by J.T. Lewis
The Adventures of Young Gabriel Celtic
The Great Plane Robbery
By
J.T. Lewis
Copyright 2012-2014 J.T. Lewis
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This book is a work of fiction. The
names, characters, places, and incidents are products of
the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and
are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to
persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or
organizations is entirely coincidental.
******
The Adventures of Young Gabriel Celtic
The Great Plane Robbery
1958
GB Celtic turned off the radio, shaking his head in aggravation.
"They haven't a clue who robbed the bank today Grace. It's like they just disappeared off of the face of the earth."
His wife finished setting the table before walking across the room. Sitting on the arm of her husband's chair, she hugged his arm and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Don't worry G, our money is insured, it's probably already been replaced."
"I'm not so much worried about the money Grace, but we must have the worst police force in history. How can they completely lose a pair of bank robbers?"
Raising her head, she pecked her husband on the cheek. "You'll have to solve that mystery after supper. Why don't you call over to Jimmy's house and tell Gabe it's almost ready?"
"That kid sure gets around for an eight year old," GB mumbled as he rose from the chair and made his way toward the phone. It started ringing at him as he approached.
"Hello?"
"Collect call from Mr. Gabriel Celtic," The operator intoned. "Do you accept the charges?"
"Why would my father be calling collect?" GB thought to himself.
"Sure operator, I'll accept the call."
"Go ahead Mr. Celtic."
"Why are you calling collect dad." GB said smiling. "Did your car break down?"
Silence
"Dad??"
"Gabe?" GB asked excitedly at the sound of his son's voice. "Where are you? I thought you were at Jimmy's house?"
"I'm at the airport?in Mount Pleasant."
"WHAT? That's a hundred miles from here!"
"Yeah?I kinda got my tail in a wringer here. Can you come pick me up?"
"You are in a world of trouble son. I haven't even started getting mad at you yet."
"I know?.I'm sorry. Oh and dad??"
"Yeah Gabe?"
"Bring your gun."
***
Eight year old Gabe Celtic was in heaven.
Having ridden his bike over to his friend Jimmy's house earlier that day, he had discovered that his friend was gone. His mom had probably dragged him off to a doctor's appointment; Jimmy always had a cold or something.
Gabe shuddered at the thought, he didn't like doctors.
Not knowing what else to do, Gabe set out to explore a little. Coming upon the corner of 4th Street, Gabe stopped his bike. This was the far boundary of the area he was allowed to go by himself. Passing this corner meant at least a month of being grounded, as well as extra chores.
If he got caught.
Glancing around the neighborhood, he saw that there was nobody around; no one that would squeal to his parents anyway.
There was a place he wanted to go, a place he had always wanted to go. And it was way past 4th street.
He quickly calculated the timing of making a quick trip there and back. He knew it was almost 4:00, and he would need to be back for sure by 6:00?supper time!
To his mind, that left plenty of time to explore.
The biggest problem would be the highway. His destination was a quarter mile out of town, and he had to take the highway to get there. He had to admit to himself that the thought scared him a little.
Shaking it off, he put his foot on the pedal and pushed down, starting the journey?and breaking the rules.
"You ain't brave if you ain't scared," he thought to himself, repeating Eddie Rickenbacker's famous quote.
Gabe's grandpa, Gabriel Celtic senior, had been in WWI and Eddie Rickenbacker was a favorite person of his. This fact made him a favorite person of Gabe's also.
His grandpa was his hero. Gabe was also pretty sure that his grandpa wouldn't have a problem with what he had set off to do.
He was almost positive.
***
Ten minutes later, Gabe was there.
The airport!
Not much of an airport actually. A dirt strip running through a cornfield, with a couple of Quonset huts set up as makeshift hangars. But it had two things that Gabe had been hoping he would find: an untended plane, and no one around.
Moving behind one of the hangars, Gabe leaned his bike against it and made his way slowly around the building.
An old blue biplane sat in front of him not ten feet away.
Glancing left and right to make sure he was alone, Gabe made his way to the old airplane.
"Hot dog!" Gabe shouted with enthusiasm as he climbed up on the wing and then leaned wide-eyed into the cockpit.
"Wow!"
Being a two-seater plane, he knew the pilot would sit in the back seat, so that's where he needed to be. Pulling himself up over the edge, he plopped down in the seat. Finding a set of goggles, he happily slipped them on and grabbed the control stick.
"Clear!" He called out to the nonexistent ground crew as he reached forward and pretended to flip a switch. The motor roared to life in his mind's ear.
Pulling the stick to take off, every move was accompanied by a sound effect of Gabe's own making.
"Red Baron ahead!" He shouted over the air rushing past his ears. "I'll take him down boys!" he yelled at the invisible planes flying in formation around him. "You guys hang back."
Pulling the stick once more, he climbed into the clouds, working his way around so that his attack came out of the sun. Looking down to his right, he spots the tri-winged plane of his adversary below.
"Get ready to meet your maker Fritz!" Gabe called over the side as he pushed the stick forward and to the right, bringing the bright red plane into his sights.
"You're mine now!"
"Dadadadadada," he yelled, mimicking the sound of his gun going off.
The smile on his face said it all, he had singlehandedly downed the most feared German ace of the war.
"I told you guys I would?Jeepers!"
He ducked immediately onto the floor of the cockpit.
Having looked to his left to goad the rest of his imaginary squadron, he had spied two guys break out of the cornfield, running directly toward the plane. A he sat hunkered down on the floor, Gabe was beside himself.
"Dad's gonna kill me," he whispered to himself as the threat of discovery ran rapidly toward him.
Looking around quickly for a way out, he realized that the seat-back had a hinge on the bottom of it. Acting quickly, he grabbed the top of the cushion with both hands and pulled.
The cushion popped down, revealing an access hole to the luggage area in the back of the plane. Seeing no other alternative, Gabe slid up on the seat and wormed his way through the tight hole. Turning then in the tight confines of the luggage hold, he reached up and pulled the back of the seat into place.
"Jiminy Crickets!" he whispered to himself when he real
ized that he still had the goggles on. Ripping them off quickly, he pushed the seat forward again, replacing the goggles where he had found them and clicking the seat-back in place.
At that moment, a hatch opened behind him as one of the men threw two canvas sacks in the luggage hold.
"Get up there and get the engine cranked!" The man yelled to the other before slamming the hatch shut.
A few seconds later, the plane vibrated violently as the engine roared to life.
Gabe's heart was in his throat when he realized what was happening. Sliding back to the hatch on the side of the plane, he tried to get it open, hoping to jump out before the plane gathered too much speed.
There was no way to open it from the inside.
He could feel movement then, the plane wheeling its way to the runway. Knowing he was stuck, Gabe worked his way toward the front of the hold again, reasoning that may be the best place to be.
It felt like his stomach dropped to the ground as the old plane suddenly left the confines of the earth. The roar of the engine and the wind flowing by the plane was deafening.
"Dad's gonna kill me," Gabe lamented over the noise, a cold sweat forming on his face. "He's really gonna kill me!"
***
As the plane leveled off, Gabe realized suddenly that he was cold, very cold. There was dim light leaking in through cracks in the canvas skin of the plane, and Gabe started looking around for a way to get warm.
Realizing that the canvas sacks were his only option, Gabe crawled over to them. Finding them to be old Army duffle bags, he discovered that one of them was only partially full. Being fairly small for his age, Gabe reasoned that he might be able to fit in it.
By now his teeth were chattering, so he untied the smaller duffle, his fingers barely working because of the cold.
"Holy Cow!" Gabe exclaimed as he got the bag opened.
Looking inside the duffle bag had revealed that it was half full of money!
Pulling out one of the stacks of bills, he saw $1,000 on the band holding together the $100 dollar bills.
There must be 20 of them in there, and the other one was completely full!
His chattering teeth brought him back to reality. Throwing the money back into the bag, Gabe crawled into it feet first. Pulling the edge of the bag up around his shoulders, he rolled the other bag next to him before pulling the cord on his tightly closed.
Moving the money around him like a blanket, he slowly started feeling a little warmer. As his body warmed itself, he had time to think about his predicament. Since these guys had been in such a hurry, Gabe reasoned that they must have done something wrong since they also had bags full of money.
"Maybe they robbed somebody!"
Gabe thought that was exciting at first, until he realized that they probably wouldn't be the friendly kind of robbers if they found him with their money.
If these guys found him, he was in trouble?or worse. If he got away from them, his dad would kill him.
As his troubled mind compared which of his future options may be the worst, the constant droning of the plane and the gradual warming of his body combined to put him to sleep.
He dreamed of flying.
***
Jolted awake by the rough landing, it took Gabe a few seconds to remember what was happening.
"Criminy!" he exclaimed when he remembered where he was. He instantly started working on the drawstring with his cold fingers so he could exit the sack and hide.
It was stuck!
As the plane settled on the ground, Gabe could feel it slowing down as he frantically worked at the canvas string. Nothing he did would release the top of the bag and allow him to escape his canvas prison.
As the plane finally came to a stop, Gabe was grasping for ideas on escape before the men found him.
At that moment, the motor of the plane rattled to a stop.
Gabe froze.
He knew he had just seconds before he was discovered.
"Get the damn bags," he heard from the front of the plane as it rocked a little from the robbers' exiting the cockpit. "I'll get the car. Make it snappy!"
Gabe closed his eyes in resignation.
***
Kenny, the darker haired of the two men on the plane jumped off of the wing and sauntered back to the luggage hold.
They were on easy street now!
And they had just committed the perfect crime. Robbing the bank at closing was genius, and it had been his idea. With very few customers, and both of the tellers counting out their drawers of money for the day, no one was prepared for them to walk in and just take that money away from them
It had been that easy!
Roy had shouted for everyone to get on the ground, and they had all quietly followed orders. Then it was just a matter of collecting the loot and exiting the bank. Leaving the bank by the back door, they had jumped into the stolen car that they had parked in the alley. Taking off their ski masks, they had started their car and eased out into the street, making their way toward the highway.
Leaving town, they had pulled off before the airport onto a dirt road they had discovered earlier. Only used by the farmer of the fields surrounding the airfield, they were unsurprised that they had run into no one else on the little-used road.
Ditching the car, they ran through the drying cornstalks to the plane.
Thankfully, Roy knew how to fly a plane! Borrowing it earlier in the day from the unsuspecting owner, they had been able to take it without anyone being the wiser.
The rest was history.
Now all they needed to do was head to their hideout and split the dough. Lucky Roy's dad had that old hunting cabin not far from here.
Arriving at the door to the cargo hold, Kenny reached in and pulled out the two duffle bags.
"What the hell?"
One of the bags had a slit in the side!
Kenny quickly poked his head back into the hold, looking around the dark space suspiciously.
Nothing.
The car pulled up and braked quickly behind him, a cloud of dust enveloping both the car and the plane.
"Come on!" Roy yelled from the window. "What's taking you so long?"
"One of the bags got a slit in it. Must have been the cold done it."
"All the money still in it?" Roy asked suspiciously.
"Seems to be," Kenny said as he glanced into the slit of the bag.
"Then who gives a rat's tail? Get in the car!"
Kenny grabbed the bags and made his way around the car, throwing the bags over the seat and into the back as he entered the two-door coupe.
***
When he heard the car leave, Gabe stuck his head above the edge of the cockpit, still shaking a little.
Remembering his Scout knife at the last second, he had quickly pulled it out of his pocket and slit the bag with the blade. Rolling out of the bag, he had scooted quickly along the floor toward the cockpit.
Hitting the seatback with both hands as the cargo door opened, he launched himself through the hole, landing heavily onto the floor of the plane. Twisting himself around as quickly as possible, Gabe pushed up the back of the seat. Afraid to latch the seat for fear of the robber hearing it, he held it closed and hoped that any light peeking in around the edges wouldn't give him away.
Holding his breath for what seemed like hours, he waited to be discovered. Luckily the dark-haired man had decided it must have been the cold that caused the rip in the old bag.
As he watched the car drive off down the runway, he saw it pull out onto the road that ran parallel to the airport. Almost immediately however, the car made a quick left turn and disappeared into the woods.
Waiting another five minutes, Gabe finally let himself down out of the plane. He was surprised that his legs felt like rubber when he landed on the dirt runway, and he guessed that it was from being cooped up in the cold airplane for an hour.
Taking a few tentative steps around the plane, he stopped and had a good look at his
surroundings. Not unlike the airport at home, there were again a couple of Quonset huts being used as hangars, only this airfield had a few more planes around.
Making his way to what looked like an office, he pushed open the unlocked door. No one was there, so he made his way over to a chart behind the single desk. Studying the detailed map, he quickly found his location by the series of red circles centered around a point on the map.
"Hot dog!" he shouted when he realized where he was.
Mount Pleasant. Although he had heard of it from time to time, he knew that he had never been there before. Suddenly thinking of something else, he took a closer look at the map, especially at the immediate area surrounding the airport.
"Hmmm," he uttered as he spent a few more seconds staring at the chart before turning around and spotting the phone on the desk.
Picking up the receiver, he cranked the phone once and waited for the operator.
Telling her what he needed, he sat in the dusty desk chair, waiting a couple of minutes for the call to go through.
Finally hearing the familiar voice on the other end of the line, Gabe gulped loudly; trying to push down the fear of what he knew was coming.
"Dad??"
***
Exploring the area over the next two plus hours, Gabe knew the layout of the whole airfield by the time he saw the headlights turn onto the runway from the road.
Steeling himself, he waved down the car when it approached the office. The first to exit the car was his grandpa.
Gramps!" he yelled, a tear escaping his eye as he ran toward the older man. Kneeling down, Gabriel Celtic Senior scooped up his grandson and hugged him tightly, finally turning and setting him down on the hood of the car.
Gabe's dad was making his way around the front of the car, the look on his face not pretty.
"Dad, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to?"
His father waved off his excuse as he made his way to Gabe, also hugging him. "We'll get into that later."
Pulling something out of the pocket of his jacket, he handed it to Gabe. "Your mom thought you might need this by now."
Gabe spied the sandwich in his dad's hand, and grabbed it up greedily.
He was starved! Having been so worried about what his dad would say, he hadn't given too much thought to his hunger. He felt instantly better however with the first bite of the bologna and dill pickle sandwich, his favorite.
Letting Gabe finish his sandwich before saying anything else, his granddad was the first to speak when he was done.