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City Streets
#5: Breakout
cover: Allan tossing Joe into a filing cabinet, face first
"So where'd you steal this piece of junk?" Robin asked as she eyed a blue-grey van sitting in front of the orphanage.
"I didn't steal it," Josh told her. "Bought it for a thousand from some guy over in the Village."
"Only a thousand?" Allan asked. "What's wrong with it?"
"Needs a tune-up, brakes, brake pads, shocks, new spark plugs, starter, and a transmission."
"We're never gonna get out of here," Lee groaned.
"I managed to get replacement parts," Josh told them. "I stashed them in the back."
"We can't keep it here," Heather stated. "Harnagorn's not gonna like this sitting here. Especially since we used her money to buy it."
"You used her money?" Pete asked. "She will be pissed."
Lee opened the driver's door, and reeled from the stench of dry air. "We're gonna hafta air her out as well," she choked. She left the door open as she jumped up behind the wheel. "When do we start fixing her up?"
"So you see, Senator," Harnagorn explained to a white-haired man seated across from her in her office, "the Plan has to be delayed a bit. One of the agents I was going to use has proved... unreliable."
"So replace him," Senator Broderick stated. "The fact is, the Plan goes into effect in seven months. If you can't replace your agent in that time, then I believe I know the perfect scapegoat. And she's here in this office."
"Is that a threat, Senator?" Harnagorn growled menacingly. "I warn you not to try anything. If I disappear or die of anything other than old age, then certain agents I've placed in certain locations will make sure all my associates go with me." There was a fire in her eyes Senator Broderick found unsettling.
"You're crazy," he told her as he stood up to leave.
"No more than you are," she replied, her voice ice cold.
"Just remember. Seven months." He left, slamming the door behind him.
"Attention!" the intercom buzzed with Harnagorn's voice. "I need to see Allan Smale, Joe Smale, Josh Kleintop, Heather McHugh, Pete Walsh, Lee Patterson, Robin Patterson, and Roger MacLain in my office immediately."
"Sounds like she found out about us," Allan muttered to Josh as they ran down the hall.
"Not likely," Josh replied. "We've covered our tracks pretty well."
"All eight names were on that assassination plan list we grabbed," Lee told them, as she and Robin joined them. "Y'think she's going to tell us more about it?"
"That'd be nice." They rounded the corner. "Uh-oh. Trouble."
In front of them stood Laura Harnagorn, flanked by Joe and another boy Allan guessed to be Roger MacLain. A small legion of older orphans stood behind them.
"Trouble, indeed, Mr. Kleintop," Harnagorn stated. "I don't know how you managed to hide your little band of fools from me, Smale, or managed to get my number one agent by your side..."
Josh and Pete glanced at Heather, then at Allan, and then back to Harnagorn.
"... but you were a fool to try to challenge me."
Allan glanced behind Harnagorn and her cronies. What was that behind them? He grinned.
"Before we kick your ass," he taunted her, "why don't you tell us what this is all about. Why do you brainwash orphans into doing your dirty work?"
"I do it," she replied, "because the government is inept and corrupt. One day, very soon, through no doing of my own, total war will engulf the country. Even I will be powerless to stop it. But I intend to be there to bring things back together. It'll take someone strong, someone with a solid power base to take and maintain control in the years following the revolution."
"That's what all this is about?" Pete hollered. "An attempt to ride out the storm in order to take control?"
"Precisely. There will be no one else qualified."
"'No one else qualified'," Allan repeated. "I take it you're refering to that Presidential Assassination Plan in your files."
"How did you know about that?" Joe asked, drawing a pistol from under his shirt.
"Simple. Second day here, I raided her office."
"Kill them," Harnagorn growled, retreating into her office.
Total chaos erupted. Allan reached out, and Joe's pistol flew out of his hand and into Allan's. He then tossed it to Lee.
"Cover me," he told her as he attacked his brother.
"How's your fastball?" Robin asked Josh as he lifted her into the air.
"Not too shabby," he remarked with a small grin as he tossed her at a wave of orphans. She deftly disabled them with a series of kicks, punches, and throws. Then she grabbed a number of pistols, tossing them to her teammates.
The sound of a sliding bolt indicated that Harnagorn had locked her door. This was precisely what Allan had hoped would happen.
"Joe! Think quick!"
With that warning, Joe found himself on a collision course with the wall.
"Allan! You missed the door!" Josh yelled, swiping the legs out from under a brainwashed crony.
"No I didn't," he replied, tossing Joe into Harnagorn's door. He reached out, and concentrated briefly. A bank of heavy filing cabinets at the other end of the hallway rattled, shook, and then flew towards Harnagorn's office door, plowing through Harnagorn's forces.
The look on Joe's face was a mixture of hurt, surprise, and hatred.
"You'd use your powers on me?!" he groaned from the floor. "Your own brother?!?!" Allan said nothing as the cabinets slammed into Joe, catching him between them and the door. The impact forced the door off it's hinges, and Joe fell unmoving through the doorway.
"Now's our chance!" Heather yelled. She leapt over Joe's inert form and into Harnagorn's office. Drawing her pistol, she appraoched Harnagorn menacingly.
"You used me," she accused the older woman. "I don't like being used. And I especially don't like being made into a murderer!"
Harnagorn held back her fear and laughed nervously. "Then are you going to murder me?" she asked the redhead.
"If she does, it'll be your own fault," Pete growled from behind Heather, cocking the hammer on his pistol. "Because if she doesn't do you in, I WILL!"
"Easy, red," Allan said, placing a calming hand on Heather's shoulder. "She'd just love to have you up on murder charges."
"Fine." Pete placed his pistol's barrel an inch away from Harnagorn's eye. "I'll do it."
Harnagorn broke. She fell to her knees, a pathetic blubbering mass of old flesh and weak bones, begging for her life.
Josh stuck his head through the doorway as the sound of approaching sirens drifted into the room.
"Guys, we've got to get out of here," he called. "Leave the old fart and let's beat it!"
"We're not finished," Pete growled as he eased the hammer into a resting position.
Moments later, the team poured into the van. Lee took the wheel and turned the ignition.
"I thought this thing needed major repairs," Robin asked.
"Well, we managed to fix the starter and brakes," Josh told her. "What more do you want?"
"A new van!"
The van jerked forward, halted, then tore off down the narrow street, passing the police, leaving behind a thick cloud of noxious blue smoke.
"Thank you, captain. I'm glad to know that I have your cooperation."
Hanargorn hung up the phone, contemplating her revenge. Her best operatives had rebelled, following that upstart freak. The police, at least, suspected nothing, having bought her story of "several violently unstable youths" running amok, and escaping the orphanage's custody. There was, of course, only one truly violently unstable person in that group. How dare he threaten her so blatantly! How dare he cause her such humiliation!
"Peter Walsh," she hissed, "you will pay dearly. I promise you!"
"So what's our next move?" Robin wanted to know, as the van maneuvered its way through the streets of New York.
"We have to lie low for a while," Allan stated. "Harnagorn's definately going to be looking for us. After all, we did threaten her life. She's not going to take that on her knees for very long."
"She's gonna be lying in her back once I'm through with her," Pete grumbled.
"No, Pete," Allan told the younger boy. "Killing her isn't the answer. We have to stop her, at every turn. If only we knew when that Plan is going to be pulled off."
The van sputtered, as Lee cursed and stopped it in a lower level parking garage.
"That's it for this thing," she muttered, pushing on the emergency brake. "This piece of shit is not moving until we get some repairs done."
Standing as straight as he could, Allan suggested everyone get out and stretch for a while. While the rest did so, Josh and Robin saw to whatever repairs could be imediately made.
"Heather," Allan called. "You probably know best how Harnagorn thinks. Where you you suppose she'd look for us? And how long might it take for her to find us?"
"Let's just say," Heather stated, "that where Harnagorn is concerned, no place is safe for very long."
"Wonderful," Pete growled. "So let's take the fight to her."
"Not yet," Allan said, sitting on the van's rear bumper. "We don't dare do anything yet."
"If you want my advice," Josh called from under the van, "I think we'd best head for the nearest airport. They were the best place in Hong Kong for runaway kids to hide out. We used to drive the cops crazy just looking for us. Should be the same here in the States, if not easier."
Allan though about that for a few minutes.
"La Guardia's not too far from here," he muttered. "Only one problem, it's right across the River from the Orphanage."
"Where are we anyways?" Lee asked.
"We're in the Elmhurst district," he said, looking at the streets outside.
"How'd you know that?"
"I grew up in Brooklyn," he replied. "I know these streets like the back of my hand."
"Yeah, so does your brother," Pete mumbled.
"I wouldn't worry about him for another month," Allan told him. "I did get him between a filing cabinet and a reinforced door."
"Great," Robin commented. "Howzabout we get somethin' to eat. I'm starving!"
"You're always hungry, sis," Lee taunted. Robin tossed a seat cushion at her twin.
"Not a bad idea," Allan agreed. "Just how much do we have left from our little heist?"
Unzipping a duffel bag, Heather quickly counted the money stored there.
"Ah.. I'd say close to two mill," she told the others. "And nothing smaller than a fifty."
"That's all right," Josh called out. "Know any IHOPs in the area?"
"No," Allan said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But there is this place called the Loose Goose which serves breakfast all day. It's only five blocks from here."
"One of us should stay with the van," Heather suggested. "I volunteer."
"No way, Heather," Lee told the redhead. "I mean, no offense, but just the other day you tried to kill us. I'm not so hot on the idea of leaving you alone with our only asset."
Allan knew he had to defuse the situation, and fast.
"Lee, I trust her," he stated, fixing Heather with a stare. "Still, if you feel so strongly, why don't you stay here for a while?"