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Joe wasn't interested in philosophy. "Come on, let's move."
"Not so fast," said Frank. He opened the door to the room cautiously, and eased his
head out.
"Okay. The coast is clear. All systems go." He and Joe an up the stairway three steps at
a time. Joe was the first to reach the door to which Ivan had directed them. Saying a
silent prayer, he tried the knob. The door swung open.
Joe felt dizzy with joy when the girl sitting at a desk with her back to him turned
around, and he saw that she was Iola.
"Joe, Frank, it is you, isn't it?" she cried, and the same joy lit her face. "This isn't
another one of their tricks?"
"It's us all right," Joe said. "And we're getting you out of here."
"Oh, it's too good to be true," she said in a dazed voice. "How"
"We don't have time to explain it now," said Frank. "Let's hurry."
"Of course," Iola agreed, nodding. She stood up. "But before we go, let me just go get
one thing.
"Iola, you haven't changed a bit," said Joe. "Every single time we were going to go
out, you remembered something at the last minute and had to go back for it."
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"That's right, I haven't changed at all," Iola replied, and opened a drawer in a table by
her bed. "Well, maybe I've changed just a little bit. I didn't use to know how to use this."
Iola turned a Lugar pistol in her hand. It was pointed straight at Joe's heart.
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Chapter 14
JOE GRINNED. "HEY, Iola, watch where you're pointing that thing. It could go off.
Remind me to teach you how to handle weapons sometime."
Iola didn't return his grin. And her weapon didn't waver. "You two do what I say. I
don't want to have to use this. But one false move from either of you, and I will."
The voice was Iola's, yet it wasn't. Joe began to detect a mechanical sound to her
words, as if they were being played on a tape.
"What's wrong with you, Iola?" asked Joe.
But Frank had already seen what Joe was unwilling to see. "We'd better do what she
says, Joe. She means business with that gun."
"But-" Joe said.
"You have to face it," said Frank. "They've
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succeeded in brainwashing her. They've made a puppet of her. She's in their hands."
"And right now you're in mine, and don't forget it," said Iola. Still covering them with
her gun, she pressed a button on an intercom machine on her bedside table.
"What is it?" a voice answered.
At the sound of the voice, Frank and Joe exchanged glances. The voice seemed
strangely familiar. It belonged to someone they knew, but who? The answer stayed
maddeningly out of reach, even though both Hardy boys strained to come up with it as
the conversation over the intercom continued.
"The Hardys busted in here, but I got the drop on them," said Iola. "What do you want
me to do with them?"
"You're sure they're the Hardy boys and not our Hardy boys?" the voice replied, its
tone charged with sudden alertness.
"I'm sure," Iola said. "Unless you were giving me some kind of test"
"Of course not, we have absolute confidence in you," said the voice. Then it paused,
before going on, "That means something went wrong, very wrong, with plan B, after
their escape fouled up plan A. We'll have to switch to plan C, the doomsday scenario."
"What's that?" asked Iola.
"You'll find out soon," the voice answered.
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"Bring the boys to the conference room. I'll gather the others. It's time to wind things up
here."
There was the click of the intercom being turned off, and Iola turned to the Hardy boys.
"You heard the boss. Let's go."
"Is that your boss?" asked Frank. "You've had a change of leadership since we were
here last. He sounds different."
"You'll see," was all Iola would say, and an impatient gesture with her gun stopped
any more questions.
The conference room turned out to be the room where Frank and Joe had been
questioned during their first visit to the clinic. Familiar faces greeted them when they
entered.
There was the arrogant face of Dr. Helmut von Heissen, the impassive face of
Colonel Chin Huan, and the pouting face of Peter Clark.
One more person was in the room. He was a man of average size and weight, wearing
the same white lab coat as the others. But he was far different from them in one respect.
He had no face.
Or rather, his-face was covered by bandages, wrapped mummy like around his head,
with gaps at the eyes, nose, and mouth.
But his voice identified him instantly. It was the voice that had spoken to Iola over
the intercom, the Lazarus leader.
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"I couldn't locate Fritz, Hugo, and Ivan," he said. "But I'm sure the Hardy boys here
can tell us where they are."
"Talk," Iola ordered them.
Frank and Joe looked at the gun in her hand and then at the look in her eyes. Her
pitiless gaze told them that her finger was tight on the trigger.
"Fritz and Hugo are tied up in the front hall closet," said Joe.
"And Ivan is strapped down in his torture chamber," added Frank.
"Get them," the Lazarus leader ordered his men. Yon Heissen, Chin, and Peter Clark
hurried off.
"We'll wait until everyone is assembled here," the leader said.
They didn't have long to wait. In less than ten minutes, the entire team was in the room. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]