Chase The Rabbit: Gretch Bayonne Action Adventure Series Book #1 Read online

“Maybe someone moved them,” Klaus said. “What does this have to do with a sabotage?”

  “And there was film here!” I explained excitedly, “and it is missing too!”

  “Mr. Bay,” he said. “Maybe you’re overreacting. We have all had a busy last couple of days, but I can assure you, no one is going to sabotage the Graf!”

  “No, something is wrong,” I said. “I need to find out…”

  “Bay!” Klaus said. “You need to go back into the cabin and calm down! Everything is fine!”

  Klaus was looking at me like I was crazy. I knew he wasn’t buying into my sabotage theory. I would have to go it alone.

  “Fine!” I said. “You do whatever it is you have to do for the landing. I am going to find Alvon and get the goddamn monkeys back into the cage. Is that alright?” I asked.

  “I suppose so,” he reluctantly replied. “If you’re sure you are going to be okay. But I think you should go join the others as soon as possible.”

  “Of course,” I said. “I guess I just got a little carried away,” I lied. “I am fine. Just all the excitement and those damned monkeys being out of their cage. I will take care of it and be back down pronto!”

  “Okay,” he said. “I would appreciate that. And see to it that you all stay out of the riggers’ way.”

  “Yes, the riggers,” I replied. “What will they be doing up top for the landing?” I asked.

  “Expelling gas,” Klaus said.

  “I beg your pardon?” I replied.

  “They will be busy operating the valves on the gas cells,” Klaus answered. “We need to let 50 percent of the hydrogen out of the cells so the ship can land.”

  “Oh, right,” I said. “And where are these valves?”

  “At the top of the cells,” he replied, “of course.”

  “So, all the riggers will be on the, what do you call it,” I asked, “on the very top of the ship?”

  “They will be on Level C,” Klaus laughed. “Yes, the uppermost top of the ship.”

  “Right,” I replied. “Thank you!” Klaus turned to go back into the cabin as I started climbing the ladder to the topside.

  “Oh, and Klaus!” I said. “The furnaces that supply the gas, they are on the bottom, right?”

  Klaus turned back around, looking a bit concerned. “Yes, Mr. Bay,” he answered. “Are you sure you are all right?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Thank you!”

  I took a deep breath as I climbed into the guts of the ship again. This time around, it seemed creepier than ever. Because now I was on a hunt and outnumbered by three men and seven monkeys that possibly could cause the worse disaster in modern times.

  This is insane! I thought as I made my way through the tiny lower spine of the great ship. How many of those furnaces did Klaus say there were? I asked myself. I should have been paying more attention on the tour.

  My theory was that the boxes of flashbulbs would be placed near the furnaces and somehow ignited, causing great fires that would burn through the bottom of the gas cells. Even at 50 percent capacity, that would be enough hydrogen to light the Graf up and everything around it.

  This is almost too good, I thought. Everyone is distracted. The riggers are way up top, as far away from the furnaces as you can get. It would be easy to place the flashbulbs near the furnaces without being detected by anyone!

  I arrived at the first of the hot, fiery furnaces and there was nothing. No flashbulbs. I pressed forward as fast as I could.

  Maybe I am wrong, I thought. Maybe they are going to use the flashbulbs somewhere else on the ship to cause the fire!

  I made it to the second furnace, and still nothing. Then the third, and nothing. I was feeling dizzy and had to rest so I stopped and sat down on the hard, cold steel catwalk.

  What if I am wrong? I thought. It could take me ten minutes or more to get to each furnace. And by then, it may be too late!

  I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I pressed on. The fourth furnace had nothing. The fifth and sixth, still nothing, and suddenly I was at the front end of the ship.

  I climbed the ladder to level B, the middle of the beast, or the “spine” as I called it. My hammock was still there. And the rope I’d used to tie myself off the first night when I walked on her back was still laying where I’d left it.

  The lungs of the ship had shrunk considerably, and for some reason, it was even more hot and humid. I could see down almost to the end of the spiny walkway, and not a soul was in sight. Then suddenly without warning, there was a horrible shriek. It was the monkeys. They came out of nowhere and appeared not far in front of me in a pack, each rolling their own bowling ball. I was terrified, but tried not to show it.

  “Hello, fellas,” I said. “Where are you going?”

  They were looking at me as if I’d invaded their space, like I was an enemy in their territory.

  “Follow me,” I said, “and I will get you some bananas! Would you like that? Bananas!”

  They all scrambled to the left and right, and disappeared before my very eyes.

  What the hell? I thought. Where did they go? They just vanished!

  I walked down the steely spine where the monkeys had just been seconds ago. Then I noticed it. Running off of both sides of the catwalk were tiny steel girders going in each direction between the cells. I hadn’t noticed them before, probably because when the cells are filled with gas, they expand and cover them up. I could hear them rolling their balls though, in the distance. I’ve heard a lot of very scary sounds before, but nothing made me cringe like this. I was totally confused and didn’t know what to think.

  Maybe I am completely wrong, I thought. Maybe I am crazy! Perhaps Klaus was right. Maybe I should just go back down and join the others.

  I walked back to the ladder leading up to the observation point and picked up the phone that had a direct line to the control room.

  “Klondike here,” the voice said.

  “Yes,” this is Bay,” I said. “I am up top on Level B.”

  “Yes, Bay,” he replied. “We are very busy, what is it?”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever talked to you,” I said. “But I have reason to believe that there is a conspiracy to blow up the Graf and I would appreciate it if you would inform the Captain of this.”

  Click. He hung up.

  I sat down, resting my back against the ladder leading to the observation point, contemplating what, if anything, I should do next. I must have dozed off, because suddenly, my mother was talking to me again.

  “Gretch,” she whispered. “You are in great danger.”

  “I know, Mother,” I said, “but I don’t know what to do!”

  “You must always finish what you started,” she said, fading away.

  “What does that mean?” I asked desperately.

  “Mother! What does that mean?” I shouted. I snapped to but she was gone.

  Finish what you started, I thought.

  Then it hit me. Perhaps I had started on the wrong side of the ship!

  Those bastards could have been setting up the flashbulbs on the left side of the vessel first, while I was going down the right side!

  Finish what you started, I thought. Of course! She is trying to tell me to check the other side!

  I slid down the ladder to the lower left side as fast as a cat at a fish fry. Suddenly, I was in the middle of a minefield. Bang! Bang! Bang! I was stepping on flashbulbs that were setting my pants legs on fire! There were hundreds of them laying beneath my feet. I pulled my trousers off as they went up in flames, just inches from the gas furnace. The hair on my legs was singed, but the pants burned up quickly, filling the corridor with black smoke. I ran down the hallway to the second furnace, and sure enough, it too was strewn with flashbulbs. I was careful not to step on any of them.

  There’s got to be a way to turn these furnaces off completely, I thought.

  But I had no idea how to go about doing that. There were knobs and switches, but they were all marked in Ger
man. So I just started turning the switches in the opposite direction from what they were set on. And after the fifth switch, sure enough, the furnace shut off!

  No more fire! I thought, as I frantically ran down the corridor to the next furnace.

  And there, again, were more flashbulbs. This time I knew which switch to hit first to shut off the damned gas to the furnace. By the time I’d reached the sixth and final furnace, I was panting and felt like I was going to pass out. My legs were starting to burn, and I realized I had blisters on them from my pants catching fire. I made my way back down to the cargo area, knowing someone still had to turn off the furnaces on the other side of the ship, or the whole thing could go up in flames before we could even reach the Olympics. I found Alvon there sitting quietly by himself.

  “What the hell happened to you, Bay?” he asked.

  “There was a fire,” I replied.

  “And where are your pants?” he asked.

  “They burned up!” I shouted.

  Alvon dug into his bag and produced a pair of black trousers.

  “Here,” he said. “Put these on! What do you mean there was a fire?”

  “The flashbulbs!” I said, panting. “They were all over the place! Beneath each furnace on the left side of the ship!”

  I sat down, exhausted, pulling the trousers on.

  “We have to alert the Captain!” I said. “And we have to go to the other side of the ship and get rid of the flashbulbs!”

  “Are you sure about this, Bay?” he asked.

  “Yes!” I said, standing up. “You call the Captain and tell him we need help now! I am going back up to Level B.”

  “Okay,” Alvon said. “I will join you as soon as I have notified the Captain.”

  “Thank you!” I said. “We have a thousand feet of tunnel to cover and I don’t think I can handle it in time by myself! The riggers need to come down in front and back right away!”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to call the control room yourself?” Alvon asked.

  “They didn’t believe me the first time,” I said. “Hopefully, they will believe it coming from a second source! And tell them to put the goddamn Nazis under arrest as soon as they find them!”

  I went back up topside and made my way once again to the right side of Level B. Sure enough, there were hundreds of flashbulbs. I carefully shuffled through them to the furnace and turned it off.

  Five more to go, I thought.

  As I ran to the next furnace, I heard those strange rumbling sounds again. The goddamn monkeys rolling their bowling balls. I’d gotten used to that sound. And just before I reached the second furnace, Alvon was behind me.

  “Alvon!” I said. “See! More flashbulbs! I don’t know how they are planning to ignite them, but when they do, the whole ship will go up in flames! Be careful not to step on them! That’s all it takes!”

  He had a very strange, unemotional look on his face. Then I saw the gun.

  “I know, Mr. Bay,” he said.

  The Monkey Man was pointing a revolver at me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I am preparing for the greatest show on earth,” he replied.

  “Whoa, wait a minute,” I said, holding my hands up. “You knew about this? You are in on this with them?” I asked.

  Alvon extended his arm, pointing the .45 directly at my face.

  “I am not in on this with anyone,” he said. “This is my show and mine alone.”

  I slowly started stepping backwards, arms still raised.

  “So the Nazis?”

  “They are just pawns, like you,” he said. “It’s just me and my genius and my monkeys.”

  “But why?” I asked. “I thought you wanted to perform at the Olympics. Hearst is counting on you.”

  “Stop!” Alvon said. “So now you want to talk! Now you have questions! It wasn’t like that last night, was it, Mr. Bay?”

  “Well,” I said, pointing and looking behind him, “looks like we’ve got company.”

  He looked behind him for one second. I tackled Monkey Man in that instant, bringing us both down on the steel catwalk. I grabbed the gun out of his hand as I lay on top of him.

  “AHHHH,” he screamed.

  “Get up, you son of a bitch,” I said. “Time to call the monkeys home!”

  “You can’t stop it now, Bay!” he said with a crazy grimace.

  The awful rolling thunder sound shot through the corridor. I made him stand and walk further down hell’s catwalk to the next furnace, gun lodged directly into his back.

  “How were you going to ignite the flashbulbs, Alvon?” I asked.

  “It is the perfect plan,” he laughed. “It’s as if the ship were made for it.”

  “Tell me what were you going to use to set the flashbulbs off!” I yelled.

  “You really haven’t figured it out yet?” he asked, barking like a mad man. “My dear boy, do you see how this ship is made?”

  “Just tell me!” I screamed, leveling the revolver to his temple. “I swear to God, Alvon, if you don’t tell me, I will drop you right here!”

  “The bowling balls!” he shouted. “The monkeys roll the bowling balls down the steel spine! You see where they would land?”

  My blood ran cold. The Monkey Man was right. The Graf was a giant pinball machine. All it needed was the balls and a mad man with access. We made it to the third furnace, and this time, I made Alvon shut it off as I held the revolver to his head.

  “Keep walking,” I said.

  Suddenly, two of the riggers came down a ladder, startling us.

  “What is going on here?” one of them asked.

  “This man is trying to blow up the Graf,” I said. “You need to contact the Captain immediately!”

  “Put that gun down!” the other one told me.

  “This man is holding me hostage!” Alvon said. “He is insane and I insist you take him into custody!”

  The two men looked at us both and backed away.

  “We are landing in twenty minutes,” one of them said.

  “Go get Klaus!” I said. “I am Bay! Tell him I need him up here now!”

  They backed away as if I’d been holding the gun on them and disappeared back up the ladder. If the monkeys rolled the balls just right, it would be all over for the Graf and everyone onboard. The whole thing would go up in flames just as it reached the Olympics in front of a crowd of one hundred thousand people. And the whole world would be watching in horror.

  Chapter Twelve

  Alvon took off running down the corridor, smashing flashbulbs beneath his feet, causing sparks to fly around him.

  That son of a bitch knows I won’t shoot him, I thought.

  My main concern was shutting down the rest of the furnaces before the monkeys rolled a strike. I would deal with Alvon later.

  As I turned the control knob to cut off the last furnace, I heard that awful rolling sound on top of me. I was frantically kicking bulbs, trying to get them out of the way, when the bowling ball burst down. The second it did, I grabbed the mesh ropes that were designed to keep the gas cells in place and pulled them down hard. I caught the damned bowling ball in the net and stopped it from crashing onto the flashbulbs. I caught my breath and chased Alvon down the catwalk and into the cargo area. We clashed near the monkey cage and fell to the ground, wrestling and punching each other.

  “You ruined everything, you fool!” he screamed.

  I managed to overcome him, sitting on his chest, and he fell limp, crying.

  “We were almost there!” he sighed.

  “Get up, Alvon!” I said.

  I sat him up on the floor and told him to call his monkeys down.

  “Do it!” I demanded. “Get your whistle out!”

  He looked totally blank and defeated but didn’t move a muscle. I’d never seen anyone this crazy before. I grabbed the whistle from his pocket and began blowing it, and the monkeys started hurrying down. They darted into the cage as I tried to count them. But the
y were coming so fast, it was hard to keep track of them.

  “I think that’s it,” I said, as I slammed the cage shut. “Keep still!” I said, counting them. Yep, I thought, that’s seven.

  I locked the cage and told Alvon to follow me.

  “Where are we going?” he asked quietly.

  “Up!” I said, pointing to the ladder. “Back up to the guts, into the nightmare, where you belong.”

  Alvon climbed the ladder and I followed closely behind. We went up to Level B, the backbone of the beast that was nearly broken.

  “Where are you taking me?” he asked.

  “To my sling,” I said.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “If you ask me one more question, Alvon,” I replied, “I swear to God I am going to shoot you in the head right now.”

  When we reached the hammock, I instructed him to lay down in it. He almost seemed relieved. I used the same rope that I’d used to tie myself off with on the back of the beast to secure Alvon in the hammock. I wrapped it around him and the hammock from neck to feet, then tied it in a dozen knots.

  “They are not going to believe your story, you know,” he said.

  Just then the ship shook. We must have landed.

  “I don’t care,” I replied. “We’ve made it to the Olympics and we are all safe. But you are not getting off here.”

  I turned and headed back down the catwalk.

  “They are not going to believe you!” he said.

  I could hear the roar of the crowd as soon as I opened the door from the cargo area into the cabin. I dashed down the hallway to discover most of the stars had already departed, taking their bows. Thankfully, Lugosi hadn’t left yet.

  “Where have you been?” Bela asked.

  “I’ve been chasing monkeys and kicking flashbulbs! And I shut down the furnaces and caught a bowling bowl with a net just in time to save the ship!”

  “Well, why didn’t you say so,” Groucho shot back.

  “No really,” I said, “I am not joking.”

  “Well, you’re here now,” Bela said. “That’s all that matters.”

  As we got closer to the exit, the roar of the crowd grew louder. There was an announcer in the stadium, naming off who was coming off the ship as they departed. It echoed like crazy as we got nearer.