The Maze of Bones (The 39 Clues #1)(30)

"We'll meet you back here in ... I don't know, two hours."

"Why?" Dan said. "Where are we going?"

"I just saw an old friend," Amy said. "Come on!"

She dragged him across the street, hoping they weren't too late. With relief, she spotted her target. "There!" She pointed. "In the red!"

Half a block down, a woman in a red shawl was walking briskly. Something was tucked under her arm -- something thin, square, red, and white.

Dan's eyes widened. "Isn't that -- "

"Irina Spasky," Amy said. "And she's got our Poor Richard's Almanack. Follow that Russian!"

CHAPTER 12

Dan was tempted to stop about twenty times as they trailed Irina Spasky down the Rue de Rivoli. (He wondered if that meant "the Street of Ravioli," but he decided Amy would laugh at him if he asked.) A few times he wanted to check stuff out -- like the cool glass pyramid at the Louvre and the street performers who were juggling fire outside the Tuileries garden. There was also a vendor selling crème glacée, and Dan was pretty sure that meant ice cream. Mostly, though, he wanted to stop because his feet hurt.

"Is she ever going to take a break?" he complained.

Amy didn't seem to be getting tired at all. "Does it seem odd to you that we happened to find Irina Spasky out of ten million people in Paris?"

"Maybe the other 9.99 million aren't wearing bright red scarves!"

"She was walking down a major street, like she wanted to be spotted."

"You think it's a trap?" Dan asked. "How could she know we'd find her? And she hasn't looked back once. She doesn't know we're here."

But as he said that, Dan remembered television shows he'd seen about spies -- how they could tail somebody without ever being seen, or appear "accidentally" in a victim's line of sight and lure them into a trap. Could Irina have been waiting for them at the airport? Could she have seen them get in the limo with Jonah and somehow gotten ahead of them?

"Look," Amy said, "she's turning!"

Irina crossed the avenue and disappeared down a flight of steps.

"The Métro," Amy said. "She's taking the subway."

They lost time figuring out how to use euro coins in the machines to get tickets, but when they got down the steps Irina was still there -- standing on one of the platforms with the tattered almanac tucked under her arm. The train was just arriving. Dan was sure Irina was going to try one of those last-minute switches, so they waited until the train's doors were closing, but Irina stayed on board. Amy and Dan jumped on, too, and the train pulled away from the station.

They changed trains twice in a really short time. Even with Irina in a bright red shawl, it was hard to keep up with her.

"I don't get it," Amy said. "Now she's moving faster, like she's trying to lose us."

Dan was daydreaming about crème glacée. The lasagna he'd had on the plane was long gone, and his stomach felt like it was trying to chew through his shirt.

Finally, after the third train, Irina exited onto the platform. Amy gripped Dan's arm and pointed to a sign on the station wall.

"Passy," she said.

"So?"

"This is the neighborhood where Benjamin Franklin lived."

"Well, come on!" Dan said. "Red Riding Hood's getting away."

Passy didn't seem as crowded as Tuileries. The streets were lined with four-story buildings. There were flower shops everywhere, like a Mother's Day explosion -- tulips, carnations, roses, everything that could possibly make Dan sneeze. In the distance, the Eiffel Tower rose against the gray clouds, but Dan was more interested in the smell of food. The whole city seemed to be made up of outdoor cafés. He could smell chocolate, fresh-baked bread, melting cheese -- but Dan didn't have time to get any of it.

Irina walked like her dress was on fire. They had to jog to keep up. Amy tripped over a bucket of flowers and a Parisian cursed at her.

"Sorry!" Amy called back.

They turned onto a tree-lined street with ancient-looking mansions. Halfway up the block, a purple van was parked crookedly. It was painted with pictures of balloons and clown faces, and the sign read Crème Glacée. Dan's spirits lifted. Maybe he could just grab a quick triple-scoop of cherry vanilla to go. But as they got closer, he saw that the van was shut. The windshield was covered from the inside with a silver screen. It was a conspiracy, Dan decided. The entire city of Paris was trying to starve him.

At the end of the block, Irina crossed the street and ducked inside a wrought-iron gate. She walked up to a large marble building that looked like an embassy or something. Dan hid behind a gatepost and watched as Irina punched a security code and went inside.

"Look at the gate," Amy said.

In the center was a gold-lettered sign that read:

INSTITUT DE DIPLOMATIE INTERNATIONALE

INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY

[proofreader's note: the left side of the sign shows a sword with two snakes curled around it]

"The Lucian crest!" Dan said. "But what's an institute for, um, whatever that means?"

"I guess it's like a school for ambassadors," Amy said. "But don't you get it? That's just a cover. You remember what Jonah said? Paris is a Lucian stronghold."