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stubbed my toe on some tools, which must have been left by the workmen.
    For a second, my voice echoed throughout the building. Then it kept echoing, and I realized it wasn’t my voice!
    A weird wailing sound was coming from the second floor of the building. It might just have been wind, but then, it might not… . I looked at the stairs. They were scorched, but they were made out of concrete. They looked okay… .
    I decided to chance it. I walked quickly but carefully, trying to step as gently as possible and stay on each stair for as little time as possible. I made it to the first landing with no problem. A smashed window provided some light from the street, and I could see the second set of steps in front of me. They looked fine.
    I made it up three steps when a screeching, metal-on-stone noise began in front of me. The stairs werepulling away from the floor! I scrambled forward, but I was too late. There was no way I was going to make it to the second floor before the stairs collapsed. They were moving faster now, swaying as the supports popped out of the wall one by one.
    I screamed and stepped backward. I grabbed for the railing—and it disintegrated beneath my hand. I fell.
    Luckily, I hit the landing with my rear. But the struts that supported the landing were pulling out of the wall as well. I turned back to the stairs that led down to the first floor, but I could see at a glance it was no use. I’d never make it. The entire staircase was about to collapse, and take me with it!

CHAPTER 6
    FRANK WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS
    â€œWhoa! Excuse me, sorry, coming through!”
    I didn’t think it was legal to skateboard in an airport. At the very least, it wasn’t safe. Yet Lenni Wolff was doing it right now, zooming past baggage claim, ducking and weaving around disembarking passengers and skycaps loading luggage—barreling right toward us. Joe and I were about to leap out of her way when she came to a skidding halt a foot from us.
    â€œFrank! Joe! Man, you guys travel in style.” Lenni was grinning from ear to ear as she unbuckled her helmet and released her signature crazy hair. This time, it had leopard spots dyed in it. When we first met her, while working on a mystery at the Galaxy X extreme sports park, it had been bright blue and spiky.
    We hadn’t been sure which side she was on at first, but she’d helped us out a lot—even if she’d been causing some of the trouble we were trying to prevent. If anyone could get us in with the kind of folks who might know about the robberies down here, it was Lenni.
    â€œFirst class? Last minute?” Lenni gave out a low whistle. “My ticket must have cost buckets!”
    She tossed her helmet at me and picked up her board. She kept walking out of the airport, leaving Joe and me to scramble to keep up with her.
    â€œYeah,” I said. “Well, ATAC pays for everything—”
    â€œAbout that,” said Lenni. “I still don’t trust them. Who are they? Why they are all secretive? And how do they have so much money? Seems a little suspicious to me. You’re lucky I’ve always wanted to see New Orleans. And it sounds like whoever these people are, they’re hurting innocent people.”
    Lenni might not be one for rules, but she was big on protecting the underdog, which was why I knew she would come help us, regardless of how she felt about ATAC.
    â€œPeople have been hurt in these fires. And everything they had was either stolen or destroyed,” Joe chipped in.
    Lenni’s lips flattened into an angry line. “What are we waiting for?” she said. “Let’s get them.”
    We hopped into a waiting cab and went back to the hotel. We’d had breakfast with our parents and told them we were spending the day at the National World War II Museum. We hoped Mom wouldn’t decide to come looking for us.
    On the way back, we briefed Lenni on what had happened so far. When