Alex said, and pointed at my notebook.

“Are you keeping a record of this?”

“Something to do,” I said. “Helps to keep me focused.”

Actually it had kept me from going out of my mind from dread and loneliness as I click-clack-clicked my way across the country on the train.

I looked over at Coop.

He was listening to his third complete stranger.

I smiled.

“What?” Alex asked.

“I remember something Coop told me when I was a kid. He said the word listen is an anagram of silent.”

A young guy came into the coffee shop and scanned the thinning crowd. I didn’t know how, but I knew he was looking for us.

Apparently, Alex thought so too.

“Too young to be an Original,” he said. “And I doubt he’s from the Deep, but you never know. The Pod’s being helped by people from above. They wouldn’t have been able to disappear otherwise.”

“We’ll know in a few seconds.”

The guy headed directly toward us. He stopped a couple of feet away from me.

“Are you Jack?”

I was about to tell him no, but then I remembered that I had told Kate that I had used the name Jack on the trains.

“Yeah, I’m Jack.”

The guy nodded. “I have something for you.” He took out a short stack of notebook paper from his coat pocket.

It was the same kind of paper I had in my pocket notebook.

“The girl told me you’d give me twenty bucks if I gave this to you.”

I reached down for my pack, but Alex beat me to it and gave him a twenty. The guy put the pile on the table, then hurried out of the coffee shop with his cash.

We looked down at the pile. Neither one of us picked it up.

“Is that from Kate?” Coop asked, suddenly appearing at our table.

“Yeah. She must have torn it out from the notebook I gave her.”

He sat down, grabbed the top sheet, read it, frowned, then passed it to Alex.

Alex swore.

He passed it to me.

They’re traveling in motor homes and trailers. Meeting others at Nehalem Bay State Park on the Oregon coast near Manzanita. Caught 6:00 p.m. bus to Cannon Beach north of Manzanita. Bus full. Bought ticket from kid who gave you this note. $100 plus $40. Not sure how, but I’ll be in touch if I can.

Kate

The note did not surprise me. I’d spent only a few hours with Kate in the Deep, but that was more than enough time to know that she was fearless. Alex had asked her to shadow Bella and Bill. And that’s exactly what she was doing.

“Why did she tear out the other sheets from the notebook?” I asked.

“Maybe as a precaution in case she gets caught,” Alex said. “Whatever she wrote down was probably incriminating.”

I looked at Coop. “Aren’t you going to read them?”

“Sure.” He picked up the pages.

“Later,” Alex said.

Coop shrugged and put the pages in his pocket.

“How far away is this Cannon Beach?” Alex asked.

“A couple of hours,” Coop answered. “I stayed there for a week the last time I was in Oregon. Manzanita is about a half an hour south of Cannon Beach. Tiny beach town. I only spent a few hours there.”

“We need wheels,” Alex said.

“Darien,” Coop said.

“Who?”

“A train conductor I met,” Coop answered. “He fixes up cars on the side. He has several for sale.” He pulled Darien’s phone number out of his pack.

All we had to do now was find a pay phone.