Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24 Their ascent halted. The chopper began to shake violently. "What is this malfunction?" the pilot yelled. Roaring with effort, Eisenhower Holt pulled down on the runner, preventing their departure. "It's not a malfunction, it's a Holt!" Dan cried. "Keep flying! He'll have to let go!" "He is too heavy for this altitude!" the pilot insisted. "He wastes our fuel! We must depart now if we are to get home at all!" Still holding on with one hand, Eisenhower swung his ice a? and wedged the sharp point in the gasket between the ultralight and its bubble. Then he pried with all his remaining strength until the Plexiglas popped open. A split second later, his enormous frostbitten, wild-eyed head loomed directly over them.

"The clue!" he roared. As Amy sat petrified with fear, her Holt cousin snatched the vial from her nerveless fingers. He backed off, releasing the chopper. He got three steps from that spot. Four Sherpas appeared out of the ice plume and grabbed him, two on each arm. A fifth figure, the space-suited Ian Kabra, staggered up against the wind and wrenched the vial from Eisenhower's glove. What happened next would remain burned in everyone's memory. A blast of wind seized the A- Star and pitched it around. Dan tumbled from his seat, whacking his head on the Plexiglas bubble. Amy was tossed clean out, landing in the snow. The tail of the chopper swung over earth's pinnacle, whacking Ian across his back, knocking him off the summit. He flailed for a handhold, digging the arms of his space suit into a snow cornice. Screaming in horror, he clung to the edge, dangling over the massive Kangshung face, a drop of eleven thousand feet. Amy grabbed for his hand and found herself

holding not Ian, but the vial containing the Janus serum. Her first thought was jubilation. I've got it back! But then she looked through the space suit helmet at the terrified face of the teenager inside. Suddenly, the ledge of packed powder that was supporting Ian crumbled under his weight. There was nothing beneath him for nearly two miles.