"Dixon, Franklin W - Hardy Boys 111 - Three-Ring Terror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dixon Franklin W)

Frank leaned back in his chair. "I don't have to guess. It's the nineteenth. Hey—wait a minute. If we're right about this message, that means something is going to happen tomorrow."
"You guessed it," Joe said. "If we're right, it also means that the code has nothing to do with the sabotage," he admitted ruefully, "since Nash's accident happened today, not tomorrow."
Frank shrugged and smiled. "There goes your theory. Sorry about that."
Joe chose to ignore his brother's comment. Instead, he grabbed his jacket, "We've got to pick up Chet. And since we know that according to Rosen's code nothing more is going to happen until tomorrow, I'm going to enjoy myself tonight. No mysteries, no theories, no false leads."
"Just good honest fun, right?" Frank asked.
"Right," Joe said firmly.
"I still think we should try to track down Rosen," Frank said. "The sooner we find out what he's up to, the better. Besides, someone is sabotaging the circus. We need to find out who it is and stop him or her."
"Come on, Frank. One night's not going to make a difference," Joe said. "We need some R and R."
Frank seemed reluctant to give up on the investigation just yet. "I don't know if taking the night off is such a good idea," he said.
"We probably won't be able to get backstage, anyway," Joe reminded him. "Circus U. isn't in session, and there's no reception tonight. You should learn how to chill out."
From the smile on Frank's face, Joe could see he was starting to get through to his brother. "Okay?" he asked.
"Okay,"-Frank said finally.
"Good. Let's go."
The next morning, Joe talked with Chet the whole way to the Bayport Arena about the circus performance the night before. "I can't decide who was the best," Frank said. "That guy doing back flips on the high wire, the bareback riders doing handstands on their horses, or the clowns."
"The clowns were really a riot," Joe agreed. "I can definitely see Chet up there spraying seltzer on the mayor of Bayport."
"The mayor looked like he loved it," Frank said.
"You should think about giving up detective work to become a professional circus performer, Joe," Chet said.
"No way, Chet," Frank said as he parked the van. "I need Joe in my act."
Chet laughed as he jumped out of the van. "Think about it, Joe," he said. "I've got to run. I have a juggling class."
"Sorry, but we have to cut class again," Joe said, zipping up his jacket against the cold. "We're going to take private lessons from our mystery juggler—Ralph Rosen."
Chet laughed, and his breath billowed out in white gusts. "Good luck, you guys."
"Thanks," Frank said, watching Chet run off toward the back entrance to the arena. Joe and Frank headed in the same direction. When they stepped into the building, Joe said, "Maybe we should find Dean Turner and have him get us clearance. I don't want to run into that security guard again."
"I don't see any guards this morning," Frank said, opening the door slowly and looking around. "It looks like we won't need passes. I guess the guards don't go on duty until later."
They headed down the hall, glancing to the left and right to see if Rosen was in any of the rooms they were passing.
"I hope Rosen is here," Joe said. "I'm ready to have a nice long chat with him about what scheme he planned for today."
"If Jim Jacobs is around, he can tell us where Rosen is," Frank said.
"It doesn't look like anyone's around," Joe said, glancing up and down the hallway. "This hallway's pretty deserted."
Soon they were at the room the clowns called clown alley. Joe didn't spot Jim Jacobs, so he asked a woman if she knew where they could find Ralph Rosen. She pointed to a small room down the hall.
"For some reason, he rates his own dressing room," the woman said, shaking her head as she walked away.
When they reached the room, Frank went up close to it, held his finger to his lips, and motioned for Joe to be quiet. Joe stood back from his brother. He looked up at the transom window over the door and saw that there was a light on in the room. "He must be here," he called out to Frank in an excited whisper.
Frank nodded and took a few steps back. He stood on tiptoe, trying to see over the transom.
"If he's in, we'll just confront him with what we know, make him give us some explanations," Joe said. "If not, we'll just let ourselves in and wait."
Joe waited for Frank to answer. When he didn't, Joe glanced over his shoulder. "Frank?" he asked. "What do you think?"
Then he turned and saw why his brother hadn't answered right away. He had been knocked out and was lying faceup on the floor with an ugly red mark on his forehead.
Joe rushed over and knelt down beside his brother. "Frank!" he cried.
Then Joe sensed that someone had come up behind him. Suddenly he felt a whopping blow to his head. Joe sank to the floor, unconscious.
Chapter 11
Clown Undercover
Frank Hardy felt himself coming to, and thought that his head felt as if someone had stored it in a freezer overnight. When he tried to move there was a cold, dull throbbing at his temples that could only mean one thing: he'd been knocked out.
Frank opened his eyes. He slowly realized that his hands and legs were tied to the chair he was sitting in. He glanced around and noted that he was inside a small room that looked to be about the same size as Rosen's.
"Ralph Rosen," Frank mumbled to himself, trying to move as slowly as possible until he was fully awake. "It must have been him."
"Mmmm," Frank heard Joe murmur. Frank turned as much as he could with his hands tied together behind his back and saw Joe lying on the floor next to him. His brother was tied up, too.
When Joe opened his eyes, he looked up and saw Frank looking at him. "Where are we?" Joe mumbled, trying to pull himself up to a sitting position. The effort was obviously too much, because Joe quickly eased himself back down to the ground. "My head's killing me."
"Mine, too," Frank said, stretching his neck to get his circulation going again. "Rosen really did a number on us."
"Rosen!" Joe cried. "That guy's going to be in big trouble when I finally meet up with him."
"Let's concentrate on getting out of here," Frank said. "Do you think you could move over to the door and see if it's locked?" . "I'll try," Joe said. He eased himself up in a sitting position. "Ouch," he said, wincing in pain. "I don't think I'm ready to move yet."
Frank scanned the room, looking for some kind of sharp object to cut the ropes that bound them.
"Rosen was crazy to do this to us," Joe said. "This makes him look more guilty than ever."
Frank didn't answer. He was still looking around the room for a knife or scissors.
"He's gone to a lot of trouble to put us out of commission," Joe said. "It's almost like he wanted us out of the way, but only until he had time to come back and figure out what to do with us."