The Money Trees — Part 4

Here’s part 1.

Didn’t get one out last week. Had my last dance recital and my senior solo, ballet. The first and only solo I’ve ever done. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad I did it. I did a good job, even though I was scared to death. The song was the Kingdom Dance from the Tangled soundtrack. There was a lot of spinning and jumping.

Anyways, back to the story.

— Tyler

Tyler stood behind Jack, watching the video from Mr. Allen’s phone. All the while, he could see no solid proof that the man in the video was Jack. “Hang on a second,” he said. “That man in the video is very blurry. You can’t see his face. You can’t even make out his license plate. How can you be sure it’s Jack.”

No matter what Jack may or may not have done, they couldn’t do anything to him without the proof they so clearly didn’t have.

But Mr. Allen wasn’t through yet. He tapped the screen a few more times and showed them what looked like a radar. With each blink of the light, Jack’s whole body twitched in front of him.

Mr. Allen’s next words were directed right at Jack. “The tracker we shot into your calf led us right to you. You’re coming with us.”

Mr. Allen snapped his fingers and the hulking man crossed the room incredibly quickly for someone his size. He scooped Jack up.

Jack struggled as much as he could. “A-” he called out, but the other mountain knocked him out with an elbow to the head.

That all happened in the span of a few seconds. Tyler barely had time to pick his jaw back up off the floor before they were carrying Jack out toward the door.

“Hey!” Even though the men were twice his size, he leapt forward. “You can’t just-” Tyler reached the man with Jack on his shoulders, wound back his arm for a punch.

Mr. Allen snapped again.

The second thug Tyler’s arm and spun him around. Tyler tried to block the blow, but the man’s heavy arm swept his own right out of the way, flying straight toward his forehead.

He was out like a light.

When he woke, Amy was leaning over him, tears in her eyes. “Amy,” he mumbled past his thick tongue. He had to tell her something. What was it? Something about Jack. “Jack?” He gasped in shock. “Jack!” He sat up fast, then regretted it, clutching at the thudding lump on his forehead.

Amy pressed an ice-pack into his hands, which he thankfully accepted. He sighed with relief as the cold ice touched his head.

Then remembering his message, he finally made himself look up at her again. “Amy, they took him. They took Jack.” His head throbbed again. “I couldn’t do anything. I tried.”

“I know” Amy chewed on her lip. Then talking to more to herself than anyone, she said “What do we do?” She got up and paced around the living room. “They could have taken him anywhere.” Then she stopped. “Beckett Springs.”

Tyler pulled himself up on the stair railing. “What?”

“Beckett Springs,” she said louder, turning towards him as if that answered everything.

“I don’t follow.”

“Oh my gosh,” she sighed, then started talking a mile a minute, the way she did when she was stressed out. “Becket Springs is the place where Jack went. That must be were he got the money, where those thugs are from. It must be where they’re taking him.”

She had to wait for Tyler to catch up with her. “You want,” he said slowly. “You want to go there? Shouldn’t we wait for your parents to get home?”

“Tyler, that could be days from now.” She started pacing even faster. “Who knows what they could do to him.”

“Okay, okay,” he said with a placating gesture. “So what are we doing, jailbreak, stealth mission, or are we just going to storm the place with our army? Amy, we’re just two kids. And what if he’s not even at Beckett Springs.”

Her faced flushed red. “Well, I don’t care if it’s logical or not.” She stomped over to the front door and snatched the car keys from the hook on the wall. “I’m going to Beckett Springs. I’m getting my brother back.”

She turned to open the door when Tyler grabbed her shoulder.

“Let go.”

“Put the keys away.”

“No, I told you. I’m-”

He held up his own keys in front of her face, interrupting her. “I’m driving.”

—

I still haven’t got the slightest clue where this story is going. I’m literally making this up as I go along.