Plum Spooky Part 28

We turned and ran through the woods, keeping the dirt road in sight, heading for the paved road. A pickup barreled down the dirt road. The back of the pickup was filled with guys in the khaki uniforms. We crouched low until they were past, and then we ran some more. We were almost to the road when lightning cut across the sky, and it started to rain. A mist at first, and then, within minutes, we were in the middle of a torrential downpour.

"I'm gonna drown," Lula said. "I've never been in a rain like this. This is unnatural."

Headlights appeared on the dirt road, an SUV going slow in the rain, sliding on the road that was fast turning to mud. Tank recognized it first. It was Hal in Ranger's Jeep Cherokee.

We stumbled out of the woods and climbed into the Jeep.

"Get us out of here," Tank said to Hal. "Fast."

Hal threw the Jeep into reverse and ground his way through the mud to the pavement. It probably only took him five minutes, but it was the longest five minutes I could remember. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I couldn't breathe. I was in the backseat with Lula, and I had a death grip on the sleeve of her soaking-wet, fake fur jacket. Lula was rigid alongside me, breathing like a freight train.

The instant we were on pavement, the rain stopped. We looked back into the pine forest, and it was still raining, the rain dampening the thick, black smoke rising from the fuel depot and Ranger's Cherokee.

"I swear," Hal said, "this place is like the Bermuda Triangle. It's friggin' spooky. I went out to feed the monkeys last night, and I saw the Easter Bunny walking down the road with Sasquatch. And now there are rockets shooting into the sky from nowhere."

"Don't think you'll be seeing any more rockets anytime soon," Lula said.

"What were you doing on that road?" Tank asked Hal.

"The control room followed your blip to the Barrens and saw you parked. They told me to take a look and make sure everything was okay. I'm a couple miles away babysitting monkeys."

"I knew I smelled monkey" Lula said. "Now I recognize this car."

TWENTY

I STOOD IN STOOD IN front of my door and said a prayer. Please, G.o.d, don't let Diesel be home yet. I held my breath, opened the door, and looked up at Diesel. Darn. front of my door and said a prayer. Please, G.o.d, don't let Diesel be home yet. I held my breath, opened the door, and looked up at Diesel. Darn.

Diesel grabbed the front of my wet jacket, hauled me inside, and held me three inches off the floor in front of him.

"I told you not to go out," he said, giving me a shake for emphasis. "I told you to keep the door locked."

"You were worried about me," I said.

"Yes. And I'm not used to worrying at that level. I had to take some of your Pepto-Bismol. I was feeling like the fire farter."

He set me down and looked at me. "You're wet again. And you smell like campfire."

I sniffed at my jacket. "I think it's rocket fuel. Lula accidentally blew up Wulf's fuel depot. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what it was. And then it rained on us, which was a good thing because it probably put out the fire. Otherwise, the whole Barrens would have gone up in smoke." I dropped my jacket on the floor and kicked my shoes off. "Did you find Cuddles?"

"Yes. And Wulf hasn't completed the deal with him yet. I'm waiting for Cuddles to call me back and let me know when the meeting will take place."

"Bad news. Being that we blew up all Wulf's rockets, he might not be needing barium anytime soon. Although, it's possible the rockets we blew up weren't the barium carriers."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Munch has his transmitter. And he absolutely can't drive a truck."

"Have you eaten dinner?" Diesel asked me. "Do you want a grilled-cheese sandwich?"

"Yes."

"Make one for me, too," he said. "Do you have bacon? I want bacon on mine."

"Nice try, but no. And I don't have bacon."

I squished to the bedroom, took a quick shower, and dressed in dry clothes. I took the laundry basket from my closet, put my wet clothes in it, and carried it to the foyer. There was a huge pile of damp, discarded clothes in the foyer. Part mine. Part Diesel's. I needed to do laundry.

I left the basket by the door and went to the kitchen and watched Diesel. He was making grilled cheese. He slid one out of the pan onto a plate and handed it to me.

"Thanks," I said. "This looks great."

My cell phone rang, and I looked at the screen.

"It's all zeros," I said to Diesel.

"It's Wulf," Diesel said.

"Ms. Plum," Wulf said. "It has been brought to my attention that you were responsible for a fire that destroyed twenty-three of my X-12 King rockets. I'm afraid I must demand that you replace them in twenty-four hours, or I will have to sacrifice Gail Scanlon."

"Sacrifice?"

"I'm sure you are familiar with the term. You may call this number when you are ready to deliver my rockets."

"It was all zeros."

"Just do it," Wulf said. And he disconnected.

"Boy, he's kind of cranky," I said to Diesel.

"He's not used to having his rockets blown up."

I ate some of my sandwich. "He said they were X-12 King rockets, and I had to replace them by this time tomorrow, or he'd kill Gail. Where am I going to get twenty-three rockets?"

Diesel finished his sandwich.

"Cuddles might have a source. We'll hit the mall first thing tomorrow. If the mall is open, Cuddles is there. Turns out he's not too crazy about Mrs. Cuddles. Likes to spend as much time as possible at the office."

SINCE THE MALL didn't open until ten o'clock, I took the luxury of sleeping late. I straggled into the kitchen at nine-thirty a.m., ate a strawberry Pop-Tart, and polished off a mug of coffee. Diesel was already up, slouched against the counter, watching. didn't open until ten o'clock, I took the luxury of sleeping late. I straggled into the kitchen at nine-thirty a.m., ate a strawberry Pop-Tart, and polished off a mug of coffee. Diesel was already up, slouched against the counter, watching.

"Ready to rock and roll?" he asked.

I put my coffee mug in the dishwasher, went to the foyer to grab my bag, and realized I didn't have any clean sweats.h.i.+rts. My denim jacket was in the laundry basket soaking wet. Munch's jacket was in the laundry basket. My only remaining jacket was a black wool peacoat.

"What?" Diesel said.

"I haven't got a sweats.h.i.+rt to wear."

His backpack was sitting on the floor in the foyer. He pulled a black sweats.h.i.+rt out of the pack and tugged the sweats.h.i.+rt over my head. I had an extra six inches on the sleeves, and the bottom of the sweats.h.i.+rt almost came to my knees. Diesel pushed the sleeves up to my elbows.

"Perfect," he said. "Let's go to the mall."

A half hour later, we found Cuddles in the food court sucking down a chocolate milk shake. He was in his fifties, average height, gla.s.ses, extra-curly brown hair that blossomed out in a white man's Afro. Bald on top. Baggy tan pants. Red plaid s.h.i.+rt. He was the last person in the mall I'd pick out to be selling contraband rockets and barium. He looked like Woody Allen all swollen up.

Diesel and I sat down at Cuddles's table, and Cuddles didn't look happy to see us.

"This table is for paying customers," Cuddles said.

"We might be paying," Diesel told him.

"Oh?"

"We need some X-12 King rockets."

"You and everybody else. Those are very pop u lar rockets. Very versatile. How many?"

"Twenty-three," Diesel said.

Cuddles worked his straw around, trying to get the last dregs of milk shake into his gut. "How soon?"

"Now."

"Hah, that's funny. It'll take a week, minimum."

"I haven't got a week," Diesel said. "Where do I go to get them now?"

"How about Canada?"

"Do you remember the conversation we had earlier today?"

"The one about breaking every bone in my body and then sucking my fat out with a Shop-Vac and shoving it up my a.s.s?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Eeuw," I said.

"Brytlin Technologies might have some Kings. They design some of the payload for the BlueBec sounding rocket, and the King is essentially a miniature BlueBec. It can be used to do more eco nom ical preliminary testing."

Diesel stood. "You're going to call me when you hear from Wulf."

"Yes."

I didn't say anything until we got back to the Subaru. I buckled myself in and looked at Diesel.

"Suck his fat out with a Shop-Vac and shove it up his a.s.s?"

"It was one of those inspired thoughts."

"How are we going to get the rockets from Brytlin?" I asked Diesel. "It's Monday morning. It's not like we can waltz in and buy them."

"We're not going to buy them."

I felt my eyebrows go up to my hairline. "Oh no. No, no, no. I'm not going to steal rockets. And the whole place is on camera. Remember when Munch left with the magnetometer, and they got him on tape?"

"Don't worry. I have a plan."

"Oh boy. A plan."

Diesel cruised the mall lot. "The first thing we have to do is steal a car."

"What?"

"The Subaru can be traced to Flash, so we don't want to park it in the Brytlin lot." He pulled in next to an old Econoline van. "This'll work. It'll be easy to load the rockets into this."

"We're going to jail," I said. "I'm going to have to use one of those steel toilets without a seat."

Diesel was out of the Subaru. "I wouldn't let that happen," he said. "I'd make sure you got a good toilet." He opened the driver's side door, got behind the wheel, and turned the engine over.

"How did you do that?" I asked him.

"They left the key in the ignition. Get in."

I moped around to the pa.s.senger seat. "I'm going to be really mad at you if I get arrested."

"It could be worse," Diesel said. "You could be Gail Scanlon."

I looked at the ignition. No key.

"There's no key in the ignition," I said. "How did you start the van?"

Diesel held his finger up.

"You started the car with your finger?"

"Yep. And that's nothing. You should see what this finger can do on a G-spot."

"Good grief."

Diesel backed out of the parking s.p.a.ce and took the exit to Route 1. "Put the hood up on the sweats.h.i.+rt and pull the drawstring tight so no one can see your face."