Cloud Invasion: R-D 2 (R-D #2)(20)

Yes, they were attempting to replace the old, wooden sea wall with concrete and steel, but not all of it had been done. Now, parts of underground Seattle, a popular tourist attraction and extra storage for many businesses, was filling with water and flooding anything near the wharf.

I was afraid to use my talents to search for the number of dead. Pike Place Market and other businesses along the water were off-limits-not only was the power out, officials were afraid everything would crumble beneath visitors and traffic.

Many were learning for the first time that the waterfront section hardest hit was landfill-and poor landfill at that.

The most important thing I understood, however, was this-an earthquake hadn't caused this damage. I needed to get Auggie and Leo away so I could explain what I knew. Fixing the problem, too, was going to be a lot harder than anybody might think.

"Corinne, are you coming?" Auggie barked in my direction. The meeting was about to take place and I'd been lost in conjecture land.

"Coming," I trotted toward Auggie, who herded everybody else toward a secure meeting room.

Rafe pulled me onto the chair next to his at the wide table, which took up most of the floor space inside the room. Auggie and Leo sat at the head of the table, while the rest of us scattered around it.

"We don't know much," Auggie sighed. "We're still getting reports on the damage and we may not know for days how extensive it is."

"Auggie," I half-lifted a hand.

"Cori?" Auggie turned toward me. "You know something? Wait. You always know something." He massaged his forehead, as if he were expecting me to announce the end of the world.

"It's not the end of the world, but some of the residents might feel that way," I said. "Our escaped dinosaur is now holed up in the Seattle underground. The enemy turned him loose in the ocean, where he can swim happily and feed on endangered whales, et cetera, but he needs a moist cave to call home so he can sleep off his meals."

"What the holy hell?" Auggie stared at me as if what I'd told him was the last thing he'd ever imagine.

"Remember they told us at the facility where he was kept that he liked being sprayed with water? He's amphibious. Unless we can find a way to either capture or kill him, he'll likely go after boats in the bay to add variety to his new seafood diet. He has a taste for human flesh, now. I think the enemy fed a few people he didn't like to DB."

"How the f*ck did he get from Nevada to here?" Auggie exploded.

"I don't know how he was taken to the ocean, but nobody was looking for a giant tanker on the water. Somehow, he was transported to California, and I'm beginning to worry that they're using the same method I do to move things around. I think the enemy has tapped the talents of those he took from Nevada."

Auggie and Leo went quiet. Both had their eyes trained on me, as if I'd had something to do with all this. I didn't. I had a few suspicions, but without being able to locate the enemy, I was in the dark, just as they were.

"Cabbage, are you saying that the enemy knew what their talents might be?"

"I think he did-or suspected. He probably thinks he hit the lottery when he lured the fifteen away like he did. Somehow, he suspects we're in the area, too. That's why Dinosaur Boy is living beneath the wharf in Seattle. He knows we'll turn to that problem, which will likely mask the plans for his next activities from us."

"Dinosaur Boy is a distraction?" Leo asked quietly.

"I believe so. The enemy thinks we'll be so caught up in trying to get DB out of his hole-and secretly, I might add-to hide the program from the population, that we'll ignore the signs of his next big plot."

"Which is?" Auggie blinked at me, silently begging me to know what that plot might be.

"I have no idea," I shrugged uncomfortably. "It's the same as it always was-I can't find him or any trace of him. Something is blocking all that."

"Should we move?" Jeff asked.

"I don't think so," Rafe replied before Auggie could say the same thing.

"Let the enemy think as Corinne suggests-that all our resources are focused on DB," Auggie nodded. "Yes, we'll be working on that problem, but we'll bring in another team to help with that. Meanwhile, we'll go back to hunting the enemy full-time, beginning with our sightings of the Mary Evans clones."

"You've found more?" I asked. I knew the answer before Auggie had a chance to say yes.

*

"You're telling me that monster is beneath Seattle?" Madam President was pissed. Auggie insisted that Rafe, Opal and I be in the room while he and Leo attempted to explain what we knew to the White House.

"It looks that way," Auggie admitted. "We've sent divers down, and there's one huge breach in the sea wall. He went right for the wooden part, Madam President. The wood farther down is fine. I've seen preliminary photographs from the diving team. They found evidence of huge claw marks."

"What's the likelihood that he'll pop up from beneath the streets?" Madam President moaned.

"We don't know what his orders are, or whether he was given any instructions past making his home beneath the wharf area," Auggie shrugged. "I don't want to panic the people, but how else are we going to get them away from danger while we attempt to contain or kill this thing?"