Cult of Crime (7 page)

Frank was adamant. “Otherwise, I’ll have to pull the trigger,” he said calmly. “The second you kill him… Or you can let him go… Now.”

The grin faded from Rosie’s lips. He swallowed hard. Frank could see from the doubt in Rosie’s eyes that he had gotten through to the giant.

They stood there for long seconds, staring each other down. Then Rosie opened his arm, and Joe fell away, gasping for breath.

Frank handed the shotgun back to the giant. “We didn’t come here looking for trouble,” he explained. “We only wanted shelter.”

“Thought you was some of Keller’s boys,” Rosie said. Now that the fighting had stopped and he had his gun back, he smiled like they were all old friends. “He sends them around now and then. He’s been trying to drive me off the mountain since I got here.”

Frank helped Holly to her feet. She was still cowering in the corner, her fear-glazed eyes fixed on the giant. “Shhh,” Frank comforted her. “It was just a misunderstanding. Everything’s all right.”

Joe sat where he’d fallen, rubbing his neck. “We ran into the sheriff, too,” he told Rosie. “He’s enough to put anyone on edge. What are you doing all alone out here, anyway?”

“Surviving,” Rosie replied. “See, someday our whole civilization’s going to collapse. There I won’t be food in the cities, and it’ll be every man for himself. I’m taking care of myself now, so I can make it through those times of woe.” “Really?” Joe said. “This is surviving?”

“It’s all I need. Plenty of squirrels to eat, and some nuts and berries. It’s easy when you get the hang of it. I raise a few crops, too, but Keller’s boys keep tearing them up.” “How long have you been at this?” Joe asked.

Rosie opened his arms wide and beamed from one side of the cabin to the other. His chest beaved with pride. “I’ve had this little homestead since nineteen-seventy.”

“They’re here,” Frank said abruptly. He was staring out a window at beams of light that pierced the darkness of the woods. Coming into the clearing were half a dozen men, led by Keller, who carried a hunting rifle and a bullhorn.

Rosie sidled up to the door. “Get away from here, Sheriff. I’ve got no business with you.”

“Maybe I’ve got business with you,” the sheriff replied. “We’re looking for some kids-two boys and a girl. You seen them?”

“Can’t say as I have, Sheriff,” Rosie said.

“They’re trying to surround us,” Frank whispered as the six men fanned out around the edges of the clearing.

“Mind telling me how you broke your window, Rosie?” Keller called. “You’re usually pretty careful about things like that.”

Rosie spat out the door. “Maybe someone broke it for me, Sheriff. You’d know more about that than I would.”

“There’s no way we can make a run for it,” Joe whispered. “We’re trapped in here.”

“Let’s cut the chitchat, Rosie,” the sheriff shouted. “We know you’ve got them in there. Send out the girl and we’ll let the others go.”

“Frank!” Holly pleaded. Rosie looked over at them, waiting for a response. Frank shook his head.

“Sorry, Sheriff,” the giant said.

Keller’s eyes bulged with anger. “I’ve been waiting years for this, Rosie. I never thought you’d give me an excuse to come down on you as hard as I wanted. But this time I’ve got you.”

Keller whipped his hand into the air. Rosie threw himself backward, out of the doorway.

A half-dozen explosions burst at once, sending chips of wood flying from the door frame. Frank pulled Holly to the ground to shield her from the shots, and Joe slid into the door, knocking it closed.

“Get over there,” Rosie barked. He pointed to the trap door. “Start down. I’ll catch up in a minute. “

“You’ve got thirty seconds to come out,” Keller yelled from outside. “Then we shoot the whole place down around you. We’ve got enough ammo to do it.”

Frank dropped into the dark hole. His foot touched a ladder rung, slipped, and then he was tumbling. He managed to grab hold of the ladder. It seemed as if he was dangling over a vast, unending void, broken only by a soft hum.

There’s an engine down here, he thought. Maybe Rosie’s not so crazy, after all.

“Frank?” Holly said from somewhere in the darkness above him. “Where are you?”

“Here.” He raised a hand, caught hers, and helped her down the ladder. He was suddenly conscious of her smooth fingers brushing and tightening against him. Then she was in his arms, again. “Watch out!” Joe called softly as his foot kicked Frank’s shoulder. “Coming through, Step aside.”

A light glowed above them. “Take this,” Rosie called. He dropped a flashlight into the shaft, and Joe caught it. “I’ll be right - “

His words were cut off by bursts of gunfire followed by a dull thud. “Rosie!” the three of them cried at once. No answer came. “They must have gotten him,” Joe said over the gunshots. “All because of us.” He turned sadly, swinging the flashlight up.

He jumped back, nearly knocking over Frank and Holly. A man stood before them, his long hair matted over his bearded, smiling face.

“I had to jump,” Rosie explained. “That’s bad. No time to latch the trap door. They’ll find it as soon as they stop shooting.” He took the flashlight from Joe and shone it into the darkness.

They were in a cave. Frank had been right about the motor. A small engine chugged and purred in a corner, and boxes filled with dried foods were stacked near it. Nearby were a small cot and a cooking stove. This was Rosie’s real home, he realized. The cabin above was just for show.

Down a long corridor was a big-wheeler Jeep, the kind that was specially made for off-road travel. Rosie ran for it, and the Hardys and Holly followed. “Hop in,” Rosie said. They scrambled aboard. It was old, they could tell, but in perfect shape. The engine started up as soon as Rosie turned the key.

“Ride out!” the giant cried, and the Jeep shot forward. Joe, Frank, and Holly screamed, and the Hardys both lunged for the steering wheel.

Rosie laughed wildly, the look of madness creeping back into his face.

The Jeep careened straight at the cave wall.

IT WAS TOO late for Frank or Joe to move. The Jeep smashed head-on into the wall.

To their surprise, it kept moving. The wall had come down, and it was flapping on the front end of the Jeep.

Rosie chuckled. They had run through a canvas sheet that had covered the mouth of the cave. “I’ve had that up for years, to keep people from seeing where I live. From the outside, it looks just like a moss-covered rock.” He laughed again. “Riding through it gets them every time.”

“Them?” Joe said. “You’ve done this before?”

“Back during the Vietnam War, I’d drive draft dodgers to the Canadian border,” Rosie replied. He stared wistfully at the sky. “We’d go all the way to the Saint Lawrence on back roads and off roads. A guy ran a speedboat out of Morristown into Canada. I wonder what ever happened to him. Those sure were the days.”

He reached out the driver’s window, grabbed the canvas, and pulled it back over the hood until it was all inside the car. The Jeep whipped between and around trees as if it were a dirt bike. It bounced over rocks and ditches. It was evident that nothing fazed Rosie, and he would stop for nothing. .

“So what’s your story?” Rosie asked. “Run a stoplight in Keller’s county?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Joe said. “We rescued Holly from a commune this evening.”

Rosie cocked an eyebrow, and his face filled with a new respect for the Hardy boys. “The Rajah’s spread, huh? Mean guys up there. They took some shots at me once just for hunting within a hundred feet of the place.” He leaned over to Joe and winked. “I had to crack a few skulls over that one.”

Then he straightened up, tilting his head back to talk to Frank and Holly. “How’d you get hooked up with that mob, missy?”

“You’re mistaken,” Holly said. She suddenly sounded cross. “The Rajah doesn’t believe in guns. He’d throw anyone using them out of the commune. ” “Wise up, Holly,” Joe said in disgust. “Those guys took shots at me, and someone killed Vivasvat. They didn’t do that with prayer.”

“Joe,” warned Frank.

“Get real, Frank,” Joe shot back. “She sounds like she still believes in that creep.”

“I don’t!” she insisted. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I just want to go home! I just want to go home… .”

She buried her face in Frank’s shoulder and sobbed. He slipped a comforting arm around her; softly smoothing her hair.

“Look what you’ve done,” he scolded Joe. “Hasn’t she been through enough?”

Joe scowled, but Rosie just grinned. If he had heard the conversation, he showed no sign of it.

Steering the Jeep through the trees, he was lost in the fantasy world of his memories, dreaming of a life that had vanished more than a decade before.

“Thanks for getting us out of there, Rosie,” Frank finally said. “I’m sorry you’ll get into trouble for it.”

“What?” Rosie drifted out of the daydream. “Oh, don’t you worry about that. Keller never saw you in my place, and there’s no evidence you were even there. If they shot up my cabin enough, I’ll even get some money from the county out of this.”

“How long before we hit the highway?” Joe asked.

Rosie laughed. “You don’t know much about being on the run, partner. The cops’ll be all over the highway, waiting for you. You’ll never get where you’re going that way. You’re getting out right about here.”

Joe peered into the night. The woods had thinned into meadow, but they were still in the mountains. There were no signs of civilization there. “There’s a road around here somewhere, right?” Joe asked.

“Nope,” Rosie said. “Better.” The Jeep screeched to a stop at the edge of a sloping cliff. “Look down there.”

Joe climbed out of the Jeep and stared down the cliff. Far below was a rushing torrent of water - a river. But Rosie was wrong. It was too far below. There was no way to reach the river, and no way to travel on it if they did.

Rosie had led them to a dead end. Frustrated, Joe kicked a stone down the cliff side and listened to it roll. It hit something flat, bounced twice and rang as it bounced, then rolled the rest of the way and splashed into the water.

It rang! Joe thought excitedly. But it’s stone. There’s something else down there, something metal. He squinted. Partway down, almost hidden in the darkness, ran a set of train tracks. “Where do they go?” Joe called.

The others left the Jeep and joined him. Holly’s eyes widened in horror. “You don’t expect us to walk back to Bayport, do you?” “If you want, sure,” Rosie said with a chuckle.

“Or we could wait for a train, couldn’t we?” Frank said. “These would be cargo train tracks, since no passenger trains come through here. The train would slow down around this bend, to avoid throwing itself into the river. If it’s going slowly enough, we should be able to hop on with ease.”

He turned to Rosie, whose mouth dangled open with surprise. “That’s why you brought us to this particular spot, isn’t it?”

Rosie smiled cunningly. “You’re pretty smart, all right. Except I bet you don’t know when the next train’s coming by.” “Nope,” said Joe. “When?”

From the distance came a faint rumbling and the ground began to quiver. “In about two minutes,” Rosie said, laughing. “Come on!” Frank shouted, grabbing Holly’s hand. “We’ve got to get down to the tracks.

Quick!” They scrambled down the slope, sliding instead of staying on their feet. “Thanks again,” Frank called to Rosie.

“Anytime, sport,” Rosie called back. “If you’re ever in these parts … “

His words were cut off by the roar of the train. It rumbled toward them, slowing as it hit the curve. They threw themselves against the hill as the train drew near.

Then it was passing them. Frank tried to yell orders, but the noise drowned his words. He strained his eyes, looking for the right boxcar to jump. Two cars filled with cattle passed, followed by cars full of coal and corn. Then he saw what he was looking for. Coming up was an open, empty boxcar.

He grabbed Holly’s wrist again and pulled her along. From the corner of his eye, he could see Joe on the move already, heading along the tracks the other way.

Nimbly Joe grabbed the handles on the side of the empty car as it eased past him, He was in his element, moving the way he had learned in the gym, pulling himself up the row of handles the way he would pull himself up a rope. It was child’s play for him. With the grace of a trained gymnast, he swung from the handles through the open door. He was inside.

As the boxcar caught up to Frank and Holly and pulled past them, Joe held the frame of the door and stretched his arm out. Holly’s fingers touched his and slid off.

“I can’t do it!” she cried. “I can’t! I can’t!” She stopped, clenching her fists. She started to curl up like a child.

Frank clutched her around the waist and lifted her into the air. Without pausing to think, he tossed her bodily into the boxcar. She smacked the floor and rolled across it, dazed.

The boxcar moved on, leaving Frank running beside the train.

Joe howled and leaned out of the car again, hoping to give Frank a hold it was no use. Frank stopped running and tried to catch his breath. Throwing Holly aboard had used up the last of his strength. It was too long since he had slept.

Moments later, the last car in the train, a caboose, pulled alongside him. It’s now or never, he thought, gritting his teeth. He took a deep breath and leaped. His hand caught the back steps of the train.

Gasping for breath, he pulled himself aboard and collapsed on the caboose’s back platform. No one else was aboard the caboose. It was being used for storage, with big sacks of grain piled inside.

Frank leaned out over the edge of the platform and looked along the train. He could see Joe in the open car, smiling and waving. At last they were safe. They could rest.

A bullet splintered the wall above Frank’s ear. At the sound of the shot, loud even against the roar of the train, Joe leaped back to the door. Figures lined the hilltop they had just climbed down. Flames spat from their hands as the thunderclaps exploded.

It was Keller and his men. Rosie hadn’t lost them after all, and they were shooting at Frank.

The train rounded the mountain, allowing Joe a view of the back of the caboose. He could see his brother trying to stand and get a view of the shooters. “No!” Joe cried.