Trouble in the Pipeline (13 page)

***

Frank and Joe sat on either side of Scott as they waited for their plane at the airport. Cindy was with them, too. "I can't believe what you guys have done," she said. "It was nice of you to let Mr. Hammond turn Sandy White in."

Frank shrugged. "Yeah, well—he was pretty upset once he realized how he had been used. And he was in pretty deep trouble. This might help him. He'll probably still go to jail, but he won't have such a guilty conscience."

Joe grinned. "By the way, who's in charge of Trans-Yukon?"

"All the men who were fired came back and elected someone to run the company. They offered Scott a big job," Cindy said, smiling.

Scott Sanders shook his head till his long dark hair tumbled into his brown eyes. He looked like a young, handsome kid—until you saw the dark bags and fatigue under his eyes.

"No way!" he said. "All I want to do is go home and see my folks. Give me some time. Maybe I'll come back in a couple of months."

"Did they really give you a hard time?" Cindy asked sympathetically.

"Well, they lost all their explosives experts when they had an accident, so they kept me working pretty hard. I was tired, which is not the way to be when you're fooling around with bombs. And they never left me alone. That was hard, too."

"Man!" Joe exclaimed. "I don't know how you stood up to all that."

Scott looked at Joe with deep feeling in his eyes. "Well, then, Joe, we're even. I don't know how I can thank you and Frank for what you did. I owe you everything."

Joe patted him on the back. "We're just glad it worked out, and that we were able to stop those crazies. The authorities are collecting all the mines. And it turns out White is a big cheese in the Assassins. Once they've gotten all the info out of him, they hope to put a big dent in our friendly neighborhood terrorists."

Their plane was announced, and they began to gather their belongings.

Joe took Cindy by the hand. "If you'd like to come to Bayport sometime, let me know." He grinned. "We're not all that far from New York."

Cindy smiled. "Well, I was thinking about going to college in the East — who knows?" She shrugged. "It sounds good, but awfully far away."

"Far away from Alaska, maybe," Joe said. "But you'd be a lot closer to the rest of the world." Everyone laughed.

"Where's Virgil?" Frank asked, looking around. "He said he'd be here. We didn't have a chance to say goodbye."

"I don't know," Cindy said. "But you'd better go. Please write!"

Frank and Joe and Scott trudged across the tarmac to their plane. At the foot of the stairs, the attendant took their bags and stowed them in the baggage compartment. They climbed aboard and took their seats.

As the plane began to taxi toward the runway Scott and the Hardys looked out the windows and saw Cindy waving from the observation deck.

Then the plane took off, and they were on the way home.

Frank leaned back in his seat, finally able to relax—until he glanced out the window. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to a speck in the sky.

"Looks like a helicopter." Joe's voice was casual, but he sat up straight. The chopper came closer and closer to the plane. Could it be a revenge attack from the Assassins?

It was close enough now to see inside the pilot's bubble.

"Holy smokes!" Joe laughed. "It's Virgil!"

The native Alaskan was grinning broadly as he waved goodbye to his friends.

"Look, there's Tanook," Frank said. "He's in the passenger seat!"

Tanook sat tall and proud next to his master. His pink tongue was hanging out of his mouth, and his fierce blue eyes stared quizzically at the passing plane. Frank and Joe laughed. Tanook's head cocked to the side, and then he seemed to bark.

"So long, Tanook!" Frank said. "So long, Virgil," Joe said quietly, almost to himself.

The chopper pulled away. In a matter of seconds it was lost in a bank of clouds.

The End.