Chapter 9
It was a quiet afternoon in Beauvillage, but a quieter one in the Tofu household. Lily arrived the first thing after school worried. The others quickly filled her in on everything and for a small while they all pondered what to do. Finaly they agreed to hear Chichi out when he woke up and allow him to explain everything. Lola, though mad at him was also willing to listen just what in the world did he get himself into. They also agreed on another sleepover and for a small while, Lily went home to get her stuff quickly returning back. Dr Spock called not long after telling them, that the blood test results have proven Chichi to be drug-clean. Their cheers of happiness and relief were short lived however. Dr Spock informed them, that despite the negative blood test detective Wiseman still suspects Chichi of being somehow involved in the case and said that he would obtain evidence of his guilt trough another way. Knowing, that there was nothing they could do until Chichi wakes up, the gang settled in the living room and turned on a movie or two. They didn´t just watch though. While the girls were taking turns checking up on Chichi (April´s turns were more times than neccessary), Phil and Billy examined the notes in Chichi´s notebook, which Phil took from Chichi´s schoolbag. Some of the machine desighns were too complicated for either of them to decipher, but putting their heads together, the two managed to figure out some of the plans and desighns. But they raised just as many questions as they answered. Most of them seemed to be deisghns for a house or an appartment while other were full of ecological ways to create electrical power. Wind power, water-mills, geo-thermal energy and solar power. The two looked at eachother. What in the world would he need these things for? And where would he get the money or the material for it? Also many times in his notes they came upon the word Hidehole. Sharing what they found with the girls, they all sat in silence wondering what could it mean, neither paying any attention to the movie. And neither of them noticed or realized, that they were being watched.
Outside near the Tofu´s yard safely seated on a tree, someone was watching them trough the window with binoculars. Although he was getting a bit sore, sitting here for hours, Nick lost none of his patience.
"Its only a matter of time, before something happens. If detective Wiseman was right, Michael Miles may come in to check on his accomplice, after he learns that he fainted."he thought to himself, as he turned his sights on the road.
After Chichi fainted, rumors of him overdosing have spread across the school within the hour. Acting on the detective´s plan he, Tex, Archie and Mia have helped the rumors go about, and by Beauvillage standarts everyone would know it by now. And if Michael Miles really is in town, he would hear it as well. And the moment something happens, Nick will simply call Wiseman from his cell phone. He supposed he could´ve let the others in on the deal he struck with Wiseman but this was too good and he wanted to get Chichi on his own.
"After all those years, I finally have a chance to get that bio-trash. Detective Wiseman will land him in prision. Serves him right for everything he´s ever done to me."he tought vindictively as he lowered his binoculars and with his fingers felt the blackened skin under his eye.
Nick didn´t have a clue if the rumors were true, or if Chichi was involved or not. Quite frankly he didn´t even care. The detective wanted Chichi´s head as much as he and his friends did. He would wait here all day if he had to. A small price to pay for finally getting rid of the eco-freak once and for all.
...
A few hours later Chichi´s eyes opened and he sat up in his bed and slowly scrathed his head. The pounding has stopped and though he still felt a bit weak, it was nothing compared to how he felt in the morning. He looked around for a second and realized he was in his room. He also took note, that he was shirtless and in his boxers. Looking around, he saw his clothes piled neatly on the chair at his desk. He wondered how the hell did he get into his room. Was it possible, that he overslept? No, Lola would wake him up and he just remembered, that April slept here last night. In a little moment, memories of what happened in the morning and in school came back to him.
"Nick... Mia... Wiseman... Dr Spock taking my blood..."he recollected swiftly, then looked on the clothes on the chair, at himself in bed only in his underwear and in a flash put two and two together.
"I must´ve fainted. Damn it."
He knew, that yesterday wasn´t a good idea. If he fainted, he can only imagine the rumors it must´ve made. And Wiseman´s statements could only make the situation worse. Suddenly he heared a low tone from the pants on his chair. The tone of his Gzorbial phone to be exact. Getting out of his bed he pulled the phone from his pants and answered the call, knowing full well who was calling.
"Hey, Miles."he said quietly.
"Finally Chich. I´ve been wondering whether to chance visiting you or not. I heared the rumor over two hours ago and asked about it for a while." Miles´ voice sounded relieved.
"Yeah. I just woke up. Apparently I fainted after the doctor took my blood because of Wiseman´s stupid idea to have me tested for drug use. What rumors are circulating?"Chichi asked in an uneasy voice.
"Well, the rumor is that you have overdosed. And that the doctor... Spock was his name I think, was at your house trying to save your life."
"Great. Just great."growled Chichi. He could only imagine the looks on the faces of the people he knew if they heared and believed THAT.
"Rumors aside for now. Listen, I found the two snitches and overheared them talking. I know who is responsible and when they will meet. But I´m unable to tell where. All I know, is that they have their lab somewhere in Beauvillage and they´re supposed to be there at 9pm."
Chichi smiled as he sat back on the bed.
"Too much! Yesterday I found out something as well. I know where the lab is. Lets meet at the Hidehole and we can form a battle plan."he said, energy suddenly returning to him.
"Right-o! Meet ´ya there in an hour."
Chichi was about to reply, when a thought occured to him. He remembered the promise he gave in the morning.
"Listen, Miles. I won´t come alone. I´m bringing my sister and closest friends too."
Miles sounded a bit shocked.
"I thought the Hidehole was going to be our secret."he said almost childishly.
"Look Miles, I trust them with my very life and I don´t want to keep anything secret from them. Especialy from my best friend, and from my sister neither."
Unknown to Chichi, a short while ago it was Lola´s turn to check up on him and from the narrowly opened door heared most of the Chichi´s conversation. Hearing that made her lips twitch in a gentle smile. Her anger at him was long forgotten as she opened the door more.
"Well all right Chich. If you say so. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine."
Chichi nodded as he got up from his bed.
"Ok. Meet you in the Hidehole."
"Wait up Chich. I want you to be carefull. I also kept a small eye on Wiseman. He was talking with the kid you punched before the school. It seems that we got another snitch on our tail. I saw him heading towards your house."
Chichi´s eyes flashed. He got up suddenly and headed towards his window. As he looked around the surroundings he noticed a small blink of light. Looking at the tree, he saw someone on it, binoculars in hand. Nick.
"Yeah, I see him. He mustn´t find out where we´re going. Or even worse the Hidehole."said Chichi as if thinking out loud.
"Need some help with him Chich?"
Chichi concidered it for a moment.
"No. You try to find out as much as you can. I´ll deal with him."his voice was full of confidence.
"All right. In an hour. We´ll wrap this up and get Wiseman off our backs."
Chichi nodded, still looking out the window. He didn´t notice that Lola enter the room and was slowly walking towards him.
"Not only that, but clear our names and get the real culprit behind bars, since Wiseman obviously isn´t up to the task. Fine. In an hour. Bye."
Ending the phonecall, Chichi looked out of the window again. He peered at Nick, sitting still on the tree and wondered how best could he get him out of the way. But suddenly he was slapped hard over his head.
"OW!"he exclaimed, grabbing the sore spot and turning around, he saw Lola behind him.
"That was for all the worries you caused. D´you have any idea how worried all of us were?"she said sternly. Chichi turned to her and looked down on his feet guiltily not even bothering to note that he was still in his boxers.
"I´m sorry."he said and he meant it. Lola´s eyes softened.
"I may be willing to forgive you, if you promise never to do something like this again. The others... you´ll have to ask them yourself. And it would be nice if you got down and explained everything."
...
The gang was seated at the kitchen table and even the animals were sitting near it paying attention to Chichi, who came down a while later fully dressed. They accepted his apology but were eager to hear his explanation. Chichi sat down, took a small drink of water, then a deep breath and started.
"It all started a month before the school holidays, when Don and Misty were here to visit. Don told me, that he was offered a chance to make some money during the holidays. His uncle owns a repair service in Megacity. Knowing what I can do, he invited me to join him. His uncle agreed as well. The problem was, that the repair shop is for just about any machinery, including big machines and cars. As all of you know, Mom and Buba would never allow it, but I wasn´t about to pass up on a chance like that. So me and Don made a series of excuses and cover-ups to get them to agree. So from day one during the holiday in Megacity, we were in the servise and sleeping at Don and Misty´s. Don´s uncle was really impressed by what me and Don were able to do and soon we were allowed to help and work on some of the bigger machines that are being brought there. Not to mention that he always gave us some money at the end of the day. We ussualy finished at around 5-6 pm and then, me and Don went around the city and sometimes went out of town with their parents with their parents. Sometime during the end of week one, Don´s uncle introduced us to his acquaintance, when he brought his van into servise. His name was Michael Miles. Over the small time that I was fixing his motor, we talked and he seemed like an all right guy. As he and the uncle talked, Don informed me of the rumors going on about him. But we shrugged them off, since uncle was apparently a very good friend of his. Miles then said, that he would need help getting him the machine parts we needed to repair one of the big machines and they both asked us if we could go help Miles during the weekend. So we did and the first in line of our small adventures has started. You see, Miles has many contacts in the big firms all around the country, also the salvage yards and stuff like that. It works like this. When someone needs something he can´t get, Miles goes over his contacts, obtains whatever is necessary and sells it to the buyer. And often times he gets into trouble doing it. But he´s inventive, flexible and has a gift for subterfuge that enables him to worm his way out of trouble. Overtime we found out that some of the things are true about him, but not nearly as bad as the rumors make them out to be and Miles himself never made a single attempt to contradict any of them. He´s the type who just tries to go about his buisness and doesn´t care what people think about him. He has also proven himself to be a good friend. Quite honestly, I´ve never met someone like him. We started to hang out after our shifts in the repair shops and during our little ordeals we met a number of people he knows. Including the Jumpers. You see, he and Roger Spikely are old classmates from elementary school and when he found out, that its our favourite band he introduced us during week three. Since then me and Don were often spending time with them. We also helped Roger when he was completing his part of the club as I said earlier. But then the drug problem started. The streets for some reason became a sort of underground battlefield for the local dealers, who were fighting for territory as it were. Roger and the others wanted to use the situation to get them off the streets, so he and Clarence – the Jumpers bass player, contacted a friend of theirs who is a detective in the MCPD (Megacity Police Department). They made a small plan, but they needed help to gather evidence and each of them were too well known on the streets of Megacity. They asked me and Don to do it. So we did. Miles went with us just in case – in disguise, you wouldn´t believe how capable he is with them, and the three of us obtained everything the police needed. It was however in secret and a small problem arose. The problem called detective Frederick Wiseman. The idiot is the clumsiest cop in Megacity and unfortunately has a fixation on catching Miles. From what he said, it was there since their days in Elementary school. He had never quite forgiven Miles for playing pranks on him and fooling him so many times even then. Wiseman comes from a family of policemen and apparently always wanted to be a detective. That he actually made it is astounding, but I suppose it was only fool´s luck. Anyway, he made our evidence gathering very difficult, nearly blowing our cover number of times and trying to arrest us everytime, furious when we escaped. He nearly foiled everything, when the planed trap sprung and the arrests began and thanks to us the drug dealers were arrested and put behind bars. After everything was explained, he was forced to drop it and let us go, but Miles said, that he was once again furious at us for making a fool out of him in front of the captain and his collague getting all the praise for rounding up the 6 greatest drug dealers in Megacity. We shrugged it off and got back to life as ussual and waited for Roger to open the club. Over this time I had my small clothes makeover. Many of the shop owners in that area knew of our involvement in the case and seeing that threat to their streets was ended, they were grateful to us and wanted to show their appreciation. The clothes I´m wearing now for instance were custom made as a gift and many of them said that if we ever need anything they will be willing to help. As the Jumpers concert was being prepared, Miles got wind of a large crowd of people from other cities coming to attend and decided to use the situation. He came up with an original scheme – fan stands. He got T-shirts made in one of the shops, burnt CDs and DVDs and many other merchendise to sell to the fans. Of course, most people don´t care if they were originals or not, especially when the prices for it were low enough. Its what you´d call an undershelf sale. And of course me and Don were helping too. But someone made an anonymous call to Wiseman and said that Miles is selling illicit material in the club or something like that. So Wiseman took a group of policemen with him and went to the concert. Since Miles had no papers or licence for the fan stand (hardly surprising), we had to make a run for it. Luckily we evaded Wisamen and made it back in time for the concert. But as I heared Wiseman was suspicious eversince."
The gang sat in silence, barely breathing as Chichi refilled his glass with water and drank it.
"To start off, Chichi. That was way too dangerous. Consorting with such company as drug dealers. You could´ve been hurt or worse... killed."Lola said the last word quietly and shivered.
"I knew the risks. But people were getting hurt in there regardless. I wanted to help. And besides, Miles was there too. There were a few fights, that´s true, but Miles and detective Strongdome – Roger´s friend, have tutored us a bit in self-defence. Also all the work I´ve been doing over the summer, lifting heavy things made me a bit stonger."
"I could tell the way you punched Nick to the ground today."said Phil quietly.
"You WHAT?"exclaimed Lola glaring at Chichi. Phil and April "forgot" to mention that part to her.
"Hey, he was the one who was picking a fight. I only defended myself."he shrugged calmly.
"That´s true Lola."said April quietly and Lola sighed and calmed down.
"And that´s why he and Mia called Wiseman to take the blood tests."said Chichi shaking his head.
"Wow. Talk about being vindictive."said Billy with a whistle. Lily and Lola exchanged angry looks.
"You said it. Nick wanted to get back at Chichi for giving him a black-eye and Mia wanted to get back at me for calling her a bitch and fighting with her the other day."commented April.
"April...!"Lily and Lola exclaimed outraged but April crossed her arms in a defiant way.
"I told her too many times to keep her comments about Chichi to herself. Instead she does it everytime and I won´t stand for it."
The two older girls sighed and shook their heads finally understanding the small bandage on April´s cheek, that she had from yesterday.
"When I said to April, that she has to fight for the boy she loves, that´s NOT what I was talking about."thought Lola to herself, but she kept that comment to herself not wanting to say that in front of Chichi. Also she´d be a real hypocrite to tell April off for this, when she herself had way too many cat-fights with Cherie.
"Its more than just getting back at us, what they´re trying to do. I´ve spoken with Miles trough my phone a while ago and he said, that Nick has been seen dealing with Wiseman. I looked from my window and found him sitting on the tree in front of the yard with binoculars. He´s been spying on the house for hours."said Chichi with a note of anger. The others´ faces showed similar looks of anger and Billy stood up from the chair.
"Where are you going?"asked Lola worriedly. It takes a lot to get Billy angry, but now his face was livid.
"I´m going to pick up where Chichi left off and give that creep another black-eye."he said in anger.
"No. Drop it Billy. There´s no time for this. I´ll get even with him and Wiseman in another way, but right now we have to solve this and clear my name."said Chichi seriously.
"He´s right. That takes priority right now."nodded Phil. Billy mulled it over for a while, then nodded and sat back down. But suddenly realized something, he and Phil were pondering over since lunch.
"Chichi. We looked over your notes and there was one word, that we all pondered about. What is the Hidehole?"he wondered for a while, if Chichi was going to be mad, that they went trough his notebook but it had to be said, now that he was coming clean. Chichi however wasn´t mad. Instead his face shown a small smile.
"That is the secret I was hiding and the place where we have to go."
...
Nick was still sitting on the tree. He observed, that they moved into the kitchen for some reason.
"Damn it I can´t see into the kitchen from here. And no sighn of activity from the bio-trash´s room."
He wondered how long he would be sitting in here until something happened. Suddenly, something hit him over the head. Looking around, he heared a small coo. Out of nowhere, another blow followed. And then a pigeon landed on his head and started to peck him on the head vigorously. Screaming in pain and trying to fend off the pesky bird with one hand and still holding the binoculars with the other he lost all balance and fell off the tree, landing on the ground. With a loud crow Cracker started to peck Nick as well. He was throwing his hands and feet around in futile attempts to grab the rooster or the pigeon. Suddenly Suzie ran out of the open yard and started to chase Nick. Knowing that he had no way to pelt off the animals from himself and that the bio-degraded ones will surely come out to check, what all the commotion was about, he quickly started to run down the street. The animals followed him for a while, but then turned and went back into the Tofu yard, where the gang was waiting for them, still laughing silently.
"Perfect job, you three."commented Billy approvingly. Cracker, Suzie and Rocky each replied in their own ways.
"Rocky and Cracker make a powerfull duo don´t they?"giggled Lola as Rocky flew from Suzie´s back and settled on her shoulder cooing happily. Eversince Lola and Billy got together the pigeon had grown attached to her as well and was also as protective of her as Billy.
"Yup. Amazing Avians."commented Chichi with a smile.
"That sounds more like a TV show."giggled April.
"I don´t think we have to worry about Nick anymore."said Lily with satisfaction.
"Not yet at any case. But it was definitely better than fighting him. Nice plan Chichi."nodded Phil, clapping his best friend on the shoulder.
"Was there any doubt in your mind?"replied Chichi mischievously, wriggling his eyebrows. The gang and the animals laughed.
"Now lets get going. It takes a good half hour to reach the Hidehole. I know a way to get there without being seen."
With that, the gang set out, leaving the three animals in the yard. They headed quietly to the side of the street which was flanked by the forest. Chichi looked from one side of the street to the other and then motioned to the others to follow him as he disapeared in the trees.
They walked trough the forest for a while going deeper, than any of them save Chichi ever went. They seemed to be following the river downstream moving to the east of Beauvillage.
"Chichi? What´s the story behind this Hidehole?"asked April, who was walking alongside him. The others sharpened their ears, also very interested.
"During the end of July, when we went to the moutains with Don and Misty´s parents, Miles contacted us that he was in the vicinity and needed help with something. So me and Don excused ourselfs for a while and went with Miles into a giant factory, owned by an elderly businessman. He apparently brought something for him, but the man had a problem with one of his big production machines. He thought it was beyond repair, but agreed with Miles that me and Don could take a look. It was missing a single component, but I managed to bypass that problem and find an alternative solution to it. With the machine running again, Mr Longbow wanted to show his appretiation."explained Chichi and the gang gasped.
"Longbow? As in Longbow industries?"asked Lily astoundingly, the others too stuned to speak a word. The Longbow industries was one of the major firms in the country dealing in many aspects of business, owing many smaller firms and along with two just as large companies is pretty much responsible for every bit of commercial trade done in their country. The fact that Chichi would know the president of such a company is extraordinary, but at the same time everyone understood, that Mom, Pop and Buba would have a fit, if they found out about it. Though Longbow industries also support ecology, many of its small firms and assets are what they would call "polluters".
"Yes, he´s a kind old man. Not what you´d expect from a business honcho. But did any of you know, that he was born here in Beauvillage?"
The others were shocked to hear that. Chichi went on as they were moving deeper, nearing their destination.
"Yup and the start of his business ventures began here. Or rather in the place we are currently heading. You see he used to have his auto - repair shop near here. The place was old and deserted years back. 40 years back if I´m not mistaken. Anyway its across the old road to Beauvillage."
The others were thinking about it. Though long-time residents of Beauvillage they didn´t recall an old road. Until Lily gasped with realization.
"That road? It was really about 40 years ago, when the main road was built, to allow easy access to the village. Until then it was a longer road trough the forests. Since then the road hasn´t been used."she clarified for the others. Being the daughter of a historian and an archeologist gave her extensive knowledge of history.
"Yup. Well after the road was built, there wasn´t much point in leaving the place open. It was too far off from Beauvillage and its main road. Mr Longbow then transfered to a different type of business, that brought him a lot of success but he still kept ownership of the place out of emotional attachments even after he left Beauvillage for good. He told us that he meant to pass it to someone, not having the heart to tear it down, but no one he knew would have any use for a building deeply hidden in the forest. Me and Miles talked about it for a while and told him that we would. He passed on to us the ownership – that was the file you saw me get from the public records. The mayor has been informed of it by Mr Longbow himself. The place is legaly Miles´ and mine. I want to use it as a workshop for my work, far away from the eyes of Mom and Buba. Miles wants to use it as a base for his business – a storage room for the goods he brings around. The only problem was, that it needed a major makeover and its completly without any electricity, gas or water. However, we won´t need it. That´s the thing I was working on for the entire time – a way to get the place running. We had lots of help from Don and even the members of the Jumpers, since most of them have worked in their early days in construction. During the last week of the summer I was here for most of the day and during night too, but now that we have school I was forced to double my efforts during night. And thanks to the idea the movie gave me, I almost have everything done. Thistime tommorow the Hidehole will be fully operational. Too much! I can hardly wait for it."finished Chichi with a jovial exclamation, letting himself to get carried away.
The gang looked at eachother for what felt like the milionth time today. All of them were unsure what to make of it. The story seemed almost surreal. Looking over his shoulder, Chichi grinned.
"You don´t have to take my word for it. We´re here."he said pointing ahead of him.
"Welcome to the Hidehole."