Chapter 13: Invasion!

“Who is this?!”  Nancy didn’t take kidnap threats lightly.

The voice didn’t answer; it merely continued with what it had been saying before.  “There’ll be four of them—they’ll have two cars.  One will stop in front of your house—the other will stop along the side.  Have all the doors and windows blocked—including the upstairs ones—and be ready to defend yourselves at one of the points.  This gang will stop at nothing, and they’re determined.  You have three minutes!”

“How do you know this?” Nancy asked.  “Are you with them, or—hello, hello?  Hello?!”

Her last words went unheeded.  The caller had hung up.

“Was that Ellen?” Frank asked, referring to his sister’s best friend.  “She’ll be pretty mad that you didn’t recognize her voice—”

“Ellen, nothing—it was a kidnapping warning.  For you!  You’re going to be kidnapped in—in three minutes!”

Susan, running back in the room, dropped her cup of cream soda in surprise.  “Kidnapped?” she gasped.  “Oh, how awful!”

A look of surprise crossed Frank’s face.  “You’re joking, right?”

“Not unless the person on the phone was, and considering all that’s happened lately—”

“We’d better take them seriously,” Frank said.  “Louis!  Call the police!”

His brother had already hopped up and raced to the phone.  As he picked it up, Frank started bossing his siblings around.  “Help me move that sofa in front of the front door.”

“What about the window—”

“Not tall enough.  We’ll cover it with something else.  Susan, go make sure all the upstairs windows are closed and locked.”

“Hello?  Hello?  Hello?”  Louis held the receiver to his ear, then hung up disgustedly.  “Frank!  The line’s dead!”

“Dead?” said Nancy.  “But it can’t be!  I just talked on it a moment ago!”

“They must already be going into action!” said Frank.  “We don’t have much time.  Let’s get the blinds shut!”

He quickly made sure the slats were closed on the large, picture windows.  “Turn out all the lights, too!  That’ll make it harder for them to see us.  They’ll need flashlights—we won’t!”

He was barking out orders quickly, but his siblings were efficient.  Susan came bounding down the stairs—tripping towards the bottom, but catching herself just in time.  She had a large pile of stuff gathered from her siblings’ closets.  “I thought these things might come in handy!”

“Sure will, thanks.  Go back upstairs and see if Mom or Dad left a cellphone in the bedroom.  If so, call the police.  That should work!”

Nodding, Susan bounded away.

“Are they after us, or just Frank—”

“All the person mentioned was Frank,” Nancy said.  “High voice—sounded almost like a girl’s—”

“Stephanie?” Frank asked.

“No, I hadn’t heard it before.”

“Brittany, then!  Or maybe—”

Whatever else Frank had been planning to say was interrupted as a pair of headlights pulled up outside, then flickered off.

“Is the garage door shut—”

“The overhead one is,” said Frank, “but let’s barricade the one that leads into the house.  The kitchen table, Louis!”

He and his brother got the Andersons’ heavy oak table positioned in front of it.  Meanwhile, Nancy (straining as hard as she could) pulled the big old TV over to the front of the backdoor.

“Of course, this only takes care of the doors,” she said, rejoining her brother.  “We haven’t had time to do the windows—”

“There is no time,” said Frank.  “Get your defense strategies ready, and pray, because when we hear a sound—”

Thunk!

That came from the backdoor—it was soon repeated.  The Andersons briefly had a glimpse of two shadows standing there before a blunt object smashed the light that led out to the backyard.

“Vandalism,” snorted Louis.

“That’s slightly better than kidnapping,” observed Frank.  “Hopefully, they don’t accomplish that tonight.”

There was another thunk, but it didn’t seem to do anything.  The door was pretty sturdy.

“Only two shadows?” whispered Nancy.  “That might mean that there’s—”

Thud!

That came from the front entrance.

“Let’s check on it,” said Frank.  “Try not to let them see you.”

It was dark enough inside the house that the three were able to slip to the front without flashlights.  Since it was their house, they could get around perfectly easily, lights or no lights.  Without even tripping, they made it over to the front door.

“Seems to be holding firm,” said Nancy.  “I feel like this is only Level 1—”

Susan interrupted.  “No phone!”

“Alright, then—the burglar alarm!  Louis, go type in the wrong password!”

“The wrong—”

“So it’ll go off!  Hurry!”

His brother ran off to find the keypad, while Frank and Nancy waited, guarding the door.  The front light revealed one shadow on the stoop.

“The person said four,” Nancy said.  “I wonder where the other one is—”

A squeal of tires soon answered that question.  The revving engine seemed pointless—until there was a squeal, a snap, a crash!!!  and then, the sound of heavy metal, sliding slowly across cement.  The house shook a little from the force.

“Goodness, what was that?” Nancy shrieked, looking around.

“Garage door!” said Frank.  “They probably think we left the inside one unlocked—”

Noises from the handle and banging soon confirmed his guess, and Frank was glad he hadn’t overlooked that detail.

Louis came running into the front hallway.  “The alarm’s not working!”

“Not working?” said Nancy.  “That can’t be!  We just had it serviced last week!”

“It might not be the alarm that’s the problem,” said Frank.  “Perhaps the gang’s got the signal blocked—in which case, it wouldn’t be any good—”

“What are we going to do?” shrieked Susan.  “If they get inside—”

“Wait, I’ve got it!” said Louis.  “Come with me, Susan.  This will probably work!”

He and his sister raced out of the room, off to get something.  Nancy turned to her brother.

“Well?”

“Well, let’s hope they’ve got a good plan up their sleeve.  Susan’s right, though.  We’d better watch the windows—”

Crash!

 A pane broke in the living room.  Grabbing a couple weapons out of the pile Susan had brought down, Frank and Nancy raced into the front—in time to catch someone climbing through the window!  A couple swings, and they had the intruder knocked out-with their baseball bats!

“I hope he’s alright,” Nancy said, looking down at the figure on the floor.  “These things can be dangerous.”

“You break into a house—whatever happens next is your fault.  I hope he’s alright, too.  Something seems too simple about this, though.  I mean, wouldn’t he realize when he broke the window that we’d know where to find him—”

Thunk!

“What was that?” Nancy whispered.

“It came from the hall,” said Frank.  “Sounds like someone bumped into—”

“Oof!” the voice rejoined.  Nancy stiffened.

“That’s not Louis or Susan!” she whispered stiffly.

Frank grabbed her arm, then put a finger to his lips—Nancy could just barely see him.  The two crept through the room, pausing at the edge of it.  They took up positions at either end of the arch that led to the hallway, and Frank slowly brought his head around—

In time to feel a puff of breath from another burglar’s face!

WHAM!!!

“You got him!” Nancy exclaimed, poking her head out.  “Two down, two to—”

“FREEZE!!!” yelled a voice.

Hair standing on their backs, Frank and Nancy whirled around in time to see—uh-oh, the window.  While they’d been knocking out the thug in the hallway, somebody had clambered in through the opening in the front.  That flashlight wasn’t all he had trained on him—he was also holing a gun.

Neither of the Andersons was close enough to hit him, but Nancy was right next to the light switch, and she flicked it on, revealing—

“Holy smokes!  Mugs Barnette!”

If the tough from Oklahoma City was pleased at being recognized, he made no show of it.

“You all got a warning in Bricktown, and you didn’t listen.  Now, one of you is going to disappear. The other one’s going to get hurt real—”

BEEEP!  BEEEP!  BEEEP!

Barnette glanced past the Andersons—momentarily shocked by the alarm.  It was followed by another— BEEEP!  BEEEP!  BEEEP!—

And another— BEEEP!  BEEEP!  BEEEP!

And another— BEEEP!  BEEEP!  BEEEP!

Until there was a whole chorus of BEEEP!  BEEEP!  BEEEP!s, echoing throughout the house!

Frank and Nancy dove into the hallway, then lined themselves up at either side of the arch.  They waited thirty seconds, then peered back into the room.  The unconscious thug was still lying at the window, but there was no sign of Barnette—until a car started and sped off out front.  A moment later, another one sped off—this one on Ponca Avenue.

Susan came hopping down the stairs, grinning like a lark.  “I got to play with the firelighter—I got to play with the firelighter—”  The smile left her face, replaced by an expression of shock as she saw the thug lying in the hall.  “Oh, my goodness!  Who’s that?!”

Frank took a look.  “You should know,” he said, kicking the unconscious figure over.  “We ran into him in Oklahoma City a few days ago.  That’s Slick Jordan!”

“The other one’s a stranger,” said Nancy, checking the one in the living room.

Louis, reaching the stairs, had overheard.  “Well, don’t worry,” he said.  “The fire department will be here in a few minutes, and they should bring the police and an ambulance.  That was a nice idea you had, Frank—to set off the smoke detectors!”

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

“I might lose, but you can’t win!”

He was good with a gun, brilliant, and almost as fast with his fists as he was with a racecar.  Nick Diamond was Oklahoma City’s finest sprint car racer/detective, and few things ever got in his way—until the girl went missing.  Hired to find her, Diamond followed a crooked trail to a boarding school, a burned-up oil derrick, and a hotel bar late at night—before winding up in the lair of Oklahoma City’s worst gangster.  That should have meant certain death, but all Diamond got out of it was a lump on the head and a promise that he’d never wrap up the case.  Was the most obvious suspect responsible, or was there something more sinister afoot?  Could Diamond defy predictions, or would OKC’s speediest detective lose for once?  Find out in—

NICK DIAMOND, PRIVATE EYE!

Set in 1960s Oklahoma City, a throwback similar to 1940s and 1950s detective films.  If you like those, you should like this as well—or, you may just enjoy recognizing familiar Oklahoma landmarks, should you be from the area.  A fast-paced story that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.  Fun for the whole family.  Don’t lose your steering wheel!

Available at https://www.amazon.com/Nick-Diamond-Private-Matthew-Zisi/dp/1985645750/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522063027&sr=8-1&keywords=Nick+Diamond%2C+Private+Eye+Zisi