Race to Witch Mountain (7 page)

He walked over to the man's table.“Excuse me,” Jack said, interrupting the sheriff 's meal with his deputies.

“Can I help you?” the sheriff asked.

Jack took a quick breath. “I was just wondering what your town's policy is regarding concealed firearms?”

Jack motioned over toward the door, just as Burke and his men burst in. The timing couldn't have been better. The sheriff got up and headed over toward Burke. Jack quickly led the kids in the other direction, looking for a back door.

“Can I help you boys out?” the sheriff asked once he reached Burke, who was busy scanning all the tables.

“Official government business,” Burke told him. “Move aside.”

The sheriff did not take kindly to being told what to do.“Officially
my
town,” he told Burke.“
My
business.”

Burke repressed a groan of rage. Local law enforcement was always getting in his way. Burke and his men all reached inside their jackets to pull their guns, and the sheriff and his deputies did the same. In a moment, it seemed like everyone was pointing a gun at somebody.

“You're making a mistake, Sheriff,” Burke said, trying to keep his temper from erupting.

“So says every criminal arrested.”

While this was going on, Jack managed to lead Seth and Sara to a hidden area behind the stage. There they found a rickety ladder that led to the roof. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best chance they had to escape.

The three of them climbed up the rungs, but when they got to the top, Jack discovered the ceiling hatch was locked—from the outside. As he tried to figure out what to do, Seth reached past him. His arm disappeared through the hatch and a moment later, the small door swung open.

Noticing Jack's astonished expression, Sara explained.“My brother has the ability to control his molecular density, allowing him to phase through solid objects or withstand the greatest of impacts.”

Jack swallowed. “Neat,” he said, following Seth up onto the roof as Burke's men passed by below, unaware. Jack and the kids hurried along the roof toward the back of the building.

Jack was able to climb down from the roof onto the top of a trailer and then jump to the ground. He turned back and started to help Seth and Sara down when he heard the low, fierce growl of a dog.

When Jack turned, he saw the animal only a dozen or so feet away.

“Easy, boy,” Jack said, trying to sound as soothing as possible. “Nice little doggy.”

It didn't do the trick. The growl intensified, and the dog bared its teeth and charged. All Jack could do was cover his face and brace himself for the attack. But it never came.

When he looked up, he saw the terrifying junkyard dog happily licking Sara's face.

“We appreciate your understanding,” Sara said to the dog. Apparently, her many gifts included the ability to communicate with animals.

“It's time to go,” Sara told Jack.

I
nside the restaurant, Burke had managed to get a high-ranking government official on the phone with the sheriff. Once the call was over, he turned to Burke and his men. “You got yourself some mighty big friends in some mighty big places.”

Burke could barely contain his rage. They had wasted valuable time! “Lock down this facility,” he ordered. “No one exits until my team has checked them.”

Moments later, Burke and his men discovered the hatch to the roof. They climbed up just in time to see Jack drive his cab out of Eddie's garage.

Burke grabbed his walkie-talkie to alert everyone. “The taxi is on the move. I want that cab . . . and everyone in it!”

Behind the wheel, Jack watched Burke's men race out of the restaurant, their guns drawn. Some hopped into their SUVs and started them up.

“There are way too many of them to outrun,” Jack said.

Sara took a deep breath. A moment later there was a series of explosions. Jack looked back and smiled as he saw that their windows and tires were all blown out.

“Whatever you're doing,” he told Sara, “keep doing it.”

Burke reached the ground just as Jack and the cab were nearing. He lifted his gun and took aim. Just as he went to pull the trigger, a loud growl filled the air, and the junkyard dog leaped out from the darkness. The dog clamped its jaws tight around Burke's arm, and the agent let out an agonizing scream as he dropped his gun to the ground. His job done, the dog jumped over a fence and away from the approaching agents.

Jack wasn't going to look a gift horse—or dog— in the mouth. “Say good-bye to Stony Creek,” he said and hit the gas. But something was wrong. Instead of speeding up, the cab came to a screeching halt.

“Come on, baby, not now,” Jack pleaded to the cab. Then a thought occurred to him and he turned to face Sara.

“Did you do that?” he demanded.

Sara didn't answer. She just opened her door, and the dog raced up to the taxi and jumped in beside her.

“Absolutely not!” Jack exclaimed. “Junkyard does not go with us! I'm done picking up stray passengers!”

Burke's men started shooting, and Jack realized that Sara was not going to let the cab go without the dog.

“Fine!” he relented. “Junkyard goes with us!”

Sara smiled. In a flash, the taxi was racing down the road, away from the danger.

Sara looked at Jack and smiled warmly. “Thank you, Jack Bruno,” she said as they drove out of Stony Creek.

“Those men,” Jack said. “They were the same ones chasing us on the highway before.”

“Yes,” Sara said simply.

“It is vital we find their base of operation,” Seth added. “You must take us to them. Immediately.”

Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. “You want me to ‘take you' to the guys who are trying to kill you? Let me explain how we do things here on Earth. People who want you dead, you avoid. That way you stay alive. Make sense?”

“No one on your planet will stay alive if we do not return to our planet,” Seth responded. “And in order to return, we need our ship. And those men trying to kill us have stolen our ship. Make sense?”

Jack felt like his head was going to explode. When had things gotten so complicated?

“Where do you suggest we begin our search?”

Sara asked, convinced Jack would help.

“I don't suggest
I
begin searching at all,” Jack answered.

Seth scowled. “Just as I thought,” he said to his sister.“We only have each other. No human is going to help us.”

Jack's spine stiffened. “Easy on the human-bashing. And for the record, I wouldn't even know how to help you.”

Suddenly Jack had an idea that brought a smile to his face. Sara read his mind but didn't know what it meant.

“Who is Dr. Alex Friedman?” she asked.

Jack laughed. “Someone who might be able to help you,” he said, aiming his cab toward Vegas.

And Jack was going to need all the help he could get. Because outside of the restaurant, the Siphon watched in the shadows, waiting. He did not give chase. There would be time to act soon enough.

CHAPTER 12

I
n Las Vegas, Dr. Alex Friedman was halfway through her presentation—and it wasn't going well. Unlike her, most of the people at the UFO convention had not come to have an educated, scientific discussion about the possibility of life on other planets. They wanted to talk about green spacemen with fuzzy antennae.

She clicked a button, and a picture of space was displayed behind her on a large screen.“This was captured by a far-imaging telescope less than fortyeight hours ago,” she explained. “I want to direct your attention to this.”

Using a laser pointer, she highlighted a blotch in the picture. She was obviously very excited about the blotch, but her audience could not have been more bored.

“It looks like a smudge,” one person called out.

“Yes, it does. Only . . .” She clicked another picture, which looked identical to the first one on the screen. “In the next image capture,” she said, pointing her laser at the same spot, “that ‘smudge' is gone.”

Her big announcement was met with still more blank stares.

“Was it a spaceship,” someone called out hopefully. “ Did they abduct you?”

The audience began to stir.

“The aliens that abducted you, were they tall ones or short ones?” someone else called out.

“Maybe the lizard people!” another audience member shouted.

Alex couldn't believe what she was hearing. “I wasn't abducted by anyone,” she said, “much less by an alien.”

“How do you know?” someone asked. “Dr. Harlan's last book was all about how the aliens erase your memory with probes. Have you read it?”

Dr. Harlan was the hero of the more “eccentric” convention-goers. Alex thought that he was something of an eccentric as well. He certainly wasn't a true scientist.

“Donald Harlan's book?” she asked. “It's pure science fiction. I'm talking about science
fact
. Hard data. Do you hear yourselves? This is why the scientific community doesn't show us any respect.”

“Dr. Harlan says the scientific community has been infiltrated by alien spies,” an audience member offered. “So you can't trust them.”

Alex had had more than enough. “That's it,” she said, forcing herself not to throw her arms in the air. “I will not take any more questions dealing with alien abductions or Dr. Harlan.”

Half of the audience got up and left. Shrugging, Alex pushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear and carried on. By the time she was finished, there was no one left. As she packed up, she heard a door open. She looked up to see a man and two teenagers entering. It was Jack, Seth, and Sara.

“The cattle mutilation lecture doesn't start for an hour,” she said. “But grab a seat now. This place will be packed. Always is.”

“We're here to see you,” Jack told her.

She looked at him. The man looked familiar. She racked her brain, trying to figure out where she had seen him before.

“It's Jack Bruno,” Jack said with a friendly smile. “We met earlier.”

“We did?” Alex asked, still drawing a blank.

“Cab,” he reminded her. “Airport to hotel. Driver.” As he said “driver,” he made a little motion like he was turning a steering wheel.

“The nonbeliever,” she said, remembering.“What are the odds?”

“Is there a place where we could talk?” Jack asked her.

She looked around the empty ballroom and gave him a look. “Crowds in here making you uncomfortable.”

“Someplace more private?” Jack suggested.

“Look,” she said,“no offense, but I'm pretty busy and . . .”

Sara read her mind and completed her sentence for her. “Feeling stressed over her thesis on Gliese 581 and Alcubierre's warp drive.”

Alex was stunned. “How did you? I didn't tell anyone.”

Jack smiled. “It gets better, trust me.”

Intrigued, Alex followed them to an out-of-the-way exhibit on Mars that was closed. While the kids became absorbed in images of the red planet, Jack told Alex all about them.

“Are you insane?” Alex demanded when Jack was finished.

“I thought you of all people would understand and want to help,” he said, shocked by her reaction.

She looked over and noticed that Seth and Sara were no longer looking at Mars. They were now looking at her laptop.

“Hey, please don't touch that,” she said.

“You captured an image of our ship,” Seth said as he turned the laptop to face her. The image on the screen was the one she had shown at the presentation.

“The smudge?” she said. “You're telling me you think the smudge is your spaceship?”

“We
know
it is our spaceship,” Sara corrected.

Alex had been mocked enough for one day. “That's it, I'm out,” she said. “Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just grab my laptop.”

As she reached to take the laptop from Seth, his hand phased right through hers. Startled, she jumped back and dropped the computer. Sara used her telekinetic power to “catch” it mere inches above the floor and then float it back up to Alex, who was totally speechless.

“Oh, right,” Jack said with a smile. “They can also do that stuff.”

“Who are you people?”

Sara turned to Seth. “Show her.”

Seth pulled the futuristic compass out of his pocket and held it up for the others to see. The device was glowing, when suddenly the glow exploded into a blinding white light and turned the room into a sort of living planetarium. Three-dimensional images of planets and stars swirled around them as if they were in the middle of a distant galaxy.

Alex gave Jack a stunned look, but he just shrugged, as if to say, what did I tell you? She turned back to the kids. “I have so many questions!” she exclaimed. “Why did you come to Earth?”

“Our planet is dying,” Sara told her calmly. “Millennia of neglect has rendered our atmosphere unbreathable.”