Nadia Shireen - Raccoon Rampage - The Raid

Dedication Chapter 1 - The Rules Chapter 2 - Bear Feet Chapter 3 - Ivan the Terrible Chapter 4 - Rocky Rescue Chapter 5 - Dam Buster Chapter 6 - The ‘Accident’ Chapter 7 - Still Life Chapter 8 - The Meeting Chapter 9 - Hitching a Ride Chapter 10 - Make-up, Fake-up Chapter 11 - Tea-Tray Slalom Chapter 12 - Faking It Chapter 13 - Inside Job Copyright About the Publisher

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication Dedication Chapter 1 - The Rules Chapter 2 - Bear Feet Chapter 3 - Ivan the Terrible Chapter 4 - Rocky Rescue Chapter 5 - Dam Buster Chapter 6 - The ‘Accident’ Chapter 7 - Still Life Chapter 8 - The Meeting Chapter 9 - Hitching a Ride Chapter 10 - Make-up, Fake-up Chapter 11 - Tea-Tray Slalom Chapter 12 - Faking It Chapter 13 - Inside Job Copyright About the Publisher

Chapter 1 - The Rules

Chapter 2 - Bear Feet

Chapter 3 - Ivan the Terrible

Chapter 4 - Rocky Rescue

Chapter 5 - Dam Buster

Chapter 6 - The ‘Accident’

Chapter 7 - Still Life

Chapter 8 - The Meeting

Chapter 9 - Hitching a Ride

Chapter 10 - Make-up, Fake-up

Chapter 11 - Tea-Tray Slalom

Chapter 12 - Faking It

Chapter 13 - Inside Job

Copyright

About the Publisher

The trees were heavy with snow. Clouds scudded across the night sky and an owl hooted. The Hole-in-the-Tree gang scampered through the forest, heading for the twinkling lights of the village. Rocky’s teeth were chattering, a combination of cold and fear. “What if he’s waiting for us?” he panted. “Max isn’t stupid. And he’s got a gun. I’ve heard he kills animals and stuffs them. And then keeps them in his house to look at.” Rocky’s teeth started chattering even faster. “He looks at d—dead animals! For fun!”

Quickpaw stopped abruptly and pulled his team into the moonlight. He put a paw across Rocky’s mouth. “Shush,” he ordered. “We need cool raccoon heads. Max knows we’re coming. We’ve seen him setting traps.” Rocky’s eyes widened and he let out a muffled shriek. “That’s why we’re going with Sunshine’s plan,” explained Quickpaw. “He’s the most cunning raccoon in the forest. He is an expert at breaking and entering. Has there ever been a job too difficult for our light-fingered friend?”

All eyes fell on Sunshine. His half-tail was a souvenir of a previous mission that had gone horribly wrong. He carefully raised the brim of his cowboy hat and cast a glance at the gang. “Ain’t nothin’ that this outlaw can’t break into,” he said, sounding more confident than he felt.

“And what exactly is your plan?” asked Dempsey. “I sure am hungry. But Rocky’s right, Max is on red alert. How on earth are we going to break into his shop?”

The Sunshine Cub stood tall, meerkat-style. “Max is expecting us to break into his shop. Right?”

“Right,” chorused the gang.

“Which is exactly why we’re not going to break into his shop.”

The other raccoons looked at Sunshine in puzzlement. “We’re not?”

“Rule number one of breaking and entering: hit ’em by surprise.”

Rocky tugged nervously at the elastic in his pants. He didn’t like surprises.

“It’s winter, right?” continued Sunshine. “All this cold white stuff means food is scarce. And the lake is frozen. And Max knows that us hungry critters will do anything to get our hands on his food. So I cased the joint yesterday.” Dempsey looked puzzled. “Did a bit of snooping,” explained Sunshine. He moved to a clear bit of snow and drew a map of Max’s General Store with his paw. The gang huddled round the moonlit diagram. “Traps at the front door,” explained Sunshine, putting a cross in the snow. More crosses followed. “Traps on the top shelf next to the gherkins. Poison next to the oatmeal. And a newly installed guard dog sleeping in a basket behind the counter.”

Rocky couldn’t take much more. “P— p—poison? And a d—d…”

Sunshine barged on. “So we’re not going to go anywhere near where Max expects us to be. That’d be curtains for the Hole-in-the-Tree gang. Our last supper! No siree.” He drew another box on the side of Max’s shop. “That’s why we’re going to break into Max’s storeroom.”

There was a collective sharp intake of racoon breath. “The storeroom!” echoed Rocky. “Nobody’s ever broken into Max’s secret store!”

Dempsey sat upright. “I saw in there once,” he drooled. “Loads and loads of fish, in a cold cupboard. And enough packets of biscuits to last a raccoon lifetime.”

“I saw it too,” moaned Rocky. “It’s raccoon suicide. Not only is the storeroom inside the shop, but there are padlocks everywhere. There’s a good reason why animals have never broken into the storeroom. We’ll never get through the door!”

“Who said anything about going in through the door?” beamed Sunshine, cocking his hat and raising an eyebrow. “Rule number two of breaking and entering: be creative. Humans would call it ‘thinking outside the box’.” His friends stared at him expectantly. “The storeroom has one door, padlocked and bolted, right?”

The gang nodded. “And no windows,” added Dempsey.

“Exactly!” exclaimed Sunshine. He paused to take in their blank faces. “Don’t you see? No windows? If there are no windows then Max isn’t going to expect a break-in through a window.”

Dempsey scratched his ear. He could feel one of his headaches coming on. Rocky blinked hard. Even Quickpaw was struggling to keep up.

“So we make a window,” continued Sunshine. “Rule number three: expect the unexpected. And tonight is the perrrrfect night for the unexpected.”

The other three raccoons listened intently. The moon disappeared and the forest went black. Sunshine had an excellent breaking-and-entering record, but this seemed an impossible raid. “There’s been a posse of workmen in town. Making a crazy racket! Digging up the roads and laying cables.” The raccoon removed his hat and felt for his camera. He’d stolen it from a tourist a few months ago and it was his favourite gadget. He clicked it on and the gang crowded round to marvel at the saved pictures. There were several men in luminous jackets, some with huge drills and one driving a digger.

“So we’re going in through the tunnels...” guessed Dempsey, jumping up and down with excitement.

“An interesting idea,” nodded Sunshine. “But no.” He looked around as if somebody might be listening, and drew the gang closer. “I enlisted the help of Headbanger and he’s been working on our behalf.”

“Headbanger?” chorused the gang. “The woodpecker?”

“We’ve taken advantage of the noise. While the drill’s been drilling, Headbanger’s been pecking. Nobody saw him and, more importantly, nobody heard him.”

Sunshine led the raccoons across the empty road and they scampered through the shadows towards Max’s General Store. They tiptoed past the front door, being careful not to wake the dog. Sunshine unfolded a piece of paper that he’d been carrying and studied it. The gang watched as he stood at the corner of Max’s shop and marched ten extra-large raccoon paces, leaving tiny footprints in the snow. He stopped abruptly and beckoned to his friends.