Torrent

  I winced. I hadn’t been a business owner for long, but I had a feeling it wasn’t a good practice to accuse one’s potential clients of being thieves, even if it happened to be true in this case.

  “We wish for you to locate a cavern near this population center,” Eleriss said. “It is deep beneath the ground and may not have been breeched for several hundred years.”

  “Near this population center?” Autumn asked. “As in Prescott? You expect them to do an electrical resistance survey of fifty square miles? That’d take a lifetime.”

  “Simon has developed some software that taps into the satellite system for remote sensing applications,” I told her. “It might not find an old midden beside a buried building, but it’s good for finding caves and mines. No need to wander around sticking probes in the ground.”

  Autumn fiddled with the hoop earring dangling from one of her lobes. “Tapping into the satellite system? Is that... legal? For private citizens?”

  “Of course,” Simon said with one of his innocent Coyote smiles.

  “This means you may be able to assist us?” Eleriss asked.

  “Yes,” Simon said at the same time as I uttered a, “Maybe.”

  Simon drove on, adding, “I like a challenge. We do need to discuss payment however, and you’ll need to share any information you might have on depth and location. Do you anticipate an entrance in the hills somewhere? Or is it closed off?”

  “We have ascertained that there is not an accessible opening,” Eleriss said. “One will have to be made.”

  I thought of the tunnel they’d melted into the solid rock of that cavate. “How far can you excavate to reach an underground chamber?” I wondered if there was any way they’d show me whatever tool they’d used to create that passage. Whatever it was, it must be compact enough that they were able to carry it on their motorcycles. Such a device would be a hit in the world of archaeology, not to mention all the practical applications for miners and engineers.

  “As deep as we need,” Eleriss said. “We do not require your assistance in that area. We only seek the location of the cavern. Our historical records tell us that there are several miles of passages with at least three larger chambers.”

  “Several miles?” Autumn asked. “I didn’t think there were caves in this part of Arizona.”

  “We didn’t either,” I said.

  “I’ll find it,” Simon told Eleriss. “Now, about that payment...”

  Eleriss slid a hand into his jacket and pulled out an octagon-shaped coin with runes on both sides. “I understand gold is no longer used for currency in your world, but that it retains intrinsic value, is that right?”

  Simon’s eyes lit up. An ounce of gold was a generous finder’s fee under any circumstances, but if the coin had a numismatic value, it might be worth even more than the melt price. It’d also be another clue, one that we could carry around with us, as to these people’s origins. Funky blood or not, I wasn’t ready to accept that they, and their language and devices, might not be from Earth. That would be too... farfetched and weird. We might yet find a rational explanation for them.

  “Gold’s all right,” Simon said, waving a dismissive hand. “If that’s all you’ve got.”

  “One ounce now.” Eleriss laid the coin on the table, the desk lamp highlighting its luster, along with the long elegant fingers of his hand. “One ounce when you have the location of the cavern for us.” He started to step back, but paused, his gaze snagging on Simon’s T-shirt.

  I frowned, doubting he’d recognize the movie reference for the “You killed my father, prepare to die” quotation on the chest. Indeed Eleriss’s uncertain glance at Jakatra made me think he was wondering if he needed to draw weapons. Of course, they’d subdued us just fine without weapons before...

  “Two ounces,” Simon said, oblivious to his T-shirt and the look, “and we get to go with you to the cave.”

  “No,” Jakatra barked.

  Eleriss stepped away from Simon and lifted a hand toward his comrade. “We will pay you two ounces if you can locate this cavern for us, but that is all. We must travel alone when we visit it.”

  “Then how do we know we’re not helping you set up some subterranean evil overlord lair from whence to launch nuclear weapons or rockets full of biological toxins?” Simon asked.

  I tried to get his attention and wave for him to let go of his barter demands—as long as that tracking device was in tact, we could follow them again. Admittedly, an invitation and a guide would be nicer than trailing after them and worrying about being noticed or eaten by monsters roaming the area. But maybe we could wheedle our way into their exploration gig after we’d proven our worth to them.

  “Nuclear... weapons?” Eleriss asked.

  “We’ve seen your glowing sword. How do we know if you’re trying to help the city or if you’ve got something nasty planned?”

  Jakatra’s violet eyes closed to slits. He whispered something to Eleriss. I wanted so much to know what that language was—I’d send the sample file off for analysis as soon as they left.

  “It is not unacceptable,” Eleriss said to Jakatra, though he made a point to speak in English. “They are merely demonstrating that they are crafty and that we were right to come here.”

  Nothing on Jakatra’s sour face suggested agreement. He raked us all with a gaze that doubtlessly meant he believed us about as crafty as domestic turkeys.

  “For now, I can offer only our preliminary payment.” Eleriss pointed at the coin. “If your research is successful, we can negotiate over the information.”

  Jakatra’s lips tightened. I wasn’t sure if it was a sign of displeasure or a sign that he looked forward to negotiating the information out of us with his fists—or perhaps with his new sword. Either way, I plucked up the coin before Simon could object and said, “We accept.”

  Eleriss inclined his torso in something resembling a bow. Jakatra stalked outside without another word or gesture.

  “Can’t we follow them on our own?” I asked Simon once the door had shut. “What was all that angling to go along about?”

  “Because—” Simon held up his phone, his expression glum, “—according to my tracker, they never left the Vendome. They must have found it and tossed it into a pile of dog poo.”

  “Not necessarily,” Temi said. She’d pushed the curtain aside to watch the retreating riders. “They’re walking to the street. It doesn’t look like they brought their motorcycles.”

  “Oh.” Simon brightened. “Well, so long as these caverns aren’t within walking distance, we may be able to follow them after all.”

  “Am I the only one here who doesn’t know what’s going on?” Autumn asked. “And who’s now missing a slide?”

  “More or less,” I said. “But I have another baggie of blood and dirt in the van if you want to make up another slide. Or take it for that DNA analysis.”

  “Unless they already found it,” Simon said. “They do like to make themselves at home in our van.”

  “It’s in the fridge.”

  Simon’s eyebrow quirked up. “Thus insulating it from extrasensory blood-tracking abilities?”

  “Well. It’s buried behind cans of Mountain Dew and sticky jars of strawberry jam. That ought to insulate it from... something.”

  “Health conscious thieves?” Temi murmured.

  “I don’t know.” I waved away the all-too-legitimate objections and told Autumn, “I can go check if you want it.”

  “The closest DNA sequencer that I know of is at U of A,” she said.

  “Know anybody there that will let you use it?”

  “Maybe, but you’re not sending me off on another errand without feeding me first, are you?”

  “I think we can afford to buy you those fries now. Maybe even a glass of wine.” I smiled and nodded toward the coin, though I planned to run extensive image searches before handing it over to a dealer. “We’ll explain a few things over dinner too,” I added. Given that Autumn had access to a
lab, she’d be good to have on the team.

  “Lots of patrol cars cruising the street,” Temi said from the window.

  “I hope that monster stays in the woods tonight and doesn’t harass us or anyone else,” I said. “We have a lot of research to do.”

  “Sounds... stimulating,” Temi said.

  “Hey, you wanted to join us,” I said. “It can’t be all spelunking and monster battles.”

  “Oh, I know that,” she said. “I’m just not certain how I can be of assistance in the research arena.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We’ll handle the research, and you sling the fire extinguishers.”

  “So I’m your heavy?”

  “You’re tall enough for it.” I grinned. “We can set you up with a RealmSaga character in case you get bored.”

  “Yes,” Simon said with an enthusiastic snap of his fingers. “What are your thoughts on playing healers?”

  CHAPTER 19

  The doors at the downtown library were locked. I checked the time on my phone. The building should have opened a few minutes ago.

  “Why do I have a feeling the library is on Monster Holiday?” I asked.

  “Because we haven’t seen a soul since we left the hotel?” Simon asked.

  “I wonder if something else vile happened last night.” I took out my phone to check the news from the local papers. After the previous day’s over-stimulating events, I’d slept like a fossil buried in sediment twenty feet deep. If strange predators wearing plastic armor had terrorized the city, I hadn’t heard it.

  Simon removed his computer bag and plopped down with his back to the front door. He pulled out his MacBook and propped it on his thighs. He was only wearing jeans, a long-sleeve T-shirt, and of course his white socks and sandals. The morning sun had little warmth, and I could think of more appealing places to do research, but maybe he believed someone would be by with the keys eventually. He’d wanted to find big paper maps of the area that he could spread out on a table. While everything was online these days, there were times when real maps were nicer to deal with. But if we weren’t going to be able to get in...

  I glanced at the street. Temi had driven off in her Jag to get us some breakfast from an organic grocery store she’d recommended and to drop Autumn off at a veterinary office that handled livestock as well as pets. I felt bad sending her on errands, but she hadn’t been confident in her ability to help us research. I thought she was selling herself short—just because she hadn’t finished school didn’t mean she wasn’t bright—but if she was more comfortable helping in other ways, that was fine. If nothing else, I knew we’d get something superior to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our morning meal.

  “Nobody turned off their router for the night,” Simon said. “We’ve got good wifi here.”

  I finished scanning the Daily Courier’s latest entries. “Did you check your tracker this morning? If our new friends are still at the Vendome, they might have had a difficult night.”

  “I forgot. I didn’t think they’d go anywhere interesting until they heard back from us.” Simon dug out his phone. “What happened?”

  “Rabid Bear Slays Four at Historic Prescott Hotel,” I read the headline aloud.

  “The Vendome?” Simon asked.

  “The Vendome. The front door was torn from its hinges, the carpet and furniture shredded on the first floor, and three doors on the second floor bashed in. Those doors were on the street side of the hotel. A businessman was killed in his bed in one room and a couple of tourists in another. The bodies were mauled horribly, two with the heads decapitated. None of the eyewitnesses saw more than a black blur, though most people were busy fleeing the hotel, some through their second-story windows, when the screams started. The police say it was the same animal that attacked the campground. Residents are being told to stay inside until its been found and brought down.”

  “It sounds like staying inside didn’t work out well for the people in the hotel,” Simon said.

  “Yeah.”

  “The street side of the hotel on the second floor, you said?”

  I nodded. “The article doesn’t specifically say that corner room was targeted, but I think we can assume the creature was looking for our friends.”

  “And the sword that can supposedly damage it, though it doesn’t seem like anyone has drawn blood from it yet. Unless...” Simon drummed his fingers on his laptop. “Unless it doesn’t have blood.”

  “Because it’s made from Mountain Dew bottles?”

  “Well, all the evidence points to it being something weird. And we didn’t see that fight. We don’t know for sure that it wasn’t injured.”

  “It couldn’t have been too injured if it was tearing through the forest, flinging itself at innocent people’s vans,” I said.

  “True, but Eleriss and Jakatra must have driven it back somehow to buy themselves time to jump on their bikes and get away.”

  I flicked my hand to concede the point.

  “They’ve moved,” Simon said, eyeing his tracking app. “They’re at... let me switch to the better map and check that street. They moved to the Best Western. Just up the street from our Motel 6.”

  “How wonderful.” It was a good thing last night’s sleep had been peaceful, because tonight’s might be less serene. “They must have decided it’d be less reprehensible to invite monsters to destroy chain hotels rather than historic buildings.”

  “Yeah, I wonder why they’re staying in one place at all if they know they’re being hunted. They could sleep during the day and drive around at night to avoid the predator.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever logic is guiding those two, I don’t think it’ll end up making a lot of sense to us.”

  “I also wonder what it is they’re still looking for. Maybe they only have half of their weapon, or it’s missing some key part that will make it more powerful. Otherwise, why would they be searching for another cave? Something else that they need is here in Prescott.”

  “You better find their cave for them then.”

  “Yes, yes.” Simon tapped on the keyboard. “I’m on it.”

  I sat down beside him and pulled out my own computer. A breeze whispered down the empty street, pushing orange and brown leaves before it. Even though I’d grabbed a jacket that morning, the cold from the cement soon seeped through my jeans. I hoped the sun would rise over the buildings and warm our spot soon, especially if no one showed up to open the library.

  Simon had finally uploaded the voice file to our server, so I sent the link off to the linguistics professor I had in mind. Next I pulled up local maps to see if I could help identify potential cave spots. Simon’s software was good, but we’d need to narrow down the search area or it’d take a year to cover all the ground around Prescott.

  “We’re looking for limestone caverns, right?” he asked.

  “Must be. There are lava tubes up around Flagstaff, but I don’t think there was any volcanic activity this far south.” Of course, I hadn’t thought there were any significant caves in these mountains. I ran a quick search for limestone quarries and came up with a hit. “Yeah, it looks like there are deposits around.”

  “And limestone caves are formed by water,” Simon mused, his fingers tapping across his keyboard.

  “Yes, they’re usually just below the water table. We’ve got the Prescott and Chino aquifers around here. Those might be likely spots.” I ran a search to find the exact locations of the subterranean water supplies.

  “Anything right under town or in the farmlands would be unlikely,” Simon mused. “Especially if the caverns are as big as those guys think. People would have found them when they were drilling for wells.”

  “Hm. The Prescott aquifer is to the north-northeast of Prescott and northwest of Prescott Valley. This map isn’t very good, but it looks like the Granite Creek area, maybe including Willow and Watson Lakes.” I was guessing because the map I’d found lacked above-ground terrain features. I wondered if we could find out where
the librarian lived, show up at her door, and ask for the key.

  Simon leaned over to study my screen. “There are some good-sized parks in there. Remember that hike we did the first day? The one that went north of the rail trail? Nobody could have drilled under all that granite around the lakes.”

  “Oooh,” I said, the craggy Granite Dells popping into my mind. We’d clambered all over those giant boulders. In spots, the trails were simply marked with white dots painted on the rocks. “Think that’s a big enough area to hide their cave?”

  “Could be. It’ll be hard for my program to see under that much solid mass. I’ll mark the lakes though. Where’s the Chino aquifer? Under town?”

  “Yeah, and under the farms out there. It looks like it might extend into the national forest to the west.” I pulled up another map. “Of course, there’s nothing guaranteeing a cave would be in the aquifer systems. If we’re looking at the entire Verde River watershed... that’s hundreds of square miles.”

  “I’ve got it all up over here,” Simon said. “I’ll do some comparisons and see what matches our criteria.”

  I sneaked a peek at his screen. He’d found much more detailed maps than I had. It figured.

  The rumble of big trucks drifted up the street. Someone was out in town, risking the monster-infested neighborhoods.

  “Ah,” I said when they came into sight. A convey of National Guard vehicles rolled past, hummers and 5-Tons painted in tan desert colors. The soldiers in the seats peered to either side of the street with interest. A grizzled older man with gray hair who was being driven by a woman my age gave us a suspicious squint. I waved cheerfully.

  “Sorry, no monsters out before dusk,” I murmured as the hummer drove out of sight.

  “Huh?” With his attention focused on the screen, Simon hadn’t noticed the trucks.

  “Nothing.”

  My phone bleeped. I had a text message from an unfamiliar number with a Phoenix area code. It read: What the hell was that?