26. Maria #3
“You’ve watched way too many pre-Collapse movies.” Tig snorts. “Not only don’t we use that acronym anymore, but it wouldn’t work. If they’re hiding in the Kartchner Caverns—or any of the enormous cave systems around that area—they could kill Zinnia before we reach her.”
I gasp. “No!”
“Sorry to be so blunt.” Tig scrubs a hand over her face. “Anyway, that’s assuming we find her. From the briefings I’ve had, those caverns are twisty and filled with numerous dead ends.”
“What briefings?” Chris asks.
“While I appreciate Willow’s analysis of the political situation, she isn’t quite up to date on what’s happening.
Your recent truck loss put more pressure on the vampire council to find the renegades, so they finally authorized us to start investigating possible hideout locations.
The various deep caverns around the area were our best guess, since you’d already ruled out the silos, although we haven’t confirmed which underground cavern. ”
“Wait.” Chris raps his knuckles on the tabletop. “You sent me into the silos to find renegades, not nuclear warheads.”
“You have it backward. Nuclear warheads were the primary concern. I doubted the renegades set up shop in the silos because of their distance from the Tucson dome—too far to drive on a motorcycle with no way to haul trade goods long distance. What I’m saying is your inspections ruled out those locations.
So the Lux geologists focused on other hiding places and dug into historical records.
The caverns have a history of being a good twenty degrees cooler, with high humidity—much more comfortable than the dry heat topside. ”
I glance at Chris, then back at Tig. “Okay, then why hasn’t…the vampire council…done anything?”
“When the geologists presented their findings, the council asked for a Ben Franklin balance sheet—a chart of pros and cons and what might happen if we attempt to clean out the renegade cauldrons. Last week we reported our analysis. If we invade the caverns, fighting in tight quarters, we estimated a high likelihood of loss of life on our end. Plus, we believe they have enslaved mortals. An armed conflict would put those lives at risk, too—probably wipe out all of them.” She pauses.
“It’s why I’m telling you the risk to Zinnia.
We’ve thought about it before, and we can’t be sure we’d get to her in time if we just barge in. ”
Tears well in my eyes and my hands shake. Damn. Damn. DAMN.
Chris scratches his chin. “What about the chip?”
“Say again?” My gaze swivels from him to Tig and back again.
“Dr. Clarke vaccinated Zinnia. Didn’t he chip her?” Chris looks at me. “The Lux call them crystals, but most vampires and mortals think in terms of the old days when we used computer chips for microprocessing. We should be able to find her if the doc chipped her.”
“I’m an idiot.” Tig clicks her tongue and reconnects with IT over the vidcon. “Hey, Willow, I need you to track a chip for me. Zinnia…”
I clear my throat. “Rodriguez. Zinnia Mae Rodriguez.”
Willow nods. “Got it.” Tap. Tap. Tap. “Chipped forty-seven days ago. Weird travel pattern.”
“My daughter goes to school in India once a week.”
“That explains it. Okay. She was in India last Wednesday. Then at your preservation ark until eight tonight, your local time. She traveled to an old state park. My guess is a ground vehicle—the pattern follows the old freeways.”
“Where’d they stop? The Kartchner Caverns?” Tig asks.
“Hang on while I zoom in… Yes. That’s the one. When she arrived, her tracking signal cut off. My guess? They took her below ground.”
Tig scowls and huffs. “Any chance of latching on to the signal and flashing her out of there?”
“None.”
Chris frowns. “But the Lux Enclave—it’s inside a dead volcano. The Lux flash in and out of there.”
“Yes, but we have signal repeaters that allow us to communicate and flash through the heavy rock here.” Willow throws up a map on the screen displaying the repeater locations.
“We have a lot of them, and the deeper our dead volcano goes, the number increases. I can try to tweak the tracking program to find Zinnia, but if she’s where I think she is, it’s impossible without repeaters, even for us.
The cavern’s trails are miles long, the rock is thick, and some tunnels drop extremely deep. But I’ll try.”
“Wait!” I gesture at Willow. “Can the Lux insert these repeaters into the caverns? Make it the same as your volcano?”
“I’ll ask engineering. Coordinate through me.”
“Thanks, Willow. Goodbye.” Tig closes the virtual screen.
I fist my hands. “Now what do we do?”
“If I can get them, Chris will deliver ten boxes of clone blood to the visitors’ center tonight, totaling a hundred and twenty pouches, with a note asking for proof of life and a meeting tomorrow night.”
I hug Chris tightly, fear that he might not return racking through me—just like when Lehm left and never came back.
“Then…” Tig uses her wrist device to display a virtual monitor and takes a stylus from her pocket. “This is what we’ll do.”