Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman Read Free Book Online Page A

left pants leg was on fire. He used his other foot to snuff it out, kicking himself and hurting his ankle in the process.
    “Oww!” he yelled.
    “I think I smell carbon monoxide,” Pep shouted in his ear.
    “Carbon monoxide is odorless, Einstein!” was his reply. “Let’s get out of here!”
    “Which way?” she hollered. “I can’t see!”
    “Doesn’t matter!” he shouted back. “You pick. You’re the one who has feelings. Use ’em!”
    “It’s too hot!” she shouted.
    Some burning debris fell off a shelf and almost hit her.
    “We can’t stay here!” Coke told Pep. “We’ll be burned alive! One way or another, we’ve gotta make a run for it!”
    “Right through the flames?” she asked.
    “Yeah,” he replied, “like you’re running your finger over a candle. If we move fast enough, we won’t feel a thing.”
    “That’s crazy!” she said, and he knew she was right. But staying where they were would be crazy too.
    “Where’s the fire extinguisher?” Coke yelled. “Maybe we can clear a path with it.”
    They fumbled around on the floor until Pep got her hands on the fire extinguisher.
    “Oww!” she screamed. “It’s too hot to touch!”
    Coke picked up a piece of the door they had broken and slapped at the flames with it. This worked to an extent, but the wood was heavy and quickly sapped his strength.
    “We’re gonna die in here!” Pep screamed.
    That’s when everything went dark.
    A large cloth had landed on top of them, and they couldn’t see a thing. Then they felt hands pulling the edges of the cloth around them. It was damp.
    They felt themselves being lifted and carried somewhere by somebody. They couldn’t get their arms free to struggle. They didn’t want to struggle. They wanted to get out of the hallway, and that was what was happening. Somebody had hoisted them up and was carrying them away.
    The twins felt themselves being pushed through a set of double doors and then outside onto the grass in the playground behind the school. The blanket was pulled off so they could see their rescuer.
    It was Mr. Rochford, the school janitor. Bones!
    “I don’t mean to be a wet blanket,” he told them, “but I thought you kids could use one.”
    Coke turned around to see the school enveloped in flames and firefighters in the distance spraying water on it.
    “You speak . . . English?” Pep asked Bones.
    “Of course,” he replied.
    “We thought you were . . . retarded or something,” Coke explained.
    “I believe the politically correct term is mentally challenged,” Bones said. “Listen, you kids need to get out of town right away. Somebody is trying to kill you!”
    “Yeah, I think we kinda figured that out,” Coke said.
    “Shouldn’t we try to save Mrs. Higgins?” Pep asked. “She might still be in the building somewhere.”
    “That wouldn’t be a smart idea,” Bones told them.
    “Why?”
    “Because I think it might have been Mrs. Higgins who set the fire.”

Chapter 8
In or Out
    A s soon as they were safely away from the burning school, Bones pulled the twins out of sight, into the woods behind the playground. He tugged at his big bushy beard, and it came off in his hand. He pulled off his mustache. Then he reached under his shirt and tore away a thick piece of foam that had been wrapped around his stomach to make him look like an extremely fat man.
    Bones was actually skinny!
    “Guess I won’t be needing this stuff anymore,” he said, tossing his disguise aside.
    Underneath it all, Bones looked pretty much like a regular guy. It was an amazing transformation.
    “You mean to say you’ve been wearing a fat suit and pretending to be a mute the whole school year?” Pep asked him. “Why?”
    “Because I knew this day would finally come,” Bones said. “It’s a long story.”
    The fire department did its best to get the blaze under control, but it was hopeless. By the time the fire was completely extinguished, there wasn’t much left to save.