“Do we have a choice?” Bob wailed.
Just then the menacing pickup pulled up alongside the Aries. Pete suddenly slammed on the brakes. The pickup, not tumbling to Pete’s scheme, continued at its same speed and hurtled past them.
“Ha!” Pete said. “Gotcha!”
The pickup, now ahead of them, swerved right. Another shot sang past the car as Norton Rome fired back over his shoulder. He was driving with one hand.
“We’re too close!” Bob exclaimed.
“Or not close enough,” Pete said. Grimly he pressed the accelerator again and closed in on the pickup’s tail. Now no matter how much the pickup swerved, Norton Rome couldn’t get an angle to fire on the Aries behind him.
“Way to go!” Jupe said gratefully.
“Don’t get your hopes up!” Pete warned. He was trying to guess what Norton Rome would do next. Suddenly the pickup began pulling away! Pete leaned forward behind the wheel and tensed. “Hang on, guys!” Pete had hardly gotten the words out when the pickup jammed on its brakes, fishtailed, and came to a grinding stop directly across the narrow road.
“He’s blocked us!” Bob cried. A big pistol poked out of the driver’s window, aimed straight at the Aries.
“Duck!” Jupe yelled.
But Pete was already taking evasive action. He hit the accelerator. As bullets peppered the air around them, the Aries sprang forward. Instantly it swerved off the road, to the right, skidded through brush, reentered the road on the other side of the stopped pickup, and raced away. “Whew!” Jupe said, wiping sweat from his face. As they looked back, the guys saw the stocky figure of Norton Rome climb out of the pickup and stare furiously after them. The sudden halt had stalled his pickup. There was no way Rome was going to catch them now.
“Good work!” Bob said.
Pete increased his speed along the country road.
“Now we’ve got to get back to the junkyard. Pronto!”
Bob groaned, thinking what Pete was thinking.
“Oh, no. The girls!”
It was dusk at the junkyard, and there were no signs of Kelly and Elizabeth.
“Man, are we in trouble,” Bob said as he looked around. “They didn’t even leave any notes!”
The guys went into the workshop and Pete called Kelly. “Hello,” he began. Instantly he winced and yanked the phone away from his ear. “She hung up on me!” He dialed again.
Jupe watched from his stool. “Will someone please tell me why guys go to so much trouble to stay in trouble?”
Bob leaned over, nose to nose with Jupe, and said slowly as if explaining to a lunatic, “Girls are prettier than guys. They smell better. They have nice skin. They have strange opinions. We like girls, and so do you. I saw how you looked at Qute den Zom. Another minute and you’d have been drooling!”
Jupe’s round face turned bright red. “I do not drool!” But Bob was right — Jupe really liked Qute. Her beautiful face flashed before his eyes, and he thought of the tiny model of her in his pocket. Fat chance he’d forget her!
Bob laughed, and Pete made shushing sounds with his hand. “Kelly! We’re sorry. I’m sorry. We got tied up with Hack den Zorn. I can’t tell you where we met him, but… no, really, I can’t — ” He winced again, dialed again, and got out only “Hello.” He listened for quite a while, then silently hung up.
“What gives?” Bob wanted to know.
“She’s really mad,” Pete said. He slumped into a chair. “She wants to know what lie I’m going to tell her next. No way she believes we met Hack den Zorn. She’s going to a girlfriend’s for a slumber party, and I’m supposed to bug off.”
Bob took a deep breath. “My turn.” He dialed Elizabeth’s number. “Hi, Elizabeth. This is Bob.” And now Bob listened. At last he quietly hung up. He slumped in a chair next to Pete. “She’s going to the same slumber party Kelly is. Her last words were, and I quote, ‘Drop dead!’ ”
“Great,” Jupiter said brightly. “We should work on the case tonight anyway.”
“Lay off, Jupe,” Pete said. “We told Mr. Ek we’d drop the investigation.”
Jupe crossed his arms. “That was before Norton Rome tried to kill us. That changed the ball game. It’s not like we can go up to him and say” — Jupe’s voice changed into a sniveling whine—“ ‘Please, please, don’t hurt us, Mr. Rome. We’re being good little boys and staying out of your blackmail!’ ”
Pete and Bob laughed.
“There’s also the sicko in the green jacket and white high-tops,” Jupe reminded them. “Maybe he’s the one who set off the rocket today. Those two guys seem determined to make cream cheese out of us.”
“He’s right, Pete,” said Bob.
Pete nodded. “I’d like to take Norton Rome’s temperature with my fist!”
“First we’ve got to find him.” Jupe said. “Or Greenjacket, and before they find us. Looks to me like they’re working together.”
“I’m with the program,” Bob said, and stood up. “But as long as we’re staying in tonight, I’ll make the changes in my Civil War paper. It’s in my car. I’ll be right back.”
Jupe opened a jar of peanut butter and Pete rummaged through the refrigerator.
“Nada,” Pete said. “The fridge is bare. We’re going to have to order in pizza.”
“Fine,” Jupe said, and licked peanut butter from his finger. “But eat it outside, okay? Watching you guys scarf down a pizza might make me kill!”
“Hey, no prob,” Pete said. “What kind do you want?”
“Anchovy, pepperoni, and onion,” Jupe said promptly, then caught himself. “What am I saying? Now hear this: No pizza for Jupiter! ”
Pete shrugged and grabbed the phone book.
“Speaking of pizza,” Jupe said as he dug in for more peanut butter. “Did you hear Ek talking about some missing junk food?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“Hey, guys!” Bob exclaimed as he burst into the workshop. “You’re not going to believe this, but guess who’s staked out the junkyard again?”
“Greenjacket?” Jupe said, jumping up.
“The same!” Bob confirmed.
Pete growled, “Let me at ’im!”
While Jupe trotted over to the office and killed the junkyard lights, Pete and Bob ran to the back of the yard. As soon as Jupe joined them, they lifted a couple of loose boards and slipped out into the shadowy night.
As they circled around toward the front, Bob whispered, “He’s across the street, hiding behind Aunt Mathilda’s hibiscus bush. You can see his white high-tops underneath.”