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Ignacio!
I can’t wait another minute. I dial 911 and wail, “Heeeelp!” into the phone, leaving it on the passenger seat of my car for the first responders to locate me via GPS. Then I look for something—anything—to protect myself should someone find me. I just need to get close enough to hear what’s going on inside that warehouse.
Checking the back seat, my eye catches on the gnomes Tom gave me. I quickly empty the contents of my tote bag and load it with the small gnomes first, then the big, heavy one.
I sneak up to the building, all covert and sneaky. Adrenaline courses through my veins, my heart pounding in my chest. The Mission Impossible theme song plays in my head. I’m invisible—just like the mezuzah heist at Aaron’s party.
I plaster my body against the wall, scooting closer to the roll-up door inch by inch. And then I hear Ignacio’s voice, barely a mumble. He’s saying something about Pancho.
By instinct, I peek around the corner, and that’s when I see the man behind Ignacio, and he’s got a rope. I have to do something. A distraction maybe, just to buy some time to break Ignacio out of there or else the police might arrive too late.
I reach into my bag and pull out one of the small gnomes. He’s a cute little guy the size of a baseball, with rosy cheeks and a green pointy hat.
“Don’t fail me, my friend,” I whisper, kissing him on the nose. Then I throw him as hard as I can at the bus, cracking the windshield.
Wow. That didn’t do much at all. The little gnome is just wedged into the windshield, butt first. With those rosy cheeks and the lopsided grin on his face, he looks like he’s taking a dump on the dashboard.
There are a few more little gnomes left in my bag, but I might have to throw the big one in order to distract the bad guys enough for Ignacio to escape.
I take the heavy gnome out of my bag, but just then, footsteps approach, and I hear one of the guys order the other one to investigate.
I try to make myself blend in with the wall as he comes outside, praying he doesn’t see me. But he stops right outside the door, less than a foot away from me. If he turns around, we’ll be face to face. So I act fast. Lifting the cement gnome in the air, I crash it down over the man’s head with all my might—and he goes tumbling down.
Holy guacamole. I can’t believe that worked. The guy is out cold.
Unfortunately, I’m not prepared for an encore, and when the two other surfers come rushing out, they don’t get as close as the big guy.
They’re too far away to sneak up on. So I throw my large bearded friend, hoping the short time I spent on the girl’s softball team pays off.
I aim for their heads, but my gnome is incredibly heavy and crashes on the ground next to their feet.
The two men whip around, ready to kill.
The light-haired man charges at me and grabs me by the arm, yanking me out into the open. And that’s when I see him. My Ignacio—with his jaw dropped all the way to Australia.
“Olive!”
The darker-haired surfer—I think he’s the leader—barks out a laugh.
“Dude. I knew it.” Then he saunters over to me and squeezes my face in one hand. “You’re more than a waitress, aren’t you?” He whistles, assessing me from head to foot. “Not bad, bromigo. Kudos to you, my man.”
“Leave her alone,” snaps Ignacio.
The dark-haired surfer stomps over to Ignacio. “I’m disappointed in you, Nacho. I really thought this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I don’t know how your lady love found us, but now I’ll have to go find out.”
He jerks his head at the other guy, just as the big one is coming to.
“Put them in the cooler,” he orders, then goes over to check on the guy I hit with the gnome.
The light-haired man yanks me by the arm and shoves me into a cold room, pushing Ignacio in behind me.”
“Stay cool,” he quips, and slides a heavy door, shutting us inside with a clank of a lever.
We’re trapped inside a giant refrigerator.
