Alvin struggled with the heavy gas can he was carrying across the street, where the four wheeler he and the rest of his little group were travelling on, at the base of a ridge in the middle of nowhere. Pushing it downhill wasn't a picnic, but pushing it uphill would be near impossible, especially with how steep the ridge was in some parts. At the foot of the ridge, all but Simon was waiting for him, after they had robbed the pharmacy across the street to deliver a hoard of brand name drugs for two crooked drug dealers.
"Hey, where's Simon?" Alvin asked.
"I think he's busy turning the cameras back on." Theodore said.
"Oh well," Alvin said, as he filled up the gas tank in the four wheeler. "Now we'll be able to get back to their place in half the time it took us to get down here!"
"You're forgetting something, Alvin." Eleanor pointed out.
"What's that?" Alvin asked.
"We don't have a key to ignite the engine." Eleanor said.
"Ah, don't worry," Alvin said, as he finished fueling up their vehicle, "Simon can hot wire it for us!"
"Boy, I can't wait to get back up there so we can get out of here!" Brittany said.
"And don't forget," Eleanor added, "we give them the drugs, they give us Jeanette!"
"Yes, that's the most important aspect right there!" Brittany agreed.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Simon finally caught up with the others.
"Alright," Simon said, with a smile, "it's all taken care of..."
"Great!" Alvin interrupted. "Now how about hot wiring this thing for us, so we can get up there?"
"What?" Simon asked. "Okay..."
Simon reluctantly got on his hands, and knees, looking for the right wires to jump to start the engine.
"Boy, you kids are somethin' else..." the dealers' former middle man remarked.
"Yeah, we are pretty special!" Alvin boasted, as the others silently groaned.
After a few seconds, there was a backfire, before the engine began running.
"There, that should do it!" Simon said, over the engine.
"Let's go!" Alvin commanded.
Shortly later, the six of them were riding up the same path they took to get to town. It was still relatively slow, considering the amount of people, and cargo weighing down the little vehicle, but it was still significantly faster than walking back up there. Even as the skies slowly began to turn from pitch black, to navy blue.
"So, what kept you, Simon?" Alvin asked.
"I solved our problems!" Simon said, with a smile.
"How's that?" Theodore asked.
"I called the police, and..." Simon began.
"You what?!" Both Alvin, and the middle man shrieked.
"I called the police, and left an anonymous tip about the dealers' operation atop this ridge," Simon explained, "it'll take them awhile to get here since their station is out in civilization, but they'll be here before long to bust them up!"
"Phew!" Alvin wiped his forehead. "I was afraid you ratted us out!"
"Boy, those guys are gonna be pissed at you kids," the middle man said, "if they give the cops the slip, they'll hunt each, and everyone of you down, I swear! That's how they got me."
"Again," Simon responded, "the police can put us under their protection."
Up the ridge they went, at a steady pace, and finally, making it back to the operation, just making it before sunrise.
"What's that noise?" The first crook asked, hearing the revving outside.
"Sounds like a 'cicle..." the second crook said, before the noise died down, as Simon disconnected the wires.
"We made it!" Brittany squealed. "Come on, let's get this over with!"
The group wasted no time in inviting themselves back into the building, announcing they bare gifts.
"Special delivery!" Alvin shouted. "Once again, the medicine man makes house calls!"
"What the hell..." the crooks mumbled, as they stepped out into the hallway.
"Woah, those twerps are back!" The second of the crooks said.
"Darn tootin'," Alvin said, "and here's what the medicine man ordered..."
The kids handed over the shopping baskets full of brand name drugs, stunning the drug dealers.
"I can't believe you kids pulled it off!" The first crook said, as he went through the inventory.
"Nothin' to it." Alvin said.
"Okay," Simon told the group, quietly, "they have their drugs, now let's get Jeanette, and get out of here!"
"Right," Brittany told Simon, before speaking up to the crooks. "Okay, you got your drugs, now can you let us have my sister back?"
"Your what?" The first crook asked.
"You know what!" Brittany barked. "My sister! You said you were keeping her here to pay off her debt if we didn't come back, well, we came back, so let her go already!"
"Oh, yeah," the second crook began, "we already let her go."
Silence.
"What do you mean?" Eleanor asked.
"Well," the first crook began, "let's just say she doesn't work here anymore."
"You killed her?!" Brittany asked.
"Nah, we didn't do that," the second crook said, "we just sent her away for her next paycheck."
"And what would that be, exactly?" Simon asked.
"Hey, we don't snitch." The first crook said, with a chuckle.
Brittany just stood there with a blank expression on her face, as her eye began twitching. After all that, after being going through the trouble to break into a pharmacy, and steal a slue of drugs to bail out Jeanette, they come back to find Jeanette's been taken away by someone else? As if Brittany's brain were a fuse box, Brittany could actually feel a fuse blow inside her head. Brittany snapped, and amazingly tackled the two crooks to the ground, much to everyone's surprise, as she began trying to punch the first crook, in the face, repeatedly.
"Where's my sister?!" The screamed, at the top of her lungs. "I want my sister!!! You better bring her back!!!"
The second of the crooks grabbed Brittany, and threw her across the hallway, slamming her into the wall, as he, and their accomplice overpowered her.
"Alright, enough is too much!" Alvin said, leading another attack.
The first crook was met with four angry chipmunks, all of which he tried to keep at bay, all the while, the other two kept Brittany pinned the ground.
"Let me go!!!" Brittany barked.
"Shut ya yap, bitch!" The second crook commanded, as the accomplice cocked his gun.
As the middle man watched all of this unfold, he decided he better do something to help, so saying, he used all the strength he could to surprise the crook, in a head lock, and try to pull him down to the floor.
"Give up the girl!" He demanded. "You said if we got you the dope, you'd let her go!"
"Man, weren't you listening?!" The first crook struggled to say. "We already let her go, we just simply sent her into a new line of work!"
Brittany struggled to get up, but she was still pinned to the ground, and this time, the second crook clamped his hand over her mouth, to silence her, while the accomplice placed the barrel his gun up against Brittany's crotch, and pulled the trigger. Brittany's face twisted in pain. The other chipmunks continued to use all the strength they could work up to pummel the other crook, while the middle man continued to keep him in a head lock, trying to bring him down, but he just wasn't strong enough. Suddenly, the mayhem was detinated by the sounds of sirens, growing louder, and louder.
"What the hell is that?!" The second crook asked, taking his hand away from Brittany's mouth.
"That would probably be the police!" Simon said, relieved.
In the moment of confusion, the first crook knocked the middle man down, freeing himself from the head lock.
"Let's go!" He yelled, as his partner, and their accomplice jumped up from the ground. "Don't nobody try to follow us, or you're done for!"
With the accomplice keeping his aim on them at all times, the crooks ran out of the building, via their 'emergency' escape in another back room, and into the foliage, they disappeared, just as the police pulled up to the building, while the chipmunks, and the middle man ran out to meet them.
"They took off in that direction!" Simon pointed out, as the police began exiting their vehicles.
A few cops took off, on foot, in the direction of which Simon was pointing, to try and catch the crooks, while a few others burst into the house, seeing if anyone else was inside.
"So this is the crack house, huh?" The captain asked the group.
"It sure is." Simon said.
"Enough about that," Brittany said, "they did something with my sister!"
"What did they do?" The captain asked.
"I don't know, but she's gone!" Brittany shrieked.
"We don't know what they've done with her," Eleanor said, "they said they were going to keep her to work off the fifty thousand dollars that went missing, but..."
"Wait a minute..." the captain interrupted, "did you say fifty thousand dollars?"
"Yes..." Eleanor said.
"Was it in a small, cardboard box?" The captain asked.
"Yeah, it was." Alvin said. "I found it on my doorstep, but then I later gave it to Jeanette go guard for me, then these guys came to get the money back, but we couldn't find it anymore, so they kidnapped us, and Jeanette had to work off her debt since the money became her responsibilty, and..."
Brittany punched Alvin across the face, knocking him out. "You little punk! This is all your fault!"
"Okay, settle down now..." the captain began, as Brittany pulled Alvin up, and started chocking him.
"If you didn't give that money to Jeanette, she wouldn't be missing! This is all your fault you worm! There ain't no way you're gonna live this one down!" Brittany screamed, while Eleanor tried to pull her loose.
"Calm down!" The captain yelled. "Young lady, I understand your sister is missing, and I understand your frustration, but you need to remain calm, so we can figure something out!"
"What's there to figure out?!" Brittany asked. "My sister's missing, we gotta find her!"
Just then, the other officers returned from around the house.
"We lost them..." one of them said.
"I was afraid of that..." the middle man said.
"Who are you?" The captain asked.
The middle man sighed, as he offered his wrists.
"What's with this?" The captain asked.
"Aren't you going to cuff me?" The middle man asked.
"Why?" The captain asked.
"I've been a part of this little cartel for a long time now..." the middle man said, "I'm the one who originally sold them fifty thousand dollars' worth of generic drugs, and when they found out, I paniced, and left the money on their doorstep... so if it's anybody's fault for getting them into this mess, it's me..."
"Is that so?" The captain asked.
"Yep..." the middle man said, "and I was the one who robbed the pharmacy down in town, so I could try to bail these kids out."
The chipmunks couldn't believe their ears. This guy just took the blame for them robbing the pharmacy, letting them off the hook.
"Well, these are some rather serious offenses..." the captain said, as he reached for his cuffs.
"Wait..." Alvin spoke up, as he came to.
"What?" The captaina asked.
"He... he didn't rob the pharmacy..." Alvin said, "I did..."
"How's that?" The captain asked again, while the other kids were trying to wrap their minds around what Alvin just said.
"I didn't know what they were going to do..." Alvin said, "they didn't have their money, they didn't have their drugs... I thought they were going to kill us... since the money disappeared, I thought if I got them their drugs, they'd let us all go in one piece..."
The other kids couldn't believe what Alvin just said. He actually admitted his involvement in this entire situation.
"They told me not to," Alvin admitted, "but again, I thought if I got them the drugs, they'd let us all go... especially Jeanette, since they were keeping her, when they shouldn't have... because if anyone should have been held responsible for the money, it should be me since I found it, and tried to worm Jeanette into watching it for me..."
The captain wasn't sure what to make of this situation.
"Why don't we all talk about this downtown?" The captain asked. "I know a couple of grown ups who will be happy to see you kids again..."
After a long while, heading downtown, the kids finally got to see Dave and Miss Miller again. Happily, the kids raced over to their parents, who were just as happy to see them again.
"It's great to see you kids again!" Dave said, as he embraced his sons.
"Oh, yes indeed!" Miss Miller said, cuddling Brittany, and Eleanor, not realizing Jeanette was missing.
"You kids actually busted up a small drug cartel?" Dave asked.
"It wasn't easy," Alvin said, "but we did it!"
"You know, these are some really special kids," the captain said, "I think they would probably deserve a reward..."
"The only reward we want is to get Jeanette back!" Brittany said.
"Where is Jeanette?" Miss Miller asked, worried.
"It's my fault, Miss Miller!" Alvin went ahead. "I found the crooks' drug money on our doorstep, and I didn't want people coming to me for handouts, so I suckered Jeanette into guarding the money for me, so as far as they were concerned, Jeanette was responsible for the money."
"Yeah, so Jeanette offered to pay off her debt since the money went missing..." Eleanor continued.
"Oh, so that's what that box of money was doing in the basement..." Miss Miller deduced.
"You had the money?!" Brittany asked.
"Yes, I did," Miss Miller said, "and I was waiting for you girls to get home, so I could get an explanation... but what about Jeanette?"
"We don't know where she is!" Brittany said. "We offered to get the drugs they were originally wanting since we couldn't give them their money back... they said if we got the drugs, Jeanette wouldn't have to pay off her debt, but when we came back she was gone!"
"Oh no..." Miss Miller said.
"We'll get an all-points bulletin out for her," the captain said, "we'll find her."