Escape by Gordon Korman Read Free Book Online Page A

underbrush. The men were nearly upon them.
    Charla’s mind worked furiously. What should they do? Fight? Run? She looked to Luke but his face was all horror and indecision.
    A blue-jean-clad leg burst out from a fern not four feet away. She felt a scream forming in her throat. She shut her eyes tightly and grimaced it down. When she opened them again, his face was right there. Through the gridlike leaves of the fern, she recognized his red hair. This man was a murderer. The castaways had seen him kill one of his own people in cold blood.
    And now he had found them.
    Or had he? Looking straight ahead, Red Hair stepped right past them and disappeared into the jungle. Charla let out a low whimper and nearly choked on it. The other man was only half a step behind him.
    She watched his beady eyes dart around. Had he seen them?
    No, he was looking down — for the suitcase. She held her breath as he passed by.
    The castaways stood frozen, breathing silent relief into one another’s faces.
    Lyssa was the first to speak, her voice barely a whisper. “We are so lucky.”
    “I don’t feel lucky,” Luke grumbled. “Now that those guys are past us, we’ll be chasing them around all day.”
    “Wait here!” Charla snatched up the suitcase and ran off after the smugglers.
    It was impossible to sprint in the jungle; a high-stepping jog was the best she could do. A low vine tripped her up, but she was able to use the suitcase as a shield when she collided with a tree.Careful , she admonished, speeding up again. If she knocked herself unconscious out here, only the snakes would find her.
    As she ran, she formulated her plan. It was a classic outflanking move — used by track stars to get the inside lane. Setting herself on a course parallel to the smugglers, she raced ahead until she was sure she had passed them. Then she made a right turn, stopping where she estimated their path would take them. Hidden in the underbrush, she waited, the suitcase in her trembling arms.
    Good-bye,megabucks. I’ll never see this much of you again .
    A thin smile came to her lips. Her whole life, money had been a worry. Now she had her mitts on a boatload of the stuff — in the one place where money meant absolutely nothing!
    I wouldn’t take it anyway, she thought.It’s dirty money, earned with the blood ofendangered elephants and tigers .
    Crackling in the underbrush. The smugglers were here already! Only — where were they? Frantically, she looked around for the warning signs — swaying fronds, snapping twigs, hints of color behind the foliage. Nothing, except —
    There, fifteen feet to her left, a stand of ferns was rocking. She had guessed wrong. And now she’d have to start all over again.
    I can’t do this. A whole day of shadowing these killers, trying to predict where they’ll be—
    Acting on instinct, she picked up the suitcase and hurled it with all her might into the smugglers? path. While it was still in midair, she realized the mistake she had made. If the men saw it land, they would know someone had thrown it.
    A body pushed through the fern. Oh, no! She was caught!
    But wait! Red Hair was turned away, talking to his partner behind him.
    The suitcase landed with a soft thud. Money spilled out.
    Seeit! See it! See it !
    But he didn’t. Charla was thunderstruck. She wanted to scream:There, you idiot! Right in front of yournose !
    The jungle hit you with such a vast array ofdetails . With that overload of input, it was possible to miss anything.
    Red Hair was walking again. In a second he’d be past it. Charla was in agony. They’d never get the suitcase any closer than this.
    And then
    “Ow!”
    He stubbed his toe on it, looked down, and found himself gazing into two million dollars.
    “I got it!I got it !”
    Charla held her own silent celebration alongside the smugglers’ raucous one.
    “Now we can get out of here!” Red Hair exclaimed.
    Music to her ears. She followed the smugglers at a safe distance, keeping an eye out for