6
ACE DUCEY STRIKES
Back at the Racer house, Pops was working in his home office. He was bent over his drawing table, working out a formula, when...
Bam! A karate chop to the back of the neck knocked Pops out. When he came to, he found himself tied to a chair. A suspicious-looking man in a trench coat and sunglasses stood in front of him.
“Who are you?” Pops asked. He struggled to loosen the ropes that bound his wrists.
The man tipped his black hat toward Pops. “The name is Ace Ducey,” he replied.
“And what do you want?” Pops asked angrily.
Ace grinned. “Your designs for improving the Mach 5.”
Pops wished he wasn’t tied to a chair. He was itching to take down Ace Ducey with a super body slam! But there was nothing he could do.
“You can’t have them!” Pops cried.
“No problem,” Ace said coolly. “I’m just going to help myself.”
Ace began to search Pops’s office. He opened drawers. He pulled out papers. Soon the office was a real mess—and Ace Ducey was angry. He pounded his fist into his hand and walked menacingly toward Pops.
“Where’d you hide those plans?” Ace asked. “Come on, where are they?”
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Speed walked in. He quickly realized Pops was in trouble.
036
“Pops!” Speed cried.
Ace Ducey had seen what Speed had done to Van Ruffle’s goons. He didn’t want a taste of that for himself. He quickly ran past Speed and out the door.
Speed wanted to chase after him, but he ran to untie Pops first.
“Who was that?” Speed asked, quickly working on the ropes.
“He came to get my plans for rebuilding the Mach 5,” Pops grunted.
Speed untied the last rope. “We’ll see about that,” he said. Then he ran outside.
He was too late. Ace Ducey was nowhere to be seen.
Back in his office, Pops picked up a windshield from the floor. He carried it into a small room. Then he turned off the lights and turned on some special red lights.
The plan for the Mach 5 engine appeared on the windshield!
“Using invisible ink and drawing the designs on this windshield glass was a brilliant idea,” Pops said. He chuckled at his own cleverness. “Nobody will think of looking here!”