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had a lot more questions but she
could hear shouts from across the street.
    “Incoming!”
    “Red alert!”
    “Battle stations!”
    A big car with tail fins rolled down the
hill. It drove slowly. This one had to stop. The kids hoped
and prayed…
    But their prayers weren’t answered. The
Caddy cruised on heading south toward town.
    Eastie and Oakes cursed the bright red tail
lights. Rusty sent Hank out to check the bait.
    “Hold it — we won’t get a bite at this rate
boys. Yo! Cappy! Set up a roadblock.”
    Hank scooped the bag up and dumped it dead
center, right in the middle of the street. Rusty blinked his
Ray-O-Vac flashlight. He seemed to be satisfied. Hank raced
back.
    A new pair of high-beams came over the rise.
A station wagon followed them. The vehicle suddenly veered toward
the shoulder and fishtailed, skidding in the dirt.
    But then it backed up for a look at the
object. A woman got out of the passenger side. There were words.
She grabbed it and got back in.
    The wagon got moving again, into
Hopewood.
    Six kids and a pit bull spilled out of the
woods and onto the road. Like it was Christmas. They watched the
car going, their eyes all aglow. Rusty grinned Grinch-style and
started a countdown.
    “Five. Four. Three. Two…”
    Almost on cue it hit the brakes. A door flew
open. The bag flew out.
    The Country Squire took off like a
rocket.
    Rusty mimicked a blast. “Kaboom!”
    “Sweet!”
    “That was wicked!”
    “Arooo!” Killer howled.
    The boys high-fived and whooped it up. Even
Johnny.
    Haylee just looked confused.
    Rusty aimed his flashlight down the hill.
“Go get it. Reset the trap.”
    Eastie, Oakes, and Hank all went. They
fished the bag from a sea of poison ivy. Whew. It was still
intact.
    They flashed three thumbs up and were back
in no time, hoisting the thing like the Stanley Cup.
    Rusty kept score on the ground with his
sneaker. “Us one, cars nothing…
    “Let’s do it again!”
     
    Hooo…
    Haylee jumped.
    “It’s just an owl,” said Johnny.
    She crouched behind the wall.
    “Sis — what’s the matter? You scared or
something?”
    “Kinda. I got a bad feeling inside.”
    “About what?”
    She shivered. “Dunno, but I’m cold.”
    Johnny promised. “Just one more car.”
    Hoo hooo…
    Rusty heard it too. He cussed from somewhere
in the darkness. “Jeez-louise, Johnny Owl Eyes! Shut up!” He seemed
to be only half joking.
    Johnny ignored him but Haylee called back.
“Who-who needs you?!”
    They held their breath and they
listened…
    Crickets.
    “Lucky he missed that. You never wanna get
Rusty mad.”
    “I thought he was always mad,” yawned
Haylee, rubbing her hazel eyes. They’d turned stone gray in the
late spring night light.
    Right then something dawned on Johnny.
“Guess we gotta get you home. Let’s go Sis. That’s enough trick for
today…”
    Suddenly Eastie the lookout shouted, “Heads
up! Sucker at eight o’clock!”
    That froze the Cap kids in their tracks.
They ducked and covered. They waited for it. But then they saw the
light. It was blue.
    “Cops!”
    “Cripes!”
    “Run!”
    All heck broke loose.
    Johnny heard car doors. A radio. “Ten-four.”
Angry voices.
    He grabbed Haylee’s hand.
    “We gotta get outta here Sis! Come on!”
    They stepped toward the street, but just as
a spotlight lit it up. They turned around. Someone was right behind
them now.
    “Halt! Who goes there?! Show yourself!”
    Johnny could see only one way out.
    “The woods!”
    He ran and ran and ran.
    No fifth grader had ever gone faster. He
plowed through branches and bushes that scratched his arms and
poked him everywhere. He fought off shadows and spider webs. They
plotted, leading him on and on.
    Finally Johnny had to stop. He doubled over
out of breath and sputtered, “Hey… you okay… Sis?
    “Sis?”
    She didn’t answer him.
    “Haylee?!”
    There was no sign of her. Anywhere.
    Grrrrrr…
    Something growled at Johnny. He nearly
jumped out of his skin. The