Chapter 4. Kit Baxter squirmed slightly in her seat and tried to let the noise of the engines drown out the infernal giggling of the maids, which was not entirely successful.

The Fenwick household was on the final leg in a long series of charter flights to Cairo, but the thrill of the first air trip seemed to have not run out for several of the girls.

Kit Baxter knew what actual thrills were,

and was simply stiff and bored from the long flights.

Toronto to St. John's, St. John's to London,

London back to Madrid for some reason, which Kit could

not imagine, and then finally on towards Egypt and their missing friend, Maxwell Falcone.

It had all happened so quickly, a short drive to a pneumatic tube to take them to their underground

layer, a long-distance call to the Imperial Hotel in Cairo, which confirmed that Falcone had

been a guest, but that he had disappeared without a trace more than a week ago. The next thing she had

known, he was packing his goodies for Egypt. "'I'm coming with you,' she had insisted.

"'You're really not,' he had countered, maddeningly casual about the whole thing as he stuffed

the crime-fighting gear of the red pant into the false bottoms of several large suitcases.

Maxwell Valconi was my mentor, one of my teachers when I was preparing to begin my work.

If he's in trouble, I have to go after him.'

"'He's my friend, too,' Kit had protested, and he may be old, but he's plenty tough.

If he's yelling for help from halfway around the world, it means two things.

One, this is important, and two, whoever's got him in a fix is tougher than he is.

So save some room in them secret compartments for squirrel suits, mister.

Kit, the Red Panda had protested.

"'This isn't an overnight jaunt that we can cover with a letter to your mother.

"'This is a trip to Egypt.'

...