THE SPECTRE– Announces his plans of world domination after murdering Dr. Scott with a fiendish death trap.
DARING – And Sara are trapped inside the same death trap, slowly suffocating to death.
Sara, Daring, and Dr. Edwards are laid quietly on the floor; their breathing uneven and raspy. It would only be a few more minutes before the last of the oxygen would be sucked out of the room.
Meanwhile, Junior and Old Timer were walking down the hallway towards the room. They were arguing as usual.
“I can’t believe the doctor gave you a clean bill of health,” stated Junior. “Doesn’t he know about your condition?”
“My condition, eh?” retorted Old Timer. “My only problem is you flapping your gums all the time.” They stopped in front of the door, where Dr. Sergoff was desperately pounding on the sealed door.
“What’s the matter?” asked Old Timer. “Fergit yer key or something?”
“The receptionist told us you were all down here. Did the meeting start without us?”
“You must help me!” cried Dr. Sergoff. “They killed Dr. Scott, and now the room’s sealed off. I’m afraid my colleague and your friends are already die!”
“Not on our watch,” replied Junior, examining the metal door. As standard issue for all of the Brilliant 5, Old Timer and Junior both had a small tab of plastique tucked away in a secret compartment on their belts. The small explosives had little destructive power except to break down a wall or tear a door off its hinges.
After a few tense seconds of preparations, Old Timer and Junior pulled Sergoff around the corner. Fingers in their ears, they detonated the explosives, and the door collapsed with a loud roar. Junior and Old Timer rushed into the room, and admist the smoke, they found their partners and dragged them out of the death trap.
Dr. Edwards was the first to stir. “What happened?” He asked. Sergoff filled him in as Junior helped up a slightly shaken Sara.
Daring slowly opened his eyes and said, “Am I glad that you two showed up late!”
Later, they all gathered after the three of them had time to recover from their near-death experience. They quietly mulled over the grim fact that the Spectre had again left victorious in this current battle of wits.
“The Spectre, huh?” mused Old Timer. “So, that’s what’s he calling himself?”
“Did you happen to recognize the voice?” asked Daring.
“No,” replied Edwards hastily.
“And you don’t know who could be targeting you?” asked Sara.
“There’s any number of countries interested in our research,” replied Sergoff.
“So, we’re back to square one, huh?” asked Junior.
“Not necessarily,” stated Daring. “Though the Spectre does seem to be able move uninhibited to and from this secure location , despite our improvements to the security.”
“What are you thinking, Richard?” asked Sara.
“My thinking is that maybe we can get the Spectre to come to us…” With that, Daring laid out his plan.
In the middle of the night, a car pulled up onto a secluded road. It pulled off of the road and came to a stop. Two men climbed out into the darkness of night. They made their way to a small opening in the shrubbery. One of them produced a pair of binoculars and peered through them. After a moment, he passed them to his taller partner.
“The boss was right on the money as usual,” said Dekker as Ox observed the cabin in the distance. “After that scare with the death trap, them big wigs escort themselves off to their remote houses, in hopes that we’d never find them.”
“But how come our master always know these things?” asked Ox, handing Dekker back his binoculars.
“I dunno,” admitted Dekker. “But he’s the brains. We just do what we’re told.” With that, the two men started to make their way towards the cabin with a small light in the window.
As they approached the cabin, they noticed one car parked towards the back of the cabin, but no other signs of life. They quietly re-checked the perimeter before peering into the window. Through the window, they saw a spacious room, lit by a large fireplace. There was a single chair facing the fireplace; its back was to the door. A nearby table held the remnants of dinner.
Dekker reached out and tested the doorknob. The door was unlocked. The two men snuck into the cabin as quietly as they could muster.
“Don’t make yourself at home,” said an authoritative voice from the chair. “You wouldn’t be staying long.” The two men of crime had expected to face an elderly scientist. Instead, they had fallen into a trap set by the scourge of the underworld, Rick Daring!
Daring rose from the chair, a gun in his hand. “I don’t have much practice with one of these, but at this range, I don’t think I’ll miss,” said Daring.
Dekker and Ox started to raise their hands until Dekker lashed out, sending a lamp into Daring’s hand. The two thugs dove at Daring as the gun slipped from his hand. Daring’s fist impacted on Dekker’s chin, but Ox just grabbed Daring and threw him across the room. Daring barely had a second to roll out of the way of the flying chair tossed his way.
Daring was about strike back when the gun in Dekker’s hand made him stop in his place.
“Don’t try nothing funny,” said Dekker. “Now, where is it? The plans?”
Daring held up his hands and nodded towards the wall. Keeping their distance, Dekker and Ox watched as Daring pushed aside a painting and pressed a hidden button. This revealed a small opening in the wall, with a piece of paper lying in it.
Without saying anything, Ox moved towards the opening. When he reached inside, two things happened simultaneously. A large electrical current jumped through Ox body, rendering the large man unconscious while blinding Dekker. Daring knocked the gun from Dekker’s hand and socked the thug to the ground.
Daring went over to the wall and opened another secret panel. This one contained the switch for the booby trap within the secret safe. Turning it off, Daring felt confident as he went to retrieve the secret plans.
But Dekker was not unconscious as Daring thought. The criminal dived for the security switch just as Daring reached inside the safe. There was a crackle of electricity and the sound of a body falling to the ground.
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Written by J M Emmons. The story and all characters are copyrighted by J M Emmons.
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