Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 "We have got to stop meeting like this," purred Natalie Kabra behind her. Enraged, Dan made a run at Natalie. But Ian stepped from the shadows and grabbed him firmly around the midsection. "Not so fast, Danny Boy. I see you've recovered from your evening swim." He sniffed Dan's hair. "Well, not completely." "What do you want?" Dan challenged. Ian regarded him pityingly. "Are you kidding? Like it's a coincidence we're all here. Basically, it's like this: You're going to stand in front of my sister's dart gun while I entertain you with some music." Roughly, he thrust Dan against the wall and shoved Amy over beside him. Natalie faced them, holding them at gunpoint. "Don't worry," she promised with mock

sweetness. "The dart won't kill you. But you'll wake up in a few hours with a nasty headache." "Again," added her brother. He stepped over the velvet rope and seated himself at the harpsichord, cracking his knuckles with a flourish. "You're bluffing!" Dan accused. "You don't even know what to play!" "I'm sure something will come to me," Ian said cheerfully. "Perhaps 'Three Blind Mice.' Or 'Pop Goes the Weasel.' Or maybe a little tune called KV 617." "How could you know about that?" Amy blurted. "You think you're so clever, but really, you're pathetic," Natalie scoffed. "We've been following you since the train station in Vienna. We've intercepted your computer's wireless signal. You downloaded this piece from the web, and we downloaded it from you." "I took the liberty of printing my own copy," Ian added, unfolding a page of sheet music and propping it in front of him. Amy and Dan exchanged a meaningful look. Ian

and Natalie had no way of knowing that the Internet version of KV 617 was not the same as the Ben Franklin clue. Maybe all was not yet lost. Ian began to play. The metallic sound of the harpsichord reverberated through the tomblike room. It was much louder than Amy expected, and only a little out of tune. What a magnificent instrument! She craned her neck to watch Ian's long fingers dancing across the ivory keys. That was when she saw it — a tiny wire extending from underneath D above high C and disappearing into the burnished wood of the harpsichord. D above high C. Amy frowned. Why did that sound so familiar? And then a picture of it formed in her mind: D > HIC. Grace's note on the Nannerl pages! It's a warning! That D key is booby-trapped! The notion had barely crossed her mind when she heard the pitch of the music rise and saw Ian's right hand fluttering in the direction of the fateful D. Her reaction was so natural, so instantaneous,

that she had no time to think about how foolish it was. With a cry of "Don't!" she leaped forward, bowling over Natalie. The gun discharged, but the dart missed and buried itself in the drapery. Amy was in full flight, determined to knock Ian off the stool before disaster struck. She was a split second too late. She plowed into Ian just as his finger caressed the booby-trapped key. BOOM! With a flash of flame, Mozart's harpsichord blew apart, tossing Amy and Ian ten feet clear. Amy tucked and rolled, emerging unhurt. Ian's head struck the marble floor. He lay there, out cold. Natalie scrambled to her feet and reached for the dart gun, but Dan was too quick for her. He snatched up the dart from the drapery behind him and flung it like a spear at his adversary. The point buried itself in her shoulder. She raised the weapon, woozily fighting the effects of the knockout formula. Dan braced for impact, knowing the next dart was coming for him. And

then Natalie's eyes rolled back in her head, and she dropped like a stone beside her brother. Dan ran to his sister. "Are you okay?" Amy crawled to the wreckage of the instrument. The woodwork was in smoldering pieces, but amazingly, the keyboard was intact. Both could now see a second set of wires, which disappeared into the floor. "Quick! The music!" Dan stared at her. "It's not going to play now. It's on fire." "Give it here!" She unfolded the napkin and began to press the keys. There was no sound except for a soft clicking. But she "played" on, following the notes exactly from the Ben Franklin clue. Suddenly, the floor began to shake beneath their feet. "Way to go, Amy!" cried Dan. "Now the whole building's coming down!" A section of marble one yard square dropped away on a hidden hinge. The Cahills crouched over the new opening it created. Before them, on

a bed of black velvet, lay a pair of gleaming swords. "Samurai!" Dan said with reverence. He reached down, took hold of a golden hilt, and then stood up and brandished the weapon. "Samurai warriors carried two blades — one short and one long. These must be the short ones. Seriously cool." Amy drew out the other sword and examined the Japanese characters engraved in the metalwork. "I'll bet these are made with that special steel Mozart was interested in." Dan nodded. "But how can that be our clue? It has nothing to do with the stuff Grace wrote in those diary pages." "D above high C turned out to be the booby- trapped harpsichord key," Amy explained. "And gateau minus the music—" It came together in her mind. "Musical notes are also letters, remember? A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. If you take those out of the word gateau, you're left with … T-U." She looked puzzled. "It doesn't make sense." "Yes, it does!" Dan exploded. "It's the old chemical symbol for tungsten! That's the thing