“Find anything?” James said without looking up from his screen.
“Not really,” Rocky said. “Just describing what a rhododendron looks like, mostly. This one says they’re a ‘symbol of human life.’ Does that sound important?”
“Sounds like nonsense.” James typed just abode by the foot of the mountain but only found links to various travel lodges near mountains. He added meaning to the end of the search, not feeling very hopeful.
The first link was the Wikipedia page for the Himalayas. Interesting. The Roerich link had mentioned the Himalayas, too. James clicked on it, intrigued, and skimmed it until he read, The name of the Himalayan mountain range derives from the Sanskrit Himā-laya (“Abode of Snow”) and ā-laya ( “receptacle, dwelling”). It wasn’t quite right, but something about it clicked in James’s mind. He scrolled up a paragraph and read, The Himalayas spread across Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
“The rhododendron is native to countries in the western and eastern Mediterranean, such as Spain, Portugal, and Turkey, and also occurs eastward through Asia into China,” Rocky read aloud, sounding bored.
“Asia?” James said, perking up.
“Yeah, like the continent.”
“Where in Asia?”
“I don’t know. It just says Asia. It says ‘found mainly in Asia, although it is also widespread throughout the highlands of the Appalachian Mountains of North America. It is the national flower of Nepal as well as the state flower of—’”
“Nepal!” James said loudly.
“What?” Rocky said, finally tearing his eyes from his phone.
But James was busy typing in Nepal, his heart beating. Something about this felt right. He clicked the Wikipedia page for Nepal and searched it for Abode. Two results popped up, bringing him midway down the page, under the etymology section.
“Listen to this,” he said. “‘Norwegian Indologist Christian Lassen proposed that Nepala was a compound of Nipa (foot of a mountain) and -ala (short suffix for alaya, which means abode), and therefore, Nepala meant’”—he looked up at Rocky, his eyes wide—“‘abode at the foot of the mountain.’”
“Oh, damn!” Rocky exclaimed. The librarian shot them a disapproving glance, but as there was nobody else in the library for them to disturb, it didn’t much matter.
“So the abode at the foot of the mountain is Nepal,” James said slowly.
“And the rhododendron is the national flower of Nepal. That’s not just a coincidence.”
James felt a surge of excitement. This was it; they’d figured out Derek’s riddle, at least part of it. “Does he want us to go to Nepal?”
At that moment, James’s phone started vibrating. Derek’s Assistant popped up on the incoming caller screen. Katie. He forgot he even had her number and had put her in as Derek’s Assistant. That was rude of him.
“Hello?” James said quietly, leaning back so he was out of view of the librarian.
“James!” Katie’s voice said, high-pitched and breathless. “Where are you guys?”
“The library, like you commanded.”
“Meet me in the parking lot,” she said. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I... I’ll tell you when I get there.” With that, she hung up.
Ten minutes later, James and Rocky leaned against Rocky’s car in the parking lot, enjoying the sun that had broken through the cloudy day. James knew they should keep their heads down, but the library was in a secluded enough part of town that he didn’t feel worried about being spotted.
Katie drove into the parking lot a few minutes later, pulling up next to them. She got out, looked down oddly at the keys in her hand, and tossed them into a nearby bush.
“Uh,” Rocky said, glancing at James. “What’s that all about?”
“Let’s get out of here.” Katie pulled at Rocky’s locked car door handle.
“What’s wrong?” James said.
“Please,” Katie said. Her voice had an edge to it that made James’s pulse quicken. Something must have happened. “We have to go. Anywhere. I’ll tell you in the car.”
They got in and Rocky pulled out of the library parking lot. “Back to the bunker?” he said.
“No!” Katie leaned back in her seat and covered her eyes. “No, no. I’m so sorry, you guys.”
“What happened?” James said, turning to look at her in the back seat. She kept her hands over her eyes.
“It’s... They found it,” she said. “They found the bunker. SIA. They must have followed me. I had just opened the door when they pulled up to the warehouse. I barely managed to escape.”
James leaned back, reeling. He thought of the clues sitting openly on the table. They had left them there, figuring it was safer than carrying them around, should they be caught. But it wasn’t just the loss of the clues that hurt. Their only safe haven was compromised. Where would they go now?
“Who were you meeting up with before?” Rocky said, his voice steely.
“Wha... I... Just an old friend. I thought he might have information on the Supers.”
“He sold you out,” Rocky said.
“Excuse me? He wouldn’t do that.”
“Well, he did. How else would they have found you?”
“You’re wrong! They probably just recognized my car.”
“How would they—”
“Enough!” James yelled, and the two of them fell silent. He breathed heavily, looking between them. “We can’t start fighting. The bunker’s gone. That’s all that matters. Now we have to figure out where to go so they won’t find us.”
No one spoke for a few minutes while Rocky drove along the side roads on the outskirts of town. James wracked his brain. None of their houses were options, clearly. He was sure any hotels in the areas would be watched, too. There were probably people willing to help, to shield them, but he couldn’t ask anyone else to get involved in this. Forcing Katie
