* * *
One of the cashiers at the Grocery Barn remembered seeing Paige and Magda the day before. She placed them there in the early evening, just after the time they left the clubhouse. After thanking the cashier Tom and Reed hurried out to the parking lot.
Now that they knew the girls had made it to the store, they decided to try and retrace the girls’ steps. Since they had bought stuff for the clubhouse, their next step would have been to bring everything back there.
“We’ll drive back toward the clubhouse and keep our eyes open for any sign of them,” Tom said as he put the car in gear and headed out of the parking lot. He paused briefly at the lot entrance, then made a left onto Woodfield Road, heading them toward the park. He made himself drive slowly so they could check the nearby streets for any sign of their car. They had gone only a few blocks when Reed suddenly pointed down a side street.
“That’s Paige’s jeep!”
Tom made a quick turn into the street and pulled up behind the red Cherokee. Even before they stopped they could see the college sticker in the back window bearing the name of Paige’s sister’s school. The boys jumped out of Tom’s car and hurried to examine the jeep.
“The groceries are still in the back,” Tom said as he looked into the cargo area.
Reed noticed that the jeep was leaning to one side and walked toward the front to examine the flat. Squatting down he ran his fingers along the tire.
“Come take a look at this,” Reed called.
Tom hurried to join him. “A flat. So we know why they pulled over.” Tom paused and looked up and down the street. “But this doesn’t make any sense. They could have called any one of us for a ride. Hell, they could have walked home from here.”
“I think they were trying to change the tire,” Reed said, looking up at Tom. “The spare in the back’s been uncovered and the rear seat’s been pulled up to get at the jack. But this is what I wanted you to take a look at.” Reed pointed at a spot on the side of the tire.
Tom squatted down beside him and looked where Reed was pointing. The head of a screw was sticking out of the side of the tire.
“Okay,” Tom said, not quite following what Reed was getting at. “So they picked up a screw. That’s what gave them the flat.”
“But it’s in the sidewall,” Reed explained. “If you run over something in the street it gets stuck in the tread, not in the sidewall. Someone put it there.”
A hard look came into Tom’s eyes. “You mean someone gave them a flat on purpose.”
“Exactly. They probably did it when the girls were in the store. That way there would only be a slow leak at first. But once they started driving, the tire would go flat—”
“After they were away from the parking lot,” Tom finished his thought.
“And any witnesses,” Reed added.
Tom stood again and started looking around. Something glinting in the gutter drew his attention. As he bent down to pick it up the bottom dropped out of his stomach. It was Magda’s necklace.
“I gave this to Magda for her sixteenth birthday,” Tom said through a lump in his throat. Reed walked over to him and looked at the broken necklace in his hand.
Tom looked at Reed and saw his own worry mirrored there. “They took them, Reed. They got James and both of the girls.” Tom curled his fingers around the small pendant with her name inscribed on it. “So help me,” he said through clenched teeth, “when we find these guys, I’m going to—”
Tom heard the car pulling up behind him at the same moment that he noticed Reed look past his shoulder.
“I think you’re going to get your wish,” Reed said, his mouth suddenly dry.
Tom spun around in time to see the black sedan come to a stop behind his car. As all four doors opened and several dark suited men climbed out, Tom shook his fist at them.
“What did you do with my friends?” he demanded.
The men ignored him. They walked slowly toward the two boys and reached inside their jackets.
“Reed Braun and Thomas Gallo, you will come with us,” one of the men said.
“You wish,” Tom said. Tipping his head down, he started toward them, eyes glaring.
The men hesitated, then brought up their weapons. As soon as he saw the guns Reed dove behind the front of the Jeep. He was scrambling to tuck himself into a compact ball when Reed heard a pop come from the far side of the car. He cautiously crept to the edge of the car and peered around the fender. Tom had come to a stop and was holding one hand pressed to his stomach. The man directly in front of Tom stood holding his gun extended toward him.
“You shot me!” he said, sounding surprised. He stood swaying on his feet for a moment, then took one hesitant step, and then another toward the strangers. The men seemed amazed that he was still coming. As he advanced on them, another man took aim at him and fired. Reed felt his heart jump into his throat as Tom staggered from the impact of the shot, stopped, and dropped to one knee. He stayed there for a moment, breathing deeply and shaking his head to clear it. Then he looked up at the men and pushed himself back to his feet.
“Is that all you’ve got?” he snarled.
The men looked at each other and started backing away from him. Three of them took aim and fired at Tom again while the fourth man dove back into their car. This time Tom barely hesitated as the shots struck him.
He stormed up to the nearest man who threw down his tranquilizer pistol and was frantically reaching into his jacket for his back up weapon. Tom grabbed the man’s wrist as he tried to draw his weapon and squeezed while the last two strangers fled around the back end of the car.
“What did you do with my friends?” Tom growled through clenched teeth. As he increased the pressure, the man let go of his gun and started screaming. After a moment the crack of breaking bones sounded in the street as he crushed the man’s wrist. The man’s screams rose in pitch as Tom continued to apply pressure, grinding the jagged ends of the broken bones together before the man finally passed out from the pain. Then a movement off to his right drew Tom’s attention. The man who had jumped into the car was climbing out of the far side, only this time he was armed with a shotgun.
Tom placed one foot against the side of the black sedan and pushed. Tires squealed as the car slid sideways into the street, knocking back the man with the shotgun before he could bring the weapon to his shoulder.
“Reed,” Tom called as he tossed aside the unconscious man whose wrist he had broken. “I could use a little help.”
“You seem to be doing okay all by yourself,” Reed’s voice answered from the front of Paige’s jeep.
“Reed!”
“I’m working on it! Just keep them busy for another minute.”
Looking into the street Tom saw the man he had hit with the car crawling toward the shotgun which had gone flying out of his hands. Tom ran around the front of the car as the man grabbed the weapon tried to swing it toward him. Tom grabbed the barrel of the gun with one hand, keeping it pointed away from him. Then, taking the barrel in both hands, he bent the gun, folding it back on itself and making the weapon useless.
When he saw what Tom had done, the man dropped the shotgun, scrambled to his feet and darted away as quickly as he could. He drew his back-up weapon and joined his partners who were standing with their guns trained on Tom. The guns they were pointing at him now definitely did not look like the tranquilizer guns they had fired at him before.
“Reed, I could really use some help about now,” Tom said as he faced the strangers.
“Just another couple of seconds,” Reed answered.
For several moments both sides stood facing each other, locked in a stalemate. Tom knew he could cover the distance to the men in seconds but not before they were able to open fire on him. He wasn’t sure how much injury his body could handle and wasn’t anxious to find out. The men on the other hand had seen what Tom could do and were not certain that they could stop him even with their weapons.
?
??Hey Tom,” Reed called suddenly. “Remember the football game back at the clubhouse?”
“What has that got to do with—”
“When I say jump I need you to…JUMP!”
A car suddenly appeared at the end of the block. It screamed around the corner, back end fishtailing, and sped directly at the three strangers who had arranged themselves in a tight line across the street. As soon as Tom saw the car appear he sprang into the air. Before the men could react, the car slammed into the strangers, scattering them like bowling pins and sped through the spot where Tom had been standing a moment earlier. With a loud crash it plowed into a nearby phone pole.
Tom’s jump had arced him through the air and over the top of the black sedan, landing him on the sidewalk near the jeep. As soon as he touched down Tom looked back at the scene in the street. The men lay scattered across the street like broken dolls while a yellow Camaro with black racing stripes was smashed up against the base of a phone pole, its front end folded in like an accordion.
Reed stood up from behind Paige’s jeep and stepped over to Tom.
“Isn’t that—” Tom started to say as he pointed at the Camaro.
“Yup,” Reed said with a satisfied smile. “Let him explain it to his parents. But right now, we need to get out of here.”
They climbed into Tom’s SUV and sped away as a siren sounded in the distance.