One False Note - 39 Clues 02 by Gordon Korman Read Free Book Online Page A

you want to get behind the wheel?" Nellie demanded, insulted. And Dan said yes so readily that she was sorry she'd asked.
    Saladin spent the entire three-hour drive carsick. But luckily, since the cat wasn't eating anything, he also had nothing to throw up.
    The trip would have been roomier and much more pleasant on the train. But their encounter with the Holts on the ride from Paris had soured them on travel by rail. On a public train, they were too easy to spot. They could be more anonymous in a car. With the latest lead in their hands and theirs only, surely all the other teams would be gunning for them.
    Despite the uneven ride, the scenery was spectacular. The autobahn wound through the Austrian Alps like a ribbon twisting among the feet of giants. Soon their necks ached from craning out the windows, gazing up at dizzying snowcapped peaks.
    "Now this is more like it," Nellie approved. "I came on this trip to see the world, not the inside of a Vienna police station."
    Even Dan was impressed by the soaring mountains. "I'll bet if you roll a snowball off the top, by the time it gets to the bottom, it could knock out a whole town!" Shortly after two, they reached Salzburg -- a small city of gleaming spires, baroque architecture, and picturesque gardens nestled in green hills. "It's beautiful!" breathed Nellie.
    "It's bigger than I expected," Amy put in ruefully. "We have no idea what we're looking for, or even where to start."
    Nellie shrugged. "Seems pretty straightforward. The song is 'The Place Where I Was
    Born.' We'll get a guidebook and find the actual house where Mozart grew up." The moaning from Dan was even louder and more pitiful than Saladin's constant complaining. "Oh, no you don't. You're not dragging me to another Mozart house. Not when I haven't even recovered from the last one!"
    "Grow up," Amy said sharply. "We're not tourists. We go where the clues are."
    "How come the clues are never in the local laser tag place?" Dan whined. He sat up suddenly.
    "Look out!"
    A pedestrian rushed into the road right in front of the Fiat. Nellie stomped on the brake with all her might.
    The wheels locked, and the car skidded to a halt mere inches from mowing down the elderly jaywalker.
    Nellie was almost berserk. "Moron!" She brought her arm forward to deliver a blast on the horn.
    Amy grabbed her wrist. "Don't!" she hissed, trying to duck behind the dash. "Look who
    that is!"
    CHAPTER 8
    Three pairs of eyes focused on the tall, straight-backed Asian man hurrying across the
    street, tapping along with his diamond-tipped walking stick.
    Alistair Oh, their Korean cousin, yet another competitor in the contest.
    "So much for us being ahead of the other teams," Dan observed.
    "He's probably not here for the clear mountain air," Nellie agreed.
    They watched as Uncle Alistair loped across the street and boarded a bus parked at the
    opposite curb.
    "Follow him," Amy said suddenly. "Let's see where he's going."
    Nellie made a highly illegal right turn from the left lane and fell into line behind the bus.
    She waved gaily at the Salzburg drivers who were cursing and honking.
    "You know," mused Dan, "if we want to find out where he's going, why can't we just
    ask the guy? Don't we still have an alliance with him from Paris?"
    "Remember what Mr. McIntyre said," Amy countered. "Trust no one." "Maybe so. But Uncle Alistair sure saved our butts in the Catacombs." Amy was unimpressed. "Only because he had to help us to stop the Kabras. If there's one thing we ought to know by now, it's that Cahills have been fighting each other for centuries. He'd do anything to distract us from the thirty-nine clues."
    They followed the bus as it rattled over the Staatsbrucke -- the bridge at the center of
    town. Passengers got on, but no one got off. The streets were crowded with cars and
    taxis, and throngs of sightseers were everywhere. A high school group stepped out in
    front of the Fiat, and the bus roared around a corner and out of view.
    "Don't lose