Spencer and Aldo sifted through the contents of Spencer’s mission pack. They had made their plan. Now it was time to make sure they had everything they needed to put that plan in motion.
“Okay, so let’s review,” Spencer said. “Step one, in the middle of the night tonight, you are going to run right past the guardhouse acting like a crazy escaped bear. You don’t need any tools, and you’ll leave your Ear-COM with me.”
“Right,” Aldo agreed. Spencer didn’t like the idea of being disconnected from Aldo, but he knew if anything went wrong, and Aldo got captured, they couldn’t risk the Ear-COM falling into Pam’s hands. Aldo is not going to get captured, Spencer promised himself.
“Step two, when the guards follow you, I’ll sneak into the guardhouse to shut down the signal blockers around the zoo so we can communicate with Evarita again. I’ll open the front gates and disable as many of the security systems as I can. I’ll need tools.” Spencer pushed a hammer, a screwdriver, and a pair of scissors into a little pile. “I’ll also tell Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark to escape from the tank. For their escape, they’ll need a lot of rope, something they can use as a grappling hook, and an Ear-COM.”
Spencer grabbed B.D.’s Ear-COM from the pile of supplies and slipped it into his pocket for safekeeping. Both of his lengths of rope were tying the Reptile Lodge doors shut, and he would need them later for Darwin. “We need to find another supply of rope and a hook somewhere.”
“Right.” Aldo nodded.
“Step three, after Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark are free, they’re going to the pool shed to hide out, since it’s the closest building to the front gates, and nobody will be there in the middle of the night. You’ll meet them there, after you lose the guards. Step four, I’ll go get Darwin out of Pam’s house and bring him to Dora, who can get them both to the pool shed. For that, I just need rope and an Ear-COM. I have two coils of rope, and I’ll have your Ear-COM by then.”
“Okay,” Aldo said. “The last rescue is B.D.”
“Yes,” Spencer agreed. “Step five, after I send Dora and Darwin to you in the pool shed, I’ll go get B.D. I’ll need the lock-picking kit.” Spencer dug the lock-picking kit out of the pile of supplies and added it to the tools he’d already set aside. “B.D. and I will get to the pool house. Step six, we charge the front gates as a team. Evarita will be waiting outside with a getaway vehicle.”
“We hope,” Aldo said.
“We hope,” Spencer repeated solemnly. He didn’t want to think about what they would have to do if Evarita wasn’t ready to evacuate them all … And he also didn’t know what kind of vehicle she would be able to find on such short notice that could fit three bears, a cub, and five people. Everything will go according to plan, he told himself, pushing his doubts away. It has to.
“So our first move is to find a supply of rope and a hook, probably in the pool shed,” Aldo said, breaking the silence. “Then we’ll drop it off for Jane, Shane, and Mark, and camp out near the guardhouse until midnight.”
“We’ll leave after dark,” Spencer replied, pulling his empty mission pack onto his lap.
“All right.” Aldo leaned back, settling himself against the wall, and closed his eyes. “I’m going to get some rest while I can.”
“Me too.” Spencer set the last of his food supply—two protein bars and the jar of mixed nuts—and his phone to the side, and started to put the rest of his things back into his mission pack with the tools he knew he would need tonight right on top. When his bag was totally packed, Spencer set the alarm on his phone for ten o’clock p.m. He leaned back against the wall to get a few hours of sleep. Aldo was already snoring beside him.
* * *
Spencer felt like he’d only just fallen asleep when the alarm on his phone startled him awake.
Aldo’s eyes shot open.
Pop! Aldo gave a jaw pop and lurched forward, getting to all fours. He quickly rose onto his hind legs and glared around the Reptile Lodge, sniffing hard. His ears twitched.
“Aldo!” Spencer cried. “It’s okay! It was my phone!”
“What?” Aldo dropped back to all fours.
“That sound,” Spencer explained. “It was just the alarm from my phone. We aren’t being attacked or anything.”
“Oh, thank goodness!” Aldo relaxed. “Next time, give a bear a little warning, okay? I thought we were done for.”
“I’m sorry.” Spencer stifled a laugh. “You fell asleep before I could tell you I set the alarm. I didn’t want us to oversleep.”
“Time to go?” Aldo asked.
“Almost.” Spencer unwrapped one of the protein bars and handed it to Aldo, then took the top off the jar of mixed nuts and dumped the nuts out into a little pile on top of the empty wrapper on the ground. The bear swallowed the bar in one bite, and wolfed down the pile of nuts before Spencer was even halfway through his own protein bar. He finished the rest as quickly as he could, then set to work untying the doors to the Reptile Lodge, and recoiling his rope.
Spencer could feel his excitement starting to build. Tonight, they were going to get out of Hidden Rock Zoo once and for all, and they were taking everyone they came here to rescue with them.