White House White-Out

by Ron Roy

  Natasha began to howl. She tugged on her leash as the helicopter landed in the middle of the circle.

  “She knows who it is,” KC said.

  They all stared at the black helicopter. Then a side door opened and the President of the United States stepped out.

  “Oh my gosh,” said Tinker. “It really is him!”

  KC and Natasha ran toward the president.

  After all the hugging was over, KC led her stepfather over to introduce him to her new friends.

  Everyone shook hands with President Zachary Thornton.

  He looked at Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. “I understand you stayed with KC and Marshall through the entire ordeal,” he said. “Thank you very much. I owe you.”

  Dink blushed down to his toes. “Natasha was the real hero,” he said. “She went to get help and led Tinker and Loren right to us.”

  “Did you fly that yourself … sir?” Tinker asked the president.

  “No, I brought my pilot,” the president said. “Jeff and I have been out looking since we found the note.”

  “What note?” KC asked.

  “Your mom found it on one of the Christmas wreaths,” the president told her. “It was a ransom note for Natasha. A little while later, we realized you and Marshall were gone, too.”

  “Would you and your pilot like to come inside?” Molly asked. “The kids ate every scrap of food, but I could make coffee.”

  “That would be wonderful,” the president said.

  Twenty minutes later, everyone was crowded into the living room. The five kids were telling everyone how they burned the spare tire on the bonfire, when there was a knock on the door.

  “More company?” Molly said. “It’s way after midnight!”

  “I think I know who it is,” the president said. “I sent a couple of FBI boys to collect the bad guys.”

  Molly opened the door. Two big men in dark uniforms stood on the porch. Between them were Jo Payne and Ace Boyd. The pair was handcuffed together.

  The president looked at KC. “Are these the people who took you?” he asked.

  “She is,” KC said. “I never got a good look at him, though.”

  “I did!” Dink said. He pulled the cigarette from his pocket. “I was hiding ten feet away and I saw his face. He was smoking this.”

  “Thank you,” the president said. He took the cigarette butt and slipped it into a pocket. “Agents Dirk and Lynch, take these two back to the city and lock them up. Have FBI Director Smiley call me tomorrow.”

  “Yes, sir!” The FBI agents and their prisoners left.

  “We have to leave, too,” the president said. “Molly, Tinker, and Loren, thank you for what you did. If there’s anything I can ever do, please call me.”

  “The White House?” Tinker asked. “Like, just call you?”

  The president smiled. “Yes, Tinker,” he said. “Like, just call me.”

  The kids all hugged Molly and Tinker and Loren. Then Jeff the pilot helped the five kids and Natasha climb into the helicopter. When everyone was strapped in, he took the chopper up out of the Makepeaces’ strawberry field.

  Fifteen minutes later, Dink poked Josh and Ruth Rose. “Look,” he said. He pointed down. They were flying over the White House.

  Surrounded by snow and with all the lights on, the White House looked magical. Jeff landed the helicopter on the president’s special landing pad.

  Everyone thanked Jeff, then they all followed the president to his private residence. Dink was surprised to see his father sitting on the sofa in the president’s living room.

  “Dad!” Dink said. “How’d you get here?”

  “President Thornton was kind enough to send a car for me,” Dink’s father said. “Lois and Mr. and Mrs. Li and I have had a nice chat about how our kids manage to get in trouble.”

  “Dad, it wasn’t our fault!” Dink said. “That crazy lady drove away while we were trying to rescue Natasha.”

  His father smiled. “I know that, son,” he said.

  Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were all introduced to KC’s mom and Marshall’s parents.

  When everyone had found seats, KC’s mom said, “What I don’t understand is how this Jo Payne knew that Natasha was the president’s dog.”

  “Mom, Natasha’s sweater says FIRST DOG on it,” KC said. “You should know, you knitted it for her!”

  Everyone had a good laugh.

  “So I guess Jo Payne figured she could steal the dog and get some ransom money,” Dink said.

  “And the rest of us were just along for the ride,” Josh said, rubbing his sore arm.

  KC yawned. “The First Stepdaughter is tired,” she said.

  The president stood up. “I think we all need to get to bed,” he said.

  “I can’t wait to get back to the hotel,” Josh said.

  “Actually, you and Dink and Marshall will be sharing Lincoln’s bedroom tonight,” the president said. He winked at Dink’s father.

  “We’re sleeping here tonight?” Josh yelped. “In the White House?”

  “Yes, everyone is having a sleepover,” KC’s mom said. “Ruth Rose, you can share KC’s room.”

  “I brought our luggage,” Dink’s father told Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. “Your pajamas and things are already in your rooms.”

  “Mr. Li and I will head home,” Marshall’s mother said. “I have to be up early for work.” She kissed Marshall. “Get some sleep, and no staying up all night talking.”

  The kids all shared a high five.

  • • •

  Later, just as Dink was falling asleep, Josh poked him.

  “What?” Dink asked.

  “I heard something funny,” Josh said.

  “Josh, it’s almost two in the morning,” Dink said. “I don’t want to hear any of your lame jokes.”

  “I heard something weird,” Josh insisted. “A voice out in the hall.”

  Marshall was sleeping on the sofa. “What’s going on?” he asked, sitting up.

  “Josh is hearing things,” Dink said.

  “I’m not hearing things!” Josh said. “Someone is out there!”

  “And I know who it is,” Marshall whispered. “It’s KC pulling her Lincoln’s ghost joke again.”

  “I’ll bet Ruth Rose put her up to it!” Josh said.

  Marshall slipped off the sofa and wrapped his sheet around himself. “Get your sheets and follow me,” he whispered to Dink and Josh.

  Marshall led the two boys to a small door behind the sofa.

  “Where does this go?” Dink asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  They entered a bathroom. Marshall pointed to a tall cupboard near the bathtub. “It leads to a secret passageway.”

  He opened the cupboard, revealing a hallway. At the end was another door. “That goes to the main hall,” he whispered. “Don’t let the girls see us.”

  Marshall opened the door as quietly as he could. He stuck his head out, then motioned to Dink and Josh.

  The boys saw two figures covered in sheets. They were crouched outside the door to the Lincoln Bedroom.

  Dink saw Ruth Rose’s red sneakers sticking out from under one of the sheets.

  “Let’s get ’em!” Marshall whispered. “Cover up.”

  The three boys draped the sheets over their heads, leaving room to see where they were walking. They crept up behind the girls, waving their arms like flying ghosts.

  “Good evening,” Josh said in his deepest, spookiest voice.

  The two crouching figures jumped up. Ruth Rose screamed. KC shoved open the door to the Lincoln Bedroom and they both ran in.

  Dink, Josh, and Marshall went right in behind them, still waving their arms in the air and making ghost noises.

  “I know it’s you, Marshall Li!” KC said, whipping off her sheet.

  “And I recognized your voice, Joshua,” Ruth Rose said. She yanked off her sheet.

  “Gotcha!” Josh said.

  They all started to laugh.

  Din
k heard knocking behind him and turned around.

  A tall man wearing a black suit stood in the doorway. He had a black beard and a tall black hat on his head.

  The five kids froze as if turned to ice.

  Dink gulped. He could hardly swallow. He was staring at the ghost of Abraham Lincoln!

  “I hope you enjoy sleeping in my room,” the figure of Abe Lincoln said. “Don’t forget to make the bed tomorrow. Good night.”

  The man closed the door and walked away.

  As the man walked down the hall, he heard screaming from the room behind him. Smiling, he pulled off the fake beard and top hat.

  “Boy, I love doing that,” President Zachary Thornton said to himself.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2008 by Ron Roy

  Illustrations and map copyright © 2008 by John Steven Gurney

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Random House and colophon and A to Z Mysteries are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and colophon and the A to Z Mysteries colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Roy, Ron.

  White House white-out / by Ron Roy ; illustrated by John Steven Gurney.

  p. cm. — (A to Z mysteries. Super edition ; #3) “A Stepping Stone Book.”

  Summary: When Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose visit Washington, D.C., just before

  Christmas, they are inadvertently caught up in a kidnapping plot that was

  intended for the president’s dog, but also involves the president’s stepdaughter

  and her friend Marshall.

  [1. Kidnapping—Fiction. 2. Dogs—Fiction. 3. Washington (D.C.)—Fiction.

  4. Virginia—Fiction. 5. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Gurney, John Steven, ill.

  II. Title.

  PZ7.R8139We 2008 [Fic]—dc22 2007031560

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-47783-5

  v3.0