“What is it?” Abigail asked.
“Quick, do you have a piece of paper?”
Abigail nodded and, after a quick search of her rucksack, presented Andy with some. Andy reset his pen to telegraph mode and began to write.
“I forgot that it could do this,” Andy murmured as he scribbled a quick note to Ned Lostmore, who would receive the message via Boltonhouse’s wireless telegraph.
You’re in danger. Don’t trust anyone, especially Cedric. On our way to help!
Just knowing that he’d sent his grandfather a warning gave Andy great comfort. He only hoped that it wouldn’t arrive too late for Ned to act on it.
“We should aim for that seaplane over there,” Rusty said. “Most of the Collective is focused on the main ship where they’re loading their gear. If we get a distraction going in the forest behind them, the rest of us can make a beeline for the plane.”
Betty and Dotty nodded. “We’ll do it. If all goes well, we can meet you upriver.”
It sounded to Andy like a good plan. But just in case things got messy, he twisted the cap on his Zoomwriter, setting it back to weapon mode.
While the twins snuck away to a spot where they could surprise the Potentate’s crew, Rusty squinted through the bushes at the thugs nearest to them.
Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from the spot Betty and Dotty had chosen to distract the crew. The entire company of thugs shouted and began to point to where Betty and Dotty were hiding.
“Ready?” Rusty said. “One, two, three…GO!”
Andy, Abigail, and Rusty sprinted for the seaplane.
At first, it seemed like they were home free. As far as Andy could see, there were no guards in sight. They were all preoccupied with the diversion the twins had caused. But as they closed in on the plane, two guards, clad all in black, leapt out from behind a couple of trees, weapons drawn.
“Get down!” Rusty barked as several razor-sharp throwing knives were hurled in their direction.
Andy and Abigail automatically ducked. Rusty fired at the guards with his pistol, howling like an enraged animal.
One of the guards went down, but the other evaded Rusty’s shots and returned fire.
Suddenly, Rusty grabbed his leg and crashed to the ground. “I’m hit!” he yelled.
“Rusty!” Abigail shouted.
Andy responded quickly, pointing his Zoomwriter at the thug and pushing down as hard as he could on the cap.
BOOOOM!
The pulse that flew from the pen shot toward the attacker, knocking him backward about fifty feet through the air. The thug had a wide-eyed expression as he flew, evidently surprised by Andy’s attack.
At the sound of his atomic pulse emitter, every eye turned in Andy’s direction. Betty and Dotty emerged from the nearby trees and launched themselves at the crowd, spinning like a tornado and singing their fight song.
Now that the Collective had seen what was going on, they mobilized quickly. “Get them!” someone shouted.
The next thing Andy knew, a crowd of about a hundred thugs was bearing down on them. Fear filled his bones. It would be so easy to run away, to leave his companions behind like he had Jack McGraw. But a lot had changed in him since then.
This time, he knew exactly what to do.
“Get to the plane!” Rusty roared.
“I’m not leaving without you!” Andy returned. “Abigail, grab his other arm!”
“Cogs and cornflakes!” Rusty swore. “Let me go! I’ll just slow you down!”
Andy leveled a stare at Rusty. “First rule of the Jungle Explorers’ Society: nobody gets left behind.”
Rusty stared back at Andy, his mustache twitching with annoyance. Then, unexpectedly, his ruddy face split into a wide grin.
“Let’s get moving, then!”
The three hurried toward the boat as fast as they could. Once they got a stride going, it wasn’t unlike the three-legged races Andy ran at school. Andy kept his Zoomwriter at the ready. He was certain that they would be overtaken soon. The plane lay at a tantalizing distance, but the thugs showed no sign of slowing down.
When Andy could see their snarling faces and the whites of their eyes as he glanced back, he wheeled around and fired his pen.
WHOOOOMP!
The front lines of the attackers went crashing back into the others, sending them tumbling like dominoes. It not only bought Andy and the others the time they needed to get aboard, but also time for someone else.
The eerie battle song of Betty and Dotty rose over the commotion of the disoriented enemy. As Andy helped Rusty aboard the plane, the twins came into view, flipping expertly over a row of thugs and landing gracefully in the middle of the crowd. They kicked, punched, and let loose their throwing stars as they plowed a trough through the enemy lines. They landed on board the plane with Andy and the others just as the first of the Collective troops were remounting their attack.
“Get us out of here!” Abigail yelled.
Rusty, having a piloted a plane much like this before, started the engine and threw it into gear. The plane leapt from its mooring with a roar and began hurtling upstream. It lifted majestically into the air, leaving in its wake a furious mob of Collective soldiers.
As Rusty piloted the seaplane above the Amazon, Andy informed the others about what he’d found on the Potentate’s desk in the treehouse. Looking at the drawing, the Potentate’s notes, and the scary symbols on the Doomsday Device, the peril that they were in became apparent to everyone.
Tens of hours and several fuel stops later, Andy’s heart thudded in his chest as he finally saw the Jungle Navigation Company boathouse appear through the tops of the trees. Rusty landed in the water and then taxied the seaplane upriver on its pontoons, navigating slowly toward the mooring where the boats were kept.
Rusty swung the plane in a tight circle, edging it close to the docks. As soon as it stopped, Abigail leapt out and tied it off on a large cleat. The boathouse was a ramshackle building of weathered lumber and rickety stairs. A radio blared top-forty
