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

The Lunch Box Phantom (part 6)

The next morning all the kids in Billy's class marked their five dollar bills by writing the letters B.A.D. on the collar of Laurier's shirt. Then they put them into their lunch boxes. Sure enough, when lunch time came around all the money was gone. Billy found John right away and told him that the plan was working. Then he ran off to tell his friends to get ready.

John met with the rest of the detectives. "This is it," he told them. "Got your whistle ready, Ben?"

"I practiced with it all last night," Ben answered. "Mom took it away from me for a while, but I got it back this morning."

"There's Eddie and Shane by the baseball diamond," said Sally.

"Okay," said John. "It's time to move in and make the arrest."

Eddie and Shane saw the Barton Avenue Detectives coming across the yard but they didn't seem at all worried.

"Look," Shane taunted. "It's the Barton Avenue Defectives."

"Maybe we should arrest them," said Eddie. "There's a law against garbage walking around the street, you know."

"You're the ones who are getting arrested," Mike told them.

"Us?" said Shane, and he laughed.

"We didn't do anything," said Eddie. He laughed too.

"Eddie and Shane, you are charged with the robbery of eleven five-dollar bills," John told them, flashing his detective badge. "We're taking you in."

"To where?" demanded Eddie.

"To the principal," Sally answered him.

"Yeah? That's what you think," said Eddie.

"You and who else?" said Shane.

Those were just the words that John was waiting for. "Us and everybody else," he said, and he nodded to Ben.

Ben took out his whistle and blew the secret signal. The little kids heard it and came running over from all around the playground. Suddenly Eddie and Shane didn't seem so sure of themselves. They started to back away from the oncoming crowd. Mike, John and Ben stood behind them and pushed them back into place.

"Where do you think you're going?" John asked.

Shane and Eddie didn't stay to answer. They made a break for it. But Sally and Jessica were blocking their escape, and both girls were ready.

"I've got Eddie," shouted Jessica.

"Shane's mine," Sally called back.

"Get out of the way, you stupid girls," Shane yelled at them. Eddie just growled and charged.

Sally and Jessica got out of the way all right, but not quite the way Shane and Eddie expected. As the two boys ran past, Jessica grabbed Eddie's arm and tossed him with her hip. He flipped over and landed on his back. Sally just stuck her foot out and tripped and went sprawling. Two seconds later they were both buried in an avalanche of grade ones, twos and threes. John had to rush over and tell the little kids not to hurt the prisoners too much.