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  Hardy Boys Casefiles - 17

  The Number File

  By

  Franklin W. Dixon

  Chapter 1

  "JUST ONE SHOT LEFT," Joe Hardy muttered. "I'd better make it count." His blue eyes narrowed in concentration as he sighted along the barrel of his gun. He squeezed the trigger, then his hand whitened on the gun stock. Joe knew he'd missed.

  "You're through!" Laughter came from behind Joe, and he turned. His brother, Frank, stood there, grinning in triumph, his teeth bright against his tanned face. "That was your last clay pigeon — I win!"

  Frank patted Joe's blond hair, which the early-morning sea breeze had tangled into curls. "Nice aim, Joe," he teased.

  Joe shrugged. "My aim was better yesterday—when I shot Kruger."

  "There's a big difference between shooting a camera and shooting a gun," Frank answered.

  Joe silently agreed and cracked open his shotgun to eject the spent shell. The Hardys had recently found themselves on both sides of guns—being fired at and firing when desperate.

  Joe was remembering their last case, Line of Fire. They'd both been targets, trying to keep a snapshooting friend from becoming a murderer.

  "Well, this case is a lot easier than that last one," Frank said. "Just observe, take pictures, and enjoy the sun."

  Frank and Joe were on the island of Bermuda, in a small town called Somerset Village. They were doing a surveillance job for their famous detective father, Fenton Hardy. For the past few days they'd been staying with an ex-colleague of their dad's, Alfred Montague, and his daughter, Alicia.

  Montague, as he preferred to be called, had been a detective with Scotland Yard, and had helped Fenton Hardy with several international cases. He was only too glad to give his friend's sons a base. And he'd been giving the boys some pointers on trap-shooting during their few free hours.

  "Want to try another round?" Joe suggested.

  Frank glanced at his watch. "We should be heading for Kruger's villa."

  "Why? We haven't gotten anything yet," Joe said. "Nothing but a bunch of pictures of Kruger and his house and a tan. If our source was right, in just two days a batch of counterfeit credit cards is going to the U.S. from here. And we have nothing new to tell Dad."

  Frank ran a hand through his brown hair. "So you think we'll accomplish more blasting clay pigeons?"

  "Well, I'll feel better, beating you."

  Frank drew himself up to his full six-one and grinned at his slightly shorter, slightly younger brother. Joe was seventeen. "You're on." Then he turned to wave to the trap house across the carefully tended lawn as Joe reloaded. Montague was inside, running the machinery that would catapult the clay pigeons into the air.

  Joe stood seemingly at ease, the shotgun loose in his hands. Frank knew he was tenser than he looked. Joe loved action—and the past few days he'd seen little of it.

  Loading his gun, Frank said, "Do you want to take every other shot?" Joe nodded as Frank continued, "At least the stakeout's easy. We sit on a rock under a cedar tree and take pictures of a house by the ocean — "

  Joe yelled, "Pull!" The clay pigeon soared into the sky. Joe's gun rose smoothly to his shoulder, barked, and the clay disk shattered into hundreds of pieces.

  "Three shipments with fifteen thousand credit cards already left here," Frank mumbled to himself. "And we only find out about it by accident."

  "What did you say?" Joe asked.

  "I was just thinking about our source—that counterfeiter who got caught and talked."

  "Yeah, if he hadn't supposedly been one of Kruger's couriers, we wouldn't know anything." He smiled, then yelled, "Pull!"

  Caught off-guard, Frank jerked up his gun— and missed. He gave Joe a dirty look and added, "Supposedly?"

  Joe shrugged. "Well, there's no proof, remember. They only found this guy with the cards made from stolen plates. He rolled over and named Kruger. But we don't have proof that Kruger's involved. I mean, who's going to believe that sleaze? Pull!"

  Another clay pigeon soared. Joe blasted it and went right on talking. "All we know is that he said there was going to be another shipment on Friday."

  "The whole racket better be stopped soon. Dad said they cost the real cardholders more than two million bucks so far," Frank added. "They're pretty smart—buying stuff with the

  The Number File

  fake cards, and then selling it at half price. They only use the duplicates for a couple of days, so there's almost no chance of them being caught. We've got to stop it at this end— before the cards get to the U.S."

  Joe yelled "Pull!" again, but this time Frank was ready and hit the clay pigeon.

  "And that means checking Kruger out, even if there's no hard evidence against him. So it looks like we're stuck sitting outside his walls, taking pictures," Joe said.

  "Speaking of pictures," Frank said, "is that Alicia coming out of the darkroom with the latest batch?"

  Always willing to look at Montague's dark-haired daughter, Joe turned toward the sliding glass doors in the white bungalow behind them.

  No one was there.

  Frank took advantage of his distraction to yell, "Pull!"

  Joe whipped around, but his shot missed. Now it was his turn to glare at his brother.

  Frank smiled, saying, "Now we're even." He signaled Montague that they were through.

  Montague walked toward them from the trap house, carrying a manila envelope. Tall and slender, he looked fifteen years younger than his almost-seventy years. The only sign of age was his soft voice which sounded worn down after years of relentless interrogations of British villains. "Alicia left these pictures for you before she went to town," he said, handing them to Joe. "I thought you'd like to see them before you go."

  The shots were all too familiar to Joe — trees, the top of Kruger's fence, his villa with the beach below. "Low tide," he said, fishing one picture out. "High tide," he added in a singsong. He fished out another. "And the big cheese himself." Joe held up a picture of Kruger. "This guy looks mean."

  Joe's telephoto lens had caught Kruger's square face head-on. A pair of steel gray bushy eyebrows pushed their way up onto the man's forehead over a pair of calculating eyes. Kruger looked like a man who'd just been struck by a wonderfully sinister idea. He was smiling slightly, deep creases showing up in his leathery tanned face. Kruger wore a turtleneck with a sport jacket over it.

  Montague grunted as he looked at the picture. "Hasn't changed much since he was captured back in forty-three. Still looks like a U-boat captain."

  He slid out a photo from under the pile in Joe's hand. "I had Alicia make a copy of this from an old file." It was another picture of Kruger, showing a much younger man. His hair was dark instead of gray, and his face was lean. But his cold blue eyes looked just as evil.

  "We'd just caught his sub sneaking into a quiet cove here in Bermuda," Montague explained. "I never knew what made him decide to settle here after the war."

  "The climate's better than Hamburg's," Frank said.

  "Maybe the legal climate," Montague said. "The local chaps say your man always made frequent trips to Miami and New York. I suspect Kruger's had his fingers in lots of pies."

  "Better get moving," Joe said. "Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky today."

  Montague tossed them a set of car keys. "Take the old bus, but be careful — those Yank tourists are always driving on the wrong side of the road."

  Laughing, the Hardys drove off, heading for Kruger's villa. The ride was beautiful along the North Shore Road to Kruger's place. After they passed the dirt road leading down to the house and the beach, they pulled the old red MG off the road into the cover of some trees. They yanked the convertible top up and locked it in place.

  Hanging a pa
ir of binoculars around his neck, Joe made his way up the rocky hill that overlooked the walled estate. "Guess I'll find my favorite rock," he said, feeling sorry for himself. He was already peering through his glasses when Frank joined him, carrying the camera with the 400mm lens.

  They had a great view of the rambling, whitewashed building and the bay below them. There were no boats at the small dock, but a red-and-white buoy peacefully bobbed up and down about one hundred feet out in the calm blue-green water.

  Joe was slowly scanning the house. and paused at the bay window of Kruger's living room. He refocused the glasses. Then his shoulders stiffened.

  "See something?" Frank asked.

  "Yeah." Joe's voice was grim. "A guy— with binoculars looking at me." He turned to Frank. "We've had it for today, bro'. Should I wave bye-bye?"

  "Let's just get out of here—fast!"

  They tore down the rocky hill to the underbrush, where Montague's little "bus" was hidden. In minutes they were on their way back to Somerset Village.

  "What do we do now?" Joe asked, rolling up his window. A stiff breeze had just come up. "If they're on to us — "

  "There's nothing we can do," Frank finished for him. He pulled onto one of the many bridges that connected Bermuda's six islands. "It's so peaceful here," he said, looking at the water shimmering all around him. There were no guard rails to block his view.

  Near the end of the bridge a powerful black BMW started to pass them on the right. Dark-tinted windows on the sleek performance car made it impossible to see if the driver was male or female—or if there were any passengers.

  The BMW held its position, creeping toward the MG. "Why doesn't this idiot pass?" Joe grumbled.

  "He's not passing!" Frank shouted suddenly. "He's trying to drive us off — "

  Before Frank could hit the brakes, four thousand pounds of BMW slammed into the side of the little MG.

  "Watch out!" Joe shouted. Frank fought to stay on the bridge, but it was a lost battle. The little car spun out of control, jumping over the small curb. It rammed into the rocky slope on the left that the bridge had led up to.

  The brothers were tossed forward as the car plummeted backward down the steep incline. Finally they splash-landed in thirty feet of water! As they drifted down into the crystal clear depths, Frank shook his head. Sunk, he thought. We're really and truly sunk.

  Chapter 2

  "I CAN'T GET the door open!" Joe rammed a forearm against the metal.

  "Don't touch the door or windows!" Frank's voice was firm, but calm. Water was coming under the doors and floorboards.

  Joe shook his head, groaning. "I think I must have bumped my head." He still looked a bit dazed as he took a deep breath, trying to relax himself. He hung on tightly as the little MG sank toward the soft ocean bottom and finally settled, in slow motion, onto the driver's side. Frank was moving quickly now, unbuckling both seat belts and checking out the position of the car.

  "There's too much pressure from the water on your door," Frank said rapidly. "Breathe deeply and stay cool. You have to open your window just a crack."

  It was hard for Joe to remain calm as he turned the car into a perfect watery grave. But he knew he had to do it. Because of the way the car had settled into the mud, Joe's window was facing toward the surface.

  The water streamed in, and in less than a minute the two brothers were submerged up to their shoulders. They both pressed their faces into the narrowing air pocket above them.

  "Okay," Frank said. "Take a deep breath — now open your door and then just swim toward the surface."

  "Can't," Joe said, leaning into the door. "The frame's bent."

  "Then open the window. Easy — don't panic. I'll be right beh — "

  Frank's last words were drowned out by the water which had now filled the entire MG. Joe started cranking the handle. Slowly the window started to open more. One inch, two inches, three — His cranking came to a stop. The window was jammed!

  Frankknew immediately that something had gone wrong. He leaned over his brother and began pushing down on the window. Joe continued to press against the handle. Finally the window gave way.

  Joe squeezed through the tiny opening diagonally. Frank started to follow, hunching his shoulders as they scraped against the twisted frame. But a sharp piece of metal snagged a shoulder seam of his shirt. He was caught — his shoulders jammed against the two sides of the window and his arms pinned at his sides.

  With his knees slightly bent, Frank planted his feet against the door on the other side of the car. Then he straightened his legs and inched his body forward. His shirt sleeve ripped as he continued forcing his way through the opening. He knew he could make it, but would he make it in time? He was almost out of oxygen.

  Joe was already halfway to the surface, his head throbbing and his heart beating rapidly. He glanced behind him, expecting to see Frank swim up to him.

  He instantly reversed direction when he did see Frank. Joe reached the MG in two seconds and forced his hands under Frank's arms. Then, bracing himself against the side of the car, he pushed off with his legs.

  Frank was free! His face was a frightening deep red. As he kicked feebly, he prayed his natural buoyancy would carry him to the surface.

  Joe pushed off against the car and made like a torpedo for the surface. He, too, was out of air.

  "Uaahhhh!" The sound of the two brothers gasping for air seemed unnaturally loud after the deadly underwater silence. They bobbed up and down in the water as they gulped in great lungfuls of air.

  They were only a short distance from the embankment and slowly dog-paddled to it. They pulled themselves up onto the rocky slope and collapsed onto their backs.

  Their chests were still heaving when Joe spoke. "That was a close one." He coughed, then grinned. "Good thing that car didn't have electric windows!"

  Frank finally smiled. "You're all right?"

  "Yeah. You okay?"

  "Uh - huh—but this was my favorite shirt." Frank looked at the shredded left sleeve, then grinned at Joe.

  "Well, now it can be your favorite short-sleeved shirt," Joe offered, and the two brothers laughed.

  "Whooaahh," Joe groaned as he tried to stand up, but only toppled back onto the rocks. "I guess I'm a little dizzy from punching the windshield of the car with my head. I wonder how many of my brilliant little gray cells died from the battering and the lack of oxygen?"

  "I'd worry more about the damage your head did to the window," Frank said.

  "My only worry right now is getting home and getting dry." The bump on the head had done nothing to affect Joe's impatience.

  "What's your hurry?" Frank asked. "It's a long climb up and then a long walk back to the village. I think we should just take it easy for a few minutes."

  Frank glanced up to the road to see if anyone was observing them. Joe lay back with his eyes closed, still taking long, deep breaths and occasionally rubbing the spot on his forehead, which was working its way into a lump. Frank broke the long silence.

  "No one around. Nobody would have even known we went off the bridge."

  "Except whoever was in the BMW," Joe reminded him.

  "Did you get a look at anyone?" Frank asked.

  "Couldn't see a thing through those windows, and he, she, or it was already alongside us by the time I looked. I don't even know if the car followed us from Kruger's. But somebody tried to kill us, and that means we are getting close to something." Joe frowned.

  After the brothers had rested, they climbed up over the rocks to the road.

  "We can either walk back to those stores we passed and phone Montague, or try to hitch," Frank said.

  Joe stuck out his thumb and started walking backward toward Somerset. "I don't think I want to tell Montague on the phone that the car he's loved since 1968 is thirty feet underwater."

  "But I don't know who's going to pick us up looking like this," said Frank. "We look so disheveled."

  " 'Disheveled'?" Joe repeated. "I think you were
underwater too long — you sound like Aunt Gertrude!"

  As Joe stretched out his thumb again, a pickup truck bounced by and came to a wobbly stop.

  "Need a lift?" the long-faced, unshaven man behind the wheel shouted.

  The brothers ran toward the truck and started to jump in the back.

  "You can ride up front," the driver insisted. "A little water isn't going to hurt this baby. What happened to you guys?"

  "You know how it goes," Joe answered, hoping his vague reply would do.

  The lean man nodded his head and grinned. He dropped the brothers at the driveway that led up to Montague's villa.

  As they were closing the door to the house, Montague called down from upstairs. "That you, boys?"

  Joe cleared his throat, which suddenly had become dry. "Uh, yes, we're back."

  "I didn't hear the car pull up. I'll be right down."

  Frank and Joe looked at each other in awkward silence. They had no idea how to tell Montague what happened to his "bus." But their host made it easy for them—the moment he walked downstairs he knew something was wrong. He cut off Frank's explanation about the MG. "Never mind the car — are you boys okay?"

  "We're fine," the boys assured him, relieved that Montague was more concerned about them than his car. They told him about the attempted killing.

  "You'll have to report this to the Hamilton police," Montague told them. "And you'll need some way to get around. There are no rental cars on the island, but you can rent mopeds. There's a place in Hamilton. Let's see ..." He looked at his watch. "Alicia said she'd be back at four — that'll give you time for a wash-up and rest.

  "Alicia and I have a five o'clock engagement we can't break, but we can drop you at the ferry to Hamilton."

  Later they heard a car pull into the driveway, and in a minute Montague's eighteen-year-old daughter burst in. Her sparkling dark brown eyes widened in concern as she listened to a recap of the boys' story. It left her pale under her smooth tan. Her short black hair danced as she turned from Frank to Joe, her eyes drawn to the bump on Joe's head. "You're hurt!"

  "Not enough to slow me down," Joe told her. "We'd better hurry, so we can make the bike rental place before closing."