“What about Scar?”
Nathalie shook her head. “I don’t know any Scar.”
Jamie had made his decision. Everything that Nathalie had said had made him think that she was telling the truth, and the mention of Pedro clinched it. That was Inti’s other name. Matt had told him. And Inti had the power to heal. The sooner Scott was with him, the better.
“How do we get there?” he demanded.
Nathalie let out a deep breath. She had been afraid that she would be unable to persuade them – but somehow Jamie had found out who and what he was. One day she would ask him how that had happened. But for now, she had to think straight. They were in Auburn. The police were still looking for them. Nightrise might be looking for them too. How to get them away.
“Lake Tahoe Airport,” she said. She glanced at Alicia. “It’s just off the 89. Right down at the south end of the lake.”
“I’ve passed it,” Alicia said. “But Sacramento is nearer.”
“If the police are looking for you, they’ll close off all the airports. Lake Tahoe is tiny. And there are no main roads. It’s the last place anyone will think of looking.”
“What happens when we get there? I just buy the boys a single ticket to Lima?”
“I can arrange a private jet. I can have it in the air within fifteen minutes. It’ll fly out from San Francisco and it should be there waiting for you when you arrive.”
“And you’re just going to give us your car?”
“The car doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Just get them there.” She rested a hand on Jamie’s arm. “I’ll call Matt and tell him you’re coming,” she said. “And one day you and I will meet properly and you can tell me everything that’s happened.” They heard the squawk of a radio on the other side of the bleachers. The police were sealing off the entire area. It was time to go.
Alicia didn’t even try to argue. She unlocked the doors. Daniel got into the front. Jamie helped Scott into the back and was about to follow him. But then he remembered something. He straightened up, facing Nathalie.
“The security man,” he said. “Warren Cornfield…”
“You made him do that.” So she had guessed what had happened.
“I couldn’t do anything else. Will you be able to help him?”
“I’ll do what I can, Jamie. I promise.”
Then another policeman appeared, walking towards them. Jamie got into the car. Alicia didn’t even wait for him to close the door.
She started the engine. They sped off.
Nobody said anything for the first few miles. They were heading south towards Placerville, another gold- mining town. From here they would pick up the 50 heading east back to Nevada. Scott seemed to be neither awake nor asleep but somewhere between the two. He was sitting slumped against the window. Jamie was next to him, watching the scenery go past without taking any of it in. He was thinking about Matt. Of course, it wouldn’t be the same Matt that he had spoken to after the battle, at the river’s edge. For a start, this Matt would never have met him or Scott. But they were still the Five. The same… but in a different time. That was how Matt had explained it. Perhaps when they were all together in Peru it would make sense.
Peru. Jamie didn’t even know where it was. Somewhere in South America? Even now, a private jet should have been taking off to collect them. The very thought of it made his head spin. He had never flown in his life.
Alicia glanced round. “How’s Scott?”
“I don’t know.” Jamie had examined his brother. He could see no sign of any external injury, but in a way that made his condition even more disturbing.
“We’ll be there in a couple of hours. Maybe you should try to get some sleep.”
But they never made it to Lake Tahoe Airport.
They had just passed through the Eldorado National Forest and some of the most beautiful countryside in California and were heading north towards the lake itself. They came to a sign pointing to the airport and Alicia turned off, following a narrow leafy road. Nathalie had certainly been right. Nobody would think of coming here.
But the police must have decided to cover every airport in the surrounding area. It was always possible that they weren’t working alone. Perhaps Nightrise had been influencing and advising them. Either way, the road was blocked. There was a single police car parked across with two young officers checking every car that came their way. They were looking bored. There couldn’t have been more than half a dozen cars in the last few hours.
Alicia pulled in and waited with the engine ticking over.
What now?
“Is there another way?” Daniel asked.
Alicia bit her lip. “I don’t think so, Danny. I didn’t see any other signs.”
Jamie was sitting up in the back seat. He was feeling sick.
They were so near. It didn’t seem fair that they should be stopped at the very end. “Can you drive round?” he muttered.
“There’s no point,” Alicia said. “I could get past them – but suppose the plane hasn’t arrived? They’d just follow us into the airport and that would be the end of it. And even if the plane’s there, we’d never reach it in time.”
“We could try on foot…”
“Scott won’t make it. And anyway, it’s too late.”
She was right. The two police officers had noticed them. They were already muttering to each other, staring at them suspiciously. It was always possible that the details of Nathalie’s number plate had been sent out. It didn’t really matter. A car had been driving towards them. Now it had stopped. Something was obviously wrong.
Alicia made a decision. It was probably the wrong one but she couldn’t think of anything else to do. She slammed the car into reverse, spun the wheel and sped off.
“What are you doing?” Daniel demanded.
“We can’t get past them. The road to the airport’s closed. The only thing to do is to get back to Reno. We can hide out at the trailer park. Nobody knows we’re there. The senator will help us. Maybe that’s what we should have done from the start.”
The two police officers had seen them leave. Without a moment’s hesitation, they ran back to their car and set off in pursuit. One of them was already on the radio calling for assistance from every town in the area. Four suspects heading east towards Carson City. A blue Mercedes, registration number NATHAL3. There were few roads in this part of the country and the distances were huge. There was no chance they were going to get away.
The Mercedes was doing almost a hundred miles an hour. Alicia was gripping the wheel, her eyes fixed on the road. She already knew that she had made a mistake, trying to break away. She had turned herself into a target. Any minute now she expected to see more cars blocking the road. Maybe a helicopter would come swooping out of the sky. She had lost sight of the police car but she could hear it. The officers had turned on their siren. It was less than a mile behind.
They flashed through a commercial centre with supermarkets and shops selling boat equipment and ski gear. That was the thing about Lake Tahoe. Skiing in the winter, boating in the summer, beautiful all the year round. Now they caught occasional glimpses of the lake on their left, the icy, deep blue water shimmering on the other side of the pine trees that covered the banks. They were still speeding, putting more space between themselves and the pursuing police car, which seemed to have dropped back a bit in the distance. Certainly its siren seemed fainter. Alicia wondered if she should come off the road – but there was no turning, nowhere to hide. On one side there was the lake. On the other, the ground rose up steeply with a rough sandy rock face and above it more trees that seemed to continue all the way to the sky.
They were trapped on the road and Jamie had come to the same conclusion as Alicia. They weren’t going to get away. What would happen if they were arrested by the police? John Trelawny would help them – but would he be able to reach them in time? It only took one policeman, paid the right amount of money, to make sure that none of them were ever seen again.
They shot through a tunnel that had been bored through a huge mass of rock. Ahead of them the road twisted to the right.
And then Jamie heard it. A whisper in his head.
