Fatal Error - Stone G. h.. Страница 12

At Ek’s question, an alarm went off in Pete’s head. “Oh, no!” he groaned. “Kelly!” Pete and Bob checked their watches. “It’s four thirty.” Bob gulped. “We’ve missed the movie,” Pete sighed. “We’re in deep, deep trouble.”

“Perhaps I can help,” Silas Ek said. He reached into his suit coat pocket and handed each of the guys’ two free movie passes. “I hope Oracle can count on you to keep our secret. Since we’re the ones who stand to lose the most, I think we should be the ones to call the shots, don’t you?”

Ek was being logical again, Jupe thought. The way the security chief presented his argument made sense.

At least their investigation had discovered that Rome had started the virus. Maybe it was time to quit, so Oracle didn’t matter anymore.

“Fine with me,” Pete told Ek, and headed down the corridor. “I’m outta here!”

“Wait for me,” Bob said, running after Pete.

“I guess The Three Investigators are turning the case back to you,” Jupiter said to Ek.

He followed his friends out to the front, where a guard unlocked the steel exit gate.

The guys hopped in Pete’s blue Aries and headed toward the junkyard. They were reliving their visit to Oracle as they neared a narrow bridge.

“She’s a goddess,” Bob breathed.

“Absolutely brilliant,” Jupe enthused.

Just then a black pickup appeared on their left, keeping pace.

“Go ahead, guy,” Pete muttered to the pickup. “Pass!”

But the pickup stayed with them. Suddenly its right front fender dipped toward the Aries.

“He’s trying to push us off the bridge!” Pete cried and swerved.

Jupe stared at the man in the pickup’s cab. “Guys! It’s Norton Rome!”

11

Chase Counter-Chase

The jowly face of Norton Rome glared out at them. He had pudgy cheeks and glittering eyes that narrowed with determination.

“So that’s Norton Rome!” Bob said. “He looks… creepy.”

Just then the black pickup lunged toward Pete’s Aries again. It forced the car closer and closer to the guardrail until at last the car scraped it. Sparks flew. Metal screeched.

“He’s trying to kill us!” Jupe cried, looking down into the deep barranca that was just on the other side of the rail.

Pete gritted his teeth. “Hold on!”

Instantly Bob and Jupe braced themselves against the dashboard. Pete had gotten them out of some tight jams with his creative driving, and they fervently hoped this was going to be another save…

Pete hit the accelerator and wrenched the wheel left. There was a sudden thud that made Jupe’s teeth rattle. The Aries plowed into the pickup’s fender and slid on past it.

“We made it!” Jupe breathed.

They weaved at high speed from one side to the other of the quiet country road, blocking the pickup from pulling up alongside them.

“I thought you souped up this car, Pete,” Bob said. “Can’t you outrun him?”

“I am trying!”

Pete floored the gas pedal. He checked his rearview mirror. “He’s still with me. He must have jets under his hood!”

Suddenly a bullet whined past Pete’s open window.

“Oh, man!” Bob groaned.

Pete had an idea. Anything to shake this maniac loose. He lifted his foot from the accelerator so that the Aries’ speed would slow. He kept the car steadily on the right side of the road.

“What’re you doing?” Bob cried.

“You’re going to get us killed!” Jupe predicted.

“Stay with me, guys,” Pete said.

“Do we have a choice?” Bob wailed.

Just then the menacing pickup pulled up alongside the Aries. Pete suddenly slammed on the brakes. The pickup, not tumbling to Pete’s scheme, continued at its same speed and hurtled past them.

“Ha!” Pete said. “Gotcha!”

The pickup, now ahead of them, swerved right. Another shot sang past the car as Norton Rome fired back over his shoulder. He was driving with one hand.

“We’re too close!” Bob exclaimed.

“Or not close enough,” Pete said. Grimly he pressed the accelerator again and closed in on the pickup’s tail. Now no matter how much the pickup swerved, Norton Rome couldn’t get an angle to fire on the Aries behind him.

“Way to go!” Jupe said gratefully.

“Don’t get your hopes up!” Pete warned. He was trying to guess what Norton Rome would do next. Suddenly the pickup began pulling away! Pete leaned forward behind the wheel and tensed. “Hang on, guys!” Pete had hardly gotten the words out when the pickup jammed on its brakes, fishtailed, and came to a grinding stop directly across the narrow road.

“He’s blocked us!” Bob cried. A big pistol poked out of the driver’s window, aimed straight at the Aries.

“Duck!” Jupe yelled.

But Pete was already taking evasive action. He hit the accelerator. As bullets peppered the air around them, the Aries sprang forward. Instantly it swerved off the road, to the right, skidded through brush, reentered the road on the other side of the stopped pickup, and raced away. “Whew!” Jupe said, wiping sweat from his face. As they looked back, the guys saw the stocky figure of Norton Rome climb out of the pickup and stare furiously after them. The sudden halt had stalled his pickup. There was no way Rome was going to catch them now.

“Good work!” Bob said.

Pete increased his speed along the country road.

“Now we’ve got to get back to the junkyard. Pronto!”

Bob groaned, thinking what Pete was thinking.

“Oh, no. The girls!”

It was dusk at the junkyard, and there were no signs of Kelly and Elizabeth.

“Man, are we in trouble,” Bob said as he looked around. “They didn’t even leave any notes!”

The guys went into the workshop and Pete called Kelly. “Hello,” he began. Instantly he winced and yanked the phone away from his ear. “She hung up on me!” He dialed again.

Jupe watched from his stool. “Will someone please tell me why guys go to so much trouble to stay in trouble?”

Bob leaned over, nose to nose with Jupe, and said slowly as if explaining to a lunatic, “Girls are prettier than guys. They smell better. They have nice skin. They have strange opinions. We like girls, and so do you. I saw how you looked at Qute den Zom. Another minute and you’d have been drooling!”

Jupe’s round face turned bright red. “I do not drool!” But Bob was right — Jupe really liked Qute. Her beautiful face flashed before his eyes, and he thought of the tiny model of her in his pocket. Fat chance he’d forget her!

Bob laughed, and Pete made shushing sounds with his hand. “Kelly! We’re sorry. I’m sorry. We got tied up with Hack den Zorn. I can’t tell you where we met him, but… no, really, I can’t — ” He winced again, dialed again, and got out only “Hello.” He listened for quite a while, then silently hung up.

“What gives?” Bob wanted to know.

“She’s really mad,” Pete said. He slumped into a chair. “She wants to know what lie I’m going to tell her next. No way she believes we met Hack den Zorn. She’s going to a girlfriend’s for a slumber party, and I’m supposed to bug off.”

Bob took a deep breath. “My turn.” He dialed Elizabeth’s number. “Hi, Elizabeth. This is Bob.” And now Bob listened. At last he quietly hung up. He slumped in a chair next to Pete. “She’s going to the same slumber party Kelly is. Her last words were, and I quote, ‘Drop dead!’ ”

“Great,” Jupiter said brightly. “We should work on the case tonight anyway.”

“Lay off, Jupe,” Pete said. “We told Mr. Ek we’d drop the investigation.”

Jupe crossed his arms. “That was before Norton Rome tried to kill us. That changed the ball game. It’s not like we can go up to him and say” — Jupe’s voice changed into a sniveling whine—“ ‘Please, please, don’t hurt us, Mr. Rome. We’re being good little boys and staying out of your blackmail!’ ”

Pete and Bob laughed.

“There’s also the sicko in the green jacket and white high-tops,” Jupe reminded them. “Maybe he’s the one who set off the rocket today. Those two guys seem determined to make cream cheese out of us.”