Read Online Benjamin Franklinstein Meets the Fright Brothers by Matthew McElligott - Free Book Online Page A

Victor could see the Wright brothers flying closer and closer in their old-fashioned airplane. Their fangs were long and sharp, and their eyes glowed bright red.
    Then Victor was in an airport. Franklin, Scott, and the Wright brothers were gone. He stood alone in front of an enormous departure board, frantically searching for a flight home. He looked down the list of destinations but couldn’t make out the names of the cities. They were scrambled, as if in some sort of code.
    Code.
    Airport code.
    In a flash, Victor was wide awake, his heart pounding. It was four A.M. He raced to his computer and began entering the names of the cities from the list.
    As he suspected, each city was home to an airport. Each airport, Victor knew, had its own three-letter international code, used by pilots and air traffic controllers to identify them easily.
    Victor grabbed a piece of paper. Scanning the list on the computer screen, he scribbled down the airport codes for each of the cities.
    Mérida, Mexico: MID
    Niort, France: NIT
    Edinburgh, Scotland: EDI
    Neryungri, Russia: NER
    Five Finger, Alaska: FIV
    Nejran, Saudi Arabia: EAM
    He knew exactly what the mysterious voice had been trying to tell them.
    There was no time to waste. He woke up Scott.
    MEANWHILE . . .
    It was four A.M. Police Chief Elmore Hawkins gazed at the sliver of moon high above his city. Confusion swirled in his head. Days had passed since Mayor Milstead and her experts had determined that the giant flying bats were only swamp gas mirages. But he was certain he had caught a glimpse of something only a week before, and it had looked real enough to him.
    He had poked around City Hall, asking questions, trying to get his hands on the official report, but no luck. The word from above was that it had been settled. Swamp gas.
    But that wasn’t good enough. In the morning he would open his own investigation. Sure, he’d take some heat from the mayor, but he was respected in the community and could weather the political storm.
    He turned a corner and walked past a thin, mustached man dressed all in black. An odd-looking man, the chief thought. Something about his eyes ... They almost seemed to glow in the lamplight.
    â€œHi,” Chief Hawkins said.
    The man nodded.
    The chief walked past him, then felt a sharp bite on his neck.
    He slapped at it, thinking a bug had bitten him. When he looked at his palm, he noticed two small splotches of blood.
    Fwoooooooosh!
    He spun around. Hadn’t there been a man standing there? Everything was going fuzzy. What had he been thinking about before he was bitten? He suddenly couldn’t remember.
    He couldn’t remember . . . anything. But he knew where he had to go.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    Breakfast at the Midnite Diner
    It was four fifty in the morning when Victor, Scott, and Franklin arrived at the Midnite Diner. Although the rest of the street was still asleep, the Midnite was alive with the aroma of breakfast cooking on the griddle and the sounds of lively conversation.
    â€œIt smells delicious,” marveled Franklin. “And it’s only a few blocks from our house! Why have we never eaten here before?”
    At the counter sat a biker, a musician with green hair, and an elderly woman with thick glasses and a poodle in her purse. The booths were filled with similarly colorful characters, all chatting in various languages.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Victor. “I guess I’ve always been a little afraid of this place.”
    â€œAfraid?” said Franklin. “Victor, how many times must I tell you, science—and fine dining—is risk! Really, you should get out more.”
    â€œThere’s nothing to be scared of,” added Scott, leading them toward an empty booth in the back. “This place is great.”
    â€œYou’ve been here before?”
    â€œAll the time. My dad’s a regular.” He nodded toward the wall.
    Hanging above the table was an enormous framed,