Chapter 8: The Missing Father

Hours later, Charlie Chan had left for his new job assignment in Independence. As promised, he called three hours later, checking on his family before everyone went to bed.

The next day came and after having breakfast, the children waited for a call from their father, but heard nothing for the entire morning. Hours passed, the evening came, and they received no phone call from Charlie. Though bothered, the Clan felt that just meant their father was incredibly busy and decided not to worry. However, when two more days passed and there was still no phone call, it was obvious something was amiss.

That evening, the ten children sat quietly together in the living room. Seeing the concerned look on the faces of his younger siblings, Henry finally spoke, "Alright, what's everybody thinking?"

While brushing Mimi's hair, Suzie replied, "I think that's pretty obvious."

"Oh, come on!" Flip demanded. "We've waited long enough. Pop's definitely in trouble. We can't just sit here any longer. We gotta go out there and help him!"

"Yeah!" an enthusiastic Scooter agreed. "Flip's right! We gotta go out there and help him!"

"I'm starting to agree with Flip here, Henry," Anne concurred. "After three days with no word, I'd say it's pretty clear something's wrong. I think we should do something now and not wait 'til we see Pop's picture in the papers."

"But, Anne, we might miss your birthday," Stanley pointed out.

Anne immediately smiled, "All the more reason we should do it!"

"Not that I disagree with anyone," Henry disputed, "we can't. Pop told us not to come there. Besides, for all we know, he's probably fine and us coming there would probably mess up whatever he has planned."

Flip argued, "But we'll never know unless we go out there and check up on Pop, just to make sure he's all cool."

"Even if we did drive all the way out to Independence, where would we start looking once we get there?" Henry debated. "We don't even know what hotel Pop was staying at."

"Perhaps we should be perturbed about that hindrance once we encounter it," Tom suggested.

Scooter was puzzled by what his brainy, older brother just said. "Huh?"

"He said we should burn that bridge when we get to it," Alan translated.

Failing to understand that expression, Scooter naively stated, "But we don't want to burn a bridge. We wanna find Pop."

An annoyed Mimi rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're too young to understand, Scooter."

"Sorry," concluded Henry, "but we just can't. Subject closed."

"Yeah," sighed Suzie. "Henry's right. We gotta do what Pop says. Like it or not."

"Thank you," Henry said as he started to exit the living room. "Stanley, come on. It's time for us to lock up the house."

Stanley followed his older brother out. "Uh, Henry," he questioned, "are you sure about this? What if Pop does need help? Ain't there something we can do?"

"Shh!" hushed Henry. "We are gonna do something."

"We are?" Stanley whispered. "What?"

"I'll tell you tonight when everyone's asleep," Henry replied. "Now let's lock up everything."

Late that night, after midnight, Stanley crept downstairs to meet his brother.

"Are they asleep?" Henry asked.

"Yeah," Stanley nodded. "I peeked in the rooms. They're bundled up. So, what are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna head to Independence," said Henry.

"Oh," Stanley smiled, then gasped upon realizing what his eldest sibling just said. "We're WHAT?!"

"Shh! Quiet, you dum-dum!" Henry sibilated. "Now, I've left a note for the others. Let's get to the Chan Van."

The two brothers quietly entered the Chan Van and drove off, heading for the city, Independence. Unbeknown to the two boys, a man with a mustache watched their every move from his car.

After several minutes, with Henry driving, Stanley suddenly asked, "Uh, just curious here, but why didn't you tell the others we were going to do this earlier?"

"You know this is a serious case Pop is on," Henry explained. "If we told the rest of the Clan, they would've wanted to come, too. As the two oldest, it's our job to keep them safe."

"Oh, yeah," Stanley understood. "I guess you're right."

After several more minutes on the road, a sneeze was suddenly heard.

"Gesundheit," said Henry.

"Thanks," Stanley said before quickly realizing something. "Wait a minute, I didn't sneeze. I thought that was you."

"Wasn't me," Henry shook his head.

Stanley turned around. "Ah," he guessed, "it was probably something under one of those blankets in the back seats."

"Oh." Henry calmly shrugged, but then stated, "Wait a second, what blankets? We didn't bring any blankets."

Looking through the rear-view mirror, Henry noticed two sheets of blankets, one in the second row of the van and the other in the third row. In the blanket furthest back, the furry head of Chu-Chu stuck out.

"Chu-Chu!" a surprised Henry yelped.

"Aw, Chu-Chu," the familiar voice of the youngest Chan child bleated. "First you sneeze, then you blow it by letting Henry see you."

"Bad dog, Chu-Chu," Mimi scolded as she and Scooter came out from under the blanket.

Chu-Chu whimpered apologetically and Flip and Nancy came out from under the blanket afterwards. "Hi, Henry. Hi, Stanley," Nancy waved to her two oldest siblings.

"Alright, everybody," Flip called out to his four hidden older siblings, "you might as well come out. The jig's up."

Suzie, Anne, Tom, and Alan came out from the blanket on the second row seat.

"Now I expected better from you, Suzie," Henry lectured.

"I was outvoted," his younger sister shamelessly shrugged.

"Okay," an irritated Henry asked, "now what are you all doing here?"

"We should be asking you two that," Alan countered.

"Now aren't you guys glad I had us camp in the Chan Van tonight?" Flip remarked. "I told you they'd try to sneak off without us."

"You're a genius, Flip," Anne complimented.

"Yeah," Scooter agreed. "What a brain, Flip!"

"Listen," Henry reasoned, "I get why you all want to come, but you shouldn't be here."

"Yeah, yeah, this case could be dangerous," Anne acknowledged. "Look, we get you're trying to be responsible, look out for us, and all that, but, lovely reminder: this is our pop, too. If he's in trouble, the whole Chan Clan should help, not just you two."

Realizing his tomboyish little sister was right, Henry admitted defeat. "Oh, okay, fine," he sighed. "We've already come this far, we might as well keep going."

The four middle and four youngest Chan kids cheered, "Hooray!"

Flip then quietly mumbled to himself, "'Chan Clan'. Yech!"

As the children continued to their destination, the mustached man followed them in his car.