Dead on Target by Franklin W. Dixon

as ready as we'll ever be."
    Frank led the others down the corridor. They switched on their lights and opened the metal door. Before them was the food level, the restaurants closed up behind iron gates, the chairs upside down on the tables. The air smelled of old grease and cleaning ammonia. The flashlights barely lit the far walls. The mall was murkily dark and intensely quiet.
    "Tony, do you have any idea where those dogs might be?" Frank's voice was hushed in the vast empty space.
    "The guy usually lets them loose on the first shopping level. Where they wander after that. . ." Tony shrugged. "It's anybody's guess."
    "Upstairs, then. I want to take care of them first. "
    Tony led the way up a set of service steps. "This is the quickest way. They turn off the elevators and escalators," he explained.
    They emerged on the first floor of stores, straining their ears for the clicking of claws on tile, the first hint that the dogs might be in the area.
    The stores upstairs were also locked behind metal grilles. "No dogs in there," Joe said, flashing his light into a tie store.
    "Guys!" Callie's voice hissed. She'd stepped out onto the circular promenade that overlooked the central well.
    Frank and Tony were in the lead as they joined her. "What is it?" Frank asked.
    "Look." Callie shined her flashlight on the floor. There lay a muscular, short-haired body-a Doberman pinscher. The dog was on its side, and as they watched its flanks slowly rose and fell.
    "Asleep?" Joe whispered, his gun aimed at the Doberman.
    Frank knelt next to the animal, gently feeling along its side. He held up his hand, and something glinted in the light.
    "Not asleep," he whispered. "Drugged-shot with a dart. Somebody else is in here!"

Chapter 13
    "TURN OFF THOSE flashlights!" Frank's voice never rose above a whisper, but it had the force of a cracking whip.
    Frank took Callie's hand in the sudden darkness and led her back to the group. "We all move slowly and quietly to the right," he said, his voice barely audible.
    They crept to the shelter of a big planter with a potted tree. "I guess he hasn't seen us yet, or we'd have been shot with darts," Frank said. "Do we split up to search?" Joe asked.
    "Maybe we should - " Whatever Chet had been about to suggest was cut off by the sound of a store grille rattling up. It came from about a quarter of the way around the circle.
    "Builder's Paradise-the hardware store," Joe whispered.
    They inched forward until they could see the beam of a flashlight. A figure stepped from the store, burdened with a bag in each hand and a roll of wire over one shoulder. The flashlight was held awkwardly in the left hand, pointing downward. It gave enough light to show that the figure was male, but it failed to show the face.
    Whoever it was turned away from them, heading for the escalator to the lower level.
    Joe leaped to his feet. "Al-Rousasa!" he screamed impulsively, aiming his dart gun.
    The figure whirled as Joe fired. The dart glittered in the beam of the flashlight but imbedded itself in the roll of wire.
    Al-Rousasa didn't waste a second. He dumped the wire on the floor, tossing down a bag and the flashlight as well. The flashlight rolled on the floor, illuminating the search party as they charged along.
    The Assassin ducked as Chet fired at him. He rolled behind a planter, digging into his remaining bag. When he popped up from behind the cover, a gun was in his hand. "Watch out!" Frank yelled.
    But even as he did so, Chet gave a choking cry, throwing out his arms. He crumpled to the floor.
    Callie fell to her knees beside Chet and dragged him behind a bench, as Frank stood over them, his gun aimed at the planter. Al-Rousasa had ducked down again. Tony crept forward, looking for a shot, while Joe frantically reloaded.
    "Chet's unconscious, but still breathing," Callie reported. "He's been hit with a dart."
    "A knockout dart for the dogs," Frank said. "We're lucky he wasn't carrying something more lethal." He snagged the bag