The next day was Friday and Jason reported to Mr. Smith as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that this time Christine wasn’t there.
After giving Mr. Smith the necessary information, Jason looked throughout the lab for her. When he finally found her, she was sound asleep.
Jason looked around what was obviously her bedroom. From the looks of things, she was taken good care of. Everything that she could realistically want was in there, yet Jason knew she was happier before Mr. Smith had adopted her. Things should have been left as they were a long time ago.
Then, he saw something next to Christine’s bed that made him break into tears. It was a picture of Christine and her family. It was the way Jason had remembered her. The way she used to be.
Jason looked at how innocent Christine appeared as she slept peacefully. Jason knew that he had caused Christine enough trouble without waking her up to apologize, so he left a note by the picture and left as quietly as he had come.
Jason wasn’t the only one with problems. Christine was having some problems of her own. At first, she was sure that Mr. Smith was right and Jason was wrong. Mr. Smith had been nice to her for years and Jason had deserted them when they needed him the most. However, seeing the concern and compassion in Jason made her wonder if he was really right after all. When she read his note, she realized the only way to tell who was right was to spend more time with Jason.
In the weeks that followed, with the days growing shorter, Jason and Christine got to spend more time talking to each other. However, since Jason was on Mr. Trim’s side and Christine was on Mr. Smith’s side, they had to be careful to make sure that neither Mr. Trim and his allies nor Mr. Smith and his allies saw them talking together.
They told each other where they had been since they last saw each other and what they had been doing there. Even though they had learned to trust each other, they knew that Mr. Smith would soon strike and they would have to be on opposing sides.
Jason tried time after time in vein to conform Christine to his side, so they wouldn’t have to oppose each other. He even showed her the note that Mr. Smith had used to blackmail him months earlier, but Christine believed the propaganda that Mr. Smith had told her, the note was forged by Mr. Trim.
Christine was so convinced by Mr. Smith’s propaganda that she tried to conform Jason back to Mr. Smith’s side. Needless to say, Jason would not change sides either.
Christmas eventually came and Mr. Trim threw a big party in the lab. It seemed like anyone vaguely connected with Mr. Trim was there. This was one of the best parties Mr. Trim ever hosted. Almost everyone was having a good time. In fact, everyone except Jason.
Jason looked jealously at where Torry and the gang had assembled themselves. They had all been friends for a long time. Jason didn’t have too many friends. He had always been a loner.
This alone wouldn’t have bothered him too much, but there was something else that had been bothering him. It was on a Christmas several years back that Jason first began to suspect that Mr. Smith had been using him. When he was sure of Mr. Smith’s sinister behavior, he panicked and left as quickly as possible.
In hind sight, he knew that he should have warned Christine and the others instead of worrying about his own neck, but it was too late now. All he could do was hope Christine would eventually believe him.
Dan and Amy had noticed that Jason was all by himself and invited him to join the rest of Torry and the gang, but Jason refused saying he’d rather think things over. Although they didn’t understand why Jason wanted to be by himself, they respected his right to privacy and left telling the others not to bother him.
The following weekend the inevitable occurred, Mr. Smith was ready for another attack. The Trims had left for a conference and the only one left in the lab would be John and Torry and the gang. Jason’s job was to lead them into a trap.
Jason had just entered the lab and Torry and the gang were having another one of their meetings, when Mr. Smith’s allies surrounded the lab. Everyone turned to John to ask what to do, but John was just as helpless as the rest of them.
"I’ve got an idea!" exclaimed Jason.
Not everyone was willing to trust Jason. They still remembered that Jason was probably a spy for Mr. Smith. However, they also remembered how much Jason had helped them the last time and there was no one else who could come up with anything, so they agreed to go along with Jason’s plan.
"Okay, Jason, what do we do now?" asked John.
"It’s simple," Jason replied. "All we have to do is get a few decoys to lure them away, so the rest of us can escape. John and I are the oldest, so I think we should be the decoys. We will both run out different doors at the same time and get as many people as possible to follow us; then, when we’ve lured away as many people as possible, the others will flee to safety at the big tree by the river. If John or myself are able to escape, we will join you there."
The plan sounded easy to accomplish, but the others knew that something was wrong with the plan. However, they had no other choice. They had to try it.
Surprisingly, when they actually tried it, Jason’s plan seemed to work. All of Mr. Smith’s allies were chasing either Jason or John . They others made it easily to the big tree by the river. Even Jason and John were doing fairly well evading their should be captors. John was eventually caught, but Jason was able to escape and join the others.
Jason told the other to rest for awhile to give him a chance to think of a plan to rescue John. All, except for Torry and Bob, agreed to rest.
Bob was a good friend of Mark’s, the other possibility for being a spy, and he knew that Jason wasn’t to be trusted. Besides, wasn’t Jason’s motto supposed to be, "Better an hour early than one second too late." It wasn’t like him to wait around like this. Quickly and quietly, Bob started back to Mr. Trim’s lab.
Torry knew from experience that someone had to watch for trouble, before it snuck up on them. Everyone resting would make it very easy for Mr. Smith to capture all of them at once.
"I’ll scout on ahead as a lookout," explained Torry as he took off.
As soon as Torry was a safe distance away from the others, he got out his magic crystal and changed into a bird. It would be easier from him to scout from the air.
From the air, he could see clearly the danger that the others were in. Mr. Smith and his allies were approaching the big tree by the river from all directions. They had already captured Bob, and they were within striking distance of the others.
There was no way Torry could warn the others in time, so he just flew back to Mr. Trim’s lab and changed back. All he could do was hope that they were able to escape.
Unfortunately, they never had a chance. Mr. Smith, Kenny, Jack, Bill, Christine, and many others came at them simultaneously. They had to surrender.
As the members of Torry and the gang were taken separately to Mr. Smith’s lab, Mr. Smith noticed that Torry had escaped.
"One of them got away," scolded Mr. Smith.
"It’s only Torry," Jason stated. "He won’t get far."
"Only TORRY!!" roared Mr. Smith. "It was Torry that escaped last time when no one else was able to. The name of their group is Torry and the gang. I underestimated him the last time. I now know that Torry is a dangerous and powerful adversary. You will find Torry for me or life is going to be very difficult for you."
"I will capture him," assured Jason.
While the others were still stunned, Dan quickly realized what was going on.
"Why, Jason?" Dan wondered.
"Out of the many secrets I have, I’d say this is my deepest one and I guess it’s about time I told someone," Jason began. "Do you remember Christine?"
"Yes," Dan replied. In the time of the Jesterville Conjunction, Dan had mistaken Christine for someone on his side.
"What about her?" insisted Dan.
"She’s my sister," Jason told him.
Copyright MCMLXXXVI, MCMXCIX
