Four Wheeled Hero by Malcolm Brown

crooks said picking up the fire
extinguisher. ‘There must be someone snooping around up here’.
     
    ‘Let’s have a
look around’, said one of the crooks.
     
    ‘Put some
blinking lights on then’, replied the other pointing to a large
panel on the wall.
     
    Not knowing
what switched what on the crook decided to push all of the switches
down. The building suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, and to
add to it, all of the machinery started up too. The conveyor
started moving as the factory started into production.
     
    ‘Now we’re in
trouble’, said Smithy as he moved to take a second look along the
walkway. ‘I can’t see anyone, they must have gone back into the
office. I’ll go and have a look’, he added, and was gone before
Tommy could tell him to stay.
     
    Smithy had only
gone ten metres when Jimmy the Scar came walking out of the
corridor in front of him. Smithy froze to the spot, and it took the
crook by surprise too.
     
    ‘What are you
doing here’, the crook said.
     
    Smithy didn’t
wait to answer as he turned on his heels and ran back in the
direction from which he had come, with the crook close behind.
Tommy had heard the commotion and had turned his wheelchair and was
heading down the corridor trying to make for the nearest office.
Smithy suddenly appeared his face looking in outright panic as the
crook made grab after grab at him.
     
    ‘Help’, Smithy
called to his mate as the crook made a final lunge in his
direction, managing to grasp the zip opener toggle on the holdall
on Smithy’s back.
     
    The crook held
on with an iron grip which made the zip open. Had the crook known
what was in the holdall he may have had second thoughts about his
action, for out of the bag sprang ‘Tiger’, Smithy’s cat. Boy was he
mad. He launched himself at the crook and landed full spread eagle
on his face. To ensure he didn’t fall off ‘Tiger’ buried his claws
deep into the crooks neck which caused the crook to squeal out loud
in pain while at the same time sending him off balance staggering
backwards. Tommy seeing the situation acted quickly.
     
    ‘Duck’, he
shouted to Smithy.
     
    Smithy was just
in time to see the baseball bat go flying over his head to hit the
crook a painful blow to the stomach, sending him flying backward
and over the top of the rail which ran along the walkway. It was
five metres to the factory floor below and seeing this ‘Tiger’ jump
from the man and landed on a pile of pallets a short distance from
the machine that put the two spring parts together. Scarface wasn’t
so lucky. He landed with a thud on the lower part of the spring set
in the machine, knocking him unconscious.
     
    No sooner had
he landed than the machine set in motion and the arm swung over to
place the upper part of the spring into place. Trapped in this
network of wire and springs the unconscious crook was lifted with
the rest of the spring mattress and placed on the conveyor for its
journey to the ‘Stuffing Department’.
     
    By now ‘Tiger’
had got over his shock and was curled up on the pallets out of view
and fast asleep. Tommy and Smithy looked over the walkway and
watched until the crook and his mattress disappeared into the
‘Stuffing Department’.
     
    ‘That was
close’, said Smithy still feeling a little shaky after his
ordeal.
    We need to be
more careful’, replied Tommy. ‘We were lucky that time’.
     
    No sooner had
Tommy said it than the second crook, Ronny the Rat, came around the
corner.
     
    ‘What the hell
are you doing here’, he shouted in an angry voice as he started to
approach the boys along the corridor. They stood frozen once again
for a few seconds before Smithy managed to speak.
     
    ‘Do something’,
he pleaded with Tommy as the crook got nearer.
    Tommy’s mind
was in a whirl for a moment before he could gather his thoughts.
‘Look out of the way’, he told Smithy.
     
    Smithy stood
back expecting the large boxing glove or even the baseball