As the Mogadorian pushes my dad towards the door of my cell, he points to the opening in the wall behind me.
“Go!” he shouts. “Run!”
I hesitate for a moment, glancing at my dad. He’s already squeezing through the bars. I reassure myself that he’ll be right behind me.
I cough as some of the dust from the destroyed wall enters my lungs. Through the opening in the wall I can see the inner workings of the base; pipes and ventilation shafts, clumps of wiring and insulation.
Wrapping my legs around one of the larger pipes, I start shimmying down. Pins and needles shoot through my weakened legs and for a moment I’m worried that I’ll lose my grip and slip. But then the adrenaline kicks in and my grip tightens. Escape is so close, I have to push myself.
I see my dad’s shadow in the opening above me. He’s hesitating.
“What’re you doing?!” my dad shouts at the Mog. “Adam?”
I hear the Mogadorian—Adam—reply, his voice resolute. “Go with your son. Now.”
My dad starts climbing down after me, but I’ve stopped. I’m thinking about what it was like to be left behind in one of these places. Mogadorian or not, this Adam guy just broke me out of jail and reunited me with my father. He shouldn’t have to face down those soldiers alone.
I call up to my dad. “We’re just going to leave him?”
“Adam knows what he’s doing,” my dad answers, but his voice sounds unsure. “Keep moving, Sam!”
Another vibration strikes, nearly shaking me loose from the pipe. I look up to check on my dad, just as another shock wave jostles loose the gun he’s been carrying in the back of his pants. I’m clinging too tightly to the pipe to catch it and the weapon goes plummeting into the darkness below.
“Damn it,” he grunts.
The Mogs must have closed in on Adam and he’s fighting back. Shortly after the shock wave comes a metallic rending sound, a sound that can only be the gangway coming apart—I can picture it tearing loose from outside the cells, the whole structure crumbling with it. A couple loose bricks tumble down from above, and Dad and I both duck until it’s safe again.
At least Adam’s giving them a fight back there. But we need to move fast before he brings the place down on top of us.
I keep shimmying down. The space inside the walls is tight, a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare, with screws and loose wires ripping at my clothes.
“Sam, up here. Help me with this.”
My dad stopped in front of a ventilation shaft that I hadn’t noticed. I slip a little when I climb back up, but he reaches down to steady me. Together, we hook our fingers through the metal grate and yank it loose.
“This should lead us outside.”
No sooner are we army-crawling through the shaft than a massive explosion rocks us. We stop moving as the metal duct creaks and whines, both of us braced for the whole thing to collapse, but it holds.
We can hear screaming and sirens through the walls of the base. The fighting that I heard before has only intensified.
“Sounds like a war out there,” my dad says, crawling forward again.
“Did you bring the Garde?” I ask him, hopefully.
“No, Sam, it was just Adam and me.”
“Pretty amazing timing, Dad. You and the Garde all manage to show up at the exact same time?”
“I think this family was due for some good luck,” my dad replies. “Let’s just be thankful for the distraction and get the hell out of here.”
“It’s them fighting out there. I know it. They’re the only ones bold enough to attack a Mogadorian base.” I pause, forgetting about the danger for a moment, a giddy smile exploding onto my face as I realize my father just broke into a Mog base. “Dad,” I say, “I’m so glad to see you and everything, but you have so much explaining to do.”
BACK ADS
THE LORIEN LEGACIES BY PITTACUS LORE
NOVELS
I AM NUMBER FOUR
THE POWER OF SIX
THE RISE OF NINE
THE FALL OF FIVE
THE REVENGE OF SEVEN
NOVELLAS
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #1: SIX’S LEGACY
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #2: NINE’S LEGACY
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #3: THE FALLEN LEGACIES
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #4: THE SEARCH FOR SAM
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #5: THE LAST DAYS OF LORIEN
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #6: THE FORGOTTEN ONES
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #7: FIVE’S LEGACY
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #8: RETURN TO PARADISE
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES #9: FIVE’S BETRAYAL
NOVELLA COLLECTIONS
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: THE LEGACIES
(CONTAINS NOVELLAS #1–#3)
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: SECRET HISTORIES
(CONTAINS NOVELLAS #4–#6)
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: HIDDEN ENEMY
(CONTAINS NOVELLAS #7–#9)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AUTHOR PHOTO © HOWARD HUANG
PITTACUS LORE is Lorien’s ruling Elder. He has been on Earth preparing for the war that will decide Earth’s fate. His whereabouts are unknown.
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COPYRIGHT
I AM NUMBER FOUR: THE LOST FILES: RETURN TO PARADISE
Copyright © 2014 by Pittacus Lore
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EPub Edition © APRIL 2014 ISBN: 9780062287663
ISBN 978-0-06-228766-3
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Return to Paradise Page 9