The Crisscross Crime by Franklin W. Dixon Read Free Book Online Page B

black.
    â€œCool,” Frank said. “It’s like a hologram.”
    Sylvia then opened the center drawer of the desk and found a magnifying glass. She handed it, along with the bill, to Frank. “Look at Ben Franklin’s collar,” she instructed.
    Frank held the glass close. “Joe, you’ve got to see this. There are tiny words written on old Ben’s collar. It says, ‘United States of America.’ ”
    â€œIt takes amazing engraving to make words that small,” Sylvia said. “Here.” She took the bill back and held it up to the light. “Here’s the last thing.”
    Frank looked at the spot where Sylvia’s thumb was pointing, an inch or so to the right of the portrait. There, imbedded in the paper of the bill, was a yellow ribbon only about a sixteenth of an inch wide. On it, tiny letters spelled out “USA 100,” followed by a little American flag.
    â€œThat ribbon is on twenties and fifties, too,”Sylvia said. “It’s called micro-coding, and it’s woven right into the paper.” She turned to Joe. “You know where the paper comes from, smart guy?”
    Joe shook his head.
    â€œCanada. In fact, the government stores the micro-coded paper right here in Bayport before they ship it out to the mints. Pretty neat, huh?”
    Joe dismissed Sylvia with a wave of his hand. “Yeah, totally neat,” he said sarcastically. “Thanks for the lesson, but now it’s time for lunch.” He started for the door.
    Frank apologized for Joe’s rudeness. “We’ll let you know when we learn something new,” he said, following his brother out.
    Joe was already sitting in the driver’s seat when Frank got to the van. “You think she’s telling the truth, don’t you, Frank?” he asked.
    Frank handed Joe the keys. “Why would she trip the alarm if she was involved in the robbery? It’s not logical.”
    â€œIt is if she knew the cops would be delayed because of the false alarm at First City,” Joe countered.
    Frank didn’t have an answer to that.
    â€œWe should keep an eye on her,” Joe said. “Meanwhile, let’s grab a sandwich and then get over to Phil’s.”
    After a quick lunch at home, the Hardysjumped back into the van. As they backed out of the driveway, Joe noticed a white pickup truck parked against the curb a block away. What neither Hardy noticed, when Joe put the van in drive and took off down the street, was the pickup truck that pulled away from the curb and followed them.

7 Vanishing Act
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    Ten minutes later Joe pulled the van up in front of Phil’s house. A couple of times along the way he’d seen a pickup truck a few cars behind them. Now he checked the side mirrors. He didn’t see the truck anymore.
    â€œWhat’s up?” Frank asked as he got out of the van.
    Joe glanced up and down the street. “Nothing,” he said. He joined his brother on the sidewalk. “I thought somebody might be following us. Just getting paranoid, I guess.”
    Down in the basement, the Hardys found Phil sitting in front of an oversize computer monitor. “Guys, check out the shots I got.”
    Frank and Joe gathered around the monitor. “What is all this stuff?” Joe asked. He marveledat the jumble of electronics and the tangle of wires.
    â€œThis,” Phil answered, pointing to a machine that looked like a double-size VCR, “is a digital effects recorder. I can freeze one frame at a time on your video with this.”
    â€œWe already tried that with our VCR,” Joe said. “The picture was too blurry.”
    â€œRight,” Phil answered. “This machine digitizes the image.”
    â€œDigitizes it?” Joe asked.
    â€œYeah,” Frank said. “It means it stores the picture as numbers.”
    â€œLike one of those kids’ coloring books that says, Everywhere you see the number