Infinity Clue Part 13

CHAPTER XX.

Eruption The terrorist c.o.c.ked his arm to heave the bomb. Fritz let go of the ferocious dog, and before the Rabbit had time to deliver his goods, he was on the ground. Frank grabbed the bomb from the man's hand and carefully placed it some distance away. It would go off only on impact.

Pulling the Doberman off the Rabbit, the boys quickly used Joe's belt to bind the albino's hands behind his back. The cornered terrorist struggled violently, but finally realized that he was helpless against the young detectives.

"That's what's known as a quarterback sack," Frank quipped, referring to a football play in which the quarterback is tackled before he has time to throw the ball.

"Right," Joe said, speaking to the now calmed dog. "You made a pretty good play."

"The game is not over yet," the Rabbit spat out.

"It's over for you," Frank replied sternly.

The three boys hoisted the man to his feet and led him down to the beach, where Mr. Hardy and the team of federal agents had the other terrorists tied together in the sand. The dog followed.

Seeing Dr. Werner and Katerina, the Doberman bounded toward them with glee. It jumped on its hind legs, and, putting its front paws on the girl's shoulders, wagged its tail and licked her in greeting.

"Stop it, Alex!" The girl giggled as she tried to avoid the animal's tongue.

Dr. Werner began to laugh too, in good spirits for the first time since Frank and Joe had met him.

Just then, Detective Barnes stepped out of the shadows. "Hi, boys. Just thought I'd come down to see what you were up to." The hazel-eyed police detective smiled.

"How did you get here?" Frank said with a puzzled expression as he shook Barnes's hand.

"Oh, I had been in touch with the amba.s.sador, and when he told me a little about what was going on, I decided to tag along."

The two sleuths took the detective aside to discuss the diamond theft. Barnes told them that he had followed up on the hunch they had about the curator.

"Boswell had some crazy notion that Arthur Rutlidge was still alive, and that, after giving his diamond to the museum, he then proceeded to steal it."

"I don't think he stole it," Frank said. "At least, he said he didn't."

"What do you mean he said he didn't? The man's dead."

"No, he isn't," Frank replied, and explained that they had found Rutlidge hiding out on Chapel Island under an a.s.sumed name.

Barnes's eyes widened as he listened to the story. "But why would he do that? It doesn't make sense."

Frank told Barnes about Rutlidge's plan to disprove the diamond's curse. "He felt that if he was still alive, he was legally the owner of the diamond. If his horse, Faith, won the race, obviously the curse did not work."

The detective shook his head. "Well, I sure would like to ask him some questions."

Dr. Werner interrupted the discussion. "I want to thank you again for all you've done," he said to the two boys who had saved his daughter. "Please let us repay you by inviting you to visit with us in our country soon."

The brothers thanked the geologist and told him they had been to Germany once before, but would love to go again.

The Rabbit, who had been listening to their words, let out a wild laugh. "In a few more minutes we will all be blown to bits," he spat. "When my bomb explodes, everything will come tumbling down."

The good humor disappeared from the faces in the group. Hearing the Rabbit's threat, Chet stood up from where he had been sitting on the beach. He looked at the high bluff wall that loomed overhead.

"Let's get out of here." He gulped, fearing that when the quake hit they would all be smothered by the cliffs tumbling down on top of them.

Jake had worries of his own. The quake could possibly cause a tidal wave of enough size in the bay to wipe out his birthplace, Chapel Island.

"Is it true what he's telling us?" Mr. Hardy asked the geologist.

"The bomb ought to have little or no effect," Dr. Werner replied, fixing his eyes on the terrorist.

The Rabbit's face went blank for a second before a sneer again formed his expression. "You have no idea how powerful it is," he said in a biting tone. "The one we set off in Bayport is nothing compared to this one."

"I took that into consideration," Werner answered evenly. "But the configuration of the earth below us ought to absorb nearly all of its impact."

The Rabbit struggled to kick the geologist, but Frank and Joe held him in place. "Believe what you will, Werner!" the Rabbit responded, his voice breaking into an eerie, high-pitched squeal. "But you will learn better very soon."

Although everyone thought the terrorist's threat was nothing more than a scare tactic, the mood of the success was broken. Katerina leaned silently against her father's shoulder. Sensing the change of spirit, the Doberman lay down with its head between its paws.

The somber mood lasted only a moment, however, before a thought occurred to Werner. He smiled. "I have something that you boys might be interested in." He proceeded to pace off steps on the ground, beginning with the spot where the hole had been bored. Counting twenty-five paces, he bent down and dug at the sand with his hands. In a moment he stood back up again, holding a jar. "Here," he said, uns.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the lid and presenting the jar to Frank and Joe. Inside was a large gem, which twinkled as it caught the moonlight!

Joe's eyes lit up. "It's the Faith diamond!" he exclaimed. He poured the priceless gem into the palm of his hand and stared at it in wonder. "How did you get it?"

"I stole it from the Smithsonian," the geologist answered with a grin, "So it wasn't Rutlidge after all!" Barnes exclaimed. "Boswell just thought it was."

Frank turned to Werner. "So you're the one who broke into the museum that night. Tell us about it."

The geologist chuckled. "Yes, I did. It was part of the plan I mentioned to you earlier."

"But why?" the older Hardy brother queried.

Werner cleared his throat and began to explain. "The diamond was to be the Rabbit's payment for his services. It was Jensen's job to get it for him. When I learned of this, I was determined to procure the gem myself and hold it until my daughter was released to me. That was the only way I could be sure of getting her back."

"So the Faith diamond was what the Rabbit and Roget were demanding from you the night we showed up at your bungalow." Joe put in.

"Yes," Werner said. "And it's a good thing you came. These men were much harder to deal with than I expected. They were prepared to beat it out of me."

The albino terrorist, now handcuffed and bound by his feet, thrashed in the sand. "That's mine!" he shouted in anger, staring greedily at the gem.

Paying no attention to his rantings, Werner continued. "What I discovered was that Jensen had been trying to buy the stone from a man named Arthur Rutlidge."

Frank and Joe both wanted to interrupt at this point, but they restrained themselves.

"However, Rutlidge was not interested in the deal," Werner went on, "so Jensen-tried less honest ways to make him sell. I believe the gem is reputed to bring misfortune to its owners, and Jensen contrived somehow to make it appear that the stone was affecting Rutlidge's horses."

Unable to contain themselves, the two sleuths told the story of how Max had used a dog whistle to cause the diamond owner's horses to lose races.

"We found Rutlidge hiding away on Chapel Island," Joe added. "He was supposed to have been drowned in a boating accident."

Werner raised his eyebrows in surprise at the youths' story. "You boys have certainly been doing a good job." He grinned. "That boating accident was my idea. But now I am getting ahead of myself. When Jensen's plan to make Rutlidge sell the diamond did not work, he began to threaten his life. That is when I made my move. I contacted Rutlidge. After convincing him that I was on his side, I told him to will his diamond to the museum, then to fake the boating accident. I arranged for him to take refuge on Chapel Island."

"And when the diamond ended up at the Smithsonian, you would steal it and hold it as collateral for your daughter," Frank added.

"It would also mean the stone still belonged to Rutlidge, but at the same time it would get Jensen off his back," Joe put in.

"Right." The geologist beamed. "It was a good deal all around."

"But if you were planning to trade the' stone for Katerina," the dark-haired Hardy puzzled, "how was Rutlidge supposed to get his diamond back?"

Werner shrugged. "I hoped I would be able to get my daughter before I paid the Rabbit. But I would have gladly given him the gem if that had been necessary to insure Katerina's safety. Rutlidge agreed, by the way." The geologist then hugged his daughter gently and was silent.

Frank let a moment pa.s.s before speaking again. "I have only one more question, if you don't mind." He waited for Werner to nod before going on. "What was the purpose behind sabotaging the power plants?"

"Jensen represents some very shady oil merchants in the Mideast," Werner replied. "I suppose they wanted to discredit nuclear power by causing the quakes. Public opinion would then turn against nuclear energy and the price of oil would increase. But that's only a guess."

When the questioning was over, Katerina rewarded each of the boys with a kiss on the cheek. Chet blushed, having become attracted to the chestnut-haired girl. "Hey, let me take a look at that diamond,"

he said, trying to hide his embarra.s.sment. He took the stone from Joe and held it up in the moonlight. "I bet this thing would pay for a lot of chocolate sundaes. I wonder how people ever got the idea it would bring bad luck. You'd have to be pretty superst.i.tious to believe something like that."

Just then, a low rumble came from the earth. The ground began to tremble as the sound grew louder.

Everyone froze for a moment.

"Here, take this thing back!" Chet cried, shoving the diamond into the geologist's hands.

"Quick, get on the yacht," Mr. Hardy ordered, worried the yellow clay would break off the bluff wall and bury the beach.

The group hastened to Jensen's cruiser, but by the time they were aboard, the trembling had stopped.

"Well, that was your earthquake," Werner told the Rabbit with a laugh. "Not much of a show for all the trouble you went to."

The terrorist growled, but did not reply.

Joe gave Chet a friendly slap on the back. "Now what were you saying about how stupid people were to believe in that diamond's powers?" he chided. "You sure were in a big hurry to get rid of it when the rumbling started."

"I was afraid I might drop it in the sand and it would get lost," Chet defended himself. "Of course I don't believe in that silly superst.i.tion."

No one knew at this point that Chet would soon have to worry about another superst.i.tion in Track of the Zombie.

Frank chuckled at his friend's excuse. "Okay, let's pack up our camping gear and head for Was.h.i.+ngton,"

he announced. "If we leave now, we'll make it back to Bayport in time for breakfast."

"Not so fast," the boys' father told them. "That skiff you sank is worth quite a bit of money. I'm afraid it will have to be paid for." Mr. Hardy watched his sons' faces pale as they realized their entire summer savings would be used up in paying for the skiff. "But since it was for a good cause," he added with a twinkle in his eye, "I'll cover it."