CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

     Wiley and Maggie sprinted up one street and down

another as the ever present attack dogs slowly gained

ground. Then Wiley cut across a corner lot and quickly shot

down an alley, with Maggie right with him. Right away

Maggie realized where they were. “Hey, your first hideout

is down this alley,” Maggie declared.

     As they neared the hideout, now occupied by the

skunks, Wiley barked out instructions. “We’re going in the

back door and out the front window. Don’t stop for

anything.”

     Maggie shot back, “I’m your shadow.” The two dogs

burst through the rear door of the skunk bungalow, and

flew out the open front room window, landing on the old

porch, sped out of the yard and down the street. Five attack

dogs followed them through the rear door of the skunk’s

house. A minute later, coughing and choking, they

staggered back out the rear door of the bungalow into the

yard and the chase was over

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     Wiley and Maggie, wet, dirty, and exhausted, walked

toward Maggie’s home. They were too tired to talk. At that

moment, Bouncer, who was head scout, caught up with

them. He was anxious to talk to Wiley about the gang’s

plan to free a whole van of dogs before they were taken to

the institute.

     “You guys look beat,” said a concerned Bouncer.

     “We’re fine. Just catching our breath,” insisted Wiley.

     “The big raid is a go,” Bouncer announced.

     Wiley immediately perked up. “Go ahead. I know my

way home,” encouraged Maggie.

     “Let’s go,” said Bouncer.

     “Take care, both of you.” said Maggie. Then Wiley

and Bouncer ran off, and Maggie turned and walked toward

her home. As she continued on down the street with her

head down, she failed to see a van with two dog catchers

watching her. Then the van pulled out right in front of her,

and after freezing for a moment, Maggie spun around to get

away, but another van cut her off, and four institute dog

catchers surrounded her.

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     “You will not take me,” cried Maggie, as she

attempted to break out of the circle of dog catchers, but one

of them fired a tranquilizer gun, taking her down.

     As the dog catchers put Maggie’s limp body in the

back of the van, one proclaimed, “We’re taking the triangle

back.”

     Inside an old convenience store a few blocks away,

two institute dog catchers were arguing over what kind of

chips to buy. “I like barbecue chips,” said the driver.

     “I can't stand them,” stated the other dog catcher.

“They leave an awful barbecue taste in your mouth all

day.”

     “Yea. What do you like?” asked the driver.

     The other dog catcher held up a bag of chips. “These

low-cal baked chips.”

     “No way. They taste like cardboard,” insisted the

driver.

     Meanwhile, outside the old store, the gang had crept

into position, surrounding a truck filled with captured dogs.

Bouncer and Astro were behind the truck, Wiley was

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around the corner by the store, Astro and Gibraltar were in

the brush by the parking lot and Buster was lying down like

he was asleep near the front door. Just then, the dog

catchers came out of the store, still arguing over the chips.

     The driver looked down and noticed Buster on the

concrete walkway. He came to a complete stop and the

other dog catcher bumped into him. He quietly signaled to

his partner behind him and they both ran to the truck.

“That's the crazy dog that whizzed on our van,” yelled the

driver.

     “Let’s nail him,” shouted the other.

     They reached the van, threw open the doors and

grabbed their tranquilizer guns. Leaving the van’s doors

open, they both raced back to find Buster, who had taken

off around the corner of the store, making sure the men saw

him. The dog catchers pointed their tranquilizer guns and

fired. “Take him down,” ordered the driver.

     Meantime, Wiley had slipped in from the other corner

and jumped into the open van. He began pawing at buttons,

levers and knobs, trying to open the rear door of the van so

the captured dogs could be freed.

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     “Open up,” cried Wiley.

The      dog catchers wheeled around and saw Wiley in

their van and ran back with their guns drawn. Suddenly,

without warning, the rest of the gang stormed out of their

hiding places and rushed the dog catchers. The two men

froze in their tracks, surrounded by Astro, Bouncer, Duke,

and Gibraltar, who all looked like they meant business.

     Then Buster joined the gang and started barking

orders. “Keep them busy until all the dogs are free,” he

ordered.

     “Tranquilize as many as you can,” yelled the first dog

catcher. But just as a dog catcher lined up to fire his

tranquilizer gun, Bouncer attacked from behind, knocking

him off balance. The situation was quickly out of hand.

     At that instant, Wiley finally hit a button that opened

the rear doors of the van, releasing the captured dogs. Then

Wiley jumped out of the van and hollered, “Everybody

out!”

     “Hold them until all the dogs are out of here,” Wiley

instructed the gang. “Gibraltar, help me.” Quickly Wiley

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and Gibraltar began to round up the freed dogs and lead

them away.

     “Come on, come on, follow us,” Gibraltar hollered.

     As Wiley and Gibraltar herded the freed dogs down

the street, the rest of the gang attempted their getaway.

Buster gave the order, “Move out! Move out!” He, Astro,

Bouncer and Duke broke off their battle with the dog

catchers and quickly retreated in different directions. But

one member of the Blue Collar gang, Astro, was only able

to make it a short distance from the van before he went

down with a tranquilizer dart in his side.

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