Read In Too Deep - 39 Clues 06 for Free Online

asked. "What did you think he'd become?""Lion tamer," Shep said, putting his empty mug down with a smack.
    He grinned. "Acrobat. Professional race car driver. Bush pilot, like me."Dan hooted with laughter. "You've got to be kidding me."
    "When we were kids, Artie was the daredevil," Shep said. "He was always egging me on. Built an obstacle course for our bikes.
    Built a tower out of boxes so we could jump into the lake.
    Once we built a slide from the garage r oof. Artie always went first."
    "Dad?" Don's voice was close to a squeak.
    "Awesome!"Amy looked at Dan. He was sitting up straight in his chair, his eyes sparkling. Hearing about their father always made him happy.
    Why did it make her so sad?When you lose your parents, the sadness doesn't go away. It just changes. It hits you sideways sometimes instead of head-on.
    Like now. Amy hadn't expected to suddenly feel like bursting into tears just hearing that her dad had been a daredevil when he was younger... just like Dan."Your dad, though he was smarter than me.
    He did his schoolwork.
    He was always interested in puzzles, too, in figuring things out. I moved to Hawaii and discovered waves, and I was a lost cause." Shep grinned cheerfully at them. "I've been traveling around the world ever since. Until I landed here in Oz."
    "Awesome," Dan said again. Amy could see that he'd found a new hero."Now it's your turn." Suddenly, Shep's blue gaze was penetrating. "What are you doing in Australia?"Amy spoke quickly, before Dan could say anything.
    It wasn't as though they couldn't trust Shep, but it would be better for him if he didn't know anything about the chase for the 39 Clues.
    "We're on vacation," she said. "And we're tracing our family history for a school project. Have you ever heard of Bob Troppo?"
    "Can't say I know him. Does he live in Sydney?""No, he was a famous criminal from long ago, like the 1890s," Dan said. "He has these really fierce scars on his face.
    He was in jail in Sydney and he escaped to the outback.""Where?" Shep asked. "The outback is a pretty big place, you know.
    Thousands and thousands of miles." He raised his eyebrows. "The land of the Never Never."Amy and Dan looked at each helplessly. They didn't know."Doesn't seem like you have much to go on," Shep said genially.
    "That's just the way I like it. You find out more that way.""But where do we start?" Amy wondered."Well, I have a mate who does outback tours from out of the Red Centre," Shep said. "Uluru, Coober Pedy, the Alice."Dan and Amy had no idea what he was talking about. He fished in his pocket for his cell phone.
    "I can give him a call and ask if he knows anything about your Bob Troppo." He dialed a number and waited, then shrugged and hung up.
    "No answer. Jeff's not keen on voice mail. But he'll turn up eventually."They didn't have time for eventually."So," Dan said. "You have a plane.""That's really cool," Amy said.
    Shep laughed. "Hold on, I'm starting to get this," he said. "You want me to fly you to the outback? Meet up with my mate and see what you can find?"
    "It's not like we'd want you to feel obligated or anything," Amy said, feeling defensive."It really wasn't that bad, being brought up by an evil aunt," Dan said. "Except for that whole part about being chained up in the basement."Shep rolled his eyes, but then the humor drained from his face. "I wasn't much of an uncle to you two, was I."
    "No worries," Dan said. Amy could see that in Dan's eyes, Shep could do no wrong.Shep cleared his throat. He stood up and stacked the mugs on a tray.
    "Well," he said, "at least I can fly."Dan hooted with laughter. "You mean you'll do it? You'll fly us, like, a thousand miles, just because we asked?""A couple of thousand.
    Welcome to Australia, mate," Shep said with a grin.
    He disappeared inside, whistling.
    leaned over to Amy. "We could have gotten him as a guardian.
    Instead, we got Aunt Beatrice the Bloody. Life stinks."Nellie laughed. "Those are the breaks, kiddo. Anyway, now you've got