The Astro Outlaw (6 page)

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!”

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’ manager 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?”

“But how?” Kate asked. “We watched him the whole time.”

“I don’t know. But the runner didn’t think the second baseman had the ball, either,” Mike said. “Let’s look for hiding places.”

They started at the gas pump. But there was no place to hide anything. Its white sides were smooth. Around it on all four sides was a tile floor.

Next, they retraced Tex’s path.

“When he saw the police, he left the pump,” Kate said. “Then, when Commander Rice called his name, he started running.”

Kate bounded down the hallway, taking
big Tex-like steps. She stopped halfway and waited for Mike to catch up.

“He almost made it to the main entrance,” Kate said. She pointed to the doors ahead of them. The security guards were still checking the fans who were leaving. Kate looked at the train display to their right. “But he bumped into the display first.”

Mike’s eyes lit up. He jumped forward and imitated Tex slamming into the display. He careened off into the center of the hallway.

“It knocked him off balance,” Kate said. Mike spun around a few times. “And then he fell.” Mike slumped to the ground. Kate came up and stood over him. Mike was pretending to be knocked out. “Somehow the rock disappeared. Unless …”

She noticed a piece of crumpled paper next to Mike’s foot.

Kate stepped on it and flattened it against the floor. She shrugged. “Unless he wrapped it up in a sheet of paper and then dropped it, like it was trash. I’ll bet that’s it! Help me look for a balled-up piece of paper!”

Mike opened his eyes and popped up. “Great idea!” he said, scanning the floor. Plenty of paper littered the floor. Kate and Mike scurried around picking up one piece after another. Each one they opened was empty. Then Mike spotted a large ball of yellow paper by the train display.

As Mike bent down to scoop up the paper, he leaned on the box of coal. He picked up the paper, but like the others, it was empty. Mike tossed it in a nearby trash can. He dipped his hand in the box of coal again. Most of the pieces felt smooth and glassy.

Suddenly, he knew.

“Kate!” he called. “It’s not a piece of paper we’re looking for! It’s a rock!”

Kate looked over at Mike. “I know it’s a rock,” she said. “How does that help?”

A big grin spread across his face. “It’s just like the hidden-ball trick!” he said. “To fool the runner, you hide the ball in a different glove. To fool the police, Tex hid the moon rock with other rocks!”

Mike pulled his hand out of the coal box and held it up for Kate to see. Sitting in his palm was a baseball-size hunk of black moon rock!

“What does Commander Rice want to show us?” Mike asked Kate’s dad. Mr. Hopkins had just parked the rental car in an empty parking lot across the street from the Astros’ ballpark. Later that afternoon the three were going to the airport. Kate and Mike had a flight to New York, and Mr. Hopkins was returning to Los Angeles.

“He just said to stop by this morning before we left,” Kate’s dad said. He shielded his eyes
and looked for the Union Station entrance. The hot sun shimmered in waves off the blacktop.

The stadium was deserted, but a security guard let them in. He brought them to a room on the upper level. Commander Rice and Mr. Ryan welcomed them.

“We’re glad you could come back,” Mr. Ryan said, standing up. “We wanted to let you know that Tex has been arrested for the theft of the moon rock. Take a look at this.”

Mr. Ryan dimmed the lights and pressed a button on a nearby computer. A short movie was displayed on the large monitor on the wall. The scene showed baseball fans walking near the main entrance.

“This was taken by a security camera. Shortly, you’ll see our friend Tex come into the picture,” Mr. Ryan said. He pointed to the top of the image with his stubby fingers.

For a few seconds, the video showed only fans walking by. Then Mike, Kate, and Mr. Hopkins could see a commotion near the top of the frame. The video slowed down as Tex ran toward the entrance. People moved out of his way. Before he reached the train display, they saw his hand dart out of his pocket. As he crashed into the box of coal, he dropped a black object into the box. Then he spun off in circles and fell to the floor.