Chapter 14: Threatening Message
Late that evening, the Chan family returned home with the police lieutenant. They watched the news report and learned it didn't take long before folks noticed the dragon robot. Many terrorized citizens were evacuating the city, but city mayor, Boxelder, refused to abandon his town. He assured everyone this dragon will be dealt with as soon as possible.
"Freaky," said Alan with a bit of amazement.
"Wow," Stanley quavered. "I wonder what that thing is made of anyway."
"Obviously some sort of metal," Tom theorized. "I'm not certain, but it looks like some sort of tungsten, or wolfram."
"That's exactly what it is, Tom," Charlie Chan agreed as he pulled out a small sample of the said metal. "And that's also what the abducted children were really mining for."
"But I thought they were mining for diamonds to make the kidnappers rich," said a confused Mimi.
"No," her father explained, "the diamonds were merely a bonus. They were really searching for this rare metal so they could create their robotic dragon. This tungsten is as hard as it is rare and would not be very easy to deal with."
While the cunning detective was giving his youngest daughter this explanation, Tom walked over to the dining table and decided to look up more information on the rare metal on the family laptop. All of a sudden, an instant e-mail message appeared on screen for Mr. Chan. Not wanting to disturb his father, Tom decided to read the message himself. The moment he opened the message, he became greatly startled.
"Well," Alan glumly said, "the crook has made his move, but we still don't have a clue where he or Anne is."
"Uh…correction. We do have a clue to Anne's whereabouts," Tom corrected his brother.
Everyone turned towards Tom, both surprised and confused. "Look at this," he told them.
The Chan family, police lieutenant, and Chu-Chu walked over to Tom and he revealed a shocking sight on the laptop…a picture of an unconscious Anne in a dark area, tied to a steel pole!
"It's Anne!" cried Mimi.
"And there's more." Tom showed a message below the horrific photo and read it aloud, "Your daughter is inside my dragon. Unless you want her harmed, stop your meddling and leave town."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Flip compelled his siblings. "Let's go find that dragon!"
Scooter again approved of his brother's decision, "Yeah, let's go!"
"Calm down, all of you," Charlie instructed his children. "Now I believe I may have the answer to this mystery, but I need to go with the lieutenant and make certain of a few things. In the meantime, I want you all to remain here until I return."
Henry was very reluctant to accept his father's request. "But, Pop, what about that robot?"
"I assure you I will be fine, Henry," Charlie calmed his son. "Now I'll see you all later."
Charlie left the house with the lieutenant, closing the door behind them.
"I don't like it," Flip grunted. "The crook could use the dragon to snatch up Pop while we're just sitting here."
"You heard Pop," Henry reminded his little brother. "We're supposed to wait here."
Flip contended, "But what's to stop the crook from using that dragon to come here, smash the house, and snag any one of us? So when you think about it, we're not really safe here either."
"He's got a point, Henry," Stanley shrugged.
Suzie expressed her concern. "While I agree, what can we do even if we find that dragon? How can we stop it?"
"I believe," Tom considered, "that the first step in our agenda should be to rescue our mutual sibling and I recommend we do it immediately." Tom showed a news article he just found on the laptop to the rest of the Clan. "It says the mayor has ordered an army with heavy assault missiles to come and destroy the dragon."
"With Anne in it?!" Alan gasped. "Oh, man! We gotta think of something!"
Henry suddenly came up with a brainstorm. "Alan, couldn't you make a gizmo to cut through the metal? Some sort of laser or something?"
"Well, probably," Alan said uncertainly, "but because of the size of that thing, I don't think I can make one strong enough to totally take it out, and even if I could, there's no way I'd be able to make it before the cavalry gets here."
"We don't need something to actually destroy it," Henry explained, "just something to slow it down or wear it out so we can save Anne."
"Well, I don't know…" Alan remained unsure of this. However, the moment he placed his hand in his pocket, he unintentionally pulled out Anne's cap, which he was still carrying. Realizing his sister needed him now more than ever, the inventing genius lost all doubts. "…but I'm willing to give it a go!"