Max eyed him suspiciously. “What plan?”
“Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this case,” Brattleboro replied, “and this is the way it looks to me. I think the real danger is not Guru Optimo, but Lucky Bucky Buckley. When Guru Optimo is alone, he’s probably harmless. It’s Buckley’s influence over him that makes him a threat to civilization as we know it. Right?”
“Maybe yes and maybe no,” Max replied. “What’s your plan?”
“We heard Buckley say that they were going to bed,” Brattleboro continued. “That means that, right now, they’re in separate rooms. Buckley will be in his bedroom, and Guru Optimo will be in his bedroom. In other words, at this particular moment, Buckley is unable to work his influence on Guru Optimo. Right?”
“I’d rather not commit myself,” Max replied. “What about the plan?”
“We’ll separate,” Brattleboro said. “You and 99 will look for Buckley’s room. And I’ll look for Guru Optimo’s room. When we find them, we’ll destroy them both.”
“Why didn’t you just say that? Why all that involved explanation?” Max asked.
“I’m a fuzzy thinker.”
“Oh.”
“But this is such a big castle,” 99 said. “And we don’t have any idea where their bedrooms might be.”
“See what a fuzzy thinker I am,” Brattleboro said apologetically.
“Maybe I can straighten it out,” Max said. “How does this sound? Brattleboro, you go one way, and look for Guru Optimo’s room, and 99 and I will go another way, and look for Buckley’s room.”
“Fantastic,” Brattleboro said. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you have a fuzzy mind,” Max informed him.
“But, Max, that doesn’t make the castle any smaller,” 99 pointed out.
“Did I say it did? Are you catching Brattleboro’s fuzzy-mindedness, 99?”
“I better go before I start an epidemic,” Brattleboro said.
Max stopped him. “Just a moment. We’re in the dungeon. And there’s only one way out. So how can we separate?”
“By cracky, you’ve done it again-lit a candle in the darkness!” Brattleboro said, impressed. “But what’s the answer?”
“We’ll go to the first floor-then we’ll separate,” Max decided.
“Brilliant! Brilliant! Now, I know why Control is the organization that it is!”
Max smiled modestly. “Why?” he asked.
“Because it has the Government behind it. KAOS could be the organization that it is, too, if it had all that tax money to support it.”
“Frankly, I doubt it,” Max replied scornfully.
With Max in the lead they made their way along the narrow corridor, then up the steps to the main floor. The main floor halls were almost totally dark.
“I’ll go that way,” Brattleboro said.
“I can’t see which way you’re pointing,” Max replied.
“That way.”
“Nevermind. Just go.”
Brattleboro disappeared into the dimness.
“We’ll go this way,” Max said to 99.
They started out, staying close to the walls.
“Excuse me,” Max said.
“You’re excused.”
“99, your voice is changing.”
“That wasn’t me, Max.”
“It was me,” Brattleboro’s voice said. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to go the other way.”
“I didn’t know which way the other way was until now,” Max replied. “99?” he said. “Are you still here? We’re headed in the wrong direction.”
“I can’t see you, Max.”
“Here. . take my hand.”
“I’ve got it, Max.”
“That’s my hand,” V. T. Brattleboro’s voice said.
“I thought you’d left,” Max said.
“I did. But in this dark, I must have gone in a circle.”
“We need a light of some kind,” Max said. “Anybody got a match?”
“I have a miniature flashlight,” Brattleboro said.
“That’s even better.”
“You think so? Every try to light a cigar with one?”
“For this purpose, I mean, it’s better,” Max said. “Light your miniature flashlight, then go in whatever direction you want to, and we’ll go in the other direction.”
“You did it again,” Brattleboro said.
A pinpoint of light suddenly appeared. Then it moved down the corridor.
“Shall we go, too?” 99 said to Max.
“Shhhh!”
“Why, Max?”
“I don’t want Brattleboro to hear you.”
“But he knows we’re going to go.”
“Yes, but he doesn’t know which direction we’re going to go, 99. Let him get a little bit ahead of us, then we’re going to follow him.”
“Max. . that isn’t the plan.”
“It’s my plan, 99. Brattleboro’s plan is to double-cross us. That’s why I’ve instituted my own plan, which is to double-cross him.”
“Could you explain that to me, Max?”
“99, while we were having dinner with Buckley and Guru Optimo, Brattleboro had plenty of time to wander around the castle. It’s my guess that this isn’t a wild goose chase he’s on, that he knows exactly where Guru Optimo’s room is located.”
“But why wouldn’t he share the information with us?”
“Because, while we were roaming around in these corridors, chasing that goose, he would have time to go straight to Guru Optimo’s room and talk him into rejoining KAOS.”
“Max, maybe, but-”
“Come on, 99,” Max broke in. “We can’t let that light get out of our sight!”
They moved quietly down the corridor in pursuit of Brattleboro.
“Max, what’s the rest of your plan?” 99 whispered.
“We’ll let Brattleboro lead us to Guru Optimo’s room, then we’ll put Brattleboro out of commission-temporarily, of course-then we’ll talk Guru Optimo into rejoining Control.”
“Max. . I lost the light. Do you see it?”
“I haven’t taken my eye off it since Brattleboro first lit it, 99. There it is, right up ahead. It seems to have stopped. Let’s get closer.”
They crept nearer.
“Max,” 99 whispered, “that doesn’t look like the light.”
“I tell you, I’ve had my eye on it every second.”
“But, Max, that looks like the moonlight from that window over there shining on a suit of armor.”
“Exactly what Brattleboro wants you to think, 99.”
“You mean-”
“Isn’t it obvious? Brattleboro has clouded our minds, making us think that he’s a suit of armor with the moonlight shining on him. Very romantic, but it won’t work. You’ll notice that the suit of armor is standing by a doorway. That doorway leads to Guru Optimo’s room. As soon as we leave, thinking we’ve lost the light, Brattleboro will enter the room and do his dirty work.”
“What can we do, Max?”
“Since we now know where Guru Optimo’s room is located, we no longer need Brattleboro to lead us to it. I’ll stroll up to that suit of armor, pretending I’m lost, then I’ll suddenly turn on it and put it out of commission with a karate chop.”
“All right. But. . careful, Max. .”
Max meandered up the corridor, looking as if he were lost. Then, reaching the suit of armor, he abruptly raised an arm and chopped it across the back of the neck.
There was a clanging sound.
“What happened, Max?” 99 called.
“I think I broke my hand, 99.”
“How is Brattleboro?”
“I don’t know. But the next time I see him, I’ll tell him that you asked.”
“You mean-”
“It’s a suit of armor with the moonlight shining on it.”
Hurrying, 99 joined Max. “Then we’ve lost Brattleboro,” she said. “Oh, Max, we’ll never find him now!”
“99, if he’s in this castle, we’ll find him,” Max promised her. “Remember back there where we took a left turn and saw this suit of armor? Well, Brattleboro must have taken a right turn, instead. So, we’ll just go back to where we started, and next time, turn right instead of left. That ought to take us straight to Brattleboro.”
“Unless, after he made a right turn, he made another turn-a left turn, maybe? Or a right turn again? Or two right turns and a left turn? Or-”
“Well, we’ll just hope that we’ll be able to spot that light again.”