4 Stolen!

Chapter 4 Stolen! The Timekeepers ran out of the room. Out on the platform again, Hannah became more aware of how high up they were. She focused her eyes on the stairs so that she didn't get dizzy. Jackson was already heading downward, but Hannah was soon close

behind him. "We know it's you, DeLay!" she shouted to the bearded figure that sprinted ahead of them, his long coat flapping. "Cuckoo!" Tempo called, as she shot out of Hannah's satchel and swooped after DeLay.

Jackson managed to run at full speed and grab DeLay's coat belt, but the villain wriggled out of his coat entirely and left the Timekeepers stumbling over it. The jacket he wore underneath was styled with a pocket watch pattern. "Ha, nice try!" DeLay said as he flung his false beard at them. Hannah spotted a roll of paper sticking out of his jacket. "Give back those plans!" she yelled. DeLay slowed. For a moment, Hannah thought he was going to do as she said. But no—DeLay's hands were busy with something. Tempo flew at him, flapping her wings in his face. He batted her away and launched a little parachute out between the iron beams.

What's he up to? Hannah wondered. She leaned out to see...and gasped. Dangling beneath the slowly drifting parachute were the plans. She could clearly see the red, white, and blue ribbon tied around them. DeLay screeched with laughter and hurtled down the stairs again, spiraling around and around.

Tempo flew to Hannah. "Cuckoo?" she squawked. "Yes, Tempo!" cried Hannah. "After those plans!" The cuckoo zoomed out of the tower, while the Timekeepers tried desperately to catch DeLay before he did any more damage. Hannah's legs were wobbly, but she pounded on down the stairs. Though they'd run down hundreds of steps, they were still quite high up. DeLay, a flight ahead of them, fished something from his pocket. "Look out, Jackson!" Hannah called. "It's a Time Crunch! He'll throw it back to slow us down."

But instead, DeLay flung the Time Crunch a few steps ahead of himself. It rolled down the stairs, but Hannah could still hear its tick tick tick. DeLay tore after it, like a wasp chasing an ice cream truck. It burst into smoke just as he reached it, and vanished. The Time Crunch had sped up time around him so he could move super-fast. Chasing him was pointless. He'd escaped. The Timekeepers slowly climbed all the way back to Gustave's apartment. They found the engineer in a terrible panic.