Bounty Hunter

Chapter 35

Nick Swinton stared at the door just like he'd stared at it for the past three days. The hideaway he shared with Romy was small and stuffy, and the bucket they used for a toilet stank. Champ was as antsy as he was, whining as she paced the room. She still limped from the blaster burn that had singed her fur, but from what Nick could tell, it looked like she only had a bad sunburn on her leg.

"It's been three days," Nick said.

Romy looked up from the tablet she held. "It's been almost three days. You told me that your mom told you to wait three days in the shelter before leaving."

He frowned. "Yeah, but she just made up that number in her head. I bet it's safe to leave."

"How do you know it's safe?" she asked.

He thought for a moment. "I'll find out. Stay here. I'm going to check out the house."

She jumped to her feet. "I'm going with you."

"No, you should stay here until I know it's safe."

She put her hands on her hips. "Why? Because I'm a girl?"

"No. Because it's my house, and I know all the hiding spots. Sheesh."

He looked down at Champ, and then at Romy, before he turned back to the door. He took a deep breath and opened it. He peeked his head out and took another breath, this time of the cooler, fresher air of the tunnel. When he saw and heard nothing, he stepped out. Champ bounded out around him.

"Champ," he whispered, but she was already a dozen feet ahead of him and relieving herself near the wall.

Nick walked into the tunnel, and Romy came out to stand next to him. They looked at each other before moving together down the tunnel toward his home. Champ took the lead, and since she didn't seem the least bit worried, Nick felt confident no one else was in the underground passageway. Champ ran up to the sub-door to his house and waited.

Nick bent down. "Okay, Champ. When I open this door, I need you to check out the place. Got it?"

She cocked her head as he spoke, but that was the closest to an agreement he received from her. He shot another glance at Romy, who looked as scared as he felt, then he entered his code. The door opened and Nick jumped, even though he'd expected it.

Champ ran into the house and moved erratically through the rooms, sniffing every piece of furniture. Her fur never bristled, and her tail wagged, even as she checked out the upstairs. Nick took that as her "all clear" sign.

"It's clear," he said, as much for his own benefit as for Romy's.

Romy continued her light pace through the house as she checked every closet and under the furniture. She paused at Joe's exoshield, then went about carefully stacking it in a pile.

"Do you think they're dead?" she asked.

Nick got chills that he shook off. "No. No way. Mom's working for that fat guy, and Joe's got to be still alive." Right? He girded his self-assurance. "Joe's still alive because if they wanted to shoot him, they would've done it here, but they didn't, so that means he's still alive. I bet he's working for that fat guy, too. And we can go rescue them together."

"Rescue them? How?"

Nick jogged into his bedroom and grabbed the pellet gun propped against the wall next to his bed, along with a box of pellets. He carried it out of the room, suddenly feeling like a protector rather than a helpless kid.

Romy watched him without speaking.

He strolled confidently around the house, carrying his gun before an idea hit him. He ran over to a side table where Joe had stashed a blaster for his mom to use in case of an emergency.

He set down his pellet gun and pulled the blaster out of the drawer. He hefted the weight in his hands as he considered the weapon. Since both Joe and his mom were missing, he figured Joe would agree two nine-year-olds left on their own definitely counted as an emergency.

He glanced once more at his pellet gun. He was a great shot with it, he could even fire it blindfolded, but he'd never tell his mom about the one occasion when he had. On the other hand, he'd only shot a blaster once in his life, when Joe showed him. It'd been super easy to shoot, but his mom had gotten mad at Joe, and Nick never got the chance to shoot one again.

"Is there another blaster for me?" Romy asked.

"This is the only blaster, but I'll show you how to use my pellet gun."

Her nose wrinkled. "What's a pellet gun?"

"It's a gun that shoots pellets. Duh," he replied. He set the blaster down and handed the gun and box of pellets to her. He began showing her the ins and outs of the weapon. "All you do is drop a pellet in this hole here. Then you pump air into the gun using the grip here. I usually pump it three or four times if I'm hunting varmints. The safety button's here. See? Red is ready to fire. Black means the safety's on."

She frowned. "All that work to shoot only one pellet?"

He grinned. "Yeah, so you'd better be a good shot." He paused, then took off. "Hold on."

He ran to his bedroom and grabbed the makeshift paper targets he'd drawn on butcher paper and ran back to her. He grabbed the blaster. "Come on. We need to practice if we're going to rescue Mom and Joe."