Home Alone 3 by Todd Strasser, John Hughes Read Free Book Online

was too late.
    Now the bad guys knew where he lived.

27
    Later that night, Alex knocked on Stan's door and spoke to him. Then he knocked on Molly's door and went in.
    Molly looked up from her desk. "Isn't there a law prohibiting a person from wearing the same pajamas for five days straight?"
    Alex ignored her. "You don't have to come home tomorrow after school. I'll be fine."
    "Gee, thanks," Molly answered with a droll smile. "Frankly, I was planning on sticking Stan with the unsavory task."
    "You don't have to," Alex said. "I'll tell Mom you were here. I'll cover for you. I already talked to Stan. He agreed."
    "Why?" Molly asked suspiciously. "What's in this for you?"
    "For the first time in my life, nothing," Alex replied sadly and trudged out of the room.

    * * *
    Back in his room, Alex took his pet rat, Doris, out of her cage and stroked her gently on the back. It was obvious to him now that the burglars were going to come for him the next day after everyone left for school and work. No one was going to help him because no one believed him. Not his parents, or Molly, or Stan, or the police, or the Air Force.
    Alex sighed and looked out into the dark. He was going to have to do it himself. He wasn't going to cry or feel sad or scared. He knew the burglars were grown-ups and criminals and a lot bigger and stronger than he was. But this was his neighborhood and his house.
    And he wasn't going to let them beat him.

28
    The renovation of his house had been a big pain, but now Alex was glad about it. Because it gave him all sorts of materials and supplies for the coming battle.
    That night from the basement he got reels of wire, balls of yarn, and cans of spray paint. He found cable cutters, a fishing tackle box, jars of nuts and bolts, and a bunch of old weights.
    He filled an old steamer trunk with books. He quietly drilled tiny holes in the front door and placed barbells on the roof over the front porch. He loosened bolts on the swimming pool diving board and slid a long, narrow wooden board under the pool cover.
    He strung the thin, nearly, invisible fishing line from his house to his neighbor's house, and then into the backyard. He crept into Stan's room while his brother was sleeping and stole his most prized possession—an ammo box filled with M-80s, cherry bombs, smoke bombs, fake vomit, Chinese handcuffs, a hand buzzer, and a pea shooter.
    And then there was the deal with the car battery, the jumper cables, and the metal lawn chair.
    It took hours to set everything up. Fortunately the Pruitts' house was so old it was equipped with a dumbwaiter, a miniature elevator that worked on electricity. It wasn't made to carry people, but a small adult could squeeze inside if they wanted to. With the dumbwaiter Alex could move heavy things like the barbells and the books from the basement to the attic.
    When he was finished, he crawled into bed and spread some balls of yarn, a small coil of fine wire, and a knitting bag around him.
    The last thing he did was watch the weather channel.
    That big storm was coming.
    Alex's eyelids grew heavy. He yawned and slid under the covers. It was time to sleep.

29
    At the regional bureau of the FBI in San Francisco, Bureau Director Albert Stuckey was just about to turn off his light and go home when his door opened and the young agent named Rogers came in with a sheet of paper. "This just came for you, sir. It's from the Air Force."
    Stuckey took the sheet of paper. It was a fax about a child calling a recruiting office in Chicago about an Axus Defense microchip. He looked up at Rogers. "Did you read this?"
    "Yes, sir." Rogers nodded stiffly.
    "I know it concerns the stolen Axus chip," Stuckey said, "but it's from a kid."
    "I think it's the serial number on the chip that piqued their interest, sir," Rogers replied.
    Stuckey looked down at the fax and read the serial number the kid had given the recruiter. Then he looked through the folders on his desk until he found the report of the stolen