Nick and Tesla and the Robot Army Rampage by Bob Pflugfelder & Steve Hockensmith

Author:Bob Pflugfelder & Steve Hockensmith [Pflugfelder, Bob & Hockensmith, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quirk Books
Published: 2023-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Silas rushed out of the Treasure Trove and started hurrying down the steps to the sidewalk at a pace just shy of a scramble. There was something flat and rectangular and yellowish clutched in his hands.

A manila envelope.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Silas turned right and rushed up the street. No one seemed to notice him as he barreled past and disappeared around the corner. Everyone was looking up at the Treasure Trove.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Icky icky evil! Die die DIE!”

“Come on,” Tesla said.

She hurried away, Nick and DeMarco behind her. They turned at the first corner and headed down the street Silas had used for his getaway. It was a lot darker and dirtier than Main Street—the only businesses on the block were a hole-in-the-wall convenience store and a grungy little laundromat—and Silas was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’d he go?” Nick said.

“I don’t know,” said Tesla. “He’s gotta be around here somewhere. He’s not that faAAAAAAAA!”

A large, shadowy shape was lunging at her from a nearby alley.

“Now I’ve got you meddling kids!” it cried.

Tesla and Nick and DeMarco screamed.

The large, shadowy shape—Silas—laughed and laughed.

Tesla folded her arms across her chest and scowled at him. “And to think just a couple hours ago I called you a genius.”

“And you were right,” Silas said, beaming.

He held up the manila envelope he’d taken from the Treasure Trove.

“Keep that out of sight,” Tesla snapped, shooing Silas back into the alley. “You weren’t supposed to take it. You were just supposed to make sure the comic book was really there.”

Silas’s smile faded as his friends followed him into the alley, looking like they wanted to throw him into the nearest Dumpster.

“I wasn’t going to just leave it for Antonio,” he protested.

“Anton,” Nick said.

Silas ignored him. “I had a chance to get it, so I got it.”

“Did Dobek see you?” Tesla asked.

Silas shook his head, his grin returning. “Nah. The envelope was right under the cash register, like you and Nick guessed, and Dobek was too busy screaming about devil roaches to notice me running in and grabbing it.” He waggled his eyebrows at DeMarco. “Told ya he’d freak.”

“I know, I know,” said DeMarco.

“So you’ve seen the comic?” Tesla asked. “It’s okay?”

“Oh. Well. No,” Silas said. “I haven’t checked it yet. Guess I’d better, huh? It still needs to be in mint condition to bring in the big bucks. I swear, if Dobek so much as left a thumbprint on the cover, I’m going back there with a whole swarm of robot bugs.”

After a quick glance up and down the alley, Silas opened the envelope—the top flap was unsealed—and slowly, carefully slid out its contents.

“Ta-da!” he started to say.

It came out “Ta-chuh?”

The kids were looking down at a black-and-white picture of a small, smiling man leaning against R2-D2, the famous movie droid. Written in cursive in the top left corner were the words, “Hello! Bleep bloop! Kenny Baker.”

“Who’s Kenny Baker?” said Tesla.

DeMarco pointed at the picture. “He’s the actor inside R2-D2. Duh.”

“There’s an actor in R2-D2?” said Nick.

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