Velma carried the boxes out to Polly's car. As she loaded them into the boot the van pulled behind her and a side door opened. Velma stood up stretched and yawned, all of a sudden she was grabbed around the waist and a hand pressed was over her mouth and dragged back into the van "Mmmmph?" was the only noise she could make until she bit down hard on the hand over he mouth "Scooby! Help! Scoobhhh..." the man sprayed something in her face and Velma passed out, he then proceeded to bind her with tape, Scooby ears pricked up and he ran outside barking, the gang looked at each other
"Hey man, like what's up Scoob?" Shaggy called out. Scooby dashed back inside
"Relma in Ranger! Relma in Ranger!" he barked then ran back out into the car park.
"Velma's in danger!" said Shaggy and Daphne simultaneously and the group dashed out after Scooby. They got to the car park just as the man had finished taping up Velma's torso and was about to start on her legs. Velma was starting to come round and saw Scooby running towards her barking furiously "Mmmm mm MMMMM!" she cried through her gag, the man turned and saw Scooby, he quickly closed the door and drove off with the Mystery Machine in hot pursuit.
For ten minutes they chased each other. Fred's experience in racing paid dividends as he was able to keep the up the pressure on the van's driver. Eventually a series of tight corners forced the van to slow down. Under pressure, the driver obviously misjudged one corner as they could see the van slow to a crawl for a few seconds. To everyone's surprise the van door suddenly slid open and Velma came tumbling out just as it began to speed up. Black tape covered the lower half of her face and most of her body. Despite this she managed to get to her feet before the van stopped and ran towards the Mystery Machine. On seeing Velma come out of the van Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne got out of the Mystery Machine and ran towards her "Go Scoob go!" shouted Shaggy, Scooby raced towards Velma. The man got out of his van and ran after Velma but Scooby got to her first and stood his ground growling angrily as Velma continued to run for the Mystery Machine. The man turned tail then raced off in his van. Velma and Scooby were quickly bundled into the Mystery Machine which then sped off in the opposite direction.
Pale and shaking Velma looked in an awful state. Shaggy held her tightly as Polly gently prized the tape from Velma's mouth and Daphne worked to free the rest of her. "Thanks Polly. Jinkies that was scary, I'm shaking like a leaf" she said, her voice trembling "Please don't let go Shaggy" she whispered to him and rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, comfort and security were the order of the day and she didn't care who knew it. Shaggy kept hold and gently stroked her head, slowly he felt her body began to relax and the shaking subside.
"Did he hit you over the head?" he asked quietly, Velma gently shook her head
"No, he sprayed something in my face, thanks for looking out for me Shaggy."
"Who was that creep?" asked Daphne "Jeepers, how much tape did he use on you Velma?"
"Dr McKleef" said Polly in an emotionless voice "he was sacked from here well over a year ago for stealing and falsifying data, his university is investigating to see if he did the same for his PhD. He has a grudge against me as I was the one who uncovered what he was doing. He was trying to steal the data on velmadinklei as the microbe has many potential commercial uses" she paused "He's a bit nuts, he once threatened to make me work for him or proclaim him as the discoverer. We haven't seen anything of him for a long time, until now that is. We'll let the police know right away." Daphne finally managed to free Velma who then held Shaggy tightly in return
"Remind me never to tumble out of a moving van again Shaggy." Holding onto Shaggy with one arm she stroked Scooby's head "And most of all thank you Scooby Doo." Scooby licked her face in return.
"Are you OK now Velma?" asked Polly "I thought you were used to this?"
"Getting there Polly, it was just so unexpected and getting out of the van like that was way more scary than I thought it would be. But being abducted by a mad scientist isn't going to stop me getting to my party though" chuckled Velma
"That's the spirit Velma" said Daphne
"Anyway," continued Velma "this kind of thing should happen to Daphne, but only when we are working on a mystery" Velma gave Polly a wry smile. Daphne nodded her head
"Fortunately not as much as it used to. Next time Velma, please just wait to be rescued, you all gave us a heart-attack when you came out of that van."
The party at Polly's house was under way when the news came through that McKleef had been arrested, he was being held at the local police station pending transfer elsewhere. The gang breathed a sigh of relief, Polly especially was happy that this was over and the party kicked up a gear in response. As the party went on Daphne noticed that Shaggy was waiting on Velma hand and foot and Velma, not only appeared to be revelling in it, had made him the sole focus of her attention as well. Daphne mentioned this to Fred
"That's kind of him, she's still a bit jittery after her encounter with that McKleef fellow." he replied
"She's really enjoying it" said Daphne
"Wouldn't anyone" said Fred
"No, I mean she's really enjoying Shaggy's attention" emphasised Daphne waggling here eyebrows for extra effect
"He's a kind person, why wouldn't she?" replied Fred aware that he and Daphne were having very different conversations
"But she's also ohhh… Never mind" said an exasperated Daphne and she stomped off to find Polly. Fred, mused Daphne, was rather like Velma, both were hopeless when what you really wanted was a good gossip.
Towards the end of the party Polly invited Fred and Velma to go over the next day to a old lab building near a large lake used by the company. It was being decommissioned and both were asked to see if there was anything there that either of them wanted, Velma for use in her basement lab and Fred for use in modifying the Mystery Machine. As it was supposed to be a nice day the rest of the gang decided to tag along and bring a picnic with them. Tomorrow was promising to be quiet an enjoyable day.