Chapter Twenty The Price of Water
CHAPTER TWENTY
The Price of Water
Rhett wanted to say no.
Leadership made the word impossible.
He stared through binoculars at the captured Dustline vehicles.
Too far to see faces.
Close enough to recognize the bus.
Mina.
Pax.
Orla.
People who had followed him into dry country because he said the north route might hold.
Sabra's radio crackled.
"Ten minutes."
Eden stood beside the church ruin.
"She wants the control book because the film isn't enough."
"She wants the system."
"Yes."
"Close the bypass."
Eden looked at him.
No argument.
That surprised him.
Together they went below.
The control wheel took twice as much force to close.
Water flow slowed.
The gauge settled.
Rhett watched.
Every turn felt like denying someone water.
But the line remained charged.
Pump Six would still hold what had already moved.
Enough, maybe, for whoever reached it.
Sabra called at nine minutes.
"Road south. No weapons visible."
Rhett answered.
"We need proof."
"You'll get it when you come."
"No."
Silence.
Rhett continued.
"One Dustline vehicle drives halfway with one person. We see them free."
"You're not negotiating from strength."
"I'm negotiating from knowing you need Eden alive."
Beside him, Eden looked at the floor.
Sabra was quiet.
Then: "Fine."
Ten minutes later, the white bus rolled away from the Tollhouse group.
It stopped at the halfway marker.
The door opened.
Pax climbed out.
He stood in the road and waved both arms like an idiot.
Rhett nearly laughed from relief.
Sabra's voice returned.
"Satisfied?"
"No. Less murderous."
"Progress."
Eden picked up the blue key.
Rhett caught her wrist.
"You're not going alone."
"I know."
"What are you thinking?"
"That she expects us to trade the system for your people."
"Yes."
"She also expects me to care more about the secret than the people."
Rhett looked at her.
"Do you?"
"No."
Immediate.
Certain.
Something inside him shifted.
Eden continued.
"But I care about what happens after. If Sabra takes Saint Mercy, every convoy becomes her customer. We can't simply hand her the control book."
"We can destroy it."
Eden flinched.
"Caro's work is in there."
"Some."
She looked at him sharply.
Rhett reached into his coat.
A folded sheet.
While she had been on the radio, he had copied the bypass settings and reservoir gauge.
Not the entire book.
Enough to operate safely.
Eden stared.
"Since when do you copy records?"
"Since traveling with you made me paranoid."
Her mouth moved.
Not quite a smile.
Rhett took the original control book from the console.
"We give Sabra this."
"You just said—"
He opened it to the middle.
Then tore out the Saint Mercy schematic.
Eden made a sound of pain.
"Sorry."
"That is a twelve-year-old municipal record."
"Was."
He removed the pressure tables.
Then the reservoir access sequence.
He handed those pages to Eden.
"What remains?"
"Maintenance logs. Enough to look important."
"Key?"
"We need it."
"Sabra expects it."
Rhett looked at the bent duplicate key from Pump Six.
The one he had nearly broken at the grate.
Blue enamel scratched.
Same shape.
He smiled.
Eden understood.
"That may not turn."
"Hopefully."
She looked at him with reluctant admiration.
"You're becoming useful."
"Devastating."
They left the real key and critical pages sealed in a pipe compartment beneath the control desk.
Then they walked south with the stripped book and false key.
No visible weapons.
Rhett still carried a small blade inside his boot.
Eden had one closure strip pin hidden in her sleeve.
Not much.
At the halfway marker, Pax waited.
When Rhett reached him, the young mechanic hugged him without warning.
Rhett held on.
"Tank?"
"Seven gallons."
"Everyone?"
"Alive. Mina got hit in the head. Says it's fine."
"Then it's not."
Pax looked at Eden.
"So you're the Glass Road map woman."
"Apparently."
"Thanks for the water."
The simple gratitude hit her visibly.
Rhett noticed.
"Take the bus north," he told Pax.
"Sabra said—"
"Go."
Pax grinned.
"That's more like you."
He ran.
The bus turned north.
Tollhouse did not fire.
Good.
Sabra waited beside the captured north tanker.
Mina sat on the ground under guard, dried blood along one temple.
Rhett's vision narrowed.
Eden touched his hand once.
Not restraint.
Reminder.
Sabra smiled when they approached.
"Now the key."
Eden held up the false one.
"Release everyone first."
Sabra looked bored.
"Half."
She signaled.
Twenty Dustline people moved away from the vehicles.
Mina remained.
Rhett counted.
He hated that Eden could probably see his thumb.
"All."
"Book."
Rhett tossed it.
A guard caught it.
Sabra opened the first pages.
"Key."
Eden threw it.
Sabra studied the enamel.
Then signaled again.
Mina stood.
Everyone moved.
No shots.
Rhett's breath loosened.
Sabra looked at him.
"You expected betrayal."
"I budget for it."
"Wise."
Mina reached Rhett and slapped him across the face.
Hard.
He stared.
"That's for splitting the convoy."
Then she hugged him.
"That's for not dying."
Eden looked away.
Sabra called, "Touching."
Mina turned.
Her eyes sharpened.
"What did you give her?"
"A book," Eden said.
"Important?"
"Historically."
Rhett almost smiled.
Sabra climbed into the armored truck.
"You should leave the gorge."
Eden folded her arms.
"Why?"
"Because I dislike witnesses when people discover they've been clever."
The Tollhouse vehicles turned toward Saint Mercy.
Rhett waited until they passed the bend.
Then he looked at Mina.
"Can the tanker move?"
"Yes."
"Water?"
"Seven gallons."
"We have more at Pump Six."
Mina exhaled.
"Then why are we standing here?"
Rhett looked at Eden.
She was watching the road Sabra had taken.
The plan had worked.
Part of it.
Dustline was free.
The true controls were hidden.
Sabra had a useless key.
But she still had Caro's film, vehicles, guns, and enough technical knowledge to become dangerous quickly.
Eden's face remained tight.
Rhett stepped beside her.
"We got them out."
"I know."
"Not enough?"
"It has to be."
Mina called people toward the vehicles.
Eden watched.
Rhett understood something then.
She had spent years living as if every failure could be corrected by better information.
Maps.
Routes.
Proof.
But survival did not always offer clean wins.
Sometimes you got people out and lost the book.
Sometimes you saved a convoy and left an enemy at the door to water.
Rhett touched the back of her hand.
Eden looked at him.
"We move," he said.
"Where?"
"Pump Six. We fill everyone."
"And Sabra?"
"We deal with what she does next."
Eden exhaled.
Then nodded.
Dustline headed north.
For the first time, Eden rode in a convoy that knew exactly who she was.
No one asked her to leave.