Joule waited while the line cut out, trying to keep her patience intact. It was difficult to do in the backseat of the SUV with David next to her and spotty cell phone reception.
“You did what?” Jacob McQueeny barked out.
She’d explained she hadn’t turned the app off. She’d wanted to see if Cage’s phone moved. It was stupid.
“I knew that was going to be an issue.”
Had he though? Or was he just having an “I told you so” moment? It did tell her something about what was going on though.
“It might be Cage. He did get the sweater to us, maybe he got to his phone?”
“He sent you a sweater knit with morse code. Don’t you think he would have gotten a message to you rather than turning on the app?” Jacob asked.
Probably. But he would also use any means possible.
“If you’re right, then they know you were at their house.”
“Well, they know we were at all the houses in the area,” she countered. They hadn’t found the house—which was the problem.
“They know you got closer. That’s not good. Delete the app!”
Had she tipped them off? Would they move their people?
She told herself it was done, and she couldn’t change it. She could berate herself if it caused problems. “I’m calling Kathryn, too. You can both meet us in San Antonio.”
“I’m actually in San Antonio right now. Sitting next to her. I’ll tell her. We’ll be there. Make sure everyone is armed.”
His warning gave her pause.
As she set the phone back in her lap and stared out the window into the dark, repetitive scenery, she realized she should have been tired. The sun would be up in just a few hours and, given all the driving back and forth they had done, they should all be sleepy.
But she was wired. Everyone was. Hope and sports drinks kept them going. No one was willing to be the first to tap out. They arrived in San Antonio to find Kathryn and Jacob already waiting. The siblings had brought Kathryn’s car, so they didn't have any official vehicles on them. Maverick County didn't extend quite this far out anyway. Jacob was out of his jurisdiction.
They all piled out and started talking. Jacob didn’t like the thermal guns getting used again.
“How else will we see people?”
He countered with “Have you turned your phone off?”
“I uninstalled the app.” She’d turned it off but didn’t say that.
“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Kathryn had inserted to stop their bickering. That was all, no more reprimands, no discussion of what they might do next.
They were close enough to the houses in question. They’d definitely checked these two earlier. They parked far enough away that they figured they might not be seen, Jacob and Kathryn giving instructions where to go. But in the end, they had all agreed it was the best they could do. Not that it was good enough.
They spread out, working in small clusters. The teams surrounded the first house, thermal guns out. Joule quickly found a man sitting on the couch, legs wide. Joule thought she could even tell he was wearing cowboy boots. Something cold hung from his fingertips, a glass, maybe a drink. He ran a hand through his hair and continued to look at the wall across from him.
Two other people roamed the house. Back and forth they moved into the kitchen then into the rooms. Maybe they were cleaning. She couldn't be sure.
Nothing more really came through, and one by one their little team all looked at each other and tapped out. This wasn't the place or, if it was, no one was here right now.
Stealthily, they moved as a unit to the next house. If no one was here, they would head toward the caves Brooklyn had marked. None of them acknowledged how very dangerous this could be if they got caught. But they worked quietly and spotted an older couple already climbing into bed. One was in the bathroom, clearly brushing teeth and then taking medicines.
“Doesn't look like them,” Malcolm said. But it was David who countered, “If I was running a cartel—”
“—That's exactly what I would do,” Joule finished. “Because obviously, who would suspect a nice middle-aged couple of human trafficking? They can get away with it far longer than anyone else.”
But again, they were the only ones in the house.
“Assuming one of these is the right house, that means that the people are still out right now.” Amber whispered into the night air after they’d all stepped far enough away to not look like they were doing what they were doing.
Joule asked, “Can we assume that?”
Kayla added, “Actually, we're also assuming that our interpretation of the sweater is correct.”
“It's correct,” Joule said. “I read it. It's Aurora’s sweater. It's a message just like Cage and I sent each other before.”
“I don’t think she means that,” Amber said. “The information was just sparse. We've made interpretations. We've know these two houses here are the western most ones, but we are assuming he knows that and that actually represented what was there.”
“I don't understand,” Gisela said, and Amber turned to her.
“Well, look around. It's relatively dark. They probably don't get out during the day. Do they recognize that there's a shed behind the other house over there?”
“There is?” Malcolm turned to check.
“Exactly. I saw it on the drive in last time, but I can’t even see it now.”
“Sounds like a good place to keep people . . .” David suggested.
“I don't think there's enough space. Not at all for the numbers that the sweater told us about. Also,” she tipped the imager, “There was no one in it.”
For a moment, they all looked at each other, standing in a loose formation.
“We’re staying too long. We’re still too close to the houses.” Jacob began ushering the group away. “If this is one of the houses, and they see us out here, then they'll catch on and we can cause more trouble.”
They followed along, but Ivy piped up. “I think we have to make the assumption that we had it right. The bosses should be in one of these two houses. If we don't assume that, then we have to leave this area to find the caves. At least if we make that assumption, we have a starting point.”
“Agreed,” Joule said. “If they started from here today, they're not back yet. Do we wait?”
“Some of us do.” Jacob said. “Two on each house as surveillance. They can call in if the group returns and tell us which house it is.”
Kathryn seemed to read her brother’s mind. “The rest of us can head out. See if we can find fresh tracks.”
“Fresher than what we found earlier?” Joule asked. Had they been so close? Had they just barely missed her brother?
Jacob helped set up the teams on either side of the two houses. The team members would stay together, right next to each other, so they couldn't be separated if they were found out. He gave instructions to give three beeps on the walkie talkie for mild trouble, but only one or two if they couldn't get three out. The fewer beeps, the more dire the emergency.
Kathryn handed out satellite phones. One to each group.
“We have walkies,” Amber shrugged.
“Not secure,” Kayla said at the same time Kathryn answered, “Anyone can tune in to them.”
It was clear from the look on his face that Jacob McQueeny didn't like it. But it was also clear that he wasn’t in charge. He could be a friend and help, or he could leave. His own sister was clearly deep in the game.
He set Gisela, Amber, Brooklyn, and Ivy on watch, giving them strict instructions that Joule didn’t hear all of. She was too busy working out how all the pieces might fit. Then Jacob joined the remaining team to split up again into two search teams.
With the drones fully charged and ready to go, they sent two with one group and one with the other.
“We can't cover as much ground with fewer people,” Joule said. “Which paths do we follow?”
“We think the sweater was left there relatively recently, right?” David asked. When they all nodded, he added, “Then that’s probably a path they won't repeat for a little while. In fact, the other path also was relatively fresh.”
“It had to be,” Ivy said. “We saw it. The desert has to eat those things pretty quickly, doesn't it?”
Joule didn't know the answer, but it seemed as good of logic as any.
Kathryn had nodded along, though she didn’t have her mother’s tracking skills. Like Ivy said before, they either followed what they had, or they did nothing.
“So, we don’t follow a path,” Joule thought it through.
“Right, we send some toward the caves and the rest into the spaces between the recent paths,” David declared.
A short while later, Kayla, David, Kathryn and Joule we're heading out into the desert one more time.