Chocolate Fever Read Online Free Page B

hope so,” said Henry, “but I don’t think so.”
    “Anyway, first thing we do is call your folks. Okay?”
    Henry smiled. There was something about the way Mac spoke that made him feel better.
    “How about it?” Mac asked. “Should we go find that telephone?”
    “What are we waiting for?” Henry said.

Chapter 9
    Hijacked
    MAC DOUSED THE CAB LIGHTS and reached for the switch that would start the diesel. But at that very moment, a loud voice from the darkness outside the truck called “Reach for the sky! Don’t make a move! Hands up! We got you covered!”
    Mac froze at the wheel. Henry’s heart leaped up in his throat, ricocheted around, and settled back down in his chest again.
    Two men jumped up onto the truck, one on each side. Each man carried a small blue revolver. The guns were pointed straight at Mac.
    After a moment, Mac found his voice. “What is this?” he asked.
    The man on Mac’s side of the truck, the one with the mustache, replied. “This, sir, is a robbery. A stickup. A hijacking, in fact. Section Three, Part Four of the Criminal Code. Seizure of a cargo of goods from a vehicle or vessel on the roads or waterways.”
    “Oh,” said Mac.
    “Right, Louie,” said the man on Henry’s side of the truck. He was the smaller of the two thieves, and instead of a mustache, he wore hornrimmed glasses and a lopsided smile. “I’m Lefty, he’s Louie,” the man went on. “People get us mixed up sometimes, but I don’t know why.”
    “My name is Henry Green,” said Henry, “and he’s Mac.”
    “Pleased to make your acquaintance, I’m sure,” said Louie, “even under these unfortunate circumstances.” Polite as they seemed to be, Louie and Lefty were still pointing their guns at Mac and Henry.
    “You sure you want to do this?” Mac asked slowly. He seemed to be puzzled by the hijackers. “I think you’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble.”
    “Trouble?” said Louie. “You will be in trouble if you don’t do exactly what I say. Now climb up to that bunk up there, both of you, so we can get on with the job.”
    Henry did as he was told, with Mac following slowly behind him. Mac was getting angry, Henry could see, but when he spoke, his voice was calm. “I don’t suppose it would do much good to tell you that you are definitely breaking the law,” he said.

    Louie laughed. “Breaking the law? Mister, we are fracturing it.” And with that, Lefty jumped into the driver’s seat, Louie took his place beside him, and the truck began to roll.
    Mac still had something on his mind, and above the roar of the motor he called down to the pair of thieves: “You better stop now . . . I think you’re making an awful mistake.”
    “There’s no mistake about it,” Louie called back over his shoulder. “We know exactly what we’re doing. We’re hijacking a cargo of expensive furs.”
    Mac looked dumbfounded at this last piece of news. “Furs?” he cried out. “Furs?” And with that he started to laugh. Great gusts of laughter poured out of Mac, he doubled over one or two times, and, finally, tears came to his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. “Oh, Lord,” he cried when he could finally speak, “they think they’re stealing furs!”
    The more Mac laughed, the more concerned Louie became. He signaled Lefty to stop the truck and, when he had, turned to look up at Mac.
    In a low voice he said, “No furs?”
    Mac, taking care to keep a straight face, simply answered, “No furs.”
    “Then what?—” Louie began as Mac interrupted.
    “Candy bars!” Mac shouted, the laughter beginning again. “Haw-haw . . . candy bars . . .”
    “Oh, no!” Louie said.
    “Chocolate bars . . . haw-haw . . . with almonds.”
    “Nuts!” exclaimed Lefty.
    “And some without almonds.”
    “What are we gonna do with a load of chocolate bars, genius?” Lefty demanded of Louie.
    “Haw . . . and some with crunch . . . haw . . . and some without crunch.”
    “Chocolate bars! I can’t believe