Horse Spy

by Bonnie Bryant

  “Aha,” said Karya, finally getting it. “I think I understand.”

  “Well, see, her father is the president of the bank in town, and I suspect she thinks that means that you and she have a lot in common,” Lisa said.

  “Yes, I definitely understand,” said Karya. “But you’re sure she’s harmless?”

  “Harmless is the last word I would ever use about Veronica,” Stevie said. “She’s snobby, mean, vindictive, a liar and a cheat. And much as I would love to have her spend the rest of her natural days in a sweltering desert prison—that’s what the man said, isn’t it?—it would have to be for something she actually did. She’s no kidnapper, and she’d never hang around with terrorists, because they just don’t come from the right families.”

  “Yes, I definitely understand now,” said Karya.

  She rode Barq forward and summoned the captain of the security men. She spoke with him earnestly for a few minutes, making gestures that were unmistakably Veronica, with her eyebrows arched, looking down her nose.

  Finally the captain began nodding in understanding. He signaled his men to step back and lower their weapons and waved to the helicopter to leave the area. The men opened a hole in the circle and allowed Veronica, leading Danny, to pass.

  Veronica kept her eyes straight ahead. She did not acknowledge the presence of The Saddle Club, though she did offer a teeny-tiny bow of thanks to Karya for intervening on her behalf. Karya waved at her. Slowly and deliberately, Veronica and Danny walked out of the circle and toward the path that would take them back to the stable.

  As she left, another horse and rider approached.

  “What now?” Stevie asked, trying to identify the rider from a distance. “Agent Double-oh-seven?”

  “Nope,” said Lisa. “It’s Double-oh-Max!”

  Max looked utterly baffled by what greeted him in the clearing, and as Carole thought about what he was seeing, she could understand why. Two dozen heavily armed men were standing in a ragged circle, looking distraught. Three of Max’s riders and their VIP guest were on horseback, with Carole leading a fifth horse.

  “What the …,” Max said, recognizing Polaris.

  “It was Frieda!” Stevie said.

  “I don’t …”

  “We didn’t, either,” said Carole.

  “But we knew she was up to no good and we trailed her!” said Karya.

  “Is that why …?”

  “Yep!” said Stevie.

  “But how …?”

  “Well, it’s a long story,” Stevie began.

  “And I’ve got a lot of time to hear it,” said Max.

  “Not yet,” Carole said. “First we’ve got to see if someone can catch Frieda.”

  “I think I can help with that now that my guards aren’t tracking down the infamous Veronica,” said Karya.

  Again she summoned the captain, who seemed very eager to please her. She spoke in rapid Arabic. He snapped orders into the walkie-talkie. The helicopter quickly returned, hovered over the field with ropes dangling, and seemed to suck up the troopers whom it had so recently lowered into the field. Then off it sped.

  “If she’s there, they’ll catch her,” Karya said.

  “Well, they certainly have proved this afternoon that they can track down evildoers!” Stevie said.

  “What are you talking about?” Max asked.

  “Like I said, it’s a long story,” said Stevie.

  “Then let’s just get back to Pine Hollow and you can amuse me with details on the way.”

  “Whatever you want, Max,” Stevie said.

  The four girls, Max, and the championship horse returned to the stable, followed by a dozen foot soldiers and four guards on horseback. It was quite a parade by any measure.

  IT TOOK ANOTHER forty-five minutes to explain the whole situation to Max and to tell him the complete story of Polaris’s rescue—well, the nearly complete story. Once they could stop being worried about real kidnappers and terrorists in the woods around Pine Hollow, they all agreed, without further conversation, that Max really didn’t need to know they’d been playing games with the security men.

  The security men, on the other hand, knew exactly what had been going on. Alek, the secretary, was designated by the men in black to have a brief conversation with Karya about following the orders of the men whose job it was to protect her. She had to apologize to them. She didn’t mind that, though, because they, in turn, had to apologize to Veronica diAngelo, whose father had called the State Department in less time than it took to give Polaris a decent ration of oats. But The Saddle Club’s favorite part was when Veronica was required to apologize to the security men for not obeying them.

  “She takes humiliation so well,” Stevie observed as Veronica stomped out of the stable and flounced into her mother’s Mercedes, slamming the door. Mrs. diAngelo then nearly ran into Judy Barker’s truck as Judy, Pine Hollow’s vet, arrived to check Polaris’s foot to see if there was any residual damage from the stone.

  “Fit as can be,” Judy announced a few minutes later. “He’s going to be fine to compete on Saturday!”

  Finally the girls got to put their own horses back in their own stalls, groom them, water them, and feed them.

  Barq’s stall was next to Prancer’s and across from Starlight’s and Belle’s.

  “This has been a wonderful day,” said Carole.

  “The only problem is that we didn’t get to visit enough,” said Karya.

  “Well, we’ve definitely got to go to school tomorrow, but we’re planning a sleepover at Stevie’s on Saturday night. Could you come, or would that mean missing a chance at the embassy dinner for retired—”

  “You bet I’ll come,” Karya said. “And the retired dam workers can have their embassy dinner without me. But aren’t you going to go to the horse show and watch these guys perform?” she asked, pointing down the aisle to where Polaris and Blue were gazing out of their stalls.

  “Can’t get tickets,” Stevie said. “The thing’s been sold out for months.”

  “You know,” said Karya, reaching for her cell phone, “being the daughter of the president of a small country can be a nuisance a lot of the time, like when you have to do absolutely everything your security guards tell you to do. But it does have some benefits.” She punched in some numbers and spoke in her rapid-fire Arabic. She smiled, said, “Okay,” then hung up.

  “Four tickets. Ringside. Is that okay?”

  “That’s okay!” Stevie told her.

  “Yahoo!” Carole agreed.

  “THAT WAS wonderful!” Carole declared.

  Lisa, Stevie, and Karya didn’t have to ask her what she meant. They all agreed completely.

  It was Saturday night. The girls were having their sleepover at Stevie’s. They had had a wonderful time at the horse show, enjoying every single minute of the afternoon. Not only had their seats been ringside, but also they’d been in the VIP area, and the four had been waited on all afternoon by a staff eager to please them. Stevie had been pleased to oblige them by taking a soda every time anyone offered to get her something.

  “I don’t think I could ever drink another soda,” Stevie said now.

  “Well, if you eat any more of that popcorn you brought home, you’re going to need lots more soda,” said Lisa.

  “No, I’m just trying to catch up,” Stevie told her.

  Karya laughed. “Are you three always this silly?”

  “Except when we’re sillier,” said Carole. “And when everything works out as well as this adventure did, we’ve definitely earned the right to be silly!”

  “It’s okay with me,” said Karya. “So pass me the popcorn and let’s talk again about how perfect the horse show was. My favorite part was when Polaris came in third. He’s as wonderful in the ring as he is on the Rocky Trail!”

  “What competition there was!” Stevie said. “I thought it was a miracle that he got a ribbon at all!”

  “It was all those suppling exercises,” Lisa declared.
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  “And that must be why Blue got a yellow in jumping!” said Carole. “Did you see the way she took those fences. Man, I thought she was flying!”

  “Like Pegasus,” said Karya.

  “Exactly,” Carole agreed.

  “I’ll tell you what my very favorite part was, though,” said Stevie.

  “What?” Lisa asked.

  “Seeing the empty seat in the Walkers’ box where Mrs. Walker was supposed to be,” said Stevie.

  “I guess a woman who’s been arrested for conspiring to kidnap a horse just doesn’t dare to show her face at the show!” said Lisa.

  “Well, I felt sorry for Ellen,” said Carole. “She knew what her mother had tried to do and she still had the courage to ride in the show.”

  “And get a ribbon!” said Karya. “That took guts.”

  “And skill.”

  “So what’s going to happen to Mrs. Walker and Frieda?” Karya asked.

  The girls turned to Stevie because her parents were attorneys and they always expected her to have the answer to a legal question.

  “Beats me,” she said. “I doubt there’ll be a trial. When Karya’s guards captured Frieda, she was driving a van rented by Mrs. Walker. It’s pretty obvious they’re guilty as can be.”

  “You know what I wonder?” said Lisa.

  “What?” Carole asked.

  “I wonder what Mrs. Walker would have done if she’d known there were all those other horses that were going to do better than Ellen and Blue.”

  “I don’t wonder because I don’t want to think about it,” said Karya. “She’s a dreadful woman!”

  There was a knock at the door of Stevie’s room.

  “Come on in,” Stevie said.

  The door opened a crack. “Please?” said a quiet male voice. “Ms. Karya?”

  “Come in,” Karya told the man. It was the bodyguard assigned to stay at the Lakes’ that night and look after her welfare.

  “Mrs. Lake sent these to you.…”

  He stepped into the room, carrying a tray with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, a pitcher of milk, and four glasses.

  Stevie made space on her desktop for the tray and then offered a cookie to the guard.

  He shook his head politely. “Not while I’m on the job, thank you,” he said, smiling at his joke.

  “I guess my mom gave you some downstairs, huh?” Stevie asked. He nodded, his eyes shining.

  “I am learning all the best things about America here,” he said. Then, as quietly as he’d arrived, he backed out of the room and they heard him going down the stairs and back to the kitchen—and the rest of the chocolate chip cookies.

  “I’m learning the best things about America, too,” said Karya. “I’m so glad you wrote to me. But I still don’t understand exactly why you did it. I mean, did you really expect me to, like, show up and muck out stables with you guys just because you wrote me a letter?”

  “No,” Carole said. “That was the last thing we expected. We were hoping for a postage stamp from the ADR.”

  Karya looked a little surprised and then started laughing. “Is that really why you wrote?”

  Carole nodded sheepishly.

  “Well, let’s see,” said Karya. She rummaged through her backpack. “There’s nothing here. But if I were to write you a letter from home—would that be okay?”

  “Definitely,” Carole said. “Especially if it’s okay if I answer it, too.”

  “Pen pals?”

  “Not really,” Carole said. “More like horse pals!”

  The Long Ride

  Ever wonder what happened to The Saddle Club when Stevie, Lisa, and Carole went to high school? Now read all about it in Pine Hollow, the new series from Bonnie Bryant.

  Each girl is having a lot of new experiences, like going to high school, getting a driver’s license, finding a boyfriend, and even getting a job. But one thing remains the same: Stevie, Lisa, and Carole are still best friends, and they still love horses!

  Included here is the full text of Pine Hollow #1: The Long Ride. Find out what happens to The Saddle Club next!

  Full text of The Long Ride by Bonnie Bryant

  Copyright © 1998 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller

  Published by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036

  All rights reserved

  v3.1

  Contents

  Copyright

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  About the Author

  PROLOGUE

  “Do you think we’ll get there in time?” Stevie Lake asked, looking around for some sign that the airport was near.

  “Since that plane almost landed on top of us, I think we’re close,” Carole Hanson said.

  “Turn right here,” said Callie Forester from the backseat.

  “And then left up ahead,” Carole advised, picking out directions from the signs that flashed past near the airport entrance. “I think Lisa’s plane is leaving from that terminal there.”

  “Which one?”

  “The one we just passed,” Callie said.

  “Oh,” said Stevie. She gripped the steering wheel tightly and looked for a way to turn around without causing a major traffic tie-up.

  “This would be easier if we were on horseback,” said Carole.

  “Everything’s easier on horseback,” Stevie agreed.

  “Or if we had a police escort,” said Callie.

  “Have you done that?” Stevie asked, trying to maneuver the car across three lanes of traffic.

  “Yeah,” said Callie. “It’s kind of fun, but dangerous. It makes you think you’re almost as important as other people tell you you are.”

  Stevie rolled her window down and waved wildly at the confused drivers around her. Clearly, her waving confused them more, but it worked. All traffic stopped. She crossed the three lanes and pulled onto the service road.

  It took another ten minutes to get back to the right and then ten more to find a parking place. Five minutes into the terminal And then all that was left was to find Lisa.

  “Where do you think she is?” Carole asked.

  “I know,” said Stevie. “Follow me.”

  “That’s what we’ve been doing all morning,” Callie said dryly. “And look how far it’s gotten us.”

  But she followed anyway.

  Alex Lake reached across the table in the airport cafeteria and took Lisa Atwood’s hand.

  “It’s going to be a long summer,” he said.

  Lisa nodded. Saying good-bye was one of her least favorite activities. She didn’t want Alex to know how hard it was, though. That would just make it tougher on him. The two of them had known each other for four years—as long as Lisa had been best friends with Alex’s twin sister, Stevie. But they’d only started dating six months earlier. Lisa could hardly believe that. It seemed as if she’d been in love with him forever.

  “But it is just for the summer,” she said. The words sounded dumb even as they came out of her mouth. The summer was long. She wouldn’t come back to Virginia until right before school started.

  “I wish your dad didn’t live so far away, and I wish the summer weren’t so long.”

  “It’ll go fast,” said Lisa.

  “For you, maybe. You’ll be in California, surfing or something. I’ll just be here, mowing lawns.”

  “I’ve never surfed in my life—”

  “Until now,” said Alex. It was almost a challenge, and Lisa didn’t like it.

&n
bsp; “I don’t want to fight with you,” said Lisa.

  “I don’t want to fight with you, either,” he said, relenting. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I want things to be different. Not very different. Just a little different.”

  “Me too,” said Lisa. She squeezed his hand. It was a way to keep from saying anything else, because she was afraid that if she tried to speak she might cry, and she hated it when she cried. It made her face red and puffy, but most of all, it told other people how she was feeling. She’d found it useful to keep her feelings to herself these days. Like Alex, she wanted things to be different, but she wanted them to be very different, not just a little. She sighed. That was slightly better than crying.

  “I told you so,” said Stevie to Callie and Carole.

  Stevie had threaded her way through the airport terminal, straight to the cafeteria near the security checkpoint. And there, sitting next to the door, were her twin brother and her best friend.

  “Surprise!” the three girls cried, crowding around the table.

  “We just couldn’t let you be the only one to say good-bye to Lisa,” Carole said, sliding into the booth next to Alex.

  “We had to be here, too. You understand that, don’t you?” Stevie asked Lisa as she sat down next to her.

  “You guys!” said Lisa, her face lighting up with joy. “I’m so glad you’re here. I was afraid I wasn’t going to see you for months and months!”

  She was glad they were there. It wouldn’t have felt right if she’d had to leave without seeing them one more time. “I thought you had other things to do.”

  “We just told you that so we could surprise you. We did surprise you, didn’t we?”

  “You surprised me,” Lisa said, beaming.

  “Me too,” Alex said. “I’m surprised, too. I really thought I could go for an afternoon, just one afternoon of my life, without seeing my twin sister.”

  Stevie grinned. “Well, there’s always tomorrow,” she said. “And that’s something to look forward to, right?”

  “Right,” he said, grinning back.