The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Nowhere to Run by Jude Watson Read Free Book Online Page B

She could see the telltale spots of red on his cheeks that meant he was getting upset.
    “I know it’s not your fault, Dan,” Amy added quickly. “I
know
that. But if the impossible happened — if the serum formula got out somehow — we have to figure out
how.
There could be some random Cahill out there who found it. . . .”
    “Unlikely,” Nellie said.
    Suddenly, Dan collapsed on the floor, his head in his hands. “No,” he said, his voice muffled. “It must be me. Somehow.”
    He looked up at them, tears in his eyes. “Do the math. I fabricated the serum secretly about six months ago. That’s right when Pierce began his climb to power.”
    “Coincidence,” Nellie said, but her voice sounded shaky.
    Amy got down on the floor next to Dan. She put her hand on her brother’s arm. “Tell me what happened in that lab,” she said. She’d never asked him for details. She knew he had deeply regretted what he’d done.
    Dan’s voice shook. “I found all the ingredients myself. And I had heard about our cousin Sammy Mourad — some sort of genius biochemist postdoctoral student at Columbia University. I-I contacted him and asked him to mix up something for me.”
    He wiped at his cheeks. “But I took all these precautions! I’m not stupid. I gave Sammy
some
of the ingredients, but not all. Only the stuff that had to be done in a lab. Then I took my own vial and mixed the final version myself.”
    “Where?” Amy asked.
    “In Sammy’s lab. But I took the dose with me! There was a tiny bit left over, and I threw it down the sink. There is
no way
anybody could have figured out the formula! Not even Sammy.”
    Amy shook her head. “There’s no other way. Sammy has to be the key. You did everything right, Dan, but somehow . . .”
    “But even if somehow, some way, Sammy found out the formula, which I don’t believe — why would he pass the formula on?” Dan asked. “He’s a Cahill.”
    “Yeah, and we’ve seen what towers of integrity Cahills can be,” Amy said, with a lift of an eyebrow.
    Nellie slid off her chair and landed on the floor next to them. “If it’s really out there . . .” she whispered. She couldn’t finish the sentence.
    The three of them looked at each other. The horror they felt was reflected in each other’s eyes.
    Nellie swallowed. “We have to send out a Cahill alert. We need help on this.”
    “Not yet,” Amy insisted. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet. First we have to talk to Sammy. In person.” She glanced at the clock. “If we leave now, we can be there by eleven P.M .”
    Nellie stood. “We’re on Level Five alert, remember? If we leave the house, it’s Endgame. Grab your gear.”
    They had established the Endgame strategy soon after returning home from the Vesper battle. If ever they felt in real danger, they had to be prepared to go into hiding. Their backpacks were already packed with the essentials, and they had money belts and passport slings to wear under their shirts.
    “Chances are we’ll be back. But better safe than sorry,” Nellie said. She went into the pantry, where the gear was stowed. She brought the packs and belts back and handed them over.
    Silently, they suited up. The word
Endgame
echoed in Amy’s head. This was the worst. Everything they feared. Pierce was willing to kill them to get what he wanted.
    And what is that?
Amy wondered.
If he had all the power in the world, what would he do?

Chapter 8

    Somewhere in the Australian outback
    The prefab housing was designed to be taken down within minutes. Inside the flexible skin stretched over aluminum rods were rudimentary sleeping quarters but state-of-the-art technology. Satellite-equipped phones, computers, tablets. Emergency generators. And a box of thermonuclear devices.
    The dust swirled around three men as they walked from a military helicopter to the first building. The heat was a blunt force, bouncing off the flat, scorched land and slamming against exposed skin.
    The