* * *
”OK, now I'm really worried,” Richard thought as he walked into the bland dorm room and saw that David was not sitting at his desk, or anywhere, for that matter. He looked out in to the hallway and saw Mark walking down the hall from the vending machine with a green and yellow Mt. Dew in his hand. “You seen Dave around?”
“No, why?”
“Just haven't seen him all day. It's probably nothing.”
* * *
Dear Mom,
I probably won't be home for winter vacation. It's best not to get into why.
Love,
David
Cathy closed the smooth white envelope. She felt sad that David wasn't coming home for the holidays. “Why would he not come home? He has never done this before,” she wondered. She decided to trust David and not send a note asking why. “Steve, David is not coming home for the holidays!” Cathy called up the stairs.
“That's too bad!'' Steve sluggishly called back.
“Obviously he was asleep or else he would make a much bigger deal of David not coming home for the holidays,” Cathy thought. Cathy continued her evening activities. It hadn't occurred to her how he had been to her mailbox without being able to come home.
* * *
“I'm, but sorry I can't tell you that. What I can tell you is that you can't leave this company until it is complete, obviously, because we don't want you blabbing to the police.”
“Why would I do that?” David asked shakily.
“Because the only reason you came is to find out when it will happen, so that you could give the police a better chance of stopping us.”
David saw that this was his only chance to get away, so he pulled the gray can-like object out of his pocket, pulled the pin with his cold sweaty hands, dropped the can, turned around, and ran out into the hallway as the smoke, from the smoke bomb, billowed into the room.
* * *
“THAT'S IT! I WILL NOT PUT UP WITH THIS JOKE OF DAVID'S! My grades are falling because he has always helped me with homework!''
“Calm down, Richard. If you get any redder, you will run a serious risk of your head exploding,” Mark said, chuckling.
“Richard, do you really think David would do all this just to prank you?” asked Gerald.
“Maybe,” Richard grunted under his breath.
“Maybe, GULP, you should, GULP, look for him during, GULP, winter break,” said Mark, chugging down his hourly Mt. Dew in three gulps.
“Your craving never ceases to amaze me, Mark. But he is right, Richard. You should look for David. You said that you were looking for something to do during winter vacation,” chuckled Henry.
* * *
“Well it's been a week and I haven't heard from David. Maybe I should call Richard and ask what's going on.”
Before she knew it, Cathy was standing in the kitchen calling Richard.
“Hello, this is Richard. Who is this?”
“David's mom.”
“Oh, hello, Mrs. Setter. How may I help you?”
“I was wondering about David. I got a letter saying that he would not be home for winter vacation and at first I thought that he was going to spend the vacation at your house, but then I read that I should not try to find out why, so I got worried and thought you might know were he is.”
“As odd as it sounds, I haven't seen David since last Thursday.”
“You're right, it is strange, because I got the letter from him the following night. We should get together and look for him. When do you go on break?”
“Tomorrow night.”
* * *
David sprinted up the stairs as smoke started to fill the stairwell. As he was doing this, he pulled another smoke bomb out of his book bag. David burst out the basement door
and slammed it behind him, but the smoke still seeped through. “I'll never find my way out of the library if the smoke catches up to me!” David thought. As he sprinted across the library, he dropped another smoke bomb and it sent a column of smoke twenty feet into the air, almost to the ceiling of the library. David smashed the glass front door and threw another smoke bomb down then immediately ran all the way back to the center of the library. He pulled the final two smoke bombs out of his book bag and threw them over the railing onto the second floor then dashed out the back door of the library.
* * *
“Well, I'm finally off from school for the rest of the year, and I'm probably going to spend the rest of the year looking for David,” thought Richard as he looked around the room. To his right was David's bed and to his left was Mark, packing what must have been 50 green-yellow bottles of Mt. Dew into his suitcase.
On his way out Richard said, “You sure I should look for David, Mark?”
“Yes.”
“So, you don't think he will be back at the end of vacation?”
“No.”
“OK, I guess.”
“'See you in a little while. Bye'. Sorry. I was on the phone with my mom. What did you say?”
“Never mind. See you at the end of break.” Richard briskly walked out the door.
* * *
Cathy was so angry at Steve for not coming with her that she completely forgot that today was the day Richard was coming. She didn't even hear the doorbell ring the first two times.
“Mrs. Setter! Mrs. Setter! Mrs. Setter?”
Cathy all of a sudden came to her senses and ran to the door to answer.
“Are you there, Mrs. Setter?”
“Yes, I'm here,” Cathy said as she opened the door.
“Hello, Mrs. Setter.”
“Hello, Richard. Ready to go?”
“Yes.”
* * *
David was glad that he had bought the smoke bombs from the pyrotechnics store, which, oddly enough, sold everything pyrotechnic, legal or illegal. Unfortunately, telling the police was out of the question. They certainly would not believe him, and he did not have the time to try to convince them that all the banks in the U.S. were in trouble. Right now David had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he was on a road with some houses on his right and some woods on his left. He guessed that he was still in Pennsylvania. A few hours later, the scenery changed to a bustling city, and David realized that he was hungry and he didn't think that what must have been twenty Mt. Dew drinks he stole from Mark would hold him over much longer so he ran up ahead and found out exactly where he was.
* * *
“David wouldn't have gone that far,” said Cathy.
“So we should crisscross the state until we find him?” Richard sarcastically replied.
“No. But we could look in all the places that have something to do with him.”
“Why didn't I think of that?”
“This is why you are driving and I am thinking of places to drive.”
“Never mind, lets, just get back on the road.”
“Richard, I think we've seen that house before,” Cathy said an hour later.
“Are you serious?” Richard asked.
“Yes, it's the one I thought looked funny an hour ago.”
“Really!?”
“Just kidding!”
“Don't do that.”
* * *
David had always wanted to visit Philadelphia, but for some reason he had never gotten around to it. But now he was here looking at the southern end of the Liberty Bell Center, looking at the Liberty Bell itself hanging on the other side of the glass wall. Behind him was Independence hall were hordes of tourists swarmed. That gave him an idea, they would never find him amongst all these tourists.
* * *
“You and your stomach!” sighed Cathy.
“When it is two o'clock and I didn't have lunch I might want to stop at the first Burger King I see.”
“OK, let's just get back on the road.”
“Where are we going anyway?”
“Philadelphia.”
“OK, why are we going to Philadelphia?” said Richard sounding a little confused.
“Because he has always wanted to go.”
“Why didn't you take him?”
“Because Steve is claustrophobic and I thought David was too young to go with only one adult. After he was old enough it didn't seem that important.”
“OK, seems fair enough, but why are you so worried? What if David is just going sightseeing?”
“David was always a good kid and almost never did anything wrong other than being a tattle tale about anything anyone did wrong. I guess it doesn't make sense for him to disappear like this.”
“You're right.”
* * *
“Wow, I really overestimated these guys,” David thought as he sold a Philly cheese steak to one of the oblivious men looking for him. “I sure am glad I got this job. I'm making money and hiding right under their noses at the same time.”
David spent the next few hours selling cheese steaks and even bought a few from the owner of the food truck David was working in.
“I'm sorry, as much as you may need money, I really need to close down for the night” sighed the food truck owner.
“That's OK. I got all I needed. Thank you very much.”
“Hey, you want to help tomorrow? I really could use it.”
“I would love to, but I think it might be inconvenient.”
“OK. That's OK. Bye.”
* * *
“Well, we are here,” Cathy said happily.
“Finally!” sighed Richard.
“You know we only left yesterday.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Good. Then you will stop complaining and go buy lunch,” said Cathy as she handed Richard some money.
“Fine,” grunted Richard.
“See you at four at the entrance of that hotel, OK?”
“OK.”
* * *
David was glad he was in Philadelphia, because without all the tourists he would have been caught a long time ago. There wasn't a hour that went by that he didn't see a man wearing the white shirt with the green logo on it. David was in the grocery store when he was stopped by a Mt. Dew-toting hand.
“Mark! What brings you here?” asked David
“My history-crazy aunt,” grumbled Mark.
“I'm sorry about that. It looks like you are having a terrible time carting all five of those Mt. Dew boxes around.”
“Ha ha, very funny. These Mt. Dews are the only thing good about this place!” Mark said sarcastically.
“So, how's everything going back at school?”
“Not well, actually. Richard says he isn't worried about you, but I think he is, especially since he said he was going to look for you during winter break. I'll go ahead and text him where you are.”
“No! That's a very bad idea. As weird as it sounds, I'm being chased by a bunch of money-hungry computer geeks with guns,” David whispered.
“Can I spend the rest of vacation with you? It sounds a lot better than reading everything too small for my aunt!”
“Normally I would say no but I really could use your help,”
“What do you need?”
“Can you hack anything other than that computer game with all the blocks?”
“Depends what it is.”
“How about a computer built for hacking?”
* * *
“Mrs. Setter! Mrs. Setter!”
“What?”
“The man running the cheese-steak food truck says he knows David!”
“Really?!”
“No, he knows a sandwich called the David E. Setter,” said Richard sarcastically.
“That means David is here somewhere!”
“Maybe.”
“So let's go look for him!”
“First, shouldn't we catch the food truck owner before he closes up and drives away?”
* * *
“I found the wi-fi they are using,” said Mark
“If only they were making this virus on the Internet, then we could just cut off the wi-fi and they would have to start over!” said David.
“Yeah, that would be nice, and so would instructions on how to stop the computer!”
“Unfortunately, we don't have either.”
“Too bad. Hey, can you get me a soda?”
“Sure. Be right back.” David went over to the cafeteria of the mall they were in and saw that they only sold Coke products. “Uh-oh. this isn't going to end well!”
“Thanks for the soda... WHAT IS THIS JUNK YOU BROUGHT ME? SUN DROP!!!”
“I'msosorrytheyonlyhadCokeproducts!” David said so fast that it sounded like one word.
“I'm just fooling with you. I love all sodas. Mt. Dew is just my favorite by a little!”
* * *
“Well, this sucks,” Richard said to Cathy.
“How long did it take you to figure that out, genius? David is practically under our noses and we can't find him!” answered Cathy.
“We will find him, I'm sure.”
“Not if he doesn't want to be found, we won't!”
“I can't think of any reason he would not want to be found.”
“I guess you are right.”
“We should keep looking.”
“OK. Hey, isn't your friend Mark over there on the computer?”
“Where?”
“The kid typing on the computer with his nose in a Sun Drop over there on the other side of the cafeteria.”
“That is him, but why he is drinking anything other than Mt. Dew is beyond me.”
“Well, aren't you going to go ask what he is doing here?”
* * *
“David! David!”
“Ow! I'm right here. You don't have to yell.”
“I saw your mom and Richard over in the mall cafeteria!”
“What did you say?!”
“What you told me to say if anyone recognizes me. I'm just here because of my history-crazy aunt.”
“Good. I don't know if I want them knowing I'm here.”
“Oh, they already know. Something about a food-truck owner.”
“That's not what I wanted to hear,” said David with a frown.
“Sorry, but like I said, not my fault. It was the food trucker!”
“Fine. You should go tell them where we are and try to stay secretive while I keep an eye on their leader.”
“OK, see you later!” Mark called as he left.
“I really hope I'm not making any mistakes by doing this.”
* * *
“Mrs. Setter!”
“What, Mark?”
“Oh goodness what if she slaps me or something!?”
“Come on, Mark, what were you going too say?”
“I just ran into David, just now. No, that won't work. What about amnesia, yeah, amnesia? Never mind, that won't work.”
“Mrs. Setter, do you think he hit his head or something?” asked Richard
“My money is on the Sun Drop he drank. Maybe drinking something other than Mt. Dew has some sort of effect on him?”
“I guess I will have to tell the truth.”
“You are probably right, Mrs. Setter. I think it is the Sun Drop.”
“IknowwhereDavidis,” blurted Mark
“What did you say?” asked Cathy.
“I know where David is.”
* * *
“How did it go... oh,” said David as Mark walked in with a bright red, hand-shaped mark on his face.
“Fine, just fine. This red mark on my face just mysteriously formed on the way back,” Mark sarcastically stated.
“Hi, Richard.”
“You should at least leave me a note, and not one like you gave to your mom that just made us more worried,” said Richard
“Where did mom go?” asked David.
“Try right behind you,” said Mark as a grin started to form on his face. David turned around just fast enough to trip over his shoe laces and fall on his face. David got up to see a very angry Cathy Setter standing there.
“Saying sorry is not going to work is it?”
“No, it certainly won't!” Cathy very sternly said to David.
“What will?”
“Just don't ever do this again.”
“I will try not to discover a plot to use computers to break into banks ever again.”
“Fair enough... Wait, what did you say?!”
“Tell you later, but I need your help with somthing.”
“Fine, I guess.”
“Great! Richard, I could use your help, too.”
“OK, what do you need?”
“I need you to take over hacking from Mark.”
“I can do that.”
“Mark I need you to come up with some way of distracting the men with the green logos.”
“I have an idea already.”
The next day they had it all planned out. “OK, as long as these people take the morning Starbucks run like they usually do, there should be no excuse for this plan not to go of without a hitch,” thought David as he and Richard made a trip to the mall to get some fireworks.
“Gee, I wish I had a Mt. Dew,” thought Mark as he and Cathy spied on the thugs.
David and Richard saw that it was almost six, so they ran back to the hotel room that just happened to have a balcony that they could see the Starbucks from.
“OK, they are arriving at Starbucks. Should I go and light the fuse?” asked Mark, who was brimming with excitement.
“Yes, go ahead, but wait for the signal. I should go ahead and wait in the radio shack next to Starbucks,” suggested David.
“Good idea. We will go get the computer set up in the mall cafeteria,” said Richard to Cathy.
David had a good view of Mark and his big box that was originally carrying a fish tank but was now carrying what must be 20 pounds of fireworks.
David gave the thumbs up, and Mark lit the fireworks and ran like Pepsi products depended on it. David, in the middle of all the chaos, ran out of Radio Shack and into Starbucks, grabbing the hacking computer and running back out of Starbucks, across the street, and into the mall. David arrived at the cafeteria to see that nothing out of the ordinary was going on there, so he casually sat down next to Richard, who had holes burned all over his slightly singed sweater. Cathy and Richard had the computer all hooked up. David added the connection cord between the computer for easer hacking and Richard started trying to destroy the computer virus that was going to be used to hack banks all over the US.
“How long is that going to take?” groaned David.
“I haven't got a clue how long it will take!” snapped Richard.
“Well, hurry up. I can hear them coming!”
“Unfortunately, so can I.”
“So, what do we do?” asked Mark.
“I don't know!” snapped Richard.
“Give me the computer now!” ordered David. Richard was so surprised that he immediately gave David
the computer. David shoved the computer under his shirt just as the men came in. Their leader was so infuriated that he immediately pulled out his gun and shot David twice. The mall cops that heard the gunfire immediately tackled the man with the gun and put him in hand-cuffs. David, who was still standing, revealed the laptop, which now had two bullets embedded in it.
A month later David, was almost back to a normal life. He had made sure to ask the police to not allow anyone with a video of the event to show it on TV. Of course, the Internet was out of the question, but David did his best to keep his name a secret. By now the only people David saw on a regular basis that knew about the holiday trip to Philadelphia, as they now called it, were his mom, Richard, and Mark. As for the group of men that had pretended to be computer manufacturers, they were eventually all caught, and the virus had been destroyed when the laptop got shot. When David graduated from college, he immediately tried to get a job as a police officer and it didn't take long.