The Amazing Adventures of 4¢ Ned (Coinworld: Book Two)

by Benjamin Laskin

  “We are quite outnumbered here, my dear. Iron Tail has Raider Special Forces posted all over the premises.”

  “I can outfly them all. Who do they have that could match me and Erica? Even with a nickel in her talon, none of their eagles could catch us.”

  “I don’t doubt you or Erica. There is none better, nor lovelier than you. But it’s not enough to capture The Four. I need leverage. Patience, precious. In due time, we will have The Four.”

  “I wonder who he flies with,” Dominique said.

  “I don’t know her name, but he’s been known to travel with the same half dollar.”

  “A half dollar?” Dominique said, appalled. “A measly half dollar?” She laughed and shook her head.

  “Yes, I know. Pathetic, isn’t it? If only he knew what royal ore he truly possessed. But I must still remind you, it’s not the value that matters, or even the condition. You saw what that miserable, blighted Pete Penny could do.”

  “You should have just let me snatch him up and deposit him in the nearest landfill where he belongs.”

  “I love your enthusiasm as much as I do your face, Dominique, but Damian saw to it he is no longer a nuisance.”

  “By the looks of him, the penny has more lives than a cat.”

  “True, but by now a Colorado catfish is probably suffering a bad case of indigestion.”

  “Sir,” Dirk Dime interrupted. “It’s show time.”

  Nicolai and Dominique scanned the long, colorful Oriental rugs that carpeted the hallway. They saw Chief Iron Tail and Camille Quarter slip under the door of Charles Nesbitt’s room.

  12

  rescuing franny

  “Psst, Four,” the chief called out, bucking into the bedroom.

  “Behind the curtain, Chief.”

  The two coins snuck over to Ned, Hannah, and Dylan.

  “Where’s Donovan?” Ned asked.

  “We have Dylan’s torch if we need one,” the chief answered. “I had an eagle take him to join another team. One less coin to be spotted. Also, he’s not too fast on his rim, and it’s best we don’t weigh down Hannah or Camille. The rest of us will hoof it until we’re in the clear.”

  “Agreed,” Ned said.

  “It looks like Mr. Nesbitt is getting ready to go out,” Camille said.

  “He rang room service, but lucky for us he decided he wanted to stretch his legs and to try out one of the hotel’s restaurants instead.”

  Whistling and singing the 1957 hit “Singing the Blues” by Guy Mitchell, Charles Nesbitt readied to leave.

  Ned and the others saw Nesbitt’s feet approach the window. The man closed the window tight, checked to make sure it was locked, and then went into the other rooms to do the same.

  “We figured he’d do that,” Ned said. “That leaves the door and hallway as our only way out. What are our options there, Chief?”

  “We have a few. There’s a window open at the end of the hall. That’s where we came in. Worse comes to worse, there’s the stairwell, the elevator, or the fire escape.”

  The coins heard Mr. Nesbitt cease his whistling followed by the slam of the door. The man gave the doorknob a good twist and shake to make sure the room was secure. The whistling started again and faded with him down the hallway.

  The chief said, “We have to work fast. We don’t want to chance someone closing that hallway window, or Nesbitt having a change of mind.”

  The coins scrambled out from their hiding place and began scouring the room in search of the Peace Dollar.

  Ned called out, “Franny, Franny can you hear me?”

  There was no reply.

  “They can’t hear you from inside those cases,” Camille said.

  Hannah said, “There was only one case the man hung onto. I’ll bet she’s in there.”

  “I’ll bet you’re right,” Ned said. “Hannah, Camille, give us a lift.”

  Hannah Half Dollar and Camille Quarter rolled down the carpet and obtained flight. They picked up the others and deposited them on the bench at the foot of the bed where a black leather briefcase lay on its side.

  “Pin?” Ned said.

  “Emma,” Hannah said to her eagle, “pin, please.”

  Hannah’s eagle reached with its beak and plucked out a pin they had stuck between her feathers.

  Ned and the others piled up beside the briefcase to give Hannah a boost. The 1921 Walking Liberty half dollar climbed on top of them and went to work on the lock with Emma’s pin. In no time, she picked the lock and announced, “Piece of cake.”

  She and Camille leapt from the bench, obtained flight, and then returned to the briefcase. Together the two gals grunted and lifted the top, revealing within dozens of lustrous coins of all types. Some sat inside polyethylene bags and others were sealed in plastic containers. Each coin had its own cutout square lined with black satin.

  “Oh my,” Camille said. “It’s a coin mine!”

  Ned coiled and sprang into the briefcase. He hopped from one square to the next calling, “Franny? Franny, are you in here?”

  A muffled voice answered, “Ned? Oh, my gosh. Ned, is that you?”

  “Yes, Franny. It’s me! Where are you?”

  The case was deep enough for two such layers of coins and Ned feared that Franny was underneath. Considering the weight, he didn’t know how they would get to her.

  Around Ned dozens of mystified coins stared up at him with their mouths open. None of them knew who Ned Nickel was, and none could believe its eye as he bucked from square to square.

  “I’m in a blue velvet case of some kind,” Franny said.

  Ned looked around desperately but didn’t see such a case.

  Hannah instructed Emma Eagle to pull on an elastic band to a pouch on the back of the briefcase’s lid.

  “Camille,” she said, “do you see anything?”

  Camille and her eagle, Esmeralda, flew over and peeked inside. “A blue velvet box! But it’s too big for me to grab alone.”

  “Ned,” Hannah said, “if I let go, the elastic will snap back and Camille and I won’t be able to get inside.”

  Ned thought for a moment and looked around the case. “Chief,” he called, “get in here!”

  “Opa!” Iron Tail said, and bounded inside the briefcase. His entrance startled the already gobsmacked coins to shrieks.

  The chief looked around at the stunned coins and said, “What, haven’t you ever seen an Indian before?”

  “Chief,” Ned said, “help me pry out one of these plastic thingamajigs. A dime would be a little lighter.”

  The chief nodded and told Buffalo to start pawing at a small case holding an 1838 Seated Liberty dime just below them. After some difficulty, Ned, Chief, and Buffalo wrenched free the holder and propped it up on its end.

  “Goodness gracious,” the dime’s muffled voice exclaimed. “What on earth are you coins doing?”

  “Sorry, ma’am,” Ned said. “We need your help.”

  “Help? Are you crazy? I’m an old woman stuck inside some sort of frozen jelly stuff.”

  “It’s called plastic, ma’am, and never you mind. You don’t need to do anything.”

  “Like I could! I’m a coin, for goodness sakes!”

  Ned called up to Camille. “Camille, quick, can you place this lengthwise in the pouch?”

  “I think so.”

  She flew down and Esmeralda Eagle snatched the plastic container in its talons.

  “Oh my,” the dime blubbered, “A flying quarter? I think I’m going to faint!”

  “Go ahead, lady,” the chief said. “We wouldn’t know the difference.”

  Buffalo snuffled a laugh.

  “Hurry, sis,” Hannah said, “I can’t hold it back much longer!”

  “Coming!”

  Camille lowered the object between the back of the lid and the elastic band. “Okay, you can let go.”

  Hannah released her hold and joined Camille hovering above. The plastic case provided a two-inch gap for them to maneuver. It wa
s going to be a tight fit, but because Camille was smaller, Esmeralda was able to grab hold of a corner of the box and raise it up just long enough for Hannah to help her lug it out.

  With each carrying an end, the two coins towed the box away from the briefcase to a clearing on the bench.

  “Good job, girls!” Ned said. “Come on, Chief.”

  Ned and the chief vaulted out of the briefcase and bucked over to the jewelry box.

  The box had a snap with a little leather strap attached, which posed another problem.

  “Buffalo?” the chief said.

  Buffalo nodded in understanding.

  Ned leaned against the case and made himself into a ramp for the chief and Buffalo to raise themselves higher.

  Buffalo steadied himself on Ned’s Monticello roof and took the leather strap in his teeth. He growled, snorted, and tugged with all his might. They heard click, and Ned slipped flat. Buffalo and the chief dangled freely, the leather strap still in Buffalo’s mouth, but they had unsnapped the box.

  Buffalo and the chief swung back and forth like a pendulum. Once they gained enough momentum and height, Buffalo stuck a paw into the crevice between the box’s top and bottom. The Indian nickel wedged itself deeper into the crack, and shouted to the others to give them a hand. After a minute of struggling with the lid they finally managed to pry it open. Inside the box on a white satin cushion sat Franny the Peace Dollar.

  “Ned, you found me!”

  Ned grinned. “Sorry I took so long.”

  “Oh, Ned, I never doubted you.” She glanced at the others looking down at her. “Hello, everybody. Ned, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

  “Later, Franny, okay? We’re, ah, in kind of a hurry.”

  “Oh, of course.”

  “Now we’re going to dump you onto the carpet and buck you into the next room and under the door. Hannah is going to pick you up and fly you to a safe house about a mile away. Once we know we aren’t being followed, we’re going to take you on a trip, okay?”

  Franny stared dumbly at Ned and blinked. “Dump? … Buck? … Fly?”

  “Relax. It will be fun.”

  “It’s not like I have a choice,” Franny said.

  “Right. Okay, here we go…”

  The coins scooted under the velvet case and upended it onto the floor. Franny spilled out and Ned nudged her across the carpet, out the bedroom, and to the door.

  “Dime,” the chief said, “you go first. Whistle if the coast is clear.”

  “Roger that, Chief.”

  Dylan Dime slipped underneath the door.

  Hannah said, “Franny and I are going to need a push, so we should go next.”

  The chief, Ned, and Camille Quarter lined up behind them and waited for Dylan’s whistle. A moment later they got the signal.

  Ned said, “Watch your head, Franny. It’s a tight squeeze.”

  The coins pushed Franny and Hannah into the hall, and then wiggled under the door after them.

  “Quick,” Ned said, “before anyone comes.”

  Hannah and Camille took off rolling and lifted off the ground.

  Franny looked at Ned, awe-stricken. “But-but isn’t that impossible? I mean, oh my goodness.”

  “Get ready,” he answered with a smile.

  “Ready? I don’t even know what ready means!”

  Hannah swooped in and plucked Franny up. Franny shrieked in surprise, and within moments Emma Eagle was whisking the Peace Dollar down the hall. Camille Quarter and her eagle, Esmeralda, flew before them scouting ahead.

  Ned turned to the chief, his eye moist with gratitude. “Thanks,” he said.

  “Save it, Four. We’re not in the clear yet. Let’s go.”

  Ned, the chief, and Dylan Dime took off rolling towards the stairwell. They had ten bumpy flights of stairs to descend, and then the main lobby to negotiate. They didn’t expect any traffic until the last few floors, but they knew they had to remain vigilant just in case.

  Dylan said, “Chief, I didn’t know we had a gold piece on this mission.”

  “Huh? Gold?”

  Ned and the chief looked up and beheld a golden eagle screech overhead. It seemed to be laying chase.

  Ned glanced at the chief and saw his own surprise in the chief’s face. They looked on dumbstruck and helpless. Then they heard more screeching and gawped at an entire squadron of golden eagles soaring over their heads down the center of the hallway.

  To their further dismay, they spotted yet another eagle grouping storm in through the very window that Hannah and Camille were winging towards. The squadrons flew in perfect formation and were composed of quarter eagles and half eagles; $2.50 and $5 gold coins that were struck between 1908 and 1929.

  “Chief,” Ned said with astonishment, “what’s going on? Who are they?”

  “I don’t know.” He spun and glimpsed the golden glint of two half eagles disappear around a corner into another hallway. One carried a silver dime, and the other, he thought, a Jefferson nickel.

  “Oi vey,” he muttered. “He’s back.”

  “Chief?”

  Franny, swinging below, called up to Hannah, “Oh, how nice. Your golden friends are coming to escort us.”

  “Who?”

  Hannah turned to look, only to be knocked sprawling from behind by Dominique Double Eagle.

  Caught by surprise, Emma Eagle dropped Franny, who fell screaming to the carpet. Franny tumbled and landed face up, her eye wide with fear and bewilderment.

  Emma Eagle regained her balance and circled around to fetch Franny. Hannah glanced back and cried to Camille to watch out. When Hannah turned back around she saw five gold eagles streaking towards her.

  Dominique caught up to Camille, grabbed her with her eagle’s claw and flung her crashing into the wall. The double eagle laughed and circled to return for the Peace Dollar.

  Hannah picked up Franny, but before she could get away she found herself surrounded by the squadron of eagles. Dominique blasted into their midst and smacked Hannah again, once more causing her to drop the Peace Dollar.

  Franny hit the ground and tumbled beneath a leather chair, where she collapsed against the wall.

  By now the hall was swarming with golden eagles. They buzzed Hannah and Camille and forced the sisters to fend them off. Surprisingly fast and agile, the smaller gold coins dive-bombed and snipped at Hannah and Camille like ferocious wasps.

  Ned, Dylan, and the chief tore down the hall to come to their friends’ aid. Ned rolled with lightning speed, and from two feet away, he launched himself into the air and smashed into two quarter eagles, sending them flopping to the ground—two birds with one nickel.

  A larger half eagle tried to snatch up Ned but he flipped out of the way. Two more came at him, one from the right and one from the left. Ned coiled his inner wampum and shot into the air. The eagles collided and dropped stunned to the floor.

  The chief and Dylan Dime arrived and sprang into the fray.

  Dylan cried, “Flame on!” He turned his torch to maximum. Fire shot forth as from a flamethrower. He unleashed his blaze on the gold eagles. The eagles screeched and darted about in confusion.

  “Opa!” shouted the chief. Mighty Buffalo leapt up and snagged a half eagle by the wing. He yanked the coin to the ground and stomped on her. A smaller quarter eagle tried to claw the bison but couldn’t penetrate his thick hide.

  Furious, Buffalo growled and swatted the eagle with his tail. The eagle ricocheted off a brass floor lamp with a ting and dropped dazed to the carpet. Buffalo pounced on the quarter eagle, trampled on it, and then booted the coin sliding beneath a door and into a room.

  As Ned and his Raiders fought off the flock of gold eagles, Dominique sailed under the chair, plucked up Franny, and raced towards the window.

  Hannah Half Dollar lay chase, Emma flying as fast as her wings could carry them.

  Dominique Double Eagle glanced behind and smirked. She pulled up and hovered to face the half dollar, Franny dangling f
rom her talon.

  “Show me what you’ve got, sweetie,” Dominique said.

  Hannah narrowed her eye and shot towards the double eagle.

  Dominique swung Franny like a matador’s cape, evading Hannah. Hannah returned for a second pass, but again Dominique dodged, this time somersaulting out of the way, a move Hannah never saw a flying coin do before.

  Dominique, her back to the hall, mocked the half dollar. “Really, my dear, is that the best you can do? It doesn’t speak too highly of The Four that you’re his pilot of choice.”

  Hannah gritted her teeth and was about to charge the double eagle again when Camille Quarter streaked in with claws extended and grabbed Dominique by the neck. Camille thwacked the double eagle with her shield, barrel-rolled, and sent Dominique bashing against the wall.

  “Attagirl, sis,” Hannah said.

  Two golden feathers fell floating to the ground, but not Franny, who Dominique still held in her talon.

  Hannah and Camille rushed at the $20 gold piece. Dominique screeched with fury and swung her torch at the sisters as her eagle swatted at them with the Peace Dollar.

  Not wanting to injure Franny, the girls backed away and circled the double eagle looking for a way in.

  The smaller quarter and half eagles abandoned their fight with the chief, Ned, and Dylan and darted towards Hannah and Camille like a swarm of angry bees.

  The sisters fought to stave them off, Camille bashing at the eagles with her shield, but they were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the quick and powerful gold eagles.

  A door opened and a little girl stepped into the hall. Her eyes opened wide with wonder as she beheld all the glittering gold and silver coins flitting before her.

  “Daddy, daddy! Come see the pretty butterflies!”

  The cloud of coins ceased their sparring and turned hovering towards the girl.

  Seeing her opportunity, Dominique bolted out the window with Franny in tow.

  “Help!” Franny cried.

  The girl’s father appeared at the doorway. “Annabelle, what are you—?” His eyes bugged and his jaw slackened.