While Burke was busy with Harlan, Jack was driving Harlan’s Winnebago toward California.
From the passenger seat, Alex looked over her shoulder at Seth and Sara sleeping in the back, totally exhausted by their adventure. Even in his sleep, Seth clutched the experiment tightly. Sara was snuggled up with Junkyard. “They survived a crash, are chased by our military, hunted by an assassin, and have the weight of two planets’ survival on their shoulders,” Alex said. “Unbelievable.”
Jack took a glance at them in the rearview mirror and smiled.“They’re lucky you joined us,” he said. “We’re lucky.”
Alex laughed. “Luck had nothing to do with it. It’s pure science,” she claimed. “Chaos theory. The underlying order in apparently random data.”
“So, more like . . . fate?” Jack observed.
“Science,” she corrected. “Think about it. What are the odds that they would crash near Vegas during a UFO convention? I got in your cab. They got in your cab. And, now we’re all in Harlan’s mobile home loaded with his intel on where their ship is. That’s not luck. That’s a predetermined order of how things work in the universe.”
Jack laughed. “So I was always going to meet you?”
“In theory,” she said, a teasing note in her voice.
“And we were always going to help the kids get their spaceship out of the fortress?” he continued.
Alex nodded. “Science supports that logic.”
For a moment they shared a look that was sweet and a bit awkward. They came from very different worlds, but an amazing chain of events—whether luck or chaos theory—had brought them together.
Hours later, they were within a few miles of Witch Mountain. Jack pulled the Winnebago off onto the side of the road.
“This is how it’s going to go down,” he explained. “You three will stay here. I go check out the mountain. If I can find a way in, I take it and look for your ship. If I can’t, I come back and we take off. Understand?”
“Negative,” Seth protested. “Sara and I will be going with you. It is our mission. It is our ship.”
“Hold on,” Alex interrupted. “I’m the one with all the maps. So, I’m not staying back here alone.”
Sara looked Jack in the eye, once again reading his mind. She smiled. “It’s okay, Jack Bruno,” Sara said. “I know you are worried for our safety.”
“If you can read my mind, then you already know—we can’t win,” he said.
Sara nodded. “But we can try. If not, our parents will be dead.”
Jack took a deep breath. This was news to him.
“Without proof of their results,” Sara explained, “they were sentenced to death.”
“We have very little time left to get back home before our parents are executed,” Seth added.
Jack and Alex exchanged looks.
“The fate of our parents and our two worlds are locked away inside Witch Mountain. Please, Jack Bruno, help us,” Sara pleaded.
Jack looked at Alex. “Chaos theory, huh?”