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“Tell them that this is only the beginning. We’re coming for everyone who supports unwinding and mistreats storks. There’s nowhere you people can hide from us. Make sure you tell them. Make sure they know.”
o;Tad’s dead?” The look of horror on Jeevan’s face is both satisfying and troubling to Hayden.
“He fried to death in the ComBom. But don’t worry. That’s not Starkey’s fault either.” He doesn’t know if Jeevan reads the sarcasm—he’s about as literal as computer code. Maybe it’s best if he doesn’t.
“I haven’t seen Trace here. He flew the plane, didn’t he?”
Jeevan looks down. “Trace is dead too,” he tells Hayden. “He didn’t survive the crash.”
“No,” says Hayden. “I imagine he wouldn’t have.” Whether Trace’s death was a result of the crash or secret human intervention is something Hayden supposes he’ll never know. The truth most certainly died with Trace. Or without a trace, as the case may be.
Hayden hears footsteps coming up the steep slope from deeper in the mine. The way the guard steps aside so obediently telegraphs to Hayden who the visitor is even before he comes into view.
“Speak of the devil! We were just talking about you, Starkey. Jeevan and I were reminiscing about your magic tricks. Especially the one where you made a commercial jet disappear.”
“It didn’t disappear,” says Starkey, refusing to be goaded. “It’s at the bottom of the Salton Sea.”
“He didn’t actually call you the devil,” Jeevan tells Starkey. Literal as code.
“We have a common enemy,” Starkey points out. “The devils are all out there—and it’s time they got their due.”
Starkey dislodges Jeevan from his seat with the slightest flick of his head. He takes his place, studying the image on the screen.
“Is that a harvest camp?”
“MoonCrater Harvest Camp, to be exact. Craters of the Moon, Idaho.”
“What about it?” Starkey asks.
“All of its security is focused outward!” blurts Jeevan, as if he actually knows why that matters.
“Yes,” says Hayden. “And they don’t have eyes in the backs of their heads.”
Starkey crosses his arms, making it clear that he doesn’t have all day. “And why does that matter?”
“Here’s why.” Hayden drags up another window, showing schematics, and a third that shows a standard geological survey. “Craters of the Moon National Park is a lava field riddled with caves, and all the camp’s utility conduits use the caves. Electricity, sewerage, ventilation, everything.” Hayden zooms in on a schematic of the camp’s main dormitory and starts pointing things out. “So, if we create a diversion at the main gate in the middle of the night—some smoke and mirrors, if you will—it will draw all their attention. Then, while the security forces are all focused on the gate, we go in through this utility hatch in the basement of the dormitory, bring all those kids down into the caves—and exit the caves here, almost a mile away.”
Starkey is genuinely impressed. “And by the time they realize their Unwinds are gone, we’ll be free and clear.”
“That’s the general idea. And no one gets hurt in the process.”
He claps Hayden on the back hard enough that it stings. “That’s genius, Hayden! Genius!”
“I thought you might appreciate a ‘vanishing act,’ approach.” He touches the screen, changing the angle of the schematic to show the levels of the dormitory. “Boys are on the ground floor, girls on the second, and harvest camp staff on the third. There’re only two stairwells, so if we man them and tranq any staff that tries to come down, we could theoretically be in and out before anyone figures out what’s going on.”
“How soon can we do this?”
There’s a kind of greed in Starkey’s eyes that makes Hayden close the computer’s open windows so it doesn’t prompt further scheming. “Well, after Cold Springs, I figured you’d want to lie low for a while.”
“No way,” Starkey says. “We should strike while the iron’s hot. One-two punch. You plan the rescue. I’ll take care of the diversion. I want this to go down in less than a week.”
Hayden shudders at the thought of something so theoretical becoming real too quickly. “I really don’t think—”
“Trust me. If you want to clean up your reputation around here, this is the way to do it, my friend.” Starkey stands, his decision set in stone. “Make it happen, Hayden. I’m counting on you.”
And Starkey leaves before Hayden can offer any more reservations.
Once Starkey is gone, Jeevan takes his seat next to Hayden again. “He called you his friend,” Jeevan points out. “That’s a really good thing!”
