Read Online Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job by Willo Davis Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

kids and arrest Mr. Hazen and his sons.
    I was being propelled along the corridor toward the kitchen, then across the sunny room and into the garage. Behind me, I heard Dan say, “You bite me again, kid, and I’m going to smack you.”
    Mr. Hazen opened the door into the garage, and for a minute I thought that rescue was at hand, or at least that a decent adult had entered the picture. For there was Mrs. Murphy’s car, the brown sedan she had driven off to the dentist’s for her root canal work.
    And then it dawned on me that the housekeeper was not there, for the doors of the car were opened, and there were Jeremy and Melissa inside. They each had a wide strip of tape over their mouths, and their eyes were wide with fear. Their hands had been tied together and secured to the door handles, so they couldn’t escape.
    Dan thrust Shana in beside them and climbed in back with the kids, slamming the door. “Let’s go!” he said.
    I was shoved into the front seat so roughly that I cracked my head; for a moment or two the pain of it blotted out everything else. And then I was aware that Henry had slid under the wheel, his father was pressed against me on the other side, and Henry was activating the garage door behind us with the control device.
    We backed out onto the driveway, turning in the street, and headed toward the edge of town.
    As the pain in my head receded, I knew the horrible truth: we were being kidnapped.

Chapter Eight
    They hadn’t put tape over my mouth, or Shana’s, and from the back seat I heard her saying, “I want to go home.”
    I twisted around and saw her little face, lower lip stubbornly sticking out, as she glared at the man who held her. I saw, too, Jeremy and Melissa, whose eyes were oozing tears of fright, and I wanted to hug them, all three, and tell them it would be all right.
    The trouble was, I didn’t know if it would be all right or not. I wasn’t crying, but it wasn’t because I didn’t feel like it.
    Why hadn’t I called to Clancy to wait, when he was leaving? When I couldn’t get Tim at home, why hadn’t I called the police then?
    I tried to pull away from the men on either side of me, but there was nowhere to go.Behind me, Dan told Shana, “Now, don’t do that. It hurts, little girl, and I can’t let you keep kicking me.”
    â€œMy name’s Shana,” she informed him, and judging by the sounds she kicked him again, because he said, “All right, I’ll have to hold your legs down, then.”
    Diana’s father spoke suddenly in my ear. “You going to keep your mouth shut when we change cars, or do we have to tape your mouth, too?”
    My mouth was so dry I could hardly speak. “What are you going to do with us?”
    â€œJust keep you until Mr. Foster pays the ransom.” It was Henry, who was driving, who answered. “No reason for you kids to get hurt; you just can’t cause any trouble, understand?”
    â€œYou going to keep quiet?” Mr. Hazen asked, and I nodded. I didn’t really think a promise made to a kidnapper was binding, anyway. If I got the chance to run or scream for help, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.
    It didn’t matter what I’d promised, or intended to do. When Mrs. Murphy’s brown sedan turned into a narrow lane and stoppedbeside the black car we’d seen earlier, there was no one around to call to for help. There were only some poplar trees whispering in the breeze.
    Far away, across a field, I saw a barn roof, but there were no people in sight. Screaming wouldn’t gain me anything.
    I’d been afraid of looking foolish if the driver of that black car had turned out to be innocent, so I’d kept still, and now look at me. Kidnapped, along with three little kids who suddenly didn’t seem monstrous at all.
    How long would it be before anyone discovered we were gone? Mrs. Murphy would probably come home