A noise like a shouting mosquito flew past Nat’s left ear. Peeooow!

A small chunk of quartz popped out of the rock next to Woody.

Nat stared at it in disbelief. “Go!” he shouted at Woody. They took off like Olympic athletes out of the starter blocks.

“Get them!” Davis howled in fury.

Nat and Woody clambered across the rocks, heading for the ridge across one of the channels of water. Too late, Nat realized his mistake. Massive rocks rose above them; there was no way out of the bay. They were trapped.

Peeeeooow! This time, the pellet struck Woody in the chest. He yipped in surprise and pain. Nat gasped in horror and looked around. He could hear Teddy’s crazed laughter.

Pudgy Badger O’Neil also glanced at Teddy Davis uneasily. He was shocked. He hadn’t bargained for anything like this; Teddy looked demented. Badger watched with growing unease as Davis loaded five more pellets into the magazine and aimed at the dog again. He could see its eyes burning like fire, and it was standing in front of the Carver kid as though it was shielding him from the pellets. Teddy started shooting again, always aiming for the animal in the chest, where the white fur was stained with brilliant red blood. Everyone else seemed frozen in horror, unable to move.

Then a red light popped on inside Badger O’Neil’s brain.

Oh, this ain’t right! he thought in dismay. Tiger Davis had gone too far this time, and Badger, who already had a juvenile record, had no wish to be caught up in this kind of thing.

“I’m out of here,” he told the other two curtly. “You might wanna have a word with yourself, dude,” he added to Teddy. “You’re totally out of control.”

Badger’s departure seemed to bring Teddy to his senses. His eyes cleared and were no longer, as Spanner Harris said later, “kind of empty, like.”

Teddy Davis slowly put down the BB gun, looking at it as though he were surprised to see it there.

For a few moments, Spanner gazed at Teddy in dismay, as if he had never seen him before in his life. Oh, this was off-the-charts baaaad, Spanner was thinking. Teddy fired his rifle at a dog!

“What’re you looking at?” growled Teddy. “Come on, we’ll go home an’ I’ll kill you at pool.”

CHAPTER 16
THE LADY VANISHES

Nat was frantic. He didn’t even notice Teddy Davis and Spanner Harris leave. He was up to his elbows in sticky blood and fur, desperately trying to pry the pellets out of poor Woody’s chest.

“I can’t get any more out,” he fretted, shaking his head in defeat. “If we leave them in, you’ll get lead poisoning!”