Double Crossing

by Carolyn Keene

  When they stood up, however, Joe had Connor's arm twisted behind his back. He pushed Connor into the cabin, and Frank quickly slammed the door and locked it.

  "What's this about?" Connor asked angrily as soon as he caught his breath.

  "What do you think?" Nancy said calmly.

  "I've got nothing to talk about," Connor replied as icily.

  "Connor, the CIA knows what's happening. They're going to meet the ship in Miami," Nancy said. "So if you don't help us find the disks, all they have is you. And you know better than we do what that means."

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  Connor tried to stare blankly at her as though none of what she had said meant anything to him. But Nancy could see that he was struggling to keep his fear from showing.

  "This is what I know," Nancy went on. "I know you're all CIA kids, and I know Marcy was Pipeline and you were helping her. And I think she disappeared right after she met the steward Julio Aguerra on the stairs, because no one saw her after that—until you identified her in Cozumel."

  Connor closed his eyes, presumably to blot out the memory of Marcy's body. They could see on his face how horrible it had been. When he opened his eyes, it was clear that he was ready to talk.

  "Whose idea was it to sell the disks?" Joe asked.

  "Marcy's," Connor said finally. He was choosing his words carefully, telling them only what he thought they needed to know.

  "You mean one day she just woke up and said, 'I think I'll sell some CIA secrets today'?" Joe asked.

  "Marcy never did anything impulsively," Connor said. "Everything was planned."

  "So why did she do it?" Nancy asked impatiently.

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  "She wanted to ruin her father," Connor said, staring at Nancy. "She hated him for never being home. Not even when her mother died. She told me she could get his secrets, all kinds of stuff about what he was doing in Central America. And she wanted to do something big with it, something that would really embarrass him and destroy his career.

  "I tried to talk her out of it," Connor went on, "but she was determined. She was going to do it, with me or without me. So"—he shook his head and laughed bitterly—"so I went along with her to make sure she didn't get hurt."

  Nancy, Frank, and Joe were quiet, waiting for Connor to continue.

  "Anyway," he said, "I got a message onto a computer in an embassy in Central America. I told them we had secret information about X, Y, and Z It's better if the three of you don't know the exact details. I told the embassy if they were interested in buying the secrets, we'd be in touch. Marcy set up all the rules. She picked the cruise and told them to put an agent on the boat. Everything was her idea—calling herself Pipeline, the shopping bag from Plummer's, the stairs at nine o'clock."

  "Why weren't you at the six a.m. meeting on the Princess Deck?" Nancy asked.

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  Connor looked puzzled. "What meeting? I didn't know about it," he said. "Marcy said, 'It's set.' That's all. I didn't know anything about where or when."

  "And you put a note on the crew's bulletin board because you thought she had been kidnapped?" Frank said, prompting Connor to go on.

  Connor wiped his forehead with his sleeve and leaned against a dresser. "All I knew was that her contact worked on the ship. I thought if I gave him the disks, he'd let Marcy go. I thought she was still alive. Then he sent me a note, arranging a meeting at the ruins," Connor said.

  "No, I don't think Marcy's contact sent you that note," Nancy said. "Her contact was Julio Aguerra, a steward. Frank and I found him dead in a swimming pool. Someone else had to have been watching you from the beginning— and that someone wrote you the note. Now this guy's stolen your disks, and we don't have a clue about him."

  "When I saw Marcy's body. .." Connor couldn't say anything for a moment. "The whole time I really thought she was still alive. I thought I could pull this off and get her back. When I knew she was dead, I decided not to sell the disks."

  "Oh, sure," Nancy said. "That's why you

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  ran in here to get your money when I sent you that note."

  "I only wanted to know who it was," Connor insisted.

  "Don't we all," Frank said. "You know, two people have died and two others have gotten hurt because you and your friends are running around playing spy—and you don't even know who you're dealing with!"

  "Listen, you don't understand. My friends don't know a thing about this."

  "Right," Joe said. "Then why did Gail lock Nancy in the storage closet?"

  "I didn't tell her why. I just asked her to do it for me, and she did. That's the way we are."

  Nancy thought of David lying in the ship's hospital with a concussion. Then she remembered something else. "We do know one thing about this agent," she said. "He smokes a pipe."

  "Oh?" Connor murmured, his face falling.

  "David said the tobacco was very unusual," Frank said.

  "Oh, no," Connor moaned.. He started rubbing his temples and pacing the room. "That's bad—very bad—"

  "What's going on?" Joe asked.

  "We're dead," Connor said with something between a laugh and a sob. "We're all dead. That's all."

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  "Why?" Nancy asked.

  "I'll tell you why," Connor said to her. "Because this agent sounds like Andrei Bessmerkov, that's why. He's a Russian superagent, a legend. I've read his file on my dad's computer. No one knows what he looks like, but we do know he smokes a pipe with a unique tobacco blend. Before he'll let himself be found, he'll kill everyone on this ship!"

  Chapter Sixteen

  N,

  ancy watched Connor's forehead tighten and his eyes narrow when he talked about the secret Russian operative Andrei Bessmerkov.

  "He's a throwback," Connor said. "He's an agent who believes it's his patriotic duty to accomplish his assignment and kill as many American agents as possible. Man, we are in deep trouble."

  Nancy looked away from Connor and noticed Frank motioning toward the door with his eyes.

  "We'll be right back," Frank told Joe as he and Nancy stepped into the hallway.

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  Outside, the hall was empty except for a few stewards who were leaving newly shined shoes in front of cabin doors. Frank leaned against the wall and spoke quietly.

  "What do you think about Connor?" he asked.

  "I think he made all the wrong decisions, but I think he did it because of Marcy," Nancy said. "He seems to have really cared about her."

  "You believe him?" Frank said. "You think he tried to stop her, and when he couldn't, he went along with it so she wouldn't get hurt? And you also think David, Gail, and Demetrios don't know anything?"

  Nancy thought about everything Connor had said and nodded yes. "Do you?"

  "Yeah. Just checking," Frank said. "But why's he trying to scare us with this Bessmerkov bit?"

  "Look at his face," Nancy said. "I think he's scared."

  "Really? Well, why isn't he scared of what the CIA is going to do to him?" Frank asked with a grim smile. "Of course, the CIA isn't going to be too crazy about us for getting involved either. They appreciate civilian interference about as much as a brain surgeon does."

  Double Crossing

  "We'll deal with that in Miami. In the meantime, what do you want to do about Connor?" Nancy asked.

  "I'm going to tell Captain Helgesen about Bessmerkov and suggest that he keep a twenty-four-hour watch on Connor, just to cover all bases. But I don't think Connor's a threat anymore. I mean, what's he going to do— jump ship?"

  They walked back into the cabin. Neither Joe nor Connor seemed to have moved.

  "Did you decide you believe me?" Connor asked with a confidence that twinkled for a moment but disappeared with his next question. "And will you let me help?"

  "Meaning what?" Frank asked.

  "Mean
ing, get the disks back," Connor said. "Before we dock in Miami. Because Bessmerkov will have to get those disks off the ship somehow—sneak them into someone's suitcase or a kid's toy or something. And eventually he'll go after those disks and kill to get them back. I don't think I could live with that."

  Nancy, Frank, and Joe looked at one another. Find the disks, spot the spy, and watch your back at all times—it was a big assignment.

  "We'll find him," Joe said. "And, yeah. You can help."

  It was late, so they decided to head for their

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  cabins to get some sleep and start their search for Bessmerkov in the morning.

  The next day they met with Connor again, this time in the secrecy of Cabin E 217. Connor's bodyguard waited outside.

  "Agents like to think they're invisible, but they're not," Connor said, stirring his cup of coffee. "We've got to think of people who are always hanging around us. Maybe the person didn't even look at you, but he was always near."

  "Someone who smokes a pipe," Nancy said. "And someone not too young?" She looked at Connor for confirmation, and he nodded.

  "Well," Frank said thoughtfully, "somebody who comes to my mind as a candidate is Pete Porter. He's the ship's first mate, so he can move all over the ship without any trouble. Plus, he was on the Princess Deck at six a.m. that first morning."

  "That's right. He's also been asking me a ton of questions about you, and even about me," Joe said.

  "And he smokes a pipe," Nancy added. "But there's also Baron von Hoffman. He's certainly closer to the right age to be Bessmerkov, and he's around enough."

  "That's true," said Frank, pulling his hand through his thick dark hair. "He was on

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  deck with me when you went overboard, Joe."

  "I remember you saying you were going to throw your camera overboard if the baron asked you any more questions, Frank," Nancy said with a smile.

  "I saw him at the ruins too," Joe added.

  "Then, there's Stefan Borkafsky," said Frank, his face a study in concentration. "He's been hanging around. You may not have noticed him. Nondescript sort of guy."

  "That must be the fellow I saw in the hallway the night I met you for the swim, Frank," said Nancy. "He is always around— on the elevator, on stairways—"

  "And then, there's that guy who always wears the black shirt," said Joe.

  "The one with the endless supply of five-dollar bills?" Frank asked.

  "Yeah, Jack Freeman," said Joe. "That guy's definitely a suspicious character as far as I'm concerned."

  "That's true," Nancy mused. "I've heard he's always paying for gossip—five for passenger information, and ten for anything overheard at the captain's table."

  "Okay. We have Pete Porter, Baron von Hoffman, Stefan Borkafsky, and Jack Freeman," Frank summed up. "Well, shall we divvy up the list?"

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  "How can I help?" asked Connor eagerly.

  "You've got the easy assignment, Connor," Joe said with a smile. "Just stay here with your bodyguard and keep out of the way."

  "Who's taking our number-one suspect— Pete Porter?" Frank asked.

  "To tell the truth," Nancy said, "I think George ought to follow him. Of all of us, she's in the position to do it most naturally. I'll ask her."

  "What do we do if we think we've found Bessmerkov?" Joe asked as they headed for the door.

  "Just don't let him see that you know," was Connor's gloomy reply. "Not if you value your life."

  Joe had been assigned to follow Jack Freeman, but somehow, over the course of the morning, things had turned around. Now Joe was running up a flight of metal stairs leading to the Crown Deck, and Freeman was huffing and puffing after him.

  Freeman finally caught up to Joe and laid a meaty hand on his shoulder.

  Joe spun around. "I said keep your money! I don't want it."

  "You don't understand," Freeman said. "This twenty is for telling me why you were bird-dogging me this morning." He pulled out

  Double Crossing

  a fifty-dollar bill. "And this is for telling me who asked you to do it."

  Joe just glared and took off, not looking behind him.

  Freeman started moving again. "Okay, a hundred bucks!" he called, still chasing Joe.

  Forget it, Joe thought. I knew hours ago that this jerk is no international spy. He ducked into a small upper-deck kitchen and cut through to the other side of the ship.

  Meanwhile, Nancy was looking for Stefan Borkafsky, the man who had stared at her the night she found the corpse in the swimming pool. When she couldn't find him in any of the obvious public places, she decided to take a direct approach.

  She knocked on his cabin door.

  He opened the door and froze when he saw Nancy standing there. "You're the detective," Borkafsky said. He stuttered slightly, and odd sentences came out in his shy voice. "Why do you have to be after my brother?"

  His brother? Maybe this was going somewhere.

  "Who is your brother?" Nancy asked. "Is he or. the ship?"

  "Chef Borka, of course," the man said. "A detective to not know is strange."

  Hmmm, thought Nancy, remembering her encounter with Chef Borka in his cabin.

  A Nancy Drew S= Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  "Your brother wasn't very friendly," she said. "What is he hiding in his cabin?"

  "Leave it with him," the little man pleaded. His eyes looked away from her. "Please. He'll die without it."

  "I don't understand what you mean. You'll have to be more specific," Nancy said. "Why would he die?"

  "I will tell you," the man said. "I will trust. It's diabetes ruining my brother's eyes. He might go blind. A blind chef cannot cook."

  Stefan Borkafsky explained that Chef Borka hated the idea of anyone finding out about his disease and the medicines in his cabin. Stefan had come on this cruise to be sure his brother was well enough to continue the job.

  "But why were you following me a few nights ago?" Nancy asked.

  "I wasn't," said the short man. "I was going to ask you to leave him alone, but I got scared. Don't tell anyone his secrets, will you?"

  You've done a favor for me, Nancy thought to herself, mentally crossing one name off the suspect list. "Of course I won't," she said. "I understand completely."

  "I thank you for your kindness, miss," said Borkafsky.

  Frank thought a long time about how to go about auditioning Baron von Hoffman in the

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  role of spy. Finally he decided to put the baron to a simple test: Would he allow Frank to photograph him? Frank figured that if the baron were really Andrei Bessmerkov, he'd never allow himself to be photographed.

  But after taking two rolls of film, forty-eight portraits of the baron and the baroness, Frank doubted that von Hoffman was his man. And, of course, the baron started in with the shutter-bug questions that drove Frank crazy. Frank was relieved when Connor showed up with a message that the captain wanted to see him.

  "Does that guy smoke a pipe?" Connor asked Frank quietly as the two of them walked away from the baron.

  "I've never seen him smoke anything," Frank answered.

  "Oh, well," Connor said. "You'd better hurry. The captain said on the double."

  As soon as Frank walked into Captain Helgesen's office, Mr. Robbins, the Texan who was the big winner from the blackjack game, jumped out of his seat.

  "That's one of them!" Mr. Robbins said, pointing a finger at Frank. "He and the other oae stole my five grand as sure as there are steers in Texas."

  So Mr. Robbins was robbed last night. That didn't surprise Frank one bit.

  "Joe was guarding your cabin, not staking it

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  out," Frank said. "Captain, we knew something was going to happen to this guy's money, and we asked him to put it in the safe."

  The captain gave Mr. Robbins a polite
but frosty smile and said, "Just tell us what happened."

  "I was in the casino, winning all night," Mr. Robbins explained. "That pretty little blackjack dealer just kept dealing the cards, and I kept taking the chips away from her. But when I woke up this morning, my money was gone."

  "I've got an idea," Frank said. Why hadn't he seen it before? The blackjack dealer was a woman—Wendy Larson.

  "Captain," said Frank, "I think I can promise to have the case solved before the cruise is over. If you'll excuse me—" He quickly left to look for Joe, but he ran into Nancy first, walking by the Paradise Lounge.

  "Stefan Borkafsky is definitely off the list," Nancy said after explaining what had happened. "And I ran into Joe. He came up empty too. What about you? Did you check out the baron?"

  "He's not a definite yes or no. Still a question mark," Frank said. "But let's face it: Our list was just a starting point. Bessmerkov could be anybody."

  "I'm counting on George," Nancy said.

  Double Crossing

  "She's been following Pete Porter around like a groupie. Maybe she'll get lucky, and he'll speak Russian to her or something."

  Frank laughed. "Listen," he said. "Joe and I are going to have to back out of this Bessmerkov thing for a while. The captain is on my case about the cabin thief, and I do have a new lead to check out."

  Frank told Nancy how he thought the thief could be working in the casino. That way the thief would know who had won big every night. "The only thing that doesn't fit," Frank finished up, "is Faith Whitman. She said she was in her cabin all night reading a mystery novel, not gambling in the casino. And nothing was stolen."

  "Frank, I just remembered something." Nancy snapped her fingers. "That book Miss Whitman was reading—her red leather bookmark was only a page or two into the book. Maybe she's a slow reader—or maybe she wasn't in her cabin all night."

  There was only one way to find out. A few minutes later Frank was knocking on Lillian Hallock and Faith Whitman's cabin.