Running on Fumes Read online

  Catchy.

  You know what I needed right now?

  Yeah. A foolproof escape plan.

  I felt like Frank and I would need to be Houdinis to get out of here. We were both tied up hand and foot—and Mondo wasn’t taking his eyes off of us.

  “I know exactly how I’m going to do it, too,” Stench continued.

  I didn’t really want to hear the details of my demise. But knowing what Stench had planned would make it easier to avoid whatever it was.

  I hoped.

  “It’s going to be part of my birthday present to myself. For my birthday, I’m going to blow up a nuclear power plant.”

  He said it like it was nothing. Like for his birthday he was going to buy himself a pair of underpants.

  “You’re insane!” Frank sounded horrified.

  “Oh, no. Nuclear power is evil. It could destroy the oil industry,” Stench answered. “I’ve gone over the plans very carefully. The Diablo Power Plant is twelve miles from San Luis Obispo. I’m going to crash the drone into it.”

  The drone. Right. The helicopter with no stick.

  “Great technology,” Stench continued. “Very similar to what we used in Afghanistan. I can fly it anywhere from the ground. You two will be able to get an up-close look. Because you’ll be inside.”

  He turned to Mondo. “Isn’t that perfect? Even if the plant doesn’t blow, these two will die. And when their bodies are found, they’ll be accused of terrorism.”

  A blast of nausea hit me as I imagined the headlines. Imagined Mom and Aunt Trudy reading them.

  At least Dad would figure out the truth.

  Stench stood up. “I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get started. Mondo? Would you?”

  For the second time I found myself pinned under Mondo’s meaty arm. He carried me outside and walked me around the building. There he dumped me into a large wooden cart that stood there. The second he stalked away I started working on the ropes. Rubbing them on the edge of the cart. The friction heated up my wrists, but I didn’t feel the ropes give at all.

  I stopped when I saw Mondo carrying Frank toward the cart. He tossed my brother in next to me. Then he pulled us toward the tent with the copter.

  Stench trailed behind us, humming his Birthday/Earth Day song.

  When we reached the tent, Mondo unlaced the flap and pulled it open wide. I could see the drone inside. The death machine.

  Stench pulled a remote out of the pocket of his long white robe. He hit a button, and the drone rolled out of the tent.

  “Load it up!” Stench cried. He actually clapped his hands like an excited little kid.

  Mondo grabbed Frank and started toward the drone. “Petal, help!” I shouted.

  She was the only one I could think of who might help us. Might. She liked Frank. Maybe she liked him enough to go against Stench.

  “Petal!” I shouted again. “Frank needs you!”

  “Like you, Petal is a little tied up right now.” Stench laughed so hard that he snorted. “I made a joke!” he cried. “Your little Petal is tied up—in the desert.”

  Mondo came back for me and tossed me into the drone cockpit next to Frank. “What do you mean? What did you do to her?”

  Stench walked up to the side of the copter. “I just did what I had to do. I found out Petal was sneaking information to you. So I had someone tie her up and leave her in the desert.”

  “She’ll die out there!” Frank yelled.

  “That’s the point,” Stench answered. “Everyone can’t have as exciting a death as the one I’ve prepared for you and your brother.”

  He stepped back and hit a button on the remote. The propeller began to spin.

  “So the note we got telling us to check out Stench’s house came from Petal,” Frank said. His eyebrows were pulled together.

  “Yeah, she likes you even more than I thought,” I said.

  “That can’t be the reason. You don’t go against your beliefs because you like someone,” Frank answered.

  The propeller spun faster.

  “Uh, can we talk about the Petal situation later?” I asked Frank. “I think we’re about to have liftoff.”

  Not that there was anything to do. If we managed to hurl ourselves out of the copter, Mondo would just shove us back in. Maybe when we—

  “Drop the remote, Stench!”

  I twisted around and saw Petal with her bow and arrow. She had an arrow pointed at Stench’s head.

  “Get her, Mondo!” Stench ordered.

  “Take one step toward me, and your boss gets an arrow through the brain,” Petal told Mondo. Her voice was cold and harsh.

  But it turned warm when she called out to Frank. “Don’t worry. I’m gonna get you out of there, Frank!”

  I assumed when she got Frank out, she’d get me out too. I mean, I’m his brother. Right?

  “Dear Petal, Petal, Petal,” Stench crooned. “I taught you better than that. I taught you to love all living things.”

  “I can love a scorpion, Stench. I can love a rattler. But I can’t love you,” Petal shot back.

  She let the arrow fly. It hit a tree six inches away from Stench’s head. “You know I’m a lot better shot than that. Take it as a warning.” She strung another arrow and pointed it at the center of Stench’s forehead. “Mondo, untie them.”

  Mondo came toward me—with a knife in his hand. Within a second all the saliva in my mouth had dried up.

  Thankfully, he used the knife to cut my ropes free. Then Frank’s.

  We burst out of the helicopter.

  “Drop the remote, Stench,” Petal instructed.

  “No.”

  Petal didn’t repeat herself. She pointed the arrow downward—and shot the remote out of Stench’s hand.

  “Get him!” Frank shouted.

  Frank got to Stench first. Tackled him. I jumped on his chest, using my weight to pin him down.

  He didn’t even struggle. He was staring at something over my shoulder, eyes wide. I couldn’t resist taking a quick look.

  The drone had risen off the ground!

  “Grab it, Mondo!” Stench shouted.

  I punched him in the jaw. “You aren’t the one giving orders anymore,” I told him.

  Stench suddenly bucked, knocking me half off him. His elbow landed square on my nose, and for a second, all I could see was red dots in front of my eyes. Everything was pain.

  The second my vision cleared, I managed to grab one of Stench’s ears and twist. It doesn’t sound like much, but it can really hurt. And it gave Frank the chance to shove Stench over and get one of his hands pinned behind his back.

  “Joe, duck!”

  I obeyed Frank without thinking and pressed myself flat against the ground. My hair ruffled as the drone passed above me.

  “I don’t know how to work this thing!” Petal exclaimed. She jabbed at the remote. “I’m trying to make it land.”

  Mondo lunged at her. Petal darted away, still punching the remote’s buttons.

  The copter jerked up, up.

  Mondo made another lunge.

  Then the helicopter slammed into the ground.

  As it exploded, I was hit with a wave of heat. Stench twisted onto his side. “Mondo!” he cried out.

  A human figure staggered out of the fireball. Mondo. He took three steps, then collapsed.

  “Mondo!” Stench wailed again. And I realized he was crying. Blood and tears streaked his face.

  It was over.

  ROAD TRIP!

  Dave and his dad raced up to us. A few seconds later Einstein Wannabe appeared. His hair was wilder than ever. More people appeared every moment.

  Before we could answer their questions, we had to deal with the flaming remains of the drone. We quickly formed a bucket brigade—after tying up Stench.

  As the buckets of water passed down the line, I couldn’t help wondering what would happen to all these people. Janet could probably get a job anywhere. But what about Solar Man?

  Working together,
it didn’t take long to put the fire out. Then Joe, Petal, and I gave everyone in the compound as much of an explanation as we could.

  Not fun.

  In the background, Stench kept calling us liars. But with the blackened coptor sitting in the compound, most people believed us.

  After all questions were answered, I felt it was time to wrap this case up. “I guess we should go call for—”

  “Do you hear that?” Joe interrupted.

  I tilted my head down and listened. Was I just having a delayed stress attack? Or was I really hearing a real helicopter?

  I scanned the sky. Sure enough, a copter was incoming.

  Ducking, Frank and I ran toward it after it had landed. Was it one of Stench’s oil company bosses? Who else would be showing up in a helicopter?

  The answer: our dad.

  “What are you doing here?” Joe cried as Dad hopped out of the copter.

  “Does that mean you’re not happy to see me?” Dad asked.

  “Just surprised,” I told him. “How’d you find us? We barely found this place ourselves.”

  “That fireball helped!” Dad answered. “I was in California on a mission. I heard you two were out of cell phone range, and I thought maybe something had gone wrong. I decided to do a flyover.”

  Joe rolled his eyes. He hates it when Dad gets overprotective.

  In this case, though, we sort of did need our butts saved. Sort of We were just about to call for help. But somehow, calling for backup wasn’t the same as being rescued by your dad. A little embarrassing.

  “Do you wish I hadn’t come?” Dad asked, his voice a little sharp. He’d clearly caught the eye roll.

  “No,” I answered. “Are you kidding? We’ve been eating tofu for days. We’re dying to get out of here.”

  Joe smiled. “Yeah. We were just wrapping things up. And we needed a lift.”

  “And who’s this?” Dad asked. He jerked his chin toward Petal. She was doing that hanging-back-but-not-going-away thing.

  I waved her over. “Dad, this is Petal Northstar. This is our dad, Fenton Hardy.”

  “I’m Paula Northum, actually,” Petal—or Paula—said.

  “I knew your parents didn’t name you Petal,” Joe jumped in. He turned to Dad. “This girl saved our lives. Twice.”

  Dad shook Paula’s hand. “Then I’m especially glad to meet you.”

  “I still don’t get why you were helping us. You’re part of the compound,” I said.

  “It’s because she loooooves you, Frank,” Joe butted in.

  I hate to say it, but I blushed. Paula did too.

  “I was in the compound undercover,” Paula said. “I’m kind of an amateur detective myself. I live near here, and I wanted to find out what bigger plans Stench might have.”

  “And what do your parents think about this?” Dad asked. He pretty much had to. Being a parent himself.

  “They’re cool about it,” Paula answered. “I’m home schooled, so I could be here without messing up my grades or anything. My parents and I have a lot of trust between us. They know I can take care of myself—and I’ve cracked some pretty intricate cases in these parts before.”

  She smiled at me. “At some point I started to think you were a detective too. I didn’t want to blow my cover—but I wanted to help you out.”

  “You mean Frank and me,” Joe muttered. “Hi, I’m Joe. Have we met?”

  “Definitely,” Paula said, smirking. “You and Frank.” She was still looking only at Frank, though. “Anyway, that’s why I wrote you the note about Stench’s house.”

  Paula shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. “Well, I guess you’ll be leaving soon. Me too. I should go pack up my stuff.”

  She took a couple of steps away. Then hesitated.

  “Frank,” Joe whispered. “She told you she loves you. She saved your life two times. Give her your e-mail address, you moron!”

  Maybe he was right, I guess. But couldn’t we just go home and get to our next case?

  I stepped up to Paula. My tongue had done that weird tripling in size thing, but I managed to get out a few sentences. “Uh, you want to keep in touch? That would be cool.”

  She gave me her e-mail. I gave her mine. You know, I probably will write. It’s easier to write to girls than to talk to them—because you don’t have to look at them. And they can’t see you be all dorky.

  “So what was your mission?” Joe asked our dad.

  “Top secret consulting job for a high-tech security agency. You should see some of the stuff they have,” Dad answered. “Motorcycles that would put yours to shame. Everything yours have, but with video cameras built right into the handlebars. Night vision headlights. Tires of a light metal alloy that can’t be punctured.”

  “Stop,” Joe begged. “I’m going to be drooling in a second.”

  “We have to look for our bikes,” I said. “We had to ditch them in the desert, and Stench found them. Who knows what he did with them.”

  “I guess we might have to fly home.” Joe sighed. “I’d already picked a stop on the way back. There’s this mermaid show that sounded really cool.”

  “I forgot to mention—the security company did give me a bonus for a job well done,” Dad said.

  Say it, Dad. Say it, I silently pleaded.

  “A couple of prototypes for the newest bikes. Gassed up and in the back of the copter,” Dad told us.

  Joe and I looked at each other. “Road trip!” we yelled.

  DON’T MISS THE

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