The Adventures of Kid Combat Volume One: A Secret Lost (9 page)

As he cautiously pulled around to the back of
the building, he straightened his car out and parked. Exiting the
vehicle, he grabbed a flashlight from the backseat and headed for
the building. The back entrance was a loading dock. Two approached
the building toward the large metal garage door. He bent his knees
and grabbed the handle. He was not surprised to find it unlocked,
yet he still struggled to open it. Finally, with one last tug, it
sprung loose of its rust and catapulted straight up with a large
clank.

Two walked into the pitch-black warehouse and
shined his flashlight left and right. He looked around at all the
old machinery. It appeared that this building was once used as some
sort of printing operation. Old copying and printing machines were
strewn about. It was apparent that the machines hadn’t been used in
quite some time. Cobwebs, dust, and dirt covered them, and rust was
starting to form on the older machines.

Two walked deeper into the warehouse, and
with every step, his heart beat faster. As he quickly weaved his
flashlight back and forth, the shadows he created on the walls made
haunting images. The building creaked around him, and he could hear
small animals scurrying about. Two’s imagination began racing as he
feared nothing more than the darkness and the unknown that
surrounded him. Walking slowly and alertly, Two found himself well
inside the warehouse.

Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him. He
quickly turned his head around but didn’t see a thing. His eyes
raced back and forth and his head turned just as quickly. He
swallowed hard, as his fear started to consume him.

Footsteps were heard, and much to Two’s
dismay, they were getting closer.

“Hello?” he said in a low, frightful voice.
“Who’s there?”

“This was the first building I ever bought,”
rang out a voice from the darkness. Two squinted his eyes, and he
could see the silhouette of a man standing in the entrance.

“Jones!” he said with relief in his voice.
“You scared me to death!”

His boss proceeded into the old building.
Clunk, clunk, clunk. Two’s fears shifted from the fear of what was
in the warehouse to the fear of what was on his boss’s mind.
Why
did he want me to meet me here in this building? Why are we
alone?

Clunk, clunk, clunk went Jones’s boots as he
approached. Then, he stopped. The silhouette of Jones illuminated
as he struck a match and brought it up to his pipe. The shadows
created by the match on Jones’s face made him look like a madman. A
puff here and there, and a smoke cloud hovered all around him. His
sly smile turned to a wretched laugh.

“You can’t die, Two. Well, not yet, at least.
I still have some use for you. Now, be a good boy and listen to me
carefully.”

Outside, Samantha rode her bike through the
industrial park. Her red bike looked black in the dark of night,
and she wore black from head to toe. She steered the bike with one
hand and carried the remote locator device in the other. The beeps
were coming faster; she was getting close. She rode a few more
blocks, and the signal showed that she needed to turn down the
dead-end street to her right. She headed for the cul-de-sac. The
signal got louder as she rode and landed in the center of the
locater screen when she pulled in front of the abandoned warehouse.
She had found Jones. Samantha made her way up the driveway and saw
the two cars.

That’s Jones’s car, all right, Samantha
thought. He must be inside.

Questions about what Jones was doing filled
her mind as she made her way closer to the building. I’ve got to
get in there.

She hopped off her bike and ditched it in the
nearby bushes and shut down the remote. She quietly made her way
alongside the far end of the building and back to the front. She
had no idea how she would break into this building. In her rush,
she had forgotten any tools or gadgets. She didn’t even bring a
radio to communicate with the team. She was flying blind.

Samantha made her way to the front door and
looked over both shoulders. The coast was clear. She turned her
attention to the front door and examined it thoroughly. To her
surprise, a quick tug on the door opened it. Apparently, no one was
interested in protecting this building.

Hmm, she thought, that was lucky! She
couldn’t help smirking. She made her way in and passed an old
counter, perhaps a former drop-off area for projects that needed to
be printed. Making her way through an office and down a hallway,
she could hear muffled voices. She got as close as she could
without being discovered and hid behind a wall that used to have a
glass window pane in it. That glass was long gone after years of
neglect. Samantha popped her head up slightly and saw Jones and
Two.

“I can’t do that, Jones!” an obviously upset
Two cried out. He turned his back and walked a few steps away.
Samantha wondered what Jones had said.

Jones didn’t deal with his employee’s
disobedience lightly. He approached Two and spun him around by the
shoulder.

“You’ll do what I tell you to do,” Jones
said, poking his finger into Two’s chest.

“Yeah, but they’re just kids! You can’t do
this! I won’t be a part of it,” Two said in a less-than-confident
voice. There was an uncomfortable pause in the air as Jones thought
of his next move.

“Okay, Two. Okay, you win. We will think of
something else. Come,” Jones said as he patted his assistant on the
back and started walking toward the door. Jones decided it might be
best to drop the issue and fight this battle another day. But he
would remember this betrayal, and Two would pay.

Samantha saw the men leaving and got up to
follow them. She braced herself on the ledge of the half wall and
pulled herself up. But the wall crumpled under the pressure, and
she fell to the floor with a thud.

Jones and Two turned immediately. “What was
that?” Jones cried out.

Two ran to the fallen wall and found a young
girl sitting in its rubble, coughing. Two grabbed her arm and
ordered her up. He walked her over to Jones and released her
arm.

“Well, what do we have here?” Jones exclaimed
as he walked up to Samantha. “If the letter I received was correct,
you would be the young Jameson girl.”

Samantha stood there with an inquisitive
look. How did he know me? she wondered. Letter? He couldn’t mean
…

“I’ve read much about you,” Jones continued.
“You’re out a bit late tonight.”

“I can say the same for you,” Samantha said
in return. She was not frightened of Jones. She wasn’t frightened
by most things. She stood there and glared at Jones.

“What are you doing here?” Jones asked.
Samantha didn’t even bother to answer. Her eyes rolled up to the
ceiling, and she didn’t even acknowledge Jones. He chuckled.

“Not talking, eh? I wonder if that’s because
you have something to hide. Like, let’s say, a secret
organization?”

Samantha turned her face away from Jones.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I
was out riding my bike, and it got a flat. I saw you two men in
here and was going to ask you for help,” she said as she turned
toward Jones. The two exchanged a look, and Samantha continued.
“Nothing more.”

Jones continued laughing. “You don’t expect
me to believe that, do you?”

Samantha knew that Jones would never buy such
a tale, but she also knew she wasn’t going to tell him a thing. It
didn’t matter. Jones knew the girl had to be part of Kid Combat’s
little group, and he decided to show his hand.

“No, I think you are hiding something. Maybe
a little club of yours? Maybe the Secret Organization of Clever
Kids? Does that ring a bell?”

Samantha’s eyes grew larger, and shock
crossed her face. He does know!

She tried to compose herself, but it was too
late.

“You don’t need to say anything, my precious.
Your eyes tell me everything I need to know. Two, please escort our
guest back to the house. We’ll find out what she knows there.”

“Yes, sir,” Two said as he grabbed Samantha’s
arm. “Let’s go!”

He dragged her to his car and threw her in
the trunk.

Samantha looked up and sarcastically asked,
“Are there peanuts on this flight?”

“Don’t worry, kid. It’s a short ride,” Two
said laughing as he closed the trunk.

Jones then walked out to issue Two a final
command, but Two was the first to speak.

“What’s your plan, sir?” he asked as the two
men walked to the front of the car.

“It’s very simple,” Jones said. “We will use
her as a trap. Surely, the mighty Kid Combat wouldn’t let one of
his own be harmed. He will come for her, and we will be ready,”
Jones added with a crooked smile.

His thoughts were aglow with the image of
catching the mysterious Kid Combat. As usual, Two disagreed with
his boss’s move.

“That’s dangerous, Mr. Jones. What if the
police find out we have her?”

There was a pause as Jones looked dumbfounded
at his employee. Two’s pleas continued.

“It’s over, Jones. We caught her. We can
expose her as part of the SOCKs organization. You’ve won!” Two said
in a rally cry. But Jones didn’t buy it.

“I don’t want her!” Jones cried angrily. The
force of his voice startled Two, sending him back a step. Jones
closed the gap immediately, getting in Two’s face. Inches separated
the men.

“I want Kid Combat,” Jones continued with in
a low, disturbing voice. “He is behind all of this. He is the one
behind the town’s turn against me. And he is the only thing that
matters to me. I want him, and only him,” Jones said, again poking
Two in his chest.

Two was shocked. He couldn’t respond. He
nodded his head briefly and turned away from Jones. There was
nothing left for either to say, so each disappeared into his
car.

The hunt for Kid Combat had intensified.

Chapter Eight:

Samantha Disappears

9:00 am

Even amid all the chaos in the neighborhood,
there were still times when a kid could be a kid. This was one of
those days. Tomorrow was the first baseball game of the summer, and
that meant the field in Maple Forest needed to be ready.

For generations, the boys in town would meet
at the field the day before the first game and prepare the field as
if it were a major league stadium. The grass would be cut, the
pitcher’s mound would be cleaned, and the base paths would be
cleared of all rocks and other foreign objects. Everything needed
to be perfect.

Kyle Christensen was one of the leaders of
the project. He was always the perfectionist of the group and
worked the most hours on the field. He loved this day almost more
than the actual game day, because it signaled the beginning of a
long summer.

Kyle popped out of his house and headed to
Samantha’s house. He was ahead of schedule and figured he would get
an early start on things. Kyle felt calm, and he almost skipped to
Samantha’s house. Not a thought of Jones entered his head. His main
focus was on that field, not on the ruthless man who tried to take
their park away and threatened to expose his team. All that could
wait. This was a day to just be a kid, and nothing could ruin
that.

Or, so he thought.

Kyle walked up Samantha’s driveway and to the
back door. He rang the doorbell and patiently waited for an answer.
Samantha’s mom opened the door.

“Hello, Kyle,” she said.

“Hey, Mrs. Jameson. Is Sam here? We have to
go get the field ready for tomorrow,” Kyle said with obvious
excitement in his voice.

“Oh, she’s not here. Isn’t she with you?”
Samantha’s mom said with a questioning look. She trusted her
daughter more than the average mom, and she didn’t realize Samantha
wasn’t home.

“Nope,” Kyle replied, still in a state of
bliss and not noticing that something could be wrong. But he
noticed that his answer upset Mrs. Jameson. Quickly, his mind left
baseball. He knew, just like Mrs. Jameson knew, that Samantha
wouldn’t disappear or run off for no reason at all.

“That’s strange. When I went in to get her
for breakfast, she was gone. I assumed you two were already out
preparing,” Mrs. Jameson said.

The worry was starting to grow. Then a
mother’s panic set in. Mrs. Jameson was one of the few parents in
town not blinded by greed. The families of all SOCKs members also
fell in this category. Kyle could see her mind starting to wander.
He decided to backtrack on his story to ease Mrs. Jameson’s mind,
even though he knew he’d have to lie.

“Oh, you’re right. You know how she wants to
get this done as quickly as possible? I bet she’s already out
there. I wouldn’t worry about it,” Kyle said and turned to walk
away. He hoped his story would fool her. He didn’t make it too far
before Mrs. Jameson spoke.