CHAPTER 21

“Does this message mean anything to you?” asked Inspector Gorky.

“Yes,” said Mom. “Whoever wrote this is familiar with the phenomenon known as the northern lights or, more exactly, the aurora borealis—a natural light show high in the sky over the magnetic North Pole.”

“What does that have to do with—” the inspector started.

“Not to be confused with the aurora australis,” cut in Storm, “which takes place in the Southern Hemisphere.”

“Because that’s where Australia is,” said Tommy. “We’re going to go there someday.”

“I do not understand,” said Inspector Gorky.

“Well,” said Tommy, “Mom and Dad promised that we’d sail around the world, and since Australia is on the globe—”

“Nyet! The clue! What does it mean?”

“Simple,” said Storm (probably because Larissa Bukova wasn’t there to answer first). “If you approach from the south in a high-latitude Arctic region, you will see, in the north, the brilliant dancing lights of the aurora borealis. The lights are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The ‘aurora’ part of the name comes from the Roman goddess of dawn and—”

“Perestan’!” cried Inspector Gorky, tugging at the hair on both sides of his head. “Vy svodite menya s uma!”

“Well, I’m sorry,” said Storm. “We don’t mean to drive you mad—”

“You Kidds are worse than that billionaire brat Viktor Zolin.”

“No way,” said Tommy. “That dude’s totally weepy.”

“And his wolfhounds need a bath,” added Beck. “They smell like wet fur.”

“No,” I said, “I think that was Zolin’s coat—”

“Grrr! I’ve had enough of you impossible Americans!”

Inspector Gorky stomped away.

Which was exactly what we wanted him to do.

“Family meeting,” said Mom when we were (finally) alone. “We have two clues. What do you guys think they mean?”

“Um, what were they again?” asked Tommy.

Mom turned to Storm, who recited both clues from memory.

“One: It used to be the top of the world, but time and a changing climate changed that. Two: Approach from the south and you will see northern lights high up in the sky.”

“The North Pole!” blurted Beck.

“Yeah,” I said eagerly, “if you approach the North Pole from the south, you’ll see the northern lights high up in the sky!”

Beck and I looked to Mom.

“You guys might be onto something,” she said.

“Whoa,” said Tommy. “You think the Enlightened Ones have stashed all their stolen art up at the North Pole?”

“Perhaps they put all their treasures into cold storage,” said Storm with a rare grin. (Lately, she’d been cracking puns and we’d been wishing she’d stop.)

“Or,” I said, “it could be like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. An ice castle located in a polar wasteland; an underground warehouse in the belly of a glacier!”

Mom arched an eyebrow. “Did you read a lot of comic books while I was being held by the kidnappers, Bick?”

“A few.”

“What do you think, Mom?” asked Beck eagerly. “Did the bad guys take the stolen Russian art all the way to the North Pole?”

“It’s a possibility,” answered Mom. “One I’m willing to explore.”

“Too bad we can’t,” said Storm bluntly. She shook the bars of her jail cell. “We’re not exploring anywhere anytime soon.”

That’s when a furious Larissa Bukova came marching down the hall, escorted by a whole troop of prison guards.

“What did you fools say to Inspector Gorky?” she demanded.

“Just that we were missing you,” said Tommy, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Well, congratulations, Thomas. We are all to be together again. In a new prison. The notorious Lefortovo in Moscow!”

I raised my hand. “Um, is that the one where the KGB used to torture people?”

“Da!”

I was afraid of that.