A Whole Nother Story (20 page)

“It’s okay. Go ahead.”

Gerard flipped the switch, but nothing happened. For two agonizing seconds, absolutely nothing happened. And then, a low hum and a greenish blue light shot out from beneath the LVR. The frequency of the hum and the intensity of the light grew until everything and everyone in the warehouse was bathed in a rich, turquoise glow.

“We did it!” exclaimed Maggie. “We really did it!” Without thinking, she turned and gave her big brother an enormous hug. Captain Jibby hugged Juanita. Gerard hugged Ethan. Three-Eyed Jake removed his bandanna and tossed it triumphantly into the air. Dizzy removed his special earmuffs and tossed them as well, then promptly toppled over; Sammy caught him before his head struck the concrete floor.

“I knew it would work,” said Jough. “I knew it all along.”

Ethan looked at the LVR and nodded slowly. “It runs,” he said. “Whether it works or not remains to be seen.”

CHAPTER 25

I
’m sorry, but the monkey will have to wait here,” said the plump young nurse.

Leon watched as she pushed Pavel’s wheelchair across the waiting room floor.

“Don’t worry, my leetle minkey friend,” the international superspy called out. “Everything will be good and also not bad.”

Agent Kisa followed the nurse, her sharp heels clacking across the tile floor, her purse vibrating with the shivering Agent Noodles hidden inside. Leon wished the purse were big enough for him as well but, for now, he would have to remain in he waiting room. Luckily there was something in the waiting room that caught Leon’s attention and kept him busy until Pavel returned.

Much to Leon’s relief, the wound to Pavel’s leg turned out to be only superficial and the doctor was able to stop the bleeding with a mere thirteen, sorry . . . fourteen stitches, before sending Pavel and his friends on their way. The last anyone saw of them, they were driving toward the airport in their little brown car with Pavel at the wheel, Kisa and her shivering Chihuahua in the passenger seat, and Leon in back.

“Did I not tell you, Leon?” said Pavel. “Did I not tell you that Pavel would get for you many beautiful leetle feeshes for you to love for all time?”

Leon’s little fuzzy face lit up as he watched the many colorful tropical fish nip at the flakes of food floating on the surface of the enormous fifty-gallon tank.

“Sure, they will not have big parade for us and maybe not write songs about us and maybe throw us in prison for many years for not getting LVR, but you will have your leetle feeshes to be making you very happy.”

Leon smiled and gave the box of fish food another tap.

When the doctor at the clinic walked out to his waiting room at the end of the day and noticed the aquarium was missing, he immediately phoned the police. At that very moment, however, Police Chief Roy Codgill could not be bothered with such minor crimes. Along with government agents Aitch Dee and El Kyoo, he was on his way to a factory on the outskirts of town.

Driving down the dusty road, the first thing he saw was a blue ragtop convertible parked at the side of the road. As he and the government agents continued to the warehouse they saw aspiring sports agent and bass drummer Elliot Walsingham sitting on the back bumper of a black-and-white school bus.

“Good afternoon, Coach,” said Elliot as Chief Codgill climbed out of his police cruiser, Agents El Kyoo and Aitch Dee right behind him. “How may I help you today?”

“We’re looking for your client,” said Chief Codgill.“Where is he?”

“I’m not sure exactly. And that’s the truth.”

“What in heaven’s name is that?” said Aitch Dee, looking at the school bus.

“It says
Captain Jibby’s Traveling Circus Sideshow
,” said El Kyoo.

“I can read, thank you,” said Aitch Dee.

“They’re inside,” whispered Elliot out of the corner of his mouth.

“Who’s inside?” said Chief Codgill.

“The men who poisoned Jough’s mother. Don’t worry. They’re tied up. See?”

Elliot reached out and pulled the door open to reveal four men dressed in black, their hands and legs tied tightly just as he had reported.

“I’m fond of easy listening music,” said Mr. 5 with no prompting whatsoever. “I also enjoy decorative soaps and wearing ladies’ hats.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Aitch Dee.“Where’s Ethan Cheeseman?”

“And where’s Jough Psmythe?” added Chief Codgill.

“The truth is,” said Mr. 5, “I don’t know. But the last time I saw them they were heading toward the warehouse. To the LVR.”

“What the heck is an LVR?” asked Chief Codgill.

“I’m afraid that’s top secret,” said Aitch Dee.

Mr. 5 yelled out, “The LVR is a time—”

Aitch Dee quickly slammed the metal door closed.

“He’s obviously suffered a severe head injury. Keep these criminals covered while we search the warehouse.”

Slowly, Aitch Dee and El Kyoo crept toward the warehouse, where the long black car still sat, squished, squashed, and crushed between the heavy steel doors.

“What are we going to do when we find them?” whispered El Kyoo.

“We’re going to arrest them, of course,” said Aitch Dee.

“On what charge?”

“We’ll make something up later. Right now, our only concern is making sure the LVR is in the control of our top secret agency within the United States government.”

As quietly as they could, Aitch Dee and El Kyoo climbed over the crumpled car and into the warehouse, where they found a white moving van.

While Aitch Dee kept his gun trained on the van’s cargo door, El Kyoo called out, his voice ricocheting off the steel walls and the concrete floor.

“Mr. Cheeseman? Can you hear me? It’s okay, you can come out now. Everything’s gonna be all right. We’re here to help you.”

The two agents waited for a moment, but nothing happened.

El Kyoo inched closer to the van and, while Aitch Dee kept his gun trained on the van’s cargo door, El Kyoo slid it up, revealing what was inside, which amounted to approximately two thousand cubic feet of oxygen and nothing else. The van was completely empty.

Nowhere in the warehouse was there any sign of Ethan, Jough, Maggie, Gerard, a psychic, hairless fox terrier, or any member of a certain traveling circus sideshow. It appeared that they had disappeared without a trace. In fact, without so much as a trace of a trace.

Also in a state of extreme disappearedness was the LVR. It was simply nowhere in sight, for at that moment the giant, oblong disco ball was soaring along the Time Arc, its occupants on their way to undo what had been done. To reverse the curse of the White Gold Chalice and to save the life of Olivia, Mr. Cheeseman’s kind and beautiful wife and mother to his three smart, attractive, polite, and relatively odor-free children.

But that, my friends, is a whole nother story.