Getting from the pool shed to the Aqua Theater took forever. Because of the tools they were transporting, and the way the lane-divider-wrapped garden fork ended in a bright white bulb, Aldo and Spencer again had to stick to the darkest part of Hidden Rock Zoo—its perimeter—and this time, Spencer couldn’t ride on Aldo’s back. He had to walk on his own two feet.
When the Aqua Theater finally came into view, Spencer was so happy he wanted to cheer. He was about to see Mom and Dad again, and he was finally going to show them he had become a full-blown Bearhaven operative since their disappearance. He could hardly wait.
“Spencer, hold on,” Aldo whispered, hanging back in the shadows of Alligator Alley. He’d dropped the coil of rope he’d been carrying to the ground. “I don’t think we should both go into the Aqua Theater. One of us should stand guard.”
“Okay, I’ll go,” Spencer said right away.
“Well … ” Aldo hesitated.
“What?”
“Are you sure you’ll be able to stay calm? And think like an operative?” Aldo asked. Then he rushed on. “It’s just that after what happened with B.D., and then in the aquarium … ”
“I can do this, Aldo,” he said. “I promise I won’t let my emotions get in the way again.” Spencer picked up the coil of rope. Through the night-vision goggles, it looked like a bright green soccer ball. “You stand guard. I’m going in.”
“All right,” Aldo agreed. “I’ll wait in the pear grove. It’s closer to the Aqua Theater, and I’ll be able to see more from there. Let me go first. Once I’m in position, I’ll give you the signal to go.”
“Okay,” Spencer said, though he hated the idea of waiting even another five minutes before delivering the rescue tools to Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark. Aldo loped out of the swampy, overgrown protection of Alligator Alley.
The bear’s voice was in Spencer’s ear a few minutes later. “I’m in position. Go ahead.”
“Got it,” Spencer whispered. He adjusted the garden fork on his shoulder and tucked the ball of coiled rope under one arm. If he got intercepted by guards halfway between Alligator Alley and the Aqua Theater, he would be in deep trouble. With all this gear he was carrying, he wasn’t exactly going to be able to run for it. Spencer crept out of Alligator Alley and onto the path winding through the zoo. There wasn’t much to protect him from view, just a few trees, so Spencer went as quickly as he could. When he reached the Aqua Theater, he found a set of glass double doors.
“Aldo,” he hissed, suddenly starting to panic. “What if the doors are alarmed like the other entrance?!” Spencer couldn’t believe they hadn’t thought of it before!
“Do you see any other way in?” Aldo asked. Spencer scanned the glass building.
“The windows at the top are open … ” Spencer whispered, though he’d rather try his luck digging his way in with the garden fork—anything other than climb.
“Can you get to one of them?”
“I think so,” Spencer answered reluctantly. The walls of the Aqua Theater were made of panels of glass, and each panel was set into an iron frame. Spencer could scale the wall, using the iron frames as a ladder. He just really didn’t want to.
“You can do it, Spencer,” Aldo urged as though reading Spencer’s mind.
Spencer took a deep breath and sprang into action. He knew the less he thought about the climb, the better it would go. He unraveled the lane divider and tied one end to the garden fork, and the other to one of the straps on his mission pack.
Spencer reached for the lowest bar of one of the iron frames and hooked one foot over it, then reached for the next highest bar, pushing himself up the wall. The long coil of rope stayed slack between him and the garden fork on the ground below, just as he’d hoped. Frame by frame, Spencer climbed the glass wall. He tried to think about only the next step in the plan—giving Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark the tools they needed to escape—and before he knew it, he had reached the window. Spencer hooked one leg inside the building, finding a stable seat on the window frame.
“Good work, little man,” Aldo said through the Ear-COMs.
“Thanks.” Spencer felt a little more confident knowing Aldo was watching him so closely. He reached for the long rope that attached his mission pack to the garden fork.
Slowly, and careful to keep his arms extended so the garden fork wouldn’t smash into the glass wall, Spencer began to pull up the fork. It felt like all the muscles in his body were working. He gritted his teeth. Eventually, Spencer was able to grab hold of the garden fork’s handle, pull it inside, and quickly lower it to the floor.
“All right, now for the hard part,” he whispered, trying not to look down.
“What’s the hard part?” Aldo asked.
“Climbing down the other side.” Spencer looked down. His stomach lurched.
“Good luck.”
Spencer took a deep breath. With both hands gripping the window frame he was perched on, he got a foothold on an iron rung inside the building. He swung his other leg inside and started to climb down until he hopped off the last bar and landed with a soft thud.
“I’m in,” he whispered. He rushed over to the side of the tank and dropped to his knees. “Mom! Dad! Uncle Mark!” he whispered. They were all standing in a row at the bottom of the tank below, looking up at him, as though preparing to react to whatever happened next. They must have heard me coming! he thought.
“Spencer!” his parents whispered back up to him at the same time.
“Are you okay?” Spencer asked, his voice hushed but bubbling over with the excitement of finally talking face-to-face with Mom and Dad even though they were forty feet below.
“Yes, we are!” Mom answered.
“We’re okay, Spencer,” Dad added. “But is it safe for you to be here?”
“Where’s Aldo, Spence?” Uncle Mark called up.
Spencer wanted to jump down into the tank and hug his family. He wanted to change the plan and get them out of the tank now, but he remembered what he’d promised Aldo. He wouldn’t let his emotions get in the way tonight.
“Aldo’s standing guard. We’re escaping tonight,” Spencer whispered, leaning down over the side of the tank and getting right to the point. “All of us. Hold on!” Spencer scooted backward and ran to retrieve the garden fork and rope. As he rushed back to the side of the tank, he was relieved to see a short metal ladder was anchored into the cement surrounding the tank. The plan he and Aldo had come up with for Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark’s escape was going to work. The ladder led a few feet down, just like a ladder in a human pool—though, the bottom of the tank was way farther down than the bottom of a human pool—and the marine animal trainers would have used the ladder to get into the tank with the whales for shows. He remembered that from his trip to the aquarium with Cheng and Ramona. Spencer untied the rope from his mission pack.
“Watch out!” he called, lowering the garden fork into the tank. When it hit the floor, Spencer dropped the rest of the length of rope in on top. “That’s everything you’ll need, including an Ear-COM,” he explained. “Keep it all hidden however you can until I give you the signal to go, in case someone comes to check on you.”
“Got it, Spence,” Uncle Mark replied. He strode over to the pile of supplies and started to unwind the rope around the garden fork. Spencer guessed he was searching for the Ear-COM. Before Spencer could call down about where to find it, Dad’s voice was rising up out of the tank.
“You’re sure you’re safe, Spencer?” Dad called.
“I’m sure, Dad. Don’t worry, Aldo and I have a plan. We’re getting out of here tonight!”
“Spencer, if anything goes wrong, I want you to get yourself out of Hidden Rock Zoo. Do you understand?” Mom asked, her voice firm. “We’ll be fine.”
“Mom, nothing’s going to go wrong. We have something Pam doesn’t have.”
“What’s that?” Dad asked.
“Wanmahai.”