Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(53)

Heather shook her head. "Even if we could in that amount of time, where would we start looking? We have to have a coordinate to tap into a network, and we don't have any idea who might have that information or what network the answer might be on. Besides, I don't think we should give Jack the answer even if we had it."

"Why not?"

"Even if he’s working with us, Jack is a killer. We'd be murdering that person as surely as if we pulled the trigger ourselves."

Mark paced slowly across the room. "Maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing. After all, these people killed Jonathan Riles and most of Jack's team. They’re the ones working with Dr. Stephenson."

"We don't know that."

"What do your probabilities tell you?"

Heather pursed her lips. "I don't care. I'm not going to be part of killing someone."

Despite Mark's best efforts, she refused to consider it. Finally, he threw up his hands in frustration.

"Okay. At least think about it until we get a chance to discuss this with Jen."

After a brief hesitation, Heather shrugged. "I'll wait until we talk to Jennifer."

Heather saved the message and minimized the program monitoring Janet's computer. As she did, she accidentally tapped the button that displayed the other running program. It was Jennifer's Internet browser, which showed that she had been looking at a news story about the search for Jack and Janet.

"Wait! Leave that up!" The urgency in Mark's voice caused Heather to look around.

Mark's gaze read the page at a glance and he reached across Heather to click the mouse, scrolling rapidly downward until he reached the end. For once, she didn't object.

"We’re screwed," Mark said leaning back.

"What are you talking about?"

"That news story that Jennifer was reading. It says that the search for Jack has started focusing on the canyons farther west of town. I know the place they were describing. It's the canyon with our starship. With all those people, they're bound to stumble across our cave."

For once, Heather was too shocked to respond.

Mark's eyes settled on Jennifer's bed. Now he knew what had been bothering him. Something about the sheet was wrong. Jennifer had always been meticulous in the way she made her bed, but this morning she had left the sheet untucked, the end extending just below the end of the bedspread.

Drawn forward by his curiosity, Mark knelt down. Only the lower left corner of the sheet was untucked, as if the bed had been made and then the corner had been pulled out later.

Ignoring Heather's questioning gaze, Mark lifted the corner of the mattress.

"Oh shit, Jen. What have you done?"

There, stuffed under the mattress, lay all four of the alien headsets.





51


The canyon walls cascaded away before them. If not for the pounding dread in her heart, Heather would have marveled at the newfound stamina that had let her run along beside Mark with no need for a break during the entire trip out to the place they called The Mesa. On the steep slope far below, camouflaged amidst the thorn thicket, lay the hidden opening to the starship cave.

Heather and Mark had left the alien headsets beneath Jennifer’s mattress. With the search parties beginning to comb this area, the danger that they would be found with those in their possession was too great. Heather wasn’t sure what Mark thought Jennifer had done, but the vision that had played out in her head upon seeing the headsets left her praying that she was wrong.

Mark studied the surrounding countryside carefully.

“I don’t see anyone. How about you?”

Heather concentrated, noting every detail of her surroundings, a new vision forming before her mind’s eye.

“I think the search parties are still an hour or so away from here.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “And how did you come up with that?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care. How did you read that article so fast? How did we just run all the way out here? You can believe me or not.”

“Okay. I wasn’t trying to make you mad.”

Heather took a deep breath. “Let’s just get down and check on the ship before they come.”

Mark led the way down the steep slope going much more slowly now. With every step down that slope, the weight of impending disaster dragged more heavily at Heather.

“Oh no!”

Mark scrambled forward, leaving Heather’s gaze unobstructed. On the slope below, where there had always been a holographic illusion masking the entrance, a huge cave opening yawned.

Following Mark as quickly as she dared, Heather stumbled into the cave’s inky blackness. Not only was the holographic illusion that had masked the entrance gone, so was the soft magenta glow inside.

As her eyes adjusted to the reduced light level, she could see the curving outline of the ship, still resting where it always had. She moved forward reluctantly, her earlier vision coming back in full force, her worst fears confirmed. Either Jennifer had found some way to power down the whole thing or it had just died.

Mark rushed forward, disappearing up inside the hole. Somehow, Heather could not muster the will to follow him. She knew what he would find, all the doors closed, the few rooms he could enter dark and lifeless.

After a couple of minutes, she stepped to the hole in the ship’s belly.