Four Wheeled Hero

by Malcolm Brown

  They soon arrived at the Lay-by and after taking a good look around, Tommy concentrated once again on Smithy’s comic showing the ‘Dynocar’. It reappeared as before but this time Tommy commanded it to stop so he wouldn’t have to concentrate on the comic for the whole of their journey. The two boys made themselves comfortable while they waited for horrible Uncle Frank’s car.

  ‘This is great’, said Smithy looking around the car at his leisure, seeing the row upon row of switches each marked with their own function.

  ‘Don’t touch’, said Tommy. ‘You don’t know what any of them will do, and we don’t want to give ourselves away, do we’.

  Smithy resisted temptation to give just one a quick push, especially the one that read ‘Ray of Doom’ He was overcome to think there he was sitting in his hero’s car, opening his hero’s glove box and pulling down his hero’s sun visor, which didn’t have a mirror on the passengers side. He sat there thinking that this is what dreams are made off, almost in a world of his own when Tommy suddenly sat bolt upright.

  ‘Here they come’, Tommy whispered in a low voice as if the crooks could hear them.

  The car stopped at the entrance for a few seconds before turning and heading towards Broadacre. As they passed both of the boys dipped low in their seat so as not to be seen even though the car had black windows which could not be seen through by outsiders.

  ‘Follow that car’, Tommy said. But stay back far enough so they don’t see us following’, he added.

  The ‘Dynocar’ started up, it’s engine growling with power but this time it turned and moved off slowly after horrible Uncle Frank’s car which had now gone out of sight.

  ‘Don’t loose them’, Tommy ordered.

  ‘The target car is on automatic tracking’, came a metallic voice from the cars speaker.

  At the same time a door at the front of the cars dash board slid open to show a road map with a blipping green light moving on it.

  ‘Cool’, said Smithy in admiration.

  Although horrible Uncle Frank’s car was out of site, the ‘Dynocar’ kept the same distance between them. Only when the vehicle came to a complete stop did the ‘Dynocar’ move nearer. Horrible Uncle Frank had

  been watching too many films when he planned this job as he had already anticipated the possibility of being followed, so nearly an hour was wasted while they drove up one street and down an other. By the end they had nearly covered every road in Broadacre before they finally headed towards their hideout.

  ‘Vehicle has come to a dead stop’, said the speaker nearly frightening the boys out of their skins. ‘Occupants have left the vehicle’.

  ‘OK’, said Tommy. ‘Move in, but park a little way down the road from the vehicle’, he added.

  The car turned into a large industrial site where there was row upon row of factories and warehouses. It finally came to a stop in a side road outside a factory with a high wire fence surrounding it. The industrial site was deserted, it being Saturday, and it felt very weird as Tommy told the car to go and they were left in the roadway in absolute silence. They made their way to the front of the building to see where the crooks had left their car.

  It was parked inside the fence by a large door where lorries would unload their materials for the factory. Smithy had picked up a stick and was running it along the fence until he looked up and saw a large sign situated over the main entrance of the factory: GOODNIGHT MATTRESSES LTD, it said, ESTABLISHED 1897. Smithy’s heart sank as the words struck home.

  ‘Granddad is involved’, he said. ‘They’re using his factory as a base. He’s probably in there with a machine gun pointing at your Dad right now. I even bet that Granny is sat there with a cigarette sticking out of her mouth drinking whisky and telling Granddad to finish him off’.

  ‘I can’t believe that’, replied Tommy. ‘I like your Grandparents, and they don’t seem the type that would hurt anyone’.

  Smithy stood there shaking his head from side to side looking most miserable. They crept along the fence using the flowering shrubs that

  were growing the other side of the fence as cover until they reached the main gate.

  ‘Dam’, said Tommy. ‘They’re locked’.

  The gates had a large chain wrapped around the handles of the two gate doors which was fastened tightly together with a large brass padlock.

  ‘We can’t go in that way’, said Tommy. ‘We’ll have to go around the back to see if there’s a way in’.

  The two boys retraced their footsteps and headed around the back of the factory. There was no door in the wire fence along the back of the building and the concrete yard was strewn with wooden pallets, old trolleys and large industrial waste bins.

  ‘We’ll make our way through here’, said Tommy. This pile of pallets will hide us from view of the building so no one will see us enter’.

  Smithy caught hold of the fence and was about to start climbing when Tommy told him to stop.

  ‘I have a better way’, said Tommy. ‘Stand back’.

  No sooner had Tommy spoken than a great big pair of arms appeared each with a wire cutter attached to the end. They each started cutting from the bottom about a metre apart and cut straight up for about one and a half metres before turning to meet each other at the top. On finishing the cutters disappeared. Tommy moved forward and gave a slight push sending the cut out section falling to the ground.

  ‘Your door Sir’, he said with a look of satisfaction on his face.

  ‘Excellent’, replied Smithy. ‘Your really getting into this now aren’t you. I’ll leave it to you to tell my Granddad you’ve ruined his fence’.

  Chapter 5

  The Fight For Freedom

  The boys entered the yard through the fence and looked around to see if they had been heard. There were no windows in the back of the factory to worry about as they crept from piles of pallets and waste bins to the back of the building. They moved along the building wall until they came to the only door there was at this side which had a sign above it: KEEP CLEAR - FIRE DOOR, the sign read. There was no handle on the outside of the door and it was flush with the surrounding frame.

  ‘It’s locked’, said Smithy. ‘And there’s no key hole’.

  Tommy moved forward to have a look at the door.

  ‘Well at least it’s made of wood’, Tommy said as he produced the largest drill Smithy had ever seen, and proceeded to drill a hole in the door where he expected the handle to be on the other side. The drill moved slowly making hardly any noise at all. When it finished it left a hole large enough to get your hand through.

  ‘Well, if you think I’m going to try and squeeze through that’, said Smithy. ‘You can go run and jump mate’.

  Tommy turned and smile at Smithy as he put his hand through the hole to release the push bar catch on the other side which allowed the door to swing open.

  ‘Dad has one of these doors in his bank’, said Tommy. ‘But his is made of steel, but they both open the same way’, he added.

  Smithy looking most impressed followed Tommy as he entered the building. They found themselves in the warehouse which was very gloomy with only the light from a few skylight windows to go by. They headed towards a doorway which they suspected would lead them into the

  factory. A sign above the door said: ‘SPRING ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT’. There were great rubber doors which swung open quite easily to allow them access into the area.

  The room was very big with another door at the other end with a sign that said: ‘STUFFING DEPARTMENT’, written on it. There were a number of very large machines, each performing a different part of the assembly of the mattress springs. At the far end there was a large platform upon which one side of the spring system had been assembled with a large arm on the right which held the other half of the spring. It would appear that this machine brought the two made up halves together to form the whole mattress spring. Once the assembly had been completed the spring was lifted by one end and hung on a conveyor track to be transport
ed to the ‘Stuffing Department’.

  Looking up the boys noticed a walkway suspended from the roof which circled the whole room. On one side of the room there were a number of offices built on what the boys thought were stilts which had part of the walkway running down one side allowing anyone working there to look down on the factory floor. As there was no sign of anyone about, the boys moved on and entered the ‘Stuffing Department’.

  This room was as large as the first with machines dotted everywhere. The conveyor track carried the mattress springs throughout the room so that the springs passed through each of the machines which stuffed the springs to form the mattress. The light just about allowed the boys to read the sign over the door at the other end of the ‘Stuffing Department’ which said: ‘COVERING ROOM’.

  In the dim light the boys noticed a set of stairs that led up to the walkway which seemed to travel around the whole of the factory. Looking up they could see that there was a light on in one of the furthest offices that looked over the ‘Covering Room’ as it threw its brightness through the glass partition wall to the offices over the ‘Stuffing Room’.

  ‘Someone’s up there’, said Tommy in a low voice to Smithy.

  ‘How are we going to get you up there’, Smithy asked.

  ‘I’ll have to trust the legs’, answered Tommy.

  ‘You’ve got to be joking’, Smithy said. ‘They couldn’t keep quiet if you paid them’, he added.

  ‘Then I’ll have to have a word with them, won’t I’, Tommy replied.

  Tommy called for the legs again making sure that he was clear of anything that could make a noise. As usual they wobbled about not making up their minds which way they wanted to stand or move in. Tommy commanded them in a strong whispered voice to stand still and behave themselves. For once Tommy seemed to win the battle as the legs immediately stood to attention not moving a centimetre.

  ‘Right’, Tommy said. ‘Quietly now lets climb the stairs’.

  The legs responded immediately and started tiptoeing up the stairs followed by Smithy. It must have seemed a strange sight as even Smithy had a quick chuckle to himself under his breath. They reached the top of the stairs and Tommy seeing that they were doing quite well decided to stick to the legs. The two boys made their way along the walkway by the side of the offices passing corridors that went off to the left which split the offices into individual units. They passed over the ‘Stuffing Room’ heading for the source of light which seemed to be coming from the office at the furthest end of the office block.

  Things were going so well that no one seemed to notice the fire extinguisher that stood on the floor by the wall of one of the offices. One of the legs on Tommy’s chair gave the extinguisher a mighty kick sending it rolling down the walkway towards the office that was lit up. No sooner had it happened than the legs started to panic once again and started running in the direction they had just come from, with Smithy heading up the rear. The only saving grace was that they were still on tiptoe which kept the noise to a minimum. Tommy just about managed to stop and turn the legs right into the last corridor just above the ‘Spring Department.

  ‘God my hearts thumping like a drum’, Smithy said bent over to try and regain some composure.

  ‘They must have heard that’, Tommy said looking just as worse for wear.

  Smithy walked back to the corner of the office to take a look, just as one of the doors opened at the far end of the walkway and two of the crooks walked out.

  ‘Can you see anything’, said one crook to the other.

  ‘No, it’s too dark’, replied the other.

  Since their arrival dark clouds had gathered over the factory making it even darker within the building.

  ‘What’s this doing here’, one of the crooks said picking up the fire extinguisher. ‘There must be someone snooping around up here’.

  ‘Let’s have a look around’, said one of the crooks.

  ‘Put some blinking lights on then’, replied the other pointing to a large panel on the wall.

  Not knowing what switched what on the crook decided to push all of the switches down. The building suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, and to add to it, all of the machinery started up too. The conveyor started moving as the factory started into production.

  ‘Now we’re in trouble’, said Smithy as he moved to take a second look along the walkway. ‘I can’t see anyone, they must have gone back into the office. I’ll go and have a look’, he added, and was gone before Tommy could tell him to stay.

  Smithy had only gone ten metres when Jimmy the Scar came walking out of the corridor in front of him. Smithy froze to the spot, and it took the crook by surprise too.

  ‘What are you doing here’, the crook said.

  Smithy didn’t wait to answer as he turned on his heels and ran back in the direction from which he had come, with the crook close behind. Tommy had heard the commotion and had turned his wheelchair and was heading down the corridor trying to make for the nearest office. Smithy suddenly appeared his face looking in outright panic as the crook made grab after grab at him.

  ‘Help’, Smithy called to his mate as the crook made a final lunge in his direction, managing to grasp the zip opener toggle on the holdall on Smithy’s back.

  The crook held on with an iron grip which made the zip open. Had the crook known what was in the holdall he may have had second thoughts about his action, for out of the bag sprang ‘Tiger’, Smithy’s cat. Boy was he mad. He launched himself at the crook and landed full spread eagle on his face. To ensure he didn’t fall off ‘Tiger’ buried his claws deep into the crooks neck which caused the crook to squeal out loud in pain while at the same time sending him off balance staggering backwards. Tommy seeing the situation acted quickly.

  ‘Duck’, he shouted to Smithy.

  Smithy was just in time to see the baseball bat go flying over his head to hit the crook a painful blow to the stomach, sending him flying backward and over the top of the rail which ran along the walkway. It was five metres to the factory floor below and seeing this ‘Tiger’ jump from the man and landed on a pile of pallets a short distance from the machine that put the two spring parts together. Scarface wasn’t so lucky. He landed with a thud on the lower part of the spring set in the machine, knocking him unconscious.

  No sooner had he landed than the machine set in motion and the arm swung over to place the upper part of the spring into place. Trapped in this network of wire and springs the unconscious crook was lifted with the rest of the spring mattress and placed on the conveyor for its journey to the ‘Stuffing Department’.

  By now ‘Tiger’ had got over his shock and was curled up on the pallets out of view and fast asleep. Tommy and Smithy looked over the walkway and watched until the crook and his mattress disappeared into the ‘Stuffing Department’.

  ‘That was close’, said Smithy still feeling a little shaky after his ordeal.

  We need to be more careful’, replied Tommy. ‘We were lucky that time’.

  No sooner had Tommy said it than the second crook, Ronny the Rat, came around the corner.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here’, he shouted in an angry voice as he started to approach the boys along the corridor. They stood frozen once again for a few seconds before Smithy managed to speak.

  ‘Do something’, he pleaded with Tommy as the crook got nearer.

  Tommy’s mind was in a whirl for a moment before he could gather his thoughts. ‘Look out of the way’, he told Smithy.

  Smithy stood back expecting the large boxing glove or even the baseball bat. Instead a very large tube of toothpaste with the words ‘GOLDEN WHITE’ written on the side appeared.