Spy Ski School (30 page)

Warren sat to the side and tore into a box of emergency rations. “I found candy!” he exclaimed. “Ooh! And it's chocolate!”

Mike and I clambered into the helicopter with Alexander. “Looks like you finally got yourselves a chopper,” I said.

“Yes!” Alexander agreed, sliding the door shut. “We borrowed it from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex!”

Now that Shang's men were in the cover of the trees, they began taking potshots at us. A few pocked the metal hull of the helicopter.

Cyrus pulled back on the control stick and we rose into the air before the enemy could do any more damage. “Any
chance you've figured out what Shang's plan is?” he asked us.

“He's planted a nuclear bomb,” I said. “He wants to irradiate the Climax Mine so he can corner the molybdenum market.”

“Hey!” Alexander cried. “That's sort of the plot from
Goldfinger
.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Murray Hill stole it.”

“It's still dangerous,” Erica said solemnly. “A nuke in this area could kill thousands of people and irradiate millions more. Any idea where the bomb is?”

I shook my head. “It's somewhere in the mountains near here, but I don't know the specifics.”

“That's a huge amount of land,” Zoe said, discouraged. “Finding a single bomb out there would be like looking for a needle in a million haystacks.”

We were now several hundred feet above the lake. Cyrus pressed forward on the stick and the helicopter shot forward, racing up the canyon.

“Where are we going?” Mike asked.

“Where else?” Cyrus replied. “To talk to Leo Shang.”

Leadville Airport

Leadville, Colorado

December 30

1420 hours

Leadville, Colorado, is the highest
town in the United States, perched in the mountains 10,340 feet above sea level. Therefore, it was home to the highest airport in the country—as well as the highest high school, highest ice cream shop, and highest garbage dump. There wasn't much to the airport, only a windswept runway and a few corrugated aluminum hangars. Most visitors used the far nicer Eagle County Airport in the Vail Valley.

Leo Shang wasn't your average visitor, though.

Hank and Jawa had been keeping tabs on him all day, listening to the bugs I'd planted, while Chip stood guard around the hotel. The bugs had ultimately been useless—once Shang had realized I was an agent, he'd suspected the room was miked—but he couldn't keep his sudden departure from the hotel a secret. While Cyrus and Alexander had been rescuing us, Chip had seen Shang and Jessica hurriedly check out, hop into their car-tank caravan, and speed away from town.

The guys had done their best to follow—Hank had a driver's license, a rental car, and high marks in Tailing the Enemy 101—but the caravan had shaken them on Highway 24. There was only one airport in that direction, however, and once Cyrus knew that Leo Shang's goons had planted a nuclear bomb close by, it was easy to guess where Shang was headed. “The guy's about to light up this whole state like a Roman candle,” Cyrus explained as we flew toward Leadville. “So he's gonna want to get out of Dodge as fast as he can.”

Sure enough, the caravan was racing down the two-lane road toward the airport as we arrived. There were three car-tanks in it. Shang's jet waited on the tarmac. Waves of heat rose from the twin engines, indicating they were primed to fly.

The military helicopter we rode in was much larger than the heli-skiing choppers. It was mostly cargo bay, with a
small cockpit and a line of jump seats along the left wall. On the right wall were a sliding door, a winch, and a tether for lowering people down or hauling them back up. Erica, Zoe, Warren, Mike, and I were belted into the jump seats. Cyrus and Alexander were in the cockpit. Woodchuck lay on the floor, wrapped up in so many blankets he looked like a flannel burrito. Thankfully, he'd managed to recover from his hypothermia. He'd stopped shivering and his face was its usual ruddy color, rather than blue.

Several pairs of skis and poles were piled at our feet. It looked as though Cyrus and Alexander had looted them from the ski rental.

Now Cyrus hovered over the runway, pointed toward Shang's jet, and ordered Alexander, “Take that out! Shoot the wings so it can't fly!”

“Er,” Alexander said uncomfortably, “I can't.”

“Why not?”

“I used all the bullets back at the lake.”

“What?” Cyrus roared. “You didn't save any for emergencies?”

“I thought the gunfight at the lake
was
the emergency!” Alexander explained. “I didn't realize there might be two emergencies today.”

“If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times,” Cyrus growled, “always keep some spare bullets! But you
never learn, do you? You can't do anything right!”

After days of being berated, Alexander finally cracked and stood up to his father. “Oh, that is so like you!” he snapped. “I helped save everyone back at the lake—and do I hear one bit of praise from you? No. But the moment I make one tiny mistake, I hear plenty!”

“This wasn't a tiny mistake!”

“Would it kill you to say something nice to me just once in my life?”

“You know what
will
kill me? That nuclear bomb. Which is going to go off if we don't catch Shang and find out where it is!”

While they bickered, Shang's caravan raced onto the tarmac below us. Erica unbuckled herself, went to the winch by the door, and grabbed the tether that hung from it. It was a large rope with a thick loop at the end, easily big enough to go around her torso.

“Whoa there, young woman!” Alexander warned. “Where do you think you're going?”

“I'm going to rappel down to the tarmac and stop Shang,” Erica said matter-of-factly.

“Oh, no, you're not,” Alexander told her. “It's way too dangerous.”

“Well, we have to do
something
,” Erica shot back.

“Not that,” Cyrus joined in. “You've been rendered
unconscious once already today. And that was the second time this week. I'm worried about your brain.”

“
You
were the one who knocked me unconscious the first time!” Erica pointed out. “And
now
you're worried about me? Shang's going to get away!” She reached for the door handle.

“Do not touch that door,” Alexander warned. “If you rappel out of this helicopter, you're grounded.”

“I'm not sneaking out after curfew,” Erica protested. “I'm trying to prevent nuclear annihilation. If I don't stop the Shangs, who will?”

“Me,” Alexander said.

“Oh, please.” Erica sighed. “You couldn't stop a car if your foot was on the brake.”

Shang's men opened fire on us. Erica hit the deck as bullets tore through the door of the helicopter. Others webbed the cockpit window, forcing Cyrus to take evasive action.

Warren dropped to the floor of the helicopter and curled into a ball. “They're shooting at us!” he cried. He seemed to have recovered from his knock on the head; rather than being loopy, he was back to his normal, weaselly self. “Make them stop! I'm too young to die!”

The helicopter swiveled wildly as Cyrus tried to avoid the enemy fire. The spare skis and poles skidded around the cargo bay, clanging off the sides.

Mike looked to me, concerned. “Does this sort of stuff happen to you a lot?”

“No, this is my first helicopter gunfight,” I admitted. “But we can probably trust Cyrus to handle it.”

Below us, the caravan was racing down the tarmac toward the jet. The Shangs' car was obviously the one in the center. It was the only one without people shooting at us from it.

Rappelling out of the helicopter was now impossible, and the Hale family was arguing about what to do next. It was becoming extremely evident why Erica always claimed getting emotionally involved could mess up a mission; the Hale family dynamics were so messed up, it seemed unlikely that they would ever agree on a plan of action.

But then something occurred to me. If emotions could mess up
our
mission, then maybe they could mess up Leo Shang's mission as well. The last time I'd seen Jessica, she'd been furious at her father—and I figured that, since he was ending her vacation abruptly, she probably was now even angrier. Given the number of text messages she'd sent me, it seemed she wanted to talk.

So I dug out my phone and dialed her.

I wasn't sure she'd answer, given that there was a gunfight going on, but she picked up on the third ring, sounding even more excited to talk than I'd expected. “Ben! I've been hoping you'd call!”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes! You really freaked me out when you didn't answer any of my texts. I thought you were mad at me or something.”

“No! I just . . .”

“I mean, I can understand why you'd be upset after the way my father treated you. Sorry he was such a jerk. He's being a total nightmare to me, too. He got some rival businessman angry at us, so we have to leave Colorado right now. . . .”

“The people in that helicopter aren't rival businessmen,” I said, trying to get a word in edgewise.

Jessica actually stopped speaking for a second. Then she asked, “How do you know about the helicopter?”

“Because I'm in it!” I told her.

Below us, the caravan parked by the jet. The guards leapt out and formed a gauntlet for the Shangs to pass down. They kept shooting at us, forcing Cyrus to continue our evasive action.

Over the phone, I could hear Leo Shang. “Jessica! This is no time to be on the phone! Hang up and follow me!”

Jessica ignored him and asked me, “Why are you in the helicopter?”

“I'm a junior CIA agent! Your father has been lying to you. He's not really a businessman. He's a criminal.”

“That's not funny, Ben.”

“I know. It's all incredibly serious. Your father didn't bring you here just to ski. You were right about that. He brought you here to plan a crime. A big one.”

“Jessica!” Leo Shang was saying. “Get off the phone, now!”

Only, Jessica didn't get off the phone. And she didn't get out of the car. Because, like Erica, she didn't always listen to her father. Especially when she was angry at him. “What are you talking about?” she asked me.

“If we don't stop your father right now, he's going to set off a nuclear bomb in Colorado. He's doing it to corner the molybdenum market. . . .”

“Molly Denham has a market?”

“No,
molybdenum
. It's an element used in making weapons. And your father is trying to destroy the entire U.S. supply of it—even though it means killing a lot of innocent people.”

“No,” Jessica said. Her voice sounded strained, like she was struggling with the idea that her father was an international criminal. Which made sense; I would have reacted the same way. “He would never do something like that. He wouldn't kill people.”

“He's having his men try to kill us right now! They're shooting at us!”

“Maybe he's just trying to frighten you off. . . .”

“No. He's been trying to kill me all morning. He sent Dane Brammage to do it.”

I could see Leo Shang was out on the tarmac now, with the door of the car open. Over the phone, I heard him yelling at Jessica. “If you don't hang up right now, you're in big trouble!”

“Daddy,” Jessica said sternly, “did you tell Dane to kill Ben today?”

Leo didn't answer right away. And when he
did
answer, it wasn't very convincing. “What kind of question is that? Of course I didn't tell Dane to do such a thing!”

“Then where's Dane?” Jessica asked suspiciously.

“He's, uh . . . getting some snacks for the plane trip.”

Jessica didn't buy this for a second. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “You tried to kill my friend! That is so uncool!”

“Jessica,” Leo said, “we need to get on the jet right now.”

“I'm not going anywhere with you!” Jessica screamed at him. “You're the worst father ever!”

“You don't understand what's going on here!” Leo yelled. “Now, get out of that car this instant!”

“Or what?” Jessica yelled back. “You'll kill me too?”

On the tarmac, the gauntlet of guards now looked a bit confused about what was going on. Leo Shang climbed back into the car to deal with Jessica. “You are my daughter and I
demand respect! Now, you are coming with me!”

The sounds of a scuffle followed. I heard Jessica scream, “Let go of me!” and then there was a yelp of pain from Leo Shang. The door on the far side of the car opened and Jessica leapt out and ran across the tarmac, heading away from the jet.

Shang leapt out after her, but he was hobbling, like he'd been kicked hard in the shin. “Jessica!” he yelled. Only, he didn't sound angry anymore. He sounded panicked, like a worried father. He might have been upset at his daughter, but he wasn't about to leave her behind to die. “Get back here!”