The Kids From B.A.D.
	Stories by Allen Morgan
	detective story collection
	no illustrations
	six stories - 128 pages

Burglars (part 4)

The men were standing next to the dining-room table. One of them slipped behind Mike and John and quickly cut them off from the door. The other got between them and the window. Before either Mike or John could recover from their surprise it was too late-they were trapped in the room with two burglars and there was no escape. Mike was frozen with fear. His mouth dropped open and he couldn't move a muscle. John was scared too but he kept his head. He knew he had to think of something fast. He raised his arms slowly and frowned at the burglars.

"The jig's up," he said to Mike heavily. "They've caught us red-handed. Now we'll have to go to jail for sure."

"Jail?" said the burglar by the door. He looked nervously over at his partner by the window.

"You're arresting us, aren't you?" said John sadly. "That's what cops do."

"Cops?" said the burglar by the window. He smirked. "You hear that, Jake? The kid thinks we look like cops."

Jake leaned against the door and smiled back at him. "Now ain't that something, eh, Sam? I've been called a lot of things in my life but this is the first time anybody called me that."

"You mean you two aren't cops?" asked John.

"Far from it, kid," said Sam. "We're crooks."

"You're kidding," said John. "Well, that's sure a relief. Hey, Mike, you can stop worrying. These guys are all right."

John put his hands down and slapped Mike on the back. Mike hardly felt it. He was still frozen in place and looking very scared.

"We sure are lucky bumping into you guys," John continued. "You see, me and my partner here are crooks too."

"You are?" said Jake. "But you're just kids."

"We're just starting out," explained John. "This is going to be our first job, ain't that right, Mike?"

Mike managed a little gurgle. It wasn't very convincing but John hoped the crooks wouldn't notice.

"You sure you kids don't live here?" asked Sam suspiciously.

"Are you kidding? Get serious!" said John. He spat on the rug for emphasis. "Me and my partner here, we're orphans. We just ran away from the orphanage and when we saw this house was empty we decided to hole up here for a couple of days. We're planning to rob the place before we go."

"Orphans, eh?" said Jake. He looked suspicious too.

"That's right," said John. "My parents died in an airplane crash. Their plane was taking off when this other plane landed on the same runway, coming from the other direction. Hit head on. The pilots were sorry about it and all, but that didn't do my parents much good, did it?" He hung his head.

"What about your partner?" asked Sam.

Everyone looked at Mike. He couldn't even manage a gurgle this time.

"He don't like to talk about it," John explained.

"His mom and dad got bumped off by a freight train a couple of years ago. One hundred and two rail cars just squooshed them right up. He ain't hardly said a word since, ain't that right, Mike?" Mike managed to nod.

"See what I mean?" said John.

"What's that paper he's got there?" asked Jake. He reached out and grabbed it away from Mike's hand.

"Oh, that?" said John. "That's a list we've been making of all the things we want to rip off from here.

Jake read the list with interest. Then he pulled Sam off to one said and let him take a look. "We could really clean up here," he whispered.

"What about the two kids?" Sam whispered back. "We can't have them hanging around watching us. We'll have to do something with them."

"Not yet," Jake replied. "They've cased the joint pretty good, so why don't we just play along with them for a while until we find out where all this stuff is. We'll lock them in a closet or something just before we go. Then when we're clear we can call up the police and tell them we found the kids in here and locked them up for safekeeping. The cops come here, find the kids and blame it all on them. We'll be in the clear all the way."

The two burglars grinned at each other and turned back to Mike and John. "Don't tell me you guys are looking to take all this stuff by yourselves," Jake said.

"Oh, there's plenty to go around," John told him. "We don't need to hog it all. You guys seem okay. You can steal some of it too if you want."

"That's mighty nice of you," said Jake.

"Us crooks got to stick together, don't we?" said John. "And anyway, like I said, me and my partner are new at this. You can show us a few things about what to do. I mean, we never saw anybody burglarize up close before."

"Sure, kid, that's a great idea," said Sam. "You show us where the stuff is and we give you lessons in return."

"And we split the loot fifty-fifty," said John. He put out his hand to shake on it. Sam took his hand but then he pulled John around and pinned it behind his back. John gri maced as he twisted it.

"We'll start the lessons right now," he growled. "Rule number one: don't get smart. When you're in a gang you know your place and you don't get out of line. When it comes to splitting up later, you'll get what's coming to you."

"We all will," said John. "That's all I'm hoping for."

"And rule number two is co-operation," Sam said. "Now seeing as we're all in this gang together, why don't you start the co-operation going by showing us just exactly where all this stuff on the list is. Start with the silverware."