I stared through the binoculars, totally stunned by what I was seeing.
My father lay unmoving on the ground in the middle of the road. Our evil twins stood over him, holding their bats high in the air—preparing to strike again.
“What’s happening now?” Frank shouted up at me.
I didn’t know what to say.
Dad’s not moving.
“Please,” I whispered softly. “Be alive, be alive.”
“What did you say?” Frank asked me.
I didn’t know how to tell my brother that the Johansen boys might have just killed our father.
Then I saw Dad move. His head turned from side to side. The two boys held the bats up threateningly.
“Is Dad okay?” asked Frank. “Is he moving?”
“Yes,” I answered back.
I squinted my eyes and saw another figure walk out of the woods.
“Frank! Jake Johansen is there!”
“What’s he doing?”
“He’s carrying rope! They’re tying Dad up!”
I watched in silence as the three criminals bound and gagged our father. Then they started dragging him back to his car.
“They’re opening up the trunk of the car,” I yelled down to Frank. “They’re putting Dad inside and closing it. Now they’re getting into the car. Jake’s in the driver’s seat.”
“Come on!” Frank shouted. “We have to catch them before they get away!”
I lowered the binoculars and slid down the angled roof of the cabin. Landing on my feet and rolling in the dirt, I jumped up and followed Frank to our motorcycles. In five seconds flat, we were revved up and ready to go.
We tore off down the road, kicking up dirt behind us.
Swerving left, then right, we skidded around one of the bends—and nearly crashed our bikes.
We’re not going to make it, I thought for a moment.
But failure was not an option.
We had to save Dad.
We steadied our bikes and zoomed down the long arching trail that circled the mountain. I glanced down over the side of the road. At first I felt a little dizzy from the plunging view below. Then I spotted Dad’s car.
“Frank! Stop!” I yelled, waving my arm.
We squeezed the brakes and stopped. I waved Frank over to the side and pointed down.
“Look! They’re turning the car around! They’re coming back!”
“We can’t let them see us,” said Frank.
So we turned around too and started driving back up the mountain. The upward slope was so steep that it slowed us down. I was afraid the Johansens were going plow right into our backsides unless we picked up the pace.
“Joe! This way!”
Frank nodded toward a small dirt path that branched off from the main road. We turned our motorcycles onto the path, pulled them up behind a thick patch of bushes, and killed the engines.
“Duck! Here they come,” I said.
My brother and I crouched down and watched our father’s car drive by. I could see our evil twins in the back seat. They were playing with the clown wigs we’d left in the car.
Losers.
Once they disappeared up the road, I looked at Frank and asked, “Should we call the cops?”
“Do you have your cell phone with you?”
“Left it back in the cabin.”
“Well, that leaves us no choice, Frank,” I said, climbing onto my motorcycle. “Let’s go help Dad.”
Frank shook his head. “Not on our bikes. The engines are too loud. They’d hear us coming. Let’s just leave them here and hike back on foot.”
“Okay. Let’s move.”
We figured we could make good time by heading straight up the mountain through the woods, instead of using the main road that zigzagged its way back and forth.
Of course, we didn’t think about the steep cliffs we had to climb.
Or the snakes.
“Joe, don’t move.”
I was about to pull myself up onto a rocky ledge when I heard a low hissing sound. Slowly I turned my head—and found myself face-to-face with a large brown snake.
Frank stood above me on the ledge—and smirked.
“Stop laughing, Frank,” I whispered. “Do something.”
“Like what? Like this?”
He kicked the snake over the ledge and helped me up. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
Soon we were able to move more quickly, and we reached the cabin before too long. We crept up behind a large tree and crouched down in the tall grass.
“I don’t see them,” Frank whispered.
Dad’s car was parked out in front—but Jake and his sons were nowhere in sight.
“There they are,” I said.
Jake emerged from the cabin. His sons came tromping through the woods out back. “Did you find them?” he asked.
“No,” said the older son.
“Should we keep looking?” asked the younger one.
Jake shook his head. “They’ll show up sooner or later. Help me carry the squealer inside.”
The three of them walked to the car. Jake leaned in over the dashboard and popped the trunk. The boys opened it—and jumped back.
Dad’s feet may have been tied, but that didn’t stop him from trying to kick his abductors in the face.
“Ouch!” yelped the younger boy. “He got me in the chin!”
“Poor baby,” said the older one, laughing. “He might have ruined your profile. Or mussed your hair.”
“You’re just jealous.”
Frank nudged my arm. “They sound like us too,” he whispered. “It’s eerie.”
I shot him a dirty look, then turned back toward the cabin.
Jake was shaking his ham-size fist at his sons. “Stop joking around, you twerps, and help me pick him up.”
The boys stopped laughing and reached into the trunk.
“On the count of three.”
“Jim can’t count that high.”
“You’re dead, Fred.”
“One, two, three!”
Jake and his sons hoisted my father up and out of the trunk.
Dad, of course, put up a good fight.
He squirmed and kicked and bucked like a wild bronco, knocking one of the boys to the ground.
Way to go, Dad!
“Get up, Fred!” Jake yelled. “Hold him tight, Jim! Now move it! Bring him inside!”
Struggling to hold on to their captive, the trio shuffled slowly toward the cabin. Dad twisted and turned and tried to fight them, but it was no use. The rope was wrapped too tightly around his arms and legs.
Finally they reached the doorway. “Feet first, Fred.” Jake nodded to his older son.
Poor Fred. He tried his hardest to pull my father through the doorway. But every time he took a step, Dad would kick his foot against the frame so they couldn’t carry him through.
“Come on!” Jake bellowed. “Hold his legs! Now pull him through! Pull!”
Dad wedged his foot against the door frame again. Fred howled in frustration.
“This is like watching the Three Stooges,” I whispered to Frank.
Finally, after the fourth or fifth attempt to carry my father inside, Jake came up with another plan.
“Head first,” he announced to his sons. “Okay, Jim. You swing around to your left. No, stupid! Your other left!”
I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
The terrible trio managed to get my father halfway through the doorway. But then, at the last minute, Dad hooked the tops of his feet on the edge of the door frame. They pulled and pulled, but my father wouldn’t let go.
“Okay, boys,” said Jake. “On the count of three, I want you to pull as hard as you can. One, two, three!”
They pulled. Dad unhooked his feet. And all of them went flying backward into the cabin.
CRASH!
It sounded like a clap of thunder when they hit the floor.
“Stupid!”
I glanced at Frank. “We can take these guys.”
My brother frowned. “Don’t be so sure. They managed to knock us down in the jewelry store. Or have you forgotten about being trapped under that display case?”
“Give me a break.” I turned my attention back to the cabin. I could hear a scuffle going on inside but couldn’t see anything. “Do you think they’re going to come out and look for us again?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” said Frank. “I’m sure the younger one is dying to know how you get your hair so soft and shiny.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes, Frank.”
He sat back in the grass. “Maybe it is.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think we should wait a few minutes before trying to save Dad. The sun’s going down, and it’ll be dark soon.”
“Okay, genius. How are we going to get Dad out of there?” I asked, glancing at the cabin. “Have you come up with some sort of brilliant master plan?”
“Not really. Have you?”
“Hmmm. Let me think.”
“Don’t hurt yourself, Joe.”
“I got it,” I said. “I’ll sneak up to the cabin and climb onto the roof. You stay here in the woods and throw stones to create a distraction. Then, when the boys come out to look for us, I’ll jump down from the roof and untie Dad.”
Frank tilted his head. “Not bad. But what if Big Jake is guarding the doorway?”
I shrugged. “I’ll jump on his back and bite his ear.”
Frank studied the cabin for a minute, then shrugged his shoulders. “It could work.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “Really? You think it’s a good idea?”
“You think it’s a brilliant master plan?”
“Don’t push it.”
As soon as the sun went down, we got ourselves into position. Frank gathered a bunch of palm-size rocks and found a good hiding place beneath a fallen tree. Me, I got down on the ground and crept up slowly toward the rain barrel next to the cabin.
Don’t blow it, Joe, I told myself.
I lifted one foot gently onto the barrel and stepped up, grabbing the edge of the roof with my hands. Then slowly and carefully, I pulled my whole body up.
Rrrrk.
The roof creaked a little beneath my weight. I froze—and waited. I expected Jake and his sons to come rushing outside any second. But nothing happened.
Working my way toward the front entrance of the cabin, I crouched down and got into position.
Then I waved at Frank.
Okay. Let’s do this.
In the darkness, I saw my brother’s arm swing through the air. A rock went flying into the bushes near the cabin.
WHACK!
Bull’s-eye.
The leaves rustled for a few seconds. Then Frank threw another rock.
WHACK!
It didn’t take long for Jake and his sons to open the door and come running outside. I glanced down at the top of their heads—and noticed that Jake had lost a lot more hair than my dad had.
I shook the thought from my head and tried to concentrate.
Should I jump him now?
No, his sons were right next to him. Three to one are lousy odds.
WHACK!
I heard another rock hit a nearby tree branch. Fred and Jim turned their heads and squinted. “It came from over there,” said Fred. “Should we go check it out, Dad?”
“No,” said Jake. “We’ll make them come to us.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about. But it didn’t matter. I was ready for anything.
Or so I thought.
“Frank and Joe Hardy! I know you’re out there!” Jake yelled into the darkness. “Now here’s what we’re going to do. On the count of three, I want you both to come out with your hands up.”
Yeah, right, I thought. Not in a million years, buddy.
Then he said something that changed my mind.
“If you don’t do what I say, I’m going to kill your father.”