The Adventures of Kid Combat Volume One: A Secret Lost (13 page)

“Here it comes!” Wedge screamed out. “This is
going to take perfect timing.”

The clearing was coming to an end, and no
more than fifty feet away, the path ended with a long drop-off that
led back into the forest. The ledge was blocked by the tops of
trees from the section of the forest below, and only a small,
slender staircase led between the two parts of the forest. It was a
dead end. For some reason, though, Wedge and Timmy raced on without
even thinking of slowing down or stopping …

Kid went to work inside the mansion. He was
directly below the room that Samantha was in. According to Gears’s
intelligence, there were two guards standing outside the only door.
The room’s windows opened up to the side of the house and the
backyard, which were also patrolled by guards. Those three
entrances could not be used. Kid went back to his pack and produced
a grappling hook and shot it at the ceiling. It hit the ceiling
with a smack and nestled into one of the beams running across the
ceiling. Kid looked around nervously to see if anyone heard the
sound. Nothing. He hooked the cord onto his belt and ascended up
the rope. Once at the top, he latched the strap and hung in midair.
He slowly spun in a circle as he took out the circular laser cutter
and applied it to the ceiling. The red light was emitted once
again, and Kid moved it in a circular motion. Within seconds, he
had removed a chunk of the ceiling.

He broke through the floor of the second room
and slid the pieces of flooring out of the way. He slowly poked his
head up through the hole and looked around the room. He saw no
guards and scanned around the room for Samantha. Finally, he saw
her tied up in the corner. He pulled himself up into the room,
bringing the grappling hook with him.

“Give it everything you got!” yelled Wedge as
he and his brother flew through the open patch of land. The
four-wheeler was pushed to its limits as the two young boys
streaked through the grass.

“Where do you think we’re going?” Timmy
yelled back to his brother. “This thing doesn’t have wings, you
know!”

“Trust me, li’l brother. I have it all under
control,” Wedge replied. He could almost see his younger brother’s
eyes rolling. “Just when I tell you, press that yellow button on
the handlebars.”

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
Timmy said. The cliff was just seconds away. The two pursuers were
getting closer. One of them was to the boys’ right and back about
five feet. The other was almost directly behind them.

“Now!” yelled Wedge, and with that, Timmy
pushed the yellow button . In front of them, a ramp hidden in the
grass suddenly emerged. Timmy gave the gas one last push, and the
four-wheeler roared with a burst of speed. The two boys leaned
forward as the vehicle hit the ramp at top speed. They soared over
the trees; and it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Timmy hit
the button again, and the ramp disappeared back into the grass.

The boys soared through the air, just missing
the trees, and they descended to the lower tier of the forest. The
boys hit the landing ramp on a small open path in the middle of the
forest. They could hear faint screams as the two men flew
uncontrollably through the air. Wedge and Timmy’s four-wheeler came
to a skidding halt at the bottom of the ramp. Exhausted, they
looked back into the sky and sat for a moment.

“I guess they couldn’t fly,” Wedge said. The
two boys shared a laugh and exchanged a high-five.

“You drove that thing pretty well, li’l
brother,” Wedge added. Timmy smiled and turned pink around the
ears.

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad,” he replied. “We
hit that ramp like a rocket, didn’t we?”

Wedge just smiled at his brother. The moment
Timmy had been waiting for finally happened, and Wedge was glad he
was the one to experience it.

“Hey, I think we finally found your nickname,
Timmy,” Wedge said. Timmy turned back to his brother with a
questioning look.

“Huh?” Timmy said.

“You heard me. Now let’s get back to The
Playground …” Wedge paused, “… Rocket.”

A grin lit up Timmy’s face as he finally
realized what his brother was talking about. It was official. Timmy
had found his name within SOCKs. He liked Rocket, much more than he
liked Diesel or Blade or Torque. He liked it better because he had
earned it.

A great wave of pride swept over Timmy. He
finally felt like he belonged. Trying to act casual, Timmy never
acknowledged his new name and continued on with the mission.

“Sure thing. I hope Kid’s doing all right,”
Timmy said and started up the four-wheeler. Wedge and Rocket zoomed
off to The Playground.

Kid approached Samantha’s chair. She wiggled
frantically when she saw her friend.

“Okay, okay. Don’t worry. I’ll have you out
in a second,” Kid said with a smile. He bent over and untied the
gag around Samantha’s mouth.

Without even a breath, Samantha’s voice rang
out, “It’s a trap!”

Before Kid could speak, the door opened
behind them. Then, they heard an evil laugh.

“That’s right, Kid Combat. It is a trap.”

The voice was unmistakable. It was Jones. Kid
closed his eyes. He knew he had screwed up. It was all too easy. He
had entered the house way too quickly. But as he sat back and
recalled all of the events leading up to that moment, what stuck in
his mind the most was that the guards didn’t check any of the
rooms. And Kid now knew why. They weren’t there to prevent Kid from
getting into the mansion. No, Jones wanted Kid to get to this
point. He wanted Kid in this room. Those guards weren’t preventing
an entry. They were there for the completely opposite reason—to
prevent an exit.

Jones let out a sinister laugh as he struck a
match and put it to his pipe. A couple of puffs later, Jones spoke
again.

“You see, our little friend here was nothing
more than bait. Oh, sure, she denies being a part of your little
SOCKs organization, but that doesn’t matter now. The public doesn’t
want some sidekick. The public wants to know who Kid Combat is. And
now, I have you. And when I expose you for what you are, the town
will once again praise me and forget all about you. That’s the way
it always has been and the way it should be.”

Kid stood with his back to Jones. He undid
the rest of Samantha’s bindings, and she stood up to face Jones. A
group of guards ran into the room and flanked Jones as he walked
further into the room.

“And don’t think your little power outage
trick is going to stop me, either, Kid Combat,” Jones barked. “Two!
Bring me a flashlight. It’s time to end this mystery.”

Two entered with a flashlight, which he
handed to Jones. He smiled smugly.

“What are you going to do now, Kid Combat?”
Jones asked- his voice low and mocking. “You are surrounded by
guards, and your identity is about to be unmasked. Your little club
will soon be destroyed, and clearly, there is no escape. I have
covered all the bases. All the doors are guarded, and the mansion
is being patrolled by dozens of guards. There is no way out. So, I
ask you again, Kid Combat, what are you going to do now?”

There was a slight pause as Jones reached
down and pressed the switch on the flashlight. A beam of light
emitted from the device. Jones shone it in Kid’s direction. The
back of Kid’s head lit up, but Jones insisted on seeing more.

“I’ll tell you what you’re going to do.
You’re going to stop meddling in my affairs! Now, turn around!”
Jones barked.

Kid paused for a moment and looked at
Samantha.

“You trust me?” he asked in a very quiet
voice. Samantha didn’t answer. She only looked directly into his
eyes and nodded. He grabbed her hand. Kid was never totally without
ideas.

Kid turned his head slightly and looked back
over his shoulder at Jones. The side of his face was
illuminated—but not enough for Jones to clearly identify him.

“There’s just one thing, Jones,” Kid said
with a glare of confidence on his face as he gripped Samantha’s
hand tighter. Jones paused for a second with a puzzled look. He
chuckled for the last time that evening.

“What’s that, Kid Combat?”

Kid turned and smiled at Samantha.

“How do you ever expect to catch a kid when
you can’t think like a kid?”

While Jones stood there trying to figure out
what he meant, Kid ran toward the window. Still holding tightly
onto Samantha’s hand, he grabbed the grappling hook with the other
hand and fired it through the window. The window shattered, and Kid
watched the hook speed through the air and hoped it would catch
something on the outside.

“NOOOOO!” Jones yelled out as Kid and
Samantha crashed through the broken window pane. The two didn’t
even hesitate and jumped off the ledge of the house. As Kid and
Samantha fell, the hook searched for a target. Finally, it hit a
maple tree in the neighboring yard. As Kid quickly hit the button,
the rope started to wind up and eventually tightened. Samantha hung
on around Kid Combat’s chest for dear life.

The two kids swung through the air between
the mansion and the large wall that separated the two friends from
freedom. The rope recoiled faster and faster and hauled them
farther up in the air. Barely missing the top of the wall, Kid and
Samantha made the final descent over the wall and dropped down in
the neighbor’s yard. Kid Combat let go of the grappling hook and
the two friends crashed down to the ground.

They had escaped.

“About time you found me,” Samantha said with
a coy smile as she slowly stood and brushed herself off.

“It wasn’t easy,” Kid said, also standing.
“Next time, bring a radio or something.”

“Lecture me later,” Samantha rebutted. “We
need to get outta here.” The sounds of the search were still
audible from the other side of the high wall.

“Come on, this way,” Kid said as he and
Samantha made their way over to the bushes and produced Kid’s new
ride—a four-wheeler of his own.

“Oh good, our shipment came in,” Samantha
said. The two friends jumped on, and Kid started up the
vehicle.

Two stories up, a disgruntled Jones made his
way to the window and looked out. He saw the two children speeding
off into the night. The group of guards ran to the window and
surrounded their leader.

“Shall we go after them, sir?” one of the men
asked.

Jones looked at his men and then back at the
window. In that brief moment, the two children disappeared from
view. Jones looked out only at endless darkness. Kid Combat had
escaped from his clutches once again. A defeated Jones turned and
walked away from the window. There was nothing he could do.

As he started to walk out of the room, the
power was restored to his mansion. Jones looked up at one of the
lights as it came back to life. A snarl rumbled in his throat, more
sinister than ever before. Jones exited the room, and he bellowed
down the hall for his assistant.