Read The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back Online

Authors: Christopher Helwink

Tags: #adventure, #action, #kids, #teachers, #first grade, #second grade, #third grade, #fourth grade, #fifth grade, #family, #young adult, #childrens book, #schools, #junior high, #lesson plans, #rainy day, #kid combat, #no violence, #no foul language, #friendly, #safe for kids, #spy kids

The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back (10 page)

BOOK: The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back
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“I don’t know how much more of this I can
watch,” Samantha said.

Another tree fell. This one much larger than
the last. Workers quickly started up their chainsaws and started
cutting it to pieces. The first truck, full of wood, revved up its
engines and proceeded back across the field. It exited out of Maple
Forest and lumbered back down the street.

As the truck exited out of the park, it made
a massive breeze as it passed people who started to gawk at the
work that was being done on Maple Forest. One man, who stepped out
in front of the crowd, felt the breeze the most. The stack of
papers he held in his hand, as he walked towards the park, rustled
loudly in his hand – and he took his other hand and placed it over
the papers.

Gears, focusing in on the truck leaving Maple
Forest, was the first to notice the man.

“Hey, what is Mr. Thompson doing here?” Gears
asked.

“What?” Kid said in shock. “Where? Where is
Mr. Thompson?”

“Right outside Maple. Right by the gate.”

Kid stopped focusing on the trees in
centerfield and moved his head – scanning for his friend. He
finally found Mr. Thompson, his ally, and one of the few people who
knew who Kid Combat was.

What is he doing here?
Kid thought to
himself.
Did he find something?

“Let’s get down there,” Kid said.

Charlie Thompson, the owner of Spring Roads,
and once the former mayor of Elmcrest, walked through the gate of
Maple Forest. He surveyed what was going on and looked for the man
in charge – Phillip Arthur Jones.

He found him standing over near home plate
and proceeded over to Jones. Lost in his work, Jones barely noticed
Charlie approaching. Still giving out orders and admiring what was
going on, Jones was in his own world. Charlie walked up behind
Jones and stood there for a second. When he realized he wasn’t
going to be acknowledged, Charlie let out a small cough to get
Jones’s attention.

Jones spun around and saw Charlie standing
there. Jones was a bit puzzled as to what he was doing here.

“Thompson,” Jones simply stated, “what are
you doing here?”

“I did some digging around, Phillip,” Charlie
started, “seems you didn’t file the proper permits to start your
work here today,” Charlie paused there and handed Jones the
paperwork he had been carrying. Before Jones could read it, Charlie
added “I’m shutting you down.”

Jones let out a huge laugh. “You can’t be
serious!” he said. The laugh continued.

“Completely serious,” Thompson returned. He
stood there, very confident and not intimidated by Jones.

“What will you do, Charlie? Take this to
court? You will lose millions!” Jones said joyfully. He got great
amusement in Charlie’s vein attempt to thwart him. Jones remembered
Charlie fondly from their days back in politics. When Jones became
mayor of Elmcrest and Charlie was voted out of office. That’s when
Charlie lost his loving, caring Elmcrest and it was replaced by
Jones’s cold, faceless Elmcrest.

“You forget, Jones, I ran this town before
you did. I know some people,” Charlie answered.

“Ha! You’re people are now
my
people,”
Jones scowled.

“We’ll see about that, Jones. We’ll see about
that,” Charlie came back – still with no intimidation towards
Jones. There was silence between the two and a long, dark stare
down proceeded. Jones’s smile began to disappear and was replaced
by his evil snarl.

“But, for now,” Charlie said, “You’re
shutdown. Get these trucks out of here. Immediately!”

Jones didn’t answer Charlie right away. He
just stood there, starring at him, and thinking. He thought back to
a time, not too long ago, when his plans for this same park were
blocked, mysteriously, and all of a sudden. Jones started to piece
things together. He took a step closer to Charlie, trying to
intimidate him.

“This is the second time you and that kid
have stopped me with Maple Forest, isn’t it?” Jones asked of
Charlie. Charlie, unable to help it, didn’t answer Jones – but he
did let out a smile that gave Jones his answer. “You must be
protecting something very valuable.”

“I am. The future leader of this town,”
Charlie answered.

Jones let out a grunt. Charlie’s smile just
got bigger. Jones’s temper started to boil over – you could see it
in his eyes. Jones realized, once again, he had lost in his attempt
to take over Maple Forest. His fists were balled up tightly and his
teeth clenched. The anger consumed him, but Jones knew there was
nothing he could do.

“You win this round, but, consider this your
warning, Thompson,” Jones said – pointing a finger at Charlie. “I
will
get even with you…”

Charlie didn’t answer Jones’s threat. He just
stood there and continued to stare down Jones.

Jones, for the first time in a long time, was
the first to flinch. He turned away from Charlie, and radioed his
men.

“Shut it down, men. We have been shut down,”
Jones said over his radio. He walked away from Charlie and
proceeded out of Maple Forest to his waiting limo. He got in, never
looked back, and drove off.

Within minutes, the crews and trucks started
to leave Maple Forest. The big, loud machines, backed out of the
park. The damage was done, though, as the ball field was filled
with deep tire treads and the grass was torn out in most areas.

Only three trees were taken down in
centerfield – not nearly enough to cause any danger to the secret
entrance to The Playground.

As the last of the trucks and men exited out
of Maple Forest, Kid Combat, Samantha, and Gears, walked up to
Charlie.

“Ah, there you are,” Charlie said as the kids
approached him.

“What, what happened?” Kid asked in
amazement.

“Young Connor Jackson, isn’t it?” Charlie
asked towards Gears. While Mr. Thompson knew and secretly helped
out Kid Combat and SOCKs, only Kid Combat and Samantha knew that.
Charlie, still wanting to keep his secret, asked Connor Jackson to
survey the damages down to Maple Forest.

“Yea, sure,” Connor said back. “I’ll be right
back guys.”

Charlie Thompson stood there with a big smile
on his face. He felt vindication for defeating Jones and helping
out Kid Combat.

“How? How did you stop him?” Kid asked again
of his friend. Charlie walked closer to his two friends and put his
arms on Kid and Samantha’s shoulders.

“Politics can be very tricky, my boy.
Sometimes you forget to file the smallest piece of paper and your
whole world can come crashing down on you. That is, if someone
knows where to look. Seems Jones didn’t think anyone would stand up
to him. I guess he was wrong,” Charlie finished with a wink.

Kid didn’t know what to say. He owed
everything to Charlie Thompson. Eventually, Kid mustered out a
simple “Thank-you.”

“You saved me and my home once, Kid. It was
time I repaid the favor. Maple Forest should be safe for now, but
don’t count Jones out too quickly. He’ll come up with something. He
always does…”

 

As his limo sped down the streets of
Elmcrest, Jones looked out the window.

That park is a curse to me.
He thought
to himself.
It has brought me nothing but misery, humiliation,
and has cost me millions.

As Jones thought to himself, next to him, the
Boy in Blue sat. With his usual hood up and sunglasses on, the boy
seemed very agitated.

As they drove down the streets of Elmcrest,
not too many words were said between the two men. They sat in
silence until the divider that separated the driver’s portion of
the car and where Jones and the Boy in Blue were sitting started to
retract. Driving the limo, Two looked in the rear view mirror at
Jones and asked him, “What do we do now about Maple Forest,
sir?”

Awakened from his day dreaming, Jones looked
over at Two. “That park is dead to me. I never wish to speak of it
again,” Jones said in frustration. “Take me home.”

“Yes, sir. Right away, sir,” Two answered. A
second later, the divider went back up.

“Looks like you lost again,” the Boy in Blue
said to Jones. The boy sat there leering at Jones with his arms
folded across his chest.

Jones turned to the Boy in Blue and smiled.
“Lost? Ha! My boy, I won more than you can possibly know.”

Curious, the young boy tilted his head and
took off his sunglasses. The puzzled look on the boys face was not
lost by Jones.

“And how is that?” the Boy in Blue asked.

Jones’s grin got larger. “I never wanted this
park. If I really wanted this park – it would be a parking lot
right now,” Jones said. He sat up a little higher and straightened
his tie. Smoothing it out, he continued. “It was all about finding
out who was helping Kid Combat. Now I know who that is –
Thompson.”

A chuckle. Jones sat back and thought about
how ironic it was. The same very man Jones fought with so many
years ago. It seemed it was time for round two.

The Boy in Blue sat there and tried to figure
out what Jones’ plan was.

“We still have Lincoln and the rest of the
schools, sir,” the Boy in Blue said back to Jones.

“Very good,” Jones said as he looked up with
a proud smile on his face. “You are catching on fast, my son.”

“Thank you, father,” the Boy in Blue said.
With a smile of his own, he put his sunglasses back on and sat
back.

“Begin phase two,” Jones said to his son. “I
can’t destroy their park, but I
will
destroy
their schools...”

 

BOOK: The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back
7.23Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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