Read Online Get Smart 7 - Max Smart - The Spy Who Went Out to the Cold by William Johnston - Free Book Online Page B

was hit by a truck.”
    “Abdul, what were you doing in von BOOM’s tent?” 99 asked.
    “That was my agent’s fee,” Abdul replied. “Instead of paying cash, he told me I could sleep one night in the Star’s tent. What a story to tell my grandchildren. Now, of course, it’s even a better story. There I was, sound asleep in the Star’s tent, when suddenly a gang of desert bandits fell upon me, gagged me, and rolled me up in a pure silk sheet stolen from the Shah’s palace. I fought like two-dozen wildcats. I had about nine of them by the leg—up to the kneecap. But then I was hit by a low-flying super-sonic jet. Well, I was stunned for a second. But I was a strong, healthy lad in those days—about six-foot-seven, enormous muscles—”
    “Enough!” Max broke in.
    “Don’t you want to hear the part where, when I was a boy, I had to walk a mile to school every day through twelve feet of snow?” Abdul said.
    “What I want to hear is the part where you guide us back to the camp so we can make another try at kidnapping von BOOM,” Max replied.
    Abdul looked around. “I’m your prisoner—I have no choice, I guess. Which way is it?”
    “You’re the guide,” Max reminded him.
    “I’m a talent agent,” Abdul reminded him. “No wonder you’re lost—you don’t even know a talent agent from a tourist guide.”
    “Oh, Max . . .” 99 wept. “What can we do?”
    “Let’s wait for him to come to us,” Abdul suggested. “As soon as he finishes this picture, he’ll be looking for another job. And who will he come crying to on hands and knees? His agent.”
    “That won’t be for six months,” Max said. “Without water, I don’t think we’ll make it.”
    Abdul nodded, agreeing. “I don’t even think we could make it without ice cream sodas,” he said. “All we can do is hope for another sand storm.”
    “How will that help?” 99 asked.
    “Well, the last one brought us a ship,” Abdul replied. “If it can do it once, it can do it again.”
    “I hardly think we can count on that,” Max said. “That’s the kind of luck that—”
    “Max!” 99 suddenly cried. “Look! That dark cloud! Another sand storm!”
    “99, that’s very nice, but it isn’t a sand storm we need. What we need is—”
    “Max! Look! Sailing in front of the storm! The ship!”
    Max squinted into the distance. “Yes . . . and isn’t that . . . there in the rigging . . . isn’t that Professor von BOOM?”
    From across the desert came a shout: “Thar She Blows!”
    “He’s got his line down perfect,” Abdul cackled. “Is that a Star or is that a Star!”
    “All right, get ready everybody,” Max said. “When the ship gets here, we’ll all grab a rope and climb aboard.”
    “Not me,” Abdul said. “I stay here.”
    “But you’ll die out here in the desert,” 99 said.
    “Better than getting aboard a ship,” Abdul replied. “For you, it’s all right. But for me, it would be very dangerous. That ship has a hole in the bottom, you know.”
    “What does that have to do with it?” 99 asked.
    “I can’t swim,” Abdul explained.
    “Now!” Max shouted.
    The ship had reached them. Max and 99 ran alongside, then caught hold of ropes that were dangling down from the deck and, hand over hand, pulled themselves aboard. The wind whipped at them, swirling sand in their faces.
    “Get below!” Max shouted to 99. “I’ll get von BOOM!”
    “Max . . . you don’t have to . . . he’s coming down . . .”
    A few seconds later, von BOOM appeared, struggling against the wind to keep his balance. “I quit!” he shouted. “Get yourself another Moby Dick, von Sydesheau!”
    “I’m Smart!” Max shouted back.
    “I’m not as dumb as I used to be, either!” von BOOM shrieked. “You’ll never get me up in that rigging in a sand storm again!” He grabbed hold of Max, enraged. “ I could have been killed! I could have been blown overboard! And I can’t swim!”
    “All right! All right!” Max shrieked