Operation Gadgetman! (13 page)

CRASH! CRUNCH!

The sound of glass being shattered came from the kitchen.

‘Upstairs! Now!' Louisa pulled at Beans. Beans pulled Ann after her.

‘Detective Warner's coming through the kitchen window.' Ann's voice shook.

‘That's why we're running, Ann!' Louisa puffed. ‘Come on!'

On the landing they stopped, looking around desperately for somewhere to hide.

‘Separate!' Beans whispered urgently.

The three girls spread out like ripples in a pond. Beans dived into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. For the first time ever, she wished she had a lock on her door. Clutching the
OPERATION GADGETMAN
folder to her chest, Beans turned her head quickly from left to right. Where could she put the folder so that the kidnappers wouldn't find it? She ran over to the window. Should she throw it out? That was no good. They'd find it on the lawn.

Think.
Think
.

Sellotape . . . where was her Sellotape? In her pocket. Thank God! Beans ran over to her bed. She dropped the folder on to the duvet and pulled the Sellotape out of her pocket.

The kidnappers were in the hall. They were at the bottom of the stairs.

‘JUST WAIT TILL WE CATCH YOU LOT . . .' Lucas yelled out.

Beans tore off a piece of tape and another and another, flinging each piece on the bed. One piece got slightly tangled but she didn't have time to straighten it out. With one hand, Beans held the folder in place whilst the other hand was used to tape it. Still holding on to the folder, she used the second and the third strips of Sellotape to secure it.

The folder hung precariously. It looked too heavy for the Sellotape. Beans tore off another strip.

Beans dived towards the window. She didn't have time to use the fourth piece of tape and she didn't want the kidnappers to know where she'd hidden the folder.

Don't drop. Oh please, don't drop! she thought, her whole body quaking violently. She'd taped the folder behind her headboard, but now she wished she hadn't. It wouldn't stay up. It
couldn't
stay up.

Beans fiddled with the window catch. It wouldn't open. Her fingers were all thumbs and it wouldn't open.

‘Oh please . . .' Beans begged it.

The bedroom door burst open. Beans opened her mouth as wide as she could.

‘HELP!' she screamed at the top of her voice.

‘Scream one more time and you'll never see your father again!' Lucas Moynahan stood in the doorway, his expression thunderous.

Beans's scream died in her throat.

‘Where's my dad?' she whispered.

‘That's better. That's much better. JULIAN, I'VE GOT HIS DAUGHTER!' Lucas called out to his friend. ‘And I'll take that little folder of yours that's got our fingerprints in it.'

‘What do you hope to gain? You can't kidnap all of us,' Beans said furiously.

‘We don't intend to,' Lucas said silkily. ‘You're the only one we need. We'll lock up the others. When your dad realizes we've got you, he'll see sense and tell us what we want to know.'

Every drop of blood in Beans's body turned icy. Fear gnawed at her stomach.

Think, Beans,
think
, she told herself.

She had to stay calm. She had to find a way of outwitting these crooks. Think.

‘The police know about my dad being kidnapped. You can't hope to get away with this,' Beans said.

‘The police don't know anything about your dad or you or the induction oscillator. You gave your letter to “Detective Warner” – remember? And by the time they do find out the truth, it'll be too late.' Lucas's broadening grin was horrible to watch.

‘M-my dad's original letter to the building society. That explains all about the induction oscillator. As soon as the police . . .' The words froze and died on Beans's lips. ‘You have that letter, don't you? I bet it went straight into your pocket – as well as the five thousand odd pounds.'

Lucas grinned. ‘And that five thousand is just the beginning. We're going to make millions. Like Julian said, you're smart. You take after your dad.' His grin faded abruptly. ‘But there's such a thing as being too smart.'

‘So the building society don't know about any of this?' Beans whispered.

Lucas Moynahan snorted. ‘If your dad had got as far as typing in his card number, then it would've been different. But as it is . . .' He laughed. ‘You should see them, the manageress and the security staff, running around like headless chickens trying to work out how that money disappeared. As far as they're concerned, the motor just started up at a certain time and all the money came out and dropped to the pavement.'

Beans remembered now. She hadn't even got as far as putting Dad's card in the slot. She was checking the card to make sure Dad really had brought out the right one and not one which had expired.

‘With your dad's invention, we intend to bring bewilderment to a lot more banks and building societies up and down the country.'

‘But Dad . . .'

Whatever Beans had been about to say was broken off by a yell from Ann, followed by, ‘You let me go! Right this
second
!'

‘Ann . . .' Beans took a step forward.

Lucas took a step towards her, blocking her way.

‘Listen,' Beans said quickly. ‘You don't want me or my dad. You just want to know how the induction oscillator works.'

‘But your dad's being very stubborn,' Lucas said, frost creeping into his voice. ‘He won't tell us how it works. So you're going to persuade him for us.'

‘B-but I told you. Dad's notes on that gadget are either in his bedroom or in the attic. It would take you less than ten minutes to find them. Then you wouldn't need me or my dad. You wouldn't have to bother with us. We'd only slow you down.' Beans tried to stop her words from spilling out, faster and faster. She had to stay calm. She had to be convincing.

‘I'm listening,' Lucas prompted.

‘Dad's papers explain all about how the oscillator works. You could take the papers and the oscillator and be out of Cleevesdon in about fifteen minutes flat. Then there'd be no-one to stop you from robbing as many cash-dispenser machines as you like. And by the time Dad built another one and showed the police how it worked, you would be millionaires.
Zillionaires!
'

‘Hhmm!' Lucas rubbed his now cleanly shaven chin.

A shriek echoed across the landing.

‘You just wait, you bullying ape!' Louisa's voice was indignant – furious as well as frightened. ‘You just wait till I tell my dad! Let go of me!'

Julian Warner appeared, Louisa and Ann held under either arm.

‘Lucas, for goodness sake,' said Julian. ‘What am I supposed to do with these two?'

‘The papers are here, honest they are. I'm not lying,' Beans repeated urgently. ‘Y-you could lock us all in Dad's workroom whilst you search, if you don't believe me. I lied about Gran taking the key with her: she didn't. So you can lock us in and we wouldn't be able to get out, even if we tried. If you padlock the door, and the hole in the roof is too high for any of us to reach, even if we were to stand on Dad's worktable. If you don't find Dad's papers within five minutes then you can take me with you to persuade Dad to change his mind.'

‘We could just take you back with us now and have done with it,' Julian said harshly.

Beans glared at him. How could she ever have thought he was a detective? In future, no-one was setting foot over her doormat unless they handed over a proper identification card first.

‘No, Julian, I've had enough of all this dancing about. We've already had to move her father to your house. I want to get out of Cleevesdon with the oscillator and start getting some real money,' Lucas said. ‘That was the deal.'

‘But what about these three?' Julian asked.

‘We've already got the oscillator in my car, so we just find the instructions and blow! I don't give a monkey's about these three. We can lock them up.'

‘What about her dad?' Julian nodded in Beans's direction.

‘He'll be safe enough in your cellar. By the time anyone finds him, we'll be long gone,' said Lucas.

‘I don't know . . . I don't like it . . .' Julian said slowly.

‘Listen! The longer we hang about here, the more likely we are to get caught. I want to get out of this dump of a town as soon as possible,' said Lucas angrily. ‘Better ten minutes here than a forty-minute drive back to your house and more time wasted, persuading her dad that he should talk to us.'

‘Will you put me down?' Louisa fumed.

Ann and Louisa were still struggling to get free. Beans hardly dared breathe. She wanted her and her friends to get away from the kidnappers. She
needed
to be locked up in Dad's workroom.

‘These instructions . . .' Lucas turned to Beans, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘Will we understand them?'

‘Oh, of course you will. Dad always writes out his notes so any idio . . . so anyone can understand. If I'd seen his notes I would tell you how the oscillator works myself. I just want you two to go away,' Beans said. ‘And like I said, if you don't find them, you can always come back for me.'

‘Well, if we don't find them, or if we find the instructions and you need to be a rocket scientist to understand them, I'll be very annoyed at you for wasting our time,' said Lucas softly. ‘Do you understand me?
Very annoyed
.'

‘I understand.' Beans swallowed hard.

Lucas marched over to her and grabbed her by the wrist. ‘You'd better tell your friends to behave themselves. I don't want any nosy neighbours calling the police because they see you lot struggling.'

‘Ann, Louisa, please,' Beans pleaded.

Julian put her friends on to their feet and stepped back to block the doorway. Ann and Louisa scowled at both men, but especially Julian. Beans blinked rapidly at them. She had to make them understand. They had to play-along with her dad's kidnappers – at least for now.

The two men followed Beans, Ann and Louisa out of the house. Beans's heart was ready to explode out of her body. Her mouth was dry, her palms sticky. In the garden, she turned to Julian.

‘W-Why didn't you just search the house for Dad's notes or the oscillator blueprints when you were pretending to be a detective?' she asked. All the while, Beans's glance kept creeping back to her neighbour's house.

Lucas answered before his accomplice could. ‘Because we never really wanted that stuff. We were after you from the beginning,' he sneered. ‘Only you were never alone, so we couldn't grab you.'

‘And I couldn't risk searching over your house again in case you or your gran got suspicious and maybe asked to see my ID properly,' said Julian icily. ‘But now we have no choice. You three know who we really are, so we're going to take your dad's notes and disappear.'

‘So we'd better find them – and fast,' Lucas said directly to Beans. ‘If you're playing games . . .' He didn't need to say any more.

Beans dug her fingernails into her palms and forced herself to walk at the same pace. She couldn't let them know that she was up to something. How long would she have before they came back to the workroom to get her? Would she have enough time . . . ?

Less than a minute later, the three girls had been locked up in the workroom – after Julian had checked that they indeed couldn't reach the roof of the workroom if they stood on the table.

When Beans heard the key turn in the padlock outside, for the first time in what seemed like hours she allowed herself to relax. She sighed with relief and leaned back against the sturdy wooden door.

‘Quick, you two,' she hissed. ‘We don't have much time. They'll be back soon.'

‘You have a plan?' said Ann, eagerly.

‘Of course I've got a plan. You don't think I'm going to let them get away with it, do you?' Beans said scornfully. ‘But I needed them to put us in Dad's workroom first.'

‘We're here. Now what?' asked Louisa.

‘We need to get that tarpaulin down. Ann, you stand on Dad's table and I'll pass the broom up to you. Thank God my gran can't see one square centimetre of space without tidying it! Otherwise we'd never find everything we need before those two dworps came back,' Beans said. ‘Louisa, you get out some elastic bands from the end drawer. The thick, long, strong ones. And line up those animal crunchies Dad was experimenting with on the table.'

‘Right!' Louisa grinned.

It took several agonizing, anxious moments before Ann finally shifted the tarpaulin aside. She jumped down off the table.

‘I've done my bit,' said Louisa. ‘What next?'

‘Hang loads of long bits of Sellotape from the doorframe to get in their faces. And we need something to trip them up when they come in here,' Beans said. ‘Let's get out the light bulbs and line those up as well. They'll be perfect for chucking.'

One of Dad's current projects was making an everlasting light bulb. He hadn't succeeded – yet – but he had enough light bulbs in his workroom to keep the whole house permanently lit for at least the next ten years.

They all got busy, getting any and everything out of the drawers and boxes that could be used as weapons.

‘The most important thing is to make a lot of noise,' said Beans, glancing down apprehensively at her watch. ‘Are the animal crunchies lined up? Louisa, you and me are going to put an elastic band between our fingers and use it like a catapult.'