Speaking of Nick, he barely bothered to mumble a hello before returning his attention to his iPod. He looked a lot like his father, except that he was a little shorter and had reddish hair.
Then there was Erica, McKenzie’s eighteen-year-old stepdaughter. “Hi, there,” she greeted me and Joe with an easy smile. “So you’re the good guys riding to the rescue, huh?”
“Something like that,” said Joe. It was pretty obvious he was checking her out. Not that I could blame him. Erica was really cute—sort of spunky and tomboyish, with close-cropped dark hair and intelligent eyes.
“Whatever.” Nick looked up from his iPod with a frown. “Can I go now?”
McKenzie had returned his attention to his PDA. But now he focused on the rest of us again. “Stay put, sport,” he ordered Nick shortly. Then he looked at me. “So what are your plans to put a stop to this mischief?”
No wonder this guy was such a success in business. He was pretty intimidating. Still, I stared right back at him.
“That depends on what you have to tell us,” I said. “We know you’ve received threats by e-mail and phone, and that there was some sort of vandalism. . . .”
McKenzie slid his PDA into his shirt pocket. “Right. Bunch of graffiti just outside the main gate.” He scowled. “Probably just the usual rabble-rousers behind that, though.”
“Environmental protesters,” Erica put in helpfully. “They’re been picketing out there since way before this place was ready to open.”
Interesting. I traded a glance with Joe.
“Can we see it?” Joe asked. “The graffiti, I mean.”
“Too late,” McKenzie replied. “Had it cleaned up immediately. Preview Daze starts first thing in the a.m., you know.”
“Well, what did it say?” I asked.
“It was horrible,” Delfina piped up, clutching baby Tyrone Jr. closer to her chest. “It said to close down, or else! Isn’t that rude?”
I glanced at McKenzie. He’d just reached into his pocket and pulled out his PDA again. Based on his attitude so far, he didn’t seem to be taking this too seriously.
“Listen,” I said. “Joe and I just had a close call ourselves on the way over here.”
“What do you mean?” Delfina’s round blue eyes widened even more with concern.
Joe shrugged. “Not sure if it’s connected or not,” he said, “but the UTV we borrowed from your HQ lost its brakes and steering halfway here.”
“Really?” McKenzie looked up. “I paid a bundle for those things—they’re brand-new. Are you sure?”
“Definitely.” I grimaced. “If you don’t believe us, check out the half-pipe with the dragon mural behind it. The UTV is there—what’s left of it, anyway. At the moment it’s pretty much a shiny purple mess.”
“Purple?” Nick squawked, suddenly looking more interested in our presence than he had all along. “Wait, you mean you wrecked the purple UTV? But that one’s mine!”
“Was,” Joe corrected. I could tell he was trying to hold back a laugh. “It was yours. Now it’s the scrapyard’s. Sorry, dude.”
McKenzie’s fingers were flying over the tiny keyboard on his PDA. “I’ll text someone to get over there and clean it up,” he said. “But don’t read too much into one little mishap. We were down to the wire on construction thanks to the weather—in fact, three or four of the attractions still aren’t finished. It probably wasn’t the steering at all—you probably just hit a stray nail or something. I’ll speak to the janitorial staff personally and make sure they go over things with a fine-tooth comb before the celebrities start arriving tomorrow.”
“Yeah, right,” Joe muttered under his breath so that only I could hear. “Like I don’t know the diff between a flat tire and a complete lack of brakes and steering!”
He had a point. “Listen,” I spoke up. “I really don’t think it was just a nail. We really have to consider whether—”
Before I could get out the rest of my sentence, McKenzie’s PDA buzzed. He stopped texting long enough to peer at the screen. Then he grumbled under his breath.
“Excuse me,” he said to me and Joe distractedly. “I’d better take this—it’s my insurance agent. If you have any other questions, my family will be happy to help you.” With that, he pressed the PDA to his ear and hurried off.
I sighed. So far Joe and I didn’t know much more than we had when we’d arrived. Well, except that the potential victim of all this was taking it about as seriously as an annoying hangnail.
Glancing around, I saw that Nick was glaring at Joe, clearly mourning the loss of his UTV. Delfina was cooing at her baby. The only one who seemed at all tuned in to things was Erica.
“Sorry about my father,” she said to me with a wry smile. “He’s a little obsessed with this grand opening. Not much gets through to him these days.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“Excuse me, boys,” Delfina spoke up. “The little prince is late for his nap. I’d better head home before he gets cranky. Ta-ta!”
She toddled off on her four-inch heels, crooning to the baby as she went. “Too bad, ATAC dudes,” Nick said sarcastically as soon as his stepmother was out of earshot. “Looks like you’ve been deprived of Delfina’s wit and intellect. Now you’ll never solve the case!”
“Stop it.” Erica shot him a frown. “Why do you have to act like such a jerk all the time?”
“Who’s acting?” Nick smirked. Then he returned to glaring at Joe. “So why’d you have to wreck my UTV, anyway?”
“Look, I’m sorry it got trashed,” Joe said. “But it wasn’t some conspiracy or anything, okay? It just happened to be the first one in line. Anyway, in case you missed it, I didn’t exactly wreck it. The brakes and steering cut out. You’re lucky it wasn’t you driving at the time.”
“You’re sure everything cut out?” asked Erica.
“Positive,” Joe replied. “Not that your father seemed to believe it.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s Dad for you. Just for future reference, you might want to save your breath instead of trying to argue with him. He’s always right—even when he’s wrong. If you catch my drift.”
Meanwhile Erica was biting her lip. “Wow,” she said softly. “The brakes and the steering at the same time . . . that can’t have been coincidence.”
“My sister, the gearhead, everyone,” said Nick sarcastically.
“Stepsister,” Erica corrected. “I don’t want anyone thinking I share the same DNA as you.”
I barely heard their bickering. Erica was right. There was little chance the UTV’s malfunctioning had been an accident. That left one question—had someone wanted to put Joe and me out of commission before we could start our investigation?
“Listen,” I said. “What do you two know about this Jack Smith guy we met back at the office?”
SUSPECT PROFILE
Name: Jack Smith
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
Physical description: Age 53, 6’1”, 195 lbs., graying brown hair, brown eyes.
Occupation/background: Very successful in real estate before joining forces with Tyrone McKenzie to help finance the construction and opening of Galaxy X theme park.
Suspicious behavior: Suggested use of UTV that had been tampered with.
Suspected of: Trying to sabotage Galaxy X.
Possible motives: Financial gain or personal reasons—doesn’t seem to like McKenzie much.
Nick just shrugged. “What’s to know?” he said. “Just another stiff in a suit, like all of Dad’s boring business peeps.”
“I don’t know much about him either,” Erica said. “Why?”
Joe looked at me, clearly guessing what I was thinking. “Oh, no reason,” he said. “Except that he was the one who suggested we take a UTV to get over here.”
“Oh!” Erica’s eyes widened. “Well, like I said, I don’t know much about Mr. Smith. He’s only been Dad’s business partner for maybe six months.” Glancing around, she lowered h
er voice. “Although actually, now that you mention it, one of Dad’s secretaries claims he used to be a hit man for the mob.” She shrugged, her voice returning to its usual volume. “Still, I doubt that’s true.”
I doubted it too. But you never know. I made a mental note to e-mail the research team back at ATAC as soon as I could. They could dig up the dirt on Jack Smith if anyone could.
I was jolted out of my thoughts by a sudden, loud, high-pitched scream. It came from somewhere nearby, and was followed instantly by the terrified squall of a baby!
No Guts, No Glory
“That sounded like Delfina!” Erica exclaimed. “Come on!” I raced toward the source of the scream. Frank was right at my heels, with Erica and Nick behind him.
When I skidded around the corner of a snack bar, I saw Delfina. She was sprawled on her back in the middle of the path, with baby Tyrone Jr. clutched protectively to her body.
“Stop!” she sobbed loudly when she spotted us. “Don’t come any closer—black ice!”
She was right. I felt my foot start to slide. Pulling back just in time, I held out my arms to stop the others.
“Don’t even try,” I said. “That’s some serious ice.”
“Where can we get some rope?” Frank asked Nick and Erica.
“I’m on it.” Erica took off for the nearest set of attractions. We were within view of the snowy northern slopes of Mount McKenzie by now—though still nowhere near close enough to explain the mysterious ice spill.
“I’d better call Dad,” said Nick, pulling out a cell phone.
Soon Erica was back with a sturdy rock-climbing rope. We tossed it to Delfina and hauled her back to nonslippery ground.
“Thank you so much,” Delfina gasped out as she climbed to her feet, still hugging her baby compulsively. “I was sure poor little Tyrone Jr. was going to be hurt!”
Despite her worry, Tyrone Jr. had calmed down and seemed fairly unimpressed with the whole situation. He just sucked on one fat little fist and stared at us.
“What about you? Are you okay?” I asked as Delfina tottered slightly in place.
“Oh, I’m fine.” She gave a shaky laugh, then let go of the baby with one hand just long enough to reach down and pull off her stilettos. “Broke a heel, that’s all.”
“What’s going on here?” McKenzie shouted, racing toward us.
“Stop right there, sir!” Frank hurried forward to meet him. He grabbed the man by the arm just in time to steer him around the edge of the black ice.
“What are you doing?” McKenzie snapped at him, shaking off his hand.
“Oh, it was terrible, sweetie!” Delfina cried, rushing over to him. Lucky for Frank. It looked like McKenzie was ready to strangle him with his bare hands. “I was just walking along with Tyrone Jr., and then I felt my feet go out from under me. . . .”
Soon McKenzie was up to speed. “This is an outrage!” he ranted, stomping around in a circle, glaring at the ice. Frankly, I’m surprised it didn’t burn away instantly under the force of his blazing eyes. “I won’t have my family endangered. Enough is enough!”
He punched in a number on his PDA. “Stella?” he barked at whoever answered. “Get me the police on the phone. No, the FBI. Both!”
I winced, wondering if he’d call in the CIA and the National Guard next. He seemed to be taking things a lot more seriously now that his wife and baby were involved. It was such a complete 180 from his previous attitude that I wasn’t sure what to say for a second.
“Just calm down, sir.” Frank stepped forward. His shoulders were squared, and he was wearing his best straight-A-Eagle-Scout expression. “Please don’t do anything rash.”
“What?” McKenzie thundered.
“Joe and I are already here ready to handle this,” Frank told McKenzie, his voice calm but firm. “Flying off the handle and calling in everybody and anybody won’t help. If anything, it will tip off whoever’s doing this and make them more careful. If you just give us a chance to look into things, we should have a much better shot of finding the culprit.”
McKenzie stared at Frank for a long moment. Nobody said a word. A glance around at the man’s family members showed that they were all staring at Frank in shock. I guessed they weren’t used to seeing someone stand up to McKenzie. And no wonder. He definitely seemed like a guy who was used to getting his way.
Then McKenzie . . . laughed? “Well said, son,” he said, clapping Frank on the back. Then he tucked his PDA back in his pocket. “Not just everyone has the guts to stand up and speak his mind like that. Come to think of it, you remind me of myself at your age.” He winked. “And you’re absolutely right. I brought you boys in to do the job, and now it’s time for me to get out of your way and let you get to work.”
I let out a sigh of relief. For a second there I’d been sure McKenzie was going to kick us out before we got a chance to try our hands at the case—let alone trying out any of the attractions! But Frank’s mad people skillz had come through for us once again.
Everyone else seemed relieved that the tense moment was over. Well, almost everyone. For some reason, Nick was glaring daggers at Frank. Interesting. Then again, maybe he was still just nursing a grudge about the UTV.
McKenzie turned his attention to Delfina and the baby. I sidled over to Frank.
“So where do we start?” I murmured to him. “Looks like our evidence is going fast.”
I nodded toward the ice. It was melting quickly in the hot summer sun.
Frank bit his lip and squinted up at the ski slopes. “It’s pretty obvious where the ice came from,” he said. “The question is how someone got it over here.”
“Whoever did it had to have access to ice-making equipment—probably from the speed-skating track over there, or maybe the ice climbing wall or the ski slopes,” I agreed, nodding toward several nearby attractions. “How hard would it be for someone to do something like this without anyone noticing?”
Frank shrugged. “Tough to say. On the one hand, there’s a ton of security moving in now that all those celebs are arriving tomorrow. On the other hand, like McKenzie pointed out earlier, they’re still scrambling to finish this place. Who knows how many workers have been going in and out?”
“Good point. Anyway, I guess it’s not that important to know exactly how it was done. I’m more interested in why. And who had access.”
“Let’s see if we can talk to McKenzie about those protesters Erica mentioned,” Frank suggested. “He obviously thinks they might have something to do with all this. Seems as good a place to start as any.”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
Unfortunately, that plan was easier said than done. McKenzie was already sending Nick off to help Delfina and the baby over to the park’s first-aid center to get checked over. As soon as they were out of sight, Frank cleared his throat and stepped toward him.
“Excuse me, sir,” he said. “We just need to ask you a few—”
He was interrupted by the shrill ringing of McKenzie’s phone. “Hold that thought,” the man told Frank before pressing the PDA to his ear. “Smith? What is it this time?”
I couldn’t help noticing he sounded kind of cranky. Sort of like Smith had sounded when he was talking about McKenzie. For business partners, the two men didn’t seem to like each other much.
A few seconds later McKenzie hung up with a growl. “I’ve got to go,” he said shortly. “Keep me posted on what you find out.”
“But sir—,” Frank began.
This time it was no use. McKenzie strode off without a backward glance.
“Jeez,” I said, watching as the man disappeared from sight behind an interactive information kiosk. “It’s not going to be easy to complete this mission if the primary victim doesn’t even have time to talk to us!”
Erica was the only member of the McKenzie family left. She shrugged sympathetically. “Don’t take it personally. He acts like that with everyone. Even us.” She grimaced. “Make that especially us.”
&
nbsp; “Bummer.” I glanced at her. “Not exactly Daddy Dearest, huh?”
She shrugged again. “Not exactly. Do you guys really think you can help us? I mean, what’s up with this whole ATAC thing, anyway? I never even heard of it until my father told us you two were coming.”
“That’s the point,” I said with a grin. “It’s top secret.”
“Cool.” Erica looked impressed. “So what other kinds of cases have you solved?”
“Listen, Erica,” Frank put in before I could answer. “We were hoping to find out more about the protesters you mentioned. Can you tell us more about them?”
“I can do better than that,” Erica replied. “They’re out there right now. And I know a great way for you to check them out without letting them know you’re doing it.”
“How?” I asked.
She grinned. “It’s top secret,” she quipped. “Just come with me.”
Okay, I was liking this girl. “Lead the way,” I said.
Frank shot one last worried look at the melting ice. I guessed he was wondering if we should stick around and investigate the latest mischief a little more thoroughly. But what was to investigate? Ice was ice.
We followed Erica down the main path. Soon she cut off to one side, following one of the smaller paths. We passed a bunch of attractions we hadn’t seen yet, including some kind of virtual reality thing and a drag-racing track.
Next came the huge space shuttle I’d seen from the air. It looked even cooler close up. According to the signs, it contained a zero-gravity room and a g-force simulator.
“Wow,” I said, itching to get in there. “This place is amazing!”
Erica looked at me. “Yeah. My father knows how to get things done. And he was determined to make his dreams of this place come true, no matter what.” Pointing ahead to the entrance to another attraction, she added, “He says he’s built the longest and most exciting street luge course in the world.”
Frank let out a low whistle. “Nice!” he commented.
Galaxy X Page 3