Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 "There they are!" Isabel's voice rang out through the lobby. "Hugo, Anton, quick!" Amy whirled around. The Kabra group had indeed reached the elevator; Ian and Natalie were already inside. The doors slid shut, leaving Isabel with the two men; the floor numbers began to light up, indicating that the elevator was in motion. Nellie turned to Lester. "Run! And whatever you do, don't let them get that box. We'll stall them." Lester seemed about to speak, but Isabel was already striding across the room with her companions in tow. Dan was still holding Saladin. Suddenly, he thrust the cat out toward Isabel and the two men. "STAY BACK!" he yelled, brandishing the cat in front of him. "This cat is dangerous! He has, um

—feline— feline spongiform halitosis! It can be fatal to humans!" Saladin cooperated by swiping the air with his claws extended and hissing fiercely. It seemed that he did not appreciate being described as disease ridden, even if the disease didn't really exist. Isabel broke stride, and the two men stumbled into her. She bumped her head on the shoulder of one of the men. Letting out a shriek of pain, she put her hand to her forehead and staggered. It was a delay of only seconds, but it was enough. "Please, Lester!" Amy begged. "Go!" Lester shook his head in bafflement, then edged his way out the door to the restaurant. Moments later, Amy saw him out the window, running through the rain along the beach back toward the excavation hut. Just then, the elevator doors opened. Natalie and Ian stepped out after their ride up a few floors and back down again. Isabel shook her head, as if clearing her vision. "Typical!" she yelled. "Where have you two been?

Hugo, Anton, you idiots, don't just stand there! Go after the man —he's carrying something— he went that way!" She pointed at the restaurant door. Dan hurriedly deposited Saladin in his carrier. The hotel bellman standing nearby looked alarmed and gave the cat a respectful berth. Then Dan followed Amy as she and Nellie dashed toward the door, with Hugo and Anton on their heels. Hurricane. That was the word that popped into Nellie's head as soon as she set foot in the open– air restaurant. The rain seemed to be coming at her horizontally. Nellie had never seen a hurricane before, except on TV. If this wasn't a hurricane, she didn't ever want to be within a thousand miles of a real one. She ran through the restaurant, where the staff was hurriedly locking things down. At the far end of the terrace were shallow stairs leading to the beach. With Amy and Dan beside her, Nellie took the stairs in a single jump. Within a few strides she was soaking wet.

"This way!" she heard Amy scream into the wind. They turned to the right. Far down the beach, they could see a blur that was Lester struggling against the storm. The beach was quite wide because the tide was out, or at least it had been before the storm began. But each wave that crashed in was bigger than the one before it. What was the best way to slow down Isabel's thugs? Nellie risked a quick glance over her shoulder. "HEY!" she hollered. Hugo and Anton were no longer behind them. "They must have gone out the front!" Dan screamed. "They're going to try to head him off!" "We have to get to him first!" Nellie screamed back. They had to scream to be heard over the howling wind. Nellie tried to think. With the rain pummeling down and the wind shrieking, she could hardly hear her own thoughts. They'll be faster, running

on the road instead of on the sand. Lester has a good head start. But when he gets to the hut, then what? They'll get there before us…. They raced down the beach. Lester was almost to the hut now. "Come on!" Amy shouted, and pulled ahead. Nellie had thought that she was already running as fast as she could, but seeing Amy's burst of speed made her find one of her own. Up ahead, Lester stopped abruptly. Nellie knew what that meant: He had spotted either Hugo or Anton. Sure enough, Lester reversed himself and began running back toward them. Behind him, Nellie saw one of the thugs. Where was the other one? A few seconds later, she had her answer. The second man emerged on the beach not far ahead of them. Now Lester was caught between the two men, who were rapidly closing in on him. He moved forward a few more yards and then, to Nellie's astonishment, he turned to his right and started running.

Toward the ocean. "What's he doing?" Dan yelled. Hugo and Anton thundered after Lester, the Cahill gang right behind them. Through the pelting rain, Nellie could now see what she hadn't earlier. Lester, still hugging the box to his chest, was running on a narrow spit of sand that rose a little higher than the rest of the seabed and stretched far out into the water. Maybe he was hoping that the thugs wouldn't follow him. Who runs out into the ocean during a hurricane? The spit was so narrow that the three of them couldn't run side by side. Amy was in front. Water was splashing around Nellie's ankles, but everything was so wet that she couldn't tell if it was rain or waves. Beyond Amy's shoulder, Nellie saw Lester make a flying leap. He landed and stumbled forward a few steps. Then he turned and looked behind him. Hugo and Anton had been running one after the other, barely two paces apart. Suddenly, they both tripped and fell forward. But what had they tripped on? Nellie couldn't