[If you missed Part 1 last
week, you might want to go back and read that first. Enjoy!]
The fact that the
footsteps had followed Jack and Emma onto the side street proved that someone
(at least) was following them. In the
still night air, they sounded far too loud in Jack’s ears. Gripping his sister’s hand for dear life, he
and Emma ran through the slush.
At that moment, Jack
realized he didn’t know exactly where they were. He’d been so obsessed with calming Emma down,
he’d stopped paying attention—not a great thing to do at night. He looked around quickly for any sign of a
clue.
Suddenly, he and Emma ran
out onto a wide street, lit by rows of streetlights up and down. Jack looked around. Ah, of course. He knew this street. It bordered his neighborhood and an old
business district. Right across from
them was a large, rambling old warehouse building that had been out of business
for goodness knows how long.
No cars were coming, so
Jack led Emma across the street. Now, if
whoever was behind persisted in following, Jack would be able to get a look at
them. He turned to see whether pursuit
would continue.
It did, and the look Jack
got didn’t serve to put him at ease at all.
He and Emma were being pursued by two men, both dressed in black. They still had not spoken; in fact, no one
had said anything above a whisper during the chase. Right then, that changed as Emma let out a
scream!
Jack looked at his sister,
afraid that something had happened to her.
She was fine, but she had gotten a look at their pursuers to, and now
she knew why Jack had wanted her to run.
“Shh!” hissed Jack. “We’ll fool them.” They reached the other side of the street,
with Jack just barely remembering to jump the curb. Instead of turning, though, he led Emma
straight onto the slush-covered parking lot.
She slipped on something, but he kept her up, and they continued
running, not stopping until they’d reached the side of the building.
“There should be a broken
window here some—in here!” Jack whispered, dragging Emma through. The window had broken so long ago that no
glass was left in it, which meant Emma did not cut herself on the way in. They landed—thud—on the floor, which was a little lower than the parking lot
outside.
“Now get away from the window!”
ordered Jack. They were in a large, open
room, and he led Emma across it. Their
footsteps echoed eerily across the abandoned factory. When they were about halfway across the
floor, their pursuers jumped through the window as well. Jack dragged Emma behind a piece of
machinery, and they stopped.
Trying to breathe as
quietly as possible, Jack peered around the edge of the machine. He could just make out the two men looking
around, curiously.
“Where are they?” said
one.
“They can’t have gone
far,” said another. “They must be hiding
in here somewhere.”
“Find them,” said the
first. “We can’t let that boy spill our
plans.”
“What plans?” thought
Jack. He didn’t know of anything he
could spill. Life had been far too
boring for him lately to have anything to reveal.
Fortunately, it was dark
enough that by the time either of the men thought to look behind the machine,
Jack and Emma would be able to sneak off somewhere else to hide.
Aaah-choo!
Emma picked the worst
possible time to sneeze. “Over there!” shouted
one of the men, and they took off running.
So did Jack and Emma, who sprinted for a door at the side of the
room. They got to it, opened it, and
darted out.
They found themselves in a
short hallway that extended to the left of the door. Jack looked for a way outside but didn’t see
one, so he led Emma all the way down the hallway. At the end, there was a door to the
left. Jack opened it and found himself
back in the room they’d just come from!
The two men were, at the
same moment, darting through the door Jack had entered the hallway on. “Come on!” said Jack, dragging Emma
through. They darted back the way they’d
come.
BAM!!! Jack thudded into an old
furnace.
“Jack!” shouted Emma!
Stars flew around Jack’s
head. He struggled back to his feet and
tottered around for a second. “I’m
alright,” he said. Where was the window? Dizzy,
Jack couldn’t make it out.
“There they are!” came a
voice from the pursuit.
Jack looked. The men had charged out and were gaining on
him and Emma fast. “Up here!” said Jack,
pointing to a metal staircase to the left.
Emma darted up first, with Jack following.
The staircase led to an
old catwalk that ran around the room.
Emma ran down it, with Jack right behind. “There’s probably another way down,” he
whispered to his sister. “We’ll just—”
At that moment, the
catwalk tilted alarmingly to the left!
Jack grabbed for the railing just as part of the structure came off the
wall. Swiveling out into space, Jack
heard Emma scream!
“Emma!” he called. Suddenly, something grabbed his leg. He looked down. It was Emma.
She now hung on to him as he clung desperately to the catwalk. Apparently, the upper bolts holding it to the
wall had given way. How strong the lower
ones were, Jack didn’t know.
The two pursuers,
meanwhile, had stopped at the top of the old staircase. A flashlight turned on and trained itself
right on Jack, who was momentarily blinded by the sudden light.
“Ha! We’ve got him!” said a voice. “Where’s the other one?”
If the men had thought to
aim the flashlight down a little bit, they would have found out. However—
“Who cares,” said the
other. “This is the one we want,
anyway.”
“You won’t escape us now,
Charlie!”
Charlie? thought
Jack. They had the wrong person! He wondered what they wanted Charlie for.
“What should we do with
him?” said the first man.
“I don’t know,” said the
other. “He looks stuck. We could go down and wait for him to drop
off.”
Speaking of dropping off,
the grip around Jack’s ankle suddenly ceased.
He started to yell, “Emma!” but checked himself. Instead, he looked down.
He couldn’t see
anything. The darkness was almost worse
than knowing what might be further down.
“That’s a good idea,” said
the first. “Then, it would just be an
accident. Our hands would be free of the
matter.”
“You won’t tell anybody
anything, Charlie!” said the other, laughing.
The flashlight beam moved away, and there was squeaking as the men
headed down the staircase.
Then, it happened. The railing jerked. Apparently, the lower bolts weren’t any too
strong, either. There was a creak, a
groan, and—
Jack let go, deciding to
try his chances with the drop. He landed
hard on the cement floor down below. A
sharp pain shot through his ankle. He
looked around for Emma, but didn’t see her.
Then, there was a loud
noise above. With his good foot, Jack
hopped out of the way and just missed the heavy iron catwalk falling on
him. To his right, the flashlight
dropped, and there were loud shouts. The
staircase had been dragged down too!
So, three wounded, and one
missing in action. Where was Emma? Jack hoped she wasn’t under the misshapen
pile of metal in front of him. He
couldn’t leave without knowing where she was, though.
That furnace! Jack snuck over to it, found a large opening,
and crawled in. Unlike its working days,
the structure was quite cold and even a little damp. He peered out to see what was happening at
the old staircase.
Clang! A piece of metal moved,
and someone stood up. “Ed! Ed!”
No answer. “He’s out,” said the
voice. Then, the standing figure
moved. One of his arms hung at his side,
limp. He was also limping, though not
too badly. However, he began staggering
over towards the furnace!
Jack crawled out and
hobbled behind the furnace. Reaching
around, he found a large piece of metal.
Rearing back his arm, he threw it across the factory. It clattered noisily at the other end.
“Ah-ha,” said the
crook. “So you’re over there, are
you? Take that!” Two gunshots went off. Jack’s heart leapt into his throat, as he
realized Emma might be over there. Where
was she?
At any rate, the man
started over towards the spot. Jack
crawled over to the old catwalk and found another large piece of metal. He grabbed it and stood. His ankle hurt, but it held. Apparently, it wasn’t broken. He limped across the floor, towards the man
with the flashlight.
“Where is he,” said the
man, not realizing Jack was almost behind him.
He reached the man and—
Just as the man was
bending over, Jack brought the piece of metal down. Instead of catching the man in the head,
though, it caught him squarely in the back.
“Oww!” shouted the man, his good arm going over towards his back. Jack started to hop away, then swung
again. He caught the man squarely in the
hand, and the his gun dropped onto the floor.
The man turned. In the dim light, he saw Jack. “So, you want to fight, do you?” he said.
Actually, Jack didn’t much
feel like fighting. He had preferred the
ambush, but it hadn’t worked. He got an
idea, though. There was still no
movement where the other man was lying; he was still out. If Jack could just find that window, he could
lure the man out and away from Emma, wherever she was.
Jack ran for the side of
the building. He got there and felt the
windows. Which one was—ah, this one was
out. Jack climbed through and
instinctively ducked when he got out. It
was none too soon, for two shots went flying over his head.
Trying to get up, Jack
slipped in the slush. He finally pulled
himself to his feet, and he flattened himself against the brick wall. He would have tried making a run for it, but
there were too many windows on the side of the building.
At that moment, two new
lights joined the mix—one red, one blue.
They were moving, too. A police
car!
The welcome sight skidded
to a stop, and two men jumped out. They
started towards the building. Ducking,
Jack ran along the side.
Soon, the police saw
him. “Stop, or we’ll—oh, it’s you Jack.”
“Officer Williams!” Jack
exclaimed. “Careful, there are two men
in there! One’s unconscious, but the
other has a gun. Emma’s in there too, so
you’d better be—”
“I’m right here, Jack!”
called Emma, waving from the police car.
“Stand back,” called
Williams, pushing Jack behind him. “Alright
in there! Come out! We’ve got you!”
“Come in and get me,”
called Hassler. At that moment, three
more police cars pulled up, and Jack saw some lights from the other end of the
building.
“I think his arm’s hurt,”
said Jack.
“Don’t worry,” said Williams. “We’ll get him out. Hassler!
I’m warning you!”
“Hassler?” said Jack.
“A wanted criminal,” said
Williams. “Some kid named Charlie Harris
came by our office today with some interesting information on him. Now, we’ve got what we need to pick him up.” Raising his voice, “You’d better come out
now, Hassler.”
No response.
“Alright! You asked for it,” said Williams, reaching
into his pocket and pulling out a small object.
He lobbed it through an empty window, and Jack heard a hissing sound. Tear gas!
It took a couple more tear
gas bombs, but Hassler eventually came out, where he was quickly apprehended
and taken down to the police station for whatever crime he’d committed. His partner, once the tear gas had cleared,
was retrieved from the building. He had
no bones broken; he was just unconscious.
Hassler’s arm, on the other hand, would be in a sling for a while.
Meanwhile, Jack had a big
hug waiting for Emma. “I was so worried
when you let go of my leg!”
“The ground was right
under my foot,” said Emma, “and I decided to go get help. Sorry I left you in there alone.”
“I’m glad you did,” said
Jack. “That was a brave thing you did,
getting help. I couldn’t ask for a
better sister.”
