White House White-Out Read Online Free PDF

father would be sick with worry.
    “Good night, you guys,” Dink said.
    Dink dreamed about Christmas morning back home in Green Lawn, Connecticut. He saw their tree and the presents beneath it. One gift for his mom, one for his dad. But none of the presents had Dink’s name on it.
    He sat up with his heart thumping faster than normal. Where was he? Then he felt the lump of Josh’s body next to his and he remembered.
    It felt like a nightmare, but he knew it was all real. He, Josh, and Ruth Rose were trapped in a snowbank in the middle of nowhere with the president’s stepdaughter and her friend. Her doghad disappeared out in the cold. No one knew where they were.
    Dink shook his head to clear away the depressing thoughts. He tossed his blanket over Josh and crawled toward the van’s rear doors. Everyone was fast asleep as he unwound the string Josh had used to keep the doors closed. He pushed them open and peeked out.
    The fire was just red ashes now. The tire was completely burned, leaving the metal rim charred and black. At least it had stopped snowing.
    Dink hopped to the ground and closed the doors behind him. He stretched and looked up. The sky was clear. Dink smiled when he saw the moon. Its glow lit the snow all around him.
    Dink walked closer to the fire and checked his watch. It was nearly ten-thirty. Why did it feel like they’d beenstuck out here for much longer?

    Firewood
, he thought.
Got to get this fire blazing again
. He knew people were out looking for them and the fire would lead them here. He turned toward the black ring of trees around the clearing where the van had landed. No way was he going there.
    Instead, Dink headed toward the road, remembering that he’d seen a small grove of trees there.
    He crunched over the snow, sinking almost knee-deep with each step. Josh was right: this could be fun if it weren’t so awful.
    He reached the trees and got down on his knees to break off some of the lower branches. He heard something and looked up between two thick branches. Shadows were moving along the road. Behind the shadows came two people with the moon low behind them.They were walking along the road, heading in his direction.
    Dink almost stood up, but then he recognized something about the smaller figure. It was Jo Payne’s hat: white with a red ball on top.
    Dink shrank down into the snow, like a rabbit hiding from a fox. Jo Payne and her tall companion were twenty feet away and coming closer. Dink wriggled deep into the snow and prayed they wouldn’t look into the trees.

    The two stopped where the van had gone off the road.
    “Happened right here,” Jo Payne whispered. “It was like I was on ice. The next thing I remember was waking up in the back of my van with a headache. There were blankets over me. That was when I realized I had driven off with a bunch of kids along with the dog.”
    The other person grunted, then Dink saw him pull off his gloves and light a cigarette. He tossed the match into the snow. Ten feet away, Dink smelled the smoke.
    “I heard the kids talking,” Jo Payne went on. “When they all left, I made a leash for the dog and got the heck out of there.”
    “How’d you manage to let the dog get away?” the man asked.
    “Ace, I didn’t let it get away,” Jo Payne answered. “How was I supposed to knowthat thing could chew through rope?”

    The man coughed. “Well, it’ll be dead by morning. I heard the howling again last night,” he said. “The dog will be no match for a pack of hungry coyotes.”
    Coyotes! Dink squeezed his eyes shut. He tried to remember what he’d seen on TV about coyotes. Did they eat people?
    “I never meant to harm the president’s dog,” the woman said. “I just wanted the money.”
    “Don’t sweat over the dog,” the man said. “The new plan will bring more money. We’ve got the president’s daughter!”
    He pulled two ski masks from a pocket and handed one to Jo. “Here, put this on,” he ordered. “They’ll all be