Trouble in Paradise (8 page)

That was exactly what I was thinking about. I turned slightly toward Jack, looking for a signal. What were we going to do? When were we going to run?

My attention was caught by movement off to the side. I turned. There was a man standing at the entrance to our bedroom. I realized then that two more men stood behind
us in the kitchen doorway. Nobody had any weapons— at least I didn’t see any guns—but they had every exit blocked, and we were outnumbered and out-muscled.

“Who are you?” Jack demanded.

“We are not here to answer your questions,” the man said. “You will—”

Jack leaped toward the man, but he got no more than a couple of steps before he was tackled from behind and knocked to the floor, pinned under the weight of two men! I jumped backward and was grabbed, a thick arm locked under my neck and both my hands held in place so I couldn’t move.

“There is no point in trying to escape,” the man said.

“You’ll see the point when I pound you out!” Jack screamed.

“You are in no position to make threats,” the man said.

“It’s no threat, it’s a promise! As soon as I get these gorillas off my back, I’m going to make sure you never forget the beating I give you!”

The man chuckled, and I could see slight smiles on the faces of some of the other men. They weren’t taking his threat very seriously while he was locked beneath their weight and muscle. I figured we had to try to bluff our way out of this, give them something else to think or worry about. For starters, we had to change the numbers, get rid of some of them so we at least had a chance.

“You think we came alone?” I said. “Right now this
whole
house is
surrounded”

I hoped that might make two or three of them go outside to check.

“Yes, it is surrounded,” the man replied calmly.

That was not the reaction I’d hoped for.

“It is surrounded by more operatives—
our
agents. Now, you can choose to come with us quietly, or if not, we could gag you and tie you up. Which do you prefer?”

“We’re not going to make it any easier for you to—”

“Yes, we’ll go along the easy way!” I snapped, cutting Jack off.

He flashed angry eyes at me. I didn’t care. Untied, we’d have a better chance of escaping.

“We’ll co-operate,” I said. “But first, where are you taking us?”

“To see your mother.”

“Our mother!” Jack said. “If you’ve harmed her in any way, I swear I’ll kill you!” he growled.

“Again, you are in no position to—”

Somehow Jack got an arm free and punched one of the men on top of him in the face. The man screamed in pain and blood exploded from his nose. Another man jumped on top of Jack, wrestling him back into submission.

“Tie him up!” the leader screamed. “Tie them
both
up!”

Before I could move, I was spun around and a loop of rope was slipped over my wrists. I tried my best to struggle free but it was impossible.

“George, please, do not make this any harder on yourself,” one of the men said.

George
…? “How do you know my name?”

“We know many things. Just stay calm. Everything will be fine. Trust us.”

“Yeah!” Jack screamed out. “We always trust people who knock us down and tie us up!”

He was fighting back so violently that he was making it hard for four men to hold him in place.

“Enough,” the leader said.

Like magic, a pistol suddenly appeared in his hand. He held it directly in front of Jack’s face.

“You will not resist any more.”

Jack stopped fighting.

“We will go out to the waiting vehicle. You will both walk without making a sound. If you cause us any more distress, you will, shall we say, deeply regret your decision. Understand?”

I nodded my head. Jack didn’t answer but he didn’t argue, which was as close as he was going to get to agreeing.

With our hands bound behind our backs and a man holding us on each side, we were walked out. In front of our house was a large truck. It was black and its headlights
were turned off. They led us to the back, where a tarp was removed and the tailgate was lowered with a loud thud. They lifted and passed us like a bag of potatoes from one set of powerful hands to another into the back of the truck. The four men who held us climbed in, joining two others, along with us.

Right away the tailgate was lifted and the tarp tied down, blocking the light and our only way out. They plopped me on a bench on one side of the truck and sat Jack opposite me. We both had a man on each side of us. There was the metallic sound of doors closing and then the truck lurched forward, throwing me toward the back and into one of the men. I tried to push myself upright, but not being able to use my hands made me pretty helpless.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” one of the men said. He also had an accent, but different from the leader’s.

The truck made a sharp turn and I could feel that we were heading down a hill, toward the downtown. That wasn’t what I had expected. Somehow I’d thought they’d take us someplace deserted. Then again, none of the people on the street could see us inside, and it wasn’t like we could call out to get their attention.

“How’s your nose?” Jack asked.

For a split second I thought he was talking to me before I remembered the blow he’d gotten in.

“I’ve taken harder punches,” the man beside me replied.

“Being punched harder isn’t much to brag about,” Jack said. “But once I’m out of these ropes, I’ll see if I can do a bit better.”

“You’re lucky you’re tied up,” the man threatened.

“Me? You’re the one who’s too afraid even to sit beside me!” Jack taunted. “Big, strong, brave man is afraid of a boy half his age who’s—”

“It’s you who should be afraid of me!” the man snapped. He jumped to his feet, and the truck lurched to one side. That’s when I reached out and kicked him in the back of the leg with all my might! When he tumbled forward, Jack jumped to his feet, and before two of the men could restrain him, he smashed the top of his head into the man’s face. The big guy screamed in pain and toppled to the floor. Two of the men grabbed Jack and two others grabbed me, and all of us, in one big mass, landed on top of the big guy!

I started to scream as loudly as I could, hoping to attract the attention of somebody on the street, but a hand was shoved against my mouth. I shook my head violently and the hand moved away slightly, and then a finger slipped into my mouth and I bit down as hard as I could! The owner of the hand screamed in pain and thrashed about desperately as he tried to remove his finger, but I dug my teeth in deeper and deeper. And then I was smashed in
the face! I think I actually bit down harder for an instant before my mouth popped open and I released the finger.

Crushed under the weight of bodies, I was finding it hard even to draw a breath. Suddenly we all shifted forward as the truck came to an abrupt stop, the brakes squealing loudly. I heard the sounds of people rushing around outside the truck and then the tarp was pulled back, letting in more light, and the tailgate opened. I was roughly hauled to my feet by two men, one holding each arm, and dragged to the edge of the truck and— My mouth opened in shock. This was the last thing—the last
person
—I’d expected to see.

Standing there, expressionless, his arms folded, was Little Bill. And beside him was our mother.

CHAPTER TEN

“HERE IS YOUR TEA,”
Little Bill said as he handed me the cup.

I held it with two hands to try to stop from shaking— or at least from letting anybody know that I was shaking. We were sitting in the dining room of The Princess Hotel. There were dozens of tables in the big fancy room. It was beautiful, and empty, except for the four of us.

“Is it not to your satisfaction?” he asked. “Three sugars and milk, correct?”

“No, it’s good … sir.”

I took a sip from the cup—a very expensive-looking china cup. I was afraid I might drop it, so I was trying to be careful.

He poured three more cups—one for my mother, one for Jack and the third for himself—and passed them out.

“Before the hotel was taken over, they had a very fine afternoon tea every day. Special blends of tea, with crumpets and scones,” Little Bill said.

“I’ve heard it was the most elegant tea this side of Buckingham Palace,” my mother added.

“Yes, although they had some distance to go to actually meet the standards of the royal family,” Little Bill said.

“I can only imagine what it would be like to have tea with the king and queen,” my mother said.

“It is very pleasant,” Little Bill said.

My mother gasped. “You’ve had tea with the king and queen?”

“Well, it wasn’t just me,” Little Bill said. “There were quite a few of us.”

“Still, that would be … it would be … simply amazing.”

“You would like to have tea at the palace?” Little Bill asked.

“Of course! Who wouldn’t?”

I could think of at least one kid who might pass on that.

“Once this is over … this war … I shall arrange for a formal invitation to be sent to your family to have tea at Buckingham Palace.”

My mother’s mouth dropped open and she looked completely shocked, as though she couldn’t believe her ears.

“You really don’t have to do that … I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.”

“It would be no trouble at all.”

“I don’t know what I would even wear.”

This wasn’t the discussion I wanted to hear. I had a more pressing question. “Are we in trouble?”

Little Bill didn’t answer right away, and with each passing second I got more and more worried. Maybe I could ask what
I
should wear to tea.

“No, you are not in trouble,” he finally answered.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“In fact, I should offer my apologies for the rough manner in which you were brought here,” he said.

“I still don’t understand why they had to be tied up,” my mother said.

Little Bill laughed. “My operatives might have argued that they should have been tied up
sooner.
If that had happened, perhaps there would have been one less broken nose. Not to mention the finger.” He turned to me. “That bite went almost down to the bone.”

“I’m sorry. We didn’t know who they were!” I said. “When they took us, they—”

“No need to apologize. I had asked that you be brought to me, and they operated in accordance with normal procedures.”

“But why didn’t they just say they were bringing us to see you?” I asked.

“Would you have believed them?”

Jack and I exchanged a look.

“Probably not,” Jack admitted.

“And then you might have run away or caused even more problems. We had to make sure it was done in a way that didn’t alert or alarm your neighbours. That could have blown your cover and resulted in your family having to relocate again.”

I hadn’t even considered that we could be relocated again. That was an awful thought.

“I am, however, understandably concerned that it took seven or eight of my agents to subdue the two of you, and despite their numerical superiority, you still managed to inflict significant injuries on two of them,” Little Bill said.

“That guy was lucky I only had
one
hand free,” Jack said.

“That is nothing to brag about!” our mother warned him.

To be honest, I thought it was pretty good.

“I can’t decide if it was an impressive show of your determination or of their lack of preparedness for the assignment. Or perhaps it was simply that they were lulled into a false sense of comfort, thinking they were only dealing with two young boys,” Little Bill said. “Regardless, you must wonder about all of this. I imagine I’m the last person you expected to encounter.”

“Close to the last,” Jack admitted.

“Now, I must ask, how exactly did this all come to be?” he asked.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly
our
idea,” I said. “We’d be at home right now if these guys hadn’t hauled us in. That was your idea, right?”

“Yes, I did ask them to bring you here, although I would have hoped for a more gentle transit. But I meant, more specifically, what transpired prior to you two being invited to attend here.”

“If that was your idea of an invitation,” Jack said, “I’d hate to see what happens when you really get rough with somebody.”

Little Bill got a very serious look. “You
did
see what happens.”

The image of that man being shot sent a chill up my spine. Of course we knew what could happen—this wasn’t the first time we’d faced a life-and-death situation.

“Let me rephrase my question, then. How did you find yourself
needing
to be brought here? Please tell me, in detail, what transpired.”

“We really weren’t doing anything wrong,” I said. “We were just waiting outside so our mother wouldn’t have to walk home alone.”

“You were waiting for me at this time of night? I would have had more than a few words for you when I saw you.”

“Um … you wouldn’t have seen us,” Jack said.

She looked confused.

“We weren’t going to meet you,” I said. “We were going to sort of follow you … you know, stay out of sight but make sure you were okay.”

“And why would you even think to do such a thing?” she demanded.

“It’s late at night and Dad’s always worried about you being out alone—”

“Your father told you to follow me?”

“Not exactly told us,” Jack replied. “He said to keep an eye on you, and the only way we could do that was to watch out for you when you came home late.”

She shook her head. “Did you really think that would work?”

“It has the other times that we’ve—” I stopped myself mid-sentence, but not before the damage had been done.

“You’ve done this
before?
”

I shrugged, and Jack shot me a dirty look. “A few times.”

“But tonight you chose
not
to follow your mother,” Little Bill said.

“That’s right, sir,” Jack said. “We saw that old man come out of the hotel, and he was carrying that bag, and then we saw somebody start to follow him.”

“So you thought it would be wise for you to follow them.”