Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang Read Online Free Page B

was placed before them. It read:
CROCODILE STEAK
or

TART OF DEATH-WATCH BEETLE
ELECTRIC EEL SOUP
or

SNAKEBURGERS
NETTLE PIE

    “Whatever you do,” warned Pete, “don’t take the electric eel soup.”
    “Why?” asked Jacob Two-Two. “Why?”
    “Because,” said Oscar, “it’s shocking.”
    At another long table, Jacob Two-Two noticed a little boy crying. A girl, maybe four years old, kept calling, “I want my mommy.” Oscar looked sad. Sodid Pete. And Jacob Two-Two was bursting to tell them about his supersonic bleeper and how all their troubles would soon be over, because any day now the leaders of Child Power, the fearless O’Toole and the intrepid Shapiro, would track them down and liberate everybody. But before he could whisper his secret, all the other children began to shriek, some even hiding their eyes, as the dreaded Hooded Fang padded into the dining hall, growling and baring his fangs. Suddenly, The Hooded Fang frowned. “I know my audience,” he bellowed. “I’ve got antennas. There’s a little stinker in here somewhere who isn’t trembling for me. Would he please stand up?”
    Jacob Two-Two was about to rise, but Oscar held him down on one side, and Pete on the other.
    “If you’re not afraid,” Oscar whispered, “you must pretend.”
    But it was too late. The Hooded Fang was already upon them, glaring down at Jacob Two-Two.
    “So it’s you, is it, Two-Two? I’ll soon fix that. But first,” he said, striding to the raised platform at the head of the dining hall, children scattering left and right as he passed, “I must tell all of you why we arehere tonight. We are here to honor Mr. Fox and present him with this month’s Rotten-to-Children Award. And, furthermore, I must tell you that as Mr. Fox has been so splendidly cruel here, so rough and tough with little brats, he is being promoted. Mr. Fox will be leaving us. He’s going to London. Undercover work. An entirely new division.” Here The Hooded Fang paused, his smile vile. “
Toy Shop Sabotage
.”
    Going to London?
Heedless of any danger to himself, Jacob Two-Two raced to Mr. Fox’s side and tugged urgently at his sleeve. “When are you leaving?” he demanded. “When are you leaving?”
    “Why, tonight,” said Mr. Fox, beaming as he flashed the supersonic bleeper at Jacob Two-Two, “tonight, right after the party.”
    “Then give me back my bleeper right now,” cried Jacob Two-Two twice.
    In reply, Mr. Fox shook with laughter and gave Jacob Two-Two a shove, sending him sprawling.
    I have failed everybody
, thought Jacob Two-Two, and that night he wept fresh hot tears on the cold floor of his cell. For now he knew that the fearless O’Tooleand the intrepid Shapiro would never, never find him. He was condemned to linger in the hidden prison for two years, two months, two weeks, two days, two hours and two minutes.

CHAPTER 9
    eanwhile, in the Child Power tent, under the shade of the copper beech tree, the fearless O’Toole paced the floor, his cape hanging limp. The intrepid Shapiro sat at her desk, holding her head in her hands.
    “If you won’t say it, I will,” said Shapiro. “We’re up the creek without a paddle.”
    “Poor little Jacob Two-Two.”
    To begin with, the Child Power receiver in the tent had picked up definite bleeps, tracking them to the outskirts of the fog country, when suddenly everything had gone haywire. The signals were lost.
    O’Toole searched, Shapiro cogitated, but again and again they came up with nothing.
    Then, two days later, the intrepid Shapiro burst in on the fearless O’Toole, enormously excited, and insisted that she had picked up the supersonic bleeps in the West End of London.
    “Why, that’s crazy,” said the fearless O’Toole.
    But they had to pursue every lead. And so, off they ran, through Hyde Park, around Piccadilly Circus, and into the gigantic toy shop of Regent Street that had always been their favorite. The fearless O’Toole followed the intrepid Shapiro to