IT SEEMED LIKE A long walk to Garden Street that afternoon. I left my bike at home since I was determined not to do any more jobs for Cat Man. My Blue Hawks cap was on my head, but it wasn’t doing much good. No way could I feel either normal or professional about what was happening. Stupid was the main way I felt; stupid to ever let myself get dragged into the Night Riders.
It didn’t help when, down the street a little from 5446, I noticed a turquoise Pontiac Bonneville with a busted tailpipe parked at the curb. Cat Man was in residence, no doubt about that.
A bunch of mean-looking types on bikes pulled into the driveway just behind me as I went around back. I didn’t want to deal with them, so I ran for the back door and got inside fast. My heart was already crashing away inside me. I wished Raven was there to see me through this.
Some yelling was going on downstairs. I heard it before I even got down to the hall. The noise was coming from the Night Riders’ meeting room, along with the sound of furniture smashing on the floor. Somebody grunted really loud. Somebody screamed the F word. Whatever was going on sounded bad, a scene I didn’t want to get into. I was about to turn around and run back when, upstairs, I heard the door to the backyard fly open. The gang that had been behind me started coming down.
These guys were in a bad mood, you could tell. They came thudding down the stairs, pounding their fists against the wall, and when they rounded the corner everybody began whistling a low, deadly whistle. An attack whistle, I guess. Whatever, that finished me. I opened the nearest door in the hall and jumped inside. It was some kind of ancient storeroom, I think, dark as night.
The pack went by outside. I opened my door a crack, just in time to see them burst into the meeting room down the hall. Inside, Cat Man was yelling.
I began to understand what was happening. The Night Riders were being attacked by another gang. But that wasn’t all. Some of the Night Riders had switched sides. They were slugging it out with their friends. You could tell from the stuff that was being yelled.
Ralphie and Ringo were standing up for Cat Man, shouting things like, “Are you crazy? We’ll kill you for this!” and “Get outta here before we stomp you!
I opened the door wider to get a better view. The shadow of a very small person flashed by. I closed the door fast, but a second later, a blinding light went off in my brain.
I flung the door open again. “OGGIE?” I screeched. I couldn’t believe it.
When he heard his name, Oggie stopped. He turned around and saw me. Just then, a whole horde of fighters lurched out from the meeting room and started tearing each other to pieces at the end of the hall.
“Oggie! Here!” I kind of yelled in a whisper.
He looked straight at me for a second, then he turned and ran the other way, toward the fight.
“No! Come back!”
I jumped out and started after him, but suddenly, he was gone. He’d disappeared into a door on the right. The hall was so dark, I wasn’t sure where.
A gunshot went off inside the meeting room. Then another shot. I backed up against the wall and held my breath. Down at the end of the hall, one of the Night Riders had Ralphie in a head-hold. Another one was choking Ringo on the floor. I inched out to look for Oggie again, and BANG! somebody ran straight into my back.
“Oof! Archie!”
“Raven!”
“Why are you standing here? Get out! They’re shooting down there. The cops are coming. I heard sirens outside.”
“Oggie’s here! He must’ve followed me from the house. Now I can’t find him.”
Raven looked down the dim hall. “Which way did he go?” she asked. She’s a cool customer, let me tell you. She didn’t even look scared.
“Down there, somewhere on the right.”
“You go. I’ll find him.”
“I can’t leave him here!”
“Archie, go!” She gave me a hard push.
I ran upstairs and outside. Far off I heard sirens. I waited on the driveway, but Raven and Oggie didn’t come.
The sirens moved closer. I walked down the driveway a little way. Then I walked back toward the house. I didn’t know what to do. I was in agony waiting.
Sirens started screaming in my ears. About two blocks down, the cops had turned onto Garden Street. They were closing in.
I bent over and ran out to the street. I went along the sidewalk, around a little curve, and crouched down beside a car where I couldn’t be seen.
Two patrol cars came screeching up and stopped in the middle of the street in front of 5446. Another car turned in the driveway. A bunch of cops got out. Their guns were drawn. I was just about dying. Oggie and Raven were still in there.
I couldn’t stand waiting anymore. I had to go back in the house to find Oggie. I needed to tell the cops who he was. My little brother. Who didn’t do anything. Who followed me, that’s all. Don’t shoot him! It was all my fault!
I ran up the driveway behind the cops, yelling “Wait! Wait!” but they didn’t hear me. They’d gone into the backyard. A flicker of light caught my eye. I stopped and looked around.
On the house’s first floor, a window was being lifted up, slowly, slowly, by invisible hands. When it was only halfway up, it stuck. It wouldn’t go any further. A girl’s head with very short hair looked out, then disappeared. Something else began to come through the slot. A small body was getting shoved out. It fell headfirst on the ground. Thud!
Oggie!
I couldn’t even yell, I was so happy to see him.
In one second, he was up and running. Raven came out of the window behind him, landing on her palms, stepping out on them, light and springy. She wasn’t kidding, she really could walk on her hands.
“Raven! OVER HERE!” I got my voice back and roared it out.
They sprinted for the sidewalk. I led the way. We all ran back to my hiding place beside the car and flung ourselves down. Whew! I gave Oggie a big shove because I was so mad at him for following me.
“You idiot!” I yelled. “Why are you here?”
Then I gave him a big hug because I love him so much. Oggie pushed me away. He pulled something red out of his pocket.
“Look!”
His red leather wallet. He held it up, proud as could be. “The money’s gone, but I don’t care.”
Raven shook her head. “He was in the bathroom, hiding out.”
“After I found it, the Night Riders were shooting,” Oggie said. “The cops came and started yelling for them to throw down their guns. Then Raven found me. She knew how to get out.” The way he looked at her, you could see she’d just lived up to her character in the book. She was a hero.
“You dope,” I choked. “I would’ve brought that wallet back for you.”
“No you wouldn’t,” Oggie said. “I waited and waited.”
“Well, I tried,” I said.
“But you never did.” He gave me a cold look and put the wallet back in his pocket.
There was no time for Oggie to stay mad at me, though. Three seconds later, he saw something and jumped up.
“Hey, look! It’s the PONTIAC BONNEVILLE!”
“Where?” Raven spun around. I leaped to my feet. We got ready to start running again.