The Astro Outlaw

by David A. Kelly

  Kate finally settled on a taco. “Un taco con queso, por favor,” she said in Spanish to the woman behind the counter.

  “Cinco dólares,” the woman replied.

  “I like that so many people speak Spanish in Texas!” Kate said. She tasted the taco with cheese and offered a bite to Mike. He chomped down on it as they went to wait in line for some kettle corn.

  “Hey, Mike,” Kate said. “Check out the hat on that man over there.” She pointed to a man at the water fountain. He wore blue jeans, an Astros shirt, and a tan cowboy hat. The hat had a black band around it. There was a bright red feather stuck in the band.

  “A feather!” Mike said. “That looks like the one we found, except it’s red.”

  “Exactly,” Kate said. “Now look at the other fans with cowboy hats.”

  Mike scanned the crowd. Many of the cowboy hats had some type of small feather in the band. Most were bright shades of red, blue, green, yellow, or orange.

  Mike couldn’t believe his eyes. “Feathers—they’re everywhere!”

  “I’ll bet the one you found came from the Outlaw’s cowboy hat!” Kate said. She snapped her fingers. “And you know what else? Remember how Commander Rice said he smelled straw?”

  Mike nodded.

  “Some cowboy hats are made of felt or wool. But others are made of straw,” Kate said. “Maybe the Outlaw put a cowboy hat over Commander Rice’s face! All we have to do is find someone with a broken green feather in their hat!”

  Mike groaned. “But, Kate, almost everyone here is wearing a cowboy hat.”

  “Yeah,” Kate agreed with a sigh. “Still, let’s keep our eyes open, just in case.”

  Mike paid for his food, and they went to their seats. The sixth inning had just started. While Mike popped bits of kettle corn into his mouth and took swigs of red PowerPunch, Kate wolfed down her taco. Neither team scored in the sixth, and soon the Rockies were up for the top of the seventh inning. The first Rockies batter hit a double. But the Astros made three quick outs and hustled off the field. It was time for the seventh-inning stretch.

  Fans stood up as the sounds of organ music filled the stadium. The grounds crew neatened up the infield.

  “Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd.…”

  Kate jumped up. “We’ll see you later, Dad,” she said. “Mike and I are going to see how Commander Rice is doing. Come on, Mike.” She gave Mike’s T-shirt a tug. “Let’s go get an astronaut’s autograph!”

  Deep in the Heart of Texas

  The main hallway was busy with people. “I’m glad we ate earlier,” Mike said. “Check out those lines.”

  He and Kate passed souvenir stands with racks of baseballs, red Astros hats, key chains, and packs of baseball cards.

  “Hey, before we see Commander Rice, can we take a look at the gas pump?” Mike asked. “I want to see how many home runs the Astros have hit.”

  “Okay,” Kate said. “He’s probably busy during the seventh-inning stretch anyway.”

  The sounds of the crowd singing along with the organ music drifted through the stadium.

  “It’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out, at the old ball gaaaaaaaame.…”

  Up ahead, the hallway widened. To the left were the main entrance and the table where Commander Rice sat, signing autographs. To the right was the train display. From there, a hallway ran along the outfield.

  In the background, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” changed into another song. Kate stopped and listened. It wasn’t the baseball anthem anymore, but she’d heard the melody before. Everyone knew the words.

  Bum-bum-bummmm. Bum-bum-bummmm. “The stars at night are big and bright.” CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP.

  Then it hit her. She knew the name of the song!

  “Mike!” Kate called out. “Wait up!”

  Mike was already down the hall at the gas pump. Kate sprinted to catch up with him. When she did, he was circling the largest gas pump that Kate had ever seen. The pump was about thirteen feet tall and painted bright white. The words HOME RUN PUMP were written in red on the sides. Red numbers counted up the home run total.

  “It’s huge!” he said. “Usually gas pumps show how many gallons of gas are sold. But this one shows how many home runs the Astros hit since they built this park! Pretty cool!”

  “I know something even cooler,” Kate said. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the overhang. “Listen! Listen to the song that’s playing!”

  “The prairie sky is wide and high”—CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP—“deep in the heart of Texas.”

  Mike had a puzzled look on his face. “So? They play both ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ and ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ for the seventh-inning stretch.”

  “Don’t you see?” Kate said to Mike. “It’s what Commander Rice heard the thieves saying!”

  Mike’s frown vanished. “They said they were meeting at a gas station near the hill, deep in the heart of Texas!” he said.

  “Exactly,” Kate whispered. She nodded at the gas pump. “They’re meeting at a gas station.” She turned Mike around so he was facing the flagpole in the outfield. “By a hill.” She pointed to Tal’s Hill, the grassy slope in the outfield. “Get it?”

  “So the hill isn’t deep in the middle of Texas after all,” Mike said.

  “No,” Kate said. “It’s right here. That wasn’t where they were meeting. It was when they were meeting.”

  Mike’s eyes grew wide. “That means they might be meeting right now, right here!”

  Kate nodded. “Quick! Let’s hide somewhere and watch.” She dragged Mike to a tall pillar across the hallway. From behind it, they could see everyone near the pump.

  The song ended. The Rockies ran out to take the field. The Astros’ first batter warmed up on the field. The people near the gas pump didn’t look suspicious. Most of them stopped by the railing and looked down at the baseball diamond. A family with three small boys, an old man, and two women walked by. None of them seemed like thieves.

  After a few minutes, Mike started to get antsy. “Maybe we missed them,” he said. “The game’s starting again.”

  “Let’s stay a little while longer,” Kate said. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “What about them?”

  Kate pointed to a man and a woman next to the gas pump. The woman held a plastic shopping bag. Something heavy sat at the bottom. The man kept checking his watch and glancing toward the main exit.

  “Maybe the moon rock is in that bag!” Kate said.

  A small boy ran up to them. The woman reached into the bag. She pulled out a bright white baseball and gave it to him. The boy’s face lit up, and he hugged the woman. The three walked off together.

  “Or maybe not,” Mike said. “This is a bust.”

  “Wait—look at that,” Kate said. A businessman holding a leather briefcase stood to the right of the gas pump. He was talking with a shorter man wearing a suit.

  “That could be him. He might have the rock in that briefcase,” Kate said. “But we’ve got to see who he’s talking to.”

  Just then, a bunch of teenagers crowded onto the porch near the gas pump. The men looked over their shoulders at them and shifted closer to where Mike and Kate were hiding. As they did, a third person came into view. He wore a black straw cowboy hat, jeans, a jacket, and shiny black boots.

  “Shoot,” Mike said. “That’s just Tex Rayburn from Fat Hats.”

  Kate clutched his arm. “Holy Toledo!” she gasped.

  After a moment, Mike spotted what Kate was talking about. His jaw dropped open.

  Tucked into Tex’s hatband were three green feathers. The one in the middle was broken neatly in half!

  Round Up!

  Mike caught his breath. “Tex Rayburn is the thief?” he asked. “But he’s so nice!”

  “It all fits together,” Kate said. She ticked off the facts. “He knew about the moon rock. He was at the party with Commander Rice. And the feather we found matches the one on his hat! I like him, too, but I�
�m sure he’s the Astro Outlaw!”

  Over by the gas pump, Tex and his partner were still talking to the businessman. The man flipped the briefcase open for a second. Tex smiled. Then Tex held open the pocket of his jacket to show the man something. The man nodded.

  “I’ll bet he’s got the moon rock in his jacket pocket!” Kate said. “But what’s in the briefcase?”

  “Money,” Mike said. “Didn’t you see the way Tex smiled when the man opened it? It’s probably full of money to pay for the moon rock!”

  “We’ve got to stop them,” Kate said. “There’s no time to lose!”

  Blending in with the people passing by, Mike and Kate raced down the corridor. Near the main entrance, they spied Commander Rice signing autographs. Kate and Mike ran to the head of the line. Kate cut in front of a tall man wearing a red and gold Astros jersey.

  Commander Rice looked surprised to see them. He was just about to say something when the tall man spoke up.

  “Hey, the end of the line is back there, darlin’,” the man said. He pointed behind him. “Y’all need to wait your turn.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kate said. “But it’s an emergency!” She looked Commander Rice in the eyes. “We’ve found the moon rock! You’ve got to come to the gas pump right now. Before they get away!”

  Commander Rice slid back his chair. “I’ll be right back,” he said to the line of people waiting for autographs. He placed his left hand on the table and jumped over it in one move. Then he called to Luis, the security guard, “Can you radio for help at the gas pump?”

  Luis nodded and picked up his walkie-talkie.

  As they ran down the hallway, Kate told Commander Rice about the meeting at the pump.

  When they were almost there, Kate spied two policemen walking toward them from the other end of the hallway. Over near the gas pump, Tex was shaking hands with the man holding the briefcase. A few fans nearby were leaning over the railing, watching the game.

  Tex started to pull something out of his jacket pocket. But then he spied the policemen coming from the other direction. He instantly turned around, took off his hat, and mopped his brow. Without saying a word to his partner, Tex put his hat on and headed for the exit at a fast pace.

  Tex walked right past Mike, Kate, and Commander Rice. When he passed, Commander Rice said, “Mr. Rayburn! Stop! We need to ask you a few questions!”

  Tex took off running.

  “He’s headed for the exit!” Commander Rice shouted to the police officers. “Stop him!”

  Fans moved out of the way as Tex ran down the hall. The two policemen followed closely. The sound of running feet echoed on the tiled floor.

  Just as Tex was about to reach the main entrance, he slipped and crashed into the train display. His body slammed against the big box of coal, and he spun off into the center of the hallway. Tex twirled around twice. He lost his balance and then fell to the floor. His head knocked against the hard tile with a thud.

  Seconds later, the police reached Tex. He was sprawled on the ground. A crowd of people gathered around them.

  “He’s hurt!” Kate said.

  “Nah, I’ll bet he’s just faking it,” Mike said.

  The police held everyone back. Then Tex moved.

  “See? He’s okay,” Mike said.

  With the help of the police, Tex sat up, holding the side of his head. Two paramedics arrived. They put Tex on a stretcher and carried him away. The policemen and Commander Rice led the man with the briefcase and Tex’s partner into a nearby office. Soon after, the crowd drifted off. Kate texted her father to let him know where they were. Just as Mike and Kate were about to go back to their seats, they heard their names.

  “Kate, Mike!” Commander Rice called out. He was standing near the train display that Tex had crashed into. “You were right about the feather!”

  He had Tex’s hat in his hand. When Kate and Mike made it over to him, Commander Rice took an envelope from his pocket. He opened it and pulled out the half of the green feather that Kate and Mike had found in the room upstairs. He held it up against the broken green feather on the hat. It matched perfectly!

  Kate gave Mike a high five. “I knew it!” she said. “He must have knocked you out. He put you in the room and was trying to sell the moon rock!”

  “I’m afraid so,” Commander Rice said. “Sometimes even nice people turn out to be trouble.”

  A look of concern passed over Kate’s face. “What’s going to happen?” she asked. “Is Tex okay?”

  “He’s fine. It’s just a bump on the head,” said Commander Rice. “We’ve already searched all three men. None of them had the moon rock. They said they didn’t even know it was missing. Yes, the briefcase was loaded with money. But the man said it was for work.”

  “Tex sure looked guilty when he started running,” Mike said. “He was hightailing it out of here!”

  Commander Rice frowned. “Tex claimed he was just in a hurry to get back to his hat store. He said he didn’t hear me telling him to stop. If he did steal the moon rock, he sure didn’t have it when he ran down the hallway!”

  “What are you going to do?” Mike asked.

  “I’m going back to the security office to see if I can help,” Commander Rice said. “They’re going to question Tex. His story is fishy. But so far they can’t prove he had the moon rock.”

  “Is there any way we can help?” Kate asked. She held her thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “It feels like we were this close to finding the moon rock!”

  “I know,” Commander Rice said. “But there’s nothing else for you to do. Tex is in custody. Security is going to check everyone going out to make sure they don’t have the rock with them. Go to your seats, and then stop by my table after the game. I’ll give you an update.”

  As Commander Rice turned to go, four security officers passed by. They spread out next to the exit doors and started checking the bags of people leaving.

  Commander Rice shook his head sadly. “That moon rock is priceless. I hope they find it before it’s gone forever!”

  The Hidden-Ball Trick

  Kate paced back and forth.

  “Kate, Commander Rice said we should go back to our seats,” Mike said. He leaned against Commander Rice’s empty table near the stadium entrance. “They caught Tex. The security people are watching the doors. Maybe we should go watch the game.”

  Kate stopped and drummed her fingers on the table. “It feels like we’re missing something,” she said. “We know that Tex must have had the moon rock in his pocket when he was at the gas pump. If he doesn’t have it now, it has to be here somewhere! I’m not ready to give up.”

  Kate pushed away from the table. She headed back down the hallway to the gas pump. Mike shook his head and raced to catch up.

  When they reached the gas pump, Kate started searching right away. But Mike wandered over to one of the railings overlooking the field. He wanted to check the score.

  It was the top of the ninth inning. The Astros were ahead by one run, but the Rockies had just hit a double. Their player had barely missed being thrown out at second. A home run would put them ahead.

  Mike leaned forward. He spun his baseball around in his hands. This was a key point in the game. The players knew it, too. The second baseman threw the ball back to the pitcher. As he did, the catcher headed out for a conference. The pitcher met him at the grass on the side of the mound. The infielders jogged in as well. After talking for a few moments, the players returned to their positions.

  On the edge of the grass, the pitcher leaned down to tie his shoe. When he finished, he turned to take the mound. The runner on second stepped off the base to take a lead. As soon as he did, the second baseman reached over and tagged him. Then the second baseman opened his glove. The ball was hidden inside! He had taken it during the meeting at the mound!

  The umpire yanked his hand back and yelled, “YOU’RE OUT!”

  The runner looked confused. He threw up his hands. The Rockies’ ma
nager marched out onto the field.

  “Kate! You’ve got to see this,” Mike said.

  “What?” Kate asked. She stepped up to the railing beside Mike.

  “The Astros’ second baseman just pulled off the hidden-ball trick!” Mike said.

  “The hidden-ball trick?” she repeated. “What’s that?”

  Mike pointed to the jumbo TV on the scoreboard. It showed the play in slow motion. “That’s when you’ve got a runner on base. You pretend to give the ball back to the pitcher, but don’t,” he said. “The ball is still in play as long as the pitcher doesn’t step on the pitching rubber. Then, when the runner leaves the base, he’s tagged out! That’s soooo tricky!”

  Kate laughed. “That’s great! The runner fell for it?”

  “Yup!” Mike said. “I’ve read about it, but I’ve never seen it in a major-league game before!”

  The manager of the Rockies tried to argue with the umpire that the runner was safe. But the umpire shook his head, and the manager headed back to the dugout. The runner was out. Now the Astros needed only one more out to win.

  Mike kept watching the game, but Kate turned away. She frowned at the gas pump. “Mike, come here,” she said. Mike took one more look at the game, then jogged over to Kate.

  She put herself near the gas pump where Tex had stood. “I know that Tex had that moon rock in his pocket when we were watching him,” she said. Kate pointed to the main entrance. “But he didn’t have it when they searched him down there. What happened to it?”

  Mike shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. He couldn’t get his mind off the hidden-ball trick. It worked because everyone thought the pitcher had the ball. But it was really hidden in the fielder’s glove.

  Then it hit him. “The second baseman!” Mike cried, startling Kate. “The ball was hidden in his glove. What if Tex found a place to hide the moon rock before the police caught him?”