"Lactu! Lactu!" they shouted frantically. "They're pouring into the base! The Solar Guard--they've got us surrounded!"
"Keep fighting!" snapped Sinclair. "Don't surrender! Inflict as much damage as possible!"
"Where--where are you going?" asked one of the men, looking at the closet speculatively.
"Never mind me!" barked Sinclair. "Do as I tell you. Fight back!"
"It looks like we're losing a leader," observed another of the men slowly. "You wouldn't be running out on us, would you, Lactu?"
Sinclair fired three quick blasts from the ray guns, freezing the men solid, and then turned back to Tom and Roger. "Stay in that closet and do as I tell you."
Inside the closet, Sinclair kicked a pail out of the way and barked, "Remove the loose plank in the floor and drop it on the floor."
Tom felt around until he found the loose board and lifted it up.
"You'll see," said Sinclair. "Now step back, both of you!"
Tom and Roger backed up and watched while Sinclair bent over the hole in the floor. He felt around inside with one hand and appeared to turn something. Suddenly the wall opposite the two cadets slid back to reveal a narrow flight of stairs leading down. Sinclair motioned with his gun again. "Get going, both of you."
Tom stepped forward, followed by Roger, and they started down the stairs. At the bottom they found themselves in a narrow tunnel about four hundred feet underground. The floor of the tunnel slanted downward sharply.
"At the end of this tunnel," announced Sinclair, "is a clearing and in that clearing is a spaceship. It is nearly three miles from the canyon. By the time the Solar Guard learns of my absence, we shall be lost in space."
"We?" asked Tom. "You're taking us with you?"
"But of course," said Sinclair. "How else would I assure myself that the Solar Guard will not harm me unless I take two of their most honored Space Cadets with me?"
"It's been fifteen minutes," announced Connel, "and they haven't come out yet. There's only one thing to do. Take that building and find out what's happened."
The major was crouched behind a wrecked jet car, staring at the administration building.
"I can get that Marine captain over to our left to co-ordinate an attack with us, sir," suggested Astro.