The Man on Flight ???

It all started on what had promised to be just an ordinary Saturday for Jack Barnes.  He and his family were set to go to a park along the Puget Sound.  Never mind which park; it’s not important.  Anyway, rain fell all morning that Saturday, and the trip was cancelled.

As a result, Jack was only too happy when the phone rang, even happier when it was Kurt Morris, and happier still when he heard what Kurt had to say.  “Hey, Jack!  My Dad’s coming back from a business trip, and my mom and I are going to pick him up at the airport.  Want to come along?”

“Do you even have to ask?” said Jack.  “What time?”

“1:06,” said Kurt.  “We’re picking up Robbie first.  You know, at an airport as large as that one, it shouldn’t be too hard to find another mystery for our club.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” said Jack.  “We’ll see what happens.  See you soon!”

Jack, Kurt, and Robbie [Ransom] made up the Detective Club, a group dedicated to solving mysteries.  By some accounts, Emma Barnes, Jack’s younger sister by five years, was also a member.  However, the other three did not believe those accounts.  Well, whether it was three or four, the club was always searching for a mystery.

True to Kurt’s word, his family’s car was at Jack’s house at 1:06, Robbie already inside.  They then drove off to the airport, which took a while, because of traffic.  Most of the state of Washington did not have traffic problems, but that was because its residents (for the most part) crammed themselves into the Seattle-Tacoma area along the Puget Sound.  Jack and his friends lived in Tacoma; thus, they were forced to deal with these traffic issues.

Finally, a long time later, they arrived at the airport, which was in its own city, the strangely-named “SeaTac.”  There was plenty of parking, and Mrs. Morris found a space in the hourly section of the garage.  Then, the group trooped into the building.  They couldn’t go right up to the gates, of course, because of security, but they could still go inside.

The first thing they did was to find the list of arrivals.  It was a good thing they did.  American Airlines Flight 1198, from Dallas/Fort Worth, had been delayed for two hours.

“I guess we’re going to be here a while,” said Kurt.  “Let’s explore!  Mom, do you mind?”

Mrs. Morris didn’t mind the three exploring, but she was worn out from her long drive, so she told them they could go off by themselves.  “Just don’t get into trouble!” she warned.

“We won’t!” Kurt promised, and off they went on a tour of the non-secure part of the airport.  Well, less-secure, I should say.  There was still quite a bit of security around—cameras, lights, guards.

In fact, the three boys soon noticed there were a lot of security guards.  Police too, for that matter.  It seemed like everywhere they went, they were brushing past officers.  They were coming out of restaurants, striding down hallways, and emerging from the tops of escalators.  Finally, Kurt stopped one and asked what was going on.

The officer, a member of the Port of Seattle Department, was only too happy to let the boys know.  “There’s a man named Warren Greenlaw who’s wanted all over the country, for various crimes.  Last week, one of his associates was arrested in Seattle.  During the investigation, the FBI uncovered an E-mail that said Greenlaw was supposed to be arriving at this airport around 3:30.

“3:30?” said Kurt.  “That’s in an hour!”

“Exactly,” said the officer.  “The problem is, Greenlaw’s name wasn’t on the passenger lists of any of the flights for today.”

“Is he using fake identification?” asked Jack.

“Undoubtedly,” said the officer, “which doesn’t help us any.  We don’t even know where he’s arriving from.  Here’s his picture, though,” said the officer, removing three small photos from his wallet, which he distributed to the three.  “If you see him, call security.  That man is dangerous.”

“We will,” said Jack.  When the officer had left, he turned to his friends.  “Maybe we can find this guy!”

“How?” asked Kurt.  “Look, the authorities can go wherever they want in this airport.  We’re stuck outside security.  If Greenlaw’s on any of those flights, they’ll see him way before we do.”

“Maybe and maybe not,” said Jack.  “If Greenlaw’s flying under a false identity, he may be disguised.  They might not recognize him.”

“I doubt we will, either,” said Kurt, pessimistically.  “But sure, once 3:00 rolls around, I’ll start looking for the guy.  Isn’t that him, at that table over there?”

Jack and Robbie whirled around in surprise.

“Hah!  Made you look!” laughed Kurt.

“You think you’re so funny, don’t you?” said Robbie.  “Come on; let’s keep looking around.”

The three continued their tour of the airport, but three o’clock found them standing near one of the security checkpoints, where disembarking passengers would walk past.  “You know,” said Jack, “an airport this big probably has several areas for people to come from.  Just because this is the one your father will be coming from doesn’t mean it’ll be the one Greenlaw uses.”

Kurt shrugged.  “I don’t think we’re going to find him anyway,” he said.  “If you want to try, though, go ahead.  Here come some passengers.”

Apparently, a flight had just landed, for a large group of people were filing down the hallway.  The three boys watched intently as they passed, but none of them looked like Greenlaw.  None of them even faintly resembled Greenlaw.

“Hah!” said Kurt.  “What’d I tell you?  This isn’t going to be easy.”

“That’s just one flight,” said Robbie.  “He may be on the next.”

Five minutes later, another large crowd of people trickled by.  The boys didn’t spot Greenlaw with them, either.  Two more sets of passengers went by, and no one bore even the faintest resemblance.

“It’s almost 3:30,” said Jack, checking his watch.  “I guess about meant afterwards.”

“Or not at all,” said Kurt.  “You know, they’ve probably caught him already.  I’m going to get a drink of water—oh wait, maybe I’m not,” he said, as another group of passengers started by.  The water fountain, restrooms, and phones were all at the other side of the hallway.

Kurt waited until most everyone had passed, then dashed across the hallway.  An old lady, quite fat and using a cane (though she was not stooped) was still going down the hallway.  Somehow, Kurt didn’t see her until he was right up on her, and he instantly swerved to avoid her, but not fast enough, for he accidentally knocked her purse out of her hand.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” said Kurt.  “I should have been watching where I was going!”  He stooped to pick up the purse.  “Here you go!” he said, handing it to the woman, who glared at him before she started off.

Kurt continued to the other side of the hallway, at a slower pace this time.  He turned to look back at the woman.  Then, instead of getting a drink, he reached for a payphone and called airport security.

“You’re after Warren Greenlaw, right?” he whispered.

“Yes.”

“Then look for a woman who just left Concourse A, appears very overweight, and walks with a cane.”

“Young man, is this some type of joke?”

“Either its Greenlaw,” said Kurt, “or this lady has the hairiest knuckles I’ve ever seen on a woman.”

It was Greenlaw.  Five officers tackled him, drawing ire from a crowd of bystanders until Greenlaw’s wig fell off, and they realized who he was.  Greenlaw had been flying under the fictitious name of Sarah Stephens McClain, which had worked quite well for him, since the investigators hadn’t been looking out for a woman.  It was just too bad for Greenlaw that he’d run into Kurt.  Case closed.

Trouble at the Park, Part 2

[If you missed part 1 last week, you should probably go back and read it first.]

The police promised Jack they’d be right over.  He thanked them and hung up the phone at the nearby convenience store.  Then, he waited for the walk sign, crossed the road, and headed back to the park.

“I called the police,” he told Robbie and Kurt.  “They’re on their way.”

“Great!” said Kurt.  “Now, what exactly happened again?”

“I’m not sure,” said Jack.  “This girl was looking for her mother.  We looked all over the park and didn’t find her.  She left her purse, too, so I’ll bet something happened to her.”  [He whispered the last part, not wanting to annoy the girl anymore.]

“Speaking of which, what’s your name?” Jack asked the girl, who was staring at him and Kurt curiously.

“Ruby,” said the girl.

“Ruby what?”

“Ruby MacIsaac.”

“And what’s your mother’s name?”

“Laura.  Laura MacIsaac.”

“I see,” said Jack.  He turned to Kurt.  “While we’re waiting for the you-know-who to get here, why don’t we find out if they saw anything?”  He gestured towards the other three moms that were at the playground.

Kurt agreed.  Jack went to ask a couple of the moms who were engrossed in some deep conversation, and Robbie went to ask the other mother.  They were not, however, much help.  None of them had been paying attention to Ruby’s mother, and they only vaguely remembered she had been there.

“Do you mind if we ask your kids if they saw anything?” Jack asked after explaining the situation.  The mothers looked at each other, then consented.

Jack turned to face the playground.  He tried to count how many kids were on it.  There looked to be about eight—er, possibly nine.  It was difficult to tell with the tunnel slide.

“Um, excuse me!” called Jack.  “Excuse me!”

No one paid him any attention.  Jack didn’t have that outstanding of a voice.

Suddenly, a loud whistle filled the air!  Instantly, everyone on the playground stopped and stared and Jack.  Jack glanced over to Kurt, the whistler, who nodded.

Looking back at the playground, Jack spoke.  “Ruby here can’t find her mother.  She was sitting on that bench over there, and she seems to have disappeared.  Do any of you know what happened?”

Two of the kids shook their heads and went right back to playing.  Most of the others just looked back with blank stares.  However, two (a boy and a girl) nodded and clambered off the playground to tell Jack what they knew.  The girl told her story first.

“I saw that lady sitting over there,” said the girl.  “While she was there, this man came up and started talking to her.  I don’t remember seeing her after that.”

“A man?” asked Jack.  “Do you remember what he looked like?”

The girl shook her head.

“He was kind of short, with a bent nose, and he didn’t have that much hair,” spoke up the boy.

“So you saw him too?” asked Jack.

“Yes.  They looked like they were having an argument.  Then, the man grabbed her, they both got up, and they left.”

“They left? Do you know where they went?”

“Sure.  They got into a car at the side of the road and drove off.”

“What kind of car?”

The boy shrugged.

“Just a regular-looking car.  It was gray.  They went that way,” he said, pointing north.

“Ruby, was your dad supposed to come by here today?”

“No,” sniffed Ruby.  “He’s at work.”

“Then that sounds like…” Jack stopped himself from saying foul play.  At that moment, a police car pulled up about the same place the gray car had been parked.

Two officers got out.  Jack went and told him what he knew.  He had Ruby tell her story, and he had Zachary (that was the boy’s name) tell his.  Zachary ended with the part about the car, but the officer looked unimpressed.

“A gray regular-looking car?” he asked.  “There must be thousands of those in Tacoma.  We can’t track it down unless we have more to go on.”

The other officer nodded.  They began questioning everyone all over again, but Jack knew it would be futile.  He, Kurt, and Robbie discussed the case.

“It felt like we were getting so close!” said Jack.  “If we could only identify the car, we’d probably have this thing solved!”

“The problem is,” said Robbie, “the street’s too far away from the playground for anyone to have gotten a good look at it.  If only someone had been closer to the road.”

Kurt snapped his fingers.  “Hey, who’s to say there wasn’t?  No one at the park got a great look, but there might have been someone in a business along that street that saw the car pass.  It’s worth a try.”

Jack saw what he meant.  “You’re right!” he said.  “I should probably stay here in case the police need me again, but you and Robbie go see what you can find out.”

“Will do!” said Kurt.  “Come on!”  He and Robbie darted off towards the street to see who might have spotted something.

When they came to the road, they looked up and down the sidewalk.  No one was on it.  However, up the road on the same side as them, there was a small strip mall.

“Let’s go ask in there!” said Kurt.  They ran down the sidewalk to the strip mall and looked at it.  Four stores faced them.  From right to left, they were:

A Thai restaurant

A nail-styling place

[Vacant]

Check into Cash

7-Eleven

“A nail-styling place?” groaned Kurt.  “Do we really have to ask in the nail-styling place?”

Robbie looked just as excited as Kurt at this development.  “Let’s check the other stores first.  If someone in them spotted the car, we won’t have to check—”

“Good idea!” said Kurt.  “Let’s pray that someone did!”

They barged into the Thai restaurant.  “Good afternoon!” called a waitress of Thai descent.  “Two of you?”

“I’m sorry,” said Kurt.  “but we’re not here to eat.  We were wondering if you saw a gray car go by about twenty minutes ago?”

“I’m sorry?”

“A gray car!” said Kurt.  “Did you see a gray car?”

“Let me check the menu,” said the waitress, in poor English.

“Never mind,” said Kurt.  “Thank you anyway.”

He and Robbie stepped out, gave the nails place a wide berth, and wandered into Check into Cash.  The man at the counter eyed them suspiciously as they went in.

“Hi!” said Kurt.  “We were wondering if you saw a gray car pass by about twenty minutes ago.”

The man glared at them.  “I probably did,” he said.  “Do you have any checks to cash?”

“No, we were just wondering about the gray car,” said Kurt.  “Someone in it may have been kidnapped.”

“Is this a crazy joke?” asked the man.  “Get out!” he ordered, without waiting for an answer.

When they left the storefront, Robbie whispered, “Do you think he might be in on the kidnapping?”

“I doubt it,” said Kurt.  “He’s probably just unfriendly.  He didn’t fit Zachary’s description.”  He looked at the 7-Eleven.  “I hope this turns up something.”

But when he and Robbie walked in, they decided not to even bother asking.  The counter was at the front of the store, but it faced away from the road.  The windows behind it were mostly blocked by shelves.  It was highly unlikely that anyone who worked there had seen the car, much less gotten a good description of it.

The boys turned around to leave.  As they did, Kurt looked up at the door.  There was a TV over it, showing the view from a security camera.  Kurt saw himself on the TV, and he made a funny face at it like he always did.

Robbie laughed.  “Imagine if someone tried shoplifting,” he remarked, “and they go back and watch the footage later, and they—oh my goodness!” he exclaimed.

“What?”  Kurt gave Robbie a funny look.

Robbie pointed at the road.  “That’s a busy street, isn’t it?”

“Yes, why?” asked Kurt.

“Come on!” said Robbie, sprinting back towards the park.  “I’ll explain later!”

Kurt followed, but he still wasn’t sure what was up when they got back.  The police were still there, as was Jack, who asked, “Any luck?”

“Plenty!” said Robbie.

“I still don’t have any idea what he’s talking about,” said Kurt.

“Excuse me, officer?”  Robbie pulled one of the officers aside.  “See that road right there?”

“See it?” asked the officer.  “My car’s parked on it.”

“Is there a traffic camera that monitors the road?”

The officer looked at the road.  “Yes, there is.  Why?”

“Why don’t you look at the footage from it and see if you can get the license plate of the car you’re looking for?”

The officer’s jaw dropped.  “Of course!” he said.  “Why didn’t I think of that before?  Walsh!” he called to his fellow officer.  “Hold this situation down for a minute.  I’ve got to radio headquarters.”

Headquarters confirmed that there was a traffic camera just north of the park.  The police, through their questions, had pinpointed the general time of the disappearance.  Even so, they still came up with three possibilities.  However, they checked all of them out, and within two hours, Mrs. MacIsaac and her daughter were reunited!  She’d been kidnapped because—well, that’s a long story, and this is supposed to be a short story.  Skip it.  The important thing was at the end of the day, everybody was alright, and the mystery had been solved.  Case closed.

Trouble at the Park, Part 1

Jack Barnes’s phone rang at noon.  It was Kurt Morris, one of his best friends and a fellow member of the Detective Club.  Kurt wasn’t calling about a mystery, though.

“Hey, Jack!  I checked the weather, and it’s not supposed to be very windy until three o’clock.  Want to help me try out my new helicopter at the park?”

“Sure!” said Jack.  Kurt had purchased a remote control helicopter a week ago, and he was looking forward to using it.  Unfortunately for him, the last week had been quite windy, and Kurt had been afraid to fly it for fear it would hit a tree or power lines or something of that nature.  He’d been watching the weather like a hawk, and now that the wind had died, he would not miss his chance.

“Call Robbie and tell him,” said Kurt.  “I’ll meet you all there in thirty minutes.”  Robbie Ransom was the third member of the Detective Club, rounding it out unless you counted Emma Barnes, Jack’s younger sister by five years.  No one did except for Emma.

Jack was afraid he would have trouble getting down to the park without noticing.  Emma was notorious for following along, once hiring a taxi to follow the boys when they were on a bus!  Actually, it was a good thing she had, or—but that was “Trouble on the Bus.”  If you missed that last week, catch up on it now.  Jack saw no sign of Emma as he left the house today, and he decided to assume she wasn’t around.

He and Robbie wound up beating Kurt to the park, but it was worth the wait when Kurt showed up with his chopper.  The sun glinted off the large metal case that held the 19.3 inch whirlybird.

“Cool!” said Robbie.  “This will be your first time flying it, right?”

“Right,” said Kurt, “and I will be the first to fly it.  I’m sure neither of you are interested in piloting it, are you?”

“You know we are!” said Jack.

“Oh, you are?”  Kurt acted surprised.  “Well, if you really want to, I’ll give you a chance.  Just be warned.  The battery’s only supposed to last five-to-eight minutes, and it takes two hours to charge, so we won’t be able to fly it that long.”

“Too bad,” said Jack.  “Still, that gives us some time.”  He and Robbie watched admiringly as Kurt opened the case and removed the copter.  He adjusted the propeller, made sure everything was in place, and pulled out the remote control.

“Now, back away!” he ordered.  “This thing’s about to take off!”

The three “pilots” moved out of the way and watched as Kurt fiddled with the controls.  The blades began to spin.  Then, the craft slowly lifted off the ground and moved into the air.

“Let’s take this around the park!” called Kurt.  He moved one of the joysticks, and the copter darted forward.  Kurt followed down below, wanting to make sure it didn’t go out of range.

Robbie and Jack tagged along, watching the shiny copter cut through the air.  They noticed other people watching too.  The copter had lights on it, but they weren’t really visible in the afternoon sun.  However, the sheer size of the copter made it quite eye-catching.

Kurt flew it for three minutes, then handed the controls off to Robbie.  “Don’t crash it into that playground!” he warned.

Robbie was out of breath from running around the park.  “I think I’ll keep it in this general area,” he said.  He experimented with the altitude joystick, raising the copter up and down, up and down, up and down.

Jack didn’t mind the break.  He watched what Robbie was doing for a minute.  Then, he glanced at the playground they stood next to.  It was a large playground, with two sets of equipment, swings, and four slides.  Several kids were on it now, most using the equipment.  One little girl who wasn’t caught Jack’s eye.  She was standing at one edge of the playground, bawling her brains out.

Often, crying kids on playgrounds annoyed Jack.  He’d been on them many times before, and he never cried.  He didn’t cry the time he fell off the swing.  He didn’t cry the time he slipped on the ladder.  He didn’t even cry the time he went down a large slide headfirst!  (Of course, that was because he’d been unconscious at the end of the run, but that doesn’t change the facts.)  As a result, he didn’t tend to look highly on other children who did cry.

For some reason, though, Jack found himself feeling sorry for the girl.  He wondered why.  Two minutes passed, and then, he figured it out.  At the end of two minutes, the girl was still sobbing, and no parent had come over to do anything about it.

That was something else Jack didn’t like.  Inattentive parents.  His own parents, when he was younger, had always made sure he wasn’t hurting himself or getting into trouble on playgrounds.  Such was not always the case with other kids.  Jack had seen too many get in trouble mainly because their parent wasn’t around or wasn’t paying attention.  That seemed to be what was going on here, so Jack decided to step in.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, going over to the girl.  She looked up at him, and he guessed her to be about a year younger than his little sister.  Tears still filling her blue eyes, she sniffed.

“I can’t find my mommy,” she whined.

Now, Jack really felt sorry for her.  “Would you like me to help find her?” he asked.

The girl thought a minute, then nodded.

“Okay.”  Jack thought about asking for a description but decided against it.  The girl’s mother was somewhere around, and she should be able to identify her easily enough.  “Where did you last see your mother?” he asked.

“She was sitting over on that bench,” said the girl, between sniffs.  “When I looked over just now, she wasn’t there.”

“She probably got up to stretch her legs,” said Jack, leading the girl over to the bench.  It was empty, except for—

“Is this your mother’s purse?” he asked.

The girl nodded.

“Well, then she can’t be far away.  Look all around.  Do you see her?”

The girl looked around.  There were three moms (too few for so many kids on the playground, Jack thought) standing around, but the girl didn’t appear to recognize any of them.  “I don’t see her,” she said, before sobbing again.

Jack looked around.  The bench with the purse on it was at the edge of the playground.  Behind it, there was a strip of grass for about twenty feet before a sidewalk next to a busy street.  To Jack’s left, bushes screened a fence which spelled the edge of the park.  That left only two directions to search.

“Your mother must have wandered down that way or that way,” he said, pointing the other two directions.  “Want to go check?” the girl nodded.

“Robbie, land that copter!” called Jack.  “I’ll fly it soon, but right now, I need to help this girl find her mother.”

“What?” called Robbie, still staring at the helicopter.  “I’ll explain,” said Kurt.  “You go ahead.”

Jack and the girl walked down the path the boys had followed to get to the playground.  This path led all the way around the park, and Jack waited for the girl to identify someone as her mother.

But when they got back to the playground, the girl still hadn’t spotted anybody.  Jack looked down at her, trying to keep a worried look from crossing his face.  “So you didn’t see her.  Is she at the playground now?”

“No,” said the girl, looking around.  She started to cry again.

“Wait right here,” said Jack.  He ran back over to the bench and checked.  Yes, the purse was still there.

A mother might forget her purse, thought Jack, but she wouldn’t forget her daughter too.  He rushed over to Kurt and Robbie.

“Keep an eye on that girl,” he instructed them.  “I’m going to go find a phone.  Her mother’s disappeared!”

[Tune in next week for part 2 of “Trouble in the Park”!]

Trouble on a Bus

“Where is it?” said Kurt, glancing at his watch.  “They don’t usually take this long.”

Kurt Morris, along with his friends Jack Barnes and Robbie Ransom, were waiting for a bus.  It was just one of the buses that took people around Tacoma, not a charter bus or anything spiffy like that.

“Sometimes they do,” said Robbie.  “Just be patient.  Before you know it—oh, there it is!”

The bus was visible down the street and would be at the stop within ten seconds.

“Good,” said Jack.  “I wonder how crowded it will be.”

The noisy bus trundled up to the curb and stopped with a squeak.  The doors open, and the boys waited for two people to get out.  Then, they climbed the stairs onto the bus and looked for a seat.  The bus happened to be very crowded, but Jack and Robbie found two adjacent seats in the middle of the bus.  Kurt took a seat behind them, next to some guy reading a newspaper.  When the driver saw that they were all seated, he started the bus moving again.

“This’ll be great,” said Kurt, sitting back in his seat.  “Wait until you guys see the helicopter we’re going to buy.”

Robbie laughed.  “You make it sound like we’re going to buy a real one instead of just going to the toy store.”

“This isn’t just going to the toy store, Robbie.  The copter I’m getting is sensational!”  Kurt had been saving up for quite a while to buy this.  “It’s got a built in gyroscope to keep it level while it flies.  The range is 150 feet, the blades are 15.2 inches long, and it lights up!  This is going to be fun!”

“And where do you propose to fly this thing?” said Jack.  “You’re yard doesn’t have enough space for it.”

Kurt wasn’t letting a little detail like that bother him.  “That park near my house has enough room—”

“Provided you don’t drop it in the lake,” cut in Robbie.

“—and my uncle’s farm east of here has even more room.  If you guys are going to be such sourpusses about it, maybe I won’t let you fly it.”

“Sourpuss?  Me?” said Jack.  “I think it’s a great idea!  Don’t you Robbie?”

“Uh—yes!  Yes, of course!”

“Very convincing,” said Kurt, wryly.  “Keep in mind, I didn’t have to bring you two with me.  It was risky enough inviting you, Jack.  What if Emma had found out?”

“That would’ve been trouble,” agreed Jack.  Emma was Jack’s little sister, five years younger, who would have loved to come along to the toy store.  She didn’t quite share the boys’ interests when it came to toys, though.  Jack and his friends didn’t want to spend an hour escorting her around all her favorite sections, so they had kept their trip a secret, not mentioning a thing about it when they were at Jack’s house that morning.  Jack thought Emma might have figured out something was up, but she didn’t figure out exactly what, for she didn’t beg to go along when the boys left.

“Cloudy,” commented Robbie.  “Looks like it’ll rain again today.”

“That reminds me of those windows at Miss Hodges’s house,” said Jack.  “Remember, the basement one didn’t close all the way?  A lot of water must pour in when it rains.”

“I don’t think that house had the best upkeep,” said Kurt.

“I wonder when we’ll get another mystery to solve,” said Robbie.

“No idea,” said Jack, “but we’ve done well so far.  I’m sure one will come along sooner or later.”

“Definitely,” said Kurt.  “They’re all around, just waiting for us to find them.  This guy on my left, for instance, might be a desperate criminal.”  He laughed.

The man on Kurt’s left did not laugh.  He put down the newspaper and gave Kurt a sour glare.  Suddenly, Kurt felt something round and metal nudge his side.  He stopped laughing and glanced down.

It was the barrel of a pistol!

“Trying to be funny, are you?” the man remarked.  “Don’t say a word.  You two keep quiet too!” he said to Jack and Robbie, who had turned around, “or your friend will never get off this bus.”

Kurt gulped.  He, Jack, and Robbie were at a loss for words.  None of the three had any idea who this man was, but from the looks of things, he meant business.

The bus arrived at the stop in front of the toy store.  Robbie spoke up.  “Um, this is our stop.”

The man flicked a glance out the window.  “Not today.”

The doors shut, and the bus drove on.  The man didn’t say another word until the bus came neared a stop near a secluded area of the waterfront.  No one usually used this stop, so the bus driver usually just kept going.  Not today.  The man with the gun reached up and yanked the cord for the bus to stop.

It did.  “This is where we get off,” hissed the man.  “You two in front stay in sight, or your friend won’t have anymore sight.”

“What a nice thought,” thought Jack, glumly standing up.  Robbie did the same.  The three boys trooped off the bus and watched in silence as it pulled away.  There were several cars on the road, but none of their occupants realized what was going on with the small group of four.

“Walk straight along the side of that warehouse,” said the man, motioning to a boarded-up warehouse building.  The three boys reluctantly complied.  Jack didn’t like how quiet it got as they got farther from the road.

They came to the edge, and the man made them turn a corner.  Now, they were completely hidden from the road.  Facing the group was a large wharf, with water lapping at the edge of it.  The three boys stared down into the water below.

“Keep looking at the water, and it won’t be as bad,” said the man.

“What won’t be as bad?” asked Robbie.

Jack had a sinking feeling he knew what was going on.  “Are you planning to shoot us?”

There was no spoken answer, just a click.  An ominous pause followed.  And then—

“Drop that gun or we’ll shoot!” came a voice.  The boys whirled around, as did their captor, who now found himself staring right at two police officers.  They were both armed, guns trained on the man, who dropped his in turn.

“Well, if it isn’t Walker Weatherford,” said one of the officers.  “When did you get out?”

Weatherford glared at the police.

“I always suspected you used this spot, Weatherford.  Now, we’ve got proof.”  The officer stepped forward and handcuffed Weatherford, who was still silent.

Meanwhile, the other officer spoke to the boys.  “This is not a good area of town, kids.  You all had better avoid it from now on.”

“Of course!” said Robbie.  “Do you really think we’d go back here on our own accord?”

“That was too close!” said Jack.  “How did you ever find us?”

“We almost didn’t,” said the officer, whose badge identified him as Williams.  “Sanders and I were out on patrol.  We were just cruising down the street when suddenly, this girl waved at us to stop.”

“A girl waved at you to stop?” said Jack.  “But who could—oh, no!”

Oh, yes.  A familiar figure had appeared behind the officers.  “Hi, Jack.”

“Emma!  How did you get here?”

“I was wondering why you all wouldn’t say where you were going,” said Emma, “so I followed the bus.”

“On foot?!”

“No, silly.  In a taxi, of course.”

“You took a taxi!  To follow us!  You mean you hired it all by yourself?”

Emma nodded, a big grin on her face.  “Mom left her purse on the table.”

“And you took it,” Jack said.  “Oh, come here.”  He could have given her a lecture, but since she’d gotten the police, he decided a nice, big hug would be better.