Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy by Paula Berinstein
Chapter 35
Confrontation
As it turned out, there was a large underground component to the factory, which included three more floors of processing, storage, and school space, and there, at the lowest level, was where the criminals were keeping Mr. Lester. They’d locked him in a small, dank room with a hard floor and bare pukey-yellow walls and a pail for a toilet. When Amanda saw him she was shocked.
He looked like he had in the picture she’d received a few hours before, except about a billion times worse. She wondered whether the elder Moriarty or Nick had sent it—not that it mattered. Herb Lester wasn’t a handsome man at the best of times with that bald head and big nose of his, but now he looked ghoulish. His skin was all purple and yellow, with cuts all over. The little hair he had was matted and stringy. He was asleep, or unconscious, lying on the cold floor with his eyes closed. He wasn’t dead though. Amanda could see his chest rise and fall.
“How are we going to move him?” she said, wondering if doing so would kill him.
“We’ll put him in the elevator,” said Nick.
“I didn’t know there was one.”
“Freight elevator. At the end of the hall.” He motioned toward it with his head.
“I don’t know if the two of us can carry him. What do you think?”
“I doubt it, but there’s a trolley somewhere. Hang on. I’ll go find it.”
He must have trusted her by this time or he wouldn’t have left her alone with her father. On the other hand, what could she do in just a few seconds? She couldn’t drag her father out of there. There was no way to call for help and she’d never escape now that they knew she was there, so maybe it wasn’t a question of trust after all.
She touched her father’s arm. “Dad,” she said. “Can you hear me?” Nothing. “Dad,” she said, shaking him. Nothing. She hated to do it, but the next thing she did was slap his face. Still nothing. One more try. She pinched him. Still nothing. This wasn’t good.
Just then Nick came back with a large trolley with platforms on the top and bottom. “We’ll hoist him onto the bottom,” he said. “Come on.”
They stood at each end of Mr. Lester and Nick grabbed his shoulders. Amanda took his feet. “On the count of three,” said Nick. “One, two, three.”
They lifted Amanda’s father onto the trolley in one motion. Then she held the door open while Nick pushed him into the hall toward the elevator. He pressed the button and the lift creaked to life. She could hear all kinds of whirring, grunting, and clunking that seemed to go on forever. Finally the doors opened to reveal a depressing-looking darkish chamber that itself could use a cleaning. They pushed the trolley in and Nick hit the button for the ground floor.
The poor old contraption heaved, started, shuddered, stalled for about a tenth of a second, and gradually lifted itself up, stopping with a jolt. The doors opened and Nick pushed the trolley out and into the testing room.
“We’ve got to get a weapon,” he said. “You watch him. I’ll go.”
Perfect. This was exactly the chance Amanda had been waiting for. She threw her arms around Nick and hugged him, rubbing his arms, shoulders, and back all over.
“Oh, Nick, thank you so much for this opportunity,” she said.
Taken aback, he just stood there for a moment, then hesitantly put his arms around her and patted. “It’s okay, Amanda.” She pushed back from him and smiled. This seemed to throw him. He said, “I’ll just, er, go get the uh…” and left. What he didn’t realize was that she had picked his pocket. She had learned something from Nigel and now she had the lighter in her hand.
Leaving her father in the room, she exited quietly and stole out onto the factory floor. She was going to have to get all the way up to the ceiling and hadn’t a clue how. The room was as tall as a dozen elephants.
She noticed that some of the vats had ladders attached so you could climb on top of them. She ran over to one and without thinking about how high she’d be, climbed up and measured her progress. The ceiling was still way above her. However there was a catwalk not far from the vats. If she could get onto that and then maybe climb up something from there, she might just be able to get to the very top.
She caught sight of the roller coaster thing. It was perfect! She climbed down the ladder, and checking to make sure Nick hadn’t returned, moved to the bottom end of the conveyor belt, which was located in front of the big vat she’d just climbed. How did you turn the stupid thing on, though? There were so many contraptions in the place she couldn’t tell one from another.
There was only one course of action, and that was to experiment. She spotted a lever that seemed like it might be the control for the belt and pulled it. It was really stiff and barely budged. Then she saw another lever nearby and tried pulling it. Same thing. Time was getting short and she’d made no progress. Then she saw a large button on a big stick. She rushed to it and pressed as hard as she could. With a huge groan the conveyor belt inched forward. She ran back and hopped on.
The device was narrow and the belt was mushy. There was no way to stand or even sit on it, so Amanda lay on her stomach and grasped the sides as it ascended. It was very slow and moved unevenly, as if it were coughing and to be honest, gave her the creeps, but at last she reached the top.
Getting off was another challenge. She still couldn’t stand up so she was going to have to wriggle. She edged forward but the belt shuddered, pushing her to the side instead of straight ahead, and she could feel herself losing her balance. Heart pounding like a heavy metal concert, she struggled to right herself and get off the belt before it threw her off. After several squirming motions, she was finally able to heave most of her body onto the platform at the top, but her legs didn’t make it and she found herself hanging off the edge.
She saw a vertical metal pipe in front of her and reached for it. It was rusty and she had no idea whether it would crumble if she exerted any force on it. She wrapped both hands around it and pulled as hard as she could. The pipe held but she felt cricks in her arms. Almost hysterical now, she pulled harder, ignoring the pain as much as she could until she had got herself into a stable position. She lay breathless for what seemed like several minutes, then made one final pull, got to her feet, and stood on the platform. The view downward was dizzying, so she looked up. She’d made it to the top level but she still had to get to the ceiling.
Luck was with her now though. She spotted a ladder resting against a wall and climbed to the top rung. Then, hands shaking, she held the lighter next to a sprinkler and flicked it on.
Within a second or two the flame had tripped the sprinkler system and the factory was deluged. Heavy drops of water rained down, soaking sugar, machinery, everything, including Amanda. The place flooded, and all the sugar was melting and forming a slurry.
Just then Nick came running in, screaming, “I knew it! I knew I couldn’t trust you. Once a Lestrade always a Lestrade. You think you’re so clever but you’ll never amount to anything.” He punched a text into his phone, then cried, “This is war!”
“I don’t believe you’re really descended from Moriarty, Nick,” she called down. “You’re not nearly smart enough.”
Then she heard a splash, splash, splash, and the elder Moriarty arrived with a couple of thugs. “Get them,” he yelled. “You’re going to pay for this, Lestrade.”
“You can call me Lestrade if you want,” said Amanda. “I don’t care. The truth of the matter is that you Moriartys aren’t as smart as you think you are. Look at your son.”
Nick’s father started the conveyor belt and climbed on. If he got to the top before she figured out how to get down, he’d kill her. Up, up, up, the belt ground. As she looked below, she could see Nick wheeling her father away somewhere and Mr. Moriarty creeping toward her. She was stuck and there was nothing she could do! Then the criminal reached the top and squirmed off the belt, just as she had. She ran to the far end of the platform and searched for another way down. There was none.
But the elder Moriarty was still coming toward her and was now at the top. Clomp, clomp, clomp. His footsteps made the fragile platform shake and clang. Amanda was a sitting duck. All she could do was watch him approach. Think, think! Her brain wouldn’t work. She was going to die with her mind empty. Maybe that was best. That way she wouldn’t feel anything.
Then she saw that one of the policemen was riding the conveyor belt up toward her location. Faster, faster! Hurry up, you old rattletrap! But the belt was moving too slowly. He wasn’t going to make it.
Before she knew it Moriarty had her by the neck. He was so strong, and as much as she struggled she couldn’t make any headway against him, even when she tried using some of the moves she’d learned in Professor Peaksribbon’s self-defense class.
“I’ll kill her,” he yelled to the would-be rescuers.
“Let her go, Blixus,” yelled Thrillkill. His voice echoed around the factory. When no planes were in the air it could be very quiet.
“You always were a fool, Gaston,” taunted Moriarty. “High and mighty and completely unrealistic in your ivory tower. You haven’t changed, I see.”
“Let the hostage go or we’ll shoot,” yelled one of the policemen.
“You people are so sad,” said Moriarty. “If you shoot me, you’ll kill her.”
He had a point. There wasn’t a clear shot at him.
The policeman riding the conveyor belt had reached the top but there wasn’t anything he could do. If he rushed Moriarty, Amanda would get hurt, maybe fall. The criminal had them over a barrel.
Then Amanda remembered. She still had the lighter! She fumbled around, trying to reach her pocket. The criminal was still gripping her, but somehow she managed to move one arm down far enough, and—
“Ouch!” yelled Moriarty, releasing her as the flame licked at him. He held his hands to his burned flesh and hopped on one foot in agony. With him thus distracted, the policeman on the platform rushed and subdued him, then slapped on a pair of handcuffs.
Amanda was shaking so hard she was pretty sure she was in shock.
“Jump!” yelled a policeman from below. Several of his buddies were holding a net.
“I can’t,” she said. “I can’t move.”
“You can,” said the cop. “We’ve got you. Promise.”
It was awfully far down. She was terrified.
“No, I really can’t.”
Then somehow her father was there. He was still on the trolley and Thrillkill was wheeling him toward the net.
“Do it, Amanda,” croaked her father. “It will be all right.”
“What if I miss?”
“You won’t. I’ve done this. It works. I promise.” When had her father jumped into a net? There was so much she didn’t know about him.
For all his faults, one thing she couldn’t complain about was her father’s integrity. She’d never known him to lie. He must be telling the truth. She moved to the edge of the platform and launched herself off.
Before she knew it she was lying in the net and everyone was cheering. She was still shaking but she knew she was okay. She’d jumped into a net and hadn’t died. It was going to be all right.
Simon grabbed the trolley and wheeled Mr. Lester out of the building, while Professors Ducey, Kindseth, and Buck held the thugs at bay.
“Where’s Nick?” said Amanda, suddenly realizing he wasn’t there.
“I haven’t seen him,” said Thrillkill. “Is he here?”
“He’s Moriarty’s son,” said Amanda. “He was just here.”
Then an amplified voice came through loudspeakers that Amanda hadn’t noticed. It was Nick.
“You all think you’re so smart,” he said. “You’re pathetic. You go around preaching about disguises and mystiques and all kinds of stupid things you think are so important. You know nothing about how to actually make things happen.”
Where was he and what was he talking about? And how had he gotten away?
“Amanda, you think activating those sprinklers was such a great move. What you don’t know is that the main part of the factory is underground and there’s more pink sugar dust down here than you can imagine. I’m going to set it off.”
Now Amanda was getting worried. She knew what the sugar dust could do. He’d kill all of them, even his own father and potentially himself, all to make a stupid point about how great he was. She’d rattled him, all right—too much. He had to be stopped. But how?
“Nick, if you blow up this place, you’ll kill the students,” she said.
“What students?” said Amphora.
“Tell you later,” said Amanda.
“They left ages ago. School only goes till 10:30. It’s midnight,” Nick said.
“You don’t want to kill your father and his friends. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know. About me, my family, everything. Don’t bet on it.”
What was that about? Even if there was family stuff she wasn’t aware of, there had to be a way.
“Too late, Amanda,” his voice echoed.
“Run!” screamed Amanda, grabbing Ivy and pulling her toward the door. Everyone took off as fast as they could, leaping off the loading dock into the parking lot, when BOOOOOOM! The entire factory exploded, creating a shock wave that knocked them over the back fence, practically into the Thames. Another few feet and they would have ended up in the freezing water.
The shock of the pulse knocked Amanda out. She drifted in and out of consciousness for who knew how long until finally she felt something push against her, and then everything went black again.