One False Note - 39 Clues 02 (5 page)

Amy stared at him. "Have you lost your -- "

They snaked around a bend in the corridor, and the hotel's front drive appeared before

them through floor-to-ceiling glass.

Dan pushed open the French doors, and the two stepped out onto a narrow stone balcony.

"No way, Dan! I'm not jumping! We'll break our legs!" "Look down!" he commanded.

Six feet below stretched a canvas awning that ran across the front entrance.

He swung a leg over the stone railing. "Piece of cake," he said, trying to sound more

certain than he felt. "A shorter drop than the high diving board."

"But no water!"

He dropped. Amy watched in horror, expecting him to tear through the fabric and be

dashed to pieces on the concrete. Instead, the awning held.

Grinning up at her, he crawled to the edge of the canvas, found a steel support, and

shinnied to the sidewalk. He waved at her with Nannerl's diary.

Never had Amy experienced fear on so many different levels all at the same time -- fear

of capture; fear for Nellie; fear for her crazy brother, who was too stupid to know what

couldn't be done; and a very real fear of stepping off a second-story balcony onto a

fragile piece of cloth.

"Hurry up!" came an impatient call from below.

I can't do
it... I just can't...

The flood of shame was almost as overwhelming as her terror. Some Cahill she turned out to be! The future of the entire world was at stake, and she couldn't cajole herself into a six-foot drop -- not even after seeing her
eleven-year-old brother do it. She might as well let Jonah have the diary. Or the Holts or the Kabras. Her grandmother had been wrong about her. She didn't have what it took.

Sorry, Grace...

It was this thought that jolted Amy into sudden explosive action. She was already falling through the air before she'd actually come to the decision to do it. She hit the fabric like an errant trapeze artist into a safety net. Seconds later, Dan was hauling her down to the street.

They were in a taxi and blocks away before either of them dared to speak. "Nellie -- " Dan began. "I know ... "

Their little room at the Hotel Franz Josef seemed dingy and even smaller after the accommodations at the Royal Hapsburg. The greeting they received from Saladin didn't help their general mood. The Egyptian Mau still refused cat food, and, in fact, had spread his dinner all over the carpet. A fishy smell hung in the air. In addition, the

scratching had gotten worse than ever and was beginning to wear away the fur around his collar.

Both Cahills were exhausted, but neither thought of sleep. Nellie was all that was important now. They'd been so focused on the 39 Clues that they hadn't considered how much their au pair was giving up to stick with them and thei
r quest. She had put her life
on hold, traveled thousands of miles from home, and even charged many of their expenses on her personal credit card. Sure, they planned to pay her back. Amy and Dan had jewelry from Grace that was probably worth a lot of money. But jewelry could be lost or stolen, and there was no guarantee that they would win the contest. There was no guarantee that they would even survive it.

Now Nellie was missing -- caught, probably under arrest. And there was nothing Amy and Dan could do about it. Nothing but wait.

At two a.m, they were still sitting, staring at the TV, which featured a Gilligan's Island

episode dubbed in German. The sudden knocking was such a jolt to their frayed nerves that they almost tackled each other running to answer the door.

"Nellie!" Amy cried. "Thank-"

There in the hall stood Irina Spasky, a Russian Cahill cousin. Another competitor in the search for the 39 Clues, and no joke. Irina was rumored to be an ex-KGB agent, ruthless, efficient, and potentially deadly.

She got right to the point. "Your nanny has been detained by Viennese authorities." Dan bristled. "How do you know that?"

Irina's face contorted into the closest she ever came to a smile. "I have accompanied weapons-grade
plutonium through a secret tunnel under the Berlin Wall. I believe I am capable of looking through the window of a police car. But if you do not need my help -- " Amy seized on this. "You can help Nellie? How?"

Irina looked annoyed. "What is it your business, so long as she is returned to you?" "It's not our business at all!" Amy agreed swiftly. "Just get her out! Thank you!" "I require better thanks than just words. Shall we say the item you removed from the hotel room of our obnoxious cousin Jonah Wizard?" "No deal!" Dan barked.

"A word of advice," Irina told Amy. "You should not let this impetuous little boy speak for you. Perhaps you should not let him speak at all. In the KGB, we found duct tape to be both effective and affordable."

Amy hung her head. They had risked their lives to get the diary. Not to mention the fact that Irina wanting it only proved their suspicion that it was important. But they couldn't let Nellie go to jail for them. If their Russian cousin could free her, they had no choice

but to make the deal.

"I'll get it for you," Amy agreed sadly.

"I'll
get it," sighed Dan.

Amy watched in surprise as her brother went to her backpack on the nightstand. But instead of taking out the Nannerl diary, he reached into his jacket pocket
and produced the Jonah Wizard action figure he had taken from suite 1600. He's trying to give her the wrong thing!

Amy struggled to contain her terror as Dan offered the toy to Irina.

The ex-KGB agent made no move to accept it. "A child's plaything? You are not serious."

Dan shrugged. "You asked for what we took out of Jonah's room. This is it."

Don't try it!

Amy wanted to scream.

What if Irina knows what she's looking for?

She stared imploringly at her brother.

He didn't pick up on the message. "It only seems
like an action figure," he told Irina. "Check this
out." He held the toy so that the tiny hand wrapped around her little finger and pressed the button on Jonah's back to activate the kung fu grip.

The former spy did not utter a sound, but a vein on her forehead stood out and bulged as if it were about to explode. Her eyes fell eagerly upon the website code illuminated at the back of Jonah's headband.

"See?" asked Dan. "It's-"

"There is no need for small talk in a business transaction." She snatched the figure from Dan and regarded it with newfound respect. "We had a similar device in the KGB," she admitted, examining her rapidly swelling pinkie. "Crude but effective. Expect your nanny shortly." And she was gone as
quickly as she had appeared.

Amy was shaking as she wheeled on her brother. "I can't believe you did that! What if Irina knew about the diary?"

"She didn't," Dan retorted.

"But she could have! Or the code! She might have seen the commercial about the screen saver!"

He was serene. "I doubt Irina watches much Cartoon Network."

"You ripped off a Russian spy! You could have gotten Nellie killed, and maybe us, too!"

Dan was outraged. "Why are you yelling at me about what didn't happen? In case you haven't noticed, I did something good!

We've still got the diary, and Irina is going to spring Nellie. Do you think it'll be a real prison break? Too bad we can't watch."

Amy looked grim. "I honestly don't want to think about what a KGB agent is capable of. Whatever she can do to the Viennese police she can turn on us
at any moment."

He couldn't hold back a grin. "But right now, tonight, we got the better of her. That's something to celebrate!"

"Who's celebrating?" came a weary voice from the doorway.

"Nellie!" Amy bounded over and threw her arms around the au pair. She took a step

back, frowning. "How did Irina get you out so fast? She just left five minutes ago."

"Nobody got me out," Nellie replied. "They just let me go. They think I'm a deranged Jonah Wizard fan. Apparently, the hotel's full of them. A couple of idiots actually jumped off the front balcony. Can you picture that?" "In Technicolor," Amy said bitterly.

"That low-down KGB reject!" Dan fumed. "I can't believe she cheated me right when I was in the middle of cheating her!"

"Anyway, it's been a long night." Nellie yawned. "Those get-a-lifers at the hotel wouldn't part with their precious maid's uniform, so the cops had to drag me over there to hunt down my clothes from that cart -- which was back in the basement with fifty others. Then I didn't want to lead them to you, so I had them drop me off at the Hotel Wiener. I've been walking ever since. But don't worry -- it only rained for the last half mile." She toweled her hair off with her sleeve. "Is it just me, or does it smell like fish in
here?"

"We got the diary," Amy told her excitedly. "Let's get some sleep, and we can look at it tomorrow morning. We know the Holts, Irina, and Jonah are just a heartbeat away from us. We've got to move fast if we're going to stay ahead." When Jonah Wizard and his father returned flushed with victory from the DVD launch party, they found a
team of maintenance people sweeping glass fragments from the marble floor of their
suite.

Both ran to stand directly beneath the chandelier where they had hidden Nannerl's diary. The dark shape was no longer there. A few strands of crystals hung broken. "You promised Jonah extra security!" Mr. Wizard raged at the hotel manager, who had gotten out of bed to apologize to this very important guest.

"We believe it was harmless, mein Herr,"
the manager soothed. "A lovesick girl. Your talented son has this effect on the young ladies, yes?"

The Wizards didn't believe a word of it. It was no mere fan who had broken into the suite and stolen Nannerl Mozart's diary. This could only be th
e work of one of their 39 Clues
competitors. A Cahill inside job.

"Yo, man." The TV star addressed the hotel manager directly. "How about you describe

this stalker chick who loves me so much she broke into my crib."

The manager held up a mug shot from the Vienna police department.

The famous face creased into a frown. When you kicked back with Hollywood A-listers

and the giga-celebrity crowd, it was tough to recognize your average nobody off the

street. Yet the woman in the picture looked sort of familiar. Why did Jonah know that

person?

Then he noticed the nose ring. It was the Cahill kids' nursemaid -- Nancy or Netta, something like that.

So Amy and Dan had made it to Vienna, too. Worse, they'd turned out to be a step ahead of him. Jonah Wizard didn't like to be second best at anything. Not in the TV ratings, not on the pop charts, and definitely not in the contest.

When you're on top, you've got the confidence. The confidence gives you the attitude. And the attitude is what keeps you on top.

A
twinge of misgiving vibrated in the deepest, darkest recess of his mind. Yeah, he was number one across the board, dominating just about every category of the entertainment industry. And he
deserved
that success. He'd earned
it. Sweat and hard work, man. Talent. That Wizard mojo.

But it doesn't hurt when your mom is Cora Wizard, with mucho connections in every field of the arts

The megastar grimaced.

This
was why he could never let his guard down! One little setback, and he was already starting to doubt himself.

If you lose
-- even once -- it becomes a habit. And before you know it, you're a loser. He couldn't allow the Cahill kids to get the better of him.

Luckily, he knew something about the diary that Amy a
nd Dan still had to find out.

CHAPTER 7

Diaries were not Dan's thing -- not even when they were in English and written by people he cared about. He kept his distance, trying to interest Saladin in a tin of tuna fish, while Nellie and Amy huddled over the leather-bound journal. Nellie was translating Maria Anna Mozart's flowery, old-fashioned script. "Anything good?" he called to them.

"It's a tragedy," Amy replied. "Nannerl was one of the greatest musicians of her time. And yet very few people have even heard of her. She was a great genius -- every bit as brilliant as her brother. But in those days, girls were just supposed to get married, and cook, and clean, and have babies."

Dan looked disinterested. "I never heard of her brother, either -- not until this contest. I mean, I've heard of Baby Mozart
-- you know, the video -- "

Nellie scowled in his direction. "You'd still recognize a lot of his music. We're talking about some of the most famous melodies of all time. Even 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' -- the music to
that was written by Mozart."

"You can only guess what Nannerl might have contributed if she'd been allowed to develop her talents," Amy added.