Discovering Dynamite!

DISCOVERING DYNAMITE

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BY JOSEPH ALLEN COSTA

FOR CRISTIANO & ALESSANDRIA

CHAPTER 1

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DINO DYNAMITE: AMERICAN SUPER SPY

LUKE! LUKE, TURN THE TELEVISION off it’s almost dinner time. The voice of Luke McCowan’s grandmother echoed through the two-story wooden home and into the living room where three stone faced boys, Luke, Reggie Johnson and Byron Big, sat motionless. The boys were transfixed with images on the flat TV screen. Rusty, Luke’s Jack Russell Terrier, slept at Luke’s feet, oblivious to the action taking place on the television.

The boys often gathered at Luke’s home on Sunday afternoons to hangout, play videos or watch movies. On this particular day they had chosen to watch an American cinema classic, DINO DYNAMITE: AMERICAN SUPER SPY, one of a collection of Dino Dynamite movies Luke owned on DVD.

Ten more minutes, Grandma, Luke shouted without averting his eyes as the fate of the world played out before him and his friends. Oh-kaay, his grandmother’s voice echoed back in singsong fashion before sternly reminding the boys that it was a school night. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that the boys heard a single word she said. After all, Dino Dynamite was about to save the planet and not even Luke’s grandmother could stop that from happening.

Deep in turquoise Caribbean waters where the sea teamed with aquatic life, something unnatural rested ominously on the sandy bottom. Tilted to one side and decaying in the salt water there stood an ancient wooden ship that appeared to have met its match when cannon balls breached the hull and splintered its heavy wooden frame. Through one of the jagged holes in hull, a ghostly white skeleton head swayed with the changing current.

Some distance away, a lone diver, wearing a blue wetsuit and propelled by a jetpack, moved swiftly through the water toward the sunken vessel. As the diver approached the immense structure, the size alone revealed it to be no ordinary ship. Against the backdrop of the wooden vessel, the diver appeared to shrink, becoming one of the billions of specs of life made visible by shafts of sunlight slicing through the ocean.

The diver’s unnaturally smooth movement through the water did not go unnoticed. For as the diver approached, the boney white sentry turned its head in a mechanical fashion and the sunken black eyes glowed red. An alarm sounded sending schools of fish scattering all directions.

A section of the dilapidated wooden ship moved inward and slid up revealing a rectangular opening that led to a shiny, stainless steel interior. Two divers holding spear guns emerged and fired at the approaching diver. Using the speed and power of the jetpack, the diver in blue barely avoided the deadly spears. He pressed a button on the jetpack, which shot him through the water like a bullet directly into the guards, causing a violent collision that left the attackers hanging limp in the water like human jellyfish. The diver buckled the men to the jetpack and sent them rocketing to the surface. He then entered the ship and punched buttons on a brightly lit panel, closing the secret door behind him. Once inside, water drained from the room and he removed his wet suit revealing dry clothes beneath. Checking his watch, the lean and muscular man moved cautiously through the ship’s high-tech interior. Rounding a corner, he walked directly into two large men wearing jump suits.

It’s Dino Dynamite! One of the men shouted. Get him.

Dynamite struck the two thugs with the speed and agility of a kung fu master, sending both men crashing to the ground in virtual silence.

In the command center, deep within the belly of the secret hideaway, the notorious Little Big Man, a bald and diminutive man wearing an impeccably crisp white suit, paced the floor barking orders. The room was a beehive of activity as workers in jumpsuits pressed buttons on blinking consoles. Little Big Man stood by the beautiful Secret Agent Dahl. Her hands were bound to a post.

Agent Dahl, Little Big Man said to his female captive. You have a front row seat to my genius! He gestured to a giant laser gun. When this proton laser is fully powered, I will take control of the moon and control all tides of the earth, causing floods and droughts and disrupting all shipping channels. All the nations of the world will bow at my feet! Then he laughed loudly and obnoxiously, like bad guys always do in the movies.

Not on my watch, Dino Dynamite said coolly, rappelling down into the center of the room from a second story platform.

Dynamite, it’s a trap! Agent Dahl shouted.

Little Big Man fired a handheld laser gun at Dino Dynamite, who used a small mirror to redirect the white beam of light directly at the giant proton laser. In a flash, the giant laser exploded, knocking everyone to the ground. Coughing his orders through thick smoke, which quickly filled the room, Little Big Man unleashed his men on Dino Dynamite and Secret Agent Dahl.

Using kung fu, jujitsu and krav maga, a lethal hand-to-hand combat technique developed by Israeli Special Forces, the agents subdued dozens of henchmen, but there were just too many attackers. Agents Dynamite and Dahl were surrounded.

Sorry Dynamite, you and your little bombshell are finished, the pint sized power monger stated as a matter of fact.

Dynamite smiled as henchmen moved in for the kill. She’s not a bombshell, Little Big Man. She’s a bomb. Dynamite opened an electronic panel on Agent Dahl’s back and punched buttons. The girl wasn’t a girl at all.       Commencing blast sequence, the robotic Agent Dahl said in a computerized voice, in 99, 98, 97, 96. Little Big Man and his henchmen watched helplessly as Dynamite fired a zip line to the second level balcony and pulled himself to safety.

How did you know we’d take the girl? Little Big Man shouted.

It’s called the Dino Dynamite double bluff. Little Big Man seemed dumbfounded by the fact that he had been duped. Sometimes its best to give bullies what they want. Make them think they’ve won, when they’ve actually lost. Goodbye Little Big Man.

Get him! The little tyrant shouted in rage, stomping his feet like an angry child who had an ice cream cone taken away.

Dynamite ran through a maze of hallways before ducking into a torpedo room, shutting the steel hatch behind him just in time to lock out a hoard of brutish pursuers. Listen, observe, think, act, Dynamite said surveying every inch of the room. He spotted a surfboard leaning against one wall, grabbed the short board and threw it into an empty torpedo tube. Having grown up surfing on the beaches of California, Dynamite couldn’t resist the temptation. Besides, it was his only chance of getting out alive. He climbed inside the torpedo tube and pulled a lever, firing himself into the ocean like a rocket. He exploded through the surface and flew 10 feet out of the water while firmly holding on to the surfboard. Upon settling on the turbulent ocean surface amidst 5-foot waves, Dynamite began paddled furiously before a massive underwater explosion sent a 50-foot tidal wave in his direction. In an instant, he was on his feet riding the wave toward the shore of a tropical island. When the surfboard slid onto the white sandy beach, Dynamite stepped off and was greeted by the real Agent Dahl and his good friend Agent Sancho, a tubby man wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

Dino Dynamite. Agent Dahl wrapped her arms around him. Thank goodness you’re safe.

Can’t live life on the safe side, Agent Dahl. That ain’t living. He winked. Besides, when it comes to doing the right thing, you have to take a calculated risk now and again.

Dynamite and Sancho shook hands warmly, as old friends do. I trust Little Big Man won’t be taking over the moon anytime soon. Dynamite said that was a guarantee. The three agents walked along the tropical beach washed in a hue of soft orange light as the sun sank into the ocean and movie credits began to roll on the television screen.

Man he’s cool, Luke said, staring at the television screen. He’s not afraid of anything.

And he’s a babe magnet, Reggie chimed in, putting a hand up to give Luke and Byron high fives.

Duh! He’s a spy. Byron added. "And spies always get the girl.

Byron, you have a great talent for stating the obvious, Reggie laughed.

Luke’s grandmother, Mary, entered the room barking orders like a Marine sergeant while picking up bags of chips and cookies. Reggie, your Dad is on his way to pick you up, and Byron your mother called and said to get home. Come on boys, it’s a school day tomorrow. Move it! Mary left the room so the boys could say their goodbyes, but they didn’t move. The boys sank in their seats, each dreading what the school day would bring.

I’ve got basketball tryouts tomorrow morning. Reggie sighed and shook his head. I’m going to be riding the pine again next year, I just know it. It defied logic. How could it be possible that he was the son, the offspring, the creation of two world-class athletes, but couldn’t even make the junior high basketball team? I’m a total embarrassment to the Johnson legacy. Reggie dreaded basketball tryouts and getting laughed at by the other players. But there was one thing he feared even more, disappointing his father.

"We’ll my dad is going to wake me up at 5:00 a.m. and shout, time to make the doughnuts! Byron shouted, mimicking his father in an annoyingly happy sign-song voice. Look at me! I’m pushing maximum density. Byron looked down and grabbed his rather rotund belly. I’m going to be working at Big Doughnuts for the rest of my life. I’ve lost my childhood to a doughy sugary sweatshop, a pastry prison. And you’re worried about basketball?" It wasn’t that Byron was completely unsympathetic to Reggie’s plight, but come on. Getting up a 5:00 a.m., seven days a week! What kind of life is that for a kid? He also had the permanent smell of doughnuts stuck in his nose. Everything smelled like doughnuts. But the worst part was the name-calling by other kids at school. Byron acted like it didn’t bother him, but it did. It wasn’t his fault. The whole family was big. He simply wasn’t cut out to work in the family business.

Luke put his head in his hands and quietly whispered, I’ve got to deal with Bradley Fink tomorrow. It didn’t seem like much compared to a lost family legacy and working in doughnut prison, but the notion of dealing with the likes of Bradley Fink struck fear in their hearts. "Oh man, Reggie chimed in and shook his head with empathy as Byron said, Oh snap," which is what Byron always said when something bad happened. No one at school wanted to deal with Bradley Fink, but eventually, everyone did. Bradley Fink picked on everyone in school, but he particularly enjoyed making Luke the focus of his attention. Though he threatened Luke often, Luke always found a way to outsmart him. That may not be saying much. The bully was about as bright as black a hole in space. But this time was different. Bradley Fink would come looking for Luke in the morning and if Luke didn’t have want he wanted, there would be trouble. The thought of it made Luke’s stomach hurt.

Summer vacation can’t get here fast enough, Byron said. Reggie and Luke wholeheartedly agreed. Who would have thought sixth grade would be so rough?

The boys certainly didn’t have to share any great detail about their respective problems. Having been best friends since second grade, they knew each other better than most kids.

The commonality of going to the same school having the same teachers and living in the same zip code is not what made them friends. Friends choose each other for various reasons that sometimes remain a mystery. This group seemed to bond over the course of years, as they did on this Sunday evening, sitting in Luke’s living room watching Dino Dynamite movies and believing in heroes.

#

Wearing his favorite Green Bay Packers jersey, Luke plopped himself down on the bed and looked at the ceiling trying to think his way out of a problem named, Bradley Fink. Just to clarify, it was Luke’s only Green Bay jersey and hence, his favorite. Even Luke couldn’t say why he was a fan of The Pack, beyond the fact that he believed his dad to be a Green Bay fan. This theory stemmed from a photograph of his father wearing a similar jersey. The picture, which made an indelible mark in Luke’s mind, was one of the few memories he had of his father. Though at this moment, his father, and mother for that matter, where the furthest things from his mind. The problem at hand was the meanest bully in the school.

Bradley Fink had been held back once, maybe twice, which made him bigger and older than everyone else. He had dark, beady little eyes, black hair that he wore in short crew cut and even the beginnings of a fuzzy black mustache. Newsflash! There’s a kid in sixth grade with a freaking mustache! It may be hard to believe, but it’s true, a sixth grade boy-man that needed a shave. If that weren’t intimidating enough, Bradley Fink didn’t care about getting in trouble, nor did he mind getting anyone else in trouble. Punch first and ask questions later. That was his motto. Luke had to prepare for battle, but how? His stomach hurt as he worked the problem over in his mind.

Luke gazed into the darkness of