The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Nowhere to Run by Jude Watson Read Free Book Online

the back door. They barely heard it over the rain. Cautiously, Nellie opened it.
    A boy of about nineteen stumbled in, his ankle-length raincoat dripping rivers onto the kitchen floor. His hair was pulled back in a stringy ponytail, and his black-framed glasses were steamed. He looked like a cross between a drowned badger and the Loch Ness monster. He held out his arms like Frankenstein, blinded by his foggy glasses.
    “Uh, Nellie?”
    Nellie reached over and took off his glasses. She polished them on her shirt. “You must be Pony.”
    “How’d you know?”
    “I’m a genius,” she said, handing them back to him. “Come on, sit. I’ll get you a towel. This is Amy and Dan. Guys, this is Pony — our tech adviser.”
    “I prefer digital cowboy,” Pony said.
    “You two have never met?” Amy asked.
    “Just online,” Pony said, shrugging. “I’m not an analog person.”
    “Have a seat, pardner,” Nellie told him, tossing him several dish towels. As he wiped himself down, she turned back to Amy and Dan. “He set up our system and has been maintaining it ever since. And apparently, we have a problem.”
    “Mondo problemo,” Pony said. His long, mournful face gave him the look of a hound dog, and when he licked his lips while looking at the cinnamon rolls, the resemblance was complete.
    Amy pushed the plate toward him. “Help yourself.”
    He grabbed a roll and finished it in two bites. “Okay. Your lossage is off the charts, but there is hope. I can build the system back — it’s just going to take time. Therefore I have brought to you” — he opened his raincoat, revealing a large inner pocket — “this baby,” he said, sliding out a small netbook. “It’s whistle-clean. And” — he reached inside the deep inner pocket again — “I programmed new smartphones. These are already encrypted, so you can send messages, but even I can’t guarantee complete safety, so don’t pass anything really crucial until I get a handle on who’s targeting you.” He popped another roll in his mouth. “Whoever the hacker dude is, he’s a stealth machine. Mega wattage. Along with these rolls, by the way.”
    “What can you tell about him?” Nellie asked.
    “He was able to invade a system designed by me. That narrows it down to maybe ten people on the planet.”
    “Modest much?” Dan asked.
    “Dude, there’s no modesty in hackery. Are you going to eat your roll?”
    Dan pushed over the plate.
    Pony stood with the roll halfway out of his mouth. “Now. Let me see the system.”
    “You can’t. Federal agents just took it out an hour ago.”
    “Oh, man. Seriously?” Pony crashed back into his chair. “This is so bletcherous!” He shuddered. “Okay, reboot . . . hand over your old phones. I might —
might
, I’m saying — be able to track the break-in through them. In my line of work, if you think something is impossible, it is. Until you decide it’s possible and you do it.”
    Amy, Dan, and Nellie pushed over their phones. He dumped them in his inside pocket. Then he dumped the rest of the rolls into his outside pocket and stood. “Adios, amigos,” he said. He tromped to the door, opened it, and disappeared into the black rain.
    Dan stared after Pony. “Our fate is in the hands of that guy?”
    “He’s off-the-charts smart,” Nellie said, but even she sounded uncertain.
    Amy sat, thinking hard. “If you
think
something is impossible, it is,” she said. “Until you decide it’s possible. Then it’s possible. Isn’t that what he just said?”
    “Sounded like it,” Dan said. “If you add half a cinnamon roll to it.”
    The sense of unease that had been gnawing at her suddenly grew into sheer horror. Information flashed. Connections clicked. One
impossible
connection after another.
    “Amy?” Nellie touched her arm. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to faint.” She stood up and put her hand on Amy’s neck. “Put your head between your knees. Breathe, kiddo.”
    “No.”