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

padded inside, which alone had saved him from being badly bruised when he was thrown into it. As he looked around at the padded interior his earlier fury was replaced by a black foreboding. This van, obviously, was specially made for transporting violent people. He swallowed at the thought. Was he really insane, as the police and guards certainly believed? And had he actually killed seven people?
    â€œNo!” he cried, springing up with returning fury and hurling himself like a caged young panther against the door. “No! It’s a rotten lie—and Dr. Rhodes knows it!”
    â€œTake it easy, kid,” came a voice from the front. “You can’t get out. The strongest guy in the world couldn’t.”
    Jan whirled and glared at the impassive face of the guard named George, peering at him through the upper part of the partition, which was covered with heavy steel wire.
    â€œWhere are you taking me?” he demanded.
    â€œYou ought to know. You’ve been there before.”
    Jan sank down again, his foreboding returning. Suddenly he remembered the peculiar thing that had happened to the hypodermic needle. Had he actually managed to stop it? Certainly he hadn’t caused it to go to pieces. Then he realized that the guards were also wondering about it, for he could hear them discussing it.
    â€œRight in my hand it did that,” said the heavy-faced George. “First it stopped. I couldn’t move it! Then it exploded—only it wasn’t exactly an explosion. It just went pfff! Right in my hand! Yeah!”
    â€œI know there was something mighty funny-queer about it,” replied the other, who was driving. “But with that wildcat back there to hang onto … Say, you don’t reckon the kid himself caused it, do you?”
    â€œDunno. Maybe. They say he’s got a real twist to him, besides being a killer. Anyway, he’s Big Doc’s prize, so we’d better report what happened to the needle.”
    Big Doc’s prize, was he? Jan ground his teeth and tried to project his mind forward to what ought to be a familiar destination, but it was like plunging into a seething blackness. He recoiled, and sought a better mental route to travel. But before he could find one to his liking, he heard George mutter, “Harry, I think we’ve got a tail. Watch that second car behind us. The little blue one.”
    â€œYou could be right. I’ll turn off at the next road, and then come back. If he stays with us …”
    The van turned, traveled a short distance, and backed into a dirt road and waited. Jan peered curiously through the partition, and glimpsed a small blue car go past the intersection. When it was out of sight, the van returned to its former route on the highway.
    Presently George said, “Here he comes. But he’s staying farther behind now. Tell me, who’d want to tail us?”
    â€œNot the cops,” Harry growled. “Big Doc’s got ’em in his pocket. It has to be some snoop in the pay of that Rhodes guy. He’s a kind of doc himself, and he’s sure latched onto that kid. Big Doc wouldn’t like that.”
    â€œWe’ll have to ditch him. Still, if he’s got our tag number—”
    â€œIt won’t help him. I changed tags before we left the Center. Big Doc said not to take any chances. And they won’t learn anything at Marysville. Big Doc has all the records. I’m turning at that road ahead. Hang on!”
    Jan was thrown violently from side to side as the van abruptly left the highway and went careening at high speed along a winding country road. Unconsciously, as the van’s course became more erratic and his fear of what lay ahead increased, he began playing a mental game he must have played many times in the past. It was born of a wish to be somewhere else, and the game’s success depended upon the reality of the vision he could bring to his mind.
    At the moment, more