Chapters (62)
- Cover
- A PENNY
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- A Sample Chapter of Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
- About the Author
- Other Books by Mindy Starns Clark
- About the Publisher
Soon there were cars parked all around the edges of the airfield, lights shining out at the thick gray pines that marked the edge of the woods. I remained on the tarmac, standing at the center of things, trying to think, trying to decide where a scared 11-year-old spy would go to hide.
Angelina handed me back the phone, and I used it to call the Smythes’ house. Marion answered on the first ring.
“Were you watching the TV just now?” I asked.
“My goodness, yes!”
“I think Carlos is here somewhere, Marion,” I said. “I think he’s scared, and he’s hiding. Call Derek and Sidra and tell them to come here. Maybe if he hears them calling for him, he’ll come out.”
She agreed to call them right away and we disconnected. Glancing to the side, I realized that Angelina was watching me anxiously.
“I cannot believe Alan tricked me into stealing a priceless treasure,” she said, obviously thinking again about the Jefferson shirt. “Mrs. Smythe will never, ever forgive me for that.”
“At the time, you thought it was nearly worthless,” I replied. “A memento for the man you loved.”
“I was a fool.”
I put my hands on Angelina’s shoulders and looked her right in the eye.
“Better a fool who goes to her boss and owns up to her crime and apologizes for it,” I said softly, “than a proud but unemployed maid who’s been cut off from friends and family over a stupid incident with a truffatore.”
She nodded and pulled away, wiping tears from her face.
“Maybe you are right,” she said.
“Now go help those people find our boy.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Angelina ran to join the others as I folded my phone and tucked it into my pocket. I was just trying to decide where to begin my own search when the old tower behind the main building caught my eye, and I stared at it long and hard.
Forty-Nine
Forty-Nine
The tower was behind the main building, a dilapidated old structure that looked as though it had once been a control tower or a lookout post. Now it appeared to be abandoned. I grabbed a flashlight from the pile and walked closer to it, peering up at it in the near-darkness.
There was a chance that Carlos could’ve sprinted up these stairs and out of sight after sabotaging the plane. It would’ve been the perfect hideout, a place where he could observe the action at the airport without being seen. Kind of like the tree house he had used at home.
I was no great lover of heights, but at least these were stairs and not a ladder. I climbed up one flight and turned, climbed up the next flight and turned, continuing on up, counting as I went, until I was five stories up in the air. As I reached the top, I tried very hard not to look down.