“What! Where’d he go?” the other henchmen yelled.
Blaggard stood up. “Let’s find that kid,” he growled.
Outside in the Mach 5, Speed had done fine work on the radio wires. He got a very faint signal. He couldn’t reach Trixie, but he could try the police.
The radio crackled. “Hello! Hello! This is the police. Who’s calling, and where?”
That’s when the door to the lodge opened and Blaggard, Tiny, and the rest of the henchmen came out.
“Forget it,” Speed said into the radio. He shut it down before Blaggard could see that he’d fixed it.
Blaggard approached. He leaned a heavy hand on the Mach 5’s hood. “Checking to see if your car’s all right?” he asked Speed. “You sure are attached to this car, aren’t you?”
Speed tried to look innocent. “I, uh, yes,” he said.
Blaggard shoved Speed aside into the passenger seat. Then he opened the door of the Mach 5 and sat down in the driver’s seat.
“Hmmm,” Blaggard said, having a look around inside the car. “The steering wheel’s got a lot of buttons on it. Now what does this one here do?” He reached out a thick finger and shoved the button that read A.
The Mach 5 lifted off the ground.
“That’s the automatic jack,” Speed explained. “It raises the car several feet so it can be serviced.”
Blaggard shrugged, unimpressed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Speed noticed gigantic Tiny standing in the shadows near the car, waiting to grab him if needed.
Blaggard ran his fingers over the remaining buttons on the steering wheel. “So which button’s for the weapons?” he asked.
“Sorry,” Speed said, though he wasn’t sorry at all. “The Mach 5 doesn’t carry any weapons. It was built for racing and that’s it.”
“Hmm,” Blaggard said. “And what’s this button here?” He lightly touched his finger to the G button.
The G Button!
Speed eyed it warily. He should have used that before Blaggard had a chance to come out.
“That’s for a remote-control homing robot,” Speed explained reluctantly. Maybe there would still be a chance for him to slip a message inside the robot and send it home...
Too late.
Blaggard pressed the G button. A robot built to look like a homing pigeon shot out of the Mach 5’s hood.
A panel inside the Mach 5 opened up, and Blaggard leaned forward to inspect it. “Is this the remote control then?” he asked.
“Yes, but please don’t fool around with it,” Speed said quickly.
Blaggard ignored him. He wiggled the remote control left and right and up and down and around and around in wild circles. “It’s like a toy airplane,” he said.
Up above in the night sky, the flashing taillights on the homing robot could be seen zipping and zooming like a fighter pilot.
Blaggard was chuckling. “I haven’t had this much fun since I was a kid! ” he cried as he almost crashed the homing robot into a boulder.
Speed’s heart was beating wildly. That homing robot was his last chance to contact home, and it was about to be smashed to pieces.
Blaggard pulled the remote controller down, and the homing robot touched ground, scuttling through the red dirt.
Speed’s heart sank.
“What’s this?” Blaggard said, nudging another control button labeled H. “Heh heh, I’ll try it.”
“Don’t touch it!” Speed cried, unable to keep the panic from his voice.
Button H was the “home” button that would send the homing robot back to Speed’s house. If Blaggard pressed it, Speed would never be able to send a message to Trixie!
Blaggard pushed the button. In one swift shot, the homing robot soared into the sky and vanished. Not even its taillights could be seen in the darkness.
“That homing robot can really fly!” Blaggard said, obviously delighted.
“Now it’s gone,” Speed said. He sat very still for a long moment, trying to think.
Blaggard just sent the homing robot back to my family, Speed thought. But they won’t know where I am. If only I’d been able to give the homing robot a message to carry...
10
HE $650 GLUE
That same night at the Racer family home, Pops was woken by the doorbell. Blearily, he found his robe and slippers and went for the door. Outside was Speed’s girlfriend, Trixie, and she was not happy.
“Speed was supposed to take me to a party tonight, but he stood me up!” Trixie cried angrily. “Where is he? I want to give him a piece of my mind.”
That’s when Pops remembered Speed’s phone call. He looked down at his slippers, feeling a little embarrassed. “Uh, Trixie, there was something I forgot to tell you,” he said. “Speed called this afternoon ...”
“He called!” Trixie said. She lost her anger as Pops ushered her inside the house. She knew Pops didn’t have the best memory when it came to anything other than automobiles. “What did he say, Pops?”
“He said he’s spending the night at a friend’s house,” Pops said.
“What friend? Sparky?”
Pops shook his head. “I didn’t ask,” he admitted. Then his eyes lit up. “But I just remembered! He gave me a message for you. He said you should forget about that ring you wanted.”
“Forget about what ring?” Trixie asked, thoroughly confused.
“He said it cost over six hundred and fifty dollars, so at least for now you should forget about it.”
Trixie’s eyes went wide. “Wait just a minute! He said six hundred and fifty, Pops? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I remember that exact number. Sure sounds expensive ...”
“Pops!” Trixie cried. “He wasn’t talking about any ring. Speed knows I wouldn’t want him to buy me a ring when he’s saving all his money to enter the Multipeak Race! That message was a code. Add a couple of zeros and it indicates the red zone of his tachometer. Speed’s trying to tell me he’s in danger!”
“Why ... you’re right,” Pops said. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Did he say anything else, Pops?”
A little shriek interrupted their conversation. “Mommy, I’m hungry!” came a voice from the kitchen. “I want a midnight snack!”
“Spritle,” Mom Racer could be heard saying, “what are you doing up at this hour?”
“The homing robot woke me up! ” Spritle cried. “Can’t I have some ice cream?”
Pops and Trixie shot to attention.
“The homing robot is here!” Pops said.
“Speed must have sent us a message,” Trixie said.
They rushed into the kitchen to check the robot. Chim Chim was playing with it, tossing it up in the air. The robot was covered in streaks of red clay. Pops grabbed it from Chim Chim and opened it up.
“There’s no note inside!” Trixie said, gasping. “Why would Speed send us the homing robot without a message inside?”
“Hmmm,” Pops said, taking a closer look at . the robot. “Look, there’s red clay all over it,” he said.
“Red clay!” Trixie said. She met Pops’s eyes. They must have been thinking the same thing. “That could only mean—” Trixie started.
“Ice cream?” Spritle said hopefully. Chim Chim hooted wildly.
“No, not ice cream,” Trixie said. “Speed needs our help. And I think we know where to find him ...”
11
MISTY VALLEY
The next morning, Speed and Mr. Clepto were waiting to continue their journey deeper into Misty Valley. Blaggard’s henchmen were guarding them nearby.
“I thought I heard a helicopter very late last night... Did you?” Speed whispered to Mr. Clepto.
“Uh-uh. I slept like a baby last night, or rather like an old man.” He chuckled.
“Oh, well,” Speed said, chuckling, too.
Still, Speed was sure he’d heard something that had sounded a lot like a helicopter. Maybe that was Trixie’s helicopter, he thought. Maybe she was o
ut here searching for us.
“Hey, boss!” one of the henchmen called out to Blaggard. Speed watched as the henchman walked up with a stranger. The henchman led the girl over to Blaggard. “Look, we found a resident of Misty Valley.”
Blaggard nodded his approval. “Good work,” he said. “We can use her as a guide so we don’t get lost.”
“Why do you strangers want to go into Misty Valley?” the girl said. She had a strange accent.
“Just show us around and don’t ask questions,” the henchman said.
Speed watched from afar, frowning. Then he walked up to Blaggard, annoyed. “What do we need her for?” Speed said. “We can look for the buried money ourselves. I know where to find it. I told you I have the coordinates.”
“Do you think I trust you?” Blaggard snapped. “We’re taking her along as backup.”
“Fine,” Speed mumbled.
“This kid will tell you the directions,” the henchman said to the girl, pointing at Speed. “So you travel in the car with him.”
The girl threw herself at Speed, obviously delighted. “I’m going to enjoy this trip!” she cried. “My name is Lana, and you’re the most handsome boy I’ve seen in this valley.”
Speed pushed her away.
Speed drove the Mach 5 to the spot in Misty Valley. In the car with him were Mr. Clepto, Lana, and one of Blaggard’s men. Behind him were Blaggard’s two cars.
Speed was worried enough about how he and Mr. Clepto would get away from Blaggard, and now he also had to deal with Lana. She would not stop talking.
“Someday I want to move to the big city!” she said. “I would need someone to show me around. Ooh, I know! You can be my boyfriend and you can show me around, won’t you?”
Speed cringed. “I have a girlfriend,” he said. “I’m not interested.”
“Well, the least I can do is show you some of the points of interest in Misty Valley,” she said. She turned around in her seat and pointed into the trees. “Now look over there. That’s a very important spot you must visit. See that little blue house in the distance? Hey, you’re not looking!”
“I’m driving,” Speed snapped.
“But look,” Lana insisted.
Suddenly, with one swift push, she knocked the guard out of the Mach 5. He tumbled onto the road.
“Hey!” Speed cried. “Why’d you do that?”
“Now’s your chance to get away!” Lana cried. “Hurry!”
“Why are you helping us?” Speed asked.
Lana winked and removed a wig that had been disguising her. She wiped off some makeup and there she was: Trixie!
Speed gasped. “I knew that helicopter I heard last night was you!” he cried. “Hang on!”
He shifted gears and floored the gas. The Mach 5 flew down the road, gaining distance on Blaggard’s cars.
The Mach 5 squealed off the pavement and into the trees. There was no road through the woods, so the Mach 5 made one. Speed pressed a button on the steering wheel and saws shot out from the front of the car, cutting the brush and clearing a path as they went. Branches piled up behind them, blocking the way for any car that tried to come after them.
Blaggard and his men were left at the edge of the woods, unable to go in after Speed.
The Mach 5 emerged on the other side of the woods.
“They’re not following us! ” Trixie said.
“Of course not,” said Speed. “But, Trixie, how in the world did you figure out where we were?”
“I saw the clay on the homing robot,” she said. “Don’t you know that Misty Valley is the only place this kind of red clay can be found?” She pointed toward the village in the distance. “C’mon,” she said. “Pops is waiting for us in that blue house I showed you. We must get there, and fast!”
Soon enough, Speed, Trixie, and Mr. Clepto pulled up in front of the blue house. It was dead quiet. Speed walked straight up to the front door and walked in. Someone sat with his back to the door in a big chair.
“Pops!” Speed cried. “We’re safe! ”
“Pops, you can call the police now!” Trixie cried.
But when Pops turned around, he was not Pops!
It was Blaggard.
Speed gasped. “H-how did you—?” he started.
“My guard heard that impostor there talking about a blue house,” Blaggard said, grinning menacingly at Trixie. “And here we are.”
“Oh, no!” Trixie cried.
“Well, I’m glad you’re back. I have a little surprise for you in there,” Blaggard said. He pointed at a closed door. “Show ’em, Tiny.”
Tiny stomped out from the next room and opened the door. It was a closet. And inside was Pops, tied up and gagged. Pops struggled, trying to say he was sorry.
“Now, let’s go get the loot,” Blaggard said, pushing Speed, Trixie, and Mr. Clepto out the door. “Oh, and by the way, after this is all over, I’m keeping that helicopter.”
12
MONKEYS TO THE RESCUE
Trixie’s helicopter was waiting on the hillside, guarded by one of Blaggard’s henchmen. Though the helicopter looked empty, it wasn’t. Two little stowaways were hidden in the storage compartment under the seat. Quietly, Spritle and Chim Chim climbed out and hid in the bushes.
Soon, Speed had navigated everyone to the spot in Misty Valley where Light Fingers Clepto’s loot was said to be buried. The place was a clearing hidden away far up in the hills. One of Blaggard’s henchmen yelled from a far corner of the clearing. “Hey, boss! There’s a big boulder back here.”
Blaggard stomped over to the boulder in question to have a look. “Tiny, move the rock aside,” commanded Blaggard.
Tiny used all his weight to force the huge boulder a foot to the left. A hole was revealed beneath it. Blaggard nodded at Tiny, and Tiny shoved his giant arm down deep into the hole. Then he lifted out a briefcase.
Everyone gasped. Light Fingers Clepto really had hidden his money here!
“Open it up, Tiny!” Blaggard yelled.
Tiny knocked the lock off the briefcase with one hard punch. It came open easily.
Inside were stacks and stacks of hundred-dollar bills.
Everyone gasped louder than before. Mr. Clepto looked more shocked than anyone.
Blaggard turned to Mr. Clepto, a sinister grin on his face. “Take a good look at that billion dollars, Clepto. Because that’s the last time you’ll ever see it.”
“What do you mean?” Mr. Clepto cried. “You’re supposed to split it!”
“I’m getting rid of all of you,” Blaggard said. “I don’t want you going to the police. This loot belongs to me and only me.”
Trixie put her hands on her hips and gave Blaggard a defiant look. “You don’t deserve a penny of that money,” she said.
“That’s what you think,” Blaggard said. “I deserve anything I can steal.” Then he turned to his henchmen, who had formed a circle around Speed, Trixie, Pops, and Mr. Clepto. They were outnumbered at least five to one. “Get ’em, men,” Blaggard growled.
The henchmen closed in.
We’re done for, Speed thought.
Then rocks started raining down.
“We’re under attack! ” one of Blaggard’s men cried.
“They’re on the hill!” another man cried.
Rocks came from all directions. An army of monkeys was jumping up and down on the hill. They were pitching rocks and stones at the henchmen, knocking them out one by one.
Speed looked up at the monkeys. He saw a familiar face.
“Chim Chim’s the leader!” he cried.
Sure enough, there was Chim Chim, hooting in excitement. And Spritle was there beside him, throwing a few rocks of his own.
Blaggard’s men were no match for them.
“Who said a barrel of monkeys was fun?!” cried a henchman as some of the monkeys ganged up on him, knocking him to the ground.
Blaggard stumbled out of the hail of rocks. He had his sights set on Chim Chim. “I’ll get that monkey,”
he growled, but before he could do anything of the sort, Spritle swung over on a vine and knocked him in the head with a sharp kick.
“Spritle, what are you doing here! Pops shouted.
Blaggard was on his knees, dazed.
Spritle swung back and forth. “Pops, show me what a good wrestler you are! ”
“Good idea, Spritle,” Pops said. “I almost forgot that I used to be a champ.” Popsturned. He found Speed and Trixie fighting off attackers.
Off to the side, Blaggard was getting up, unguarded.
“The boss is mine!” Pops hollered. He took a running leap toward Blaggard, catching him in a headlock and knocking him flat on his back. “That’s just the beginning,” Pops said.
But a henchman climbed up Pops’s back.
“Throw him off, Pops! cried Trixie.
Pops twisted around and got the henchman by the shoulders. Then he lifted him up high in the air and pitched him into the dirt. He threw another henchman at a boulder and another at the side of the mountain.
Nearby, Speed and Trixie used their martial arts skills to defend themselves.
Then Tiny advanced on Speed. He threw a chop. Speed ducked out of the way. He threw a punch. Speed jumped to the side. Tiny got mad, madder than before, and geared up all his strength. Speed tried to catch his breath. Tiny was coming at him with both enormous arms outstretched.
“Don’t worry, Speed! ” Spritle cried. “I’ll take care of him.” He shot a well-aimed rock at Tiny. It hit Tiny square between the eyes, dazing him for a moment.
The moment was long enough for Speed to get his bearings. Tiny grabbed for him, but Speed was fast and rolled him in a wrestling move he’d learned from Pops. He slammed Tiny hard into the pile of rocks. There was a low rumble, and the rocks came loose. A cavern opened up beneath them, and Tiny fell into it.
The Secret Engine Page 4