The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper's Nest (16 page)

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something solid. He brushed aside loose dirt. This wasn't a root or a rock. It was metal.

Dan placed a hand near the assegai blade and steadied the shaft with his other hand, scraping away the dirt until he made out the edges of a square.

He dug down the four sides. It seemed like he was cutting through more plant life than soil. The network of roots was so dense it looked like an army of dead snakes. Finally, he shook the thing loose and pulled it out.

It was a small metal cube, hinged halfway down and held shut by an ancient, dirt-choked lock.

Wiping away the soil, Dan saw the word
Shaka
carved into the face of the box. He tugged at the lock, but it wouldn't budge.

Dan's heart pounded. Churchill's message had said
in the ground with Shaka.

This had to be it.

He stood, scraping the dirt back over the hole. He shoved broken plant shards over the mound, tamping it all down with his feet. Tossing the assegai into a thicket, he swung his backpack around and opened it.

Then he noticed the sharp ridge of the monument's stone base jutting about a half inch from the statue of the hut. If he could bring the lock down on that, hard...

Letting his open backpack fall to the ground, he held the box high over his head. He brought it down, but it smacked against the stone, resounding dully in the courtyard.

He gritted his teeth and lifted the box again. With a

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loud grunt, he smashed it downward. The lock smacked against the edge and broke cleanly in two.

BWWWOPP! BWWWOPP! BWWWOPP!

An alarm sounded. Dan picked up the box and his pack and ran for the door. With a loud clank, it swung open.

Mr. Malusi barged in, with Amy and Nellie close behind.
"Young man, what on earth are you doing?"

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CHAPTER 23

"AMY, NELLIE, RUN!" Don shouted.

Mr. Malusi was racing toward him. Dan ran to the assegai, picked it up, and threw it toward one of the glass walls. The spear pierced the network of vines, shattering the wall in a deafening explosion.

Dan ran to the wall at full speed, leaping around the plants. He jumped through the hole and out of the pod.

The vast central room, with its winding pathways between pods, was in chaos.

"STOP HIM!" Mr. Malusi's voice bellowed.

From the left.

Dan's eyes scanned the area, and he sprinted right, clutching his backpack. Amy and Nellie were running toward him now. "Follow me!" he shouted.

A loud thrum permeated the complex. Bright emergency floodlights flickered on overhead, circling columns of blinding white light around the rooms. On all sides, Dan heard the thumps of closing doors.

"The escalator!" Nellie said.

Dan glanced upward. The door above the escalator

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had opened, and men in white suits were streaming in from the other building. "I don't think so," he said. "Come on. Let's move to the outer wall and follow it."

The dense network of overlapping pods made the wall the best place to hide. They crept slowly along it. In the chaos, Dan heard a high-pitched shriek above them. "Duck!"

They went down, but Dan realized it was a bird. It must have flown in through the gardener's door.

The door.

Where was it? He glanced around frantically.

There. It was shut tight, way above their heads. Next to it was a metal-mesh cage. An elevator cage. "Follow me!" he shouted, sprinting to the bottom of the cage. The elevator was resting on the floor, its door open. Inside were two broken clay flowerpots and sections of garden hose. "Get in!"

When Nellie and Amy were inside, he shut the door and swung a metal dial to the on position. The elevator rose slowly above the chaos. They shrank down against the soil-encrusted elevator floor, out of sight, unnoticed by the swarms of screaming Tomas below.

"STOP THEM!" a voice bellowed.

Almost
unnoticed.

The elevator suddenly stopped.
"Dan!"
Amy screamed.

The top ten or so inches of the elevator door had risen into the frame of the old warehouse exit. It was big enough for a human body. Dan yanked open the

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elevator door, then cupped his hands. "We can do this. Amy, you're first."

"I can't leave you!" Amy protested.

"Hurry, before they lower this thing!"
Dan said.

He hoisted her up and she squeezed through the opening.

"You next, little guy," Nellie said. "And don't even
think
of arguing."

She boosted him through. Dan tossed aside his backpack, leaned in, and reached down for Nellie. Together he and Amy grabbed Nellie's arms and pulled.

The elevator creaked and juddered. It was sinking now. "PULL!" Nellie screamed.

She was halfway through, but the space was closing.

From behind them, a man's arm reached into the elevator opening. The palm pressed upward against the elevator's ceiling, while the elbow jammed against the ground.

The elevator groaned, then stopped moving. With his other arm, the man grabbed Nellie.

Dan stiffened. No time to wonder. No time to look.

"Heave-ho!" the man shouted.

"YEOOWWWW!"
Nellie squeaked through, tumbling onto the grass.

Dan and Amy tumbled with her, as the elevator sank quickly out of sight.

"You dropped this?" a deep voice said.

Dan turned to face the man who had saved Nellie.

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Mr. Bhekisisa held up the Shaka box. He was not smiling.

* * *

"Where did you find this?" Mr. Bhekisisa demanded.

"I didn't mean to steal anything. I'll give it back!" Dan said. "We --we can work this out together!"

"Come with me, all of you," he said.
"Now!"

He began running down the hill, away from the front door of Ubuhlalu.

Amy had no intention of following this guy into ... what? "Where's he going?" she asked.

"Do you need an invitation?"
Mr. Bhekisisa said.

"Come on," Dan said. "He has the box!"

As Dan, Amy, and Nellie raced after him, Mr. Bhekisisa called out, "They have not had a security breach like this. You are lucky. I told them you had found the secret tunnel network. That will occupy them for awhile."

"Wait... you're--" Dan said.

We do have a spy within, but to achieve anything against these people, you practically need an army....
That's what Mr. Mondli had said.

"You're a spy!" Dan blurted.

Mr. Bhekisisa was moving fast. "I was ... a Tomas," he said breathlessly. "Now ... I am as I was born. A South African. Hurry. There are more of us waiting."

"More?" Nellie said. "How did they know?"

"Hurry!"
Mr. Bhekisisa headed down the slope,

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toward the woods. There, a group of men and women were trudging upward toward them.

Dan ran after him, with Amy and Nellie close behind. His eyes were focused on the man in front. He was instantly familiar, his face etched with wrinkles and a long scar, his eyes gray-green. His khakis and button-down shirt were a much tidier outfit than the peddler garb he'd been wearing before.

Do you need a car service? Or can spirited young people like yourselves navigate South Africa on your own?

"You!" Dan said. "You're the guy at the airport--the one who gave us the card!"

The man was wiping the sweat from his brow. "What happened up there, Bhekisisa?" he asked urgently.

Mr. Bhekisisa held up the box, smiling broadly. "They are very smart children."

The other man's jaw dropped. "Good God, have you really found the Churchill clue?"

"Your hint..." Amy said. "Constitution Hill..."

"Yes, and Church Hill," the man replied, his words clipped and quick. "Pardon my creative misspelling on that one --a bit of poetic symmetry. I am Robert Bardsley, professor of music. These are my students." He gestured behind him but kept his eye on the box.

Amy gasped. Dan jerked his head and followed her gaze toward the edge of the group, where a tall, brown-haired boy was standing, grinning.

"Kurt?" Amy said, her eyes widening. "What are you doing here?"

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"I sing with Professor Bardsley's class sometimes. He said he was taking us on a field trip." As Kurt stepped forward, his eyes moved over to Mr. Bhekisisa, who was panting as he clutched the box. Kurt's excited grin faded into a look of concern as he turned back to Amy. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

Professor Bardsley clamped his hand down on Kurt's shoulder. "You children know Kurt? A fine singer -- I only wish he could come from Emalahleni more often." He smiled at his student, then turned back.
"The clue.
Is it in there?"

Mr. Bhekisisa held out the box to Dan, who took it. "I will let the brother and sister have the honor. But we must move out of sight."

"Come, then," Professor Bardsley said. "Quickly."

He began rushing toward the trees. Kurt grabbed Amy's hand and followed, with Nellie on their heels.

But Dan froze.
Whatever you do, avoid the trees.

"Wait--we can't go there!" he cried out. "Remember what Mr. Mondli said!"

"We can't worry about that now!" Amy shouted back. "These guys must know the area!"

Dan sprinted downhill and caught up to Nellie, Amy, and Kurt, who were running with Professor Bardsley.

"Who's chasing you?" Kurt said as he helped Amy over a fallen branch.

"She'll explain later," Nellie said breathlessly. "So, Bhekisisa is not a real Tomas. You guys are with Bhekisisa. You're here to rescue us. You know about the

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thirty-nine clues. And you're a professor who happened to be traipsing through the trees with his chorus?"

Professor Bardsley spoke fast, his eyes constantly darting back over his shoulder. "Most of us were once Tomas. We know the training pods. We know the townspeople here, too, and the way the Tomas have exploited them. I am a South African. I have long been weary of exploitation." He smiled. "Music happens to be my profession. So, like it or not, those who join in the resistance must agree to sing."

"Your name ... Robert..." Amy said as they began down a decline. "Back at the museum, Mrs. Thembeka asked us if
Robert
had sent us."

"Winifred and I are old friends," Robert said.

From behind them, shouts rang out. Dan turned. The Tomas were flying out of the building, fanning out down the hill.

Amy panicked. "Hide the box!" she cried out.

"GO!" Mr. Bhekisisa yelled.

The group stayed close to one another, leaping over bushes, slogging through mud. Dan clutched the box. No time to hide it. No time to think.

They were totally outnumbered. "Dan," Amy said, running alongside him. "We have to give it to them!"

"Are you crazy?" Dan said.

"It's theirs, Dan!" Amy shot back. "We stole it! It's not like the other clues. We took it from them. That makes us just as bad as they are."

"Children, run!"
Professor Bardsley cried.

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Amy and Kurt took off at a sprint through the trees. Dan followed behind, looking left and right.

Mondli had said there were hunting traps. But what kind of traps? Iron jaws? Suspended cages? And where were they, anyway?

The map.

Dan stopped short and swung open his backpack. He reached inside and pulled out a rolled-up sheet of paper.

* * *

"Guys!
STOP RIGHT NOW!"

Amy and Kurt spun around at the sound of Dan's voice. He was running toward them, his face red.

"Did we lose them?" Professor Bardsley asked.

"Just tell your people to stop!"
Dan insisted.

Professor Bardsley shouted to the others, who began turning curiously.

Just ahead of them, visible through the trees, was a huge grassy clearing.

"We have to stay out of this clearing at all costs," Dan insisted, running past them until he was at the edges of the tree line.

The others gathered behind him, staring at the sundrenched, oval field. "This may sound crazy," Dan continued, "but trust me. We have to go around to the other side."

The students, looking skeptical, wound their way around the clearing to the other side. They huddled behind bushes, shrouded by the canopies of trees.