'I'm not saying anything until you tell me some stuff. Like, who are you really?' 'I can't say,' said Skender. 'We're stuck, then,' said Kitty firmly. 'But I am sorry about spying on you. David's grandfather says he hasn't been kidnapped after all.' 'You were right, though, to think that he was in danger,' said Skender. 'I heard my parents talking. I don't think your friend is safe at all.'

It's the end of a long, hot summer, and mystery is the last thing on the minds of friends Kitty, David, Andrea and Martin. Then Andrea spots a strange van parked behind David's house, and a few days later, he disappears. Kitty is convinced he's been kidnapped - and that the secretive new boy has something to do with it - but David's family say he's safe. Only why won't they say where he's gone?

The friends don't know it, but they've stumbled on a sinister plot involving a criminal gang, a planned kidnap, and a school event that could go very, very wrong.