticed pilots in their uniforms huddled together talking. Other airline personnel were looking nervous. When Ian looked

up into the sky he saw one plane coming in for a landing. It was jerking and whipping all over the place.

He  looked  at  Evan,  who  had obviously seen this as well.

“What’s going on?” Ian asked.

Evan shrugged and quickly walked over to one of the pilots.

“Sir,” Evan began. “It’s not windy today, but it seems like the planes are having a lot of trouble flying.”

The man looked at Evan and said abruptly, “I can’t talk about it. Sorry.”

He hurriedly moved off.

Evan  came  back  over  to  Ian. “Nothing we can do about it now. We’ve got to get to the motel as fast as possible. I don’t want to give the Vespers any chance at all to kidnap Phoenix again.”

Ian nodded and they both ran towardthe cabstand. They quickly found out that itwas too far for a cab to take them. Butthey found a bus that would. They boughttickets and boarded a few minutes before

the bus was scheduled to depart.

Both of them were so engrossed in their journey that they failed to see a vehicle that was following them. There were three people inside, but they had hats and glasses on and their coat collars were pulled up, making it impossible to see who they were.

As the bus pulled off, the other vehicle followed closely.

Amy, Dan, and the others climbed into a

cab outside of Union Station in DC and headed over to the Smithsonian’s National

Museum of American History. It waslocated on the National Mall. The cab

dropped them off on Constitution Avenue and they hurried in. Like almost all museums in DC, the admission was free because all of these facilities were paid for largely with tax dollars and thus open to the country’s citizens without charge. The space inside was divided up into themes. The first floor focused on transportation and technology. There was a large early-style locomotive anchoring this floor. The second floor housed exhibitions on American lives and ideals, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture Gallery. The third floor focused on wars and

politics, and located here was a large exhibition on the men who have been

president of the United States.

Amy and the others paused in the

large lobby and gazed around.

“Where do we start looking?” asked

Dan.

Atticus said, “It makes the most senseto ask someone who works here. Perhapsthere’s a permanent Lewis and Clarkexhibit.”

“Good thinking,” said Amy. But she added in a warning tone, “Be on the lookout for Isabel Kabra. And I doubt

she’ll be traveling alone, so keep watch for her bodyguards, too.”

They headed over to the information desk and were told that there was a Lewis

and Clark display on the third floor.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark,both   veteran   soldiers,   had   been

commissioned   by   President   Thomas Jefferson  to   explore   the  Northwest Territory that the United States had acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Their journey led them all the way to the Pacific coast. Early on in the trip, Lewis and Clark were joined by a Shoshone Indian named Sacagawea.   She   helped   guide   the expedition westward over the Rocky Mountains. It had been the longest, most arduous expedition ever undertaken in America, and both Lewis and Clark became revered as two of the country’s greatest heroes.

They took the stairs up to the third floor and quickly found the display area.

Items from the legendary expedition wereunder glass, and there were informationcards under every item, explaining whatthey were and how each had been used bythe two famous explorers. However, aftertwenty minutes of examining all of theitems, Amy and the others were no furtheralong in their quest.

Dan said, “If there’s somethinghelpful here, I don’t see it. I hope thiswasn’t a huge waste of time. We couldhave been halfway to the West Coast bynow.”

Atticus said firmly, “My mother wasdying at the time. I doubt she would havetold me
 
useless
 
information.”

Dan paled and said, “Hey, Att, Ididn’t mean it like that. But she could have

been delirious.”

“No, she wasn’t,” said Atticus emphatically. “She knew exactly what she was doing. I’m sure of it.”

Jake added, “And Isabel Kabra is in town, too.”

Amy said, “But we don’t know that she actually came here. As you said, DC is a big city. We just speculated it was to look at something pertaining to Lewis and Clark.” She added in a hollow voice, “Well,
 
I
 
speculated.”

While they had been talking, a woman had walked over to them.

“Lot of interest in Lewis and Clark

today,” said the woman.

They all stared at her. She was tall, around fifty, with brown hair and large brown eyes. She wore a striking red dress and had kindly features.

“You mean other people have been here to see the display?” asked Amy.

“Just a few minutes ago there was someone,” said the woman. “I’m Dr. Nancy Gwinn, by the way. I’m one of the curators here. My specialty is Lewis and Clark, actually.”

“Then you’re just the person we want to see,” said Amy.

“Really, why is that?” asked Dr. Gwinn curiously.

Amy said, “We’re students traveling here from out of town. We’re doing a team research paper for a regional competition on Lewis and Clark. There are many things that are known about them, of course. But we were hoping to find out some things that aren’t so well-known.” She pointed to the display cabinet.

“We’ve covered all of these items in our paper, but do you have any
 
other
 
artifacts from the expedition?”

Dr. Gwinn nodded. “Yes, we have many that aren’t on display. It’s a question of space and interest.”

“And there seems to be
 
interest
,” said Amy. “Like you said, someone else was in here asking about them. Was that person my age by any chance? A girl about my height? Blond hair, shoulder length? You see, it’s a true competition, and there are college scholarships at stake.”

Dr. Gwinn shook her head. “No, shewas much older. In her forties. Dark hair,attractive. Very intense. In fact, sheseemed familiar to me for some reason.”

The four looked at each other. That

was undoubtedly Isabel Kabra.

“Was she alone?” asked Dan. “That

sounds a lot like one of the teachers who’s working   with   the   students   we’re competing against.”

“She
 
was
 
alone. But now that you say it, she did seem sort of teacherlike in her demeanor. And she was very articulate.”

“I’m sure. Did she ask to see

anything out of the ordinary?” asked Amy.

Dr. Gwinn thought for a moment. “Well, just one thing, now that you mention it. The Lewis and Clark compass. She was quite taken with it.”

“Compass,” said Amy. She snapped her fingers. “That’s right. The famous compass.” She looked at the others. “We could use that as one of our centerpiece themes for the research paper.”

She turned to look at Dr. Gwinn. “Isthere any way we can take a look at it,too?”

Dr. Gwinn shook her head. “She hadan appointment. It’s the Smithsonian’spolicy not to bring articles from the backof the building without an appointment.”

Amy looked crushed. “She told uswe didn’t need an appointment when Iasked her last week. She’s also on thecompetition’s organization committee.”

“Well, that’s hardly fair,” said Dr. Gwinn sternly. “It seems that she wastrying to deliberately mislead you.”

Amy and Dan said nothing but lookedat her hopefully.

Dr. Gwinn said, “If she got to see it, Ithink you should, too. That’s only fair. And one of the Smithsonian’s most

important missions is to educate and enlighten. Give me a few minutes.”

After she walked off, Dan said to Amy, “You get better at lying every day. Should I be worried?”

She smiled. “I’m surprised youweren’t worried a long time ago. Andlook who’s talking. ‘That sounds like ateacher of the students we’re competingagainst’?”

“Hey, I just go with the flow,”replied Dan, grinning.

Atticus added, “But now we knowthat Isabel was here and she was

interested in something about Lewis and

Clark.”

“You were right, Atticus,” said Dan.

“Good call on your part.”

Nancy Gwinn came back holding a

black case. She had put on white gloves. She led them over to a table in a corner, set the case down on it, and opened it.

Dr. Gwinn said in an excited tone, “This is the famous compass of Lewis and Clark. It was actually purchased by Meriwether   Lewis   around   1803   in

preparation for the mission that President Thomas Jefferson was sending them on. When the expedition returned to St. Louis in the fall of 1806, very few of the instruments  and  equipment  they  had purchased for the trip had survived. Fortunately, this compass was one of them. It was kept by Clark as a souvenir from the journey. Later he presented the