Rick told himself it didn’t matter whether Jacques Le Jacques was actually Oliver’s father, as Jacques Le Jacques had claimed. Right now only two things mattered:
(1) Jacques Le Jacques was trapped in his own security chamber, under Melody’s close watch.
(2) Rick was trapped too—in his case, by a hungry alligator that would soon be having him for lunch.
Even worse, McAllister—the mastermind of this whole evil situation—was about to make it safely to his backup escape vehicle, a souped-up motorcycle built for speed and evasion.
Only one thing stood in McAllister’s way … and that one thing was named Oliver.
Rick saw his friend paralyzed by the choice he had to make: He could stop McAllister once and for all, or he could attempt to save Rick from a creature that had been giving Oliver nightmares for as long as he’d been able to dream.
He couldn’t do both.
“Get him!” Rick shouted. “Stop McAllister! Go for the tires!”
The alligator didn’t like this advice. It opened its mouth wide to show Rick all the teeth that were about to sink into his body. Then it moved forward.
Oliver, meanwhile, didn’t move.
“Go!” Rick cried.
As if lit by a lightning strike, Oliver made his decision. He took a deep breath and lunged toward the alligator.
“AAAAAAACH!” Rick yelled, waving his arms. It was a ridiculous sound and it got the alligator’s attention—which was exactly what Rick wanted.
Oliver, who was afraid of toy alligators—
Oliver, whose glasses now had cracks in both their lenses—
Oliver, who regularly lost in thumb-wrestling against both Melody and Rick—
Oliver, who never wanted to have anything to do with gators, was now jumping on the back of a gator.
He wanted to save Rick.
Both of them knew he only had one shot.
The good thing about people who are irrationally afraid of alligators is that they tend to spend an irrational amount of time online reading about how to wrestle alligators into submission, just in case.
Before the alligator could fully understand that there was a boy on its back, Oliver had thrown his jacket over its eyes with one hand and was using the other hand to press its neck to the ground with all his strength. At the same time, he was using his legs to prevent the gator from rolling. Pinned to the ground, the gator couldn’t open its jaw.
Rick leapt forward to help his friend. As the gator retracted its eyes into its skull beneath the jacket and Oliver kept pinning it, Rick joined Oliver on its back, pressing against Oliver as he reached out for the soft skin under the gator’s jaw. Then, as Oliver continued to use his weight to keep the gator’s body down, Rick yanked the gator’s jaw up ninety degrees, holding it close to his chest. Behind him, he could hear the gunning of the motorcycle’s engine.
Even though the gator had now been wrestled into submission, Rick knew there was only so much time you could stay on top of an angry alligator.
“Ready for the dismount?” he asked Oliver.
“Yes!” Oliver said.
“Count of three.”
On three, Oliver jumped off. On the count of four, Rick jammed the gator’s head to the ground again, pinning it with his body. Then, gripping the gator by the neck, he threw it forward. It only skidded for about a foot, but that was enough for Rick to jump back and away.
Instead of turning to fight, the gator plunged back toward its tank. It would get its lunch elsewhere.
At the same time, Rick and Oliver saw the beautiful sight of Melody at the top of a staircase, flanked by other Adventurers. Even better, she held an industrial-size fishing rod. With one fluid flick, she cast out a large hook—and landed it right on the collar of McAllister’s leather jacket. Completely unprepared, he was imbalanced by her sudden tug.
The motorcycle made it out of the lair.
McAllister did not.
Rick and Oliver didn’t hesitate. They jumped on McAllister just like they’d jumped on the gator. He cursed and flailed, but he couldn’t get away. Mrs. Lindstrom, who always carried handcuffs for situations like this, appeared above Rick and Oliver and made McAllister’s temporary capture a more permanent one.
Soon the Alligator Kingdom was crawling with police officers, federal officers, and other officers whose allegiance wasn’t entirely clear to Rick.
“Looks like you got the catch of the day,” Rick told Melody admiringly.
“Well, I wasn’t the one who gave you the gator aid,” she replied, tilting her head toward Oliver, who was silently staring down into the alligator tank.
Rick walked over to him and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You okay?” he asked.
“That was scary,” Oliver said. “But …”
Rick waited for Oliver to finish his sentence. When he didn’t, Rick said, “But … ?”
Oliver smiled, then put his hand on Rick’s shoulder. “But I guess saving your life was worth it.”
Rick smiled back. “Glad to hear it.”
Oliver put his arm back to his side, and Rick did the same.
Rick sighed, watching the alligators still circling in the tank below them. “It’s been quite a day, hasn’t it?”
“Yup. But you know what—with everything that’s happened, one thing’s remained absolutely true.”
“What?” Rick asked.
Now Oliver’s smile was a full-on grin.
“I still hate Florida.”