Jack looked down and saw a fiery red glow coming up toward them.
“Exhaust furnace!” she shouted.
They hurried down to the next service tunnel as the fire rose. Jack ripped the grate off the entrance, and in one quick move he grabbed Alex and swung them both into the tunnel—just as the fireball shot past. The force of the explosion knocked them farther into the tunnel, which was slanted downward like a gigantic playground slide.
The two slid and tumbled until finally, Jack slammed into the bottom of the tunnel with a painful thud.A few seconds later,Alex landed on top of him.
When they crawled out of the tunnel, they were amazed by what they saw.
They were in the heart of Witch Mountain.
CHAPTER 18
Henry Burke sat in an all-white observation room that overlooked a high-tech laboratory. Seth and Sara were unconscious and connected to a series of wires and tubes in the lab. They were being examined by Matheson and Pope, each dressed in full medical gear.
“How soon until the subjects are prepped?” Burke asked, speaking into a microphone.
“They’re heavily sedated,” Matheson answered. “Minimal med tests proceeding within forty-eight to seventy-two hours.”
Burke couldn’t wait. “Unacceptable. Commence the procedures.”
“We don’t know enough about their systems,” Matheson reminded him. “Any sudden change could terminate the subjects.”
“You can’t just kill them,” Pope interjected.
“Mr. Pope, you’d do well not to forget what our mission is,” Burke said. “Our orders come from Washington. And Washington wants answers.”
Pope knew that it was useless to argue. He just nodded.
“Very good, then,” Burke said. “Commence the tests.”
Before they could begin, there was an eruption of sirens and alarms. From outside came the sounds of an explosion.
A panicked voice called in over the intercom. “We have penetration at fence sector twenty-eight!”
Something very bad was happening.
Burke and his team rushed out of the laboratory to find soldiers armed and charging toward the entrance of the mountain.
Burke looked at a monitor that showed a video of the outside. His eyes opened wide when he saw the enemy. The thing attacking his men was unlike anything he’d ever seen.
It was the Siphon.
As the battle raged near the mountain’s entrance, Jack and Alex were able to slip into the laboratory unnoticed. Well, relatively unnoticed. They had to get by a few lab technicians first. With a few well-aimed punches, they got past the workers and put on new outfits. Wearing bio-suits, they rushed into the lab where Seth and Sara were being held.
“Come on,” Jack pleaded as he tried to loosen their shackles. “Wake up!”
Alex read the label on the tank that fed into the tubes running to Seth and Sara. “It’s some kind of anesthetic,” she said. She quickly unscrewed the tubes from the tank and attached them to an oxygen supply.
The oxygen started to revive Seth and Sara. Suddenly Sara’s shackles popped open. Jack looked over and saw her waking up. He turned to Seth, who was still woozy but strong enough to phase his wrists and ankles through his shackles.
“Jack, you came back for us!” Sara exclaimed.
Jack didn’t speak. He just gave them both a big hug.
Now that they were free, they needed to find their ship. The compass and their parents’ experiment were sitting on a nearby examination table. They each grabbed one and Seth turned on the homing mechanism in the compass.
“It’s this way,” Seth said, pointing to a nearby exit. They rushed out of the lab and down the hallway until they reached a giant hangar. Inside was their ship.
“We have to hurry,” Sara told them.
“Tell them that,” Jack said, pointing at the dozens of engineers who were working on the ship.“Maybe they’ll just let us walk on out of here with it.”
Alex thought about that for a moment and smiled. “Good idea.”
Jack had no idea what she meant, but before he could stop her, she grabbed a lab coat and put it on. Then she walked straight into the hangar.
“Excuse me?!” she exclaimed when she reached the group of engineers. “Do you not hear the alarms?”
The engineers looked back and forth among one another, confused.
“All work in this sector is to cease immediately,” Alex continued. “We’ve got off-the-charts readings of sodium hypochlorite, xenon, hydrazine, and you don’t want to know how bad the gamma radiation is.”
“Who are you?” asked one of the engineers.
“Your worst nightmare at a court martial,” Alex answered. “Now you can do as you’re told, or I can go tell Henry Burke you disobeyed his direct orders!”
The mention of Burke’s name did the trick. The engineers raced out of the hangar. Once they were gone, Jack, Seth, and Sara came to stand beside her.
“I can’t believe that actually worked,” Jack said with a laugh.
“Me neither,” Alex answered.
Seth and Sara examined the spaceship. It had been damaged during their crash landing. Using her telekinesis, Sara made the ship fix itself. Alex watched in stunned amazement while Jack kept an eye on the door in case anyone returned.
It only took a few minutes to get the ship fully repaired. Once it was ready, the air-lock door slid open so they could all get on. They were almost in the clear. . . .
“Thank you,” a voice called out from above.“We were having a hard time figuring that part out.”
They looked up to see Burke on the upper level. Even with the battle raging outside, he was flanked by a group of soldiers, each with his gun aimed at them.
Jack instinctively moved forward and stood directly in front of the others.
“A brave but empty gesture, Mr. Bruno,” Burke said.
“They’re just kids,” Jack called to him.
As they looked up at the soldiers, Seth grabbed Alex and Jack by the hand and Sara grabbed Jack’s other hand. The four of them stood there defiant and united. Burke couldn’t help but think they looked like a family.
Just then, an explosion caused by the approaching Siphon rocked the hangar. In the confusion, the soldiers began to fire at the foursome. But the bullets phased right through them. Seth had transferred his powers through their chain of hands.
Burke and the soldiers were stunned. They couldn’t figure out what was happening.
But they didn’t have time to try. There was another explosion, and one of the hangar walls erupted into fire. They all watched as the Siphon stepped through the flames.
The soldiers instantly turned their guns toward the Siphon.
“Go! Go! Go!” Jack shouted to the others, using the assassin’s arrival to their advantage. They rushed up to the entrance and through the air lock.
“Stop them!” Burke yelled. “All of them!”
Now the soldiers were firing in every direction, some at the Siphon and others at the ship.
“We’ve got to get this thing up in the air!” Jack exclaimed once they were all safely on board. Seth and Sara grabbed the controls. The air lock hissed shut, thrusters fired up, and the ship slowly came to life.
“How do we get out of here?” Sara asked when the ship was floating.
“There!” Jack answered, pointing toward the gaping hole the Siphon had just made in the hangar wall.
Seth and Sara pointed the spaceship toward the hole. But standing in their way was the Siphon, determined to complete his mission. He raised his weapon and began firing right at the ship. Seth and Sara shared a quick look and then flew the spacecraft right into the Siphon—and through the hole to safety.
CHAPTER 19
The spaceship shot high into the night sky and clear of Witch Mountain. Inside the cockpit, the four started cheering. Jack and Alex exchanged high fives while the kids manned the controls.
“You did it,” Jack proudly exclaimed.
 
; “We did it,” Sara corrected.
But then the ship jolted from side to side. Seth looked down at the control panel.
“Air lock’s jammed,” he said. “I need to . . .”
Jack didn’t let him finish. Seth needed to fly the ship. He could take care of the air lock. Climbing down into the lower level, he heard the hiss of the open air lock. Jack shut it and turned to go, but just then an arm reached out and grabbed him by the throat. In the reflection of the shiny metal door he could see the Siphon’s face.
Jack broke free and the two fell to the floor. He saw that the Siphon’s weapon arm had been completely destroyed. His other arm, though, was ready to fight. The Siphon slammed into Jack, and the two started to trade punches, jolting the spaceship as they did.
Up in the cockpit, Seth turned to Alex. Jack was taking too long. Something must be wrong. “It takes two to pilot the ship,” he told her. “You take the controls.”
“What?” she exclaimed.
There was no time to argue. Seth bolted, and Alex nervously took his seat.
“I’m sure it’s like flying a plane,” Sara offered, trying to sound encouraging.
“Yeah,” Alex shot back. “I don’t do that, either.”
Down below, Jack was barely holding his own against the Siphon when Seth arrived.
“Hey!” Seth yelled, distracting the assassin.
The Siphon turned to Seth. With one of his targets in sight, he ignored Jack and started to attack Seth. He threw a powerful punch, but it phased right through the boy.
This bought Jack just enough time to jump on the Siphon from behind. He grabbed him in a choke hold and pulled with all his might, yanking the Siphon’s helmet off and revealing a hideously scary head.
“No wonder you’re so angry,” Jack said, moving away from the ugly creature.
The Siphon charged him, but Jack dodged the punches. With no helmet in the way, he was able to land a couple of punches directly on the Siphon’s head.
Knocking the assassin to the floor, Jack accidentally opened the air-lock door. The sudden change in pressure caused the ship to lurch.
The Siphon tried to lunge at Seth, but Jack whacked him across the face with the assassin’s own helmet. The movement caused him and the Siphon to fly out the door. Jack clung to the edge of the ship, while the Siphon clutched Jack. If they fell, it would be into the ship’s propulsion vortex and they would be killed instantly.
Jack held on to the ship with all of his strength and smiled.
“This ride’s on me!” he said as he succeeded in knocking the Siphon loose. With an unearthly cry, the assassin fell directly into the swirling vortex. They were safe.
Standing on the ground next to the spaceship, Seth and Sara said their good-byes to Jack and Alex.
“Thankfully, the ship has only suffered minor damage,” Seth explained.“We should be able to lock onto our planet’s coordinates and return safely.”
Seth and Sara exchanged a look. When she read his mind she smiled and gave him a nod.
“Sara and I want you to have this,” Seth said.
Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out his prized compass and handed it to Jack. Jack took a deep breath.
“As long as it is in your possession,” Sara explained. “We will always be able to find you.”
“Thanks,” Jack said, choking up despite his best efforts.
“I want to apologize to you, Jack Bruno,” Seth added.“I once said we could never count on humans to help us. Especially you. I was wrong.”
Jack went to offer him his hand and thought better of it. He pulled him in for a hug. “You take care of yourself and your sister for me,” Jack instructed him. “Understand.”
“Yes,” Seth answered. “This I completely understand.” Then it was Sara’s turn. She asked them to take care of Junkyard—and each other. Jack started to say something. But Sara was able to read his mind and said it for him.
“I know,” she answered. “We love you, too.”
EPILOGUE
One year later, Jack and Alex returned to the UFO convention, only this time they were the stars. A packed audience hung on their every word as they finished their lecture.
They were talking about their best-selling book Race to Witch Mountain: A True Story. Pictures on the wall highlighted the amazing year they had just gone through. There were pictures of magazine covers, talk-show interviews, and international lectures, all featuring Jack and Alex.
“This information should not be in the hands of a secret cabal of men working deep within the dark corridors of the government,” Alex said, wrapping up her speech. “But should be accessible to the public who have a right to know.”
The audience erupted into cheers and applause. Jack and Alex shared a smile and waded through the crowd to the exit. Along the way they posed for pictures and autographed copies of their book.
Finally, as they waited for the valet to bring their car, another hand reached up with a copy of the book to be signed.
“Who do I make it out to?” Jack asked.
“Henry Burke,” said the voice.
Jack and Alex both looked up, surprised to see the smiling face of their former enemy.
“Interesting read,” Burke continued.“I especially liked chapter twelve. Wonderfully descriptive.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Jack said confidently. “You’re going to like the next book even better.”
“I very much look forward to that,” Burke said with an eerie smile. “I’ll see you both real soon.”
Just then the valet arrived with their car. No longer driving a taxi, Jack hopped in behind the wheel of his dream car, a vintage Ford Mustang.
Alex got into the passenger seat; Junkyard was close behind. Suddenly, beeping started coming from Alex’s purse. It was the compass. The light was flashing. Seth and Sara were on their way for a visit.
Jack and Alex looked deep into each other’s eyes and smiled. They knew what that meant—more adventure was yet to come. And if they had learned anything, it was that the adventure was sure to be out of this world!
James Ponti, Race to Witch Mountain
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