Read The Case of the Vanishing Boy for Free Online Page A

people!”

5
    VAN
    For a dreadful moment Jan stood with his mouth hanging open, incapable of thought or movement. Then blind instinct made him whirl about and try to bolt from the hall. But the long arm of Heron Rhodes caught the back of his shirt and held him.
    â€œEasy, son,” the old man said reassuringly. “Don’t believe every tomfool silly thing you hear, even if it comes from a good lawyer. Just keep a tight rein on yourself for a minute, and we’ll see this thing through.”
    Heron opened the door a few inches and said, “Jackson, I’ve no intention of butting my head against the towering wall of the law. But before I turn this boy over to anybody, I want to see that court order with my own eyes.”
    Jan heard a muttered conversation beyond the door, and the doctor was handed a piece of paper.
    The doctor squinted at it through his glasses, and grunted. “So! Signed by that fellow Roundtree. Says I’m to turn over to constituted authority—that can’t be you, Sergeant Bricker, because you have no authority beyond the city limits, which doesn’t quite extend to my stone wall. Anyway, it says I’m to turn over the person of one Brice Riggs, criminally insane, an escapee from Marysville.… Hm!”
    Heron Rhodes passed the paper to a heavy square figure that Jan glimpsed through the partially open door. “Jackson, you tell that bunch out there that the court order doesn’t apply here. First, there’s no one in this house named Brice Riggs. Second, no one in this house is insane, criminally or otherwise. I should know.”
    The doctor paused and peered at the assembly outside, scowling. “Jackson, I smell an enormous rat here. It stinks to heaven. You tell that bunch to get off my property, or I’m calling the sheriff! In the meantime I’m calling Marysville and getting the straight of this!”
    Jan could hear quick voices outside, followed by the deep voice of Jackson Lane raised in protest. Abruptly the door was pushed open, Heron Rhodes was thrust aside, and men invaded the hall. The move was so unexpected that Jan stood frozen for an instant, then he leaped away from a bulky figure in a white jacket and tried to dodge another coming at him from the side. His dodging served only to place him within range of Sergeant Bricker’s powerful arms.
    The instant Bricker caught him Jan went wild. In an explosion of fury he kicked, scratched, bit, and used thumbs, fists, and elbows with such unexpected force and speed that Bricker was thrown off balance and fell. Jan squirmed eel-like out of the other’s grip, but in the next breath was caught in a more expert fashion by a guard in a white jacket. He promptly gave the guard a bad time, for the fellow cried out, “Quick, George, use the hypo! The kid’s gone nuts!”
    â€œNo you don’t!” Heron Rhodes shouted. “Don’t you touch that boy with a needle!”
    Jan, panting with exertion, glimpsed the other guard moving swiftly upon him with an outstretched hypodermic needle. While he fought to avoid it, he watched with a sort of horror as the point of the needle went quickly toward his shoulder. With all the power of his mind he tried to stop it. Miraculously it did stop. Then he gasped and momentarily forgot to fight as the hypodermic suddenly shattered into a thousand pieces.
    The guard cursed, but instantly took advantage of the incident to shove Heron Rhodes and Jackson Lane aside, and seize Jan around the legs. With Sergeant Bricker helping, the three men hurriedly took their squirming prisoner outside and heaved him head-first into the back of the van. Before Jan could move the door was slammed shut and locked. Seconds later he heard the abrupt roar of the motor, and felt the twisting movement as the vehicle shot swaying down the lane.
    It was some time before he got his breath and was able to sit up. Only now did he discover that the van was