The Adventures of Kid Combat Volume Two: The Heist of Spring Road Toys Read Free Page A

chase.
    His partner tried the same maneuver. He too
dove straight at Samantha’s back leg. He made a grunting noise as
he hurled himself toward her. Samantha tried the same jump she did
with the first boy, but this time she wasn’t as lucky.
    Knowing her move, the second boy’s right hand
hooked and snagged on the back of Samantha’s ankle, knocking her
off balance and sending her crashing to the ground. As Samantha hit
the floor in a painful collision, her instincts forced her to
outstretch her arms in an effort to catch herself. This caused her
to slide for a few feet and in the end she lost her handle on the
camera. The small device hit the floor and was sent spiraling
across the marble floor. In its final rotation, the camera smacked
up against the far wall and shattered to pieces.
    As Samantha lifted herself up off the floor,
she had no choice. Sam had to leave the camera, its memory card,
and all the pictures behind. Being caught would be a far worse
situation. Samantha regained her composure and her lead and sprung
through the access door behind the small model of Pluto. She raced
down the small hallway and opened the door leading onto the roof of
the museum.
    The wind caught her face. For a moment,
Samantha lost her breath and had a hard time talking over her
communicator.
    “Gears. Roller,” she puffed, “I’m out and
I’ve got company!”
    Back at The Playground, the two boys
feverishly typed away on their keyboards. Two monitors displayed
the results of their labor, showing real-time pictures of the town
and infrared shots of the museum.
    Gears and Roller had been busy over the past
few weeks setting up surveillance all around town. When word had
come that Spring Road Toys was in jeopardy, they concentrated all
their efforts on making sure the square block around the toy store
was secure. The two boys continued to type away and bicker back and
forth—as usual.
    “Hurry up, Gears,” Roller spouted out as he
slammed away on his keyboard. “She won’t last long out there by
herself!”
    “I’m trying!” Gears rang out, not looking up
from his keyboard. Moments went by that, to Gears, seemed like
forever. “It’s … it’s not responding.”
    Roller looked over at Gears, and then he
looked at the monitors. “They gotta be right on her tail.
Hurry!”
    Samantha ran to the far end of the museum’s
roof and waited. She then realized that this wasn’t where she was
supposed to make her exit. Her heart was pounding, and she began to
sweat—too much for her liking. She took off her mask in a fit of
frustration and waited for an answer from the boys.
    “Gears! What’s going on?” she shouted.
    “I told you—it’s not responding to any of the
commands!” Gears snapped back.
    “You said you checked it?” Kid chimed in.
    “I did. We did. Several times,” Gears
defended himself to KC.
    “She needs to get out of there before they
get through that door!” Roller exclaimed.
    “Sam, the rover isn’t responding. You’ll have
to improvise,” Gears’s voice crackled over her earpiece.
    “Improvise? Are you kidding? I’m on a
freakin’ roof here! What would you like me to do—fly?” Samantha
snapped back at the boys. She was pinned down, and she could hear
the two boys pounding on the access door to the roof. The door
wouldn’t take too much more before it was broken down. To make
matters worse, Samantha could spot flashing lights off in the
distance. She could also hear sirens approaching. The curator must
have called the police to report an intruder at the museum.
    “Great,” Samantha said to herself. Her
expression quickly became one of deep frustration as she tried to
figure a way out. She surveyed her surroundings. For the life of
her, she couldn’t see anything that would help her out of this
predicament.
    Samantha heard a loud crashing noise behind
her. The door that separated her from the two boys split in two.
The boys made quick work of what remained and made their way
through