Spencer ran down the length of the glass window that stood between himself and the empty tank where Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark were trapped. He was searching for an opening—a locked door, or a passageway of some kind. Anything that might get him to his family. But there was no way in from the viewing tunnel. All Spencer could do from here was look at Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark standing inside the cement basin of an empty whale tank. The walls were smooth and high. There were no footholds, no ladders or tools anywhere in sight.

Mom and Dad’s mouths were moving inside the tank. They were talking to him, trying to tell him something, but the glass was too thick and the alarm was still blaring, Spencer couldn’t understand what they were saying. He stopped running and banged on the glass with both fists as the alarm’s red lights flashed over him.

“Someone’s coming, Spencer!” Aldo growled urgently. Heavy footsteps echoed through the viewing tunnel, mixing with the harsh Errrr! Errr! of the alarm.

“We have to get them out of there!” he shouted.

Mom and Dad both looked exhausted. Their faces were drawn and thin. Mom’s glasses were gone, and her usually sleek blond hair was falling out of a messy ponytail. Spencer had never seen Dad with a beard, but he had one now and his hands were bandaged. He was hurt. Spencer wanted to be with them, in the tank. He didn’t care about anything else. He didn’t care what happened next, as long as he, Mom, and Dad were together—

“We have to get out of here, Spencer!” Aldo growled, cutting into Spencer’s thoughts.

In the empty tank, Uncle Mark had started to yell. He looked afraid, and angry. Mom and Dad were looking past Spencer, to the flashing lights, and the viewing tunnel. Spencer pressed an ear to the glass.

“GO NOW!” Uncle Mark was yelling.

“Is somebody here?!” a deep voice shouted. Spencer jumped back from the glass. It was a guard, yelling from around a bend in the viewing tunnel.

“Spencer!” Aldo growled.

Spencer looked at the bear, then at Mom and Dad in the tank. He was panicking. He couldn’t think. What was he supposed to do?! If the guards saw them, Pam and his staff would know part of Bearhaven’s team was still here.

“Spencer, let’s go!” Aldo stepped between Spencer and the bend in the tunnel, as though preparing to protect Spencer when the guards turned the corner.

“I don’t see anybody, Guy!” one of the guards yelled. “It’s probably Pam’s bear like he expected!” The heavy footsteps continued to get closer.

Aldo crouched low, ready to stop the guards. He would fight them if he had to, blocking Spencer from them. But the guards could have weapons. Spencer and Aldo had to make a break for it now, or they would be discovered and then they might never escape. As an operative, Spencer was making the same mistake as B.D. had, putting his team at risk. He couldn’t do that to Aldo. If Aldo got captured at Hidden Rock Zoo, he’d be shipped off right away to whatever horrible animal dealer had bought him at the auction last night.

“Let’s go!” Spencer hissed. The viewing tunnel hooked to the left behind him. He guessed it made a loop, leading back to the entrance at the bottom of the cement ramp. If they could outrun the guards, staying just far enough ahead to be out of sight—

Aldo turned and paused beside Spencer. Spencer jumped onto Aldo’s back. He grabbed two fistfuls of the bear’s fur, and the second he did, Aldo launched himself forward, taking off at top speed through the viewing tunnel.

Spencer plastered himself to the running bear. He pressed his face into Aldo’s fur and told himself the tears welling in his eyes were from the force of the air whipping into his face as Aldo hurtled forward. But the truth was, Spencer had found Mom and Dad. He’d seen them. He’d been just a few feet away from them. Then he had left them behind. Now he knew exactly how Dora felt.

Before Spencer could think much more about being separated yet again from his family, Aldo was coming to the end of the viewing tunnel. Just as Spencer had thought, it made a wide loop around the underground aquarium and brought them back to the doors they had first come through. One of the doors was open a crack. Aldo barreled straight through it, forcing it open wide with a powerful thrust of his head. The bear rushed through the door, out into the morning sunshine with Spencer holding tightly to his back. He ran up the sloping walkway, hurtled over the low cement wall beside the iron gates, and headed straight for the Reptile Lodge.