“Evarita, hold on,” Spencer whispered. He was standing in the guardhouse, his hands sweating and his heart hammering in his chest. He stared at the intercom system beside the door. Pam was waiting for an answer to his demand that the guards meet him at the Aqua Theater. But the guards weren’t here, only Spencer was.

Spencer reached a shaking finger toward the button marked TALK. He pressed it.

“Got it, boss,” he said in his deepest possible voice, desperately hoping he would sound like one of Pam’s guards. He took his hand off the button, and braced himself for Pam’s answer.

“Good,” Pam said. “And step on it. We have a problem.”

Spencer tried to calm down, but he couldn’t. His Got it, boss had fooled Pam, but now Pam was on the way to catch Mom, Dad, and Uncle Mark in the middle of their escape!

“Evarita!” he gasped remembering he needed to tell her what to do. “I don’t have long.”

“Okay, I’m listening,” Evarita replied. “What’s going on?”

“We’re all okay. B.D. is injured, but we’re all okay,” the words poured out of Spencer. “We’re escaping tonight but the Creative Pastry truck is gone. Can you get a new getaway vehicle? There are going to be four humans, three bears, and one cub. I’m about to open the front gates. Can you be ready to get us out of here?”

“Yes,” Evarita answered. “How long do I have?”

Spencer raced over to the signal blocker. He shoved his hammer back into his mission pack, zipped the bag, and slung it onto his back.

“An hour, maybe.”

“I’m on it,” Evarita answered.

Spencer ran to the control panel with the button for the front gates. He slammed his palm down on the button and heard the gates creaking open outside.

“Great. I have to go,” Spencer said as he pushed open the door to the guardhouse and sprinted outside. “Disconnect.”

Spencer turned left and ran as hard as he could down the front drive, under the tree tunnel. He had to head Pam off. Luckily, he could guess what route Pam would take from his house to the Aqua Theater. Spencer turned left at the massive bear fountain. He didn’t have time to think about his legs burning, or his chest heaving as he sprinted past the pools, then past the Caves. He forced himself to keep moving.

He hurtled up Pam’s front steps, then cut off toward the pear grove as soon as he’d reached the hilltop. He pushed his night-vision goggles up onto his forehead as he ran. The entire pear grove was illuminated. Lights twinkled from each tree. At the very end of the grove, he could see Pam, with Dora padding on all fours beside him. They were heading for the Aqua Theater. They were about to break out of the trees and walk into plain sight.

“PAM!” Spencer screamed. He kept running straight at Pam and Dora. They both spun around to face Spencer.

WHY DID I DO THAT?! Spencer started to panic. He didn’t have a plan yet, but he didn’t want Pam to get a view of the Aqua Theater. He had to keep him in the pear grove. But now Pam was staring at Spencer, and he didn’t look happy. Dora huffed beside Pam.

“You can trust Dora,” Mom had said. Spencer really hoped she was right. Dora huffed again as Spencer approached. She rose onto her hind legs, staring at Spencer. Spencer wished he could reach for his jade bear now, but he knew all that was in his pocket was the crowned bear figurine. And that definitely wouldn’t make him feel better about what he was about to do.

“Now, now, Dora,” Pam said, his singsongy voice returned. “You can’t eat a child as a midnight snack.” Dora remained on her hind legs, looming beside Pam, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Spencer.

“Black bears don’t eat humans,” Spencer said spitefully, slowing to a stop a few yards from Pam and Dora.

“Maybe not in Bearhaven they don’t.” The way Pam said Bearhaven made Spencer’s skin crawl.

“What do you know about Bearhaven?” he shot back.

“A lot more than you all want me to know.” Pam used one of his clawlike nails to put a lock of black hair back into place. Spencer saw him cast an anxious glance toward the Aqua Theater. He’s looking for his guards, Spencer thought. Pam’s eyes snapped back to Spencer. “What I haven’t figured out yet is why you and your family insist on delivering yourselves to me on silver platters. Don’t you realize your bear friends need you now more than ever?”

Spencer could feel himself boiling with anger. “Leave Bearhaven alone!” he shouted furiously.

Dora huffed again. She dropped to all fours and lunged toward Spencer, stepping between him and Pam.

Pam laughed from behind Dora. “Maybe a midnight snack wouldn’t be so bad after all.” Dora rose back onto her hind legs, chuffing threateningly.

It took all of Spencer’s willpower not to scream and run from Dora, but something about the way she was looking at him made him think the scene she was making wasn’t what it seemed. And Mom had promised that Dora was trustworthy.

She huffed aggressively again. Spencer couldn’t see Pam behind her. Dora was completely blocking Pam’s view, too.

“Shala,” she growled. At the bear’s word for “safe,” Spencer knew Dora was working with him, not against him. The bear let out a loud whine and suddenly went rigid. She staggered on her hind legs, then collapsed to the ground.

“Dora!” Pam cried. He glared at Spencer. “What did you do to her?” he snarled.

Spencer’s mouth went dry. What was Dora’s plan?! What did she want him to do next?! “I … I … ” he stammered, trying to figure out how to make Dora’s collapse help him. His mind raced. Pam was frozen in place, glaring at him.

“Guards!” Pam yelled.

Then Spencer had it. He grabbed one of the coils of rope that was clipped to the side of his mission pack. “If you’re going to hurt my bears, I’m not going to be any nicer to yours,” he said through gritted teeth. He started to tie a knot in his length of rope as he moved closer to Dora.

“My guards will be here any second,” Pam threatened. “If you so much as lay a finger on my bear—”

Spencer lunged toward Dora with his rope tied in a running knot, the loop at the top left open. Pam lunged forward, too, falling for Spencer’s fake move. He reached out a hand to stop Spencer from tying Dora up. Spencer slipped the loop over Pam’s outstretched hand and yanked it tight, knotting it around Pam’s wrist.

“What are you doing?!” Pam screamed. “Guards!” he yelled again.

“Your guards are busy!” Spencer yelled. He charged forward, launching himself over Dora’s slumped body, and grabbed Pam around the knees, toppling him to the ground.

“Dora!” Pam yelled, but Dora didn’t move. “Guards!” Pam tried to scramble to his feet. Spencer rushed to the closest tree. It was only a few feet from where Pam had fallen. He tossed the rope that was tied tightly around one of Pam’s wrists, over a low tree branch, then pulled it back down. He did a lap around the trunk with the rope. Pam was struggling to his feet when Spencer got back to him. But there was nowhere Pam could go, with one of his arms already bound to the tree. Spencer ran straight into Pam, knocking the man back against the tree trunk. Pam slashed out with the nails of his free hand, but Spencer dodged the blow from Pam’s claws. He had Pam pinned to the tree now with his rope. He did another lap around the trunk, then grabbed Pam’s free arm and tied that wrist, too.

“Ahh!” Spencer cried as Pam’s long creepy nails pierced the skin on the back of his hand. He continued to tie knots, ignoring the blood, until he’d bound Pam’s body and both of his hands to the tree.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing,” Pam hissed. “But this will be the end of you. When I take Bearhaven, nobody will be spared.”

Spencer tried to ignore Pam. He took off his mission pack and dug the long blond haired wig out from the bottom of his bag.

“You better be careful what you say to me,” Spencer threatened, trying to sound as dangerous as possible. “Or you may never see Dora again.” With that, he yanked the blond wig down hard on top of Pam’s head, making sure it was on backward. The mass of blond hair blocked Pam’s sight.

“Guards!” Pam yelled at the top of his lungs.

Spencer grabbed his mission pack and returned to Dora’s side. He knelt down beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. Dora opened her eyes. Spencer jerked his head in the direction of her home, then took off at a run. A second later, Dora caught up with him. The sound of Pam yelling for his guards over and over again drowned out their footsteps.