Chapter Five

I spun around. Professor Ratigan's face was red with anger. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. The showgirls backstage chose to ignore us.

I tried to protest, but could not find my voice. I tried to remember everything I had been taught about kung fu, but at that moment it all slipped from my mind.

He led me out the back way, hissing, "What are you doing in a place like this? You're going to get yourself killed! You, of all mice! Right on stage, too! I thought you were above that!" He ranted and raved as he took me to a waiting cab. "What a shock for me it was to see Meg Sarentis dancing in a saloon for a crowd of ruffians!"

I suddenly came to my senses. I tried pulling out of his grasp, but he held on tighter. "You're not going anywhere!" he snarled.

"Let go!" I gasped. I tried to kick him, but I was too close. He grabbed my arms and pinned them to my side, then dragged me into the cab. It started off as soon as he closed the door. He immediately gagged me.

I struggled so much he had to hold me until the cab stopped at a dry goods store. Ratigan carried me up to a living room on the second floor of the building before depositing me on an old, worn sofa.

I immediately took off the gag.

"Don't expect to get any help if you scream," he said as he turned on a gas lamp. "All of the owners of the stores around here don't reside in them." The professor went to the door and locked it, putting the key in the pocket of his waistcoat.

I looked around me. There were no windows in this apartment. All of the furniture looked rather dusty and worn, but well kept. A stove sat in the corner. Ratigan laid his hat and cape down on a table and stood in front of me.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THAT SALOON!" he screamed, his face turning bright red once again. Even though he was the only individual I most hated and feared, it took me a great effort to resist the urge to laugh. He almost looked like an overripe tomato. "WELL?"

I calmed myself down enough to answer, "That's really none of your business."

"OF COURSE IT'S MY BUSINESS!" he roared. I started to rock back and forth to prevent myself from laughing. He just looked so funny! "I'll ask you once more: What were you doing in that scum hole?"

I burst. I really could not control myself. I laughed right in his face. I laughed so hard that tears started to come to my eyes.

Ratigan was furious. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me until I quieted down a bit, but I was still giggling. "What's so amusing?" he demanded.

"You!" I started up again. "You're acting just like a worried parent! Hahahah, you don't have any authority over me!"

He searched my face. "Are you drunk? Drugged?"

"What? No!"

He took out a pen. "Follow this with your eyes."

I passed the test. The rat paced up and down the room. I let out a chuckle once in a while.

"I've run out of logical excuses for you to be in there. What were you doing?"

"Well, I could ask you what you were doing in there too, heheh."

"Don't act smart with me Meg!" I folded my arms and glared at him, all the amusement gone. He still walked back and forth. "Well?"

"What do you think I was doing there?"

"You are the most infuriating girl I have ever known!"

"Fine! I was following Matthew Childres."

"Childres? The oil tycoon?"

"Yes."

"For heaven's sake, why?"

"He kidnapped Hiram and Olivia Flaversham."

Ratigan stopped pacing and turned toward me. "How do you know this?" he asked.

"Because I was there!" I explained to him what had happened that night. He was taken aback.

"But Basil didn't reach America until after the kidnapping. What were you doing in New York?"

"He sent me to... wait, how do you know that?" Silence. Then it dawned on me. "You!" I leaped up from my seat and tried to hit him. "You!"

He tried to pin my arms down again, but I had caught him by surprise. Instead he pushed me to the floor. Before I could get up, he was on me.

"I've heard all about your little 'exploits' in Shanghai," he said. "Unfortunately for you, my dear, I'm still stronger than you."

"You're responsible for their capture! What did you do with them?"

"You ask too many questions. You make me weary." He got off me. As I took my seat on the sofa, he continued, "They're still alive. I won't kill them... yet."

"But why?"

"I knew that if the Flavershams were in any trouble, Basil and his 'chum' Dr. Dawson would, without hesitation, come to their rescue. They're walking right into a trap." He laughed.

I wished I had a gun at that moment. This time I got up and started to pace. "So Childres has nothing to do with this?"

Ratigan smirked. "He works for me."

I stopped. "He works for you?"

"Why yes. I have connections everywhere. I promised Childres a price for the capture of the Flavershams and your two friends at Lower 221B Baker Street. He was more than willing to oblige me."

"They've been captured already?"

"Not yet. I received a telegram about two hours ago that they were still on a train headed for San Antonio. They're only hours away now."

"And what about me? How did I figure into this bargain?" I asked.

Ratigan pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. "You," he said rather soothingly, "were to be left alone. I know how Basil's mind works. He knew the moment he found out about the kidnappings that I had been behind it. If you had been at Baker Street when this had happened, he would've left you there and gone to America. No one would've been there to protect you."

"What if Dawson had stayed with me?" It did not really matter now, but I was stalling for time to think of a plan for escape.

"It would've been all too easy to terminate the good doctor and retrieve you," he answered. "But now you have come to me."

I turned away from him. He drew closer. I spun around again and slapped him fully in the face. He staggered backwards, knocking a chair over. "Damn you, woman!" he shouted.

I ran to the door, temporarily forgetting that it was locked. Then I tried to kick it open. Ratigan had recovered and he grabbed my arms. Legs flailing, I screamed, "I hate you! Black-hearted scoundrel, you'll kill anyone! First Josh, then the Flavershams and Dawson and Basil!"

He shoved me into a bedroom and locked me inside. This room had no windows either. I found a chair and started hitting the door with it. When that wore me out, I resorted to pounding on the door.

"Let me out!"

"You think I'd do that?" he barked.

"I'm going to kill you!"

"No you're not, my dear. A simple girl like you is no match for the most brilliant mind in the world."

I was leaning on the door when Ratigan opened it again. I fell into him. He pressed a handkerchief over my nose and mouth. It was soaked with chloroform.

"You're too independent for your own good," he snarled as I fell into unconsciousness.

JWJ: You've brought Ratigan back to life again!

Meg: What are you talking about? He hasn't been 'dead' since "Sing Sweetly."

Lizz: Hahaha! You got him this time Meg!

JWJ: Oh shut up!

Lizz: Hey, what's going to happen to Meg now?

Leigh: Making her faint. How dramatic.

Meg: Well, it works.