158 The London Deception by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

9 The Chase Down the Tube Tunnel

* * *

Joe heard the squeal of the train wheels as his shoulder struck the iron rail on the tracks.

“Joe!” Chris shouted, kneeling and stretching his hand down to the younger Hardy. Joe grabbed hold and jumped at the same time Chris yanked and was launched up onto the platform just as the front car of the train came to a stop at the spot where Joe had fallen.

Joe scanned the crowd, most of whom were staring at him. Then he spotted the thief pushing past people on the stairs.

Chris dropped to his hands and knees, collecting the money. “Forget about him, Joe, we have the money.”

Joe Hardy’s temper was up, and he pushed through the crowd, not heeding his friend. When he reached the top of the stairs, a yellow sign reading Way Out was to his right. To his left, signs pointed to Hammersmith and City, a different train line in the underground system.

Joe peered over a sea of pedestrians who made their way through the tunnel. Far away, he saw a head of long black hair duck down a staircase leading to the Hammersmith trains. Joe scuttled along the wall to the stairs, avoiding the swarm of people in the center of the tunnel.

When he reached the Hammersmith platform, it was dotted with a modest number of commuters. Joe feared a train had just left the station, carrying the thief with it. No one was moving toward the steps out, though, which confirmed for Joe that no train had just let off passengers. From behind a column at the far end of the platform, Joe saw a head of long black hair peek out.

Seeing Joe, the thief turned to run. Joe saw no stairs leading out at the thief’s end of the platform and thought he had him cornered until the man dropped down onto the tracks and disappeared into the darkness of the subway tunnel.

Determined not to lose him, Joe climbed down onto the tracks and gave chase, disregarding the warning shouts of onlookers.

The tunnel was very dimly lit, but Joe pressed on, running down the tracks despite not being able to see the man he was pursuing. A light source around a bend ahead of him suddenly silhouetted the man, who had stopped dead.

The light source grew brighter, and Joe realized it was the lights of an oncoming train.

The man grabbed hold of a steel support beam and swiftly shimmied up it. Pushing aside a metal grate in the ceiling of the tunnel, he released himself from the support beam and hung over the tracks for a second before hoisting himself through the space in the grating.

Joe tried to follow, but the support beam offered no foot or handholds, and he slipped back down to the tracks. The Hammersmith train rounded the bend and Joe pressed his body against the wall behind the support beam.

The train whizzed by within a few inches of Joe’s back, whipping his pant legs with the wind it created.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.