Chapter IV: Showdown on Gertie

(And now, the thrilling conclusion to this incredible story. To read Chapters I – III, look below!)

The Professor drove back toward Tacoma, the safe secured in the trunk of his car. He was smug and triumphant. The Fuhrer would be expecting him in Berlin soon.

Of course, he didn’t know that there was a three-legged cocker spaniel named Tubby in the backseat. And Tubby could smell evil.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch …

Viola had finally freed herself and her fellow captives from the basement. Leo rushed to get his car and bring it around to the ranch house.

In a flash, the trio was in the car and on their way after The Professor. Along the way, George explained, “Every member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks has committed himself to the protection of the US. When we learned about the sonic weapon The Professor was developing, we knew that he was going to turn it over to America’s enemies. I asked Viola, my fiance, to discover the location of the plans and to steal them. She accomplished that mission last week.”

“And the next day, The Professor hired me,” Leo finished. “I got it.” They were making fast time on the road and Leo hoped they could catch up with The Professor soon.

“If we get to The Professor before the Narrows, we have a chance,” he told them. “Otherwise, we’ll lose him in the city.”

As the car got closer and closer, Leo began to despair. It appeared that they had lost too much ground. Just as the top of the bridge towers came into view, Viola pointed forward and shouted, “Look!” Ahead of them was the car The Professor stole, speeding toward the Narrows.

“We’re going to be too late!” She cried as the car started up the bridge deck.

The bridge was undulating gently as it had since it opened, and Leo lost sight of the car in front of him between the waves concrete. Right near the midspan of the bridge, The Professor’s car jerked suddenly from side to side and came screeching to a halt.

“Tubby finally attacked! He stopped The Professor!”

Leo pulled to a stop behind The Professor’s car. Viola and George were out of the car nearly before he had even brought it to a complete stop. Ahead, Leo saw The Professor step out of the car in pain. Tubby was practically attached to his leg and gnawing ferociously. What held Leo’s attention was not the dog, but what The Professor held in his hand. It looked like a ray gun out of the pages of a cheap comic book. But it’s not a ray gun, is it Leo? It’s a sonic cannon.

Suddenly Leo realized that the Elks were not merely trying to get the plans for a sonic cannon, but for the weapon itself. The Professor had actually completed the cannon. And now he was pointing it directly at Viola and George.

A howl filled the air all around him, and Leo realized The Professor had pulled the trigger on the weapon. Everything seemed to be shaking with that unearthly noise. Viola and George were on their knees, their hands over their ears screaming in agony. The cannon was pointed directly at them, and if the noise was tearing the car apart, Leo couldn’t imagine what it was doing to the two of them.

Leo did the only thing he could think to do. He pulled his foot off the brake and slammed on the gas pedal, aiming squarely for The Professor. The Professor saw the car coming, but too late. He moved the cannon in the direction of the car and as the beam of sound waves hit the windshield, the glass exploded into a million tiny pieces. But Leo was not hit. The car caught the leg of The Professor who spun and fell to the ground. As he fell, the blast of the sonic cannon slammed into the bridge deck, and suddenly Leo felt everything begin to pitch violently.

It’s going to take down the bridge!

Leo rushed out of the car and grabbed the cannon from the hand of The Professor. The Professor’s index finger was still wrapped around the trigger and Leo pried it off, finally stopping the howl of the weapon.

But the Narrows continued to tremble.

Leo looked over at Viola and George who had righted themselves. “Are you OK?” I called.

They stumbled over to where I was standing. “I feel weird. I don’t know what that cannon did to me!” Viola shouted. Both of them looked odd to Leo, but he wasn’t quite sure why. But that was the least of their problems, he realized. “It’s going to collapse!” he shouted.

“We need to take the cannon back to the ranch,” George said, straining to make himself heard. He took the cannon from Leo. “Once this bridge is rebuilt, The Elks will store the cannon with the safe at our lodge where it can always be protected. We will keep it under our benevolent protection until America needs the cannon in its greatest time of need. You must go the other direction and buy us time. Go to the Tacoma side and but you must not tell anyone what has happened here today.”

“I’ll protect you!” I shouted. The noise was getting worse and the movement of the bridge was starting to become unmanageable.

“You have proved yourself to be a true Elk,” George smiled. Viola kissed me softly on the cheek, and with that the two jumped into their car and raced back toward the Gig Harbor side.

I looked down at the Professor who I had struck with the other car. Tubby was still at his feet, his jaw clamped down on The Professor’s leg. I attempted to pull him off, but Tubby wouldn’t budge. “I’m sorry, boy.” I started toward the Tacoma side of the Narrows when The Professor’s voice stopped me.

“You’re going to leave me, Leo?”

“You deserve to be on the bridge your weapon destroyed,” I told him. I turned and hurried toward the Tacoma side of the bridge as fast as I could.

Behind me, I heard The Professor call out, “You haven’t heard the last of me, Leo Coatsworth! This isn’t over yet!”

^ ^ ^ ^

Leo finished his story and I stared at him in wonder.

“Well, I suppose you know the official story. On November 7, 1941, Galloping Gertie came down due to cross winds. I told the press boys I couldn’t rescue my dog Tubby from the car and he perished when the bridge fell into the water an hour later. And I never told anyone about The Professor or the cannon.”

“Did the Professor die on the bridge? And what happened to Viola and George?” I asked.

“Well, that sonic cannon had some surprising side effects on all three—the two who were caught in its blast and the one who fired it. Strange, surprising side effects, indeed. But not everything was that surprising, I suppose. Viola and George pushed up their wedding and that next year she gave birth to a wonderful son. But all that will have to wait until next time. I’m a tired old man and I need to get to bed.”

“But what about the safe! I thought you were going to tell me why the safe was in the road!”

“Isn’t it obvious, son? Pretty soon they’re going to open that safe and do you know what? The cannon will be gone. It will be as if it never even existed. And that means Tacoma is going to see troubles the likes of which no one has seen since the day Gertie came down. Because The Professor didn’t die on the bridge that day. He’s still alive, driven insane by the sonic power of the cannon and now bent on finishing the destruction he started in 1941. No sirree, there won’t be a cannon in there. The Professor has it again. And only a true hero will be able to stop him this time.”

Next week: From the rubble, a hero will rise! What happened to Viola and George? Will they stop The Professor from reigning down chaos over Tacoma? Tune in next week, kids. Same bat time. Same bat channel.

Previously

Chapter I: A Visit from The Professor
Chapter II: The Elks’ Masquerade Ball
Chapter III: Tailing Viola