“Mr. Soliano,” Walter said, “I don’t guess well. Not on four hours sleep. A cup of coffee would help. Barring that, I would like to know what the devil is going on.”
Hector Soliano gave a curt shrug. “And I, who have had three hours sleep, would wish to know this as well.”
Walter’s eyebrows lifted.
“On the surface,” Soliano said, “the attempted hijacking, the shooting...my assistant should have explained this.”
“She did,” Walter said. “But now the situation has evolved?”
“Yes. And that has led us to err on the side of extreme caution.”
And it's like pulling teeth, I thought, for the FBI to share details with non-agency people. I said, “And?”
“And it is best you see for yourself. But first I am most anxious to have you suit up.” Soliano started up the road.
We fell in.
Walter said, “Where, precisely, are we?”
We were, as best I could tell by the castoff of emergency lights, on an alluvial fan leading into the hacked-up foothills of a gaunt range that loomed above.
“We are just off Nevada state highway 95,” Soliano said, “southwest of the town of Beatty. A passing motorist saw ‘something funny’ and notified the Beatty Sheriff, who investigated and notified federal responders. I came out here and determined that we wanted a forensic geology consult. We have you on file. I am told you are worth your fee.”
Walter grunted. We are, we’re here, let’s go put our eyes on the scene.
As we tramped up the road we topped a small rise and got a better view. The truck appeared to have tumbled down an incline and come to rest in the desert scrub.
Walter said, “We’ll want to begin with the tires.”
“Begin with the driver,” Soliano said. “We must know where the driver has been.”
I found a smile. “He’s been somewhere without the tires?”
Soliano said something under his breath in Spanish.
On the road directly ahead was a big white van, lettered RERT, and Soliano led us toward its open door.
I asked, “What’s RERT?”
“An acronym...” Soliano touched his brow—the difficulty of acronyms in a non-native language. “With the Environmental Protection Agency.”
My attention jumped back to the spotlighted crash scene, which was well uphill of us and the white van. Suited figures had now come into view, poking around the scrub brush near the truck. The figures wore hoods and masks and air tanks.
Soliano snapped his fingers and turned to me. “R-E-R-T. Radiological Emergency Response Team.”
I nodded. Made sense.
And then some.
Emergency evolving.
—end preview—
► If you'd like to continue Badwater, you can find the ebook
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THE FORENSIC GEOLOGY SERIES:
Quicksilver
Forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws plunge into the dark history of the California gold country, into the dark past of two brothers, into a poisonous feud that threatens lives and the land.
Badwater
Death Valley earns its name when a terrorist threatens to unleash lethal radioactive toxins. The only ones who can find and stop him are the forensic geologists, and they are up against more than pure human malice. The unstable atom—in the hands of an unstable man—is governed by Murphy's Law. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
Volcano Watch
The volcano beneath the geologists' home town is seething, and the mayor is found murdered with a note saying NO WAY OUT. The fate of the town now rests in the hands of an emergency planner with his own twisted agenda. As the volcano moves toward red alert, the geologists race to prevent 'no way out' from becoming a prophecy.
Skeleton Sea
A mystery at sea plunges the geologists into deadly waters. Investigating a strange fishing accident off the California coast, they track it to an even stranger project. Someone with toxic skills is at work in this sea. If the lethal project is not ended, the outcome will be unstoppable.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”
― Mark Twain
I had some help identifying the wrong words.
I want to thank the following science experts in their fields for information, education, reading the book, and giving me terrific suggestions and support: Tom Colby, G. Nelson Eby, and Raymond C. Murray.
Heartfelt thanks to the following, for support, suggestions, and for reading and commenting on the beta drafts:
Gerald Hornsby, Clare Midgley, Catherine Thomas-Nobles, JZ O'Brien, Kay Podboj, Ralph Michael Savage, Emily Williams, and J.T. Yeager.
You are all golden ;)
Quicksilver (reissue) Page 20
