Tritium Gambit

  Chapter 38. Miranda

  John chewed on some beef jerky while we walked through the woods. The news article about the missing girl said she was last seen northeast of the city at a park. We walked slowly, looking for signs. This lead was thin, and we could be going completely in the wrong direction, but we were at a loss for another option.

  Searching a huge wilderness area in the dark with a search party consisting of only two people was a daunting task. When it was still light, I had occasionally flipped on the graviton bars and jumped straight up to look for the Wendigo. The risk of being surprised outweighed the risk of implosion. After the sun went down, there wasn’t enough light to be able to see clearly for any distance, however.

  “We might have to wait until sunrise,” I said.

  John shook his head. “If he finds his way around the river, he can head to southern Minnesota. Within a few days, he could be anywhere west of the Mississippi. We can’t give up.”

  “Why did he come this way?”

  “Because there are too many lakes and rivers to the north. He’s trying to avoid any place we could try to drag him in. There really weren’t many places he could have gone besides this direction without having to cross large lakes or rivers.”

  “Do you think Max is still alive?”

  John cleared his throat. “You ask a lot of questions.”

  “Do you?”

  “It’s possible.”

  I felt sick. “You don’t believe it, do you?”

  “Look. I don’t know Wendy, but from my brief exposure to her, she seems like she means business. I think she might even be a little disappointed she didn’t kill us right when we crashed.”

  “Crashed?”

  He cleared his throat. “Landed vigorously,” he corrected.

  “You are right. Why didn’t she just kill us then? We were unarmed.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t think she knew we were unarmed, and there were three of us. It would have been a big risk to confront us if she didn’t know we weren’t armed.”

  “Okay, but she had to know we were unarmed once we told her that we needed to get our stuff from Tyler’s cave.”

  “True enough, but Max is tough, you’re fast, and I’m an unknown. At close range, she wasn’t certain she could win. I think she wanted to separate us and get help from Tyler’s robot spiders. She is patient and clever.”

  I nodded. “Well, once we’ve finished with the Wendigo, she’s going to get what is coming to her.”

  “As it happens, we don’t have a way to kill the Wendigo right now. So, your chances of bringing her in aren’t very good.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe we can get the Wendigo to eat the graviton bars and then throw him into outer space or something.”

  John rolled his eyes. “I think you need to find a better plan.”

  “Maybe I could jump down his throat and suffocate him,” I suggested.

  “Now you’re on to something. You’ll earn agent of the month with thinking like that.”

  I looked at his expression to see if he was being sarcastic, but I couldn’t tell. I hoped it really didn’t come down to me trying to get swallowed.

  We covered miles in the darkness before we heard crunching in the distance. I flipped on the graviton bars and grabbed John. We leapt into the boughs of a tall tree. The huge white-skinned creature appeared through the trees. He stopped and sniffed the air.

  John touched my mouth as a signal to be quiet. The warning was unnecessary. I had no intention of making a sound.

  Slowly the Wendigo lumbered our direction. He would disappear from view from time to time, but I could hear him snorting and sniffing. We really needed a plan before he found us.

  I considered revealing myself then jumping away. Maybe I could lead him to the river again. Of course, he probably wouldn’t follow me to the water this time, and there was always the risk he’d catch me. Even if I got him to the water, I had no way to get him in. Max had used the graviton bars to jump with the Wendigo into the air, but he had relied on the force of the Wendigo’s own leap. I didn’t think I’d be able to fool him twice. Besides, Max was in the Wendigo’s grip as he leapt, something he could survive and I could not.

  Then I remembered what John said. Sometimes, agents need to make sacrifices. The odds are always stacked against us, but good agents get the job done anyway.