Chapter 12.The Ransom Note

It was close to a quarter of twelve when Pops, his wife, Chim Chim, Trixie and Sparky arrived at the race course. Along with the Racers and their sons' friends was Police Inspector Detector, who was in immediate charge of the case.

A grim-faced Racer X was waiting for them by his race vehicle. "We got here as fast as we could," a breathless Pops Racer gasped. "Now, where's Spritle?"

Without a word, the masked man led the group into the tiny back room where Spritle was hiding out---with his candy, of course. Once inside and the door closed behind them, Racer X explained his actions just now. "I didn't want to say anything outside, just in case Alpha Team had its spies about. I suspect this was Speed's way of sending a message to you and me, Pops---but the kidnappers used Spritle to their advantage, as well."

"Alpha Team---!!!" Pops was somewhat baffled. "Wait a minute. You're saying, Jack Wiley had his hand in this? But...But, why?? What does Alpha Team, have to do with my boys?" he exclaimed.

Racer X remained unruffled. "According to Spritle, plenty."

He motioned to Spritle. "Spritle? Your parents are here," Racer X said, with a smile.

Spritle looked up from his seat in the comfortable armchair, where he was still enjoying his bag of M&Ms. "Mom!!! Pops!!!" Speed's little brother cried out, seeing his parents there. He jumped out of his chair to run to them, but in his haste he spilled the entire bag of candy on the floor. "Aaaack!!!!"

"Spritle!!" Pops shouted, overjoyed to see his youngest son unharmed. He rushed towards his son, only to slip and almost fall on his backside after his foot made contact with several of the scattered candies. "Confound you and your candy, Spritle---!!!"

"Oh, Spritle. Thank God, you're all right, dear. We were so worried," Mrs. Racer exclaimed. Relief shone in her brown eyes.

Spritle reached out to give them both a great big hug." "Oh, I'm so glad to see you and Mom too, Pops. It was awful!" the little boy moaned, near tears. His mom and dad both hugged him tightly, in an effort to calm him. "The Alpha Team, they've got Speed hostage. All 'cause Speed made the mistake of tryin' on Racer X's mask this morning, at Racer X's house..." Spritle began to tremble at the thought, and his mom quickly tried to reassure him.

Pops, however, had a different reaction to Spritle's suddenly-blurted out information. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, what Speed had done this time to earn all this trouble. "Speed did, what???" the burly car designer exclaimed, staring hard at poor Spritle.

Sensing his dad's infamous temper about to rear its ugly head yet again, Spritle hastily pulled out the only defense he could think of from his candy bag: a bag of honest-to-goodness root beer barrels, a favorite of Pops'. "Uhhh...Have a root beer barrel, Pops?" the little fellow asked, a sheepish grin on his face. "Or two? Or three?...Or maybe, the whole bag???"

For the moment, Pops forgot about being mad at Speed for getting his younger brother into another jam. The candy intrigued him—he hadn't had those in at least six months, now. "Ooh! Root beer barrels! Don't mind if I do."

He was just about to accept Spritle's offer when he realized what his crafty youngest son was up to. So much for a peaceful day at the racetrack—there went Pops Racer, on the warpath again. "Wait a minute. Are you trying to change the subject, Spritle?" Pops said, eying Spritle with a great deal of fatherly suspicion. "I want to know what Speed did, to trigger your shenanigans!"

Poor Spritle! Being terrified by kidnappers was bad enough. But being terrified by his own father?? He squirmed, under his dad's intense gaze. "Wait, Pops, I can explain!" he cried out. Then comically, he turned to Racer X. "Please, Racer X. You'd better give 'em the note, before he blows another gasket!" Spritle comically begged, before dashing off to hide behind his bemused mother. Chim Chim followed him, hiding behind his little master and making all sorts of loud chimp noises.

"Mom!! Hide me!!" Spritle croaked, and Chim Chim hooted nervously.

Mrs. Racer gave her fuming husband an odd look. "Dear, please! You're scaring poor Spritle!" she sternly reprimanded Pops. "Think of what he's been through today. Now why don't you have one of those root beer barrels, and calm down??"

Pops backed down---as usual. Whenever his wife gave him that certain look, he was almost like melting ice cream in front of her. "You're right, dear. So right," he murmured, a sheepish look crossing his face.

He turned to a trembling Spritle. "I-I'm sorry, Spritle. I was just...I was just so worried about you and Speed, that's all." Pops winced. His face was red, but not quite as red as his shirt. He lay a gentle hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm just glad, you're okay."

Spritle relaxed, and emerged from behind his mom. "It's okay, Pops, really," he said, bag of candy in his hand. "Here, have a root beer barrel while you read the note." He opened the bag, took out a piece of candy, and happily began to unwrap it for his dad.

"Note?" Pops looked somewhat uneasy. "What note?"

"The one Mr. Wiley gave me, to give to you. You're not gonna like what it says, Pops." Spritle handed his father the unwrapped candy.

Pops popped the root beer barrel into his mouth. "I'll be the judge of that, son. Where is it?"

"Uh—Racer X has it. I thought he should read it, too."

At that point, Racer X saw that his little brother was starting to show signs of agitation and restlessness. He knew what was coming, and decided to step in before another Mt. Pops Racer eruption occurred. "All right, Spritle, I'll take it from here," he said, with a kindly smile for the lad. "You need to calm down."

Spritle suddenly looked up at him, annoyed. "But I AM calm!!!---Well, sort of." He ran back to Mom Racer, and clung to her. Trixie came over, and did her best to help Mrs. Racer calm her young son.

Racer X turned to Pops. He was all business now, judging by his facial expression. "This was on Spritle's overalls when I bumped into him. Apparently, Speed managed to talk the kidnappers into releasing Spritle, but not before they stuck this on him." He handed Spritle's dad the envelope, then beckoned to Inspector Detector. "Inspector, I think you'll find this of great interest as well."

Pops snorted. "Let me see that!"

He quickly opened the envelope, and pulled out the letter. As he began to read, a look of shock slowly gave way to horror as the man realized what it was. Pops' face suddenly turned a bright red, and the horror now turned to a seething anger. He gritted his teeth tightly, shattering the root beer barrel candy that was between his teeth. "What!!!!! Jack Wiley and the Alpha Team---!!!!" Pops exploded, furious. "Why, that dirty, rotten scoundrel, who does he think he is??? How dare he try to make me pay money for my son, just because I wouldn't allow Speed to join his stinking team???!!! I'll tell the Racing Committee what his team's up to, and believe me THEY'LL NEVER RACE AGAIN!!!!!"

Hoo! No doubt, Pops meant every word of his threat, too...

That was enough to get poor Spritle in a tizzy yet again. "But that's not all, Pops! They're trying to get rid of Racer X, too!" the lad cried, quaking again in comic terror. "The only reason Speed was kidnapped was 'cause he had the mask on and...And they thought, he was Racer X!"

Whoops! Spritle, you should have never said that! A beet-red Pops clenched both fists and bit down hard on his lip. These boys would be the death of him yet, the way they consistently got into trouble! "Unngghhh...SPEEEEED!!!!!" he bellowed comically. "I can't believe, that boy would do something so...So foolish! Ohh, I wish Rex were here. If anyone could talk sense into Speed, it'd probably be him..." On and on Pops went, until he practically exhausted himself from yelling. He didn't realize, that his long-lost son WAS there—and doing everything he could, to help get Speed back.

Still, Pops' latest outburst had everyone on edge. A whimpering Chim Chim immediately took cover behind Spritle, who took refuge now behind his bags of candy. Sparky, meanwhile, nudged Trixie. Both of them looked very nervous. "Trixie? I think we'd ahh, better get outta here, while the going's still good," Speed's best friend and ace mechanic said in a low voice.

Trixie agreed whole-heartedly. "Um, hmm! Before the volcano erupts again!"

Sparky grinned. "Exactly!"

"Unless of course, you happen to have some ear plugs..."

He shook his head. "Uh...Unfortunately, no."

Trixie made a face. "Then we'd better get out of here!"

The two teens cautiously inched their way to the door, only to be stopped by another loud roar from Pops. "And where do you think, YOU two are going??"

Both Sparky and Trixie looked alarmed. "Uhh...Uh. N-Nowhere, Pops!" Sparky stammered, breaking out in a cold sweat. He didn't like the look on Pops' face—it scared him, whenever the big man was upset!

"We just wanted to um, give you and your family some privacy," Trixie added. "I mean, whatever's in that note obviously has all of you in a tizzy." She paused, then added, "Besides, I want to help Sparky look for the Mach 5. It's the least I can do, considering what happened this morning--"

Before Trixie could go on, she heard someone behind her clearing his throat. It was Racer X. "You can all relax about Speed's car. The Mach 5's right here, under the white tarp that's next to the Shooting Star," he quietly informed Pops and his group. "I had it transported here along with my car this morning for safekeeping, when I discovered Speed was missing. And don't worry, Pops, I checked the Mach 5 over myself---nothing's been damaged or tampered with."

For that one brief moment, Pops Racer forgot all about being angry with his middle son. The fact that Speed had left the Mach 5 the way he'd driven it out of the family garage, was indeed a temper-cooler...but only briefly. "Well! Thank goodness for that," the Racer family patriarch murmured, relieved in one sense. "At least that's some good news--"

Sparky looked worried. ""Still, Pops. I think I'm gonna have a look at the Mach 5, anyways," he said, starting for the door again.

"Yes, and I'm coming with you," Trixie said.

Mrs. Racer, meanwhile, walked over to her distraught husband. Despite her rising worry over Speed, her own curiosity was piqued by the contents of the note, and she just had to ask. (Mother's instinct, you might say.) "So...what did the note say?" she asked softly .

At first, Pops didn't answer. He was still too much in shock. He took several deep breaths, in an attempt to compose himself before responding. "I can't believe it. Speed, kidnapped by Jack Wiley," he murmured, shaking his head and sighing heavily. "Alpha Team wants one hundred fifty thousand dollars for Speed's safe return. We only have forty-eight hours to get it."