Read Brooks Berry In The Case Of The Stolen Season Page 8

  Chapter 8 ESCAPE!

  Now he was a little concerned. His heart fell further when he realized that his backpack containing his cell phone was outside, slung over his bike seat. How was he going to get out of here?

  Inside the scoreboard it was very dim, only lit from the early evening sun creeping in through the cracks around some seams in the metal scoreboard. He remembered seeing a lighter on the ground of the first level - probably abandoned by the guy who was here earlier that was smoking. He somehow managed to find the lighter in the dark shadows and shook it. It still contained a small amount of fluid, but not much. He would have a little bit of a back up plan if things got too dark.

  He needed to find a way out and quick. If he were stuck in there overnight, he'd be in trouble, both at home and probably with the school too.

  In the back of the scoreboard there was a small hole where a rivet had fallen out. He looked through it and saw nothing but empty parking lot. He didn't want to have to bang on the metal scoreboard or yell and draw attention to the fact he was inside without permission, but it would have been a nice backup plan. With nobody around, that option wasn’t even available to him.

  He crawled up the ladder to the 2nd story scaffold and lit the lighter to illuminate his surroundings. It was all computer wires and the backs of video screens. He reached the ladder leading to the 3rd level scaffolding and climbed up it. He was now at the top level of the scoreboard, probably 30 feet above the ground. He flicked the lighter on and walked the length of the board. It was probably 50 feet wide.

  He saw a panel of the scoreboard that was attached by bolts and nuts. He tried to twist one of the nuts to see if he could unscrew it and remove the panel. If he were able to do that he'd at least have an opening to the outside. He squeezed the nut between his thumb and forefinger and twisted, but it was too tight to unscrew by hand.

  He continued to walk the length of the board, and saw that there were 2 more panels of similar size further down. They were about 6 feet long and 3 feet tall. The first one had THOMPSON'S SPORTING GOODS written on the back of it. "These must be the advertising signs that I see on the scoreboard," thought Brooks. He reached out and tried to remove these nuts by hand also, but to no avail. “Whoever put these signs up must take a lot of pride in their work,” thought Brooks - they were all on way too tight for him to remove the nuts by hand.

  Brooks sighed with despair. He turned around and climbed back down to the first level. He was annoyed and starting to get a bad case of claustrophobia from being trapped in this relatively small space. The stench of old cigarette smoke wasn't helping him either.

  The sun was starting to sink and the light inside was decreasing rapidly. "What am I going to do?" he asked himself.

  Despair started to get to him as he slumped down against the wall and sat. Brooks grabbed a tennis ball that was sitting next to him and he started to bounce it against the wall and catch the rebound. The repetitive action was helping him think. He ran through and dismissed numerous escape options.

  As the light grew dimmer, it was harder to see the ball as it returned from hitting the wall. After one throw the ball bounced off Brooks' leg and careened down the narrow passage and came to rest against the far wall.

  Brooks walked over to get it and noticed something tucked under the ladder leading to the 2nd floor. It looked like a fishing tackle box. He opened it up and discovered it was full of tools. He held up the lighter and saw the solution – a shiny metal wrench.

  He grabbed the wrench and hopped up to the ladder. He reached the 3rd level and undid the nuts holding the advertising sign on to the scoreboard. It fell to the ground outside and exposed a hole in the front of the scoreboard that Brooks could easily fit through. The only problem was that it was about 30 feet above the ground! Way too high to jump. He looked around and saw nothing he'd be able to use to get down.

  "Great," sighed Brooks, "it's like a starving man being given a bowl of wax fruit!" Then it hit him - THE COMPUTER CABLES! He'd be able to join them together and form a rope that would allow him to get to the ground! He scampered down the ladders and went to a cardboard box he's seen earlier full of computer cables. He found four 10-foot cables and quickly knotted them together, using some knots he'd learned from his Uncle Mike when they'd gone camping last year. "Forty feet should be plenty of room," thought Brooks. He took the cables up to the top landing. Just to make sure, he leaned his head out the opening in the scoreboard and threw one end of the cable down to the ground. The end hit the ground with a thud. He looked back and saw a steel beam to which he'd be able to tie the other end. He attached it using a figure 8 knot and gave it a good hard tug. It held tight and the tension only made it tighter. "Here goes nothing," thought Brooks.