Back Before Dark Read Online Free PDF Page B

too, just to see if it was true.
    Gordy lifted his hands, still tightly bound together. He brought them closer and closer to his face, straining to see anything. Yeah, this was as dark as that cave. But his dad wasn’t with him this time. The only hand he could hold was his own.

CHAPTER 7
    H e’d done it. He had pulled off the perfect kidnapping. And doing it without an accomplice had only one downside. There was nobody to celebrate with. Who could he tell?
    He turned off the TV, but sat staring at the flat screen. The story didn’t make tonight’s news, but then he didn’t really expect it to. It was too soon. He’d check again tomorrow night. Would the news crew interview the Rolling Meadows Police? They’d have to. Some cop would put on a tough game face and talk about how they were going to find the kidnapper. Blah, blah, blah.
    He’d toy with the police a bit. Drag this thing out a couple days. Maybe more. Long enough to make them look like fools—especially one cop in particular.
    And after the kid was released, unharmed, the detective would know that somebody out there just beat him in a little game. He pictured Hammer’s face and smiled.
Let the games begin.

CHAPTER 8
    L unk tuned the teacher out completely. He was a pro at that. Class was almost over anyway—and he was ready for lunch. Besides, there were more important things to think about. Like how he could help Cooper and Hiro.
    Life taught Lunk to be a realist. Hiro would probably label him a pessimist. That wasn’t it at all. But he wasn’t living in Disneyland either. Bad things happened to good people. Like his mom. Hardworking, loving, and she got stuck with a loser like his dad. How many times had Dad smacked Mom around, Lunk had no idea. But he would never hit her again. Lunk made that clear the last time his dad rambled into town looking for money. His dad stood over him at nearly six feet tall, but Lunk looked him in the eye. Daring him to take a swat at him.
    What Lunk would really like to do right now is take a shot at the man who grabbed Gordy. Not that he was close to Gordy. But they were both trying to be friends. He had Cooper to thank for that. For a lot of things really. Cooper saved his life last fall at Frank’n Stein’s—even after all the grief Lunk had given him. And Coop tried to make him a part of his group—which couldn’t have been an easy sell to Hiro and Gordy. Lunk had definitely made their lives miserable in the past.
    But not any more. Now anybody who messed with Cooper—or his friends—was messing with Lunk. That night at the diner had been a game-changer for Lunk. For all of them.
    Especially with Hiro. She was the most religious in the group—and she usually drove him nuts. He couldn’t see the point, really. Hiro talked about God like a friend or something, but some friend. Where had God been the day Hiro’s dad was killed? Lunk could live without a friend like that.
    Lunk was better off without his dad around, but it was different for Hiro. Everything he’d heard about her dad sounded like he was a really decent man—even if he was a cop.
    The bell rang, and Lunk shook off his thoughts. He left the classroom in a hurry. He wasn’t sure what he’d say to Coop at lunch, but he wanted to be there. Hopefully that would help in some way. If nothing else, to keep other kids away from Coop. The kids who probably wouldn’t do a thing to help find Gordy, but just wanted to hear details about the kidnapping.
    Lunk would seriously lose it if he heard one more kid say
Did you hear what happened to Gordon Digby
? Bad news travels fast, and at Plum Grove Junior High, the darkest news traveled at the speed of light.
    Mitch Robinson, Patrick James, and Brian Forrester caught Lunk just as he dropped his books in his locker. Hiro had different names for them. Curly, Moe, and Larry.
    “How did this guy get Gordon?” Mitch didn’t look all that concerned. Just nosey. “Did he offer him candy or something?”
    The