Invasion (The Alien Wars #1) (25 page)

As Jet nodded, Baldy slumped back down on his seat, clearly not happy.

“My father can take care of himself,” Jet said, glancing at Baldy.

“I know that, but this isn’t just about him. We’re all in this together.” Baldy stood up and paced back and forth. “I just don’t like waiting around.”

“Neither do
I
,”
Logan
said, “but I’m sure Muscles knows what he’s doing.”

“I guess so,” Baldy said.

Everyone fell silent as they waited for Muscles to return.

Ten minutes later, the door opened and everyone stiffened.
Logan
grabbed the pistol that was on the table and pointed it at the door. He put it back down when Muscles entered.

“Find it okay?” Jet asked.

Muscles nodded. “There wasn’t a guard, and I also scouted the parking garage and couldn’t see anyone, so that will suit us nicely. As for the generator, it’s in one of the bigger storage rooms on the other side of the garage. Oh, and it’s close to the service elevator, which is good.”

“So now we wait, right?” Peter said.

“Yes,” Muscles said. “Get some rest for an hour or two and then we’ll go over the finer details of the plan before sorting out the weapons.”

Kenneth laid the map down next to the fire. “We’re here, and
Sparks
is here. Now, from what you have just told me, your parents were staying here.” He pointed to the town of
Great Falls
in the northwest corner of
Montana
.

“Yes, and then they were going to come back through
Yellowstone
,” Molly said.

Kenneth looked at where the national park was.
“Okay, and where to from there?”

“They had a friend in
Boise
they wanted to visit, I think,” Derek said.

“Who?”
Molly asked.

Derek turned to his sister. “You
know,
the one that Dad called the night before he left?
The one who was a plumber?”

Molly nodded. “Yes, of course.
The one with the strange accent.”

“Strange accent?”
Kenneth interrupted. “What do you mean?”

“It wasn’t strange,” Derek said.

“It was,” Molly argued. “You know, that time he came to dinner—”

“Hey! Does it really matter? Let’s get back to the map.” Kenneth drew a line from
Great Falls
to
Yellowstone
, to
Boise
, and down to
Sparks
and then to
San Francisco
. “This is where I think they went. After
Boise
, they probably would’ve taken the shortest way home, through
Sparks
. So, when we get there, we can ask around and see if anyone noticed them. It’s a slim chance though.”

“If we don’t have any luck, we’ll head to
Boise
,” Molly said. “If their friend hasn’t seen them, it probably means they’re still in
Yellowstone
. From what I recall, just before they left, Mom said something about spending the first week of January at the loveliest place on Earth.” Her eyes got watery. “She always liked
Yellowstone
. I wasn’t too keen on it, but she adored it. In the summer months, she and Dad hiked on all the trails.”

“Isn’t the park closed off during the winter months?” Kenneth asked.

“I’m not sure,” Derek said. “They still offer some travel tours into the park, but yeah, some of the roads are closed.”

Kenneth stared at the lines that he’d drawn on the map before gazing at Derek and then at Molly, their faces lit up by the flames of the roaring fire in front of them. “Just don’t get your hopes up, okay? It’s been three weeks—”

“We’ve got nothing to lose,” Molly interrupted, staring at Kenneth.

“Molly’s right,” Derek said. “We won’t stop searching for them until we’ve found them.”

“It’s a long way to
Boise
,” Kenneth stated, “let alone
Yellowstone
, for kids like you.”

“We’re not kids, we’re teenagers,” Derek said. “And I turn seventeen in a couple of months, so I’ll be a man then. I’ll get us a car and we can drive to
Boise
.”

“It’s still a long way,” Kenneth said.

“Then come with us,” Molly offered.

“I’ve got to meet with my brother soon,” Kenneth said, “and get this briefcase to
Sparks
.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out the white rectangular box. It seemed to gleam in the firelight, looking even more mysterious.

“Do you have any more ideas about what it could be?” Molly asked.
“Or how to open it?”

Kenneth shook his head. “I don’t know a lot about metals, but I do believe that whatever was used in that material the Seods wear to make bullets bounce off is also used in this, just on a much stronger level.”

“What if that general isn’t in
Sparks
?” Derek asked.

“I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. In times like this, it’s best to live every day as it comes.” Kenneth stood up and walked to one of the windows. He gazed out at the bay, which was lit by the rising moon. “Tomorrow, we’ll have to decide how we’re going to get to
Sparks
.”

“If only we had a boat,” Derek said, walking over.

Kenneth gave a wry smile. “If only …” He paused and frowned as he saw a light in the distance. As seconds passed, the light came closer and closer. A motorboat engine buzzed in the night. “Look over there. Do you hear that noise?”

Derek looked where Kenneth was pointing and smiled. “Hey! We’re saved. It’s a boat!”

Molly rushed over and grinned. “Yes!”

“Hey, hold on with the celebrations,” Kenneth said, not looking as excited as the others. “No one except the Seods knows that we’re here.”

Molly and Derek stopped dancing about in joy. Their faces turned to anguish at exactly the same time. “You don’t think
it’s
Seods, do you?” Derek asked.

“I don’t know,” Kenneth admitted, “but who else could it be?” Hurrying away from the window, he rushed to the fire and smothered it. As piles of smoke rose up from the fire, he muttered to himself.

“Wouldn’t they have seen the fire by now?” Derek questioned.

Kenneth nodded. “You’re right. Let’s hide in the bushes. If we can steal the boat, we can get out of here.”

Quickly putting on their socks and shoes, the teens waited while Kenneth collected everything into the backpack.

Then, with the glow of the moon to guide them, they clambered over the rocks as they climbed down the side of the island. Once they were near the water, they started to head around the side of the island.

They kept as quiet as they could, even stopping for a few moments when some stones crumbled away from Molly’s foot and into the water. But they didn’t hear anything.

“I can’t even hear the motorboat now,” Derek said.

Kenneth listened and realized that he was right. “Hmm, they’ve probably arrived by now. Let’s hurry. If we can find the boat while they are up at the tea house, we should be able to make our escape.”

The group continued walking around the edge of the island.

“Stop!”
Kenneth whispered. Taking the binoculars from around his neck, he peered through them. He first tried gazing up at the tea house, but when he didn’t see anything, he tried to find the boat. “I can see the boat.”

“What exactly is it?” Derek asked.

“Some kind of fishing boat.
There’s a searchlight on the cabin. I can’t see anyone on board or on the shore. Let’s get a bit closer.”

The group skulked through the bushes and over the rocks, getting quite close to the vessel. For some reason, the searchlight had been left on and it brightly lit up one part of the shoreline.

Kenneth and the teens stopped short of the light. “If anyone is watching the boat, they’ll see us when we sprint to the boat.”

“As long as we can get away quickly, it shouldn’t matter, right?” Derek questioned.

“Well, I haven’t jump started a boat for a long time now, but I’ll give it a go,” Kenneth muttered. “There’s a chance though that the keys will still be in there.” He gazed up at the hill. He could see a faint glow in the tea house and assumed it was from the dying embers of the fire. He stared at the two windows, but saw no shapes. “I wonder where they are.”

“Probably hunting for us.
Come on, let’s get out of here,” Molly said, anxious to get going.

“Well …” Kenneth paused as Molly broke for the boat. “Hey!”

As Molly reached the boat, Derek ran after her.

A moment later, Kenneth ran after him. He was halfway across the rocks and right in the middle of the glare of the light when two shots shattered the silence.

Dirt spurted up from the ground, inches in front of Kenneth.

“Stop right there!”

Kenneth hesitated, bewildered. He had assumed, incorrectly, that there were Seods on the boat.

Glancing at the boat, he saw that the teens had climbed into it. As he thought about whether or not to attempt to reach the others, he heard footsteps.

A few moments later, a short man with a baseball cap and a ponytail came into view. He clutched a shotgun in his right hand. “Don’t want to shoot you, but if you try to make off with my boat, I’ll make sure as hell to stop you.”

Kenneth raised his hands up in the air. “Don’t shoot. We thought you were
Seods
.”

Despite the situation, the man chuckled.
“Seods?
Do they even know how to pilot a boat?”

“I don’t know,” Kenneth admitted.

The man slung his finger toward the tea house.
“That your fire back there?”

Kenneth nodded. “I tried to put it out, but we didn’t have time.”

“Who are your friends?” the man asked.

Kenneth hesitated, but then called to the teens. “Come into the light.”

“Are you sure?” Derek asked.

“I’m sure.” Kenneth looked at the man. “I’ve got nothing against humans.”

As the teens came into the glare of the light, the man lowered his shotgun and walked forward. “I’m George.”

The teens and Kenneth introduced themselves. “So,” Kenneth said after the initial introductions, “can you help us get to
Sparks
?”

“Well, I can help you get to
Incline
Village
,” the man said. “That’s still a distance from
Sparks
, but it’s the farthest that my boat will go.”

“Is that where you’ve just come from?” Molly said.

“Yes. I’ll be happy to take you there tomorrow when it’s light, but first, let me get my sleeping bag and we’ll head up to the tea house.” As George went to his boat, the others walked up to the tea house.

By the time the others had explained to George all that they had been through, Kenneth was able to get the dampened fire back to a roaring success.

Over the lingering flames, George told them his news. “I’ve been staying here most of the time, keeping out of the Seods’ way and—”