Free Race to Witch Mountain by James Ponti Page A

“I have to believe that you’re smart enough to know you can’t win.”
    Jack looked over and watched as Seth and Sara were carried away. Even though they weren’t fully conscious, their eyes pleaded with him to help.
    There was nothing Jack could do but watch as the two were loaded into a Humvee.
    â€œYou have to listen to me,” Alex pleaded. “It’s absolutely vital that they get home!”
    â€œThey are home, Dr. Friedman,” Burke said smugly. “They’re now in my custody.”
    â€œYou can’t silence the truth,” she warned him. “The world has a right to know of their existence.”
    â€œYou’re going to be the one to blow the whistle?” Burke asked with a laugh. “A failed astrophysicist, fired by three universities for obsessing over UFOs, teams up with a lifelong ex-con in declaring that the government has captured two normal-looking kids and is holding them hostage inside a mountain that doesn’t exist? It’s so much easier to let you speak than to deal with all the paperwork involved with killing you,” Burke finished.
    â€œSomeone will believe us,” Jack said.
    â€œFrom behind bars?” Burke asked. “Let me remind you, Mr. Bruno, as a convicted felon, you’re looking at twenty years just for standing on this mountain. Shall I go on?”
    Jack turned to look at Alex, totally ashamed of what Burke had revealed—and what he was about to say.
    â€œNo,” Jack assured him.“I get the message.”
    Burke eyed him for a moment, content that he had solved this problem for good. “Smart man,” he said.“We’ll give you a lift down. So much easier than walking up.”
    Alex turned to give Jack a searching look. “Wait,” she pleaded. “That’s it. It’s over?”
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said, watching as disappointment flooded Alex’s face.
    They were quietly loaded into a Humvee and escorted back down the mountain with a driver and armed guard.
    â€œThankfully, Sara and Seth didn’t have to witness how quickly you gave up,” Alex fumed, her arms crossed in front of her. “They trusted you. I trusted you.”
    Jack had done what he could. Hadn’t he told them he wasn’t up for the job? “Well, join the club of everyone else in my life I’ve disappointed,” he snapped.
    The driver and guard shared a look as they listened in on the growing argument. The two in the back sounded like an old married couple.
    â€œHe’ll dissect them like frogs in a high school biology class,” she told him. “You know that.”
    â€œWhatever,” Jack answered. “Not my problem.”
    That was it. Alex reached over and slapped Jack across the face.
    The guard turned around to look. As he did, Jack timed a perfect punch to the jaw, knocking him out cold.
    Before the driver could figure out what was happening, Jack lunged toward the front seat and forced the man’s head into the window, shattering the glass in the process.
    The driver lost consciousness, and the Humvee careened out of control. Jack quickly yanked the unconscious driver over the seat into the back, while Alex dived into the front and quickly grabbed the steering wheel. She managed to get control of the vehicle right before they would have slammed into a tree.
    Once they came to a rest, Jack and Alex took deep breaths. Both driver and guard were out cold.
    â€œWhen did you know?” Jack asked her, wondering how long it had taken her to figure out that he never intended to just give up.
    â€œThe minute they took your kids from you,” she said with a knowing smile.
    â€œThe slap,” he said as he rubbed his sore cheek. “Very realistic by the way.”
    â€œI’m very detail-oriented,” Alex said with a laugh.

CHAPTER 17
    U sing one of Harlan’s old maps, Jack and Alex were able to find the entrance to an