Of course, not thinking wasn’t her style.
“Hurry up,” she said. “I want to get out of here.”
“Like I want to stay here all night?” Nick snapped back. “I’m going as fast as I can.”
He’d been taking careful aim, and now he brought the bagelball up and made his shot.
The bagels hit the side of the building and dropped back down to the sidewalk.
“Oh, come on,” Tesla groaned.
“That window’s up a lot higher than a basketball hoop,” Nick said. “I’ve got the range now, though.”
He scooped up the bagels, gave the open window a long look, and tried again.
The bagels thumped into the glass, fell, and bounced off the back of Tesla’s head.
“Nnnnnnnick,” Tesla growled.
“I’ll get it next time for sure! I promise!”
Nick picked up the bagels again. Some were crumbling. Others were coming loose.
One more smack against the glass, and the whole thing might fly apart.
Nick brought up the bagelball, whispered “this time … please,” and lobbed it heavenward.
The bagels soared in a graceful arc up to and through the open window.
“Swish!” said Nick.
“Car!” said Tesla.
Headlights came sweeping along the street.
Nick and Tesla scrambled to the stairs leading to the Treasure Trove, leapt up a few steps, and pressed themselves against the side of the building.
“Oh, no!” Nick said. “The backpack!”
It had been abandoned on the sidewalk in plain view.
“We just have to hope it’s not noticed,” Tesla said.
A white pickup truck cruised up the street toward them. It didn’t seem to slow down at all as it passed Nick and Tesla and the backpack. It just kept moving smoothly up Main Street until it was gone.
Nick blew out a breath. “Man, that was close. I thought for a second we were—”
There was a distant pop like the sound of a cherry bomb exploding, then the clitter-clatter of breaking glass.
“What was that?” Nick asked.
A wide-eyed Tesla put a hand on her brother’s head and turned it ten degrees to the left.
Nick found himself looking across the street at the business next to It’s-Froze-Yo! Painted on the display window were the words JEWELRY BY ANGELA. The “Angela” had a halo over the “A” and little wings sprouting from the “L.”
A beam of light was moving around on the other side of the glass, cutting through swirls of sooty smoke inside the store.
“Maybe it’s just the owner or a security guy checking the place,” Nick said.
“After setting it on fire?”
The light bounced off something made of glass at the back of the store, then winked out as a figure draped in black moved in front of the reflection.
“Dressed as a ninja?” said Tesla.
“Oh, man!” said Nick. “It’s a robbery! What do we do?”
“We go in for a closer look.”
Nick was about to say “You’re joking, right?” But Tesla answered his question before he could even ask it.
She started going in for a closer look.
“Tez, no!” Nick called from the shadows. “You’re supposed to run away from dangerous criminals, not go toward them.”
“What if it’s the thief who stole Mr. Kuskie’s comic?” Tesla said without glancing back. “We could wrap up the mystery right now.”
“Or we could get ourselves killed right now. Tesla, stop!”
She didn’t seem to be listening, though. She just kept walking toward the jewelry store—and the jewelry thief—on the other side of the street.
The flashlight beam, meanwhile, had begun moving again, toward the center of the store. When it stopped, it seemed to be pointed downward. Then it swung up so that it was shining directly into the display window at the front of the store.
It froze there for a moment—long enough for Nick to realize that the thief was looking out through the window at the street.
And at Tesla.
“He sees you, Tez! We’ve gotta get out of here!”
The light whipped away from the window, moved to the left, and settled for a few seconds on something on the wall. Then it began dancing spastically across the ceiling, growing smaller and fainter.
The thief was running away.
Tesla broke into a sprint toward the store.
A blaring blast stopped her after six steps.
CLANGA-LANGA-LANGA-LANGA-LANGA-LANGA.
An alarm was going off in the jewelry store.
“Now the alarm goes off?” Nick said. “When the guy’s leaving? Well, that’s just great!”
Tesla spun around and charged back toward her brother. By the time she made it to the sidewalk, another set of headlights was moving toward them up Main Street.
“Go, go, go, go, go!” Tesla yelled, snatching up the backpack.
It seemed really unnecessary to Nick—he was going!—but he didn’t stop to say so.
He and Tesla dashed around the corner to the alley where they’d stashed their bikes, and soon they were racing away into the night.
Tesla started to slow down once they were in Uncle Newt’s neighborhood on the other side of the highway, but Nick circled back and told her to hurry up.
“Why?” she said. “We got away from the scene of the crime.”
“Yeah … and so did that burglar, remember? For all we know, he’s out looking for us right now.”
“Oh. Good point.”
Tesla pedaled hard all the way home.
“Whew,” Tesla sighed as she closed the back door to Uncle Newt’s house.
“What do you mean ‘whew’?” Nick said. “You ‘whew’ too easily, do you know that? Whoever was in that jewelry store saw you for sure and might have seen me, and this isn’t a big town so we might have been recognized, and if we were it wouldn’t be hard to find us, so it might just be a matter of time before—”
“All right, all right! I get it!”
Tesla turned around and locked the door.
“Now can I ‘whew’?” she said.
“What? No way! Anyone who can break into a jewelry store isn’t going to be stopped by that little lock.”
“Let me guess,” Tesla sighed. “You think we should hook the intruder alert system back up.”
“Yes. I do.”
“Even though it’s almost one in the morning.”
“Yes. Even though it’s almost one in the morning.”
“And even though I’m about to strangle you.”
“Yes. Even though you’re about to strangle me. Better you than that burglar.”
“Fine.”
Tesla headed toward the stairs.
Scattered around their room on the second floor were many of the gadgets and improvised devices they’d constructed that summer, including the Intruder Alert System—a simple circuit they’d made using quarters, wire, paper, batteries, and a bulb from a string of Christmas lights. If anyone tried to sneak into the house, the light in their room would turn on to warn them.
“You just can’t let me relax, can you?” Tesla grumbled as she stomped up the hall.
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you got us mixed up in this mess.”
“Oh, come on. I’m just trying to help a—where are you going?” Tesla said.
Nick had been following her, but now he was doubling back toward the kitchen.
“Forgot to do something,” he said.
He went around a corner and disappeared from view. But Tesla knew what he was doing: completing his nightly pre-bedtime ritual.
Tesla heard him pick up the phone, punch in some numbers, then hang up again. It was all over in less than ten seconds. Which meant the usual.
No message from their parents.
Nick came back from the kitchen looking gloomy—which was also the usual.
“Do you ever get the feeling we�
��re never gonna hear from Mom and Dad again?” he said.
“No,” Tesla said firmly. “I don’t.”
It was a lie. But it was the one she knew her brother needed to hear.
“Now come on,” Tesla said as she headed up the stairs. “That intruder alert system isn’t going to wire itself, and if I’m not in bed by two I am going to strangle you.”
They were in bed by one thirty, but the intruder alert system didn’t help Tesla sleep any more soundly. Instead, she kept waking every ten minutes to either sit up and check the light or tell her brother to stop doing the exact same thing. Neither she nor Nick fell deeply asleep until birds were chirping outside and gray sunlight was beginning to seep in around the blinds.
When they finally woke up again and stumbled downstairs for breakfast, Uncle Newt was already hanging next to the dining room table eating a late lunch.
“Well, look who’s slinking out of their cave,” he said, looking up from his bowl of leftover Spaghettios. “It’s practically July, you know. You’re only supposed to hibernate in the winter.”
“Says the man with a Christmas tree in his hallway,” Tesla muttered.
She was always a little grouchy until she’d had her first Pop-Tart.
“Touché,” Uncle Newt said with a good-natured grin.
He took a copy of the local newspaper off the table and disappeared behind it.
Nick and Tesla shuffled into the kitchen to get their breakfast.
Nick made it back to the table first. (His preferred breakfast was Cocoa Puffs and Cap’n Crunch mixed together in the same bowl, so he didn’t have to wait for anything to toast.) When Tesla joined him with her Pop-Tart a moment later, he elbowed her in the ribs before she could take her first bite.
“What?” she snapped at him.
He jerked his chin at their uncle.
“Che eh oo,” he said.
Translation: Check it out.
(Tesla had gotten pretty good at understanding her brother when he talked with his mouth full.)
Tesla looked at Uncle Newt. All she saw of him were his fingers wrapped around the edges of the Half Moon Bay Guardian-Defender.
Despite its impressive name, the Guardian-Defender was just a thin collection of city council minutes and coupons that showed up every afternoon whether you wanted it to or not. The kids tended to ignore it. The biggest news story was usually something like “Area Woman Turns 96” or “Libarry Hosts Gala Lasagnae Fundriser.” (There were always lots of misspelled words.)
There was an especially large headline on this day’s front page.
Downtown Jeweler Hit by Rubbery
For a few confused seconds, Tesla wondered, “Hit by a rubbery what?”
Then it dawned on her.
Hit by robbery.
She squinted at the article, but the newsprint was too small for her to read from across the table.
“Oh, boy! That’s so wonderful!” she squealed, clapping her hands. “They did it!”
“Huh?” said Uncle Newt, peering around the paper.
“Chuh?” said Nick through another mouthful of cereal.
Tesla pointed at the front page of the Guardian-Defender.
“Silas and DeMarco’s friends!” Tesla said. “The swimmers!”
“Vuh schwimmuhs?” Nick said.
Uncle Newt looked at the front page.
The headline just to the left of “Downtown Jeweler Hit by Rubbery” was “Local Teens Snag Hunorable Mention at Synchronized Swimming Comtepetion.”
“You know these kids?” Uncle Newt asked.
Tesla nodded. “Sure. They don’t live too far from here.”
Uncle Newt looked at Nick.
He finally swallowed his cereal.
“Oh, yeah. Great couple kids,” he said. “So dedicated to their sport. We see them out in their pool … uhh … synchronizing every day. They’re really, really … synchronous.”
“Can we read the article about them?” Tesla asked her uncle.
“Sure,” he said. “Once I’ve finished the—”
Tesla leaned across the table and snatched the paper from his hands.
“Thanks, Uncle Newt!”
She spread out the Guardian-Defender and started reading, Nick peeking around her shoulder.
Of course, they weren’t reading about synchronized swimmers.
Downtown Half Moon Bay was the sceene of a daring heist last night when thieves struck Main Street’s Jewelry by Angela (see ad, page 8). According to the store’s owner, Angela Allbritten, the culprit used an explosive to get through the back door, then opened the supposedly burglar-proof safe in which she stores her most valuable stock. Though an alarm was triped, the culprit was gone by the time police responded to a call from Allbritten’s security service.
“I give those jokers at Depend-Alarm $300 a month, and this is what I get?” a visibly upset Allbitten tlod the Guardian-Defender. “And that safe? How can they even call it a safe? It’s not safe! They should call it an unsafe! I’m going to sue those clones, I swear it.”
“Clones?” said Nick.
“I think it’s supposed to be ‘clowns,’ ” said Tesla.
Uncle Newt looked up from his Spaghettios. “Clones? Clowns? I thought you guys were reading about synchronized swimming.”
“Oh, we are,” Tesla said. “Gertrude and Herbert’s routine has a circus theme.”
“Gertrude and Herbert?”
“You know. The kids.” Tesla jabbed at a random spot on the front page. “Ooooh! They got an 8.8 from the judges!”
“Woo-hoo!” Nick cheered. “That’s better than they did with their synchronized salute to the four food groups!”
Uncle Newt shrugged and went back to eating.
Nick and Tesla went back to reading.
Allbritten lost more than $2,5000 worth of merchandise, including a valuable new assortment of dimond engagement rings that had just arrived that afternoon. A custom-made robotic angel—a gift from the fine folks at Half Moon Bay hobby emporium the Wonder Hut (see ad, page 11)—was taken as well. Yet despite all that, the stroe’s spunky owner vows to keep offering the area’s finest selection of mid-range jewelry, jems, and precious stones at rock-bottom prices.
“The real steals are the ones our customers get every day,” Allbritten said. “Our prices are so low, they ouhgt to be a crime!”
Law enforcement sources say they’re searching for either one or more suspects, perhaps male or perhaps female, of indeterminate race, between the ages of 9 and 90.
Bring this article in to Jewelry by Angela for 10% off yur first purchase of $200 or more!
Tesla reached out and tapped the sentence about the robot angel.
Nick blinked down at it, then gave his sister a look that said, “So?”
“That’s our ticket in,” Tesla whispered.
“Into where?” Nick asked.
Uncle Newt was still concentrating on his Spaghettios, yet Tesla didn’t dare say the words out loud. So she just mouthed them silently. She could tell Nick understood from the way his eyes went wide and his jaw slack.
“The scene of the crime,” she’d said.
NICK AND TESLA’S
REPLACEMENT ROBO-ANGEL HOVERBOT
THE STUFF
• 2 foam or lightweight plastic disposable dinner plates (but not paper plates)
• 1 3-volt motor (available at electronics stores; the RadioShack catalog number is 273-223)
• 2 brass fasteners
• 1 paper clip
• Thin bell wire (also available at electronics stores)
• 1 plastic lid from a coffee can, a can of nuts, or a deli container
• 1 CR2 3-volt battery (available at most large pharmacies or at stores that sell cameras)
• 1 popsicle stick or unsharpened pencil
• Hot-glue gun
• Scissors
• Sharpened pencil
• Ruler
• Pushpin or thumbtack
THE SETUP<
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1. Draw a 3-inch-diameter (7.5-cm) circle onto the middle of one of the foam plates. (Using a soup can as a stencil might make this step easier.)
2. Use scissors to carefully cut out the circle.
3. Slip the paper clip over the point of one of the fasteners and then poke the fastener through the bottom of the plate.
4. Push the other fastener through the plate so that the paper clip can slide and touch the other fastener. This is your switch!
5. Use a pencil to poke a small hole through the plate for some wire to go through.
6. Strip about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the ends of two wires. Then poke the wires through the hole from the top and twist the ends around the fasteners as shown. (Make sure the two fasteners don’t touch.)
7. If your motor already has wires attached to it, skip ahead to step 8. If not, cut two 8-inch (20.3-cm) lengths of bell wire and strip the plastic from the ends. Attach one end of each wire to the metal leads on the motor. Hot-glue them in place.
8. Cut out the propeller template on this page. Trace the outline of the template onto the plastic lid, then cut out the propeller with scissors.
9. Use a pushpin or thumbtack to poke a small hole in the middle of the propeller.
10. Bend each blade on the propeller as shown on the template. The plastic should hold its shape after you bend it. If not, you will need to use a different lid.
11. Push the propeller about halfway onto the shaft of the motor and hot-glue it in place. Be sure the propeller has room to spin without touching the motor.
12. Cut two pieces from the other plate (or use cardboard if you have plastic plates) 1¾ inches (4.5 cm) high and 1½ inches (4 cm) wide. Hot-glue them in place on either side of the opening, as shown on this page. These are the supports.
13. Hot-glue the popsicle stick or unsharpened pencil across the top of the supports.
14. Hot-glue the motor to the bottom side of the popsicle stick. The propeller should be just above the opening in the plate. Be sure it doesn’t hit the supports or the plate when you spin it with your finger.
Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Rampage Page 8
