Chapter three

Egbert pushed the manhole cover away silently and reached for the bottom of the truck. Just as planned the concealed trap door, Barry had installed the day before opened, and Egbert quickly slipped into the idling ice cream truck. He crouched on the floor for a moment. Then he concentrated his full attention on the cake before him. It was a true beauty, a mouth-watering masterpiece of bakery.

This was the kind of moments that Egbert lived for. The money and sweets his ingenious plans brought him and his friends were nice, of course, but they were more of a bonus. The true joy was to see his carefully laid out plan play out just as intended, leaving the befuddled victims none the wiser. The fact that the victims in this case were both Father and his Delightful Dorks AND the Kids Next Door, whom Egbert had found annoyingly smug and superior ever since they rejected his application for membership, in one fell swoop … that was outright beautiful.

But he quickly regained his focus. There was no time to waste. Quietly, quietly he picked up the cake, all the time attentive to the backs of the two ice-cream men in front of the truck, one broad and calm, one narrow and fidgeting. The fidgeting one was the worst, he seemed like he could turn and check on the cake any second. Egbert held the cake over his head and slipped down into the manhole under the car. He placed the cake on a ledge, reached up and closed the trap door, then pulled the manhole cover back just as a shudder in the bridge structure informed him that the bridge had closed again. He waited in the darkness with barred breath until he heard the large engine roar over his head and disappear in the distance. Then he smiled, lit his head lamp, picked up the cake and headed towards the meeting spot at the end of the drain system.

"Holy moley, we are just BRILLIANT" Barry exclaimed for the umpteenth time, as the three gang members were making their way uphill from the riverbank, carrying the sweet, sweet fruit of their criminal enterprise. "I am brilliant, and you are brilliant, Kyle, and Eggy, you are just the brilliantest brilliantest kid in the whole world."

"Well, I haven't entirely lost my touch", Egbert said, in a very un-modest way. "Come on, Kyle, we're meeting Harvey in the woods in three minutes time."

"Yes, yes, I am coming", Kyle huffed. He was falling slightly behind, having to carry the cake and all, but he too was exited at the thought of the whipped cream and sponge cake extravaganza he was carrying. He could just picture Ysandes smile, when she saw it. It was so beautiful.

The three happy boys made it to the top of the and continued along a small path into the woods until they saw Harvey McKenzie. The short sandy-haired operative was pacing back and forth beside a large tree stump next to the path in full mission gear, including a large sky-blue colander helmet with the number "363" in front. When he saw the three boys and the cake approaching, he stiffened and stood tense, legs slightly spread, watching their approach.

"He looks like an Easter egg with buck-teeth", Barry whispered with muffled laughter.

"Shut up, Barry", Egbert muttered out of the corner of his mouth as they reached Harvey. "Hey, Harvey!"

"Hey, guys!" Harvey said, relaxing slightly, "I see you got the cake. Did anyone see you?"

"Did anyone see us?" Barry laughed, "Relax, Harvey, it was a CAKEWALK!" He was about to slap Harvey on the shoulder, when Harvey's hand shot out, quick as a striking snake, and caught his wrist. Two steel-hard fingers squeezed and made Barry cry out in pain.

"Don't touch me … ever!" Harvey said, with the kind of voice usually reserved to sentences such as: "You have outlived your usefulness to me."

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT", Barry hollered, and Harvey let go of his wrist. "Geez, what's your problem, man?"

"I don't like to be touched. GET IT?"

"He got it, he got it", Egbert interrupted quickly. "Now, let's focus on the matters at hand. Kyle?"

Kyle stepped forward, trying to keep as far away from Harvey as possible and gingerly placed the cake on the wooden stump. Here under the open sky, it seemed even more magnificent with its layers upon layers of sponge cake covered with light blue frosting.

Kyle pulled a large carving knife from one of his pockets and handed it to Egbert, who then handed it to Harvey. Harvey stepped over to the cake, knife in hand, ready to carve … and then suddenly bent down and slammed a red button on his left boot.

With a hissing sound Harvey rose 2 inches over the groundas flexible rubber skirts appeared under his boots, turning them into miniature hovercrafts. He dropped the knife, grabbed the cake and flew away down the path at high speed, shouting "SUCKERS!".

All three members of the O'Reilly gang stood dumbstruck and stared after Harvey. Then the three gang-members sprinted down the path after him, Egbert first, red-faced and screaming incoherent curses at the treacherous operative. Harvey disappeared behind a boulder and the gang increased the pace, made it around the boulder, where Egbert stopped so suddenly, that Barry and Kyle bowled him over and the three boys fell down on the ground, where they were hidden in the tall grass as they stared down on the scene in front of them.

They had emerged from the woods and were looking down a slope that fell down to a road, where the huge ice cream truck was lying on its side, completely engulfed in a net that had seemingly risen from the road itself. Several KND operatives, most of them toting impressive-looking2x4 weaponry, were standing around it, looking confused at the cake-less room in the back of the truck.

And 100 yards away was Harvey McKenzie on his hoverboots, swooping down the slope towards his fellow operatives with the Delightful Childrens cake.

"I GOT THE CAKE" Harvey hollered, "THE ICE CREAM MEN TRIED TO SMUGGLE IT THROUGH THE WOODS! I GOT THE CAKE!"

Egbert, Barry and Kyle was staring down at the scene in front of them as Harvey made it all the way to the crowd of operatives who surrounded him, and while they were eager to congratulate him, obviously knew him well enough to NOT slap him on the back.

"But – but – that was our cake…" Kyle said, in a thin, strangled voice.

"That little thieving creep!" Barry hissed.

Egbert jumped up and started to stomp furiously down the slope. But he had only walked four steps, before Barry caught up with him and seized him from behind.

"Let – me – go!" Egbert raged and tried to break free from Barry. "That – CHEATER! That – SCUMBAG! I'll .."

"What are you going to do, Eggy?" Barry hissed. "Tell them to hand over the cake, because we stole it first? That'll go over well."

Egbert's struggling became gradually less frantic, as Barry's words sank in. Finally he slumped down and allowed Barry to lead him and Kyle, who was trying his bravest not to sob, back to the path and away through the woods.