Free The 39 Clues Unstoppable Book 3 Countdown by Natalie Standiford

clambering after him. The stairs were too narrow for the muscular men. One of them tried the first step, and it crashed under his weight. Dan and Jake dodged the goons, climbing up the tree that led to the platform and hauling themselves over the top.
    Amy grabbed a zip line harness, helped Atticus inside, and gave him a shove. She followed in another harness, with Dan and Jake sliding in close behind her. They whizzed through the jungle, over the fern-covered ruins, past wildly colored birds and flowers, landing on a platform a hundred yards away, where another zip line awaited them.
    The soldiers had somehow managed to climb the tree and were zipping down the lines after them without harnesses. They slid along the wire with their hands, wearing only their gloves. They’re relentless , Amy thought, trying not to be overwhelmed by despair.
    The four of them zipped to another platform. Suddenly, about twenty feet from the next platform, Atticus stopped dead. “My harness is stuck!” he shouted.
    Amy couldn’t stop — she slid right into him. Dan crashed into her, and the weight of them unstuck Att’s harness. They zipped the final leg to the next platform. Jake tumbled on after them. Out of breath, Amy glanced back. The thugs were zooming straight toward them, a hundred feet away, then fifty, twenty. . . .
    Up ahead, there was no zip line. Only a suspension bridge made of rope and planks, spanning a deep, dry gorge.
    “The goons are right behind us,” Dan shouted. “Go!”
    Amy stepped tentatively on the bridge, testing its strength. It swayed under her weight. Dan stepped on, causing the bridge to ripple. She looked down. Big mistake. The bottom of the gorge was far, far below, with nothing to land on but rocks.
    “Amy, go!” Dan urged her. “They’re coming!” She took a breath, then another step. One foot at a time . . .
    She started across the bridge, trying to ignore the waves of nausea and dizziness that washed over her. “Eyes up!” Jake instructed. Amy listened, keeping her eyes on the other side of the gorge. She’d made it halfway across, the boys right behind her. The bridge made a sudden huge ripple, swinging over the chasm. The goons had arrived. She gripped the rope sides tighter.
    “Hurry!” Dan said. “This thing could snap under the weight of those guys.”
    Another big ripple as the thugs piled on. Amy’s foot slid out from under her. She landed on her backside on a plank of the bridge, then slipped sideways, her legs dangling over the gorge.
    “Amy!” Jake cried.
    Her hands caught the rope that ran along the side of the bridge. She dangled over the gorge for a split second before Jake pulled her to safety. She knelt on the bridge, catching her breath, before climbing to her feet and hurrying the rest of the way over the gorge.
    They’d all made it safely across the bridge. They ran along a jungle path, only to find themselves at another zip line, this one running over a rushing river.
    “I remember the map! This line should lead to the zip line center,” Dan cried.
    “Good.” The zip line center would be crowded with tourists and patrolled by armed park guards. If they could get to the center, they might be safe from Pierce’s men, at least for a little while. “Let’s go,” Amy said.
    Jake lifted Atticus into a harness and sent him soaring like a bird over the rushing water. Jake followed to make sure he’d be okay on the other side. They zoomed across the river and disappeared into the trees on their way to the zip line center. Amy glanced back. No sign of the men who’d been chasing them yet. But they were sure to appear any moment. She pushed Dan in front of her. “Go. Now!”
    Dan jumped into the harness and slid across the double wire that connected the platform to the other side of the river. At that moment a new thug appeared on the far shore — another one of Pierce’s men, coming at them from the other side. The thugs had called for reinforcements. Jake