Chapter 30: Farewell, Purple Porcupine!

Once everyone was safely out of the subway, Frank didn’t waste any time radioing Zach their location.  “Get over here on the double,” he told his friend.  “Then, we’re off to the police station.”

In a town with few streetlights, Zach showed up in a minute, and in the same amount of time, the seven showed up at the police station.  There, they burst in and told the bewildered officers their story.  Anadarko’s police force seemed skeptical at first, but a call to their Oklahoma City counterparts quickly confirmed the kids’ story.  One of the older officers, whose nameplate identified him as Duensing, grew quite excited upon hearing the news.

“I used to work for Boeing in the ‘70s,” he explained.  “I know those tunnels like the back of my hand,” and he quickly wrote out a list of all the exits.  In additions to the ones at the stations, the ones at the yard, and the crash simulation exit, there were a few others the Andersons hadn’t heard about.  Anadarko didn’t have a lot of crime problems, and Chief Bryant soon had every traffic cop in town on the case—as well as the Caddo County Sheriff’s Office and whatever Oklahoma State Highway Patrolmen happened to be in the area.

Once the group was assembled, Duensing helped the officers map out a plan, which was promptly put into effect.  Each entrance to the base was covered.  Then, no effort was made to go in after the men.  Instead, the tunnels were filled with tear gas—not a deadly amount, but enough to make anyone down below mighty uncomfortable.

Struggling to see, desperate to escape, most of the criminals surrendered right away.  The lone holdout was Garrett, and after several minutes of waiting, a few of the officers donned gas masks and went in after him.  They found him lying on the platform of the Broadway and 1^st Street station, gasping for breath.  The gas was only part of his problem—he was choking with rage at his helplessness.

“What happened?” he finally barked, after the officers had dragged him out of the tunnel.  “Where did I make a mistake?”

“When you stole your first car,” Frank replied.  “From then on, the law was against you—and they weren’t going to stop searching until they’d had you trapped, like they do now.”

Garrett’s only response was a glare as he was unceremoniously dumped in the back of one of the Anadarko cop cars.

“No air conditioning,” laughed the officer, as he got inside, “but we’ll have that fixed next week.  Maybe when they take you to McAlester, it’ll be a little more comfortable, Garrett!”

Naturally, the Andersons and their friends had to stick around and answer a lot of questions for the police.  By the time they got back to Norman, it was very late, and all any of them wanted to do was sleep.  The next day, though, they all met for lunch at the Braum’s on Porter Avenue, where Frank succeeded in snagging the corner booth.  Everyone showed up, including Brittany and Auburn, who weren’t going back to Blackwell until later.

“Dad called from work this morning,” Frank said, as he gleefully licked his cookies and cream ice cream cone.  “He said they’ve recovered most of the cars.  They all look a little different now, but only a few have actually been sold, and they’ve got a record of each.  The police also have found all the other car dealerships the stolen automobiles were taken to.”

“I’m just glad you got Stephanie back,” Ashley said, giving her older sister a hug.  “I missed you terribly,” she told her.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t realize Brittany had been kidnapped when you went and checked out the subway stop!” Nancy told the older girl.

Stephanie laughed.  “Well, I learned it soon enough—but it didn’t do me any good at the time.  Thank you all so much for rescuing me.”

“What are they going to do with that subway, now that the car thieves have been rooted out?” Auburn asked.

Frank shrugged.  “I don’t suppose they know yet.  What they should do, though, is turn it into a trolley/subway museum.  It would be perfect for that.”

“You mean like they have in El Reno?” Nancy asked.

“Sort of,” her brother responded, “except that one’s not underground.  This one’s already got its own route, its own stations—even six vehicles—”

“Five of which are in running order,” pointed out Ashley.  “That sixth one got a little smashed up—”

“At least it passed its crash test, though,” Nancy said.  “When it mattered.”

“Actually, it didn’t,” said Frank.  “I overheard Duensing talking about it to one of the other cops.  He said the front of the cab caved in a little too much—”

“Who cares how much it caved in?!” Nancy exclaimed.  “Once Ashley and I got untied, we moved deep enough into the coach that we came out of it with just a couple scratches.  As far as we’re concerned, it passed!”

“Your support is heartwarming but not convincing enough for the Department of Transportation,” said Frank.  “I’m glad you enjoyed your ride, though.”

“Enjoyed it?!”  Nancy was indignant.  “That was one of the scariest moments of my life!”

“The scariest?” Auburn asked.

Nancy shrugged.  “I don’t know—I’ve had a lot of them ever since I started solving cases.  If I didn’t have God protecting me, I’d have had a nervous breakdown long ago.”

“You still might,” said Frank, mischievously.  He ducked a napkin thrown his way.

Auburn changed the subject.  “You know what else they should make a museum?” she said.  “Rudolph’s Auto Shop.  Well, maybe not make it a museum, but that guy’s art deserves to be displayed—”

“I’m way ahead of you on that,” Frank told her.  “One of the reporters for Fox 25 goes to our church—Nancy and I are pretty good friends with her—”

“Oh, Mrs. Saunders,” said Stephanie.  “Yes, I know who you’re talking about!”

“Yes, well this morning, before we came over here, I gave her a call and told her about Krause.  She’s planning to go visit him and do a special interest story on his art.  I don’t know exactly what will happen after that, but that should drum up demand for his creations at least.”

“Oh, I’m so happy for him,” Ashley said.  “Those were pretty good.  He deserves a reward.  Oh, and speaking of rewards, Ashley and I got you all some little somethings…”

“Aw, you shouldn’t have,” said Frank.

Ashley gave a wave of her hand.  “You guys saved our lives—it’s the least we could do.  Once we have more time, we’ll probably have something bigger for you all, but for now…”  She passed three envelopes around—one for Frank, one for Nancy, and one for Auburn.  Each of the recipients opened theirs at once, but Nancy was the first to see what was inside—

“A Subway gift card?”

“Good for twenty dollars,” laughed Ashley.  “It seemed appropriate, after this case.”

“Very appropriate,” said Frank.  “With all the confusion we had over that clue…it’s just like one of those old radio detective shows—”

“The Shadow knows!” boomed a voice, followed by a creepy laugh.  Grinning, Auburn held up her recorder.

“You know,” she said, “I think I’m really turning into a Shadow fan.  The stories are really neat, and often, they’re funny—especially people hear the Shadow’s voice, and they think it’s coming from a statue, or something—”

“Yes, those are some of the best!” agreed Frank.  “You know, for another funny one, you ought to listen to Boston Blackie.”

“What’s that about?” Auburn asked.

“Blackie’s an ex-safecracker who’s on the right side of the law now,” Frank told her.  “However, Inspector Faraday of the local police department always makes him his number one suspect—despite the fact that Blackie never does anything illegal in the shows.  There’s always some funny remark on the show—usually when he’s talking to Faraday.  I remember one where he walked into a hotel room and said ‘I’d like to speak to—well, Inspector Faraday!  I would not like to speak to you!’

“Then, there’s another one where he called Inspector Faraday and said, ‘I have the case you’re working on solved for you already.’

“‘Oh, you have, have you?’ Faraday replied.  ‘Well, what makes you think you’ve solved it, and how did you even know I was working on a case?’

“‘Oh, I didn’t say you were working, pal—I don’t expect miracles.’”

“Ooh, that’s rough!” laughed Auburn.  “What wordplay!”

“I’ll say!” said Frank.  “One of the best ones was this Christmas episode where these thugs wanted this really tough guy dressed up as Santa Claus to take Blackie to an alley and bump him off.  To make it look more realistic, they told Blackie to sing ‘Jingle Bells’ on his way there.  However, the thug didn’t speak any English, so Blackie just changed the words—without him realizing it!”

“Oh, how funny!” Auburn laughed.  “How did the new version go?”

“Let’s see,” Frank thought a moment.  “‘Give me help, I can’t yelp, but I’m on a spot.  Where we’ll go, I don’t know, but I know I’ll be sho—ot!  When I pass, jump him fast, oh listen to my squawk.  I have to sing this silly thing ‘cause he’ll kill me if I talk.  What you speak to him is Greek; he doesn’t know a thing.  So that’s why I must pass you by and let you hear me speak.’”

“And he thought that was Jingle Bells?”  Ashley couldn’t stop laughing.  “That sounds nothing like it!”

“I should definitely check that out!” agreed Auburn.  “Are there any other good ones?”

“Oh, there’s tons of them!” said Frank.  “There’s Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar—about ‘the man with the action-packed expense account, America’s fabulous, free-lance insurance investigator!’  The show’s narrated by him going through his expense account, then elaborating on all the different things he has to buy over the course of the case.  It’s actually really, really good!  He’s pretty clever, and he solves some difficult cases.”

“Dollar spelled D-O-L-L-

“-A-R,” finished Frank.  “Then there’s Sam Spade—”

“Oh, that’s who The Maltese Falcon was about, right?” said Brittany.  “Humphrey Bogart?”

“Yes, but the shows are more light-hearted than the movie,” Frank said.  “Spade’s a really fast talker on the shows, and he has this ironic, sarcastic way of narrating the episodes—yet always upbeat.  One of the shows was actually called the ‘Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail Caper’—you should hear how much he confused his poor secretary when he was narrating the adventures to her.”

“With names like that, I’d have trouble taking him seriously,” Auburn responded.

“Philip Marlowe also has good sarcasm,” said Frank.  “He’s grumpier than a lot of the others, but the writers to that show were really good.  There was one episode where he was describing a fat suspect—‘He was five-foot-eight, whichever way you measured.’”

“Ouch!” said Stephanie.  “I don’t want to ever be described like that!”

Ashley stared at her older sister.  “You’re that only one way, and you’re invisible in the other direction!” she told her.  “You’ve got nothing to worry about!”

“Oh, and then there’s Nick Carter, Master Detective!” said Frank.  “He’s not witty, really, but his mysteries will keep you guessing, and they always have a lot of action.  I remember one where he posed as a prisoner, then made a daring prison break with a suspect he wanted to keep tabs on.  It involved them jumping off a bridge onto a train—”

“Kind of like what we did that time in West Virginia,”[1] Nancy said.  Noticing puzzled looks from the rest, she said, “Remind me to tell you about that sometime.”

“And, of course, let’s not forget the Sherlock Holmes radio show,” Frank said.  “Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce—the guys that really personified the role in the movies—also did it on radio for a while.  They were both really good, obviously.”

“So many to try,” Auburn said, writing the names down on a napkin.  “These’ll keep me busy for hours.”

“Speaking of hours,” said Brittany, “it’ll take us at least two to get back to Blackwell.  We probably ought to get going.  Remember, our parents haven’t seen us in days.”

“Have a safe trip!” Nancy told them.  “We’ll have to keep in touch!”

“Brittany’s really good at writing letters—” Stephanie began.

“Yes, we’ve noticed,” said Frank.  “While we were investigating your disappearance.”  He smiled at the Blackwellers.  “Do come and visit sometime, though.  It’s not every day we get to meet the Purple Porcupine!”

THE END

---

[1] As detailed in First Adventure, Book 1 in this series.

Chapter 29: The End of the Line

“What’ll we do?” asked Auburn.  “Run for it?”

Frank shook his head.  “We’re too far down the tunnel for that,” he said.  “We might make it, but it’s risky.  There’s got to be another way out.  If they did rescue practices, then there must be—”   He shone his light at the ceiling.

“Look!” he said.  “Ladders!”

There were two of them—steel rungs leading up to trapdoors a full two stories above the track.  That was great.  The only bad part was, the ladders didn’t start until about seven feet off the ground.

“That’s quite a reach,” Auburn said.  “I can’t go that high—”

“You won’t have to,” said Frank.  “None of us will have to.”  He glanced over his shoulder.  The train was coming again—it looked a lot closer now.  The little rays of light at the edge of the main spots was showing.

“Stephanie, Brittany, you two lift us up,” Frank said.  “Auburn and I will each grab one of the ladders.  Then, you can grab a leg, and we’ll pull you up until you can catch the bottom rung.  Can you manage that?”

“Anything to get away from that!” Stephanie glanced back up the tunnel.  “Let’s go!”

Frank took position under the ladder, then squatted.  As Stephanie hoisted, he pushed off the ground with his legs.  This vaulted him all the way up to the third rung, and Stephanie nearly had to jump to reach his leg.  Soon, she too was safely on the ladder.  Frank sprinted up, then pushed.  The door had a latch, but a spring where the knob should have been clicked it open, and he was soon climbing through to the floor above.  Moving over, he waited for the oldest Dale girl, then lent her a hand as she clambered out.

“Two down, two to go…”

Frank’s voice trailed off as he saw the other trapdoor.  It was exactly the same as the one he’d just come through, except for one small detail—a detail that wasn’t even part of the door itself, but one that made all the difference in the world.

There was a forklift parked on it!

“Oh, no!” Frank sprung into action.  “Push it, Stephanie, in case I can’t get it started!”  He leaped into the driver’s seat.

“Frank, the door won’t—”

“I’m working on it, Auburn!”  Frank found the ignition, and pushed a button.  The machine roared to life, and he quickly put it in gear.  It rolled forward, and he hopped out once it was off the square.  Kneeling, he turned the latch on the door, then started to pull the handle up.  Just as he did so, though—

“AAAUUUGGH!!!!”

The blood froze cold in his and Stephanie’s veins.  “Brittany!” Stephanie exclaimed.  “Did the train—”

“Couldn’t have yet,” said Frank.  “We’d have felt the impact, but something’s wrong!”  He jerked open the door, and the pair looked into the hatch, in time to see—

Auburn was still on the ladder, but Brittany had lost her grip and fallen off.  She was sitting on the tracks, staring horrified at the lights, which were getting really bright now.  The rumble from the tracks was getting louder—

“Be right there!” Auburn called up to Frank.  “Brittany, get up!  I’m coming down to get you!  You can grab for my leg again!”

“Hurry!” shouted Brittany.  “It’s almost here!”

As Auburn scampered down, Stephanie whispered to Frank.  “It won’t be enough if Brittany catches the ladder before the train hits.  That crash is liable to send some debris flying.  They’ve got to get through the door—”

“Pray, Stephanie, pray,” Frank told the girl.  To Brittany, he yelled, “Jump, Brittany!  You can do it!”

“She’s got my leg!” Auburn shouted.  “Okay, Brittany!  Grab the ladder when you can!”

Heaving determinedly, Auburn dragged her way up the ladder.  Every fiber in her arm muscles seemed to burn with tension, but she didn’t care about that.  All she cared about was getting up—getting to safety.  And when the hand came off her foot, she froze—but only for a moment, until she saw that Brittany had successfully caught the ladder.

“Hurry, guys, hurry!” said Frank.  “It’s like five seconds away!”

He was right, but Auburn was two seconds away from the top.  She sprung out, then swiveled around and helped the others catch Brittany.  They yanked the Conoco worker out, just as

CRASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

With the noise of a—of a—well, of a railway train crashing, the car slammed into the wall.  There was the creaking and groaning of metal, the sudden cutoff of the engine, the sound of little pieces of debris hitting the floor and walls of the tunnel—

Then, nothing.  Just stillness.

Frank, Auburn, and Stephanie all relaxed.  Brittany, however, looked worried.

“Uh, guys?” she said.  “Just before that train hit, I thought I saw a face through the window.”

“Face?” Frank asked.  “One of the crooks—”

“No, someone about Auburn’s age—in fact, it looked a little like you, Stephanie!”

Frank and Auburn glanced at each other.  “Nancy and Ashley!”

Quickly, the two scrambled back through the open trapdoor.  Hurriedly, they started down the ladder, until they’d reached the roof of the disabled train.  The first quarter of it or so had flattened itself against the wall, but the roof was pretty much intact beyond that.

“Watch out for the antenna,” Frank said, leaping onto the roof.  “It could kill you!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!”  Auburn scampered around the other side of it.

There was an emergency hatch on the roof of the train, and it was to this Frank now ran.  Skidding to a stop, he grabbed it and yanked it open.  “Nancy, Ashley!” he yelled.  “Are you alright?”

No answer.

“Nancy, Ashley!”

Again, no answer—for about five seconds.  Then—

“Oh, Ashley, there’s a roof hatch!  We didn’t need to break that window and squeeze our way up the wall after all!”

Ashley sighed.  “You picked the perfect time to tell me that—”

Frank glanced at the north wall of the tunnel, and a smile of relief came over his face.  “Nancy, you’re alright!”

“They said this car had failed four crash tests,” Nancy said, as she finally reached the roof.  She helped Ashley up, then headed over to the ladders.  “After its performance today, I’d give it an A for crash safety.  They must have fixed the problem.”

Chapter 28: Trapped in the Tunnel!

“So, this is what they meant by the Miller stop,” Frank said, as he and Auburn got out of the car.  “It’s not a street—it’s a movie theater!”

Yes, it was—but it wasn’t in good shape, that’s for sure!  The little, one-story, abandoned theater building stood on the corner of NW 2^nd and Main, its sign still proudly displayed atop a tower of rusted metal that shot up on the Main Street side.  With architecture of mostly cement, save for the brick center post holding up the entryway on the corner, the building wouldn’t have been much to look at.  However, a brilliant red sign adorned with lights wrapped around the corner above the door, its unfaded color making the empty spaces where the movie titles had once been seem emptier.  The glass doors at the front were locked securely, but the window on the 2^nd Street side had holes in them.  With slight encouragement from Frank, there was soon an opening large enough for him and Auburn to pass through.

“I’m already liking this theater better than Blackwell’s,” Auburn said.  “You did hear about that part of the story, right?”

“I’m not sure,” said Frank.  “Wait—there was some movie—”

“The Brotherhood Club met at the old Rivoli Theater in Blackwell,” said Auburn.  “Richards had his offices there, and he used the screen to show—well, I won’t tell you what he showed—it was too horrible.  Fake, fortunately, but too awful.  I still can’t walk in that place without hearing his voice.”

“Well, they’re not showing anything here,” Frank said, pushing open the door to the main room.  “Get a load of that theater!”

A few red, overstuffed theater chairs still stood, arranged in front of a screen that had managed to maintain its white color.  The chairs probably were still their original red, but a thick layer of dust covered all of them.  In some places, stuffing leaked out, indicating that theater maintenance had been declining before the place had finally been abandoned.  Something small scurried in a corner—Frank got his flashlight over in time to see a mouse run into a hole.

“I still like this better than the Rivoli,” Auburn said.  “Feels more comfortable, without him around.  Well, how do we get to the subway?”

“Simple!” Frank shone his light to the front of the room, until he found an “Employees Only” door on the left.  “The basement wasn’t for houseguests, so the stairs will probably be somewhere back there.  Come along, and watch your step!”

They hurried through the empty aisles, Frank glancing a few times at the screen and wondering how many John Wayne titles had seen their debut here.  Reaching the back, Frank pushed open the door, revealing—

“Oh, there’s the staircase,” he said.  “Don’t fall down it!”

“That’s the last thing I’d want to do,” said Auburn.

They started down the dingy cement steps until they reached the basement.  Here, Frank put the flashlight up and shone it around the room.  It was about the size of the theater, but bare for the most part—except for—

“Cool!” Frank said, studying the walls.  “Movie posters!”

A bunch of the classic posters from movies the building had shown hung around—Red River, Angels in the Outfield, I Was a Communist for the FBI, etc.  The brilliant cover art, the scenes of excitement and distress, and the long-forgotten names caused Frank to almost smell the popcorn, to almost hear the voices of the famous stars named on the wall—

“I don’t see a door or anything,” said Auburn.  “How do you suppose they’d have gotten in?”

“Oh, you’re right,” said Frank, shining the light around.  “I can’t see one either.  He shone the light at the staircase, thought a moment, then pointed to the far wall.  “If there is one, it should be on that side.”

Auburn looked over.  “Posters all the way across.  If there is one, it’ll be behind one.  The question is, which one?”

“I dunno,” Frank surveyed the posters.  “We’ll have to check all of them, I guess…unless—”

Suddenly, he ran over to a poster on the left, then started tapping it, about doorknob level.  All at once, there was a click, and the poster slid down into the ground—revealing a yawning black cavern!  Frank pointed eagerly ahead.

“That’s it!” he said.  “That must be the subway!”

“Nice work!” said Auburn, “but how did you know it was Godzilla?”

“Simple,” said Frank.  “There’s a scene in the original where the monster throws a subway train around.  Whoever put the poster here had a sense of humor—and knew their films.”  He waved a hand.  “Come on—let’s take a look around.”

Carefully, the two worked their way into the abyss, using their lights until they’d crossed the platform and come to the edge of the track.  Frank switched off his light and glanced up and down the tunnel, Auburn doing the same.

“Nothing coming,” Frank concluded.  “We should be good to go—I can’t even see a light, yet!”

“There won’t be anything coming,” Auburn stated, switching her light on.  “Not from that end.  Look!”

There, to the north, a bunch of automobiles were lined up in a row.  None of them had license plates, and none were in disrepair, but that didn’t stop the two from concluding that these must be some of the stolen lot.  “Nancy said as much when we went down,” Frank said.  “It looks like we made the right move.”

“Why don’t we turn our walkie-talkies on?” Auburn asked.

“Not until we know what’s going on,” Frank said.  “I don’t see anyone, but that doesn’t mean someone’s not taking a nap around here.  We’ll keep quiet until we find something.”  He consulted his map.  “That loop interests me.  I think we ought to search it.

“It seems to be just a bit south of us,” said Auburn, gesturing with her flashlight.  “We should reach it in a minute.”

“I see,” said Frank.  The two started slowly forward, no sound but their footsteps for the longest time.

“Here we are!” Auburn suddenly exclaimed, pointing with her light.  Frank moved his in the same direction, then flicked it off.

“Turn it out,” he whispered.  “Just in case anyone’s in the tunnel.”

The two started down the switch—a short loop that quickly reached the main track.  As they got closer, Frank sucked in his breath.  “Hey, it’s getting brighter!” he said.  “Someone’s coming—”

“What’s that rumbling?” Auburn just had time to ask.  Suddenly, a subway train flew by on the east-west track ahead!

Frank watched it go, then let out a sigh of relief.  “Whew, that was a close one!” he said.  Leaning out, he watched the taillights get slowly smaller and smaller.  “I guess they still use this track—”

“Frank, look!” said Auburn.  “The other way!”

Whirling around, Frank followed her gaze.  The red light lit the tunnel’s eastern end for several feet, but the very end of it was in darkness.

“What’d you see?” he asked her.

“Two figures,” Auburn said.  “Way down on the dead end of the tunnel.  And if I’m not mistaken, they were tied up—”

Frank switched on his light.  “You weren’t mistaken!” he said.  “Can you tell who they are?”

Auburn shook her head.  “Too far off!”

“Same here, but if they’re tied up, they’re probably friendly.  Let’s go help them—switch out your light, though.  We’ll put it on again once we get closer, and we’re sure no one else is around.”

The two turned their lights out, then broke into a run.  Flying through the darkness, they might have been expected to hit something.  However, the tunnel was built perfectly straight.  As long as they didn’t alter their course, they could get through it without any accidents.  Thus, they were almost at the wall before Frank flicked on his light again—

“Stephanie!” he exclaimed.

“Brittany!” Auburn called at the same time.

Both girls were tied and gagged against the wall—a wall Frank and Auburn now noticed was covered with black and yellow stripes, plus scratch marks.  Their friends looked worn out, thinner than usual, weak—but oh, so excited to see people they knew.  Hope went surging into their eyes as Frank and Auburn darted up.

“I’ve got a knife,” said Frank, reaching into his pocket.  “I’ll have you untied in just a second, Stephanie.  Auburn, do you need one, or—”

“I’ve got my own, thank you very much,” said Auburn.  “Brittany!  I’ve found you at last!”

“Took you long enough!” said Brittany, as her friend got the gag off.  “How did you discover the subway?  I didn’t even know about it until they took me here.”

“You can thank my friend Frank and his family for that.”  Auburn nodded at the oldest Anderson.  “His sister found the clue in Stephanie’s library book—”

“Which, I assume, is how you figured out where Brittany was,” Frank said, as he untied Ashley’s sister.

Stephanie took a deep breath before answering.  “Oh, it feels so good to get that gag off,” she said.  “Believe it or not, I didn’t even realize Brittany was missing until they threw me in here!  The day I disappeared, I got a letter from her about the car thieves.  She mentioned in it that the gang was working all over the state, and she thought that they must have some big, secret base where they were storing all the cars.  I’d been reading that Planes, Trains, and Automobiles book, and I instantly thought of Anadarko.  That night, I drove out here and decided to investigate...” Stephanie shook her head, meekly.  “Boy, was that a stupid move!  I guess I didn’t think about how hard it would be to slip into a criminal’s lair and investigate it without getting caught.  You can guess what happened next.”

“They caught you, tied you up, and forced you to tell how they found them?”

Stephanie grimaced.  “They were so rough—I didn’t know what to do.  I just answered all their questions…”

“…and that’s how they found out about the library book,” Frank said gravely.  “Well, it doesn’t matter now.  They stole your copy, but we found another one, and that’s how we found you two.  Ashley and Nancy are around—you’ll see them soon, I’m sure.  Right now, though, we’ve got to—what’s the matter?”

Stephanie’s face hadn’t had a whole lot of color in it to begin with, but what little there had been had vanished.  With a trembling finger, she pointed down the tunnel.  “Look!” she said.  “On the tracks!”

Frank and Auburn whirled around, then gasped.  Far off in the distance, two specks of light twinkled in the blackness.  They grew bigger and bigger as a subway car rushed over the rails, ready to smash them all against the wall!

Chapter 27: Captured!

Test car 4900 skittered over the rails, its 68 seats empty—except for 6.  These were filled with members of the auto gang, drunk early in the evening, singing some rock song as they skittered along the tracks.  The driver put his hand on the controls, trying to bring the thing to a stop at the Broadway and 1^st Station, but almost missing the platform.  Little did he notice, as he pulled in, the sullen figure standing on it waiting for them.

His cohorts did, though.  “Hey, it’s Garrett!” one of them yelled.  “Three cheers for Garrett!  Hip, hip, hooray!  Hip, hip, hooray!  Hip, hip, hooray!”

If Garrett was amused, he did a good job not showing it.  “Anyone heard from Mugs?” he barked, staring down at the figures who had gotten out (most of whom were shorter than his six-foot-two frame).  “Did he report?”

“He ain’t called since this afternoon,” one of the crooks belched.  “I think he was going to the city for something.”

“He should have called us long ago,” Garrett commented, as another man stepped out on the platform.  “What do you think, Vince?”

The outlaw who’d tussled with the Andersons shrugged his shoulders.  “Sounds like he might have gotten captured.”

“A shame,” said Garrett, his deep-set dark eyes glinting fiercely in his chubby, sour face.  “He was a good worker.  However, no matter.  Men like him are easily replaced.  Glad he never got a look at me.”  He addressed the other workers, who were joking with each other as they awaited his instructions.

“Alright!” he barked.  “Listen up!  Jerry’s getting back with the truck at eleven tonight.  He wants to deliver six cars to Ralph’s Auto Imports in Del City.  These’ll all be foreign makes.  I know we had four ready, but do you think we can have another two ready by tonight?”

The man who’d been driving the subway saluted.  “Got a BMW and a Mercedes almost ready to go.”

“Good—make that the priority,” said Garrett.  “Then, you boys get the rest of the night off.”

Cheering, the men piled back into their subway car.  “Hip, hip, hooray!  Hip, hip, hooray!  Hip, hip, hooray!” they shouted again.

Garrett watched sullenly as they rode off.  “Look at ‘em, Vince.  They look like schoolkids.  Ordinary, dumb schoolkids.  The type that’ll never do anything great in life.”

“Their only aspiration is their next buck,” said Vince.  “Give it to them, and they’ll be happy.”

“True, and they are quite convenient to me for that reason.  But me?  Me?  I’ve developed the world’s most foolproof car theft system!  Steal cars from all over the state.  Hack the police’s computers so we’ll know to avoid their decoys.  Ship our catches in with those color-changing moving vans, so no one will be able to follow.  Completely redesign the cars, so no one will recognize them.  Have them delivered to car dealerships who don’t know where the stuff is coming from.  Who could ask for a better plan than that?”

“It hasn’t been perfect, lately,” Vince wryly commented.  “Those kids are giving us trouble—”

“Not much trouble, though,” said Garrett.  “We’ve lost a couple car dealerships—so what?  Every navy’s lost some ships on the way to victory—that’s how to win a war!  One day, Vince, they won’t make a car in the U.S. that doesn’t come through this place at some point.  We’ll start raiding Texas, then Kansas, then Arkansas!  I’ll dominate the world car market!  They won’t sell a car without my permission!”

Vince looked skeptical.  “Bob was good riddance, and so was the other dealership, but no navy’s ever achieved world domination—”

“If I was a member, they would’ve,” said Garrett.  “I don’t like to brag, Vince, but I’m the smartest man in the world.  Who else would have come all the way to Anadarko and spent five years making sure I had undisputed claim to the property we’re standing in?  No one!  The great part about it is, almost no one knows it’s even here!  No one will ever stumble across our scheme—no one, no one, no one!”

The subway coach rattled back into the station, and the driver hopped out again.  This time, he didn’t look nearly so pleased.

“Hey, boss,” he said.  “We caught these two girls wandering around in the tunnel.  What do you want me to do with them?”

In the dim, orange lights that burned overhead, Nancy and Ashley appeared quite pale.  They stared in horror at Vince, who they recognized, but it was Garrett who had the more interesting expression.  He gaped at the girls, not believing that his secret hideout had been discovered.

“Hey, boss!” said Vince.  “It’s a couple of those kids!  Mugsy told me the boy had sisters.  This must be them—”

“So!!!” shouted Garrett.  “You try to come in here and mess with my plans?  Shame on you!  You shall soon feel the wrath of Paul Garrett!  No one messes with him and gets away with it!”

Running for their lives, Nancy and Ashley had barely made it to a sloping tunnel that ran down to the east-west line.  This tunnel had tracks, but the switch wasn’t set for it—Nancy and Ashley knew the train would miss them.  By that time, the headlight had shown Nancy that the switch wasn’t set for it, which meant the girls would be safe there.  They’d just clambered out and started back up the tracks when the subway car had started back.  This time, they had nowhere to hide.  The driver had seen them and stopped, but the men had immediately hopped out and trained their guns at the girls.  Both had gone down without a fight.

“I told you what you should’ve done,” complained Vince.  “Put up a few dead bodies, and no one else will dare—”

“No!” said Garrett.  “We will not have a murder charge.  I do not need to murder to perform my plans to the utmost.  I am Paul Garrett the great, Paul Garrett the awesome, Paul Garrett the brilliant!  I can overcome the law—and I certainly shall, without giving these girls a chance to talk the police.”

“No crook’s invincible,” Nancy tried weakly to bargain.  “You’d better give yourself up Garrett.  It’ll go easier on you that way.”

The man laughed uproariously, his voice echoing against the smoke-scarred walls of the empty cement station platform.  “Ha, ha, ha!  You ask me to give myself up—when you two are my prisoners!  Not on your life!  I must win—and you must lose!  That’s the way this game works!”

“There will be others, Garrett,” Nancy said.  “We found your hiding place easily enough.  We tracked you to the 1^st Street station and Broadway station, didn’t we—”

“You are in no position to bargain!” snarled Garrett.  “Not you, or your friend, or those two other girls—”

“Stephanie?” Ashley gasped.  “What’ve you done with her?”

Vince studied the girl.  “You know something, boss, I’ll bet that’s her sister!  She looks kind of like her, in the face.”

Garrett grinned evilly.  “She’s fine, for now—as is her friend—but they’re never coming out of here again.  Nor are you, for that matter.”

“Garrett, that’s ridiculous,” Vince said.  “We can’t keep them prisoners indefinitely.  One’s bound to get out sometime, and then they’ll talk.  I say we just finish them off—”

“For the last time, Vince, we are not going to—”  Garrett stopped and thought.  “Say, wait a minute!” he said, an evil grin spreading across his face.  “That might work—that just might—yes, I think I’ve got it!”

“What?” Vince asked.

“I have it—I have it—yes, it’s the bestest, most beautifulest plan in all the world, and the best part is, there’s no way the law can touch us—you want to see your sister again, don’t you?” he asked Ashley, his voice taking on that fake kindness tone that suggests evil far more than it implies sympathy.

The Dale girl wisely kept her mouth shut.

“Well, you will—along with your friend.  Tie ‘em up fellers, and send car 5005 here at once.”

“5005—oh, I see!”  Vince grinned wickedly.  “That’ll be a pleasure,” he said, walking over to an old-fashioned computer at one side of the station platform.  “I think I know what you’ve got up your sleeve, boss.”

As Nancy and Ashley were bound, Garrett explained his scheme.  “You were wondering where your friends were—well, I’ll tell you.  Directly below us, there’s a track that runs east-to-west.  On the eastern side, it ends in a wall.  Your friends are tied up against that wall, unable to escape.

“Meanwhile, subway car 5005 was Boeing’s—er, problem child.  It was a new design they were trying to develop—lightweight, flexible, and capable of going at faster speeds than its predecessors.  All these things it achieved, but it had one problem—collision safety.  No matter what Boeing did to it, they couldn’t get it to pass a collision test.  Four attempts failed, and they built it a fifth time before they finally abandoned the project.  You see where I’m going with this?”

Ashley didn’t, but Nancy cringed.  Garrett grinned at her.

“Yes, yes, I can see it in your face.  I’ll tell you the rest of it, just so there’s no misunderstanding.  The east-west track has a loop at the west end, so a car can run down it, turn around, then speed head-on into the east wall for the crash tests.  You two will be seated in the front of the car, so you’ll get to see your friends—one last time—before the car slams into the wall, you four are killed instantly, and any investigators chalk off the incident as an accident!  Not that there will ever be any investigators, because then, no one besides us will know this place exists.  What do you think?  Brilliant plan, huh?”

Ashley stared coldly at Garrett.  “You want me to scream, but I won’t,” she said, in a cool, even voice.  “I’ll simply remind you that you’ll never get away with this.  God knows what’s happening—”

“There is no God!” spat out Garrett.  “No greater power than the ablest human being—and I seem to be filling that category right now.  Don’t worry, missy.  You’ll scream once that wall comes running up at you, and you see your sister’s face frozen with fear.  Load ‘em in, men!” he yelled, as another coach with a Boeing scheme came rolling up.  “This one runs on remote control, so even if you get untied, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.  Good luck trying, though.  Hah, hah-hah, hah-hah-hah-hah!”

His laugh was still echoing through the tunnel as the subway coach pulled out of the station—destined for the end of the line.

Chapter 26: The Anadarko Subway

However, the trip to Anadarko didn’t happen right away.  The kids didn’t know when their next chance to eat would be, and Frank figured another hour or so wouldn’t hurt anything, so Zach drove around until he found the Chickasha Braum’s.  Everyone enjoyed burgers for dinner, but only Frank got an ice cream cone.  He was so excited, he didn’t finish.

“I’ve never seen you get full at this restaurant,” Nancy told her brother.

“It’s just—it’s exactly like the day of the big game,” Frank told his sister.  “In baseball, you have the playoff game—the chance to be the champion of whatever league you’re in.  You don’t get to that game without hard work, though—hard work that you’re successful at.  It’s the same sort of thing here.  After all the twists and turns, all the false leads, all the near misses, we’ve finally tracked down the gang!”

“Hopefully.”  Auburn took a sip of her root beer.  “Keep in mind, we still haven’t found them yet.  We don’t even know for sure that they’re—”

“Don’t say it!” said Ashley.  “I don’t even want to think about that possibility.”

“We’ll know soon enough,” Zach commented wryly.

“Also, there’s only five of us,” Ashley brought up.  “Who knows how many of them there are?  They might have four times as many people down there.  Plus, they’re all adults, so they’re going to be bigger and stronger than we are.”

“That’s why we’ll try to avoid running into them,” said Frank.  “Size and strength aren’t the only advantages, though.  God’s only on one side in this conflict, and you don’t really think it’s theirs, do you?”

In spite of the situation, Frank’s comment brought a smile from everybody, Ashley included.  She turned around in the booth, eyed a trash can about six feet away, and made a perfect throw to get rid of her burger wrapper.

“What are we waiting for?” she said.  “Let’s go!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This time, Frank gave Ashley the benefit of the front seat.  He joined Nancy and Auburn in the back, where the three started making preparations.

“There’s your walkie-talkie,” he said, handing one to Ashley.

“How many of those do you have in your closet?” Nancy looked up from some papers she was holding.

“I’m not sure,” her brother replied.  “At least ten.  One of these days, I’ll be able to start a walkie-talkie museum.”

Nancy laughed.  “You think anyone will come see it?”

“I’m sure people will,” Ashley spoke up.  “Keep in mind, people actually go see that art museum in Norman—and you’ve seen some of the stuff they have in there.”

“That’s a good point, Ashley…I would rather see Frank’s walkie-talkies, any day!”

“The only question is, where would I put it?” Frank mused.  “I suppose I’ll take over some abandoned building in Norman—perhaps the Justin-Credible Auto Care store, or that chapel that’s part of the abandoned mental hospital—”

“Didn’t you say we weren’t supposed to use them unless it was an emergency?” Auburn asked

“That’s right,” said Frank, “and—if at all possible—DO NOT let the crooks know we have them.  We’re going to split up, and if any of us are discovered, we need them to think they found everyone.  Walkie-talkies just imply that there are more people hanging around.”  He glanced over at the Blackwell girl.  “Got your voice recorder?”

Grinning, Auburn held it up.  “Fresh batteries!”

“Good.  Don’t use it unless it’s absolutely necessary, though.  Our job is to rescue Brittany and Stephanie; then, the police can do the rest of the work.  And speaking of getting down there—Nancy, let’s take a look at the map.”

His sister had made five copies of it in the library, which she’d then distributed to everyone in the car.  Zach had to keep his eyes on the road, but the other four studied it intently.

“Looks like there are pretty much two lines,” Nancy said.  “There’s one that starts up by Kansas Avenue, heads south down 1^st Street, circles west around Oklahoma Avenue, then runs north up 2^nd Street until it loops back over to 1^st at Kansas Street.  In the middle, there’s a line that runs east-west along Broadway Street, from 3^rd on the east to a loop around a park.”

“Got it,” said Frank.  “Question is, how do we get in?”

Nancy continued.  “The factory should be located here,” she said.  “North of the regular train station, by NE 2^nd and Market Streets.  On that spot is the yard where the subway trains were stored when not in use—”

“—and where a lot of the cars are probably stored,” said Frank.  “That’s probably one of the entrances.  Any others listed?”

“I’m not seeing any,” said Nancy.  “However, the stations are all on the map.  There’s 1^st and Broadway, Methodist, and Miller—”

“Sounds like street names,” said Frank.  “I’ll bet there’s an entrance at each of those sites.  Particularly if they were training rescue crews.  After all, a lot of train accidents happen at the stations.  They had to have some way of getting the crew in to help with trouble.”

“Which ones will we use?” said Nancy, “and how exactly are we going in?”

Frank held up his copy of the map.  “I think Zach ought to stay with the car,” he said.  “In the event of an emergency, we may need someone to go for help, and Zach’s the only one of us who can legally drive.”

“I’d love to go in with you,” Zach said, “but you’ve got a good point there.  Alright, I’ll stay, but the rest of you had better be careful.”

Auburn gave him a sarcastic grin.  “Did you expect us to be otherwise?”

“Cut the jokes,” Frank said.  “We’re getting closer.  Alright, now.  There should be an entrance right around the old plant, so some of us should go in there.  If Zach’s waiting outside, that leaves four of us, and I don’t want anyone going in alone.  However, I don’t think we should all go in together.  Two groups can find Brittany and Stephanie faster than any one group would.”

“I see,” said Nancy.  “Alright, who’s going in at the plant?”

“You know,” said Ashley, looking at her map, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Brittany’s hidden there.  I mean, if they’re just using the tunnels as a place to hide cars, the whole system’s probably not in use.  It makes sense that they’d keep her where they could get to her easily.  I’d kind of like to go in through the plant.”

“Alright,” said Nancy.  “I’ll go with you.  Frank, you and Auburn can slip in somewhere else—if that’s alright with Auburn.”

“Suits me fine,” said the girl.  “Which one will we go in by?”

“Let’s find Miller Station and go in there,” said Frank.  “Auburn and I will search the western half of the system—you girls will search the eastern half until we find some sign of our friends.”

Nancy was still looking at the map. “That Broadway extension looks funny.  I wonder why they only put a loop on one end of that line.”

“Beats me,” said Frank.  “Once the gang’s arrested, we can explore the tunnels to our hearts’ content.  Until then—let’s be careful.  The last thing we want is for any of them to catch us…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was still up when the Andersons reached Anadarko, but clouds covered the sky as they had all day.  This produced really strange lighting, with the sides of certain buildings standing out more brilliantly than usual while everything not in the line of the sun looked dull and gray.  On another night, Nancy might have tried for a photo—but this wasn’t another night.

Anadarko itself was nothing much to look at.  It was a small town, barely more than a mile across.  Like most Oklahoma towns, it had its downtown—crumbling, brick buildings that dated back to either statehood or the rebuild after the great fire (as in Ardmore’s case)—and its more modern section, where most of today’s commerce took place.  Its downtown, though, seemed to have more than its fair share of out-of-business stores.  Less than fifty percent of the buildings seemed to be operating, though the Andersons didn’t get much of a look at them.  They were too busy trying to find the corner of NE 2^nd and Market Streets.

“I love how straight these streets are,” Zach said, as he navigated the hot rod past some empty buildings.  “Too bad they’re not wider.  Ah, there’s Market,” he said, turning left.  “We should be seeing the plant any minute now.”

“It’s probably kind of a big building,” said Frank.  “Funny, I don’t see anything that looks like—”

“Wait a minute,” said Auburn.  “Look at that vacant lot—with the gravel on it.  See how big it is?  I’ll bet that’s where the building used to be.”

“It’s gone?” said Nancy.  “That’s not good.”

“Well, it’s not bad,” said Frank.  “That’s just the above-ground portion.  If that’s where it was, then the entrance must be somewhere—”

“Hey, look!” Ashley pointed at a nondescript stone building on the left.  Small and rectangular, the structure had lost all its paint, along with the glass in the windows.  Ashley noticed something else about it, though.

“See those blue smudges on that block up at the top?  That’s the Boeing logo!”

Frank focused on it.  “Goodness, you’re right!” he said.  “Stop the car, Zach!”

Nancy was already opening her door.  “I guess we’ll know soon whether this is the way in or not.”

Ashley led the way, darting towards the building like she was just going to burst inside.  She knew better, though.  Pausing at the door, she glanced in, then slipped inside.  Nancy followed close behind.

Once inside, things got a lot darker, and both girls hastily switched on their flashlights.  The interior was just as much of a ruin as the exterior.  Insulate was pouring out of the walls, tiles were falling off the ceiling, and debris covered the floor, as evidenced by Ashley’s flashlight beam—

“Look!” she suddenly exclaimed.  “A path!”

Nancy trained her light in the direction of her friend’s.  Sure enough, there was a little trail through the debris, where feet had obviously moved back and forth several times recently.  The girls shone their beams up the path, until they found a rusty, steel door in the wall.  Originally, it had possessed no handle, but a makeshift wooden one had been bolted on.

Cautiously, the two advanced forward, until they’d reached it.  Nancy placed her hand on it, then looked at her friend.  “Say a little prayer,” she told Ashley.  “Alright, here goes!”

Jerking it open, she shone her beam into the abyss.

“Whoa, cool!” said Ashley.  “A spiral staircase!”

“Rusty,” commented Nancy, shining her light on the handle.  “I wouldn’t want to slide down that one.”

“I would—”

“That’s not a good idea, Ashley.  We’d better just walk.”  Nancy led the way, going slowly so as to keep creaks to a minimum.  Her voice echoed weirdly in the hollow chamber.

“I’m glad there aren’t any lights on,” she continued, whispering.  “If someone were down here, they probably wouldn’t be in the dark.  We should have this place all to ourselves, for now.”

The descent seemed interminably long, though it was less than a minute before Nancy reached the bottom.  Ashley was right behind her.  The girls gave each other a look, then boldly swung their lights ahead—

“Oh, my goodness!” Nancy explained.  Hastily, she pulled out her walkie-talkie.  “Frank, this is it!” she radioed.

“You found the subway?” he asked back.

“Did we ever?” Ashley shouted, before her friend shushed her.

“There’s like six subway trains parked down here!” Nancy whispered excitedly.  “You’d love it.  They look kind of like those ones in Boston—two cars, sort of, with a rubbery connector in between.  Big wheels, headlights towards the bottom on front, and antennae connected to cables on the ceiling.  Only, all of them look a little different from each other—different models, I guess.”

“Can’t wait to see them!” said Frank.  “What colors are they?”

“Different ones!” said Nancy.  “Three of them are mostly white, with a blue stripe going under the windows.  They say Boeing in the middle of the stripe—must be a test scheme.  A couple others have the Boston scheme—completely green under the windows, only with that circle around the T on the white background.  The final one looks like it those San Francisco subway cars—mostly white, but with that red stripe underneath the windows.  They look in nice shape, too.  Someone’s kept them up.”

“Great!” said Frank.  “Any sign of Brittany or Stephanie?”

“Not yet,” whispered Nancy, “but there’s more.  The subways are all parked on the second and fourth tracks of the five that lead across.  The middle one has a large, hydraulic metal system in the middle of it, connected to a large rectangle on the ceiling with a hinge.  Looks more than big enough for a truck to go down a ramp, when it’s lowered.”

“That’s how they deliver the cars, then,” Frank said.  “Seen any of those yet?”

“Seen any?” said Ashley.  “This place is packed with them!”

“They’re all over the tracks on the loop that leads around, and some others are on the cement platforms in between,” said Nancy.  “Several of the ones on this side have been worked on.  There are a lot of car parts stacked against the wall, and there’s a BMW in front of me that’s missing its upholstery.”

“The back of it’s a Mercedes,” noted Ashley.

“Not really,” said Frank.  “It’s one—or the other—in real life.  Well, sounds like you girls found the place alright.  I’m going to have Zach take me and Auburn to Miller Station.”

“Alright,” said Nancy.  “If you can’t find an entrance…”  She quickly explained how she and Ashley had gone in.  “See you later!”

“Bye.”

The girls clicked off their walkie-talkies temporarily, then shone their flashlights around.  “Let’s walk around this room,” said Nancy.  “Just make sure that the girls aren’t hidden in here!”

They searched the room from top to bottom—a complicated process that took a good twenty minutes.  At the end of that time, though, they had to conclude that Brittany and Stephanie were nowhere to be found.  There wasn’t even a trace of the girls.

“They must be somewhere else,” Nancy said, consulting the map.  “There are the tunnels to the main tracks.  See?  They form a Y, so engines can get in and out from either direction.”

“It’s kind of fun walking through a subway tunnel when it’s not in use,” Ashley said.  “You don’t have to worry about a train coming, you don’t have to worry about not being supposed to be there—although, we should be careful about the third rail.  It’d be terrible if we got electrocuted.”

“That won’t happen,” Nancy pointed out.  “This line runs on overhead power.  That’s why the cars have antennae.”

“Oh,” Ashley smiled wryly.  “I guess you’d know more about that, having lived in Chicago for so long—”

“Those weren’t overheads, though,” Nancy pointed out.  “Chicago has an elevated railway, and I think the power there came through the third rail.  However, we’ve been to Boston a few times, so we’ve seen the MBTA ones in use.  You’ll notice there are only two rails here.”

“Isn’t it funny?” Ashley said, as they reached the main part of the tunnel and turned south.  “To imagine all the trains that must have come through?  I’ve been in the DC Metro before, but that’s about it, and I’ve always been inside.  Out here, you probably start to see a light—oh, and then the rails probably sing a bit, as the vibrations get closer.  I can almost imagine it.”

“So can I,” said Nancy.  “It does seem to be getting brighter up ahead.  I can almost start to make out my shadow—”

Suddenly, cold chills came over the Anderson girl.  She stopped dead in her tracks, and cast a glance over her shoulder.  What she saw nearly froze the blood in her veins.

“A-a-ashley!” she said.  “Don’t panic, don’t get scared, but THERE’S A SUBWAY TRAIN COMING STRAIGHT AT US!!!!!”