Dunc and the Scam Artists Read Online Free PDF Page A

should he wait? What if the creep had caught Amos? He could be torturing him for information even now. Rubbing honey on him and looking around for an anthill.
    Dunc shook all over. That was it. He couldn’t wait any longer. Amos was his best friend. No matter what happened, Dunc had to try and save him.
    He looked around the shed for something that would take the creep’s attention off of Amos. An ax handle was leaning against the back wall.
    He grabbed the handle and ran for the door.
    A blue car was parked in front of the house. Dunc eased up behind it and slipped around to the driver’s side.
    The door made an irritating metallic screech as he opened it.
    He held his breath. No one came out of the house.
    Dunc took the ax handle and propped it up in the driver’s seat. Then he took a deep breath and quickly wedged it against the car’s horn.
    Hoonnnnnkkk!
    Dunc ran wide open for the back door and slammed around the corner, just as the front door flew open and the creep ran out to his car.
    Amos came flying out the back door at the same time and nearly ran over Dunc.
    “No time to explain,” Dunc said. “We’ve got to hide. He’ll be looking for us. Under the back porch.
Now!
”

The creep was talking to someone: “There are two of them. They’re still here somewhere. I found two bikes by the side of the house. You look in the house and I’ll check down by the creek.”
    It was pitch black under the old wooden porch. Amos tried not to breathe. Something had definitely died under there recently. The smell was almost unbearable. The stale ground was rocky and uncomfortable.
    Amos felt something crawling up the back of his shirt. He couldn’t reach it and it was driving him crazy. He tried to ignore it and hadalmost succeeded—when he remembered centipedes.
    He’d seen them in
National Geographic
. They bit you. They had poison. They could kill you. First things fell off and then you died.
    It was too much. Amos exploded out from under the porch as if he’d been fired from a missile launcher. Dunc grabbed for him, missed, and called after him in a loud whisper. “Amos—get back in here before you get caught.”
    “Too late for that boys. You’re caught,” the big man boomed.
    A flashlight beamed at Dunc under the porch.
    “Come out of there squirt.”
    Dunc crawled out and stood up. “We were just inspecting the structure of the house. Pretty weak supports under the porch, if you ask me.”
    “Shut up and get in the house. Don’t try anything or I’ll tie your arms and legs in knots.”
    Oh great
, Dunc thought.
Another plan bites the dust
.
    The big man shoved them toward the couch. “Sit down.”
    Mrs. Dell came down the stairs.
    “Oh, dear. What’s going on here?”
    Dunc turned to the lady. “Mrs. Dell you’ve got to help us. This is a bad man. He isn’t your nephew. He has us here against our will. We think he may be trying to steal from you. Please call the police.”
    She smiled at him like a kind aunt or grandmother. “Of course Frankie is my nephew, dear. I’ve known him since he was a little boy. I don’t think you understand. Frankie and I work together on little projects. I only let you boys work here to throw you off our trail. I’m afraid it didn’t work, did it?”
    “I told you not to let them hang around here. You should have let me take care of them,” Frankie almost snarled.
    The look on Mrs. Dell’s face became hard. “Shut up Frankie. Without me, you’d be nothing. You’d still be stealing hubcaps in L.A.”
    Dunc’s mouth fell open. “You mean you’re both crooks? You are the partner the police have been looking for?”
    “Pretty good disguise, isn’t it?” said Mrs.Dell in her sweetest grannylike voice. “You see, Frankie here does all the inside work, but I introduce him to the pigeons. Older people seem to trust older people. They really shouldn’t you know. We can be bad just as well as good.”
    Amos shook his head. “I can’t believe a nice lady