“Are you sure it was Larry?” Coop asked.
“I’ve been listening to him talk on the two-way for decades. It was Larry.”
“What did he say?” I asked.
“Something about picking him up. I didn’t catch much of it.”
We stared at the now-silent radio equipment. Alex reached over and turned the volume down on the CB, then picked up the two-way and adjusted its volume.
“What do you want to do?” Coop asked.
“If we heard Larry on the radio, he has to be close by. And if he’s close, the others aren’t far away.”
The two-way came back to life.
“I’m going to head up and down for a bit, just to make sure. A few hours. Beautiful day out.”
“That’s Larry,” Alex said.
“Roger that. I’ll send someone to pick you up when you’re ready. Just let me know.”
“That’s Bella.”
“Out.”
“I don’t know Bella’s voice,” Coop said. “But that’s Lod all right. What do you think they’re up to?”
“Get the road atlas out.”
Coop opened it and found Coos Bay.
“How many state parks are there?”
“Four. The closest to us are Sunset Bay and Shore Acres. The other two are farther away. Bullards Beach and Cape Blanco.”
“They could be at any of them, or all of them. Larry isn’t fond of putting all his eggs in one basket if he can help it. He’s clearly not with them. At least not yet.”
“How do we know they’ve parked?” Coop asked. “They could be talking to each other as they drive down the road.”
“The transmissions are too clear,” Alex said. “No fading in or out. No distortion. Why would Larry need them to pick him up?”
I was staring down at the map in Coop’s lap when I saw it.
“Because he’s not driving,” I said, pointing at the map. “He’s flying.” There was an airport just north of Sunset Bay State Park.
“The helicopter that tried to land at Nehalem Bay last night,” Coop said.
“Maybe the same helicopter we saw at the beach,” I said. “Maybe the same one I spotted several times this afternoon after the weather cleared.”
This is what had been bugging me in the backseat when I should have been sleeping. I’d forgotten all about the helicopter trying to land at Nehalem Bay.
“He’s running countersurveillance,” Alex said. “Making sure no one is following them. I suspect he also has a couple of cars moving south with the caravan.”
“Do you think he’s seen us?” Coop asked.
“No doubt about it. But does he suspect us? That’s the question.”
hot and long with soap and shampoo. It wasn’t a great hotel, but all that mattered to me was the shower, which I stayed under until the water went cold.
I walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Coop was lying on top of one of the two queen-size beds in his underwear.
It was still light outside.
Coop’s eyes were closed.
The phoenix was completely exposed. It was bigger than I had thought, running from his neck almost down to his waist.
The CB, one two-way, and the car battery were on the floor. Alex had taken the antenna off the car. It was now hanging out the window. He had also taken most of our cash. He needed it to buy a different car in case Lod was suspicious of the car we’d been driving. He’d been gone for a couple of hours. We were supposed to call him on the two-way if we heard from Lod. There was a lot of chatter on the CB, but none of the people talking sounded like Lod. Coop was supposed to have been listening while I was in the shower, but it didn’t look like that had worked out.
“I’m not asleep,” Coop said with his eyes still closed. “Did you leave me any hot water?”
“No.”
“Some things never change.”
“I did leave you a dry towel.”
He grinned, eyes still closed. “It’s a miracle. No word from Lod or Bella. The others could be talking on the radio, but I wouldn’t recognize their voices. It sounds like a mundane evening on the southern Oregon coast. People looking for dinner and hotel recommendations. Truckers telling other truckers where they’re going to park for the night. Before cell phones, I bet there was a lot more radio traffic. The CBs were abuzz.”
He opened his eyes and sat up. “I guess I’ll go take a cold shower.”
I got dressed in relatively clean clothes, then paced the room knowing that if I sat or lay down I would fall asleep within seconds.
“Half an hour.”
I stopped in midstep. It sounded like Lod.
“Sorry. I didn’t copy that.”
Bella?
“Half an hour. All clear.”
“Copy. We’ll be there. Out.”
I picked up the two-way, dialed in the agreed frequency, keyed the talk button, then let it go. What was I going to say? Hey, Alex. Pat here. Coop’s little brother. Just heard Lod tell Bella he’ll be landing in half an hour. Thought you’d want to know.
If we were monitoring radio transmissions, they were probably monitoring radio transmissions.
Coop came out of the bathroom shivering.
“That was invigorating, Lil Bro. Thanks.” He noticed I was just standing there with the two-way in my hand. “What?”
I explained the problem.
“That is a conundrum.” He held his hand out for the two-way. Reluctantly I gave it to him. “Now how do you talk on this thing?”
Coop the tech whiz.
“Maybe we should just wait until Alex gets back,” I said.
Coop keyed the talk button.
“Jerry. Otto here.”
“Yeah, what do you want?”
“Did you get the beer?”
“I got it.”
“How about my kite? Axel says that it finally came down.”
There was a hesitation.
“Okay. I’ll swing by and see if I can find it. Talk to you later. Out.”
Coop tossed the two-way on the bed and gave me his trademark grin. “What did you think?”
“It sounded pretty much like all the other stupid conversations we heard today. Jerry?”
“Short for Jeremy, which he uses on his driver’s license.”
“Do you think he understood?”
“We’ll find out.”
We did not find out for nearly two more hours. Even Coop, who never appeared to be concerned about anything, was showing signs of worry by the time Alex finally showed up.
He walked in carrying several bags, which he set down on a bed.
“I didn’t bring you beer,” he said. “Nor did I find your kite. But that was pretty good. You guys might become Pod members yet. You’re beginning to show a real aptitude for paranoia, a primary ingredient for joining the gang.”
“Did you see Lod?” Coop asked.
“I wish you would both just call him Larry. The Lord of the Deep, or Lod, makes him sound like the former archangel Lucifer. He’s as smart as a devil, but he’s just a man named Larry.”
“Sorry,” Coop said. “Larry. Did you see him?”
“From a distance. Through binoculars. I bought two pairs. He was in a Bell Helicopter with a pilot and another guy. I suspect the other guy is a pilot too, and maybe a spotter as well. Larry doesn’t believe in leaving anything to chance. If the pilot keels over dead, there’s another person on board who can fly the helicopter. Larry always has an exit plan.”
“Were they Originals, or from the Deep?” I asked.
“Nope. Never saw either guy before, which isn’t surprising. They were both young. Thirty or so. Fit. The Originals are all old like me. Of course they’re going to use youngsters to help them with the things they can no longer do, or things they don’t know how to do, like flying a helicopter. The two guys moved like ex-military. Foreign if I had to guess. Hired help. But I’m speculating. I was a quarter mile away and couldn’t hear them talking.”
?
??Did you find out where they went?” Coop asked.
“First, let’s talk about how they went. Three small SUVs. Not old. Not new. Nondescript. We’ve seen hundreds of them on the road. So many of them they’re nearly invisible. Larry got into the middle one along with the pilots. They left the airport at three-minute intervals. Lead car, Larry’s car, then a chase car. They’re definitely watching their front and back trail. I’m certain we passed the SUVs, or they passed us driving south. We’re lucky to have been so far behind the caravan. If we had been closer they would have checked us out and might have made us.”
“Did they travel like this all across the country?” I asked.
“Some version of it. They probably weren’t together all the time. And they may not be all together now. I doubt that the whole group was with Bella and Bill at the train station in Portland. I think Larry is sending people out on side trips as needed. Maybe even stopping the big group from time to time to let the others catch up with it. They had to have stopped someplace earlier today or we wouldn’t have caught up with them. This is a very orchestrated migration.”
“The question is, where are they migrating to?” Coop asked.
“We’ll know when we get there. Right now they’re at Sunset Bay State Park.”
“You followed them there?” I asked. “You just said that we were lucky they hadn’t —”
“Simmer down. I was behind the chase car and I was perfectly disguised.” He walked over to the window and opened the curtains.
In the parking lot just outside our room was a truck with a camper on the back. Behind it was a small trailer with a boat.
“Now you get to learn how to drive a truck,” Alex said.
Lucky me.
“What about the boat?”
“Came with the camper. We’ll ditch it in a day or two, which will change our profile from the air. Look at the plates.”
They were California plates.
“We’re just one of many happy campers heading home after the holidays. Shouldn’t raise too much suspicion, even if they spot us on different days. And there’s a bonus: The camper is equipped with a CB unit in the cab.”
“Did you follow them right into the park?” Coop asked. “Did you see Kate?”
Alex shook his head. “Turned around before I got to the gate. There was only one entrance. What we’ll do tonight is get in front of them, wait for them to pass us. Hopscotch with them down south. While you guys load the camper, I’ll take a quick shower. We’ll head south when I’m finished. I hope you left me some hot water.”
“Brace yourself,” Coop said. “Pat hogged all the heat.”
I shook my head. “Coop was the last one in the shower.”
is on his way,” Bella said.
She had been very secretive the past few hours. She had closed the curtains and told me not to look outside. When we pulled into our campsite, I asked if I could go out and stretch my legs.
“No. The others are still angry with you. I’m not certain what they would do if they caught you away from my protection.”
This was ridiculous. None of the Originals would dare lay a hand on me without Lod’s express permission. The fact that I was still alive meant that I was under Lod’s protection, not hers.
We had been parked at the campsite for more than two hours. During that time, Bella had stepped outside the motor home several times with her two-way, leaving Bill to keep an eye on me. The last time she had stepped out she’d been gone for nearly a half hour. When she finally came back inside she was clearly uptight about something, but when I asked her about it, she said that everything was fine, she was just hungry. We made sandwiches out of cold cuts and were halfway through our simple meal when I heard the cars drive by.
“Let’s go talk to Lod,” I said, starting to get up from the table.
Bella put her hand on my arm and shook her head. “We need to wait until he asks for us.”
I was going to protest but thought better of it, and sat back down. Bella and I had been getting along pretty well. There was no point in antagonizing her, or Bill. Right now, they were the only allies I had.
We finished our sandwiches.
Another half hour passed. Then an hour. Bella and Bill said nothing, not even to each other. Bill got up and started pacing back and forth in the tiny motor home. Four steps to the front, four steps to the back. I think Bella would have been pacing too if there had been room.
Bella’s two-way came to life.
“Bring her,” Lod said. “Bill too. And her backpack.”
Bella looked at me and said, “Are we clear about how you found us?”
“Crystal clear,” I said. “I have your back.”
We stepped out of the motor home into the dark. There were twelve recreational vehicles parked nearby that I could see: trailers, truck campers, and motor homes. The lights were on inside them. Curtains pulled. I didn’t see anyone outside, but I knew they were there. Lod always had people out running security for him. I had been one of those people when we lived in the Deep.
Bill switched on a flashlight and we walked down the road, past several empty campsites.
“Where are we going?” I asked casually, feeling anything but. I was nervous. Why were we walking away from where the others were parked?
“Lod’s motor home,” Bella answered. “He doesn’t park with us. Security.”
It was more than security. Lod always kept himself apart from the others. In the Deep we lived in the highest and biggest apartment. He rarely invited anyone over. All the cookies Bella and I had made over the years had been baked in her kitchen, not Lod’s.
I was certain we were being watched, and probably listened to as well, but I didn’t spot any Shadows lurking in the empty campsites we passed.
I was relieved when I finally saw lights in the distance. They weren’t taking me out into the dark to shoot me in the head. The sound of breaking waves got louder with every step we took. Finally Lod’s motor home came into full view. Not surprisingly it was bigger than the others, not flashy, but certainly more luxurious. The curtains were pulled down. Two SUVs were parked nearby. I could see the silhouettes of people sitting in the front seats.
We walked up to the door. Bella tapped on it twice, paused, then gave the door another double tap. A muffled voice said something from inside. Bella opened the door and we entered, single file, Bella in front, Bill behind me. The motor home smelled of fresh-brewed coffee, which brought back memories. Our apartment in the Deep always smelled like this.
Lod was alone inside, seated on a white leather sofa with a steaming mug of coffee in front of him. If I hadn’t known who he was, I’m not certain I would have recognized him. He’d lost ten or fifteen pounds. He was clean-shaven. His eyes were now blue. His hair had been cut short and dyed white. The changes were subtle by themselves, but grouped together he no longer looked anything like Lawrence Oliver Dane.
He fixed his blue eyes on Bella and Bill without even glancing at me. “Explain yourselves.”
There was no disguising the voice. It was as cold and menacing as it had been in the Deep.
“What do you mean?” Bella asked.
“How did you manage to let Kate spot you before you spotted her, then follow you all the way from Portland to Nehalem Bay?”
“Because your granddaughter is the best Shadow we ever had.”
“I do not have a granddaughter,” Lod said icily, without a glance at me. “And that still doesn’t explain how stupid you were to let her overhear you and Bill talking about your destination on a public street.”
Busted. I wasn’t surprised. He’d had plenty of time to talk to the other Originals before he called for us. One, or all of them, had caved.
I had to be careful about when I stepped in to save Bella and Bill. If I did it too quickly Lod would know that we had conspired against him. If I waited too long he would think that I had concocted the notebook story while I was standing there because I felt sorry for Bella and Bill. H
e had always said my greatest weakness was empathy, sticking up for people. I was going to use this to my advantage if he didn’t march me out to the ocean and drown me first.
Bill stepped forward and spoke up for the first time. “I don’t remember having had a conversation on the street that anyone could have overheard.”
“Then not only did you make a disastrous mistake, you’re compounding it by lying to me.”
“He’s not lying,” I said. “I was lying.”
Lod slowly, almost reluctantly, looked my way. I met his gaze. The blue eyes were somehow more icy and unforgiving than his brown eyes had been, but I did not look away.
“I was at Nehalem Bay two days before Bella and Bill and the others got there.”
“How did you know they were going to Nehalem Bay?”
“I guessed.”
His eyes narrowed. “Really?”
I nodded.
“And how did you guess?”
“I’m not sure you really want to know.”
“Tell me.”
I shrugged. “I saw the name in one of your little notebooks.”
His hand reflexively touched the notebook in his shirt pocket.
“When?”
“The day I took your notebook out of the fire.”
I could see him trying to calculate if the name could have possibly been in the half-burned notebook I had rescued.
“Why did you lie to them when they asked you how you had found them?”
“Because I was angry. LaNae hit me with her car. She wanted to kill me. I wanted to throw them off, put the blame of my finding them on their incompetence. I thought it might save me.”
“The only person who can save you is me,” he said.
“I didn’t know if you’d be around to save me.”
I looked at Bella and Bill. They looked angry and surprised, which is exactly how they should have looked if what I was saying was true. “I’m sorry,” I said.
They said nothing.
“You two can go,” Lod said. “I’ll call you when I’m ready for you to take Kate.”