“I think you may be right,” Aubrey said.
“Well, you’d better get moving. With all these roadblocks you’ve probably got another six, seven hours before you hit the Bay. Good luck to you.”
“Thanks.”
She rolled up the window and shifted the car back into drive.
“One of these times,” Jack said, “someone’s going to check out our story.”
The beginning of World War III. Laura covered her mouth to hide her grin.
FIFTY-TWO
THEY DROVE THROUGH THE DAY, and when it got dark Jack took over—Aubrey’s eyesight just wasn’t good enough at night.
Not much was open anymore, but they found a McDonald’s outside of Vacaville. There was an armed security guard—not a cop, but a scary-looking mammoth of a man who had a Taser on one hip and a gun on the other. After everything she’d seen, Aubrey thought it was laughable that anyone thought this guy could stop a terrorist Lambda. But, at least the McDonald’s was open—the three of them were starving.
Aubrey ordered the food while the other two—both still injured and looking terrible—sat in a booth toward the back. Aubrey had noticed that there was a spot of blood showing though Laura’s shirt, but Laura refused to acknowledge it. It was like she was a machine—single-minded in whatever it was that she was trying to do. Aubrey just didn’t know what that was.
Aubrey didn’t have any great ideas for what they ought to be doing, but she didn’t know why Laura’s plan was any better than anything else. Why were they looking for Laura’s friends instead of Aubrey and Jack’s? They could track down Matt Ganza. He had to be somewhere. Or Nicole. She was with the State Department now, and if anyone could get them out of this mess, Nicole seemed like a good choice.
Aubrey wished that she had thought of that when she was going through the army’s computer.
While Aubrey stood at the counter, she watched the fry cook. The guy was skinny and pale, and Aubrey wondered what this kid thought about everything going on around him. He was still coming in to work, which had to mean something: the kid had hope. Or desperation, maybe. At the very least, it meant that someone was still giving him a paycheck. The world hadn’t completely collapsed if a McDonald’s in Vacaville was open at midnight.
He was skinny and pale. . . . It reminded her of that picture—Alec Moore, Laura’s friend. Something about him had been nagging at Aubrey since she’d seen it. Had he been on TV? Where had she seen him before?
The food came, and she thanked the skinny fry cook.
Alec Moore. Who was he?
She took the tray of hamburgers back to the table, arriving just as Laura was gingerly standing and heading to the bathroom. She was holding her side.
“Do you know who Alec Moore is?” Aubrey asked, as soon as Laura was out of earshot.
Jack unwrapped his burger. “Laura’s friend? No.”
“I’ve seen him before—they had a picture on the computer—and it seems like I remember meeting someone named Alec. It’s weird. It’s like it’s been on the tip of my tongue since Laura first mentioned him, but I can’t place him at all.”
“Maybe you’re thinking of Alec Baldwin,” Jack said, with a smile. He took a bite of fries.
“I’m not thinking of Alec Bal—wait. Do you remember going to school with someone named Alec? Way back in like the third or fourth grade?”
“I don’t think so.”
It was coming back to Aubrey. Alec Moore. The guy she’d met in the quarantine zone, who had made a connection with her, to the other girls’ dismay.
“There was a guy,” Aubrey explained. “Back at Dugway. He said he lived in Mount Pleasant for a couple years when he was a kid. His name was Alec, and I’m pretty sure it was Alec Moore.”
Jack continued eating, but Aubrey had stopped.
“That’s a big coincidence, don’t you think?”
He ate another fry. “I’m pretty sure I don’t remember anyone named Alec in elementary school.”
“Neither do I,” she said. “But—I don’t know. Maybe I do. Back there, it seemed like I knew him.”
“Either way,” Jack said, “I don’t think it changes anything. If he grew up in Mount Pleasant, then that’s good, right? Kinda makes me trust him a little more.”
Aubrey shrugged. “I guess. But remember—we’re not going after him right now. We’re looking for this Dan guy.”
“I wish we were looking for our friends, not hers.”
“Exactly,” Aubrey said.
She glanced over at the bathrooms. Laura was still gone. Aubrey lowered her voice. “I don’t know if I totally trust what we’re doing. Are we actually getting help? Or is Laura just going AWOL and wants our help to find her friends? You and I are the recon team—she couldn’t contact Dan without us.”
Jack chewed thoughtfully for several seconds, watching the bathroom door. He finally swallowed. “I’m open to other ideas. I just don’t know what to do. This seems dumb, but we’re on the run from the friggin’ US Army. What’s dumber than that?”
The bathroom door opened.
“I don’t know,” Aubrey said.
Maybe Dan could help them hide out. Maybe they really did have storage hidden somewhere—some kind of bomb-shelter hideouts where they could be safe.
Jack took another bite of hamburger and stood up. “I’m going to go check out this cut,” he said as Laura came back.
“The bathrooms aren’t very clean,” Laura said. “Take some of the antibiotics with you.”
He nodded and Aubrey dug through her purse for another packet of medicine. They were running low.
Jack took it and headed off.
“So,” Aubrey said. “Any idea how we’re going to find Dan once we get to the city?”
“There’s a military base,” Laura said, pulling out the smartphone. “I looked it up. Camp Parks. It’s training for the army reserve, but I bet that’s where they’re running things.”
“I don’t know if I can do a real army base,” Aubrey said. “Remember—anything with a long line of sight is dangerous. Plus, I can be invisible, but what about Dan? How will he get out of there?”
“What if we can arrange a meet-up somewhere?” Laura said. “Find out where their next mission is, and help break him out.”
Laura was digging into her food like it was the first thing she’d eaten in days. Maybe superstrength gave her a high metabolism. Or it was recovery.
“I’ve got a question,” Aubrey said, nerves sending a chill down her spine. “You said that Alec is from Denver.”
“Yep.”
“How long have you known him?”
“Forever, I guess,” she said. “It seems like we’ve always been friends. Kinda like you and Jack.”
Aubrey ate a french fry, slowly, wondering if she should continue. Laura made her nervous.
“I think I met him,” Aubrey finally said. “In the quarantine zone. He said he remembered me from school— and I kind of remembered him. He said he grew up in Mount Pleasant.”
Laura looked startled. “Well—well, maybe you’re thinking about someone else.”
“He looked just like the picture on the army computer.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.” Laura took a huge bite of her Quarter Pounder, and looked down at the paper advertisement on the food tray.
“And another thing,” Aubrey said, her voice soft and careful. “You said that he was a Lambda, like you and Dan. But he was in the quarantine zone, and they let him go.”
