Shadows at Predator Reef by Franklin W. Dixon Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t run away.
    â€œGet help for my brother!” I called to Big Chuck as I took off after the suspect, kicking off my fins and dropping my air tank as I ran. Luckily, we had been wearing dive boots under our fins to protect our feet from the sharp coral. I never would have been able to give chase in bare feet.
    The figure ran down an escalator in the wrong direction, leaping the final few feet to the first floor and sprinting for the main exit. He or she was wearing a Bayport Aquarium hoodie, but I couldn’t see their face. My only hope was to catch them. The figure fled through the aquarium exit and I followed in close pursuit, chasing him or her along the pier toward the harbor.
    The suspect ran toward the boat rental place next to the water taxi station and leaped from the dock. For a second I thought they were going to dive into the bay, but they landed on the bow of one of the little motorboats tourists rent to tootle around the harbor. The kid running the rental booth yelled for them to stop, but the suspect already had the motor running and a second later was pulling away fromthe dock. Luckily, the little boats weren’t built for speed. There was a water taxi nearby, and I managed to hop aboard just before it shoved off.
    â€œFollow that boat!” I said to the elderly driver. He gave me a funny look, but he did as I asked. I don’t think he’d gotten that request before.
    The perp’s escape boat may not have been very fast, but neither was my water taxi. You know those high-speed car chases they show on the news? Well, this was the low-speed boat version.
    â€œCan’t you step on it?!” I asked the driver.
    â€œWhat do you think this is, a James Bond movie?” The driver laughed. “We’re in a water taxi pontoon, not a speedboat.”
    The driver was right, but the perp was getting away and there was no way we were going to catch up to them in the water taxi. The driver’s James Bond comment did give me an idea, though. When in doubt, ask yourself, What would 007 do?
    I saw my chance when the little motorboat veered back toward us to avoid hitting a terrified paddleboater. It was just close enough for me to try something drastic. I gave a running start and leaped from the water taxi with everything I had.
    And landed in the water with an unheroic splash a few feet short of the motorboat. The wake from the little boat smacked me in the face as the perp got away.
    The water taxi driver was in stitches when he circled back to pick me up.
    â€œYour fare is on me, son,” he said when he finally managed to stop laughing. “That’s the most entertainment I’ve had on the job in a long time.”
    I watched the hooded figure recede into the bay until the little boat disappeared around the bend of the harbor past the old industrial docks. Was it the same person who had stolen Captain Hook? Whoever they were, if they had intentionally released Bruce into Predator Reef while Joe and I were diving, then they were guilty of attempted murder. At least I hoped it was only attempted. I still didn’t know if Joe had managed to somehow make it out of the tank alive.
    He must have, right? That’s what I kept telling myself. If the big sand tiger shark had gotten him, there would have been blood in the water. I shuddered. He was probably hiding somewhere in the coral until it was safe to swim to the surface. He would have had plenty of air in his tank. Or maybe he made it to the surface in a different part of the reef where I couldn’t see him. Unless he’d gotten stuck somewhere in the coral out of Bruce’s reach . . .
    Stop it, Frank! Joe is going to be okay. He has to be.

UNDER THE SEA
9
JOE
    T HOSE FEW SECONDS AFTER I pulled the latch on the second trapdoor were terrifying. I wasn’t airborne for long, but it felt like I was falling through the bottom of the world. I landed with a soggy thump a moment later. All I could