Fatal Error - Stone G. h. - Страница 14

“Which means we’ve got only one day to find him!” Bob said.

Branson Barr nodded. “Now, what about you? Have you seen Nort?”

“Rome almost rubbed us out a couple of hours ago,” Pete said, and described the pickup’s attack.

“That is one scary guy,” Bob said.

Branson slammed a fist into the palm of his hand. “I wish I could get my hands on him! He’s wrecking everything just to make himself rich!”

Jupiter stood and paced around the shack, pulling on his lower lip again.

“What gives, Jupe?” Bob prompted.

“Oracle’s the key,” Jupiter said at last. “Rome must’ve spotted me there. Maybe he thought I’d seen him, too, and that I’d tell Ek. That means Rome could’ve been the one who destroyed the spaceship. When that didn’t wipe us out, he came after us in his pickup.”

“Sounds right to me,” Bob said.

“Anyway, Oracle’s our only lead,” Jupe went on. “If Rome was there today, maybe he’ll show up tomorrow. ” He crossed the room and came back to stand in front of the little group.

“It’s time we had a plan,” he announced. “Now, listen. This is what we’ll do… ”

13

The Sugar Trap

On Tuesday morning Jupiter sat in his electronics workshop and screwed together the heavy plastic cases for two walkie-talkies. He’d just added power boosters to each, kicking them up from two to five watts.

“You sure you know what you’re doing, Jupe?” Pete called from the grease pit. He and Bob were painting signs for the Ford delivery van.

“Does an atom have electrons?” Jupe said huffily.

As Pete and Bob chuckled, Branson Barr entered the junkyard carrying a stack of six enormous bakery boxes.

“I got enough for a battalion,” Branson said cheerfully. “Doughnuts, sweet rolls, and croissants. The junk-food freaks at Oracle will go crazy.” He loaded the boxes into the back of the van.

“Great!” Bob said as he and Pete hefted one of their signs.

“Gangway!” Pete ordered, and they carried the sign to the van and held it up against the van’s side.

“Is it straight?” Bob asked.

Jupiter came outside and studied it. On the sign’s left, a painted coffee cup and doughnut danced. On the right, pink icing dripped over chocolate-brown words: Snax Galore at Your Door!

Jupe’s stomach rumbled as he thought of the bakery goodies. Quickly he peeled a banana to ward off temptation. “Looks straight to me,” he said, and bit off a chunk. “Ought to convince everyone we’re really a coffee-and-doughnuts truck.”

“By the time we finish,” Bob promised, “we will be. Let’s bolt it on, Pete.”

As the guys attached the signs to either side of the delivery van, Jupiter’s Uncle Titus staggered up with a big coffee maker. “What a find this was!” he enthused. “Do you know how few coffeepots there are that can operate out of a car’s cigarette lighter?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Darn few. That’s how many!”

“Thanks, Uncle Titus.” Jupiter set the coffeepot in the van next to the bottled water, coffee, powdered cream, and sugar packets.

But Uncle Titus was already gone. He’d spotted a customer entering the junkyard with a large cracked vase. The guys heard him exclaim, “What a treasure! Is it for sale?”

Shaking their heads over Uncle Titus’s idea of a treasure, the guys returned to work checking off supplies.

“That does it,” Jupe announced. “We’re ready for the stakeout.” He eyed Pete and Bob. “Last chance for you to call your girlfriends again,” he teased.

“No thanks, turkey,” Bob said ruefully. “One attack of frostbite per morning is all my doctor will allow!”

“Owww!” Pete yelped, and grabbed his ears in mock pain. “Turn the freezer to dee-frost!”

“Come on, you loonies.” Jupiter laughed. “Let’s get rolling.”

Jupiter and Branson Barr took the van, Jupe driving, while Bob and Pete piled into Pete’s car.

“So this is our walkie-talkie?” Branson examined the narrow black box as they drove toward the industrial area of Rocky Beach. Pete and Bob had its mate.

“Yep. I pumped up the power in both of them. We can talk to Bob and Pete even if they’re twenty miles away. That is, if the conditions are right — clear atmosphere and nothing to interfere with line-of-sight transmission.”

“Good thing there aren’t any mountains in Rocky Beach.”

“And it’s a clear day,” Jupe added. “Now, if we can just spot Rome… ”

At Oracle, Jupe parked the delivery van at an angle near the steel gates. Everyone entering or leaving would see it — and Jupe and Branson could count on a good look at them. Since it appeared that Norton Rome had gone in and out of Oracle the day before, the Investigators and Branson Barr were gambling he would do the same today. They planned to stay the entire day if necessary.

Pete and Bob sailed past in Pete’s baby-blue Aries. As they’d agreed earlier, Pete doubled back and parked behind the eucalyptus trees across the street. From there he and Bob could watch everything that happened at the delivery van and give chase when — and if — Norton Rome appeared.

Almost as soon as Jupiter parked, the first car pulled in next to the van. Branson plugged in the coffeepot, and Jupe quickly opened up the back to display the doughnuts and other treats.

“Snax Galore,” read a man in a denim jacket and jeans as he hopped out of his car. He looked in the back of the van and whistled. “My kind of food!” He bought two chocolate-filled croissants.

The customers formed a steady line after that. Jupiter served them, and Branson worked inside where his coworkers couldn’t see him.

“Maybe we should go into business!” Branson said during one of the infrequent lulls.

Jupe nodded, but he was thinking about how long it had been since he’d tasted chocolate. Not to mention real sugar. Or even a muffin. His stomach rumbled, and he reached for his jar of peanut butter. But somehow his hand made a detour… to the chocolate-dipped doughnuts!

“Jupiter!” Branson whispered. “Ek just arrived in his Subaru.”

Jupe snapped his hand back and peered around the van’s door. He caught a glimpse of Ek’s bald head, severe face, and spectacles, then ducked back out of sight.

“Don’t worry,” Branson whispered to Jupiter. He’d ducked down in the front seat. “Ek’s not like the rest of us — doesn’t touch sugar!”

Jupe almost said, “I don’t either!” but then he remembered how close he’d just come… He stared at the goodies still filling three quarters of the boxes, and suddenly he realized he was a dope. After all the calories in peanut butter, one little doughnut wasn’t going to hurt. Again he reached for the chocolate-dipped one…

“Jupiter!” Branson called. “We’ve got more customers.”

Throwing caution to the wind, Jupe grabbed the doughnut and took a huge, satisfying bite. It was just as good as he’d imagined!

The day passed busily. But by five o’clock the boxes were nearly empty, and there was still no sign of Norton Rome or his black pickup.

The mass exodus of Oracle employees began.

“Check every car!” Jupiter said. “Maybe he’s driving something different.” He jumped out of the back of the van to get a better look at all the cars as they left.

“I don’t see how we could’ve missed him,” Branson said worriedly. They studied car after endless car.

Across the street Jupe spotted Pete’s and Bob’s faces among the thick eucalyptus leaves. They looked as discouraged as Jupiter felt. It had been a long, long day.

Just then tires suddenly screeched in the street. A silver Subaru shifted gears and came roaring back to the van’s tail.

“It’s Ek!” Jupiter said, scrambling to get back into the van. “He saw me!”

Branson Barr ducked down in the front seat again. Jupe was just hopping into the back when his Garfield T-shirt was yanked abruptly backward.

“You punk!” Silas Ek said angrily. “We had a deal! Now you’re going to have to come with me!”