The Great Thirst Boxed Set

by Mary C. Findley

  “You’re doing that thing where you dig your nails in again,” Keith said to Talia, lifting her hand and kissing it.

  “Sorry,” she murmured.

  “Naddy called Keith on the cell phone and they were just entering the gates,” Jiggly said. “We decided that the helicopter was sent up based on the login time, when they arrived at the prison, and the EMP was supposed to catch them on the way out.

  “It was a mixed blessing,” Keith said, “that some of them had been injured as badly as they were. It took longer to get them into the van and get rolling toward the gates. Otherwise we would have been outside the prison with no cover. The warden himself came along to escort us to the gate. Only his authority got us out and away from those searchers who came out of the copter.

  “David called you as soon as we settled on what we thought the half hour window meant and I told him about the Faraday box. Unfortunately there were no metal buildings, just concrete block, at the prison. It dampened the effect some, but we had a tough time getting the van to run after the pulse and the phones wouldn’t work. Drew was messing with everybody’s phones when we realized his ring had a ruby stone, because we were immediately back in touch with Eva.”

  “Your truck driver guy was okay?” Cindee asked. “He didn’t get found, or get in trouble for picking the van up?”

  “He stayed at Precious Treasure for a week and hid his truck and trailer in a warehouse,” Talia said. “They’re back on the road and haven’t reported any trouble.”

  “So, back to what started all this,” Keith said. “I sure wish we had some idea where to start looking. We had the holographic map in Greece, and we had our guide in Pakistan, but here … how will we find out where the Olmec tablets are?”

  “The tablets for Olous were in Ugarit,” Talia said, nodding, “and the tablets for Harappa were in Gondrani. We might not even be in the right country. They could be underwater, or on an island.”

  “Didn’t the guardian you met in Turkey say that they got three locations off of that holographic map?” Jiggly asked. “Did we ever find out where the other two were?”

  “Nobody told us,” Keith shrugged. “Can we contact them, and see if knowing the other two places might help?”

  “Eva,” Cindee called out, picking up a pendant around her neck with a shard of corundum and holding it near her phone, “can you ask the guardians in Turkey if there’s any more information we can use from the holographic map?”

  “Will do,” Eva’s voice replied.

  “Free calls anywhere in the world,” Jiggly said with a snicker. “Eva doesn’t even question all the jargon anymore.”

  “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know anything, when you-all start in with history and archaeology talk,” Keith said.

  “But a fresh perspective is just what we need,” Talia insisted. “Someone who doesn’t eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff every day can see it differently. One thing we’re used to doing is eliminating things and narrowing down possibilities. The guardians told us one site and we dismissed the fact that they said three came up.”

  “Um … I was the one who brought it up,” Jiggly said. He raised his artificial hand. “Cyborg Jiggly, archaeological assistant, now transcends those who eliminate and narrow.”

  “Do we know who was planning to attack Drew’s van at the prison? Or where the message came from?” Keith asked.

  “We traced it to this location,” Cindee replied, pointing out a spot on the map about a hundred miles north of the prison. “It’s called Centered Pathway. Seems to be some kind of resort or retreat center. Looks New Agey … everything from hot stone massage to crystal channeling.”

  “So someone there was wearing a ruby and plotting mayhem?” Keith said.

  “Not necessarily wearing one,” Talia said. “Crystal channeling might include rubies, and the person was just near one without realizing it. Cindee, or Jiggly, can you try to find out who might have been there recently, cross-matched with our missing parents, or Jenny Kaine or Dr. Williams? What if this is the place they disappeared to?”

  “They were gone forty-eight hours, right after that school board meeting where your dad was arrested, right?” Cindee asked as Jiggly plopped down beside her and they started a touchscreen race to see who could find the answers first.

  “Yeah,” Keith said. His dad had reported that Clark Johnson had filed a report about the abandonment of Adam and Stephen and, when the Gregorys had returned to their home, he had gone so far as to arrest them for child endangerment. To everyone’s astonishment, a judge had thrown them in jail for thirty days based on Clark’s impassioned testimony.

  Carol and Roy Sheldon had been stymied when Lisa declared herself Gail’s legal guardian. The judge at the hearing Brad Shannon had arranged backed her up. Gail’s use of her mother’s gun had been a double-edged sword Brad had been hesitant to bring up. But Lisa’s testimony about her mother’s repeated references to the gun and its location swayed the judge to make a strong statement. He ruled that Carol Sheldon had created an environment of fear and uncertainty by harping on the gun’s presence and making vague, alarmist warnings without providing training or guidance.

  “Oh, they’ve got something planned, all right,” Jiggly said, swiping and pinching and pushing screens around. “Names of the parents?”

  “Roy and Carol Sheldon, John and Vera Gregory, and Tim and Julia Holden,” Talia answered, consulting her tablet. “Dr. Lydia Williams and Jenny Kaine are also sisters of Carol Sheldon, according to Tim Holden.”

  “Any maiden names that you know of?” Cindee asked.

  “Dr. Williams is single, I’m pretty sure,” Talia said, “but it’s likely Jenny Kaine is too, so who knows whether they’re even going by their real names?”

  “Doesn’t matter. They’re all on the roster at the retreat center – the confidential unhackable one,” Jiggly said, leaning back and blowing on his mechanical fingers. “I won.”

  Chapter Eighty-six – The Voice of Reason

  Keith and the others crowded around to see what Jiggly had found.

  “According to this, these people were all at the center on those dates, participating in something called an ‘Enhanced Focus Clinic,’” Cindee read. “Except Tim Holden was never officially checked in. Sounds like another name for re-education center. Maybe they’ll thank you for taking their kids so they’ll have cause to force you to reveal the location of Precious Treasure Campground.”

  “That was the one thing Jenny Kaine told me she was never able to find out,” Talia said. “Did we play into their hands? Do they know where it is now because we took the kids there?”

  “Nobody followed you all the way to the campground,” Drew said, coming up with Anne as Talia spoke. “My guys stopped a couple of tag-alongs outside of town but they were no serious threat.

  “Nobody was electronically tracking you or those kids. Cara used a bug detector on everybody and everything that went into the van and the Tesla. Once again, it seems to me that Jenny Kaine’s resources in the States are limited. Out of country, she was more effective in spying on you and taking action against you.”

  “That must be why she’s so desperate to get a foothold in the States – to get the help of a bigger organization,” Keith said. “Anyway, we will really have to watch ourselves, since she got somebody right into our camp last time. Those seatbelts didn’t cut themselves. Don’t we need to know who those guys were that led us into the trap, and why they chose that day to attack, when the team had been here in-country all that time?”

  “As to who they were, I’m not sure it matters,” Drew replied. “Before, when we’ve caught people who were after you, they turned out to be hired thugs. They didn’t know anything about where to find Jenny Kaine or why they were supposed to shoot people or blow things up. They were just happy to do it for cash. I’ll pursue any lead you suggest if it makes you feel safer.”

  “We thank God for you, Drew,” Talia said. “You, and David Sharon, and all your peop
le.”

  “Look at you, Mr. Hero,” Anne said.

  Drew flushed. “I’ll feel a lot more heroic when we actually catch somebody who matters.” He turned his attention back to Keith. “Concerning the reason the event happened when it did, you and your wife arrived. Isn’t that pretty obvious?”

  “Maybe,” Keith said. “They cut through the driver’s seatbelt first, though, and neither of us usually drives.”

  “If the driver gets tossed out of the vehicle, it’s pretty much guaranteed to threaten the safety of the passengers,” Drew said. “It’s like the cowboys that shoot the horse out from under the person chasing them. No offense, Cindee, and that does not mean I take what happened to you lightly.”

  “None taken,” Cindee replied. “I understand.”

  Eva, Naddy, and Sophie came out of the pyramid mound just then.

  “We are taking a break,” Naddy announced. “My wife reminds me more often these days to look after my health, and I must, for a change, learn to listen to her.”

  “I would like Keith and Talia to meet my son, Angel,” Eva said. “Will you join me on a trip to a village not too far from here? It may take some time to get word to him, but he’ll come if he can.”

  “I thought your son was going to get away from the cartel and be with you?” Talia asked.

  “Angel says it’s not that easy,” Eva said. “He’s been looking for opportunities to break away so they won’t be able to find him. And of course he doesn’t want to endanger your work by coming to stay with us here in the camp. He’s terrified they will kill their way through us to get to him. But I have told him you are teachers, and about the work you did teaching your students about the Word of God. He was never able to go to school. He wants to meet you very much.”

  “We’d love to meet Angel,” Keith said.

  “Yes, of course,” Talia said.

  Keith and Talia went to their tent to get ready to go. Just as they came out to go meet Eva, Anne Summers appeared alongside the tent and motioned them to follow her behind it.

  “Drew is worried about you meeting this son of Eva’s,” she said. “He wants you to be very careful what you say if he does show up. And he wants you to wear these in case he happens to say something we need to get on the record.”

  She handed them two tiny wireless in-the-ear communication devices. “Somebody might say something to you through the earwig, so don’t be startled. Mostly our techs will just be listening.”

  “You don’t trust this guy?” Keith asked.

  “Would you trust a sixteen-year old who’s been a drug cartel prince since the day he was born?” Anne asked. “Drew and I are going along to watch over you. There will be others, too, but if, God forbid, something should happen, at least we might have a means of communication. Eva’s already been read the riot act about what she should and shouldn’t say to him. And Drew’d appreciate any impressions you can give that might help us with a threat assessment on this Angel.”

  Keith and Talia both nodded wordlessly. Anne left them and they stood staring at each other.

  “Can we really trust her?” Keith asked. “I mean, yeah, she’s Drew’s wife, but it sure was a huge coincidence that she showed up on our flight like that, wasn’t it?”

  “You’re right, of course,” Talia murmured. “And how easily she got leave to come with us, and got under Drew’s guard. We need to talk to David. I don’t know much about Anne, but he might be able to give us some advice.”

  “I’m not at all comfortable with the level of trust Drew’s bestowed on Anne,” David admitted when they found him and Keith shared their concerns. “It’s true that you need to exercise extreme caution around Eva’s son, but I’d extend that to Anne as well. Drew said with his mouth that he understood and agreed when I told him what I thought. But which one of us would be objective under the same pressure?

  “Keep your wits about you. That’s my best advice. And we will all pray hard. Everyone is uneasy about Anne’s sudden return. She is, however, dead right that Angel is a factor that we must have more intel on. I feel as if I ought to go along too but that would be second-guessing Drew. I’m not convinced he’s so besotted with Anne that he can’t handle the situation.”

  Drew drove the Rover. Anne sat in the front seat beside him and Eva, Talia, and Keith occupied the back seat. Anne plied Eva with innocent-sounding questions about her son almost the whole trip. The number of times Eva had to answer “I don’t know” increased the tension in the vehicle until everyone was happy to arrive at the market town and park by a little cafe where Eva hoped to meet Angel.

  “Sweetie, please think of me as a friend and not just another one of Drew’s guards,” Anne said as Eva passed a message to one of the cafe employees to alert Angel that they had arrived. She put an arm around her. “You have to make a decision about Angel. I never had any kids, and I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but you can’t keep up this cloak and dagger stuff with Angel. You need to use your head here.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Eva demanded, pulling away.

  “I’m saying you are not just responsible for yourself,” Anne said, catching hold of Eva’s arms and holding her. “It’s not safe for him, you, or these people Drew’s trying to protect. You’re sneaking around meeting him while staying with these people who are already in danger. Drew’s resources are strained trying to deal with this extra risk.”

  “I can’t give Angel up again.” Eva started to cry. “They need me on the throne. It doesn’t work for anyone else except Talia, and she can’t risk harming the baby. My Olmec contacts want me to stay on as the go-between.”

  “Nobody’s asking you to give Angel up,” Anne soothed, rubbing Eva’s shoulders and sitting down with her at a cafe table. “Think this through, though. He needs time to make a clean break and find someplace where the cartel won’t come hunting him. You need to focus on helping these folks finish up here so they can get out of harm’s way as quickly as possible. I think Angel’d agree with me that with a little patience and planning, you’ll be able to stay together. Just not here, and not now.”

  “I should not have sent for him,” Eva spat. “How do I know you won’t try to make yourself look good with Drew by doing something to hurt Angel? You left your husband! You spied on him for eight years! Why should he ever trust you again?”

  Talia tried to pull Eva away as she started to lunge at Anne. Keith put a hand out to help, but Anne caught both of Eva’s fists in hers and flexed her fingers. Eva cried out in pain and her knees started to buckle before Drew could step in and break Anne’s grip.

  “You’ve made your point,” Drew said to his wife.

  “Obviously I haven’t,” Anne snapped, “if that’s her response. She hasn’t got a straight answer for my concerns so she tries to make a breach between the two of us? You said you didn’t need any big distractions, Drew, and this is a huge one! She’s risking your two biggest assets in this mission on lunch with a drug cartel insider. Instead of being able to at least admit that, she tries to makes this about me!”

  Drew looked from Eva to Anne and then risked a glance at Talia and Keith. “Your call,” he said to Keith.

  “No. Really, it’s not his call. We need to get these two back to the camp, and then we need to move it.” Anne pointed at Keith and Talia. Then she swung her arm in Eva’s direction. “She’s the problem, even more than her son. She’s so emotionally compromised she can’t even make a decision that would at least be a step toward protecting all parties.”

  “Angel!” Eva gasped. The others turned in the direction she was staring and saw a stocky, heavily-tattooed Mexican boy walking toward them. His eyes widened as he took in the distraught look on his mother’s face and he started to backpedal.

  “Stop!” Anne shouted. “We need to talk to you.”

  Eva screamed something in Spanish.

  “Eva, no!” Talia cried. “He’s not in danger. Why would you tell him that?”

  Anne stro
de toward Angel. “Just calm down, kid. Your mother’s overreacting. We don’t mean you any harm.”

  Angel spewed a flood of harsh-sounding Spanish and retreated farther. Anne sprinted after him.

  “Get yourself and your wife behind something now!” A voice rasped in Keith’s ear.

  Keith wasted one second looking around before he realized the warning had come through his earwig. By that time Drew was on top of him, pushing him and Talia behind a low stucco wall.

  “Backup units, Code Five now!” Drew spat into his phone.

  Chapter Eighty-seven – Casualties

  “Stay down!” Drew shouted at Keith. He punched a button on his phone. Keith enfolded Talia against his chest and crouched over her as shots rang out. Eva shrieked and sobbed, fighting against one of Drew’s people as she tried to pull her behind cover. Drew and four of his men made a human wall around them and hustled them to the Rover. The vehicle screeched away from the cafe in a cloud of dust. Two of Drew’s people had climbed into the front seat, their faces expressionless and their weapons drawn. Drew sat beside Keith and Talia with his gun resting on his thigh.

  “Where’s Eva?” Talia cried.

  “Peg Talbot is taking her to a separate location,” Drew said through gritted teeth.

  “What about Anne?” Keith asked.

  “Anne and Angel exchanged shots,” Drew said. “I’m not sure what their status is. My people who stayed behind will clean up and report as soon as they can.”

  “Clean up?” Talia repeated, a quiver in her voice.

  “Look, you people can tell me all you want that everybody is a priority,” Drew exploded. “But my employees, and outsiders who never should have had access to you – they take their own risks. Don’t concern yourself about Anne. She did her job.”

  Keith heard a crackle and he saw Talia start and touch her ear. Drew glanced at his phone.