The Crabapple Gang: The Gift of Dane - Volume Two Read online

flash of red death.”

  “L-l-like a b-bullet,” Collin said.

  Had the laser’s electrical charge made all the hairs on his arms stand up? Dane didn’t think so.

  “Well, that was awfully close,” the phone said with its sarcastic Scottish accent. The hole was inches beneath the phone.

  “Map off,” Agent Baker said. “Disengage.”

  The projector turned off and the phone released from the windshield. Agent Baker caught

  the phone and passed it to Simone. “Simone, Alex, do you both know the way?”

  Simone simply stared at the phone in her hand.

  “Take a left at the burning bush,” Alex said.

  “It’s so light,” Simone said. “Is the casing titanium?”

  “A new super steel alloy,” Agent Baker said.

  “No way.” Simone pushed up her glasses.

  “You’ll want to turn left now,” Alex said.

  The van took the sharp turn, throwing Alex hard against the van’s sliding door.

  “You okay?” Paul asked.

  Alex rubbed her head. “Yeah.”

  “Agent Baker,” Dane said, “I need you to slow down. We want them to get right up on our tail.”

  Both Penny and Collin looked at him as if he was in desperate need of a straightjacket and a well-padded room. His plan could be considered slightly insane.

  “Paul, where’s the other fire extinguisher?” Dane asked.

  “It’s right here,” Alex bent down and came up with the second extinguisher.

  “C-man, take it.”

  Collin did so without question.

  “At this speed,” Alex said, “it’s less than thirty seconds.”

  “Count down from ten when it’s time,” Dane said.

  The van slowed.

  “Agent Baker is unconscious!” Simone reached for the steering wheel.

  The agent’s body was slumped over it.

  The van veered right. Loud screeches: underbrush and tree limbs scraped the van’s side.

  “Alex, Paul, I need your help!” Simone tugged on the agent’s body.

  Alex crawled in between the front seats, straddling the console.

  It was probably fear that kept Paul in his chair.

  The van hit a large pothole. Agent Baker flopped. She released a groan.

  A loud smack: a limb knocked off the passenger side mirror.

  Alex grabbed the wheel and redirected the van back onto the path. The dangling side mirror banged against the van.

  Dane lit the black cats hanging from one of the chopper’s skids. The end of the short fuse fizzled to life. He turned on the copter’s remote control.

  The VW Bug slammed into the back of the van.

  There was a tremendous tearing of metal.

  26

  The CL-27 Launcher was typically one of Brim’s most reliable weapons. If targeted correctly, it could disintegrate an armored vehicle in a single fire. But, obviously, Jeffrey had not only given them a horrible off-road vehicle—Brim was fairly certain a part of the baby car’s undercarriage had disengaged—apparently, Jeffrey had also tampered with their weapons.

  “Engaging the launcher would be wise,” Mirk said from the driver chair.

  “It is still energizing,” Brim said. He glared at the barrel’s side indicator lights. The closest of the six red lights had not yet ignited.

  Brim aimed the launcher at the head of the smallest human in the back of the vehicle, the one with a weak leg. The boy lit a flame, making him an easier target.

  The final indicator light activated. Brim felt its red glow on his face. He snarled. Brim enjoyed being the legend of childhood nightmares across all of time. With the boy’s head targeted, Brim pressed the trigger. The weapon droned as the electronic current ionized.

  The minuscule car slammed into the van. Brim lurched forward. The sunroof frame took the air from him. His hold on the launcher loosened. It fired. A direct hit into the baby car’s hood. The recoil rocketed it out of his hand. His trigger finger bent awkwardly back.

  Brim howled.

  His finger pointed in the wrong direction. He snapped it back into place: intense, electric pain.

  Brim’s shriek shot birds from trees.

  “At least the engine is in the back,” Mirk yelled up, “Or you would be incinerated.”

  Brim grinned. “Jeffrey will die a slow, torturous death.” He let the darkness take him.

  CG

  Mirk accelerated the car. It was not his fault the CL-27 Launcher had fired into the front of the car. True, the van had slowed more suddenly than expected. Most likely, the female agent had died from the burrow blast. The plasma organism would drain her life force.

  “Brim, are you dead again?”

  No answer but a loud tearing screech. Not Brim, but possibly some unknown wild beast. Memory modification did not work on animals or plants, which made them quite interesting.

  Another scream. The car’s hood lifted slightly. The noise wasn’t an animal but the automobile’s hood disengaging.

  Why were cars so poorly made in this human age? He had driven into battle in this planet’s 1920s with automobiles that would slice this car in half. He did, however, like this car’s modern features and the daisy was an agreeable decoration.

  The hood released, severely cracking the windshield. It flew up out of view with a bone-crushing thud. In the passenger chair, Brim’s legs sagged even more, his body twisting back.

  “Brim, are you still whole?”

  In the rearview, Brim’s hat rolled off the back windshield, becoming lost somewhere in the tall grass. Drat! They would have to find it. Brim would want his precious hat.

  “Brim,” Mirk called up, “at least your head was not in it.”

  Mirk pulled off his shades. His acute eyes saw an airborne weapon flying toward the car. It was similar to a miniature version of their helicopter: Audras.

  Mirk did not concern himself with the airborne weapon. Eons of time had passed since he had last seen an aura like the lead boy’s, which was surprising given the child’s lame leg. Purples and oranges swirled and pulsed in unison around the child. The relic band, the talisman, had chosen wisely.

  27

  When Dane saw the red light at the end of the long laser gun, he knew that’s what his dream had been about. But the cars crashing together had crushed the thought. Instead of his head, the VW Bug’s hood had been blown off, providing the perfect cover.

  Dane leaned over the back of the sofa and set the helicopter on the cargo space’s floor. He powered the controller and pulled back one of its joysticks.

  “You’re just going to piss them off,” Penny said.

  “He-he-he can d-do it,” Collin said. “He’s flown RC’s since he was a k-k-kid.”

  Penny’s hands flew up. “He is a kid!”

  “Listen,” Dane said, watching the copter fly between the two cars, “with the one vamp out there’s only two holes in this plan.”

  “Two!” Penny yelled over the tires crunching on dirt.

  “Yeah,” Dane said, “wind blowing out the black cats, which doesn’t appear to be happening.”

  Collin pointed at the helicopter. “I see-see the line of smoke!”

  “And what’s the other thing that’s going to get us killed?” Penny asked.

  “Timing,” Dane said.

  Before Penny could reply, Alex started counting down. “Ten…nine…”

  Dane tracked the helicopter. It hovered where the VW’s hood should’ve been.

  “eight…seven…”

  “Get ready,” Dane said. He’d already told them what to do.

  Collin aimed a fire extinguisher at the driver’s side windshield.

  “six…”

  Penny aimed for the now hatless vamp, which appeared to be stirring back from Na Na Land.

  “five…”

  Dane shook his head. “For all things Jane Eyre!”

  “four…”
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  “What’s wrong?” Penny asked.

  “three…”

  “The black cats are going to go off early.”

  The van’s taillights washed the night in red. The spark was just visible, rapidly climbing the fuse. The string of fireworks would go any second.

  The vampire driving pulled off its shades. Blind, white eyes stared at Dane. The other vampire, slumped over the car’s roof, stirred. The creature swiped at the helicopter with Spidey-like agility.

  “Hold on!” Alex yelled from the front. “We’re going down into the creek.”

  Dane nosedived the helicopter. It was hopeless, but he stuck to the plan. What choice did they have? “Now!”

  Both fire extinguishers hissed in stereo next to him.

  The van careened down the slope. Dane struggled to stay on the sofa.

  “Your idea’s working!” Penny’s extinguisher’s chemical spray blinded the vamp hanging out of the sunroof, covering its entire face.

  Collin sprayed the Bug’s driver’s side window, blinding the other vamp’s view.

  Dane squinted, losing sight of the helicopter. There it was! It spun past and to the right of its mark: the open sunroof.

  The Blue Beast hit the creek bed hard and fast. Seatbelts undone, so they could face the back, bouncing gravity pulled Dane, Penny, and Collin off the back bench.

  Dane pulled back on the controller’s joystick, giving the helicopter a negative pitch. The toy climbed into the air. He didn’t need it to complete the loop.

  With the helicopter pointed straight up, Dane jerked the other joystick. The toy fell to the left.

  But, there was no way it was going to make it with the car speeding down the embankment. He’d failed his friends. Dane slid to the edge of the seat clutching the back to stay up. Both monsters blindly clawed at Simone’s expensive RC helicopter.

  This had been such a bad idea. The helicopter bounced off the top of the car’s frame. Through a tangle of grasping hands, the toy tumbled