Eisenhower's mother had died really young and it had been just the two guys living together. A lot of sports. Not a lot of anything else. And that had been fine. Just fine."Fall in, team!" cried Eisenhower. "New orders!"
"We can't seem to shake those Kabras," said Mary-Todd, thumbing her hand behind her.
A black Land Rover had pulled into an alley, where it sat idling, spewing exhaust."We'll deal with them soon enough," said Eisenhower. He looked at his son with a mix of admiration and concern, which was the closest thing to praise he knew how to give.
"Tell us where we're going, Ham. And make it snappy!"* * *"
I have a hunch about something else," said Amy. "Do you want to hear it?"They were sitting in the St. Petersburg airport, awaiting instructions, and Dan was itching to hit the magazine stand for some junk food."Can it wait until I refill the backpack with provisions?"Amy rolled her eyes.
As they walked, Amy laid out her idea. "Everything we've found has been carved or sculpted, right?
First it was the little room in the paperweight, then the Rasputin figurine, then the coat of arms carved into wood and painted, and finally the stone with the broken bones. They're all intricately made pieces of art."They entered the store and Dan started perusing the shelves."And we keep getting this recurring color-- orange, like honey," said Amy. "The paperweight was a murky orange. Rasputin's model, it's the same. The snake was orange, the stone is orange.
At first I thought it was just a Russian thing, but I'm starting to think it means something else.""Uh-huh," said Dan, barely paying attention as he grabbed a handful of candy bars. "So what's it mean?"
His arms were overflowing with bags of chips, gum, and candy, which he dumped onto the counter.Amy leaned in to whisper, "I think when NRR talks about 'the room,' he's talking about the Amber Room.""What's that?" asked Dan."Nine hundred rubles," said the lady at the cash register.
They paid, dropped most of the snacks in the backpack, and continued walking. Amy started into a chocolate square while Dan devoured a Kit Kat bar. "It's a room made out of amber."Dan looked blank, so Amy continued.
"You know, that stuff they got the dinosaur DNA from in Jurassic Park. This room was absolutely amazing.
Wall after wall of intricately carved images. It's a priceless treasure. And guess where it was?
At Catherine Palace in the royal village."Half the Whoppers crammed into Dan's mouth sprayed out. "We were just there! Why didn't you tell me? We could have stopped in and found something important."
"It would have been a waste of time. The Amber Room was stolen by the Nazis in World War Two. And then it disappeared. No one knows where it ended up, but some think it secretly made its way back into Russia after the war.""How do you lose a room?"
"It's over a hundred and fifty feet of walls, to be precise. And they used six tons of amber," said Amy, switching over to the bossy teacher voice that grated on Dan's ears.'Tm guessing the Amber Room, if that really is the room we're after, is either in Moscow or Yakville," said Dan."Yekaterinburg," corrected Amy, popping another square of chocolate into her mouth."Whatever.
Let's just hope it's not in Siberia with the Holts."* * *
Bzzzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzz.Amy and Dan had both fallen asleep in the airport while Nellie's phone vibrated. On the fourth vibration, Dan woke up. The phone sat between them on the backpack.
"Hello? That you, Hamilton?""Wooooooohoooooooo!" sounded a voice from the other end. Dan held the phone away from his ear and Amy stirred awake, rubbing her eyes."We fell asleep," she said."No, duh," said Dan. "I think I've got Hammerhead on the line.
He's in high spirits.""Hamilton here! My dad just took the wheel. We're taking turns with this thing. It's amazing!""What are you talking about?" said Dan.113"Dude, we're driving a KAMAZ truck down the Road of Bones! This thing is like a tank!""NO WAY!" howled Dan.
"A KAMAZ truck? Are you kidding? That's a classic!""What's a KAMAZ truck?" asked Amy, listening in."It's the Godzilla of all Hummers! The Russian Monster Truck! Plus, it's a Transformer ... sort of ... I mean, they use the same giant mother of a chassis and build a monster anything on top --dump trucks, army trucks, all-terrain buses -- the KAMAZ is an all-weather, twelve-gear hunk of metal! How could you not know about this?!"
"Okaaaaaaaaay," said Amy."That should be me driving!" Dan yelled into the phone."Eat your heart out," said Hamilton. Amy grabbed the phone. "What's going on? Where are you?""We're heading back.
Already made it to mile fifty-two WAY ahead of the Kabras. They bottomed out ten miles back. Reagan wanted to help 'em out when we passed by, but Dad said, 'Let 'em call a tow truck.' Dude! It's a KAMAZ!"Dan plugged his ears.
He couldn't stand the sound of Hamilton Holt having so much fun while he sat bored in an airport. Amy grabbed the phone."What did you find? Hamilton? Are you there?"
The line was
loaded with static, cutting in and out as the truck passed over the Road of Bones."Hamilton, listen to me. I can barely hear you. What did you find? We're running out of time here!""Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! It wasn't hard to see once we got there, I'll tell you that. The thing was just sitting there on the side of the road."Dan could tell Amy was about to blow a gasket while Hamilton stalled.
"WHAT was sitting on the side of the road?""Uh-oh," said Hamilton. "There's the Kabras. They are NOT happy. What the -- ? No way!"A loud crunching noise filled the cell phone speaker.
Even Dan could hear it."My dad just drove over the Land Rover! This is incredible! You GOTTA try this! What's ... oh, no ... hey!""WHAT... DID ... YOU ... FIND?" Amy yelled. She looked at Dan. "What's oh, no? Why the oh, no?"The line crackled and popped, then Mary-Todd Holt got on the line."Hello, Amy, how are you? Hamilton and his father are ... well they're having a little skirmish with a couple of very big -- oh, my, that had to hurt --PUNCH HIM BACK, EISENHOWER! ... Sorry, dear. I can tell you what we found.
There was a stake in the ground on the side of the road at mile marker fifty-two. It was in there really deep, but my strongman Mr. Holt got it out.
Yanked it until his back seized up -- that's why Hamilton got to drive the truck.
They've been taking turns. Anyway, it was attached to the strangest thing. The bottom wasn't what you'd think, like a big block of concrete, it was a -- well ... it was a head. Not a real one, mind you -- wouldn't that be unpleasant?-- I mean it was a sculpted head -- NICE SHOT, HAMILTON! SHOW 'EM WHAT YOU GOT! - Pardon me, but my boy just clobbered one of these bodyguards right over the head with... um ... the head. He's doing a fine job out there. Where was I? Oh, yes, the head. It appears I'm going to have to get back to you on that. GET 'EM, HOLTS! HIT 'EM WHERE IT HURTS!"
The line went dead."You have got to be kidding me," said Amy. Four minutes passed before the phone buzzed back to life.
"We got 'em on the run!"It was Dan who picked up, and this time Hamilton was calling."My dad is hobbled," said Hamilton. "But he's as tough as they come. Mom and the twins are out there bringing him in.
Listen, I'm about to go a little rogue here. My dad's not too big on me telling you what we found. Dude, can I trust you? I mean really trust you? If you double-cross me, my dad will go totally ballistic.""You can trust me -- I promise."And the funny thing was, Dan was telling the truth.
Something in his gut told him he wouldn't be able to hold out after Hamilton had helped them so much."Here's the deal," Hamilton started. "I'm no history nerd, but I know this head.
Even my dad knew this head, after being here for awhile. It's that Lenin guy, the one who started the Russian Revolution.""The guy with the pointy goatee?"Hamilton started in about the driving and the cool head again, but he didn't have long before Amy ripped the phone out of Dan's hand."Fork over the information, Hamilton! We're running out of time!"