Chapter 12 #2
“So what’s going on in here?” Lynch said, returning to the sunroom where Kendra, Jessie, and Stevie were working. “I’m getting an extremely productive vibe.”
“You should,” Kendra said. “We’ve been brainstorming ways to locate Stevie’s father. Where have you been?”
“Getting results. I had to check on a few things before I came to lay those results at your feet.”
Kendra shook her head. “This had better be good.”
“Don’t be a doubting Thomas. Actually, the results should probably be laid at Stevie’s feet.” He turned to Stevie. “I have a gift for you.” He stepped toward her as he reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out three cell phones, and dropped them onto the table beside her.
Stevie picked up one of the phones. “What are these?”
“Property of the three gunmen I recently neutralized.”
“Neutralized?” Kendra repeated. “That’s an elegant way of putting it.”
“You’re welcome.” Lynch turned back to Stevie.
“I took them from the bodies of the three thugs who were trying to kill Kendra and Jessie the other day at the gas station. You can never tell what you can find out by reading texts and voicemail messages on phones of the recently departed. I’m normally pretty good at tapping equipment like this, but these phones are equipped with custom software that’s proving tough to crack.
I figured since I’m in the presence of a certified computer genius, you might be able to extract some useful information quicker than I can. ”
“Maybe.” Stevie opened her laptop and connected one of the phones to it. “I’ve been able to defeat some high-level encryption schemes with my rig. I’ll give it a shot.”
“Good. I was hoping you’d say that.” He took Kendra’s arm and motioned to Jessie to come with them. “We’ll just step outside and let you work your magic.”
Less than thirty minutes had passed when Stevie called them back into the room.
“Find something?” Lynch asked.
“I was able to decrypt text messages from all three phones.” Her hands were shaking a little as she motioned toward her laptop screen, where the texts were displayed. “Lynch, these guys were assigned ‘PN Guard Duty’ every other night.”
“Palmer Nolan . . .” Kendra said.
Stevie nodded excitedly. “My dad. It has to be him. He’s near here somewhere, along with the rest of Korkil’s men.
But we still don’t know where.” She motioned toward the makeshift workbench across the sunroom, where the phones were connected to her laptop.
The screen pulsed as her software tackled the encrypted contents. “It could take days.”
“It only took you half an hour to get their messages.”
“This could be totally different. We don’t know if the phones’ location data is still in there.”
“Isn’t it usually saved automatically?”
“Usually. But these phones are equipped with a lot of custom software. The location data may have been wiped clean by the operating system every few hours, or even every few seconds. We just don’t know yet.”
Kendra nodded. “Well . . . even without location data, I have a pretty good idea where those guys had been before they ran into us.”
Stevie’s eyebrows rose. “What, seriously?”
Kendra pulled a piece of paper from her back pocket and unfolded it. She showed Stevie a hand-drawn map. “Lynch helped me draw this up. We both think it’s accurate. We weren’t together but he’s spent quite a bit of time in this area in the past few days, and I have, too.”
Stevie cast a doubtful eye on the map. “Yeah . . . ?”
Kendra nodded. “I think those gunmen came from somewhere on the other side of this dry lake bed. It’s a couple miles south of here.
” She ran her finger along the map’s lower edge.
“Before that, they were walking through this field. That runs at least another mile or so, especially if they were coming from due north, which I think they were.” She traced straight upward.
“That would have them walking through this small valley, at least for a little while. We’re not sure what’s beyond that, but your father could be somewhere up in that area.
At least it’s a place to start looking.”
Stevie looked up from the map. “Wait a minute. How do you know any of this?”
“Trust me,” Lynch said quietly. “She knows.”
Stevie shot Kendra a side-eye glance. “You’re not claiming to be psychic, are you?”
Kendra smiled. “Not at all. I just . . . pay attention.”
“Pay attention to what?”
“Everything, I guess. My sight became so important to me after my operation that I automatically saw every detail and couldn’t understand why other people couldn’t. But in this particular case, it was those gunmen Lynch took out at the old gas station.”
Stevie crossed her arms and leaned back against the table. “Then you shouldn’t mind telling me how you can possibly know all this stuff?”
Kendra shrugged. “Well, to start with, I got a pretty good look at two of the men’s boot soles after they were lying dead on the ground in front of me.
They both had gray-and-white pebbles lodged in the ridges.
The only place around here I’ve seen pebbles like that is in the dry lake bed near here.
It’s a good bet they walked right through it. ”
“But you knew they came through a field north of there.”
“There’s fresh mint growing in that field. A lot of it. With a good strong breeze, I could smell it a mile away. I could smell it on the gunmen’s clothing. For the odor to be that strong on their boots and pant legs, I’d say they must have walked right through it on the way to the dry lake bed.”
Stevie nodded. “I think I smelled that in the field, too. I hate the smell of mint.”
Kendra smiled. “I can deal with it in chewing gum. Otherwise, I’m not really a fan.”
Stevie wasn’t about to totally give in. “Okay, what about the valley they came through?”
“Chiggers, lots of them.” Kendra wrinkled her nose distastefully.
“I think I still I have some stuck to my sweater. One of the guys had some stuck to the Velcro flaps of his pack, and another even had one in his beard.” She added hesitantly, “I may have been pushing it to call that area a small valley. It might be more of a gully. But it’s still a good place for us to start while you try to pull location data from those phones. ”
“I agree.” Stevie smiled. “I’m starting to understand why Lynch has such faith in you.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Lynch said. “The only question is, do we want to follow up on this ourselves, or do we want to bring in some help?”
Stevie asked, “You’re leaving this up to me?”
Lynch nodded. “You’ve got the most to lose.”
Stevie didn’t even hesitate. “If you’re still not sure who we can trust, I say we scope things out ourselves. Everyone has been doing great figuring out stuff so far. If we think we’ve found where they’re holding Dad, we can decide what to do then. We’ll bring Archie with us for protection.”
“Archie won’t slow us down?” Kendra asked.
Lynch chuckled. “No way. If anything, we may slow him down.” He paused.
“But it might be wise to give ourselves another day or so to verify the information we’ve gathered.
” He smiled as he saw Stevie’s disappointed expression.
“With your permission, of course. I don’t like it either, but I’m trying to impress you all with my patience and lack of barbaric bloodlust in a bad situation. ”
Stevie sighed and then nodded reluctantly. “Okay . . . I guess. But I kind of liked the idea of bloodlust when it concerns rescuing my dad.”
Kendra reached out and squeezed her hand. “We all sympathize.” Then she gave Lynch a sly glance. “But I’m sure that Lynch will soon exhibit it again to entertain you. He has that reputation.”
“Ouch.” He flinched. “And just when I’m making this splendid attempt.”
“I didn’t say I objected,” Kendra said. “I was just comforting a friend in need.”
“Were you?” He was studying her expression.
“It wasn’t quite that, but it was close enough to be promising.
I believe I’m encouraged. Particularly if you substitute me as the friend in need.
” He flashed her a brilliant smile. “I’ll take that as progress.
” He turned to leave. “So we make preparations now, head out tomorrow night just after dark.”