Adeline didn’t take an autocar to Death Valley.
She walked the three blocks to her home and stood outside for a long time. The last time she had been inside, her father had been alive. Or at least, he had been alive in this universe.
Staffers from Absolom Sciences had packed up her things and Ryan’s things and brought them to Daniele’s house. They had been thorough. There had been no need for her to return home. Until now.
At the side door to the garage, she keyed in the code and turned the handle. Inside, she mounted her electric bike, donned her helmet, and rode out into the street.
At Walmart, she bought a few Visa gift cards, then went back into the store and used them to buy what she really needed: a burner phone. She selected a model with a good camera. That would be important.
She downloaded the BuddyLoc app to the burner and keyed in the code to check Hiro’s location. He was still in Death Valley.
She reached his location that afternoon, and by then he had moved into the California section of Death Valley, where most of the national park spread out along the Nevada border.
She turned off the state road and rode the bike across the dusty, rocky terrain. There was no defined trail here, but she could see the wide tire tracks left by a convoy that had come through. Mountains loomed in the distance, the sun shining behind them, casting the peaks in dark shadows like sharp, rotten teeth, the mouth of a world about to take a bite out of the sky.
Adeline stopped the bike at the next ridge. She was about to take the phone out to check Hiro’s location but realized she didn’t need to. She could see him from where she stood.
In the valley below, two white tents had been set up. The wind blew across them, whipping sand across the sides as the sun baked their tops.
Hiro stood near one of the tents. In his hand was a large remote with a silver antenna extended like a fencing sword.
About a hundred feet away, a box truck was parked, and beyond it a mini excavator was digging into the rock at the base of a mountain. Hiro seemed to be directing the excavator.
A tent flap opened, and a figure marched out carrying a duffel bag. Adeline recognized Daniele at once. Elliott strode out after her.
Adeline backed her bike down the ridge, out of sight, and moved behind a rock.
Using her phone, she began recording a movie and zoomed in on the scene.
Where the excavator had been digging, Daniele took a shovel from the bag, unfolded it, and began moving sand and rock away. Elliott got another shovel out and fell in opposite her, helping to dig.
Soon, Daniele was on her hands and knees, using a small brush like a painter—or archaeologist—might use.
That thought brought a dark possibility to Adeline’s mind. What if they were looking for her father’s remains? Were they digging for his bones out here?
Was this the part of Pangea where he had arrived? What would his bones tell them? His exact date of death?
No. That couldn’t be right. Adeline reminded herself that Absolom had sent him to an alternate universe, not this one. They were digging for something else. But what?
She heard Daniele call something out, but she couldn’t discern the words.
The tent flaps parted again, and another figure waded out into the late afternoon sun, lumbering with effort, head covered in a white scarf.
Constance.
They were all here. Each with their secrets. Digging up another secret, buried for how long?
*
Adeline was starving by the time she left Death Valley. She ate alone at a small roadside diner. After, she returned to the Walmart. There was one other thing she needed: a laptop. If she assumed Daniele had hacked her phone, her computer was likely also compromised.
At her home, she stowed her bike, the burner phone, and the new laptop in the garage. It was dark by the time she walked back to Daniele’s house.
Inside, she found the first floor empty. Her first instinct was that Daniele and Ryan had gone out.
In the kitchen, she picked up her phone and read the missed text messages and social media communications. There were the routine check-ins from a few friends and a question from Daniele wondering if she would be home for dinner—and if so, what she might want.
Upstairs, she heard the sound of laughter. Ryan’s laughter.
Adeline ascended the stairs, following the sound. The two sets of glass pocket doors that led to the library were closed. Through the closest one, Adeline saw Daniele and Ryan sitting on a banquette, a wall of books behind them, a color e-ink tablet sitting on the long table. Ryan was writing with a stylus, eyes down, concentrating. Daniele was leaning over, watching. She said something. He smiled. She continued, and he laughed, and she put her arm around him in a quick hug.
Adeline’s cheeks flushed with rage.
Daniele looked up and spotted her through the glass pocket door. Adeline turned and stalked down the hall to her room, where she closed the door with a little too much force and plopped down at her desk.
She was still stewing when the door opened. Daniele stood at the threshold, studying her for a moment. “Where were you?”
Adeline didn’t look up. “I went for a walk.”
“See anything interesting?”
Adeline’s heart beat faster—from either the fear or anger rising up inside of her. Or maybe both. Her next words came from a place of hurt. And the strength of her voice surprised even her.
“You’re not his mother.”
Daniele gently closed the door, but she lingered close by, keeping her distance.
“Is that the best you can do?”
Daniele’s response caught Adeline off guard. “What?”
“You lost your mother. Then your father. It wasn’t fair. Neither of those things. In the case of your father, it was a wrong very few ever come close to in a lifetime. You feel betrayed, Adeline. You feel alone. Ryan is all you have left. Now, you’re scared to death of losing him.”
“You don’t know how I feel. You can’t even imagine.”
“I can.”
“What do you want from me?”
“When I was young, someone helped me. In the darkest chapter of my life, she was there for me. I wouldn’t have made it without her. I want to be that for you. So give me all the hurt you’re bottling up. Blame me. Shout at me. If it helps you, give me the hate you feel for this unfair world.”
“Get out.”
*
That night, Adeline lay in bed, checking her messages. She opened the BuddyLoc app and once again found Hiro at the home in Las Vegas.
What was he doing there?
Through the closed bedroom door, Adeline heard the faint sound of talking. Daniele talking.
Adeline checked the time. It was after 10 p.m.
At the window, she drew the curtain and scanned the street. There were no cars parked outside. No one had come to visit. Daniele was talking on the phone.
Adeline exited her room and padded quietly across the landing to the rail that looked over the staircase. She could hear Daniele clearly now. Her voice was raised.
“You’ll simply have to be late for dinner, senator.”
A pause. Daniele seemed even more frustrated when she resumed speaking.
“No. You listen to me. If we can’t perform these surgeries on the Absolom convicts, we’ll have to pause the program. What do you think will happen then? To crime? To law and order? Who will they blame, senator? It won’t be us. Because Absolom Sciences is going to issue a statement saying that above all else, we must ensure the safety of the program, and to do that, we need to tag these inmates before departure to ensure they don’t arrive in our universe. Because if they do, it could end everything. And when they ask why we can’t tag the prisoners, we’ll simply tell them that the Senate subcommittee with oversight never acted on our request.”
Another pause. Daniele laughed.
“I don’t make threats. I’m telling you what’s going to happen. You have forty-eight hours to amend the Absolom operating resolution. I want it passed by both houses and on the President’s desk by the time that inmate is prepped for surgery. If not, there will be no surgery and no departures until we can do so.”
Adeline heard a cabinet open, a bowl being placed on the marble countertop, and the freezer door open and close with a swoosh. Soon, the clink of a spoon on the glass bowl echoed up the stairwell. Daniele was eating ice cream, if Adeline had to guess.
As quietly as possible, Adeline returned to her room and lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Why did Daniele want to operate on the Absolom convicts? What would that accomplish? Was she trying to send them to her father’s timeline? If so, why? The people sentenced to Absolom—besides her father—were dangerous individuals. Killers. Mass murderers. Psychopaths. If one came into contact with her father—even if they were the last two people on Earth—what would happen?
The larger question was why Daniele would even want to send them there? There was only one rational explanation: to kill Adeline’s father.