Hardy Boys - Cult Of Crime Part 10

Then darkness swam over him, and he remembered nothing else.116.Holly squatted and picked up the fallen teacup. As the Rajah had instructed, she wiped the cup clean of knockout drops.

She walked up the stairs to her father's study. He was sleeping at his desk, where she had left him. She picked his teacup off the floor and wiped it clean, too.

"Can you hear me, Daddy?" she asked. With eyes closed, he nodded his head slightly.

His lips twitched as if he were trying to talk, but no words came out.

"Tell me the control codes to the vault, Daddy," she said.

Emmett Strand mumbled and rolled his head onto his shoulder.

"Daddy!" she snapped. "This is important" She lifted his hand and put a pen in it, then rested it on a piece of paper on the desk."Write it down, Daddy."

Without waking, he began to write.

The desk phone rang. Holly s.n.a.t.c.hed it from its cradle, worried that the noise would wake her father. To her relief, he continued writing. At the sound of the voice on the other end of the line, she snapped to attention. "Yes, I gave him the truth serum, just as you said. He's writing now." Her father's hand slid off the table.

She picked up the paper and read it over the phone.***117.

"What do you mean, the Rajah's in Bayport?" the chief asked Frank. "We've been watching the roads since the first bus rolled in."

"When I left Joe and Holly at the train yard, I began walking back to Bayport," Frank said. "It was a long walk, but I didn't have any other choice. If I had hitched a ride or hopped another train, I would have been caught. So I walked.

"I was just getting to the Bayport town limits when I was nearly spotted by a pa.s.sing car. There was a ditch by the side of the road and I jumped into it. Imagine my surprise when I recognized the people in the car."

"The Rajah?" Chet asked.

Frank laughed. "Good guess, Einstein. That was a few hours before his followers came rolling into town."

"Impossible!" Chief Collig muttered. "Joe described the Rajah's Rolls-Royce perfectly.

There's no way it could have gotten in without getting spotted."

"That's just it," Frank said. "He didn't use the Rolls-Royce. He came here in an old, beat-up Volkswagen. You have to hand it to the Rajah. He knows how to keep a low profile when he wants one.

"Anyway, once I got to town, it wasn't too hard to find the car. The Rajah's holed up in the old Miller Hotel on the square, under the name of Michael Hadley."118."Mikey!" Joe said. "That's what Shakey Leland called him."

"And he's in the square," the chief said in horror. "He could touch off that crowd in an instant. I'll send Riley over to arrest him before he can cause any more trouble."

"You can't charge him with anything," Frank reminded him. "But maybe we can head him off before he carries out his plans.

"Phil, use my computer and call some law enforcement data bases. Try to find something on a Michael Hadley who hung around with a Shakey Leland.

"Chet, I want you to keep an eye on the Miller Hotel. We've got to know when the Rajah makes his move.

"Tony, find Biff Hooper. We'll need all the friends we have--especially ones with muscle. As soon as you find him, head over to the Strand place and help protect Holly.

When everything breaks loose, she'll be in danger."

The back door slammed, and Con Riley burst into the room. The color was drained from his face, and for the first time since Frank and Joe had met him, he looked like he was verging on panic.

"The call came in on the radio, Chief," Riley said. "We've got to get over to the square.

"It's a riot."119.

Chapter 15.

THE SQUARE WAS on fire.

Mad shadows of a thousand-headed monster rose up on the wall of City Hall, cast there by the flames. They roared across the gra.s.sy park in the midst of the square.

They haven't spread to the buildings yet, Frank realized. It can be stopped. From somewhere he heard sirens but couldn't tell if they were from police cars or fire engines.

They must be fire engines, he thought. All the cops are here already.

Policemen in black, faceless helmets dashed back and forth in the streets, chasing the Rajah's followers. As they ran, the Rajah's people picked up rocks and hurled them at the pursuing police. Waving nightsticks, the policemen forced back the rioters as best they could, trying to stem the flood of violence.120."It's no good," Chief Collig said suddenly to Frank. "We haven't got enough men to handle a riot this big. The mayor will have to call in the National Guard."

Bayport will be in ruins long before they get here, thought Frank. He turned to speak to the chief, but Collig was already gone to help his men.

Across the square, gla.s.s smashed. Frank looked over to see the front window of the police station falling away, shattered by a rock.

Nearby, Joe pulled three rioters off a policeman who had fallen. Panicked, the policeman swung at Joe with his nightstick. Joe hopped out of the way and was swallowed up by the crowd.

A mist hit Frank, startling him. Firemen had arrived, spraying the gra.s.s fire with a jet of water that turned the flame into thick black smoke. The smoke billowed over the square, darkening the late afternoon..

Frantic policemen whispered to the firemen, who turned the hose on some rioters and drove them back and out of the square.

Frank heard more windows breaking, somewhere to the south. The riot was moving out of the square and into the residential areas of Bayport, he knew. No one seemed to notice him. He was looking for a familiar face, one that could bring the riot to an end.

He was looking for the Rajah. Instead, he found Joe. In an alley, Joe had121.

cornered one of the Rajah's guards, a brown bearded man with beady eyes and bad teeth.

He growled at Joe through a twisted mouth, and his hand crept slowly around his back.

"Trouble, brother?" Frank yelled over the din of the crowd.

"I know this guy," Joe replied. "The last time I saw him, I had to take a Magnum away from him. His name's Bobby. He was just going to tell me what the Rajah's real scheme is."

Bobby's hand swung behind his back and came out again with a Walther automatic pistol.

The alley exploded in a cloud of gas. Joe choked and leaped forward, slamming into Bobby. He slugged the Rajah's guard with all his strength. Bobby crumpled to the ground, the Walther sliding from his hand as he slid down the wall. Joe kicked the gun into a pile of rubbish.

Then he coughed and doubled over. Fire burned his eyes and nose, but there was no fire. He rubbed his face, trying to put it out. The more he rubbed, the hotter the fire grew.

His stomach began to churn. He felt like pa.s.sing out. He wanted to stop coughing, but he couldn't.

Frank caught Joe's arm and helped him out of the alley. The elder Hardy brother was coughing too, and crying, but while Joe had fought Bobby, Frank had stripped off his jacket and tied it around his nose and mouth. "We got hit with tear gas," he told Joe.

"Relax. Don't rub or it gets122.worse. Just let the wind blow it out of your eyes, and you'll be okay."

Only half-able to see, they stumbled through the streets, staggering into rioters who barely noticed them. The Rajah's thousand-headed monster had broken up into five thousand frightened teenagers, all running in different directions, pursued by the law.

Frank knew what the terror in their faces meant. It meant that the Rajah's hold over them was broken at last. He had abandoned them to the police, and that breach of faith could never be repaired.

A team of policemen in gas masks and riot gear stopped, recognized the Hardy boys, and moved on. Slowly moisture returned to Joe's throat, and the coughing subsided. He was able to see again. Another squad of policemen raced through the clearing smoke, and then two boys appeared Tony Prito and Biff Hooper.

"Are you guys all right?" Tony asked. "We came over as soon as I rounded up Biff.

What happened? It looks like a war zone out here."

It was true. Much of the park was burned away, and the smell of smoke clung to every- thing. Broken gla.s.s littered the sidewalks. The scene was like something out of a war movie.

"It doesn't make sense," Frank said. "Why would the Rajah throwaway his cult like that? He practically sacrificed them!"123.

"And half of Bayport with them," Joe murmured. "What's his game?"

Biff twirled a finger around his ear. "Aw, you know his kind of creep. Crazy."

Frank and Joe scowled, but Tony laughed. "Yeah, every cop in town is out chasing his followers. He didn't even have the guts to be here with his people."

Frank gasped. "Every cop? You sure of that?"

"Positive," Tony replied. "Chief Collig superseded all other orders when the riot started"

He never got a chance to finish. "The bank!" Frank and Joe shouted at the same time.

In a second, both were on their feet, racing for the Strand Bank.

When they reached it, they saw five men inside, dressed in black leather jackets. They held Uzi submachine guns in their hands. One of them was on his knees in front of Emmett Strand's desk, tapping on a computer punchboard hidden under the desk drawer.

Peering through the window, Joe recognized one of the men. It was the other man who had held him up on the road outside the commune. "Those are the Rajah's men," he whispered to Frank. "But where's the Rajah? What are they doing?"

"Opening the vault," Frank whispered back. Tony and Biff caught up with them and hid themselves along the granite wall of the bank. "I don't124.know how, but they've got the computer access code."

"Not from old Strand," Joe said. He frowned. He knew Emmett Strand shared the information with no one at the bank. Someone else had provided the information, someone who had enough contact with Strand to be able to get it out of him. "Holly," he gasped.

"What?" Frank whispered.

"It all fits," Joe said. "That's why the Rajah had us take Holly out of the commune. So she could go home 'saved' and wheedle the access codes from her father."

"You're talking crazy," Frank shot back. But he had a sinking feeling that Joe was right. They had been used, and because of it, the Rajah's agents were about to reap millions of dollars.

Except that the Hardys hadn't died when they were supposed to. And that would be the Rajah's downfall, if Frank had anything to say about it.

"Frank!" Phil Cohen shouted from across the square. He ran toward them, waving a computer printout. "You've got to see this!"

Frank tried to signal him to hide himself, but it was too late. The square, abandoned by rioters and police, was silent as the grave by now, and Phil's words echoed through it like thunderclaps. The gunman nearest the door burst out, aiming at Phil.

Biff tackled the gunman. The Uzi flew from his125.

hands and skidded along the sidewalk. Joe lunged for it.

A burst of gunfire ripped between him and the gun. A second gunman stood there, aiming at them. Across the street, Phil froze. The second gunman signaled him over. One by one, the boys got up and raised their hands over their heads.

"What'd you shoot for?" the first gunman said to his partner as he got to his feet. He picked up the fallen gun. "If any cops heard that-"

"If the brats have done their job properly, they'll be leading the cops out of town by now," the second gunman replied. "Let's get these punks inside. These two"-he pointed at the Hardys-"deserve to watch us rob this place. Mter all, we couldn't have done it without them."

The gunmen's laughter roared mockingly in the Hardys' ears as they were led inside.

"Where's the Rajah?" Joe asked. "I can't believe he trusts you not to run off with the money yourselves."

"Shut up," the first gunman snarled. "This money is ours. He doesn't want any of it."

"Sort of a reward for his faithful servants?" Frank quipped. But he was stumped. If money wasn't the Rajah's game, what was?

The gunmen ignored him. "That's the last sequence," said the one on the floor. He stood up as the bank vault clicked and whirred. Slowly the vault door swung open.126."This is it! We're rich!" a gunman cried, but surprise choked his words. Stunned and bewildered, everyone stared at one another, then at the vault, and then at one another again.

The vault was empty.

"So, the Rajah cheated you, too," Frank said calmly.127.

Chapter 16.

"THAT MAN IS a smooth operator, all right," Frank went on. "He's got the money, and he left you here to get grabbed by the cops."

"Shut up!" shouted the gunman nearest the vault. "You're nothing but trouble, punk. I ought to ice you right here."

"You just can't stand the truth," Frank said, raising his voice. The other gunmen turned to watch the fight. I've got to keep them looking at me, Frank thought, and continued,"You're so dumb you think you'd still be tough even if you didn't have that Uzi."

The gunman sneered. "Keep talking, kid. Think I was born yesterday? I'm not putting down the gun no matter what you say."

While everyone's attention was on Frank, Joe slowly sidled up to the gunman nearest him.128."You're chicken," Frank said. "You're too chicken to even find the Rajah and get your money."

The gunman steadied the submachine gun at Frank. "I ought to shut you up right now."