“We don’t have much daylight left,” Sam said.
“It’s not as easy as it looks,” Rick conceded.
Addy stood next to Clarisse, who put her arm around the girl and leaned into her, knowing she must be experiencing feelings of both anger and abandonment over Bang’s willingness to go with the strange people. Then she glared at Rick. With her thoughts of what was about to happen in Coeur d’Alene, Clarisse’s words came out sharper than she wanted. “You’re wasting time, Rick. Time we don’t have. You’d better figure it out fast.”
They hovered around a map atop the hood of the truck. His eyes cut over at her. “I’m remembering…all right. Give me a minute. It’s been a while since I was last here, you know. As he shined his flashlight on the map he mumbled, “Before the damn apocalypse.” Then loudly so that everyone jumped, he said, “Corey, the tribe. They haven’t moved anything? Have they raided the tombs? You’d better tell me the truth, mate.”
“Nah. They think this place is sacred, seriously. Little-known fact, true or not: Before the land was taken from the tribes, they considered this place special. So it was, as you say, rubbing salt in the wound when you white men stole the land and housed weapons of mass destruction on it. At least, that’s how Bob sells it.”
Rick circled something on the map and then looked off into the distance. “First off… I’m not a white man. I’m Portuguese. And I resent that shit. And you can tell Bob that. I need to get over there,” he aimed a finger west, “before we lose all light and set up camp. The sun’s already starting to set.”
“White men took the land? I thought that was just in the movies,” Addy said.
No one said a word for a moment as the dry wind lifted grains of dirt, blowing them past their pant cuffs.
Then Corey said, “Dudes…some history lessons needed here.”
“We’ve been busy teaching survival,” Clarisse said and hated the way her voice came out edgy.
After Sam tilted his head at Addy to follow him back to their truck, Corey nodded and headed back to the other cab as well. Clarisse followed Rick to his side door and whispered, “You’re not Portuguese. What the hell’s going on? Should we just go back now?”
“We also don’t have the luxury of race-baiting. I’m not going to put up with anyone’s bullshit in a crisis. We’re all Americans now. I agree, we need to hurry up. Things are moving too fast. We’ve got to try, right? If we can’t find what we’re looking for tonight, we need to head back early in the morning empty-handed. Are you okay with that?” he said and suddenly Clarisse was more concerned. Rick was all fun and games usually but when it came down to it, he was always dead serious when it came to protecting his family. He was worried. Maybe he heard more in Dalton’s message earlier.
She shook her head. “We can’t. We need that equipment now. This may be our only chance. I can’t do what you and I both know I need to do. And what about Bang? They…might not let us get him back.”
Rick growled under his breath, clearly frustrated. “The thing is…we need them to do more than hand over Bang. We’re going to need their help. The terrorists could be there by dawn, and listen Clarisse,” he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I think…if it were me in Coeur d’Alene, I’d elect to stay. So you know what that means? Don’t you? Don’t look at me like that,” he said, his eyes pleading. “That means if I’m thinking that, Dalton is thinking that, too.”
“You think Dalton will stay and hide, don’t you?” Her heart was in her throat then. She knew it was a possibility, until she thought of another one.
“Someone’s got to get a host, right? Just like last time,” Rick said.
Clarisse thought about that. But she had another idea—call it a gut-feeling—and Clarisse didn’t usually rely on feelings. “Unless…Graham beats him to it.”
She saw the thought dawn on Rick, who knew the price Graham had already paid. He said as he scrambled to fold up the map, “We have to hurry.”