The First Adventure by Gordon Korman Read Free Book Online

Malachi Moore, down on one knee, peering under a bed.
    The young researcher jumped up. “Griffin — you startled me!”
    â€œWhat are you doing in our cabin?” Griffin blurted.
    â€œIs this your cabin? I was actually looking for the bathroom.”
    For a scientist, Malachi wasn’t a very good liar. No one looked for a bathroom underneath a bunk bed.
    â€œYou need the wash station,” Griffin told him, “that big building in the center of all the cabins. The boys’ side is facing us.”
    â€œThanks,” said Malachi, and he walked out, leaving Griffin with his mind in a whirl. What could a researcher at an institute possibly be looking for at a kids’ camp? Was he just a sneak thief? Or could he be something more sinister than that?
    Griffin was sure he had discovered something important. But what?
    * * *
    After dinner, Cyrus introduced Malachi to the assembled campers.
    â€œThis is Dr. Moore, who works at the Inland Freshwater Research Institute across the lake. He’s going to arrange for us to tour the lab and be their guests for lunch.”
    There was thunderous applause. The facility tour would be a nice change, but the break from camp food was the real crowd-pleaser.
    â€œI don’t trust that guy,” Griffin muttered.
    â€œMalachi?” repeated Savannah in surprise. “He’s nice.”
    â€œI just caught him poking around my cabin. He said he was looking for the bathroom.”
    She shrugged. “It’s not impossible.”
    â€œOn the floor under my bunk?”
    Savannah tried to be reasonable. “We’ve been dealing with so many sleazoids lately — first Swindle, then Vader. I’m so worried about Luthor I can barely think straight. Maybe we’re both being a little paranoid.”
    â€œMaybe,” mumbled Griffin. But he did not seem convinced.
    From: Griffin
    To: Melissa
    What can you find out about Malachi Moore, scientist at the Inland Freshwater Research Institute? Need ASAP.
    From: Melissa
    To: Griffin
    No Malachi Moore employed by Institute. Checked support staff, too. Don’t know who this guy is. Be careful.

    G riffin Bing wasn’t the only man with a plan.
    Darren Vader was up before anyone else the next morning, tiptoeing out of Bunk 14, pausing only to drape a dirty sweat sock over the sleeping Griffin’s toothbrush.
    Eat my feet, Bing,
he thought triumphantly. After this morning’s work, Griffin would be eating Darren’s dust, too.
    The sun had just barely put in an appearance, peeking out between dark gray clouds. Camp was deserted when Darren rambled across the compound. He headed east into the woods, looking for the overgrown path he’d traveled yesterday, following Griffin and Savannah. He was positive they’d hidden the dog out here somewhere. But he needed to be able to prove it.
    That was his strategy. If Drysdale and Bing were too cheap to pay him for his silence, then he’d go straight to Swindle, who’d be so grateful that he’d offer a generous reward. Come to think of it, Darren liked that idea even better. An adult had more money than a couple of kids.
    At last, he found the path and began to follow it. The weeds were a little wet from an early-morning shower, but the big rain was holding off so far. Perfect conditions for a walk while you planned what you were going to do with all the cash you were going to get. He kept his eyes peeled right and left. He wasn’t certain what he was looking for, but there would probably be a shelter of some kind, like a cave, or maybe a little hut.
    His confidence began to fade when he saw that he was approaching the lake. Had he missed it somehow? But no, there it was — a cabin, weather-beaten, low to the ground, almost consumed by vegetation.
    Something clicked in his mind. That stupid story about the mechanical monster — this had to be the place Cyrus was talking about, where that nutjob ate his fishy