Free Countdown by Natalie Standiford Page A

she had one arm free. She punched the other goon in the stomach, followed by a hard judo chop on his arm and another kick to the groin. The blows had no effect. She might as well have been a fly fighting an elephant.
    Jake appeared behind the thug, grabbed a handful of hair, and yanked. Enraged, the man let go of Amy for a split second to turn on Jake. Amy slipped away, and Jake ducked under the fighter’s flying fist, managing to escape. “The boys!” Amy said to Jake. She dove into the jungle after Atticus and Dan. Jake followed. Vines and branches scratched her face as she crawled through the brush. She emerged in a clearing and stood. Dan and Atticus jumped out of a hollow tree they’d been hiding in.
    â€œAmy, look up!” Dan shouted, pointing toward the treetops. Perched in a sturdy kapok branch was a wooden platform with a zip line attached to it. Amy didn’t know where the zip line led to, and she didn’t care. Anyplace was better than this.
    â€œGet up there any way you can!” she told the others. A rickety wooden staircase led to the platform. She grabbed Atticus and pushed him up the stairs, 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.
    â€œThe 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.
    â€œAmy, 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.
    â€œHurry!” 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.
    â€œAmy!” 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