The Subatomic Kid (23 page)

Hunter leaned back in the seat and gazed at the tiny computer screen. “Corner of Twelfth and Main,” he yelled, “and make it fast!”

“Yes, sir! Twelfth and Main,” Steve repeated as he put his foot to the floor.

Hunter sat back in his seat and gazed at the tiny blinking light on the computer screen. Here he was, involved in another chase. It seemed like everything in life was a chase; from the day you’re born until the day you die, you’re busy chasing some harebrained scheme, an object of affection, or an elusive dream. He wondered which was worse; the eternal chase, or finding what you want. He’d had a lot of friends who had thought they had found what they wanted. Where were they now? Withered on the vine.

The truth is it’s the chase that keeps you alive, and as you find what your heart desires, you must expand your horizons and set your sights on a new prize. Right now his new prize was a flashing light on a computer screen. It was an abstract concept, but that was the ever-changing nature of life, turning the abstract into reality. As far as he was concerned now, the kids were as good as caught. They had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, and once he had them, they would never escape again. He would take care of that personally.

MOLECULAR CLOUD BURST

Had Kurt Angstrom asked, the witchdoctor might have told him that the control worm was notoriously fickle. It was okay up to a point to leave it in control of someone, but past that point, the worm actually began to like the experience of having a brain and a body at its disposal. It loved dancing, shiny things, and carnivals; fun was very high on its list of priorities; but thinking, however, was not.

The control worm inside Doctor Leitz had done its best to create a carnival atmosphere in the laboratory. It adored all of the shiny metal surfaces, but some of the panels and switches and dials just reminded it too much of thinking. So, in a rather indiscriminate manner, it had used the streamlined MOLECULAR ACCELERATOR to turn all of those intolerable objects into beautiful sunflowers, and now the room was completely festooned with them.

The control worm had aimed for a shiny jungle theme, and it was beginning to think that things were shaping up quite nicely when that other self, the one who liked to think a great deal, grabbed the gun again and fired it. The gun was actually a nuisance; it made a loud noise, which was quite jarring, and it filled the room with smoke. There was really no excuse for it, and now that the decorating was almost complete, the worm decided it was time to stop this utterly foolish behavior.

As she stood in the doorway staring into the room, Amelia Moon found it hard to believe what she was seeing. The once functional laboratory had been rendered completely useless; more than half of the incredibly expensive scientific apparatus had been converted into useless sunflowers and the ironic twist was, its own technology had been used to make it so.

“That stupid bastard! What has he done?” she raged. She was livid; she ached to get her hands around Doctor Leitz’ neck and wring the life out of him.

Beside her in his wheelchair Kurt Angstrom examined the abhorrent scene with cold-blooded indifference. To his chagrin, he had learned long ago that his half-brother had an uncanny knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Although ego precluded him from blaming himself for the introduction of the control worm into Doctor Leitz’ fragile constitution, he had never been wrong in his life, and he wasn’t about to entertain the concept now.

Leitz turned and gazed at them through wild staring eyes; he was an animal swinging through the jungles of his Neanderthal brain. “Purloiners, pilferers, prigs. You’ll never get me!” he babbled insanely, dissolving into laughter as he lifted the gun and fired again.

Neither Kurt Angstrom nor Amelia Moon flinched; they were not given to cowering in fear. These two supremely arrogant individuals were on a quest for the Stone and the Elixir of Longevity, and they believed they were protected by the true and just nature of their cause. In their deluded opinion, this descent into chaos was just a minor setback, a stumbling block on the road to world domination. After all, when aiming that high, one had to expect some resistance.

“Please take care of the situation, Miss Moon,” Angstrom hissed through stifled frustration, averting his gaze and dropping hooded lids over eyes that had seen enough.

His rage was palpable; it exuded from the very core of his being. Amelia Moon longed to exorcise the pain and deliver him from his demons. “It will be my pleasure, sir,” she said, and with no thought for her own safety, she stepped into the doorway and placed her hands on her hips. It was an act of defiance; she wanted him to know she would always be the target that drew the firing away from him.

“Doctor Leitz,” her voice blasted through the room like an arctic wind. He turned, tentatively raising the gun. “You are a fool and an imbecile,” she said marching forward into the jungle of sunflowers.

He narrowed his electric blue eyes, and memory tugged him back to childhood. “Mother, is that you?” he asked uncertainly, in an adolescent tone tinged with Spanish accents.

“You must stop this nonsense immediately,” she said as she moved toward him, her high heels tapping the floor like a Flamenco dancer.

“But we’re having so much fun,” he whimpered pathetically.

“Fun is for idiots,” she said, closing the gap between them rapidly.

Deep inside him, Aaron Leitz heard the control worm protesting, “Fun is everything,” he giggled inanely. “Without fun there’s nothing,”

Miss Moon could see he was deeply conflicted as she stopped in front of him and stared straight down the barrel of the gun. “If you’re going to use that thing, I suggest you use it now. Otherwise, please point it somewhere else.”

Leitz returned her gaze, but she was too powerful. He lowered his eyes and with a pout, dropped the gun to his side.

“Coward,” she said as her whole body and demeanor transformed. She spun around on her toe emitting a piercing scream. She raised her leg and her foot shot out like a spring and connected solidly with his chin. The gun clattered to the floor as Miss Moon quickly regained her poise. The whole move was so swift, it was as if it hadn’t happened, and it was a moment before Doctor Leitz knew he’d been hit. His eyes glazed over, and his head wobbled back and forth like a toy in the rear window of a car before he dropped to the floor with a mighty thump.

Doctor Angstrom wheeled himself through the plethora of sunflowers toward Miss Moon. He hated the smug way the flowers leaned over and appeared to smile down upon his misfortune. It was a thoughtless act he would pay them back for someday by eradicating them from the face of the earth. He leaned over and peered down at Leitz, who looked like he was sleeping sweetly.

“Do you think he succumbed to the ravages of the control worm?” Miss Moon asked.

Doctor Angstrom gazed up at her through snake-like eyes and appeared to ponder the question. Just how far should he go with his answer?
Just enough to admit a tiny amount of culpability
, he thought. “Unfortunately no, well—not alone anyway. I fear the child had more to do with this than anything else.”

She looked around the room; Doctor Angstrom’s opinion made sense. Whatever she thought about Doctor Leitz, she found it hard to believe he would destroy his own scientific equipment, and surely a tiny little South American worm wouldn’t have the capacity to create such a debacle.

“The boy has stolen my power,” Angstrom whined, “and I want it back.”

“It’s only a matter of time;” Miss Moon consoled him. “He’ll screw up; kids always do.”

They turned their attention back to Doctor Leitz. It was time to administer the antidote for the control worm, and bring him back into the realm of sanity.

***

John pulled into the filling station, parked beside one of the pumps, and switched off the engine. “Okay, who’s got money?” he asked, turning to face Kate while he thrust his hand deep into his pocket. “I have a couple of bucks.” He fished out two crumpled bills and threw them onto the seat in front of him.

“I don’t have any money,” Kate replied, opening her palms to emphasize the fact. “My purse is back at your house,” she sighed.

“How about you guys?” John asked, swiveling around to face Cal and Tex.

“Two dollars will buy enough gas to get us home, won’t it?” Cal asked. He was still dazed from the roller-coaster-like ride they had taken on the highway.

“I have fifty cents,” Tex volunteered, handing the coins over.

John scooped up the bills and looked at the money. They were driving a limousine; it was going to be embarrassing to ask for two and a half bucks worth of gas.

The attendant knocked on the smoked glass as John reluctantly turned around to face the front. Right now he wished he were anyone but himself as he powered down the window.
If only I was a movie star or celebrity
, he thought,
it might just buy me enough time to get out of this mess
.

He smiled his most endearing smile as the attendant’s face appeared in the window frame, but far from being put on the spot, John found he was the center of attention.

“Wow!” exclaimed the stunned attendant. “It’s not often we get a film star in this neck of the woods.” He grinned and shook his head in disbelief. “You want me to fill ‘er up?”

“Sure,” John said rather uncertainly. The attendant walked off whistling a tune, and John watched him in the side mirror as he thrust the nozzle into the tank and began pumping the gas. A moment later a bell rang, and the attendant moved out of sight, presumably to take care of another customer. Turning his attention back to the car, he was surprised to hear his friends goofing on him.

“Film star!” exclaimed Tex sarcastically. “The guy must be blind.”

“Yeah, or completely out of his tree,” Cal agreed laughing.

Confused by the ragging, John turned to Kate. “Aaahhhh, John! You’ve changed,” she screamed, and the laughter from the back seat stopped dead.

John tilted down the rearview mirror; it was true, the face peering back at him was not his own. But he wasn’t sad, or annoyed, or frustrated by it. Quite the opposite, he was overjoyed. For all of his short life he had just been plain old John Smith and nothing had distinguished him in any way, but this new face made him feel like he had hit the gene pool lottery. This was a face worth a billion bucks.

It had everything: piercing blue-grey eyes, high cheekbones, a mouth that curved naturally into a killer smile, the merest hint of a cleft in the chin, and sun-streaked hair that looked good mussed up. He was hypnotized; he found it hard to tear himself away.

But this was one ragging John took in his stride. All his life he had wanted to look handsome like this, and he knew the face staring back at him from the mirror truly was fleeting. He would enjoy it while he could.

The attendant unhooked the nozzle, screwed the cap back onto the gas tank, and a moment later reappeared back in the window. John found it hard to tear himself away from his reflection; he knew it would be the last time he would see it, and it bummed him out.

“Well, it’s true what they say about you guys, huh,” said the attendant, “just can’t stop looking at yourselves every chance you get. Well, I can’t say I blame you, I’d do the same thing if I were you.”

“We can’t pay for the gas,” John said as he turned and faced him.

“Oh, I know,” the attendant said grinning stupidly “you guys never carry any cash, right?” Again John was confused. Did this kind of thing happen to movie stars all the time? People just gave them stuff for free!

“Your bodyguards over there already told me to add your total to their bill,” he said, stepping back from the car. “You have a good evening now, and drop by again.”

“Bodyguards!” The four kids spun their heads around in alarm, and sure enough, right there on the other side of the gas pumps was a second limousine.

John glanced in the mirror. It was true; the freckled face he had always known stared back at him, and his hazel eyes looked scared.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Tex scowled, “I’m gonna get the creeps myself.” He reached out to grab the door handle, but Cal was quicker. He leapt at him and locked his powerful arms around Tex’ chest and neck and wrestled him to the floor.

“Have you gone completely mad?” John demanded. “That’s exactly what they want. They want to split us up.”

“Get off me, you overgrown octopus,” Tex yelled in frustration. “I’m not scared of them, and I’m not scared of you!”

“Be careful not to hurt him,” Kate said, leaning over the seat and watching their struggle with fascination. She’d heard them argue loudly, but she had never seen them actually fight. It was kind of exciting.

Tex was raining blow after blow into the side of Cal’s head, but Cal was undeterred; the only thing on his mind was saving his friend from making a stupid move. “Stay out of this, sister, it’s not your fight,” Cal said. “Now let’s get out of here, John, before I have to break this idiot’s neck.”