Fool's Gold by Eric Walters Read Free Book Online

department.”
    â€œMaybe they don’t talk very often, but I bet they do talk, or they talk to people who talk to each other.
    It’ll get back to him eventually,” Jack said.
    â€œEven if it does, he only has our first names. There have to be lots of boys named Jack and George,” I reasoned.
    â€œWho lived in our old house, the one that we were driven to?”
    All at once the food that had tasted so good going down started to form a lump in my stomach.
    â€œBut I bet you it won’t happen in the next few days,” Jack said. “It might not even happen in the next few months. And even if they talk later and they make the connection, what’s Chief Smith gonna do? He doesn’t even know where we live now.”
    He was right, and that was reassuring.
    â€œIt’s funny, though,” Jack said. “I was thinking about the people in Whitby who knew about us, and besides the people at Camp X there is only one other person—Chief Smith.”
    â€œI hadn’t thought about that, but he did know a lot, didn’t he?”
    â€œWell, Bill had to tell Chief Smith about the stuff that happened so he’d go along with the cover story to explain how we ended up in the hospital, and how Mr. Krum was supposedly killed in a car crash,” Jack said.
    â€œBut you don’t think he’s the one who told those criminals about us, do you?” I asked.
    â€œWho knows?”
    â€œWouldn’t it be funny if the guy who betrayed us was the guy whose name got us out of that tight spot last night?” I said.
    â€œâ€˜Funny’ isn’t the word that comes to my mind,” Jack said. “I was thinking about betrayal. Us betraying Camp X.” Jack didn’t continue his thought right away. He looked as though all he was thinking about was his breakfast. “We signed the Official Secrets Act, we took an oath, and now look at us,” he finally said.
    â€œWe didn’t really tell those guys anything,” I argued.
    â€œMaybe we didn’t, but think about what we’re doing now. We’re going to bring some criminals into the camp so that they can steal gold. It doesn’t matter what we say or don’t say, it’s what we’re planning on doing .”
    â€œWhat choice do we have?” I asked.
    â€œNone. You just gotta know that if they catch us we’re in big trouble. We might go to jail. We might get shot. That’s what they do to traitors.”
    â€œBut we’re not traitors!” I protested. “Well … not really. We’re just going to help them take a little gold so that we can get our mother back.”
    â€œStill, we’d better not get caught … not just because of what would happen to us, but what would happen to Mom.”
    â€œI don’t care what happens to us,” I said.
    â€œYou’d better. If we get caught, who do you think is going to save her?”
    A chill went up my spine. He was right. We couldn’t get caught. We couldn’t !
    â€œThis isn’t a game, George. This isn’t some kind of fun camping trip. Now, how about you pack up the tent and I’ll put out the fire and clean up out here. Then we’d better get going.”
    It didn’t take long to bundle up the camping gear. I stashed it with our bikes, which were hidden beneath some branches we’d cut down the night before. Jack made sure the fire was out, and then he tried to make it look like there’d never been a fire there to begin with. Together, we did our best to remove every trace of the whole campsite.
    Finally we were ready to find our way back to Camp X. Jack led because he knew what he was doing and where he was going. I didn’t need to know anything. I just had to follow. Of course that didn’t mean I wasn’t watching and listening and thinking.
    We made our way out of the woods and crossed through an abandoned field. I could now see the railroad